Brandon Soo Hoo b. 1995 (G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, Ender’s Game)
Jon M. Chu b. 1979 (director, G.I. Joe: Retaliation)
Whit Hertford b. 1978 (Twilight Zone, Poltergiest II, Jurassic Park)
Michael Bailey Smith b. 1957 (The Hills Have Eyes, Men in Black II, Charmed, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, The X-Files, Star Trek: Voyager, The Fantastic Four)
Dale Brown b. 1956 (writer, Sky Masters, Day of the Cheetah, Shadow Command)
Lois McMaster Bujold b. 1949
(won 1989 Nebula for Falling Free)
(won 1991 Hugo for The Vor Game)
(won 1992 Hugo for Barrayar)
(won 1995 Hugo for Mirror Dance)
(won 2004 Hugo and Nebula for Paladin of Souls)
Jerry Wasserman b. 1945 (I, Robot, Watchmen, Supernatural, Dark Angel, The X-Files)
Steve Ditko b. 1927 (artist, Spider-Man, Dr, Strange)
Warren Stevens b. 1919 died 27 March 2012 (Forbidden Planet, Star Trek, Land of the Giants, The Outer Limits, Twilight Zone)
The writers and graphic artist on today's birthday list are better known than the actors in general. Dale Brown writes military techno-thrillers, often setting the action in the near future, Steve Ditko was an important artist from the very beginning of Marvel Comics and Lois McMaster Bujold has more Nebulas and Hugos for novels than Heinlein got in his career.
As for the actors, Brandon Soo Hoo and Whit Hertford started as child actors, Michael Bailey Smith often plays monsters under a lot of make-up, Jerry Wasserman has a very long career guest starring on TV shows, a tough way to make a living, which also describes most of the late Warren Stevens' career, who gets the Picture Slot for the role of the alien Rojan on the original Star Trek series.
Many happy returns of the birthday to all the living on our list.
Movies released
Wreck-It Ralph released, 2012
Monsters, Inc. released, 2001
Predictions (realities in parentheses):
Politically, there will be a lot less money expended in electing officials. (Strike one, Mr. Nye.)
The government should own both railways and telegraphs. (Some railways, no telegraphs.)
I see no reason to hope that money will not accumulate in the hands of a few in the future, even more than in the past. (A tough sentence to diagram, but he gets the modern situation right. Wealth accumulation is getting to be more uneven, though in the middle of the 20th Century, this prediction would have to be considered incorrect.)
The laboring classes will always be oppressed. (Things definitely got better for workers after 1893, with the end of child labor, the 40 hour work week, workplace safety laws, etc. That said, there are a lot of working people who are getting stiffed, as the whole debate about fast food workers shows today.)
Our soil, with improved agricultural methods, should grow enough for an increased population. (Good call. Of course, in 1893, Mr. Nye would have been hard pressed to see how much population growth was coming.)
American literature, I hope, will be more realistic in 100 years. (Once again, Mr. Nye gets it right.)
Music and drama will have grown rapidly. (Another good call.)
Women will never want the right of suffrage. (Oooh, and things were going so well.)
I look to the perfection of the flying machine. (In 1893, this is a bold prediction.)
Our greatest city will be on the present site of Chicago. (Sucking up to the hosts doesn't make this one right.)
As for the most honored American in 1993, the people will not have forgotten George Washington. (Not a bad call, though Lincoln and Jefferson give him a run for his money.)
And I am also putting up a delicate little tribute to myself in the way of a mausoleum, which will keep me as green in the memory of those from whom I am liable to be snatched away at any moment. (Nye died in 1896 from meningitis at the age of 45. Dying so young, his catalog of books is not extensive and no book of his is as well remembered as Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn or Ambrose Bierce's The Devil's Dictionary, humorists who were his contemporaries. Sorry, Mr. Nye.)
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Ray Bradbury tells us how things are progressing up on Mars in 2002.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
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