Monday, May 6, 2013

6 May 2013


Birthday
Michael O'Hare b. 1952 died 28 September 2012

Recall that Babylon 5 is roughly contemporary with Deep Space Nine. There are four regular cast members whose names appeared in the title sequence from Babylon 5 that are already dead. O'Hare and Jeff Conaway were 60 when they died, Andreas Katsulas was 59 and Richard Biggs was 54. Looking at the people whose names were in the title sequence of Deep Space Nine, all the actors are still alive.

Babylon 5 was a very unlucky show.
 
Movie released
Thor, released 2011

In the year 2000!
 
Prediction: 1968: Waltham engineers foresee this exciting possibility: "Wristwatches in the year 2000 will be used for more than time measurement. They will be total communications centers, containing devices not only for accurate timing but also for voice and vision communication and recording - they'll even contain simple miniaturized computers."

Predictor: The Wonderful Future That Never Was published in 2009 by Gregory Benford and the editors of Popular Mechanics

Reality: This is a pretty good call. In 2000, the digital wristwatch was still popular and capable of almost all the features mentioned, except possibly vision communication. Now, a little more than a decade later, cell phones have replaced wrist watches and all the features mentioned are possible.

Note: the picture shown is taken from the page where the prediction is made in the book, but of course computer watches have nothing to do with gears and pallets and double-jewel bearings.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!


I am running low on predictions from Robert A. Heinlein, so tomorrow I will bring in the guy who will soon be our regular Tuesday predictor, Larry Niven.

 
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

1 comment:

  1. The Dick Tracy Watch has really never lost its grip on the zeitgeist, has it? Just Goofle "Apple iWatch".

    OT, and perhaps of interest, here is a link to a dude who has embarked on a "One Year Mission" to watch ALL the Trek. He's made it through TOS and the Animated series and the Original cast movies, so far:

    http://allthestartrek.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete

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