In 1935, an inventor from Indiana devised a new way to build what he believed was the motel of the future. If William E. Urschel had had his way, tourists around the world would all be relaxing in these concrete golf-ball-looking structures by now. It’s a good thing he didn’t get his way.
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Kanye West is making the rounds again claiming that he’s the creative director for a live-action Jetsons movie that’s currently (sort-of, kind-of, not really) in development. Beyond the fact that "creative director" isn’t actually the title for a job on any movie — but something you’d find at an advertising agency — consider this retrofuture blogger skeptical that a Jetsons movie will ever see the light of day.
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Yesterday, the Internet Society announced this year’s inductees to the Internet Hall of Fame. You’ll notice popular names like Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia; Richard Stallman, the activist who launched the GNU Project and the Free Software Foundation; and Aaron Swartz, the programmer and activist who tragically killed himself this past January.
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Today was a historic day for equality, as the U.S. Supreme Court struck down the misleadingly named Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Futurist thinkers have been imagining this day for years, and back in 1990 Newsweek gave hints about what marriage might look like in the world of tomorrow.
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This week the city of Los Angeles sent a cease-and-desist letter to ride-sharing app companies Uber, Lyft and Sidecar. The city and Los Angeles Yellow Cab claim that these services are "rogue taxis" that are "bypassing all safety regulations created to protect riders and drivers." But this isn’t the first time that this town has gone after the unregulated four-wheeled menace. This crackdown on unlicensed taxis in the City of Angels is nearly identical to a battle that raged a century ago — without all the iPhones and whatnot, of course.
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The family of a Phoenix man who committed suicide this past September has filed a lawsuit against Fox News over the live broadcast of the event. Understandably, the family says that they suffered emotional distress after the broadcast, which was seen on TV sets and computer screens all over the world. Anchor Shepard Smith apologized immediately after airing the suicide, but a national debate about the disturbing voyeurism of televised police chases
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The January 1987 issue of the legendary (and sadly, now defunct) Omni magazine included predictions from 14 "great minds" about what the world might look like in twenty years. By the year 2007, musician David Byrne believed that computers would do little for future musicians outside of their bookkeeping. Noted rich guy Bill Gates wondered how much stimulation (read: overstimulation) people of the future might be able to handle. And feminist author Barbara Ehrenreich predicted that by the 21st century, ideas about sexual dysfunction and what constitutes a healthy sexual relationship will have changed dramatically.
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Today’s restaurants love automation. Whether it’s conveyor belt sushi, iPad ordering or drones
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As I’ve mentioned before
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Did you bury a time capsule in St. Paul in 1969? Because I found it. Well, technically my friend found it. But he knew I was the only person in his life who might care about this nondescript plastic bottle that was buried in his backyard. Most people would easily mistake the thing for trash. And I guess it kind of was. Nature is not terribly gentle with things we put in the ground.
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This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
