The UAW and GM reached a tentative agreement early Wednesday morning. This is a letdown for me. I was hoping for at least a month long strike. It didn’t even last two full days.

This pales in comparison to the labor unrest of the 1970s. John Lippert was a GM line worker in the 1970s and he has written a riveting article for Bloomberg about GM’s labor relations in that age. Today we’re used to thinking about blue collars as downtrodden folk always worried about their next paycheck. This article is a window back to an era when industrial workers were cocky about the future, and how that cockiness led to their decline.

Eye popping to me was reading how one racist union rep destroyed the UAW’s chances of getting a foothold in Honda’s factories. The UAW decided it was best for a WWII vet who distrusted the Japanese, to negotiate with Honda. Maybe they picked him because of seniority. Wouldn’t that be poetic justice? They would have shot themselves in the foot by sticking to the principles they foisted upon automakers.

Lippert’s article is full of interesting footnotes like that and if you have the remotest interest in unions or the auto industry, read it.

For about a week now I’ve been thinking about multidimensionality. It’s been portrayed in a variety of sci-fi shows. Sliders was a whole series based on it. The Star Trek: The Next Generation episode Parallels, where Worf keeps jumping between alternate universes. The pop-sci summary of the concept is that everything that can happen will happen. The reason I bring this up is an article I read today. Oxford scientists have used math to support the Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics. As the headline said, “Parallel Universes Exist”.

It was this I was meditating on as I drove home a few days ago. The article will make people think that the Star Trek types of parallel universes exist. Yet this cannot be so because it would violate the first law of thermodynamics. That law, summarized, says energy is neither created nor destroyed, but rather can be transferred from one system to another. So if parallel universes are being spawned constantly, since everything that can happen will happen, then a tremendous amount of energy is being spontaneously created for new universes. That’s impossible since energy cannot be created. You could argue that energy is being transferred from the parent universe to the parallel ones (one system to another), but then energy would constantly be shed. This would be untenable since our universe would half its energy level continuously. Think how many possible actions you could take right now. Each one of those is supposed to turn into a universe and with it goes energy from our universe. Then multiply that over every object in our universe. The enormity of energy involved is impossible.

The actual scientific debate of the MWI is more nuanced than what you see in sci-fi. One thing that really surprised me is that the measured quantum state of an object is a single value. Before I wasn’t certain if you had to treat each particle that made up an object as a separate entity. Wouldn’t that be a mathematical nightmare? But we don’t need to worry about that. I am a single object and to measure my quantum state you can simply account for the entire collection of particles that make up me.

The TV I’m watching now as I type is a single object and its quantum state can be “on” or “off”. There is nothing else that object can do. I’ll take a measurement now by looking at it and see it’s on. At the same time another world recorded the measurement as off. Just prior to the observation the TV is in a superposition, being both on and off. The effect of my measurement is still debated. Some versions of the MWI do call for splitting universes like on Star Trek (read above again for what I think of that). Other versions seem to define “world” in a looser frame of reference. The world could just be my perception of objects around me.

Let’s go back to the TV. I looked at it and saw it’s on. At that moment there is also a world where the TV is off. However instead of splitting off into a new universe with a separate future, when I stop observing the TV it could simply return to its superpositioned state. I don’t know because I’m not looking at it. It’s as if by making an observation you freeze yourself into a particular world. When you stop observing, all the quantum states of an object merge back into superposition. Basically every object in the universe is always in superposition (existing in all possible states) but you are only able to observe one state.

The MWI is a fascinating look at the structure of the universe. I find the idea of splitting universes unworkable, but I could get behind a “constant superposition” theory. There is a lot more to understand though. I didn’t even get into the effect of probability on the universe. At the same time though, I am also reminded of Ptolemaic cosmology with its spheres and equants. It’s an overly complicated solution applied to fit the data you’ve collected because you can’t think of how to start over with a simpler theory. I really wonder if this concept will hold up.

We all heard about General John Abizaid’s informal chat last week where he said the world could live with a nuclear armed Iran. At first I was going to make a “Democrats are wimpy appeasers” joke, and say Abizaid was leaving room for his own presidential run. It was just a lighthearted jab at a lighthearted situation. I really didn’t take the general’s statement seriously because what influence does Abizaid have? If anything it was probably a plan to get more credibility by going the opposite way of President Bush. So if Abizaid zigs where Bush zags, maybe it’s his way of looking for a cushy adviser job to a cable network, or he’s angling for a book deal.

I had a second thought today. What if Abizaid wasn’t speaking for himself? He has not been out of the establishment very long. Being the head of CENTCOM since 2003, he’s not someone that’s out of the loop either. What if he was an unofficial messenger for the president? Maybe he was being used as a trial balloon. That interview and the provocative stance might have been a signal from Bush to Iran that we’re willing to play ball on their nuclear program. There’s probably nothing of substance there. I see it more as an overture for Iran to make us an offer. They would find us more open than they expect.

That is certainly an interesting idea. Maybe it will shake out like this. Iran will accept the limits on nuclear technology the Europeans set. They will get nuclear power but it will be run by Russian companies, who will also handle the fuel. The Europeans get their victory for soft power and can pat themselves on the back. Iran will agree because we are going to turn a blind eye to their newly secret nuclear weapons program. To buy our blindness the Iranians will stop arming Iraqi shia groups so we can make a face saving exit from Iraq.

Eventually the time will come that Iran announces it has a nuclear bomb. That will probably be ten years away because Iran is going to have to hand over those centrifuges it uses to enrich uranium since that stuff is too public to ignore. It’s going to take some time to build a new hidden underground base to hide new ones. They will still have the expertise available to run them though, so really it’s just a matter of money to acquire new centrifuges. That’s the cost of doing business. When the day that bomb is ready, it will probably be the president-after-next’s problem. Don’t worry though. We have the power to deter Iran so says the general.

Never in my life have I wanted a French car as badly as I want one now. Above you see the Citroen C5 Airscape unveiled at the Frankfurt Auto Show. Now this is only the concept version. The production version will be shown next month.

So what if it’s a concept though. If the production version is already done, this can’t look too different. Actually I’m a little hopeful Citroen will remedy the one flaw I found in it. Take a look at this profile shot of the Airscape. I don’t really like how far back that fold in the sheet metal goes. It’s right up to the brake light housing. I would like to smooth it out so the fold merges with the body above the center of the rear wheel.

That’s really the only flaw I could find in these pictures. I’m otherwise in love with the car. Why can’t I be rich so I can import this from Europe!

Did you ever have a moment where your opinion of someone was radically changed? I had one of those today at work. I was having a light conversation though IM with a coworker about books. Eventually I asked her what her favorite book is. The next few seconds were jaw dropping. My coworker told me her favorite book is The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand.

Wha…?

Who loves Ayn Rand? Sure her books can spark a debate, but who reads them for fun? My coworker said to me, “Every time I read [The Fountainhead] I learn something new.”

Wha…?

I really never imagined this. You generate a picture of someone and then suddenly find it doesn’t fit. The Fountainhead is such a crazy story. I have to admit I never read it, but I did watch the 1949 movie starring Gary Cooper. Yeah, yeah I’ve heard it before. A movie is never faithful to the book it came from. This time though the screenplay was also written by Ayn Rand so I think it’s pretty safe to think the two works closely match.

I was drawn into that movie not because it was a good story, but because that story was insane. Skip this paragraph if you don’t want it spoiled for you. You have the uncompromising architect, Howard Roark, who dedicates his business to only producing buildings that stay true to his vision. The story turns insane near the end when his design for city projects (remember back in 1949 the projects were a sign of modernity) were going to be altered. Instead of sucking it up and moving on like a person in the real world might, Roark blows up the construction site. How is this believable? This is why I don’t like The Fountainhead. The whole story is full of extremists. Roark is an extremist for blowing up the construction site. His nemesis Toohey, the architecture critic, is an extremist to deny everyone their individualism. You can call the masses extremist for how they all forsake the newspaper who dared to challenge the common wisdom. The story is just so unbelievable. Rand is trying to get her philosophy of self reliance out there, but I have to believe there are better ways to do it that this stilted novel.

Unrelated, but I couldn’t help but think about how that action would be viewed in 2007. In the movie the media was referring to Roark as the dynamiter. Quite an awkward term. Today there is a pretty good chance he would be called a terrorist.

Luckily We’re at Penn Station, So No One Smelled It

Five-year-old Korean boy with accent: Mommy, I fart! [Mom is silent.] Mommy, I fart! Did you hear it?
Korean mom, also with accent: I pretty sure everyone hear it.

–LIRR into Penn Station

Overheard by: c-smith
via Overheard in New York, Sep 11, 2007

This is just straight up food porn. I found it at the end of one of Time magazine’s many lists – 20 Perks from 50 Years of a United Europe. It’s a pointless article and I almost didn’t bother reading to the end, but I’m glad I did.

Look at those waffles! They’re so dense they keep the syrup from draining out. They all look so rich and delicious. I have never wanted to visit Brussels as badly as I do now. I want to go there and do nothing but gorge myself on those.

So yeah I’m probably evil for laughing my ass off at this, but every time I imagine that subway car I can’t help it.

And Welcome to Dick Cheney’s America

Homeless woman: I’ve had a hard life. Just yesterday I was raped on the subway…
Man: Quit complaining! [Car laughs.]

–1 train
via Overheard in New York, Sep 8, 2007

About a week ago a science story was picked up by the mainstream press. It concluded that females are genetically predisposed to like redder colors, such as pink, and men liked blues. It was a perfect feel good “science” story. It explained why girls get pink and boys get blue and gave a veneer of rationality. Researchers confirming our own common sense always makes for a good story.

Except when you dig a little deeper you see it’s bunk. Blue for boys and pink for girls didn’t happen until around World War Two. It used to be the exact opposite. To prove that I wanted to find the original reference from a Ladies Home Journal in June 1918. Unfortunately my online search turned up nothing related. However that same search turned up a hidden gem.

The December 1900 edition of Ladies Home Journal featured an article by John Elfreth Watkins, Jr. called, “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years”. I have no idea who Watkins was, but he made some startlingly accurate predictions about the 20th century, and a few that were just plain wrong. Still it’s very entertaining for us who live in his future.

Prediction #1: There will probably be from 350,000,000 to 500,000,000 people in America and its possessions by the lapse of another century. Nicaragua will ask for admission to our Union after the completion of the great canal. Mexico will be next. Europe, seeking more territory to the south of us, will cause many of the South and Central American republics to be voted into the Union by their own people.”

Watkins was a little optimistic here. We’re only a little over 300 million here in 2007. That territorial expansion talk is so very 19th century. I bet he would be very disappointed to find out we didn’t acquire any new land after 1900.

Prediction #2: The American will be taller by from one to two inches. His increase of stature will result from better health, due to vast reforms in medicine, sanitation, food and athletics. He will live fifty years instead of thirty-five as at present – for he will reside in the suburbs. The city house will practically be no more. Building in blocks will be illegal. The trip from suburban home to office will require a few minutes only. A penny will pay the fare.

It’s funny how this prediction has such high aspirations and yet still doesn’t exceed reality. First though was the average life expectancy in 1900 only 35 years? That seems incredibly low to me. I would have guessed 50 years was the average, not what they aspired to.

That city planning talk was especially good. The idea of making middle and high density housing illegal is pretty funny from our perspective, but he was right about the growth of the suburbs. Watkins lived in the age when the suburbs first took on the role of a bedroom community for city workers. I suppose it was obvious to say they would grow, but his faith in public transport was impressive. At least I think it was. How much would a penny in 1900 be worth today?

Prediction #3: Gymnastics will begin in the nursery, where toys and games will be designed to strengthen the muscles. Exercise will be compulsory in the schools. Every school, college and community will have a complete gymnasium. All cities will have public gymnasiums. A man or woman unable to walk ten miles at a stretch will be regarded as a weakling.

Gym class in public school was a brand new idea back in that age. You can really see the influence of progressivism when he thought gyms would become basic urban infrastructure.

Prediction #4: There Will Be No Street Cars in Our Large Cities. All hurry traffic will be below or high above ground when brought within city limits. In most cities it will be confined to broad subways or tunnels, well lighted and well ventilated, or to high trestles with “moving-sidewalk” stairways leading to the top. These underground or overhead streets will teem with capacious automobile passenger coaches and freight with cushioned wheels. Subways or trestles will be reserved for express trains. Cities, therefore, will be free from all noises.

I don’t understand why he would make this prediction. They had elevated trains in those days and they were godawful noisy. Creating more elevated trains and elevated roadways should be noisier. Plus, what did he think would happen to the street level? And where would these elevated cars park? Watkins did not think this through.

Prediction #5: Trains will run two miles a minute, normally; express trains one hundred and fifty miles an hour. To go from New York to San Francisco will take a day and a night by fast express. There will be cigar-shaped electric locomotives hauling long trains of cars. Cars will, like houses, be artificially cooled. Along the railroads there will be no smoke, no cinders, because coal will neither be carried nor burned. There will be no stops for water. Passengers will travel through hot or dusty country regions with windows down.

Ah the dreams of the pre-flight era. Remember the Wright Brothers’ flight wouldn’t happen for another three years. The Europeans and Asians have beat his speed predictions, but I don’t think any trains in the US can do 150 mph. The fastest train is Amtrak’s Acela line, but I think that only does 120 mph and that’s not even for the full route. A trip from New York to San Francisco would take four days by train but a mere 6 hours by jet.

At least he was right about the rise of electric trains and air conditioning. The a/c prediction was the boldest. Was there even an a/c system built in a lab back in 1900?

Prediction #6: Automobiles will be cheaper than horses are today. Farmers will own automobile hay-wagons, automobile truck-wagons, plows, harrows and hay-rakes. A one-pound motor in one of these vehicles will do the work of a pair of horses or more. Children will ride in automobile sleighs in winter. Automobiles will have been substituted for every horse vehicle now known. There will be, as already exist today, automobile hearses, automobile police patrols, automobile ambulances, automobile street sweepers. The horse in harness will be as scarce, if, indeed, not even scarcer, then as the yoked ox is today.

It’s hard to say how bold a prediction this was. I live with cars everywhere, so it’s natural to assume their dominance was inevitable. In 1900 though maybe that wasn’t so clear.

Prediction #7: There will be air-ships, but they will not successfully compete with surface cars and water vessels for passenger or freight traffic. They will be maintained as deadly war-vessels by all military nations. Some will transport men and goods. Others will be used by scientists making observations at great heights above the earth.

Military attack blimps!

Prediction #8: Aerial War-Ships and Forts on Wheels. Giant guns will shoot twenty-five miles or more, and will hurl anywhere within such a radius shells exploding and destroying whole cities. Such guns will be armed by aid of compasses when used on land or sea, and telescopes when directed from great heights. Fleets of air-ships, hiding themselves with dense, smoky mists, thrown off by themselves as they move, will float over cities, fortifications, camps or fleets. They will surprise foes below by hurling upon them deadly thunderbolts. These aerial war-ships will necessitate bomb-proof forts, protected by great steel plates over their tops as well as at their sides. Huge forts on wheels will dash across open spaces at the speed of express trains of to-day. They will make what are now known as cavalry charges. Great automobile plows will dig deep entrenchments as fast as soldiers can occupy them. Rifles will use silent cartridges. Submarine boats submerged for days will be capable of wiping a whole navy off the face of the deep. Balloons and flying machines will carry telescopes of one-hundred-mile vision with camera attachments, photographing an enemy within that radius. These photographs as distinct and large as if taken from across the street, will be lowered to the commanding officer in charge of troops below.

I assume the forts on wheels would be tanks. That plays into his belief in the rise of the automobile. This was 14 years before World War One started, so I’ll give him credit for coming up with the tank. Still though he couldn’t break away from air ships to imagine heavier than air machines flying.

Prediction #9: Photographs will be telegraphed from any distance. If there be a battle in China a hundred years hence snapshots of its most striking events will be published in the newspapers an hour later. Even to-day photographs are being telegraphed over short distances. Photographs will reproduce all of Nature’s colors.

Prediction #10: Man will See Around the World. Persons and things of all kinds will be brought within focus of cameras connected electrically with screens at opposite ends of circuits, thousands of miles at a span. American audiences in their theatres will view upon huge curtains before them the coronations of kings in Europe or the progress of battles in the Orient. The instrument bringing these distant scenes to the very doors of people will be connected with a giant telephone apparatus transmitting each incidental sound in its appropriate place. Thus the guns of a distant battle will be heard to boom when seen to blaze, and thus the lips of a remote actor or singer will be heard to utter words or music when seen to move.

This is pretty impressive. Was anyone even working on television at the time?

Prediction #11: No Mosquitoes nor Flies. Insect screens will be unnecessary. Mosquitoes, house-flies and roaches will have been practically exterminated. Boards of health will have destroyed all mosquito haunts and breeding-grounds, drained all stagnant pools, filled in all swamp-lands, and chemically treated all still-water streams. The extermination of the horse and its stable will reduce the house-fly.

Haha, he’s definitely from a pre-environmentalist age. Mosquitoes, flies and roaches are disgusting bugs but I know they would have their defenders if anyone tried to wipe them out.

Prediction #12: Peas as Large as Beets. Peas and beans will be as large as beets are to-day. Sugar cane will produce twice as much sugar as the sugar beet now does. Cane will once more be the chief source of our sugar supply. The milkweed will have been developed into a rubber plant. Cheap native rubber will be harvested by machinery all over this country. Plants will be made proof against disease microbes just as readily as man is to-day against smallpox. The soil will be kept enriched by plants which take their nutrition from the air and give fertility to the earth.

This one, and the sequence below, are pretty strange. I don’t really get why Watkins associated giant fruits and vegetables with abundance. The point isn’t lost though. Crop land will become more productive. Watkins was probably thinking more like the green revolution of the mid-20th century, rather than today’s gene manipulation.

Prediction #13: Strawberries as Large as Apples will be eaten by our great-great-grandchildren for their Christmas dinners a hundred years hence. Raspberries and blackberries will be as large. One will suffice for the fruit course of each person. Strawberries and cranberries will be grown upon tall bushes. Cranberries, gooseberries and currants will be as large as oranges. One cantaloupe will supply an entire family. Melons, cherries, grapes, plums, apples, pears, peaches and all berries will be seedless. Figs will be cultivated over the entire United States.

Prediction #14: Black, Blue and Green Roses. Roses will be as large as cabbage heads. Violets will grow to the size of orchids. A pansy will be as large in diameter as a sunflower. A century ago the pansy measured but half an inch across its face. There will be black, blue and green roses. It will be possible to grow any flower in any color and to transfer the perfume of a scented flower to another which is odorless. Then may the pansy be given the perfume of the violet.

Prediction #15: No Foods will be Exposed. Storekeepers who expose food to air breathed out by patrons or to the atmosphere of the busy streets will be arrested with those who sell stale or adulterated produce. Liquid-air refrigerators will keep great quantities of food fresh for long intervals.

I found this pretty interesting. Watkins got refrigeration right, but we haven’t yet reached the point where air exposure is considered tainting food.

Prediction #16: There will be No C, X or Q in our every-day alphabet. They will be abandoned because unnecessary. Spelling by sound will have been adopted, first by the newspapers. English will be a language of condensed words expressing condensed ideas, and will be more extensively spoken than any other. Russian will rank second.

People today probably find this the most bizarre, out-of-left-field prediction to make. That’s because we have forgotten about a serious attempt to simplify English spelling in those days.

Prediction #17: How Children will be Taught. A university education will be free to every man and woman. Several great national universities will have been established. Children will study a simple English grammar adapted to simplified English, and not copied after the Latin. Time will be saved by grouping like studies. Poor students will be given free board, free clothing and free books if ambitious and actually unable to meet their school and college expenses. Medical inspectors regularly visiting the public schools will furnish poor children free eyeglasses, free dentistry and free medical attention of every kind. The very poor will, when necessary, get free rides to and from school and free lunches between sessions. In vacation time poor children will be taken on trips to various parts of the world. Etiquette and housekeeping will be important studies in the public schools.

What did I tell you – simplified English. I guess he expected it to take off. A free university education is just an extension of the rise of public schooling which was pretty new in 1900. Actually I do think we’re headed in that direction. When public school began people would get just a few years of education and then head to work. Later a high school graduation became the minimum necessary to make a living. Now we are just starting to see the limitations of a bachelor’s degree. Sometime in the future I could see a bachelor’s becoming like a high school diploma in 1950, but probably not until after 2100.

Prediction #18: Telephones Around the World. Wireless telephone and telegraph circuits will span the world. A husband in the middle of the Atlantic will be able to converse with his wife sitting in her boudoir in Chicago. We will be able to telephone to China quite as readily as we now talk from New York to Brooklyn. By an automatic signal they will connect with any circuit in their locality without the intervention of a “hello girl”.

Watkins seems to have got the evolution of the telephone right. Automatic switching came first and then wireless. I wonder if he imagined we would be able to carry our phones in our pockets, or was he still thinking of a big, clunky machine that just happened to be wireless?

Prediction #19: Grand Opera will be telephoned to private homes, and will sound as harmonious as though enjoyed from a theatre box. Automatic instruments reproducing original airs exactly will bring the best music to the families of the untalented. Great musicians gathered in one enclosure in New York will, by manipulating electric keys, produce at the same time music from instruments arranged in theatres or halls in San Francisco or New Orleans, for instance. Thus will great bands and orchestras give long-distance concerts. In great cities there will be public opera-houses whose singers and musicians are paid from funds endowed by philanthropists and by the government. The piano will be capable of changing its tone from cheerful to sad. Many devises will add to the emotional effect of music.

It’s interesting that he connected live music with the telephone and not with any recorded medium. Didn’t Edison invent that recording cylinder before 1900? Why would he expect this complicated distance concert arrangement?

Prediction #20: Coal will not be used for heating or cooking. It will be scarce, but not entirely exhausted. The earth’s hard coal will last until the year 2050 or 2100; its soft-coal mines until 2200 or 2300. Meanwhile both kinds of coal will have become more and more expensive. Man will have found electricity manufactured by waterpower to be much cheaper. Every river or creek with any suitable fall will be equipped with water-motors, turning dynamos, making electricity. Along the seacoast will be numerous reservoirs continually filled by waves and tides washing in. Out of these the water will be constantly falling over revolving wheels. All of our restless waters, fresh and salt, will thus be harnessed to do the work which Niagara is doing today: making electricity for heat, light and fuel.

Hydro power was the solar power of the turn of the 20th century. As far as they knew it was cheap, easy energy with no consequences. We learned our lesson decades later. This makes me wonder if there will be some unforeseen consequences from covering the Earth with banks of solar cells.

Prediction #21: Hot and Cold Air from Spigots. Hot or cold air will be turned on from spigots to regulate the temperature of a house as we now turn on hot or cold water from spigots to regulate the temperature of the bath. Central plants will supply this cool air and heat to city houses in the same way as now our gas or electricity is furnished. Rising early to build the furnace fire will be a task of the olden times. Homes will have no chimneys, because no smoke will be created within their walls.

Prediction #22: Store Purchases by Tube. Pneumatic tubes, instead of store wagons, will deliver packages and bundles. These tubes will collect, deliver and transport mail over certain distances, perhaps for hundreds of miles. They will at first connect with the private houses of the wealthy; then with all homes. Great business establishments will extend them to stations, similar to our branch post-offices of today, whence fast automobile vehicles will distribute purchases from house to house.

Well now I understand what will be at street level. Subways will move trains underground. Elevated roads will move cars up off city streets, and that will leave room for a vast network of pneumatic tubes!

Prediction #23: Ready-cooked meals will be bought from establishments similar to our bakeries of today. They will purchase materials in tremendous wholesale quantities and sell the cooked foods at a price much lower than the cost of individual cooking. Food will be served hot or cold to private houses in pneumatic tubes or automobile wagons. The meal being over, the dishes used will be packed and returned to the cooking establishments where they will be washed. Such wholesale cookery will be done in electric laboratories rather than in kitchens. These laboratories will be equipped with electric stoves, and all sorts of electric devices, such as coffee-grinders, egg-beaters, stirrers, shakers, parers, meat-choppers, meat-saws, potato-mashers, lemon-squeezers, dish-washers, dish-dryers and the like. All such utensils will be washed in chemicals fatal to disease microbes. Having one’s own cook and purchasing one’s own food will be an extravagance.

I really wish this was true. Lately, I’ve been so sick of cooking.

Prediction #24: Vegetables Grown by Electricity. Winter will be turned into summer and night into day by the farmer. In cold weather he will place heat-conducting electric wires under the soil of his garden and thus warm his growing plants. He will also grow large gardens under glass. At night his vegetables will be bathed in powerful electric light, serving, like sunlight, to hasten their growth. Electric currents applied to the soil will make valuable plants grow larger and faster, and will kill troublesome weeds. Rays of colored light will hasten the growth of many plants. Electricity applied to garden seeds will make them sprout and develop unusually early.

Prediction #25: Oranges will grow in Philadelphia. Fast-flying refrigerators on land and sea will bring delicious fruits from the tropics and southern temperate zone within a few days. The farmers of South America, South Africa, Australia and the South Sea Islands, whose seasons are directly opposite to ours, will thus supply us in winter with fresh summer foods, which cannot be grown here. Scientist will have discovered how to raise here many fruits now confined to much hotter or colder climates. Delicious oranges will be grown in the suburbs of Philadelphia. Cantaloupes and other summer fruits will be of such a hardy nature that they can be stored through the winter as potatoes are now.

Prediction #26: Strawberries as large as apples will be eaten by our great great grandchildren for their Christmas dinners a hundred years hence. Raspberries and blackberries will be as large. One will suffice for the fruit course of each person. Strawberries and cranberries will be grown upon tall bushes. Cranberries, gooseberries and currants will be as large as oranges. One cantaloupe will supply an entire family. Melons, cherries, grapes, plums, apples, pears, peaches and all berries will be seedless. Figs will be cultivated over the entire United States.

This is the same as prediction #13. Not sure why it was doubled.

Prediction #27: Few drugs will be swallowed or taken into the stomach unless needed for the direct treatment of that organ itself. Drugs needed by the lungs, for instance, will be applied directly to those organs through the skin and flesh. They will be carried with the electric current applied without pain to the outside skin of the body. Microscopes will lay bare the vital organs, through the living flesh, of men and animals. The living body will to all medical purposes be transparent. Not only will it be possible for a physician to actually see a living, throbbing heart inside the chest, but he will be able to magnify and photograph any part of it. This work will be done with rays of invisible light.

Electric current without pain? Okay, sounds like someone doesn’t know much about electricity. At least he predicted MRIs.

Prediction #28: There will be no wild animals except in menageries. Rats and mice will have been exterminated. The horse will have become practically extinct. A few of high breed will be kept by the rich for racing, hunting and exercise. The automobile will have driven out the horse. Cattle and sheep will have no horns. They will be unable to run faster than the fattened hog of today. A century ago the wild hog could outrun a horse. Food animals will be bred to expend practically all of their life energy in producing meat, milk, wool and other by-products. Horns, bones, muscles and lungs will have been neglected.

It’s funny how when Watkins says there will be no more wild animals, he means it as a sign of progress. Now there may be a twinge of regret from him as we have to sever a link to nature, but there’s no indication that he doesn’t want this to happen.

Prediction #29: To England in Two Days. Fast electric ships, crossing the ocean at more than a mile a minute, will go from New York to Liverpool in two days. The bodies of these ships will be built above the waves. They will be supported upon runners, somewhat like those of the sleigh. These runners will be very buoyant. Upon their under sides will be apertures expelling jets of air. In this way a film of air will be kept between them and the water’s surface. This film, together with the small surface of the runners, will reduce friction against the waves to the smallest possible degree. Propellers turned by electricity will screw themselves through both the water beneath and the air above. Ships with cabins artificially cooled will be entirely fireproof. In storm they will dive below the water and there await fair weather.

It kind of sounds like he’s describing giant hovercrafts that can also act as submarines. That’s pretty far out there. At least we beat his speed expectations.

I have to thank Jalopnik for showcasing this fine example of ironic advertising. The ad agency who came up with this must have done it as a joke, but Ford didn’t realize it.

Sexy and Mercury do not go together. Did you see that Sable Wagon? No one who drives that car has sex. I’m pretty sure you had to trade in your genitals when you buy it.

Funniest clip starts at 17 seconds. It was the white Topaz making a turn. I’m sure they were trying to go for a fast, energetic turn in that shot to get buyers exhilarated but the Topaz wasn’t up to it. I can’t help but imagine the driver must have been thinking, “Oh God, please stay on the road! Please stay on the road!”