11 March 2015

Birthdays
Anton Yelchin b. 1989 (Only Lovers Left Alive, Star Trek [2009], Fright Night, Terminator Salvation, Taken)
Daniella Kertesz b. 1989 (World War Z, AfterDeath)
Thora Birch b. 1982 (Shadow Realm, Dungeons & Dragons, Hocus Pocus, Purple People Eater)
David Anders b. 1981 (iZombie, Once Upon a Time, The Vampire Diaries, Arrow, Warehouse 13, Heroes, Children of the Corn [2009], The Revenant, Charmed, The Source)
Johnny Knoxville b. 1971 (Men in Black II)
Terrence Howard b. 1969 (Iron Man)
John Barrowman b. 1967 (Arrow, Torchwood, Doctor Who)
Peter Berg b. 1964 (director, The Six Billion Dollar Man, Battleship, Virtuality, Hancock; actor, The Leftovers, Hancock, Shocker)
Alex Kingston b. 1963 (Arrow, Doctor Who, FlashForward)
Jeffrey Nordling b. 1962 (Arrow, TRON: Legacy, Apollo 11, Time Trax, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Alien Nation, Beauty and the Beast)
Elias Koteas b. 1961 (The Last Days on Mars, Let Me In, The Fourth Kind, The Haunting in Connecticut, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Skinwalkers, S1m0ne, Gattaca, The Prophecy, Cyborg 2, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)
Fulvio Cecere b. 1960 (The Flash, Continuum, The 100, The Tomorrow People, 666 Park Avenue, Grimm, Lost Girl, Matty Hanson and the Invisibility Ray, Resident Evil: Afterlife, Watchmen, Supernatural, The Middleman, Battlestar Galactica, Reaper, Eureka, Stargate SG-1, Blade: The Series, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Paycheck, Dead Like Me, Odyssey 5, Taken, Smallville, Witchblade, Relic Hunter, Dark Angel, Earth; Final Conflict, Strange World, Millennium, Cloned, Highlander [TV], The X-Files)
Robert Glenister b. 1960 (Doctor Who)
Stephen R. Hart b. 1958 (The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Space Janitors, Oz the Great and Powerful, Lost Girl, Fear Itself, Wonderfalls, Resident Evil: Apocalypse, Carver’s Gate)
Rob Paulsen b. 1956 (The Tick, Samurai Jack, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law)
Douglas Adams b. 1952 died 11 May 2001 (author, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy)
Diane Sherry Case b. 1952 (Superman [1978])
Jerry Zucker b. 1950 (director, Ghost)
Mark Metcalf b. 1946 (Buffy, Angel, Star Trek: Voyager)
Angelique Pettyjohn b. 1943 died 14 February 1992 (The Wizard of Speed and Time, Biohazard, Repo Man, Mad Doctor of Blood Island, Star Trek, Batman, Mr. Terrific, The Green Hornet, The Phantom Planet)
Nancy Kovack b. 1935 (The Invisible Man [TV], Marooned, Star Trek, Batman, I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched, The Invaders, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Jason and the Argonauts)
Albert Salmi b. 1928 died 22 April 1990 (Knight Rider, Small & Frye, Dragonslayer, Empire of the Ants, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Future Cop, Land of the Giants, Lost in Space, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Twilight Zone)
Christopher Anvil b. 1925 died 30 November 2009 (author, Federation of Humanity, The Day the Machines Stopped)
Ferdy Mayne b. 1916 died 30 January 1998 (Frankenstein’s Aunt, Howling II:… Your Sister Is a Werewolf, Conan the Destroyer, The Greatest American Hero, Hawk the Slayer, The Vampire Lovers, The Fearless Vampire Killers, Masters of Venus)
Shemp Howard b. 1895 died 22 November 1955 (The Invisible Woman)

Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. The Picture Slot has been given in earlier years to Anton Yelchin as Chekov in the Star Trek reboot and Douglas Adams, both iconic in my book. Removing them from the list, we still have plenty of great candidates. From the Doctor Who universe, there's John Barrowman and Alex Kingston, from Buffy, there's Mark Metcalf as The Master, but I am in a Star Trek babe mood this morning (like I'm never NOT in a Star Trek babe mood), so the decision was between Angelique Pettyjohn and Nancy Kovack. This decision boiled down to breasts wrapped in tribble skins and breast wrapped in aluminum foil, and I have to say, people wearing aluminum foil as clothing just screams "FUTURE!".

2. Canadians, spottable and not. Stephen R. Hart and Fulvio Cecere are Canadian actors who stayed home. Elias Koteas is a Canadian who wandered South and decided he liked it here. David Anders has some Canadian credits, but he was born in the States.

3. MST3K. Angelique Pettyjohn was in The Phantom Planet.


4. Not related. Terrence Howard and Shemp Howard, but you knew that.

5. Making exceptions by invoking the First Rule of Blogging. It is my custom to ignore voice work, in large part because I don't want to be typing all day, but Rob Paulsen worked on three of my favorite cartoons, so he is listed here. The First Rule of Blogging is, of course, You Aren't The Boss of Me.

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

Movie released
Robots released, 2005
 

Predictor: George Sutherland in his 1901 book Twentieth Century Inventions

Prediction: The stoking difficulties on large ocean-going steamers have become so acute that they now suggest the conclusion that, notwithstanding repeated failures, a really effective mechanical stoker will be so imperatively called for as to enforce the adoption of any reasonably good device. The heat, grime, and general misery of the stoke-hole have become so deterrent that the difficulty of securing men to undertake the work grows greater year by year, and in recruiting the ranks of the stokers resort had to be had more and more to those unfortunate men whose principal motive for labour is the insatiable desire for a drinking bout.

Reality: Oh, Mr. Sutherland, and we were getting along so well.

Question 1: Are you implying there are people who work all day with no intention of getting a drink after?

Question 2: Just how many drinks constitutes a bout?

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Another incorrect but authoritative forecast from The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

19 September 2014

 Birthdays
Katrina Bowden b. 1988 (Piranha 3DD, Tucker & Dale vs. Evil)
Danielle Panabaker b. 1987 (The Flash, Time Lapse, Arrow, Piranha 3DD, Grimm, The Crazies, Sky High)
Kevin Zegers b. 1985 (The Colony, The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones, Vampire, Zoom, Dawn of the Dead, Smallville, Twice in a Lifetime, It Came from the Sky, Nico the Unicorn, Specimen, The X Files)
Columbus Short b. 1982 (Quarantine, War of the Worlds)
Tanja Reichert b. 1980 (Relic Hunter, Poltergeist: The Legacy)
Jeremy Jordan b. 1973 (Storm of the Century)
Sanaa Lathan b. 1971 (Alien vs. Predator, Blade)
Kim Richards b. 1964 (Race to Witch Mountain, Project U.F.O., Return from Witch Mountain, The Car, Escape to Witch Mountain, The Picture of Dorian Gray)
Cheri Oteri b. 1962 (Southland Tales, Inspector Gadget)
Richard Ridings b. 1958 (Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Merlin, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, Relic Hunter, Highlander [TV], Red Dwarf, Erik the Viking, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Billy the Kid and the Green Baize Vampire)
Rex Smith b. 1955 (The Trial of the Incredible Hulk, Transformations, Faerie Tale Theatre)
Ernie Sabella b. 1949 (Quantum Leap, Fright Night Part 2)
Jeremy Irons b. 1948 (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Eragon, The Time Machine)
Tanith Lee b. 1947 (writer, Tales of the Flat Earth, Animal Castle)
Randolph Mantooth b. 1945 (Battlestar Galactica, Project U.F.O.)
Mariangela Melato b. 1941 died 11 January 2013 (Flash Gordon)
Lloyd Haynes b. 1934 died 31 December 1986 (The Green Hornet, Batman, Star Trek)
David McCallum b. 1933 (Jeremiah, Team Knight Rider, VR.5, Babylon 5, SeaQuest 2032, The Watcher in the Woods, The Invisible Man, Frankenstein: The True Story, The Six Million Dollar Man: Wine, Women and War, The Outer Limits)
Kathie Browne b. 1930 died 8 April 2003 (Star Trek, Mr. Terrific, The Brass Bottle, My Favorite Martian)
Mel Stewart b. 1929 died 24 February 2002 (Bride of Re-Animator, Martians Go Home, Dead Heat, The Invisible Woman, Mr. Merlin, The Greatest American Hero, Tabitha)
Adam West b. 1928 (Monster Island, Black Scorpion, An American Vampire Story, Weird Science [TV], The Flash, Doin’ Time on Planet Earth, Zombie Nightmare, Time Warp, Warp Speed, Batman, Bewitched, The Outer Limits, Robinson Crusoe on Mars)
Rosemary Harris b. 1927 (Radio Free Albemuth, Spider-Man, The Boys from Brazil)
Damon Knight b. 1922 died 15 April 2002 (writer, To Serve Man)

I'm starting to worry that now I've created the label "Wait... he's dead?" (and today adding "Wait... she's dead?"), I'm going to see candidates for these labels every damn day. Kathie Browne, today's Picture Slot representative in her role from Star Trek, was 72 when she died earlier this century, as was Mel Stewart, best known for non-genre roles on All in the Family and Scarecrow & Mrs. King. The real stunner for me is Lloyd Haynes, star of Room 222, died at the age of 52 almost thirty years ago. I'd forgotten that completely.

Last year, the Picture Slot was given to Adam West and I would argue he that if the criteria is iconic genre role, he's the hands down winner. I don't know who will be in the Picture Slot next year.

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

Predictor: William Borah (1865-1940), Republican senator from Idaho

Prediction: "I will never see the day when the Eighteenth Amendment is out of the Constitution of the U.S."

Reality: Technically, you could say Senator Borah was correct, since the Eighteenth is still there between the Seventeenth and Nineteenth. It's just that the Twenty First Amendment was ratified in 1933 and suddenly it was no longer illegal to get a drink in the U.S. once again.

I have to say the more I read about Borah, who was considered a "liberal" Republican, the less I like him. He fought hard against federal anti-lynching legislation, claiming "state's rights". He also fathered an illegitimate child born in 1925 with Alice Roosevelt Longworth when both of them were married to other people. Borah was 60 and Longworth was 41.

This prediction is from The Experts Speak by Christopher Cerf and Victor Navasky. It had been sharing the Sunday duties with the nuclear holocaust fiction, but I have enough predictions from both to let them both have a day of their own for the time being.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Back to 1893 for another best guess at the Twentieth Century, though sadly, no interesting facial hair.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

 

19 July 2014

 Birthdays
Jared Padalecki b. 1982 (Supernatural, Friday the 13th, House of Wax)
Erin Cummings b. 1977 (Dollhouse, Charmed, Star Trek: Enterprise)
Benedict Cumberbatch b. 1976 (The Hobbit, Star Trek Into Darkness)
Bodhi Elfman b. 1969 (Touch, Charmed, Armageddon, Sliders, Godzilla, 3rd Rock from the Sun)
Nancy Carell b. 1966 (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World)
Anthony Edwards b. 1962 (Zero Hour, Pet Sematary II)
Campbell Scott b. 1961 (The Amazing Spider-Man, Final Days of Planet Earth, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Top of the Food Chain)
Terri Treas b. 1957 (Alien Nation [TV], Knight Rider)
K.A. Applegate b. 1956 (author, Animorphs, The One and Only Ivan)
Peter Barton b. 1956 (Friday the 13th: The Final Chapter, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Dan Hicks b. 1951 (Paranormal, Burbank, My Name is Bruce, Spider-Man 2, Wishmaster, Ultraman: The Ultimate Hero, Darkman, Evil Dead II)
Richard Pini b. 1950 (writer, Elfquest)
George Dzundza b. 1945 (Stargate: SG-1, The Twilight Zone [1986], Faerie Tale Theatre, Salem’s Lot)
Tim McIntire b. 1944 died 15 April 1986 (A Boy and His Dog)
Richard Jordan b. 1937 died 30 August 1993 (Solar Babies, Dune, Logan’s Run)
Pat Hingle b. 1924 died 3 January 2009 (Muppets from Space, Batman, The Shining [TV], Maximum Overdrive, Amazing Stories, The Six Million Dollar Man, The Invaders, Twilight Zone)

Last year, the Picture Slot was Benedict Cumberbatch and this year, same guy. Right now is his moment and it is remarkable that most of this fame is based on a TV show from BBC where three episodes constitutes a season and the seasons are two years apart. There are other options, of course. I might get in an Oh That Guy mood and go with Pat Hingle or maybe Terri Treas in her Alien Nation make-up. But when the 19th of July rolls around next year, don't be shocked if you are once again staring at the impossibly high cheekbones of Mr. B.T.C. Cumberbatch one more time.

It's his world right now and we just live in it.

Movies released
The Conjuring, released 2013

Predictor: David Hummel Greer, (1844-1919), Anglican Bishop of New York, predicting the world of 1993 in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in Chicago

Prediction: I am satisfied that we are to have a solution to the mighty problem of temperance. This will come neither in legislative enactments nor in criminal procedure. Rather, I think temperance is to be gained solely by the influence of the Christian religion.

Reality: As always when dealing with 1893, we should start with a look at the facial hair. The mustache is large but not ostentatious. The grooming choice that is now out of date is the slicked down hair with the part in the middle.

As for solving the societal problems associated with alcohol, we haven't done that yet and the Christian religion shows no sign of being the panacea in this regard. That said, I'd like to note that drinking as a cost to society has been reduced over the last fifty years. From the 1970s to the 1990s, cirrhosis was one of the top ten causes of death. While it can be caused by hepatitis, the greater numbers from those decades is usually associated with the drinking habits which peaked in the United States in the 1970s and has since tapered off.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Time yet again to glean wisdom from the pages of The Experts Speak.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

11 May 2014

 Birthdays
Cory Monteith b. 1982 died 13 July 2013 (Flash Gordon [TV], Kyle XY [TV], Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep, Stargate SG-1, Smallville, Supernatural)
Jonathan Jackson b. 1982 (The Sarah Connor Chronicles, Tuck Everlasting)
Brian Caspe b. 1975 (Wanted, Hellboy, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen)
Nicky Katt b. 1970 (Grindhouse, Sin City, Batman & Robin, Kindred: The Embraced, Strange Days, Knight Rider 2010, Martians Go Home, V, Gremlins, Voyagers!)
Jeffrey Donovan b. 1968 (Threshold, Witchblade, Book of Shadows: Blair Witch 2, Millennium)
Tim Blake Nelson b. 1964 (The Fantastic Four [2015], The Incredible Hulk, The Astronaut Farmer, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Minority Report)
Natasha Richardson b. 1963 died 18 March 2009 (The Handmaid’s Tale, Gothic)
Vince Grant b. 1961 (Seeking a Friend for the End of the World, Touch, Star Trek: Enterprise, Timequest, Brave New World, Dracula: Dead and Loving It)
Shohreh Aghdashloo b. 1952 (Grimm, FlashForward, X-Men: The Last Stand)
Frances Fisher b. 1952 (Resurrection, Touch, Torchwood, Eureka, The X-Files, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman [1993])
Pam Ferris b. 1948 (Children of Men, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
Doug McClure b. 1935 died 5 February 1995 (Out of this World, Superboy, Automan, Manimal, Firebird 2015 AD, Humanoids from the Deep, Warlords of the Deep, At the Earth’s Core, Twilight Zone)
Bernard Fox b. 1927 (The Mummy, Bewitched, I Dream of Jeannie)
Denver Pyle b. 1920 died 25 December 1997 (Escape from Witch Mountain, Return to Witch Mountain, The Twilight Zone, Commando Cody)
Doodles Weaver b. 1911 died 17 January 1983 (Earthbound, Bigfoot, Land of the Giants, Batman, The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock, Superman [1948])

The thing that jumps out at me on this is how many people died young on this list, most notably Cory Monteith and Natasha Richardson, but also Doug McClure, not to be confused with Troy McClure, the voice of infomercials on The Simpsons, voiced originally by the late Phil Hartman. With all this random death wandering around, I decided to give the Picture Slot to Bernard Fox, best known in genre as Dr. Bombay from Bewitched. Yes, Dr. Bombay is still alive! Yay! (Bewitched is yet another show where nearly everyone is gone.)

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

Predictor: Thomas Dixon Jr., minister, actor, legislator and author, asked to predict the 20th Century in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exhibition in 1893.

Predictions: There will be no crowned head of the civilized world at the end of the next century... "the less government the better" is the motto of an infantile republic... the railroads and telegraphs will be owned by the state... within the next century, the saloon is certain to be outlawed... the punishment of criminals will be based more and more on the effort to reform... Our divorce laws must become more uniform... The tendency for the accumulation of wealth must continue to increase until overturned by a social revolution... Corporations will continue to grow until they dispute the authority of the state, then they shall be absorbed by the state... the condition of the laboring classes is certain to become more independent as they grow better educated... medicine will attain the dignity of a science... Woman will attain her status of equality before the law.

Reality: I am picking and choosing from a whole bunch of predictions made by Dixon over four pages of text, but I'm not distorting his message, which is very progressive. Even outlawing saloons, which seems like a bad idea now, went arm in arm with the suffrage movement. (As a history teacher I know puts it, Prohibition was an attempt to outlaw bad husbands.) He's hit or miss on his predictions: on the minus side,  there are still kings and the railroads are not owned by the government. On the positive side, medicine has improved significantly and women have many more legal rights.

All of this is prelude to the big reveal. Dixon is best known now for his 1905 book The Klansman, a pro-KKK novel that was turned into the 1915 movie Birth of a Nation. I am sure conservative writers today would love to find this guy, a bigot who in nearly all other respects toes the liberal line almost completely.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

OMNI Future Almanac, mostly optimistic and largely full of crap.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

8 February 2014 - UPDATED with Gertie the Dinosaur

 Birthdays
Dawn Olivieri b. 1981 (The Vampire Diaries, True Blood, Heroes, Stargate:Atlantis)
Jim Parrack b. 1981 (True Blood, Battle Los Angeles, Supernatural)
Seth Green b. 1974 (Buffy, The Venture Brothers, Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed, Greg the Bunny, Angel, Seaquest 2032, The X-Files, My Stepmother Is an Alien)
Mary McCormack b. 1969 (K-PAX, Deep Impact)
Larry Clarke b. 1964 (Transformers: Dark of the Moon, Lost, Buffy)
Ethan Phillips b. 1955 (True Blood, The Island, Star Trek: Enterprise, Star Trek: Voyager, Star Trek: First Contact, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Werewolf[TV], The Twilight Zone [1986], Critters)
Mary Steenburgen b. 1953 (Elf, Gulliver’s Travels, Back to the Future Part III, Time After Time)
Brooke Adams b. 1949 (The Dead Zone, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
Roger Lloyd Pack b. 1944 died 15 January 2014 (Doctor Who, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Interview with the Vampire, U.F.O., The Magus)
Nick Nolte b. 1941 (The Spiderwick Chronicles, Hulk, Breakfast of Champions)
John Williams b. 1932 (composer, Star Wars, Minority Report, Harry Potter, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones, E.T., Dracula [1979], Superman, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Land of the Giants, The Time Tunnel, Lost in Space)
Jack Larson b. 1928 (Superman Returns, Lois & Clark, Superboy, Advnetures of Superman)
Lyle Talbot b. 1902 died 2 March 1996 (Plan 9 From Outer Space, Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe, Tobor the Great)
Jules Verne b. 1828 died 24 March 1905 (author, From the Earth to the Moon, Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, Journey to the Center of the Earth, In the Year 2889)

A long birthday list today and many good candidates for the Picture Slot. For iconic roles, Jack Larson as Jimmy Olsen and Ethan Phillips as Neelix would certainly qualify, but I'd say the two most influential talents on this list are those who aren't on camera, composer John Williams and author Jules Verne, whose picture you are looking at. I had forgotten that Williams did so much work for Irwin Allen early in his career, writing the themes for all of Allen's sci-fi shows except Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea. His later work, much of it with Steven Spielberg, speaks for itself.

Regular readers will know that I have often used H.G. Wells for predictions but I've never used Verne. The reason is simple. Many of his stories with dates assume that the fantastic events have already happened and his great leap into the future was to 2889, which is way too far into the future to be useful by the standards set for this blog.

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

Movies released
Gertie the Dinosaur by Winsor McCay released 1914
The first cartoon using keyframe animation is now one hundred years old. This was a huge step forward in the technology and even without that, it's Winsor McCay, one of the great cartoonists of all time, whether moving or still. The link above gives a lot of live action lead-in to the main show, but I found it entrancing and I hope you will as well.

Predictor: Senator William A. Peffer or Kansas, giving his predictions for the 20th Century in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exposition held in Chicago.

Predictions: Men will grow wiser, better and purer in the years to come. The common weal will be the chief end of government, the ballot of the poor shall be counted and the popular will be law. Women will share with men in all the duties of citizenship, the dramshop (a.k.a. saloons) extinct and war abolished. Men will navigate the air and smoke shall be suppressed. The time of daily toils shall be shortened to four or five hours.

Reality: Well, Senator Peffer wasn't asking for much, was he? I cut several of his predictions short, but he went through the entire shopping list of populism that was found back in his day. It's no coincidence that women's suffrage, prohibition of alcohol and anti-war sentiments should all end up in the same sentence. As a historian friend of mine puts it, prohibition of alcohol was the attempt of the women's rights movement to outlaw bad husbands.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

A prediction about October 2015 from this week's Wall Street Journal.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
  

2 October 2013

Birthdays
Camilla Belle b. 1986 (10,000 BC, The Lost World: Jurassic Park)
Sting b. 1951 (Dune)
Persis Khambatta b. 1948 died 8/18/1998 (Star Trek: The Motion Picture)
Avery Brooks b. 1948 (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine)
Vernor Vinge b. 1944
(won 1993 Hugo for A Fire on the Deep)
(won 2000 Hugo for A Deepness in the Sky)
(won 2007 Hugo for Rainbow's End)
Jack Finney b. 1911 died 14 November 1995 (author, Invasion of the Body Snatchers)
Alex Raymond b. 1909 died 6 September 1956 (artist, Flash Gordon)
Willy Ley b. 1906 died 24 June 1969 (author, Adventure in Space)

I always like to see a mix of authors and actors on the birthday list. Since Stephen Collins got the Picture Slot yesterday, it is only fair Persis Khambatta gets it today. Of all the writers, I remember we had some of Willy Ley's non-fiction about rockets in the house when I was a kid.

Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list.

Prediction: ...[A]lcohol, as a beverage, must inevitably disappear. Not only because the price of intoxicants is an unproductive expenditure (and we shall have to be more and more thrifty as time goes on) but because the nerves of the new age would never stand them, must all alcoholic beverages be regarded as destined to obsolescence: and the legislative aspect of this question must presently be touched upon.

I think it quite likely that when alcohol is gone, the nerves of the future may find it necessary to place the sale of tea and of coffee under restrictions similar to those at present inflicted upon the trade in alcohol…

Predictor: T. Baron Russell in A Hundred Years Hence, published 1905


Reality: Hey, buddy, I gotcher future nerves right here. A lot of futurists from this era think alcohol will be frowned upon in the bright, shining age to come,  but I haven't run across many who think coffee and tea need to be controlled. As for thrift, I'm personally happy to do without a car, cable TV and a cell phone, but my budget definitely has room for some wine and India pale ale.

Looking one day ahead.... INTO THE FUTURE!

Yet another prediction from H.G. Wells about the 20th Century, bleak but not entirely wrong.


Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!