Welcome to the weekly digest here at Doxacon Seattle! Below is this week’s collection of geeky daily tidbits and news from Doxacon Seattle.

August 28 – Sixty years ago today (1963) Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I have a dream” speech on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial. Though there is much work yet to be done, his address was a pivotal moment in the movement to uphold equal rights and equal treatment of all people, regardless of the color of their skin. Read more at NPR.

August 29 – On this day in 1997 – at least, in the Terminator universe, Skynet became self-aware. It’s first act was to lash out against humanity, kicking off ‘Judgement Day’ and the war with the machines. Happily, such a future exists only in science fiction and fantasy – but don’t take our word for it! The US Goverment Accountability Office has a neat article talking about the capabilities – and limitations – of AI in the modern age.

September 1 – Perhaps highlighting how far we’ve come – and how far we have yet to go! – today marks the 46th anniversary (1977) of the first sale of the 1st TRS-80 computer. Boasting a Zilog Z80 processor running at 1.76 MHz, 4 KB of RAM, and Level I BASIC, it helped make personal computing as accessible as it is today. Read more at Time.

September 2 – In 1902, the first science fiction film A Trip To The Moon was released in France. clocking in at just over ten minutes, it nonetheless managed to influence both the genre and viewers. Because the film has entered into the public domain, you can watch it online – we’ve embedded it from YouTube below.

Hailing Frequencies: www.doxaconseattle.com info@doxaconseattle.com The Intersection of Faith and Fandom

Welcome to the weekly digest here at Doxacon Seattle! Below is this week’s collection of geeky daily tidbits and news from Doxacon Seattle.

We hope you’re enjoying the cooler weather! Summer is wonderful and all, but we’re hoping that the 90 degree temperatures are firmly behind us 😬Speaking of behind us, this last weekend was Dragonflight GameCon – a local convention dedicated to providing a venue for board gaming geeks to gather together annually. And not too far away is BrickCon 2023, an annual local Lego exhibition held in Bellevue. This year it will run from Saturday, September 9 through Sunday, September 10.

We’re blessed to have so many conventions here in the Pacific Northwest (including our own!) – there’s plenty of opportunity to share fandoms and discover new ones! But as we linger between conventions, here are a few neat bits of geek trivia from this week to enjoy.

August 22 – On this day in 1920 was born Ray Bradbury, perhaps most known for Fahrenheit 451 and The Martian Chronicles. Author of over forty books and more than 400 short stories, he inspired – and continuous to inspire – so many to explore the power of imagination and what could be. Read more about his life at the official Ray Bradbury website.

August 23 – Today is the 32nd birthday of the World Wide Web (1991)! What we now call ‘the internet’ started out as “Advanced Research Projects Agency Network’ (or ARPANET) and helped universities & research facilities collaborate. But from that modest beginning came a new way to communicate, educate, and connect! Read about it at History.com.

August 25 – Just a few days after the birthday of the internet, we celebrate the birthday of Linux – born the same year, even! The inventor, Linus Torvalds, wrote that it was “just a hobby, won’t be big and professional like gnu” – but despite its humble beginnings, Linux has become one of the backbones of modern computing. Read about the history of Linux at opensource.com.

August 26 – Speaking of communication, this week also boasts the birthday (1873) of Lee de Forest, the father of radio. Inventor of several components crucial to radio broadcast, his work set the groundwork for a method of communication that we still rely on even in today’s digital age. Learn more about him at the Radio Hall of Fame.

Hailing Frequencies: www.doxaconseattle.com info@doxaconseattle.com The Intersection of Faith and Fandom

Welcome to the weekly digest here at Doxacon Seattle! Below is this week’s collection of geeky daily tidbits and news from Doxacon Seattle.

In case you missed it, we recently received the final art for Doxacon Seattle 2024, commissioned with Erika Rae Heins – one of our board members and an artist in her own right. The end result of her efforts are available for you to enjoy – we’re delighted with how it, and look forward to using it in our communication, merchandise, and at the convention. Speaking of which, you can also check out the information about Doxacon Seattle 2024 and our October Doxaday gathering. Visit the announcement post for details.

You may notice that the weekly digest daily trivia (below) looks familiar – that’s because we accidentally put this week’s trivia in last week’s digest 😬 If you’d like to catch the trivia from last week, we’ve edited that post so that there is new trivia….albeit a week late! Check it out for old-new trivia, as well as this week’s trivia (below).

August 13 – Today is the anniversary of the first publication of the Pathfinder RPG (2009). As a relatively new roleplaying game, they’re only on their second edition, but they have (rightly!) gained popularity among those who like complexity in their tabletop gaming. Read Polygon’s 2019 review of Pathfinder 2e to learn more about it!

August 14 – Gary Larson – whose birthday is today (1950) – can be an acquired taste among comics lovers, but for those who enjoy him, there’s a great deal to enjoy! Due to his public stance on online sharing of his work, we won’t be posting any of it here. Happily, he authorized an online presence a few years ago, where fans can peruse his work AND find new creations – check it out at www.farside.com.

August 15 – One of the standout episodes of Jody Whittaker’s run as the Doctor was Demons of the Punab. Not only was it a compelling exploration of Yaz, one of her companions, but it shed a light on a devastating period in the history of India known as The Partition. Read about the story behind the episode at inews.co.uk news.

August 19 – On this day in 1921, Gene Roddenberry – the mind behind Star Trek – was born. The series was so popular that within 10 years of its airing (and seven years after it finished airing!) that NASA named a shuttle after the USS Enterprise. Since the original series, twelve subsequent series and thirteen movies have been released. Though his vision has been expanded and developed perhaps beyond his wildest dreams, it continues to inspire generations new and old to this day.

Hailing Frequencies: www.doxaconseattle.com info@doxaconseattle.com The Intersection of Faith and Fandom

Welcome to the weekly digest here at Doxacon Seattle! Below is this week’s collection of geeky daily tidbits and news from Doxacon Seattle.

Christian Gaming and Unconventional Fiction Outreach (CGUFO), the organization that puts on Doxacon Seattle, had its annual meeting & elections. The new board of directors consists of Robert King (serving as the president), Erika Rae Heins (serving as the vice-president), Megan Lorance (serving as the secretary), Tanya Keenan (serving as the treasurer), and Rose Achey (member-at-large). We are grateful for everyone who participated – and for our board members in their willingness to serve!

August 7 – On this day in 1959, Explorer 6 was launched. It was the first US satellite to photograph the Earth, which it took just a week later. Using UHF and VHF signals, it was a painfully slow transmission – 40 minutes to send a relatively low-resolution image of the Pacific Ocean. And yet, the success of its mission and technology (which included solar panels) paved the way for future missions, especially the Apollo Moon missions. Read more about it at NASA’s website.

August 8 – Though his pal Garfield is the star of the comic strip that bears his name, Odie is a familiar and regular to the series. Despite Garfield’s often dismissive behavior towards him, Odie is a faithful (and sometimes mischievous!) companion to him and their owner, Jon. Today is the anniversary of his first appearance in the strip in 1978. Read more about “Odie Day” at National Today.

August 9 – Henry David Thoreau’s “Walden” or “A Life in the Woods” was published on this day in 1854. Inspired by time he spent living in a small cabin near Waldon Pond, it is one of his most famous and enduring works, focusing on the virtues of simple living and self-sufficiency in the modern world. Read about it at History.com website.

August 10 – Upon his death, James Smithson left his estate to the United States to form the Smithsonian Institution. It took more a while, but the US Senate passed the act organizing the institute on this day in 1846, which President Polk signed. Dedicated to the increase and diffusion of knowledge, its work continues to this day. The Smithsonian has a nice write-up about it on their history page.

August 12 – The beginnings of the IBM personal computer – neither the first nor the most advanced (per IBM’s own history page, that!) – were truly humble. Powered by the 4.77 Mhz Intel 8088 microprocessor and using Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system, it would be un-usable by today’s standards (though it’s $1,500 price tag is certainly comparable to today’s cutting-edge computers!). But it was overwhelmingly popular and the success of the personal computer transformed the industry and made “PC” a household name practically overnight.

Hailing Frequencies: www.doxaconseattle.com info@doxaconseattle.com The Intersection of Faith and Fandom

Welcome to the weekly digest here at Doxacon Seattle! Below is this week’s collection of geeky daily tidbits and news from Doxacon Seattle.

Did you catch our July 8, 2023 Doxaday? We had a blast as we gathered for a tie dye crafting event, hotdogs & hamburgers on the grill, and board games! We posted a few photos of the event, games, and dyed aftermath. Visit our Facebook page to see those, comment, and – if you’ve got them – post any photos you might have from the day!

July 30 – On this day (1935), what is now called the ‘paperback revolution’ began with the first Penguin Books paperbacks being published in the UK. Allen Lane, its founder, was frustrated at the inability to purchase inexpensive books while travelling, decided to set up a company to sell modern fiction cheaply. His efforts paid off, arguably kicking off a revolution that has benefited readers to this day! Penguin Publishing Group has a timeline of their story at their website.

July 31– A joyride on the moon seems almost too good to be true, but that’s exactly what the Apollo 15 astronauts had in the first lunar rover ride of the Lunar Roving Vehicles they brought with them for their mission. Marvels of modern technology & engineering, this vehicle enabled greater exploration – and perhaps a bit of fun on the moon! Read more about it at Columbus State University’s Space Science Center website.

August 1 – Today is RPGGeek.com’s official birthday (2009). They have a quite comprehensive weekly feature – ‘This Week in Geek History’ (tagged under the moniker Geekciting) – a great inspiration for geeky reading & research!

August 4 – 16 years ago today, the Phoenix Mars Lander was launched. After completing its three-month mission, Phoenix worked for two more months before ceasing function due to reduced sunlight. Read about its launch, landing, and mission at NASA’s dedicated webpage.

Hailing Frequencies: www.doxaconseattle.com info@doxaconseattle.com The Intersection of Faith and Fandom

Welcome to the first weekly digest here at Doxacon Seattle. Below is this week’s collection of geeky daily tidbits and news from Doxacon Seattle.

July 23 – Though there is some ambiguity about exactly when it was invented, there seems to be a common consensus that the1904 Saint Louis World Fair was where the ice cream cone was first popularized – when an ice cream vendor ran out of dishes, a nearby Syrian concessionaire – Earnest Hemwi – used one of his wafer-thin waffles to hold the ice cream. The rest, as we now know, was history! As you perhaps enjoy a refreshing ice cream cone this summer, check out the history of this treat over at the International Dairy Foods Association website.

July 25 – For those who might have missed it, we announced our move off of Twitter and a new focus on our website. If you’re reading this, you probably caught the announcement – but if you haven’t read it already, check it out here.

July 27 – Today we celebrate Gary Gygax’s birthday (born in 1938, died in 2008). Together with Dave Arneson, he developed the first published role-playing game Dungeons & Dragons. Wired Magazine wrote up a lovely remembrance just a few days after his death in 2008 – may his memory be eternal.

July 29 – On this day was published The Fellowship of the Rings, first of The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Though not intended to be a trilogy, the publishers (George Allen & Unwin) decided to split the work into three volumes. Gottesman Libraries has a collection of historical articles that fans might enjoy perusing to celebrate this anniversary!

Interested in connecting with members of the Doxacon Seattle community? Check out our hailing frequencies below – we’d love to connect with you!

Hailing Frequencies: www.doxaconseattle.com info@doxaconseattle.com The Intersection of Faith and Fandom