Justin Timberlake b. 1981 (In Time, Shrek the Third)
Kerry Washington b. 1977 (Fantastic Four)
Minnie Driver b. 1970 (The Deep, Ella Enchanted, Tarzan, Princess Mononoke)
Grant Morrison b. 1960 (writer, All Star Superman, Batman R.I.P., New X-Men)
Jonathan Banks b. 1947 (Millennium Man, SeaQuest 2032, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Otherworld, Buckaroo Banzai)
Glynn Turman b. 1947 (Super 8, FlashForward, Millennium, Gremlins, Manimal, The Twilight Zone [1985])
James Franciscus b. 1934 (When Time Ran Out, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Marooned, The Valley of Gwangi, Twilight Zone)
Jean Simmons b. 1929 (Howl’s Moving Castle, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Dark Shadows [1991])
William Hurst b. 1922 died 25 January 1995 (Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, The Six Million Dollar Man, Gemini Man, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Devil Doll [1964], Gorgo)
John Agar b. 1921 died 7 April 2002 (The Twilight Zone [1986], Zontar: The Thing from Venus, Women of the Prehistoric Planet, Journey to the Seventh Planet, Destination Space, Invisible Invaders, Attack of the Puppet People, The Brain from Planet Arous, The Mole People, Tarantula, Revenge of the Creature)
Eddie Willard b. 1911 died 21 August 1981 (Star Wars: Episode IV: A New Hope, The Mummy [1959])
Percy Helton b. 1894 died 11 September 1971 (Land of the Giants, Batman [TV], The Green Hornet, Twilight Zone, 20000 Leagues Under the Sea, The Adventures of Superman)
Today's birthday list skews older, with four people born after I was and eight born before. All of the women easily qualify for the Pretty Girl = Picture Slot rule, and we have two really good looking guys, James Franciscus and John Agar, who did bigger budget projects early in their careers but fell into the sci-fi genre ghetto and never quite came back. Jonathan Banks has become an Oh, That Guy with his roles on Breaking Bad and Community, but it's interesting to see him when he was young and had hair. But as you can see, the Picture Slot went to one of my favorite Oh, That Guys of all time Percy Helton. He did a jillion little roles, usually as the sweet faced old man. (In Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, his character's name was Sweetface.)
Many happy returns of the day to all the living on the list and to the departed, thanks for all the memories.)
Prediction: The US men’s soccer team will win the World Cup before the Red Sox win the World Series.
Predictors: Taking the yes is Mike Elliot, Editor at large at Time and taking the no, actor Ted Danson
Reality: This is our first prediction from the Wired magazine series of Long Bets. Some have two people betting, one on the yes and the other on the no. Some just have one side covered. Most of the propositions have exact years, but this one is of the form "x will happen before y". For folks who don't follow sports, this bet made in 2002 was resolved in 2004 when the Red Sox won the Series for the first time since 1918.
I'm assuming Elliot went out of his way to make the bet and I will say it was a very bad gamble and not just in retrospect. While it was true the Red Sox were on a terrible streak, they really weren't a terrible organization. One of the obvious things working against him is the World Series is played every year and the World Cup is only played once in four years. The other thing working against him is how far the United States is away from being an elite football power. Americans may like soccer as a sport for the kids to play, but we are so far away from loving it intensely we may never catch up to the Brazilians and Argentines in our own hemisphere or the best countries in Europe.
While I might not live to see either thing happen, I would wager the Chicago Cubs will win the Series before the United States men win the World Cup.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Back to 1893 and some canny predictions from a Mr. Felix Oswald.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
Well, you are safe for this year, even if the US takes Ghana,They can't get past Germany and Portugal. The Cubs have to go with last year's rotation unless Samardzia goes to Toronto which will make them even worse.
ReplyDeleteI'm safe this decade. Occasionally the Yanks produce a top talent, but look at the top scorers in any of the best European leagues. Not a lot of our countrymen on that list.
DeleteAgreed about US men's soccer, after many years of excessive optimism. Josy Altidore was on that list a year ago, but that was in the Dutch Eredivisie. This year, on the worst side in the English Premier League? Not so much.
DeleteThat said, unlike the Bosox, the Cubs have been poorly run all these decades, and I see little sign of that improving before the US men win a World Cup. My money's still on US Soccer, though I don't expect to live long enough to collect.
Okay, Abu, this will be our long bet for bragging rights only. You get men's US soccer as World Cup champs, I'll take the Cubs winning the series.
DeleteI agree that it's a distinct possibility the outcome will be decided after both of us are dead and gone.