Chiwetel Ejiofor b. 1977 (Serenity)
Peter Serafinowicz b. 1972 (Star Wars, Shaun of the Dead)
Fiona Shaw b. 1958 (Harry Potter)
Ron Glass b. 1945 (Firefly, Serenity)
Nikola Tesla b. 1856 died 7 January 1943
Nice selection of birthdays. I am breaking the Cute Girl = Picture Slot because Ron Glass as Shepherd Book has facial hair almost as cool as Mr. Wednesday on this blog, John Elfreth Watkins.
Many happy returns of the day to every one but Tesla, who died 70 years ago.
In the year 2000!
Prediction: Few drugs will be swallowed or taken into the stomach unless needed for the direct treatment of that organ itself. Drugs needed by the lungs, for instance, will be applied directly to those organs through the skin and flesh. They will be carried with the electric current applied without pain to the outside skin of the body. Microscopes will lay bare the vital organs, through the living flesh, of men and animals. The living body will to all medical purposes be transparent. Not only will it be possible for a physician to actually see a living, throbbing heart inside the chest, but he will be able to magnify and photograph any part of it. This work will be done with rays of invisible light.
Predictor: John Elfreth Watkins in the 1900 edition of The Ladies' Home Journal
Reality: Watkins opens with his weakest card, the direct application of medicine to the flesh near the organ to be treated. Most medicine is either swallowed or injected today, methods similar to 1900. He then goes big on microscopes and x-rays and gets it completely right. Once again, he isn't a magical thinker, but instead a well-read person extrapolating advances from cool stuff already in existence. Wilhelm Röntgen published the x-ray picture of his hand wearing a ring in 1896, and a learned fellow working at the Smithsonian like Watkins would certainly know about this by 1900.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
It's H.G. Wells again, with an exciting prediction for the year 2012.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
It's quite a testament to Ron Glass that he managed to establish a SECOND iconic character. And to Whedon for being clever enough to cast him.
ReplyDeleteAnd I am plenty aggravated that it seems that we will never be able to discover his curious backstory....
DeleteA second iconic character in a show that didn't get 13 episodes aired. That takes some doing.
DeleteOK, so my test signal with MRI images sent to Watkins worked. Now to send him information on flying cars....
ReplyDelete