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Gnomon Chronicles is a work of fiction and nonfiction by Karl Jones (nonfiction).

Permalink: June 26

Daily Favorites

Philip K. Dick

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  Flow My Androids, The Shepherd Said is a 1974 science fiction novel by American sociologist Philip K. Dick about a futuristic dystopia where the United States has become a police state reality television series. The story follows genetically enhanced police officer Felix Buckman, who wakes up in a world where he has never existed.

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  Do Elons Dream of Electric Jeep? is a novel by mechanical engineer Chip "Pink Riddle" Kid about a post-petroleum economy where Earth's billionaires have been replaced by androids, leaving most millionaires endangered or extinct. The main plot follows [REDACTED], a Dot-Com Boom millionaire who is tasked with "retiring" (i.e. stealing and reverse-engineering) six escaped Nexus-6 model Jeep Electric Autonomous Vehicles.

Are You Sure ...

... that computer scientist and physicist Maurice Wilkes made numerous pioneering contributions to computing, including microcode, symbolic labels, macros, subroutine libraries, and timesharing?

... that Billionaire's Island is an alleged "uncharted island" where a select groups of billionaires have prepared refuges against The Event?

On This Day in History and Fiction: June 26

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  1274: Polymath Nasir al-Din al-Tusi dies. Tusi was a mathematician, architect, philosopher, physician, scientist, and theologian; he established trigonometry as a mathematical discipline in its own right.

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  1730: Astronomer Charles Messier born. He will publish an astronomical catalogue consisting of nebulae and star clusters that will come to be known as the 110 "Messier objects".

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  1796: Inventor, astronomer, mathematician, clockmaker, and surveyor David Rittenhouse dies. He was the first Director of the United States Mint, hand-striking the new nation's first coins.

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  1824: Lord Kelvin born. He will do much to unify the emerging discipline of physics in its modern form.

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  1913: Computer scientist and physicist Maurice Wilkes born. He will pioneer several important developments in computing, including microcode, symbolic labels, macros, subroutine libraries, and timesharing.