Saturday, April 26, 2014

26 April 2014

Birthdays
Channing Tatum b. 1980 (Jupiter Ascending, This is the End, G.I. Joe: Retaliation, G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra, War of the Worlds)
Jordana Brewster b. 1980 (The Faculty)
Marnette Patterson b. 1980 (Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, Charmed, Supernatural, 3rd Rock from the Sun, A Nightmare on Elm Street 5)
Stana Katic b. 1978 (Heroes, The Librarian: The Curse of the Jade Chalice)
Tom Welling b. 1977 (Smallville, The Fog)
McKenzie Westmore b. 1977 (Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: Insurrection, Weird Science [TV], Star Trek: The Next Generation)
Debra Wilson b. 1962 (Avatar,The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Joan Chen b. 1961 (Fringe, Cyber Wars, The Outer Limits [1998], Judge Dredd)
Giancarlo Esposito b. 1958 (Revolution, Once Upon a Time, NYPD 2069, Monkeybone, Stardust [1998], Creature, The Hunger, The Brother from Another Planet)
Ron Donachie b. 1956 (Atlantis, Game of Thrones, The Deep [TV], Doctor Who, Starhunter [TV])
Andy Secombe b. 1953 (Star Wars: Episodes I and II, Star Cops)
Erwin Stoff b. 1951 (producer, The Day the Earth Stood Still [2008], A Scanner Darkly, Constantine, The Matrix, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey)
Warren Clarke b. 1947 (Firefox, Hawk the Slayer, A Clockwork Orange)
Stafford Repp b. 1918 died 5 November 1974 (Batman [TV], I Dream of Jeannie, My Favorite Martian, Twilight Zone)
H.L. Gold b. 1914 died 21 February 1996 (editor, Galaxy Science Fiction 1950-1961)
A.E. van Vogt b. 1912 died 26 January 2000 (author, The World of Null-A, The Book of Ptath, The Voyage of the Space Beagle)

While Game of Thrones is actually airing, actors from that show are trump in the Game of Picture Slot, so we get Ron Donachie as Ser Rodrik Cassel, which also satisfies the awesome facial hair standard we are used to getting from our 1893 predictions. As for Pretty Girl = Picture Slot, all of the women on the list easily qualify, including McKenzie Westmore, whose first name doesn't make her gender clear. As for iconic status, Tom Welling on Smallville certainly counts, as does Stafford Repp as Chief O'Hara on the old Batman show, a character whose main job was to make it look like Commissioner Gordon wasn't talking to himself. As for Channing Tatum, I would say he's the only bona fide movie star on the list, but he's better known for his work in non-genre films so far. The other possible Picture Slot candidate is A. E. van Vogt, a very prolific writer from the Heinlein/Bradbury era.

Many happy returns to the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
 

Predictor: John McGovern, chief editorial writer for The Chicago Herald, asked to look into the future in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exposition, held in Chicago

Prediction: Should there be no war, pestilence or earthquake, Chicago in 1993 might have 10,000,000 in population and extend from Indiana to Wisconsin. But if conditions are not as prefect, I should think that Chicago would support 3,000,000 souls at least within 100 years.

Reality: I could find no picture of John McGovern online, so we don't get the bold facial hair. We also don't get that bold a prediction. I don't know if any Wisconsin towns count as Chicago suburbs, but Gary, Indiana could. McGovern put 10,000,000 out as his wacky pie-in-the-sky number, but the reality is the population of the city by itself in 1990 was 9,000,000, and the population including its surrounding communities is well above 10,000,000. No points for McGovern here.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet another story of a nuclear war we didn't have.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

7 comments:

  1. Damn typos. I hate removing my own comments like that.

    Actually, McGovern was half right. The City of Chicago itself didn't expand into Indiana and Wisconsin, but the US Census has included Gary, Indiana and Kenosha, Wisconsin in its definition of metropolitan Chicago for decades. Give him points for hinting at the land-area expansion.

    His population figures are off, though. 3 million would have ben a good guess had he not also stipulated the expansion. Chicago itself didn't expand that far, of course, but the Census pegged its 2013 population at a little over 2.7 million. [The 9 million figure you cited is for the whole area, not just Chicago proper.]

    His 10 million figure would be creditable, but not spectacular, had Chicago formally expanded the way he said it would. For the metropolitan area, the Census counted a bit more than 9.5 million residents in 2013. [However, the Census definition of "metropolitan area" is more expansive than the one most of the area's residents (including me) use. Informally, DeKalb county in Illinois is a big stretch, as are Jasper and Newton counties in Indiana.] On the other hand, Chicagoland has avoided mass casualties from war, pestilence and the like; so maybe he should get partial credit.

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    1. if only he had a picture, he could get extra credit for good facial hair.

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    2. Hi, Abu. I knew this one was right up your alley.

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  2. Addendum:
    Stana Katic also played a vampire on "The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice," the third TV movie in the series, which has enough magic and super-science to weigh in on the sci fi side of the scale.

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    Replies
    1. I hadn't seen it and imdb.com didn't call it fantasy or sci-fi, but I will take your word.

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    2. Did Bob Newhart last through the third installment?

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