Wednesday, February 18, 2015

18 February 2015

Birthdays
Malese Jow b. 1991 (The Flash, The Vampire Diaries, Wizards of Waverly Place)
Maiara Walsh b. 1988 (Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Zombieland [TV], The Vampire Diaries, Revolution [2009 TV movie])
Chelsea Hobbs b. 1984 (Supernatural, Snow Queen, Seven Days, Mysterious Ways)
Genelle Williams b. 1984 (Bitten, Warehouse 13, Lost Girl, The Incredible Hulk)
Neil Fingleton b. 1981 (Jupiter Ascending, Game of Thrones, 47 Ronin, X-Men: First Class)
Kristoffer Polaha b. 1977 (Dollhouse, Bird of Prey, Roswell, Angel)
Leigh Scott b. 1972 (director, Piranha Sharks, Dorothy and the Witches of Oz, The Dunwich Horror [TV], Dracula’s Curse, Frankenstein Reborn)
Tammy Macintosh b. 1970 (Farscape)
Susan Egan b. 1970 (Haunted, Earth Angel)
Laure Marsac b. 1970 (Interview with the Vampire: The Vampire Chronicles)
Molly Ringwald b. 1968 (Twice Upon a Time, The Stand, Spacehunter: Adventures in the Forbidden Zone)
Julie Strain b. 1962 (Space Girls in Beverly Hills, Thirteen Erotic Ghosts, How to Make a Monster, Battle Queen 2020, Vampire Child, Captain Jackson, Sorceress I & II, Future Shock)
Greta Scacchi b. 1960 (Dreamscapes & Nightmares, The Odyssey [TV])
Vanna White b. 1957 (Goddess of Love, Looker)
John Travolta b. 1954 (The Punisher, Battlefield Earth, Phenomenon, Carrie, The Devil’s Rain)
John Hughes b. 1950 died 6 August 2009 (writer, Flubber [1997], Weird Science)
Cybill Shepherd b. 1950 (No Ordinary Family, Eastwick)
Sinead Cusack b. 1948 (Wrath of the Titans, Camelot [2011 TV], The Deep [TV], V for Vendetta, Supernatural [1977 TV])
Andrea Dromm b. 1941 (Star Trek)
Jean M. Auel b. 1936 (author, Clan of the Cave Bear)
Gahan Wilson b. 1930 (illustrator, Graveside Manner, I Paint What I See)
George Kennedy b. 1925 (Brain Dead, Demonwarp, Creepshow 2, Radioactive Dreams)
Allan Melvin b. 1923 died 17 January 2008 (My Favorite Martian, Lost in Space)
Jack Palance b. 1919 died 10 November 2006 (Living with the Dead, Ebenezer, Twilight Zone: Rod Serling’s Lost Classics, Solar Crisis, Batman [1989], Cyborg 2, Gor I & II, Hawk the Slayer, Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Shape of Things to Come, Bram Stoker’s Dracula [TV], The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Alice Through the Looking Glass)
Angelo Rossitto b. 1908 died 21 September 1991 (Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome, Galaxina, Jason of Star Command, Invasion of the Saucer Men)
Queenie Leonard b.1905 died 17 January 2002 (I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, Mary Poppins)

Notes on the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. As regular readers know, being the biggest movie star on the list is no guarantee you will be in the Picture Slot. Previously, Angelo Rossitto got the Picture Slot for his role as Master in Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome. While there are plenty of fabulous babes on the list, for my money this morning the competition was between John Travolta and Jack Palance, and I went with the biggest movie star of the list because Battlefield Earth cemented L. Ron Hubbard's reputation as a hack. In the interest of full disclosure, I am not a relative of L. Ron Hubbard to the best of my knowledge and certainly I'm not close enough to be any part of Scientology, which is one of the most horrible scams on the planet in my never humble opinion. According to searches of the blog, I've only mention Scientology one time directly before today and that was in context of the character actor Michael Fairman, who has left the fold.

2. Spot the Canadians! Two today, somewhat spottable. Both the actresses born in 1984 - Chelsea Hobbs and Genelle Williams - also have their country of origin in common and they do show up on Canadian produced genre shows.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
  
Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions.

Prediction: The wave-power machine, when allied to electric transmission, will, without doubt, supply in a cheap and convenient form a material proportion of the energy required during the twentieth century for industrial purposes. Easy and effective transmission is a _sine quâ non_ in this case, just as it is in the utilization of waterfalls situated far from the busy mart and factory. Hardly any natural source of power presents so near an approach to constancy as the ocean billows.

Reality: Our sensible friend Mr. Sutherland sometimes gets stuff wrong, but most of his errors are on the conservative side or due to what the state of the art looks like in 1901. Here he argues that if we can harness waterfalls, we can certainly harness ocean waves, but the reality is that even 114 years later, power generated from wave energy is still barely past the prototype level. This 2014 article from Yale Environment 360 gives a clear view of the state of the art. Maybe it will take off in my lifetime, but it's still a long ways off.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Tomorrow, we get another prediction from The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

5 comments:

  1. I got into a long-running argument over at drift glass' place with a doofus who misread the research of an engineer who was experimenting on something else entirely, and discovered there are infinitesimal electrical differentials in parts of the ocean (which is not exactly news). This doofus immediately assumed that these differentials would be able to generate a source of power some inconceivable magnitude larger than existed in order to solve all our energies!

    Heck, even the engineer involved admitted that he had to finagle the power in order to get a single LED to light up.

    Wave Power is much more practical, and it is currently not practical at all. Tidal power might stand a chance, if we manage not to blow up the moon (not a given, as long as Republicans have an electoral base).

    Not to pimp that loon Travolta, but does Michael count as genre?

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    Replies
    1. As a mathematician and definitely not an engineer, it does seem odd how little has been done with the waves and the tides. C'mon, you lazy engineers! Solve those difficult logistical problems!

      Second topic: Michael is about angels and I am completely inconsistent about the genre. For example, I will count Jimmy Stewart in Harvey when his birthday shows up this year, but probably not It's a Wonderful Life.

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    2. well, Harvey is a Pooka and not an angel, so I think that's consistent.

      Delete
  2. Hilariously, one of our current lumps occupying a Senate seat once decried wind power, as it would use up the wind. Expect him to come out in defense of our Surfing Industry against Wave Power so as not to degrade our Strategic Wave Resources....

    ReplyDelete

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