Tuesday, August 26, 2014

26 August 2014

Birthdays
Dylan O’Brien b. 1991 (The Maze Runner, Teen Wolf)
Jennifer Higham b. 1984 (Metamorphosis, Ella Enchanted)
Nanzeen Contractor b. 1982 (Star Trek Into Darkness, Pegasus vs. Chimera, Relic Hunter, Starhunter)
Chris Pine b. 1980 (Into the Woods, Star Trek, Carriers)
Amanda Schull b. 1978 (12 Monkeys [2014 TV], Grimm)
Mike Colter b. 1976 (American Horror Story, Men in Black 3)
Meredith Eaton b. 1974 (Paranormal Activity)
Oleg Taktarov b. 1967 (Predators, National Treasure, Rollerball [2002])
Brett Cullen b. 1956 (Under the Dome, The Dark Knight Rises, Lost, Pixel Perfect, From the Earth to the Moon, The Omen [1995 TV], Apollo 13, Deep Space Nine, Prehysteria!, V [1985], The Incredible Hulk)
Michael Jeter b. 1952 died 30 March 2003 (Taken, Jurassic Park III, The Green Mile, Waterworld, Zelig)
Jane Merrow b. 1941 (The Greatest American Hero, The Incredible Hulk, The Six Million Dollar Man, UFO, The Prisoner)
Yvette Vickers b. 1928 died 2010 (Attack of the Giant Leeches, Attack of the 50 Foot Woman)
Jim Davis b. 1909 died 26 April 1981 (The Day Time Ended, Project U.F.O., Satan’s Triangle, The Sixth Sense, Dracula vs. Frankenstein [1971], The Time Tunnel, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter, Monster from Green Hell)

To be blunt, there is one movie star on this list and so far, he has one iconic role, though that may change depending on how well Into the Woods is received. Last year, I had Yvette Vickers in the Picture Slot because she's a fabulous babe, she was in one particular movie and the strange and newsworthy events of the discovery of her body in her home long after her death, so no exact date is given. The other surprises in this research: I'd never heard the last name Contractor before and I forgot that Michael Jeter was dead.

Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories. 
 
Predictor: FM-2030 in UpWingPriorities, published 1981

Prediction: Physical Immortality: The most basic and urgent problem facing us is death. All other human constraints are derivative. Death casts a pall over all of life. So long as we are terminal we cannot enhance the basic quality of life. So long as there is death no one is free.

Accelerators: Slow down aging through genetic and cellular intervention. Telemonitor every person for continuous protection from internal and external hazards. Reformat our terminal bodies into versatile telebodies with easy plug in replacement parts. Facilitate freefly to reduce gravitational wear and tear and rapidly break away from natural disasters. Provide universal cryonic suspension in case of unavoidable death. Spread a Psychology of Immortality - the will to live forever.


Reality: Wait... The Affordable Care Act does NOT provide universal cryonic suspension? Thanks, Obama!

We are going to be visited by the frozen ghost of FM-2030 on Tuesdays well into November. (He died in 2000 and is in cryogenic storage, naturally.) He considered his ideas so new and exciting that he had to make up words like telemonitor, telebodies and freefly just to express them. We've had some predictors I didn't care for. Notably, the racist, murderous scumbag Larry Niven comes to mind. But for pure pompous asshattery, FM-2030 is to Ray Kurzweil as Babe Ruth is to Hank Greenberg. They are both pretty stunning, but one of them is in a category by himself.

(Note: I mocked FM-2030 for making up words, but my spell checker doesn't recognize "asshattery". Google, on the other hand, knows it is a common modern slang term. I didn't make it up.)

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

Herman Kahn makes yet another shot in the dark prediction about the 1970s and 1980s.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

1 comment:

  1. We are going to be visited by the frozen ghost of FM-2030 on Tuesdays well into November.

    Positively Dickensian.

    Or else it sounds like one of the crappier Doctor Who episodes.

    ReplyDelete

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