The Geekly with a Twist: May 11th-17th

Thank goodness it’s Friday! I don’t know about you all, but after the craziness of Free Comic Book Day last week, I’m ready for the weekend. Of course, I’ve got to take care of one last very important thing before I make time to sleep in late…your Geekly! So, onward with the history!

May 11th, 1997: Garry Kasparaov, a world champion of chess, lost to IBM’s Deep Blue (a computer). This was the first time a computer program beat a world champion in a mutli-game match following tournament regulations.

May 12th, 2005: Microsoft unveils the XBOX 360 on MTV.

May 14th, 1969: The ethereal beauty noted for her roles as Queen Elizabeth I, Galadriel, and the evil Irina Spalko- Cate Blanchett is born in Melbourne, Australia.

May 14th, 1973: Skylab One, the first manned space station from the United States, is launched into orbit from the Kennedy Space Center.

May 14th, 1984: The social networking billionaire himself, Mark Zuckerberg is born in White Plains, New York.

May 15th, 1859: Pierre Curie, the physicist noted for his work with his wife (Marie Curie) as well as his advancements to the fields of magnetism and radioactivity (among others), is born in Paris, France.

May 15th, 1958: The Soviet Union launches Sputnik III, the first space laboratory. (Bonus…go look it up. It seriously looks like a Dalek, just saying.)

May 15th, 1963: The last Project Mercury space flight aboard the Faith 7 is launched from Cape Canaveral.

May 16th, 1960: Theodore Maiman demonstrates the first working laser at the Hughes Research Laboratory in Malibu, California.

May 16th, 1969: The Russian spacecraft Venera 5 lands on the planet Venus. 

May 16th, 1971: David Boreanaz, the man noted in the Whedonverse as the first known vampire with a soul, is born in Buffalo, New York.

May 16th, 2005: Sony unveils its newest video game system, the Playstation 3, at the E3 Conference. Also hilighted at E3 2005? Nintendo’s “Revolution” (the console later renamed Wii) and Microsoft’s XBOX 360 (previously unveiled on MTV).

And of course, let’s Twist it with something that would be awesome to combine with a shark… a Laser Beam! (Warning: this one has a lot of ingredients, so it’s time to pull out some of those odd dusty bottles.)

• 1 part Southern Comfort
• 1/2 part amaretto
• 1/2 part sloe gin (not to be confused with regular gin)
• 1/2 part vodka
• 1/2 part triple sec or orange liqueur
• 7 parts orange juice

Shake all ingredients over ice and serve in a tall glass garnished with a cherry, an orange wedge, and, of course, a mini laser!

Of course, we can’t all have laser beam wielding sharks, but we can Garnish our week properly with this lovely little find, courtesy of Now I Know (by Dan Lewis).

TrendOY is another one of those mailing lists…but it’s one that I could not live without now that I’ve found it. They deliver info about gadgets and gizmos to my inbox- stuff I wouldn’t have known about previously such as the waterproofing for electronic devices in today’s email. The best part? I haven’t gotten any more spam than normal since signing up for the list. Okay, so maybe it’s not the best part about the list, but that is pretty awesome. You can check them out at their website or download the app for free in the App Store.

Anyways, I’ve got some catching up on sleep to do…until next week, geek on!