29 June 2014

 Birthdays
Addison Timlin b. 1991 (Zero Hour)
Christopher Egan b. 1984 (Dominion, Gothica [TV], Beauty and the Beast: A Dark Tale [TV], Resident Evil: Extinction, Eragon)
Lily Rabe b. 1982 (American Horror Story)
Sharon Lemelin b. 1979 (Being Human, Zombie Hamlet, Anonymous Rex)
Zuleikha Robinson b. 1977 (Once Upon a Time in Wonderland, Lost, The X-Files, The Lone Gunmen)
Travis Richey b. 1977 (Resident Evil: Welcome to Raccoon City, Robot, Ninja & Gay Guy, Dinocroc vs. Supergator, Cry of the Winged Serpent)
Sharon Conley b. 1971 (The Hunger Games, Green Lantern)
Ilan Mitchell-Smith b. 1969 (Superboy, Journey to the Center of the Earth, Weird Science)
Aleks Paunovic b. 1969 (Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters, Once Upon a Time, Chupacabra vs. the Alamo, Eve of Destruction, Mortal Combat: Legacy, Smallville, Supernatural, Caprica, Stargate: Atlantis, Bionic Woman, Flash Gordon, Battlestar Galactica, Kraken: Tentacles of the Deep, Eureka, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Mutant X, Andromeda, Stargate SG-1, Jeremiah, Nostradamus, Roswell: The Aliens Attack)
Judith Hoag b. 1968 (Grimm, I am Number Four, Halloweentown, Carnivale, The X-Files, Strange World, Armageddon, The Burning Zone, Quantum Leap, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles [1990])
Melora Hardin b. 1967 (Zombie Hamlet, Timecop, Things That Go Bump, Lois & Clark, Quantum Leap, Mann & Machine, The Rocketeer)
Amanda Donohoe b. 1962 (Starship Trooper 3: Marauder, The Atlantis Conspiracy, Stardust, A Knight in Camelot, The Hidden Room, The Lair of the White Worm)
Sharon Lawrence b. 1961 (The After, Nuclear Family, Atomic Twister, Aftershock: Earthquake in New York, Star Trek: Voyager)
Maria Conchita Alonzo b. 1957 (Dark Moon Rising, The Dead One, Predator 2, Vampire’s Kiss, The Running Man, Knight Rider)
Michael Whelan b. 1950 (Illustrator)
Fred Grandy b. 1948 (Monster Squad, Death Race 2000)
Brian Herbert b. 1947 (Author, Dune universe)
Michael Carter b. 1947 (The Illusionist, The Cloning of Joanna May, Return of the Jedi, An American Werewolf in London, Doctor Who)
Gary Busey b. 1944 (Mansion of Blood, Piranha 3DD, The Gingerdead Man, The Huntress, Jacob Two Two meets The Hooded Fang, Universal Soldier II: Brothers in Arms, Predator 2, Silver Bullet)
Soon-Tek Oh b. 1943 (Seven Days, Stargate SG-1, Babylon 5, Time Trax, Highlander [TV], The Final Countdown, Logan’s Run [TV], The Invaders)
Corey Allen b. 1934 died 27 June 2010 (director, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Otherworld, The Powers of Matthew Star)
Dick Martin b. 1927 died 14 February 1990 (illustrator, Oz books)
Ray Harryhausen b. 1920 died 5 May 2013 (visual effects, Clash of the Titans, Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger, The Golden Voyage of Sinbad, The Valley of Gwangi, One Million Years B.C., First Men in the Moon, Jason and the Argonauts, Mysterious Island, The 3 Worlds of Gulliver, The 7th Voyage of Sinbad, 20 Million Miles to Earth, It Came from Beneath the Sea, Mighty Joe Young)
Antoine de Saint-Exupery b. 1900 died 31 July 1944 (author, The Little Prince)

Last year, the Picture Slot went to Ray Harryhausen and in terms of importance to the genre, he could get the Picture Slot every June 29th with very little debate. But just for a switch I have put up an illustration by Dick Martin, whose work will always be connected with the original Oz books written by L. Frank Baum. No disrespect to the actors on the list, but my third choice would an illustration from The Little Prince.

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

Movies released
Ted released 2012
Transformers: Dark of the Moon released 2011
War of the Worlds released 2005

Predictor: Erastus Wiman (1834-1904), Canadian entrepreneur, making predictions in honor of the 1893 Columbian Exposition held in Chicago.

Prediction: Let me look 50 years into the future instead of 100. By the 1940s, the population of this continent will be between 150,000,000 and 200,000,000. Without expansion, a "land hunger" will set in, and there must be expansion. Canada will afford that room.

Reality: Well, howdy, manifest destiny! Wiman actually overshot the population numbers that existed in 1940, About 130,000,000 in the U.S. and another 11,000,000 in Canada. His estimates might have been reached if not for World War I and the great flu epidemic of 1918. Of course, we are now over 300,000,000 people in the U.S. and we still haven't annexed Canada.

Yet.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

That perfect pick me up for the start of a new week, another prediction from OMNI Future Almanac.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!

14 June 2014

Birthdays
Daryl Sabara b. 1992 (After the Dark, John Carter, Spy Kids, Roswell)
Lucy Hale b. 1989 (Wizards of Waverly Place, Bionic Woman [2007])
Daniel Newman b. 1981 (The Dark Knight Rises, The Vampire Diaries, Heroes, Children of the Corn [TV], The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, Surface)
Pascale Hutton b. 1979 (Continuum, Fringe, Sanctuary, Behemoth, Supernatural, The 4400, Smallville, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, Stargate: Atlantis, Fantastic Four, Dead Like Me, Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed)
David Kopp b. 1978 (Blade: The Series, Freddy vs. Jason, Stargate SG-1, Mysterious Ways, Honey, I Shrunk the Kids: The TV Show)
Alexandra Castillo b. 1971 (Warehouse 13, Fringe, 2012, Mutant X, Stephen King’s Dead Zone, The Sixth Day)
Traylor Howard b. 1966 (Son of the Mask, Lois & Clark)
James Gurney b. 1958 (author, Dinotopia)
Will Patton b. 1954 (Falling Skies, The Fourth Kind, The Punisher, The Mothman Prophecies, Armageddon, The Postman, VR.5, The Puppet Masters)
Jeremy Sinden b. 1950 died 29 May 1996 (Star Wars)
Harry Turtledove b. 1949 (author, The Guns of the South, Agent of Byzantium)
Sam Wanamaker b. 1919 (Superman IV: The Quest for Peace, The Day the Fish Came Out, The Outer Limits [1964])
Gene Barry b. 1919 died 9 December 2009 (War of the Worlds [2005], Twilight Zone [1987], The 27th Day, The War of the Worlds [1953])

Yesterday's birthday list was filled with great memories for me, today not so much. Gene Barry is the one movie star on the list and I certainly considered him for the Picture Slot. I also thought about Oh That Guy actor Will Patton, but instead we have Jeremy Sinden as Tiree (a.k.a. Gold Two) from the original Star Wars. Poor Mr. Sinden was barely luckier than the doomed X-wing pilot, dying at the tender age of 45 from lung cancer.

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


Movies released
Man of Steel released 2013
X-Men released 2001
  

Predictor: Andrew Carpenter Wheeler using his pseudonym Nym Crinkle

Predictions (reality): 
 1. In 100 years Denver will be as big as New York. (That's a swing and a miss.)
 2. If the republic does not fall apart at the Mississippi, Canada will either be a part of the union or an independent sovereignty.  (Canada is an independent nation now, so this counts as a hit.)

3. The north shore of the Gulf of Mexico will be the Riviera or the Americas. (Well, there are some nice vacation spots in Florida on the gulf coast and of course there is New Orleans, but the Texas shore and the heart of Dixie... not so much. If I were going to pick the top vacation spot in the U.S., it would be a three way split between Hawaii, Las Vegas or Orlando, which is in Central Florida not on either coast.)
4. The homes of the country will increase fourfold. (In 1890 there were about 12.7 million, and in 1990 it rose to 93.3 million, approximately a sevenfold increase.)

Footnote: I said yesterday no facial hair, but a little more digging using Wheeler's real name turned up a book he wrote with his picture on the cover. Definitely a fine 19th Century beard.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

It's been a while since we had our scheduled Sunday prediction of nuclear war, but we'll get one tomorrow.

Join us then... IN THE FUTURE!
 

26 February 2014

Birthdays
Taylor Dooley b. 1993 (Monster Night, The Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 3-D)
Teresa Palmer b. 1986 (Parts Per Billion, Warm Bodies, I Am Number Four, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, The Grudge 2)
Shiloh Fernandez b. 1985 (Evil Dead, Red Riding Hood, Dead Girl, Jericho)
Drew Goddard b. 1975 (writer, The Cabin in the Woods, Cloverfield, Lost, Angel, Buffy)
Marc Dacascos b. 1964 (Mortal Kombat: Legacy [TV], Kamen Rider: Dragon Knight, Wolvesbayne, The Middleman, Stargate: Atlantis, I am Omega, The Crow: Stairway to Heaven [TV}, The Island of Dr, Moreau, The Flash [TV], The Brotherhood of the Wolf)
Chase Masterson b. 1963 (Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, Digital Man, Sliders)
Marta Kristen b. 1945 (Lost in Space [1998 and 1965], Battle Beyond the Stars, Project U.F.O.)
Lawrence Montaigne b. 1931 (Escape to Witch Mountain, Star Trek, Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea, Batman, The Time Tunnel)
Tony Randall b. 1920 died 17 May 2004 (The Seven Faces of Dr, Lao, The Brass Bottle)
Mason Adams b. 1919 died 26 April 2005 (From the Earth to the Moon, Not of this Earth, Toy Soldiers, Omen III: The Final Conflict, Revenge of the Stepford Wives)
Theodore Sturgeon b 1918 died 8 may 1985 (author, More Than Human, Amok Time)
Dane Clark b. 1912 died 11 February 1998 (The Twilight Zone)

So, thinking about iconic. Chase Masterson at Leeta or Lawrence Montaigne as Stonn would be easily recognizable, but I take a lot of stills from Star Trek and decided to give the show a day off. I could go with Ted Sturgeon or even Tony Randall from The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao, but instead I chose Marta Kristen from Lost in Space, a show that to its credit had three female characters in the cast, more than any other sci-fi show from the 1960s. To its discredit, those three characters had almost nothing to do, the show devolving into the "Dr. Smith, Will and the Robot Show".

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

  

Predictor: T. Baron Russell in A Hundred Years Hence, published in 1905

Prediction: Canada, for one example, has an area greater than that of the United States, with a population smaller than the population of Greater London. And Canada, endowed as it is with almost every source of wealth, will before long become perhaps the richest country in the world. By this time next century it will also be one of the most populous.

Reality:  Ummm... no.  It's 37th on the most populous country list, just behind Uganda. There are more Californians that there are Canadians. Maybe climate change will warm the place up some, but until that day, way too much of Canada is too cold for most people to want to live there.

In their favor, they are a country rich in natural resources and they have done a great job in hockey, eh? But that tar sand stuff. I wish they would reconsider.

Looking one day ahead... INTO THE FUTURE!

We get a new Thursday regular predictor tomorrow. Who will it be?

To find out, join us then... IN THE FUTURE!