Technorama

Coming up in this episode…

Self-driving offenses

Old computers

Death of dead tech

Listen below with the audio player or Click Here for complete show notes  from the show.

Feedback

Q: What movie did you walk out of?

Myron: Kung Pow – Enter the Fist

Q: What sci-fi tech do you want?

Ringmaster Greg: The piece of science fiction tech that I’d like to have is, in my humble opinion, the most powerful piece of tech in the universe. And that would be the box from Red Shirts. You know the one that solves all dire problems just in the nick of time. Yeah, I think we could all really use one of those.

On This Day In History for November 18, 2015

This is the 322nd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 43 days remaining in 2015.

It was on this date in 1307 that William Tell shoots an apple off his son’s head.

That same date in 1493, Christopher Columbus first sights the island now known as Puerto Rico.

It was 150 years ago today that Mark Twain’s short story “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County” is published in the New York Saturday Press.

November 18, 1883, American and Canadian railroads institute five standard continental time zones, ending the confusion of thousands of local times.

It was 87 years ago today that Release of the animated short Steamboat Willie, the first fully synchronized sound cartoon, directed by Walt Disney and Ub Iwerks, featuring the third appearances of cartoon characters Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse. This is considered by the Disney corporation to be Mickey’s birthday.

Also today in 1963, The first push-button telephone goes into service.

37 years ago today, In Jonestown, Guyana, Jim Jones led his Peoples Temple to a mass murder–suicide that claimed 918 lives in all, 909 of them in Jonestown itself, including over 270 children. Congressman Leo Ryan is murdered by members of the Peoples Temple hours earlier.

King’s Cross fire: In London, 31 people die in a fire at the city’s busiest underground station, King’s Cross St Pancras on this date in 1987.

That same date in 2013, NASA launches the MAVEN probe to Mars.

Happy birthday goes out on this date to

Louis Daguerre, French physicist, and photographer, and developer of the daguerreotype was born on this date in 1787.

American journalist and author Dorothy Dix was born today in 1861.

Also born today in 1901 – George Gallup, the American statistician and academic.

American admiral, pilot, and astronaut Alan Shepard would have been 92 today.

And finally, actress Linda Evans turns 73.

And that’s the way it was, on this day in history for November 18, 2015

News

Google’s self-driving car pulled over by police

Gene Amdahl dies

Listener Birthday Calendar

13 – Pippa (London UK)

13 – Jennifer Therrien (Canada)

15 – Chuck Jolley aka nitestarr – (Horn Lake, MS)

15 – Tabitha Grace Smith

16 – Tim Elliott (the one from Winecast)

17 – Lorrie Mennenga

17 – Mike Smith

19 – Laura Burns

22 – Tom Posz – (from California, USA)

23 – Nobilis Reed

If you want to get on the Technorama Birthday Calendar, visit our Wiki.

Hacks & Strange Stories

Coming up in this episode…

* More Force Awakens rumors

* You could own your own satellite

* an awesome 8-track play

Listen below with the audio player or Click Here for complete show notes and video from the show.

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* What was the worst sci-fi book you’ve ever read:

* Mad Marv: Hyperion – I don’t always remember the books I couldn’t finish, but this one I remember because it was the first (and so far only) time I returned a book to Audible for a refund. Marv

* Nicholas: A friend of mine recently told me to read the “Witches of Karres”, and being a fast reader I did.  The book was something like 300 pages long and the only reason I read them all was because I have some sort of OCD that means I can’t leave a book unread.  It was only after I was done my friend admitted he wanted to torture me. The book Kreg read was “The Return”  http://ift.tt/1KBQ43l Yes, it was horrible.

On This Day In History for November 4, 2015

This is the 308th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 57 days remaining in 2015.

* It was on this date in 1783 that Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Symphony No. 36 is performed for the first time in Linz, Austria.

* November 4, 1847, Sir James Young Simpson, a British physician, discovers the anaesthetic properties of chloroform.

* Also today in 1890, City and South London Railway: London’s first deep-level tube railway opens between King William Street and Stockwell.

* It was 93 years ago today that In Egypt, British archaeologist Howard Carter and his men find the entrance to Pharaoh Tutankhamun’s tomb in the Valley of the Kings.

* The United States government establishes the National Security Agency, or NSA 63 years ago today.

* 55 years ago today, At the Kasakela Chimpanzee Community in Tanzania, Dr. Jane Goodall observes chimpanzees creating tools, the first-ever observation in non-human animals.

* It was 42 years ago today that The Netherlands experiences the first Car-Free Sunday caused by the 1973 oil crisis. Highways are deserted and are used only by cyclists and roller skaters.

Happy birthday goes out on this date to:

* French mathematician and engineer, Pierre-Simon Girard born on this date in 1765.

* Born that same date in 1879 American actor and screenwriter, Will Rogers.

* Today is also the birthday of the inventor of the tractor – Harry Ferguson, born today in 1884.

* November 4th is the birthday of the woman who created the Barbie doll – Ruth Handler who would have been 99 today.

* Actor Art Carney would have been 97

* Dutch businessman, Freddy Heineken was born today in 1923, I’m sure you can figure out what his business is from his last name

* Actress Loretta Swit is 78 today.

* and finally, the original Karate Kid, Ralph Macchio turns 54!

And that’s the way it was, on this day in history for November 4, 2015

News

* For Sale: Two Satellites, Lightly Used

* Man found not guilty for shooting down a drone

Listener Birthday Calendar

* 04 – Avner (OMG, it’s 2014 – I’m 40 already)

* 05 – Michael Corlett (from New Zealand)

* 08 – Mark, the Encaffeinated ONE, host of The Weird Show

* 08 – OnTheDrift

* 10 – John Noble from the Island

Coming up in this episode…

* Chicken tweets

* Imperial statues

* Worst Halloween costume ever

Listen below with the audio player or Click Here for complete show notes and video from the show.

Feedback

* What was the worst sci-fi novel you’ve ever read?

Wayne: “Star Wars Millennium Falcon: Owner’s Workshop Manual” Had no plot whatsoever.

John: “Faster Than The Speed of Love” by Brian Griffin.

Justin: I’m actually having a hard time remembering any. If a book is so bad I put it down I just tend to forget about it unless I somehow pick it back up down the road.

On This Day In History for October 28, 2015

This is the 301st day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. There are 64 days remaining in 2015.

* It was on this date in 1492 that Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba on his first voyage to the New World.

* That same date in 1538, The first university in the New World (in present-day Dominican Republic), the Universidad Santo Tomás de Aquino, is established.

* It was 379 years ago today that A vote of the Great and General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony establishes the first college in what would become the United States, today known as Harvard University.

* Also today in 1664, The Duke of York and Albany’s Maritime Regiment of Foot, later to be known as the Royal Marines, is established.

* The first railroad in Spain between Barcelona and Mataró is opened 167 years ago today.

* In New York Harbor, President Grover Cleveland dedicates the Statue of Liberty 129 years ago today.

* Also today in 1929, Black Monday, a day in the Wall Street Crash of 1929, which also saw major stock market upheaval.

* That same date in 1942, The Alaska Highway (Alcan Highway) is completed through Canada to Fairbanks, Alaska.

* It was 67 years ago today that Swiss chemist Paul Müller is awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery of the insecticidal properties of DDT.

* Britain launches the satellite Prospero into low Earth orbit atop a Black Arrow carrier rocket, the only British satellite to date launched by a British rocket on this date in 1971.

* NASA successfully launches the Ares I-X mission, the only rocket launch for its later-cancelled Constellation program 6 years ago today.

Happy birthday goes out on this date to

* French mathematician and engineer, Antoine Deparcieux, born on this date in 1703.

* Born on that same date in 1718, Ignacije Szentmartony, the Croatian priest, mathematician, astronomer, and explorer

* Also born today in 1793, the founder of Remington Arms, Eliphalet Remington.

* October 28, 1880, is also the birthday of Belarusian-Estonian astrophysicist and astronomer Wilhelm Anderson

* The co-founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates turns 60 today.

* Turning 55 today is Landon Curt Noll, American computer scientist, and mathematician

* Princess Vespa from Spaceballs, actress Daphne Zuniga, is 53.

* Another actress/producer, Julia Roberts is 48.

* and finally also turning 48 is the video game designer and the co-founder of Id Software, John Romero.

And that’s the way it was, on this day in history for October 28, 2015

News

* Facebook site helps start your programming career

Listener Birthday Calendar

October

* 28 – Dylan Licata (San Antonio)

* 29 – James Clark, MegaPodzilla

* 30 – WolfGeek (Indiana)

November

* 01 – Amber Elstad

* 03 – Ken Pace

* 03 – Craig Glassner (aka Ranger Craig)

Coming up in this episode… Some people will pay anything Cassette tapes aren’t quite dead yet One crucial renter’s tip Listen below with the audio player or Click Here for complete show notes and video from the show. News from … Continue reading →