See post #3
I’ve sorta got a near miss that I am pretty glad was one because if it hadn’t been I think things could have got much worse.
Everybody knows the Bible and the whole 666 number thing. Certainly the more crazy religious people (that almost seem to want it to be true).
IIRC the UN resolution regarding the First Gulf War was number 668. If it had been 666 I suspect it might have been enough of an excuse for the crazies of the world to turn it into a large regional war that might have spread even further.
Of course my memory of all this could be crap.
:smack:
That one’s a bit of a stretch. And besides, to nitpick, D. D. Harriman didn’t make the trip; he just financed it. Harriman himself didn’t step foot on the Moon until his deathbed.
Another thing: in Robert Heinlein’s Future History series, a theocrat, heretic, and self-proclaimed “prophet” Nehemiah Scudder is elected President in 2012 may be too coincidential for some of our members (though not me).
H. G. Wells’ The Shape of Things to Come (1933) (made into the movie Things to Come (1936)) predicted a world war starting in 1940, involving Germany and Poland, and with significant use of air power and aerial bombardment.
Stan Freberg did a parody of Batman called Flackman & Reagan which had a reference to Reagan becoming president, and that was in 1966.
It’s certainly possible he didn’t know the source, but I find it highly unlikely he’d never heard any version of the “Damnit, I’m a doctor, not a _____” line.
Oops, looks like the UN resolutions regarding Iraq’s invasion start around 661. This is followed by various others. The one okaying military ass kicking was 678. But to me its still kinda scary that they were hovering on either side of the magic 666. I guess the actual 666 one was okaying the color change for the cover sheets on the UN’s TPS reports.
Ah, yes, the next door neighbor of the beast.
Thats why I remembered it as 668 rather than 678 (I think there is cute short story/book about that. It sounds catchier if you leave out the next door part).
I had heard this, but not about Clarke. Turns out it was “Philip St. John” who wrote the story. Though it looks like it’s not about the moon landing itself, but references a Major Armstrong who was famously the first in that future.
In 2003, the Cubs were seemingly on their way to their first World Series in 58 years, when a fan named Steve Bartman interfered with a potential catch by Cubs leftfielder Moises Alou. Alou couldn’t make the catch on the foul ball. Given a new life, the opponent’s batter walked a few pitches later, starting a huge rally. The Cubs lost that game and the game the night after that, keeping them out of the World Series.
In an episode of Married with Children back in 1987, Peggy alluded to a very similar incident involving Al: “Maybe some day they’ll forget about that fan interference call that kept the Cubs out of the World Series and let Daddy back into the stadium.”
Video clip of MWC episode:
I’m glad nobody has mentioned the one about back to future 2 predicting the Marlins world series victory in 97 before Florida even had a team, as it is not true.
Not so much an eerie prediction as a sad commentary on how much advertising sucks, but in “Satisfaction,” Jagger sings that “he can’t be a man 'cause he doesn’t smoke the same cigarette as me.”
50 years later, Miller Light beer is currently running an incredibly stupid campaign based on the premise that if you don’t drink their brand, you’re unmanly.
ESPN is premiering a movie (called “Catching Hell”) about that incident on Tuesday evening.
The China Syndrome was released in theaters just two weeks before the Three Mile Island incident.
In the first Deus Ex game (set in 2052), the Twin Towers were left out of the New York skyline because of memory limitations. I don’t think it was mentioned in game, but the developers handwaved their absence by blaming a terrorist attack.
The game came out in 2000.
To be fair, the Twin Towers were subjected to terrorist attack before then, also. Just never before successfully.
Yep, you’re right. Harriman reached the Moon in “Requiem.” :smack:
The UNIT stories in Doctor Who were supposedly set in the near future, about 5 to 10 years beyond the time it was made and broadcast. In one story the Brigadier speaks on the telephone to the Prime Minister. He addressed the PM as “Madam.” This was made and shown several years before Mrs Thatcher became Prime Minister, at a time when all previous PM’s had been male.