9 May 2014

Birthdays
Chris Zylka b. 1985 (The Amazing Spider-Man, Piranha 3DD, Shark Night 3D)
Rosario Dawson b. 1979 (Sin City, Parts Per Billion, Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief, Grindhouse, The Adventures of Pluto Nash, Men in Black 2)
Karl Thanning b. 1977 (Dredd, Starship Troopers 3: Marauder, Doomsday, The Triangle, Supernova, Cavegirl)
Megumi Odaka b. 1972 (Godzilla vs. Destroyah, Godzilla vs. Space Godzilla, Godzilla vs. Mecagodzilla, Gojira vs. Mosura, Godzilla vs. Biollante, Princess from the Moon)
Hudson Leick b. 1969 (Xena, Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Knight Rider 2010)
John Corbett b. 1961 (The Sky’s on Fire, The Warlord: Battle for the Galaxy, The Visitor [TV series], Volcano)
Chuck Russell b. 1958 (director, The Scorpion King, The Mask, The Blob, A Nightmare on Elm Street: Dream Warriors)
Lorena Gale b. 1958 died 21 June 2009 (The Day the Earth Stood Still, Battlestar Galactica, Bionic Woman [2007], The 4400, Slither, Supernatural, Neverwas, Fantastic Four, The Chronicles of Riddick, 10.5, Kingdom Hospital, The Butterfly Effect, Smallville, Dead Like Me, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Halloween: Resurrection, Dark Angel, Stargate SG-1, Runaway Virus, Zenon; Girl of the 21st Century, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show, The X-Files, Millennium, Deadlocked: Escape from Zone 14, M.A.N.T.I.S., Highlander, The Fly II)
Tessa Peake-Jones b. 1957 (Doctor Who, The Lost World, The Demon Headmaster)
Kevin Peter Hall b. 1955 died 10 April 1991 (Highway to Hell, Harry and the Hendersons [TV and movie], Predator, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Misfits of Science, Monster in the Closet, Mazes and Monsters, Without Warning, Prophecy)
Anthony Higgins b. 1947 (Malice in Wonderland, The Bride, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Vampire Circus, Taste the Blood of Dracula)
Virginia Wetherell b. 1943 (Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Demons of the Mind, A Clockwork Orange, Dr Jekyll and Sister Hyde, Doctor Who)
Albert Finney b. 1936 (Big Fish, Breakfast of Champions, Looker, Wolfen)
William M. Marston b. 1893 died 2 May 1947 (writer, Wonder Woman)
J.M. Barrie b. 1860 died 19 June 1937 (author, Peter Pan)

Quite a list today. The creators of Peter Pan and Wonder Woman, one of my favorite actors in Albert Finney, a couple of fabulous babes in Hudson Leick and Rosario Dawson (last year's Picture Slot choice), but the names that caught my attention are two people who were born about the same time I was who are now dead. The first is the very tall Kevin Peter Hall, who spent a lot of his career in costumes in movies including Predator, Harry and the Hendersons and Prophecy. And secondly and in the Picture Slot, Lorena Gale, whose career qualifies her as an Oh That Gal, somewhat rarer than Oh That Guys, pictured here from Battlestar Galactica, the role for which she said she was most recognized.

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

Predictor: Dr. Paul Ehrlich in the 1968 book The Population Bomb

Prediction:
Scenario #3:
1974: U.S. stops sending food to India, Egypt and other countries beyond hope
1985: Major dieback is over, developed nations use famine relief with population control to get population back to 2 billion in 2025 and 1.5 billion in 2100.

Reality: At least this one didn't involve nukes. There has been no major dieback and while it's still possible, the thing that makes his book so ridiculous in hindsight is how certain he was that 3.5 billion people had to be unsustainable.

The good news about population is that now that infant mortality rates are decreasing, so are birth rates around the world and the rate of increase is definitely slowing.  The bad news isn't world hunger so much as the overuse of other resources, most notably fossil fuels, the cause of horrible pollution in places like China and nasty environmental accidents worldwide, and of course, adding to the CO2 levels that cause climate change.

The real problem with global warming is not that it's so immediate but instead that it is so gradual. This is exactly the sort of problem humans don't solve well.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We interrupt our regular weekly rotation with an exact for the start of a nuclear war.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!