up in the sky

In a friend of mine's book, he reflects that the future ain't what it used to be. Remember what they said, in the 30s, 40s, 50s, & 60s, what the future would look like? And how none of it came true? I remember seeing something in a 1979 Reader's Digest that flying cars would be available by 1989.

Anyway, Wired has the NASA seventies vision of future space stations...and they're much cooler than what we have.

so bright...where are those sunglasses?

The most fun thing about futurism is how off the projections can be. Witness this Mechanix Illustrated article from 1968 called "What Will Life Be Like in the Year 2008?."

We're pretty jaded about the tremendous impact of the technology we do have. Right now, I'm sitting on the couch, typing this in, having it beamed to my router and then sent out to the world. Pretty amazing.

Required reading: Warren Ellis's Doktor Sleepless.

my new fave blog

Pulp of the Day does exactly what you'd expect: it has a different pulp cover every day. Better yet, they offer subscriptions. If you love retro, kitsch, or any combination thereof, you should check this out.