Friday, December 6, 2013

6 December 2013

Birthdays
Tommy Wirkola b. 1979 (director, Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, Dead Snow)
Noel Clarke b. 1975 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Doctor Who)
Colin Salmon b. 1962 (Arrow, Resident Evil, Doctor Who, Alien vs. Predator, Dinotopia)
Nick Park b. 1958 (director, A Grand Day Out, Curse of the Were-Rabbit)
Tom Hulce b. 1953 (Jumper, Frankenstein [1994])
JoBeth Williams b. 1948 (Poltergeist, The Day After)
James Naughton b. 1945 (Planet of the Apes [TV series], Warehouse 13)
Patrick Bachau b. 1938 (Big Ass Spider, 2012, Carnivale, Kindred: The Embraced)
Lance Fuller b. 1928 died 22 December 2001 (This Island Earth, Twilight Zone, Voodoo Woman, The She-Creature, The Bride and the Beast)
Wally Cox b. 1924 died 15 February 1973 (Twilight Zone)
Agnes Moorehead b. 1900 died 30 April 1974 (Bewitched, Twilight Zone)

No huge stars on the list today, but Agnes Moorehead is most recognizable to people of a certain age. Other options I considered were Noel Clarke, who played Mickey in the first seasons of the 21st Century version of Doctor Who, or Wallace and Gromit, Nick Park's most beloved creations.

Many happy returns to the living on today's list and thanks for the memories to the dead. 

Movies released
Star Trek VI:The Undiscovered Country released, 1991

The rule that "even numbered Star Trek movies don't suck" is a bit over-stated. But at least The Undiscovered Country could help us forget the horror that was The Final Frontier.
 

Predictor: Stephen Petranek, editor of Discover  magazine, giving a TED Talk in 2002

Predictions (reality):
The populations in industrialized nations are gaining a year in longevity for every year that passes. (No, they aren't. The only country that made strides like this last decade was Monaco, small and wealthy and for some reason had third world level life expectancy and infant mortality in the early 21st Century. Their more recent numbers have made a remarkable turnaround, bringing infant mortality down to the levels expected in Western Europe and an increase in life expectancy that also is now in line with countries like France and Italy and Spain. Other industrialized nations have seen about a one to two year increase over the last decade.)

The price of rocketry in 21st Century will shrink. Each shuttle launch was about $1.5 billion, we have hopes for $500 million launches to Mars by 2012. (The launch alone for Mars Rover was $820 million, the entire project nearer to $2.5 billion, according to Wikipedia.)

We will increasingly face Mutant Staph infections that will be resistant to antibiotics. (This one he gets right.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

In 1925, a guy who would later be played by Gary Cooper predicts something like Pearl Harbor. And I mean something very like Pearl Harbor.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

4 comments:

  1. Wait. The guy who did Dead Snow also did the Hansel and Gretel movie? I may have to check that out, as Joe Bob would say.

    Dead Snow was great.

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    1. Dead Snow is on Netflix! I'll put it on my list.

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  2. Hmm, Monaco, a tiny principality which is made of casinos and tax havens. It would be interesting to check the demographics vs, the infant mortality. Could there be some improvement among the lower income service workers? I don't see how the wealthy would have those poor numbers. The population is so small I don't know what valid samples would be.

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    Replies
    1. That's a good point, Mr. Prosser. Early in the decade, their numbers were about where Costa Rica's were. Maybe the problem was sample size and maybe it was the guest workers having more babies than their employers. Whatever it was, their numbers for infant mortality and life expectancy are now at Western European levels, which means better than the U.S. by a bunch.

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Traveler! Have you news... FROM THE FUTURE?