Birthdays
J. August Richards b. 1973 (Angel)
Jack Black b. 1969 (King Kong)
Billy Boyd b. 1968 (Lord of the Rings)
Melissa Rosenberg b. 1962 (writer Twilight)
Brian Thompson b. 1959 (Star Trek, Buffy, The X-Files)
Vonda N. McIntyre b. 1948
(won 1979 Hugo and Nebula for Dreamsnake)
(won 1998 Nebula for The Moon and the Sun)
Jack Kirby b. 1917 died 6 February 1994
Jack Vance b. 1916 died 23 May 2013 (The Dying Earth)
Interesting mix today with four actors and four writers/creators. I chose Kirby for the Picture Slot because I grew up with Marvel Comics and in the 21st Century, there are a lot less science fiction fans who sneer at the comic books and do not want to have their genre associated with mere "entertainment for children".
Many happy returns of the day to the living.
Prediction: The teleautoscope. It will no doubt have some name equally barbarous. It will be an instrument for seeing by electricity. Whatever is before the transmitting teleautoscope will be visible before the receiving teleautoscope wirelessly en rapport with the former. Thus by telephone, by phonograph, and by teleautoscope, a wireless conversation will combine all the advantages of a personal interview and a written correspondence.
Predictor: T. Baron Russell from A Hundred Years Hence, published in 1905
Reality: Reading closely, Russell is talking about a TV phone more than he is about broadcast TV. In either case, this is pretty darned science fiction-y for a guy writing in 1905.
We will meet a lot of people from this era predicting the future who base wonderful future technology on telephones instead of radio. While Marconi had done his experiments by the time Russell is writing this, the big splash of practical public use of radio doesn't come about until after World War I.
Looking on day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
An exact date from a movie, the start of everything going to hell.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
It will no doubt have some name equally barbarous.
ReplyDeleteSkype is pretty barbarous, I agree, but iPhone isn't so bad.
Big Bad Bald Bastard will be upset that you didn't give the picture slot to Jack Vance.
There is no evidence B to the 4th knows I exist, so I think I can just ride it out.
DeleteOops. I clued him in over at his joint.
DeleteNo cause for me to be upset... I wouldn't expect the good Professor to brave the horrors of the internet just to get an image from Jack Vance's "Servants of the Wankh".
DeleteThat being said, Jack Vance playing the ukulele and kazoo is awesome!
Hi, Quadruple. Thanks for the Vance link. Good stuff.
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