New Articles at Paleofuture This Week
Tom Hanks visits the retro-future, robot waiters serve pizza in 1983, and book publisher Peter Usborne dies at 85.
Peter Usborne, Book Publisher Who Showed Us the Future, Dies at 85
Peter Usborne, the British publisher of children’s books that were highly coveted by kids in the 1980s, has died at the age of 85, according to a report Thursday from Bookseller.
Usborne founded his publishing house in 1973 and was co-founded the UK-based satire magazine Private Eye. Usborne died “unexpectedly but peacefully” on Thursday morning, according to a statement to Bookseller.
Farm Robots of the Future Predicted in 1948
Most U.S. farms are filled with incredibly sophisticated technology here in the 2020s. But that wasn’t always the case. Back in 1948, one grad student predicted the ways in which robots would eventually be utilized on farms of the future.
An article syndicated by United Press in newspapers across the country explained the predictions of the student, identified as Abraham Soble, a 26-year-old who was working on his PhD. And he was apparently inspired by the ways in which automation was being used on planes and ships, presumably during World War II, which had come to a close just three years earlier.
Wes Anderson Takes Tom Hanks to the Retro-Future in 'Asteroid City'
Director Wes Anderson has a new movie that’s coming out packed with an all-star cast. And it looks like Anderson is bringing his unique brand of quirky intensity to the retro-future.
A trailer for Asteroid City was released online Wednesday and it’s filled with jetpacks, rayguns, and even mushroom clouds in the desert. Judging by the trailer, the film is set in 1955 (you can see the year in a banner when Jeffrey Wright is speaking) and there’s also an alien subplot, though we don’t actually see what the aliens look like.
32 Nuclear Accidents From the First Cold War That Show Just How Many Close Calls With the Apocalypse We've Had
In 1981, the U.S. Department of Defense compiled a list of nuclear accidents that had occurred since 1950. The list only includes unclassified information, meaning there were likely many more accidents, given the highly classified nature of nuclear weapons. But this list is still a chilling reminder that we don’t just face danger from foreign adversaries like North Korea or Russia sending a nuclear missile to U.S. soil. Our own weapons could create a nuclear disaster.
Every Movie JFK Watched at the White House
I’ve written a new article over at Forbes about the movies President John F. Kennedy watched while in office. That article includes a big list at the end that shows every movie Kennedy watched, including films he saw at movie theaters outside the White House. But I wanted to publish the Paul Fischer logs for President Kennedy’s time in office here so that people could do more research for themselves on things like who President Kennedy was watching those movies with.
'You Don't Have to Give That Guy a Tip': Video Shows the Robot Waiter of 1983 In Action
Many years ago, we looked at the disco-blasting robot waiters that served Chinese food in Pasadena, California all the way back in 1983. The robots, known as Tanbo R-1 and Tanbo R-2, were a star attraction at Two Panda Deli, where they helped deliver food to customers, gaining international attention for their novelty. But when I first wrote about these robots I’d never truly seen them in action. Until now.
'Even Though Thousands of Miles Intervene': An Amazing Prediction For TV From 1894
McClure’s magazine asked a number of experts from around the country about what the future might look like for its January 1894 issue. When it came to the future of science, the magazine asked Professor Edwin J. Houston, a well respected inventor who had recently merged his electrical company with Thomas Edison’s company to form General Electric. And Houston’s prediction about the future of TV was incredible.