Anna Popplewell b. 1988 (The Chronicles of Narnia)
Theo James b. 1984 (Divergent, Underworld: Awakening)
Christina Cabot b. 1969 (The Incredible Hulk [2008])
Miranda Otto b. 1967 (War of the Worlds, Lord of the Rings)
Benjamin Bratt b. 1963 (The Andromeda Strain[2008], Catwoman, Red Planet, Demolition Man)
Shane Black b. 1961 (writer, Iron Man 3, Last Action Hero, The Monster Squad)
Xander Berkeley b. 1955 (Being Human, Kick-Ass, Timecode, Apollo 11, Apollo 13, Attack of the 50 Ft. Woman, The X-Files, Candyman, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Twilight Zone, V, Gattaca)
Ben Cross b. 1947 (Star Trek, Jack the Giant Killer, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, Dark Shadows[1991], The Twilight Zone)
Terence Knox b. 1946 (SeaQuest 2032, Lois & Clark, Twilight Zone, V)
Philip K. Dick b. 1928 died 3/2/1982
(won 1963 Hugo for The Man in the High Castle)
Sir Arthur C. Clarke b. 1917 died 3/19/2008
(won 1974 Hugo and Nebula for Rendezvous with Rama)
(won 1980 Hugo and Nebula for The Fountains of Paradise)
If I were in the mood to give the Picture Slot to an actor today, it would likely be Xander Berkeley, a serious "oh, that guy" face with a long career. But since this blog is about science fiction, the Picture Slot has to be one of our two late writers, and since I've had Arthur C. Clarke's picture up many times, instead you are looking at a young Philip K. Dick and his cat.
(Also in my research for birthdays today, Ludwig Van Beethoven was born in 1770 and Jane Austen in 1775. That's a whole lot of famous for one day.)
Many happy returns of the day to the living on the list, and to Philip K. Dick and Arthur C. Clarke, thanks for all the memories, some of which may not actually be ours.
In the Year 2000!
Predictor: OMNI Future Almanac, published 1982
Prediction (and reality): The 10 most populous states in 2000, with population rounded to the nearest thousand (actual population in parentheses, percentage mistake)
1. California 27,309,000 (33,872,000 low by 19.1%)
2. New York 17,961,000 (18,976,000, low by 5.3%)*
3. Texas 17,167,000 (20,852,000, low by 17.6%)*
4. Florida 14,394,000 (15,982,000 low by 10.0%)
5. Pennsylvania 12,317,000 (12,281,000 high by 0.3%)**
6. Illinois 11,923,000 (12,419,000 low by 4.0%)**
7. Ohio 11,051,000 (11,353,000 low by 2.7%)
8. Michigan 10,148,000 (9,938,000 high by 4.8%)
9. New Jersey 8,425,000 (8,414,000 high by 0.1%)
10. North Carolina 7,226,000 (8,049,000 low by 10.2%)
Okay, how good is this mathematically? It misses the growth in the Sun Belt by a bunch. Texas and New York should be switched, as should Pennsylvania and Illinois, while North Carolina was 11th in the 2000 census behind Georgia. If I was grading this, I would say two of the predictions are excellent, four more are acceptable and four are not acceptable.
It may seem that I just enjoy mocking The OMNI Future Almanac, but I love it as a source. It was absolutely unafraid to write down exact numbers on exact dates like it knew what it was talking about. Better to be bold and wrong than wishy-washy and kinda sorta right.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
We get another grumpy view of the 20th Century from H.G. Wells, still our regular Tuesday guy until the end of the year.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Better to be bold and wrong than wishy-washy and kinda sorta right.
ReplyDeleteI used to have a huge pink eraser with "Often in error; never in doubt" stenciled on it. It's kind of my life motto.
Those would be fitting family words for several houses in the Song of Fire and Ice.
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