Good morning! It’s Wednesday, November 23, and in the U.S. it’s the day before Thanksgiving, so most people will either be taking off today or working in a desultory way. And for once it’s a decent food day: National Espresso Day. I’ll celebrate by putting an extra shot into my quotidian latte. It’s also Buy Nothing Day, an American protest against the rampant consumerism that follows Thanksgiving (“Black Friday”).
On this day in 1963, according to Wikipedia, “The BBC broadcasts the first episode of ‘An Unearthly Child’ (starring William Hartnell), the first story from the first series of Doctor Who, which is now the world’s longest running science fiction drama.” Someone said yesterday that episode was broadcast on November 22, so we have a divergence of opinion. On this day in 1992, the first smartphone, the IBM Simon, debuted at COMDEX in Las Vegas. How far we’ve come since then; in my childhood I thought that phones that showed video of your caller were something of the far distant future—the Jetson Era.
Notables born on this day include José Clemente Orozco (1883), Susan Anspach (1942 ♥, one of the stars, along with Jack Nicholson, of a favorite movie of my twenties, “Five Easy Pieces”), and Bruce Hornsby (1954, known for his excellent song “The Way It Is”, which you should definitely watch here) Those who died on this day include Roald Dahl (1990) and Junior Walker (1995). Let’s remember Walker with his most famous Motown hit, “What does it take (to win your love)” (1969). I love the saxophone bits and the way Walker says, “Gonna blow for you now” before his solos. This is a great song; here’s a live version from Letterman (the original recording is here).
Meanwhile in Dobrzyn, Hili Saw Something:
Hili: I have a vision.
A: And what were you eating?
In Polish:Hili: Mam wizję.
Ja: A co zjadłaś?
Here’s a video of Gus’s first foray. This one is really for the diehard Gus fan, it’s a bit long, but he’s so slow sometimes. I do like the bit when he really doesn’t want to put down his front right paw and the bit at the end when he zigzags back toward the house in my footprints.
Finally, someone made a TrumpCat by putting a ginger tabby’s collected fur on his head. It was inevitable.
I think 23 November is correct for the first Dr Who. It was a Saturday and it was then always shown on a Saturday (British) tea-time.
According to a BBC documentary, the first airing was Nov 22nd, it was re-aired because no one watched due to news of Kennedy assassination.
Gus is so sweet. Afraid to get her paws damp. My d*g Maggie just bolted out the door, ignoring the first snow, with her eyes flashing about for signs of squirrels. I guess that’s why we love them.
Is that where Feynman’s book title “six easy pieces” came from?
It is derived from beginning piano books of sheet music.
Gus in “The Floor Is Made of Lava.” Very cute.
Gus is taking to the wet about like our indoor cat Emma. The semi-outdoor Bumper just goes.
That was a great movie and I liked those movies that were different. Catch 22 was another one.
Don’t forget the Dick Tracy’s wrist communicator which goes way back before the Jetsons.
Video-phones have proved to be quite unpopular for everyday use, for the primary reason that conversationalists don’t want the person on the other end of the line to see how distracted they are while listening to that person drone on.
Even voice calls are in decline, now that texting is available as an alternative.
Less social overhead.
Love the way Gus tries so hard to stay inside the footprints.
Live Long and Prosper Dr. Coyne!
Great songs. I really enjoyed Walker’s performance on Letterman and “The Way It Is” is a great tune, even if the bass and guitar tones have too many cheese ball 80’s effects on them.
Jerry, can I order you some toast, a la Jack Nicholson?
Susan Anspach, ♥ indeed! (Did you see Montenegro?)
Great sax playing. Really loved that. So much talent.
I remember the phone in 2001 A Space Odyssey when it first aired. We all thought we’d have lunar bases by now. Well at least we got the phones but I hate video calls because when I’m at home, I look like the walking dead.
I’m another Walker born on this day, 50 years ago! 😀
Happy birthday!!!
Thank you 🙂
Our next president is going to be the most unhappy in history. Pouty and discontented, refusing not to be disconnected.
Also, pitcher Ralph Branca died earlier today. For those who are not baseball fans, poor old Ralph, who was a relief pitcher for the Dodgers, (then in Brooklyn) gave up a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of a one game playoff to the Giant’s (then in New York) Bobby Thompson to send them to the World Series. The Dodgers at one time during the 1951 season had a 13.5 game lead on the Giants which they had managed to blow over the last 2 months of the season.
Indeed, that’s one of the most (in)famous hits in the history of baseball.
It was me who thought the first episode was aired on the 22nd, but it seems I was wrong. Peter Haining’s “Dr Who – A Celebration” gives the date as the 23rd, but his introduction doesn’t make it clear that Kennedy’s assassination happened the day before. He actually puts it as “only hours earlier”, which is not untrue but certainly a bit ambiguous.
“On this day in 1992, the first smartphone, the IBM Simon, debuted at COMDEX in Las Vegas. How far we’ve come since then; in my childhood I thought that phones that showed video of your caller were something of the far distant future—the Jetson Era.”
Interesting that ‘everyone’ foresaw the video phone (and things like Dick Tracy’s watch radio) – but almost nobody saw the Internet coming. Or cameras on phones. Or GPS maps. But Internet-capable smartphones preceded (I think) and far outnumber the ones running caller video.
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If I’m remembering right, Bell Labs demonstrated a (non-portable) prototype videophone at the Seattle World’s Fair in 1962. Or maybe it was Montreal in ’67. Obviously they weren’t rolled out commercially at that time but the technology existed.
As for the Internet, I wrote a science fiction story when I was in high school (circa 1970) that assumed the existence of a global information system and online library with terminals in every home. I don’t claim to have invented the idea, so it must have been in the air at the time.
See also Vannevar Bush’s essay “As We May Think”, published in 1945.
Loved the Gus vid. Just loved watching his deliberation as he navigated from dry to wet to flat snow and finally into full snow.