Birthdays
Mars Curiosity landed 2012
Maddox Jolie-Pitt b. 2001 (World War Z)
Olivia Holt b. 1997 (Girl vs. Monster)
Ryan McDonald b. 1984 (Warehouse 13, Fringe, 2012, ReGenesis, Halloween: Resurrection)
Jesse Williams b. 1981 (The Cabin in the Woods)
Sophia Winkleman b. 1980 (Red Dwarf, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
Victor Cruz b. 1980 (Gotham, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Fringe)
Iddo Goldberg b. 1975 (Salem)
Lori Bagley b. 1973 (The Stepford Wives [2004])
Paul Kasey b. 1973 (Doctor Who, Being Human, The Sarah Jane Chronicles, Inkheart, Torchwood, 28 Days Later…, Blade II)
Darren Shahlavi b. 1972 died 14 January 2015 (Tomorrowland, Once Upon a Time on Wonderland, Continuum, Arrow, Aladdin and the Death Lamp, Mortal Kombat, Red Riding Hood, Watchmen, Bionic Woman [2007], Reaper, Slither, Merlin’s Apprentice, Legion of the Dead)
James Gunn b. 1970 (director, Guardians of the Galaxy, Slither [2006])
Chuck Campbell b. 1969 (Sanctuary, Stargate: Atlantis, Painkiller Jane, Stargate SG-1, Jason X, Earth: Final Conflict)
Jonathan Silverman b. 1966 (Inkubus, Jekyll, 12:01, Death Becomes Her)
Mark Strong b. 1963 (Nosferatu in Love, John Carter, Green Lantern, Kick-Ass, Babylon A.D., Stardust)
Tawny Kitaen b. 1961 (Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, They Came from Outer Space, Witchboard)
Vivian Kubrick b. 1960 (The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey)
Janet McTeer b. 1961 (Insurgent)
Maureen McCormick b. 1956 (I Dream of Jeannie, Bewitched)
Holly Palance b. 1950 (The Omen)
Loni Anderson b. 1945 (Sabrina, The Teenage Witch, Munchie, Amazing Stories, The Incredible Hulk, The Invisible Man [1975])
Natalie Trundy b. 1940 (Battle for the Planet of the Apes, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, Escape from the Planet of the Apes, Beneath the Planet of the Apes, Twilight Zone)
Larry Elmore b. 1948 (artist)
Jan Francis b. 1947 (Ghostbusters of East Finchley, Aladdin and the Forty Thieves, Dracula [1979])
Alan Howard b. 1937 died 14 February 2015 (Lord of the Rings)
John Saxon b. 1935 (Lancelot: Guardian of Time, From Dusk Till Dawn, Hellmaster, My Mom’s a Werewolf, A Nightmare on Elm Street, Prisoners of the Lost Universe, Battle Beyond the Stars, Wonder Woman, The Bionic Woman, The Six Million Dollar Man, Strange New World, Planet Earth, The Time Tunnel, Queen of Blood, Blood Beast from Outer Space)
Zakes Mokae b. 1934 died 11 September 2009 (The X Files, Waterworld, Outbreak, Vampire in Brooklyn, Knight Rider)
Joan Weldon b. 1933 (Them!)
Neil Armstrong b. 1930 died 25 August 2012 (first man to walk on the moon)
Don Matheson b.1929 died 29 June 2014 (Dragonflight, Alice in Wonderland [1985], Land of the Giants, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Lost in Space)
Mickey Shaughnessy b. 1920 died 23 July 1985 (Conquest of Space)
Selma Diamond b. 1920 died 13 May 1985 (Twilight Zone: The Movie)
Parley Baer b. 1914 died 22 November 2002 (Star Trek: Voyager, Roswell, Quantum Leap, Time Trackers, Twilight Zone [1986], The Incredible Hulk, Project U.F.O., Bewitched, Land of the Giants, I Dream of Jeannie, The Addams Family, My Favorite Martian, My Living Doll, The Outer Limits, The Brass Bottle)
John Huston b. 1906 died 28 August 1987 (Battle for the Planet of the Apes)
Reginald Owen b. 1887 died 5 November 1972 (Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Bewitched, Mary Poppins, A Christmas Carol [1938])
Notes from the birthday list.
1. The Picture Slot. In previous years, the Picture Slot was given to Neil Armstrong and The One Ring, voiced by Alan Howard. If I was in the mood to put up an actor, Reginald Owen as Scrooge is the most iconic, and putting up Mark Strong from Green Lantern would just be cruel, but I decided to celebrate the third anniversary of Mars Curiosity, one of the most science fiction-like real events in the past decade.
2. Spot the Canadians! Ryan McDonald and Chuck Campbell are Canadians and their credit lists look Canadian. The late Darren Shahlavi's credits look a little Canadian, but he was born in the U.K. (He also deserved his own Never to be Forgotten, but I didn't see his obit last January.) The unspottable Canadian is Selma Diamond. If I had to guess, I would have assumed she was a Jewish girl from New York.
3. Nepotism FTW. Vivian Kubrick and Maddox Jolie-Pitt are classic cases of nepotism.
4. Stuff didn't expect. Sometimes I see a name on imdb.com that I know and I click through to their credit page just to check, not knowing any genre credits and not expecting anything. That's what I did today with John Huston, Mickey Shaughnessy, Selma Diamond and Loni Anderson. That's a lot of surprises.
Many happy returns to all the living on the list and to the dead, thanks for all the memories.
Prediction: But in electrical house-warming, for which a white heat is not required and in which the necessary protection from the air can be secured by embedding the conveying medium in opaque solid material, the problem becomes much simpler, because strong metallic wires can be used, and they may be enclosed in any kind of cement which does not corrode them and which distributes the heat while refusing to conduct the electric current. A network of wire, crossing and recrossing but always carrying the same current, may be embedded in plaster and a gentle heat may be imparted to the whole mass through the resistance of the wires to the electricity and their contact with the non-conducting material.
Reality: I don't know if this method was ever used, but it seems to me it would be hard pressed to produced enough heat to warm a house in the dead of winter in any cold climate unless the wall would become dangerously hot to the touch. Our undead architect friend would certainly know more than I on this subject.
Los Angeles based actor and playwright Lynn Manning died from liver cancer last week. Manning had a very tough life even before dying so young. His young home life was very chaotic, living in multiple foster homes after his mother nearly killed his stepfather. He was blinded by a gunshot wound when he was 23. He established himself in the Los Angeles theater community and also acted on screen as well. He is mentioned here for a role in the sitcom the Vamps Next Door.
Best wishes to the family and friends of Lynn Manning, from a fan. He is never to be forgotten.
Actress Coleen Gray began he film career in the 1940s and was featured in big budget films like Kiss of Death, The Killing and Red River. Later in her career, she got bigger roles in smaller genre productions, most notably The Leech Woman, a film which got the MST3K treatment. Other genre roles include Tales from the Darkside, The Sixth Sense, The Phantom Planet and The Vampire.
Best wishes to the family and friends of Coleen Gray, from a fan. She is never to be forgotten.
Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!
Thursday now belongs to our very optimistic pal Morris Ernst in his 1955 book Utopia 1976.
Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
This is wildly different from wall-based electrical resistance heating, but a Korean woman told me her house in Korea was heated with hot water pipes in the floors. For one who gets up on cold winter nights often, this appeals to me more than I can say.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting method and I can see why you mentioned it. Not the same, certainly, but similar.
Deletethe electric heating mats are great in bathrooms, anywhere you've got tile floors...
DeleteOh boy oh boy oh boy, I get to show off.
ReplyDeleteRadiant heat is the term you're looking for, and it's been a thing for oh, several thousand years. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radiant_heating The Romans used air cavities below floors to circulate warmed air. In more recent years, hydronic sources were installed in concrete floors, but the rigid metallic pipes were difficult to repair if they leaked; more successful have been the plastic tubing versions that have cropped up more recently. I've even seen a plywood subfloor product that had grooves in it for plastic tubing to be installed in more standard wood frame construction. As a matter of fact, I am designing a garage for a client, and we will probably be installing a radiant heating system in that.
Electric radiant heating had been slow to catch on, because of the perceived greater cost for energy, but that has disappeared and with the greater use of alternative energy sources, it is more flexible. It has a great advantage in that it can be installed in small areas, has much greater control and is easy to install. Creating zones or changing the amount of heating in different areas is much simpler.
http://www.warmyourfloor.com
In reality, a radiant floor heating system is somewhat cheaper to run, and very comfortable. Because the heat source is so large, it doesn't have to be very warm at all to keep a space tempered. Further, there is a tendency to keep a house at a lower temperature because not only does the heat rise naturally, but it keeps your tootsies warm and if your extremities are comfortable, the rest of your body is as well.
The biggest drawback to radiant heating is that the space will still need forced air system for cooling and fresh air cycles, so you're kind of doubling up your mechanical costs. Not quite double, as cooling is much easier to distribute and people are much more accepting of larger changes in cooling temperatures, but it's still an extra system.
If, however, you combine the radiant heating system with geothermal energy sourcing, you can get some extraordinary payback times in energy savings. Less than five years, I would guesstimate.
There. Class is dismissed. I'm giving our Pal George full marks on this one; the only thing he missed is that floors are more common as radiators, rather than walls or ceilings. Also, plaster is probably a poor medium as the thermal expansion would likely cause cracking. But these are quibbles.
Also, the WikiWhacky article mentions, along the lines of Nangleator's comment, that radiant heating has long been used in Asia.
Everybody gets a gold star today!
Thank you, Herr Professor Zombie. Your full marks obviously replace my incomplete grade. I knew you were the right person - or former person or unperson, the correct designation makes my head hurt - to whom this question should be presented.
Deletethe correct designation makes my head hurt
Deleteit's almost as bad as conjugating time-travel verbs....