humanity
Humanity or geek-manity? Humanity topics include pieces on the real-life lives of geek advocates and influencors.
From 176 Pixels to MoMA: How Shigetaka Kurita Saved Our Digital Hearts 📱
Can you imagine today’s world without that little yellow smiling face? Or without the red heart sent to someone you love? Today, when we write messages, emojis feel as natural as the period at the end of a sentence. But this story didn't begin in a massive NASA lab or a shiny Silicon Valley skyscraper. It started with 176 tiny pictures that had one single goal: to stop us from getting offended by each other on the internet.
By Piotr Nowak6 months ago in Geeks
BeOS: The Operating System That Was "Too Beautiful" to Survive 💻🎨
Imagine the mid-90s. 🕰️ The computer world is grey, boxy, and frustratingly slow. Windows 95 is constantly haunting users with the "Blue Screen of Death" 🟦, and Apple—today’s tech titan—is a bankrupt mess with only enough cash in the bank to survive for a few months.💸
By Piotr Nowak6 months ago in Geeks
When Is a Move Final?
The Commitment Problem in Modern Chess Modern chess operates under a fractured commitment model that no longer aligns with how players think, how turns function in most games, or how chess itself is actually played across physical and digital formats. At the heart of the problem is that chess treats physical contact with a piece as binding commitment while simultaneously relying on a separate explicit action to end a player’s turn. This creates a logical contradiction: a move becomes final before the turn is over. In most turn-based games, interaction with game components is provisional until the player explicitly signals the end of their turn. Chess is an anomaly in this respect, and the inconsistency becomes increasingly visible in modern play.
By Peter Thwing - Host of the FST Podcast6 months ago in Geeks
Christian Movie Review: 'A Paralyzing Redemption'
"A Paralyzing Redemption" tells the inspirational true story of Brian Ziegler, an Ohio high school and college basketball star who became paralyzed after an accident left him with a broken neck. Ziegler, now a pastor and church planter, gave his life to Christ when his world hit rock bottom, and this movie tells the story of his journey and miraculous recovery.
By Heather Clark6 months ago in Geeks
Lanes Coven Theatre Company "Church": A Euphoric Production
Always believe in yourself. Lanes Coven Theatre Company presents “Church,” a play by Young Jean Lee. Based on Lee’s own struggle with Christianity, the play welcomes audiences to a church service, testing expectations of religious and non-religious ideas.
By Marielle Sabbag6 months ago in Geeks
Ghosts in the Silicon Machine: What Gothic and X3 Taught Me About AI After Twenty Years 🤖
Today’s debate about Artificial Intelligence revolves almost entirely around language models that generate images or write emails for us. However, for a gamer who grew up at the turn of the millennium, the first contact with an "autonomous agent" didn't happen in a browser window—it happened in the swamps of the Mining Valley and the sterile vacuum of the Argon Prime sectors. Returning to classics like Gothic and the X3 series (specifically Albion Prelude) years later is a fascinating lesson in humility. It reminds us that game AI didn't need to be "intelligent" in the human sense to create worlds that felt truly alive. 🎮
By Piotr Nowak6 months ago in Geeks
Is Benjamin Netanyahu Really Suffering from Cancer?
Yes, Benjamin Netanyahu was diagnosed with early-stage prostate cancer, according to his official medical report released in April 2026. He said doctors found a very small malignant tumor during a routine check-up, and he underwent targeted radiation treatment successfully. Netanyahu stated that the cancer was detected early, had not spread, and has now been completely treated. He also claimed he delayed revealing the diagnosis for two months to prevent Iran from using the news for propaganda during wartime. Doctors confirmed that he is now in good health and has been declared cancer-free.
By shaoor afridi6 months ago in Geeks
BlackBerry: The Keyboard Kings Who Dismissed Jobs’s "Toy" ⌨️📵
Not long ago, I wrote to you about the sad end of Sony Ericsson—a giant that believed a great camera and the Walkman logo would be enough to rule the world 🎸📸. That story showed that even the coolest brand can vanish if it stops understanding its users' needs. As it turns out, Sony Ericsson wasn’t alone. BlackBerry, a true business legend, met an almost identical fate, though their fall was even more spectacular 📉. This is a story of how massive arrogance and overconfidence can blind even the smartest leaders.
By Piotr Nowak6 months ago in Geeks
General Magic: The Story of Inventing the iPhone 13 Years Too Early 📱🔮
Imagine it’s 1994. The internet is like black magic to most people, phones are only used for calling (and they have clunky antennas), and your most advanced gadget is a calculator watch. 🕰️ Suddenly, a device hits the market that fits in the palm of your hand, has a touch screen, lets you send emails, buy plane tickets online, and even send smiley faces—emojis. 🤯
By Piotr Nowak6 months ago in Geeks
Xerox PARC: How to Invent the Future and Let Others Profit From It 💡💰
Imagine you own a time machine. You travel back to 1973, step into a sterile laboratory in Palo Alto, and see something that shouldn’t exist for another two decades. On the desks stand computers with vertical, bright screens. People aren’t typing complex text commands—instead, they are sliding a strange plastic box across the table, and the cursor on the screen fluidly follows their movement. They click icons, open windows, and send emails. 📧🖱️
By Piotr Nowak6 months ago in Geeks
