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2006

First round in the WorldBuildingGames
Next round is 2007

ENTERTAINMENT

Dateline: 2006.
(Fox News): Well-known TV critic Michael Medved gives highest-ever rating to Fox Family's new Jenna Loves Barbara reality series about the Bush twins. Says Medved, "Quality family programming at it's finest."


Dateline: 2006.
Today the Bush Administration announced the formation of a new commission to assist the entertainment industry produce quality family programming. The commission, known as Hollywood Entertainment Yes! (acronym HEYES), will be funded at the $1 billion level.


WORLD AFFAIRS
Dateline: 2006.
TOKYO (Reuters) - Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi announced today that the Japan Defense Agency and Matsushita Electric Works would begin cooperative development of semi-autonomous flight control systems employing telepresence with the goal of a remotely operated fighter aircraft by 2010. This is seen as an extension of last year's revamped defense policy that suggested a shift from the purely defensive posture in place since World War II and saw a larger Japanese role in global military cooperation, along with a better response to terrorist and missile attacks.


Dateline: 2006.
GENEVA - Aging leaders form Council for Mature World Leadership.
The recent death of Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo and the decline of Pope John Paul has inspired the formation of a worldwide organization of septuagenarian leaders to exchange information and share their extensive experience and knowledge of governance. The group will organize an annual meeting modeled after the Davos conference to address the pressing issues of the day. In addition, a secretariat has been formed under the direction of seventy five year old Enno Penno former premier of Estonia. The secretariat will be responsible of the organization of the annual meeting and additional activities supporting "the continued contribution of experienced leadership to world affairs."


Business & Finance

The situation is shifting, and Yang (the active masculine force) is gaining ground. (Translation: Pfizer, the maker of Viagra, has announced that earnings are up 15% for last quarter. The Pfizer spokesman went on to announce that the company will not submit its controversial new morning after pill for FDA approval as it does not intend to market the drug in the United States)

The future is embodied in Hexagram 51 - Chen (Shock): There is an intimation of ease and development. When the time of movement comes, the subject will be found looking out with apprehension, yet smiling and talking cheerfully. When the movement, like a crash of thunder, terrifies all within a hundred li, he will be like the sincere worshipper, who is not startled into letting go his ladle and cup of sacrificial spirits. (Translation: Ben Stuebridge, CEO of Diebold, expressed apprehension about the Federal probe into alleged government contract kickbacks, yet said that he remained optimistic about the company's ability to rise above its current scandal. He said that he sincerely believes this is a misunderstanding, and has no intention of letting go three senior managers arrested in connection with the kickbacks until and unless they are convicted.)


Science and Technology
Dateline: 2006.
NEW YORK (AP) - The collaborative efforts of photovoltaic engineer Marie Barnovsky and designer Pierre Curie won acclaim from all at New York's Fashion Week. Curie's runway show featured "power jackets" — the backs and sleeves incorporate solar panels; connectors for cell phones, mp3 players, and other electronic devices are hidden along collars, sleeves, and interior pockets.

Curie joins designer Isaac Mizrahi in making part of his line available through Target. Power jackets will be available in a special back-to-school line this fall, as well as power scarves, each with a single type of connector included in the fringe.


Dateline: 2006.
UNIVERSITY OF THE MIDWEST - Nanotechnology researchers announced the development of the "plasmachron" and "plasmamonitor". The plasmachron is a flexible plasma timepiece that clings to flesh and is powered by the body heat of the wearer. The plasmamonitor displays the current heart rate of the user, as well as the minimum and maximum heartrate for the past 24 hours.

Swatch has announced its intentions to market plasmachrons in a variety of designs to teenagers. The plasmamonitor will be marketed to nursing homes, hospitals, and upscale health clubs.


Weekly Wierd News
Dateline: 2006
Stash Simmons, a human interest reporter for Fox News has been found sleepwalking through a Montana cornfield. He has been missing since February when he failed to show up for work. The reporter has no memory of anything that happened since he went to sleep the night before his disappearance. The pyschiatrists examining him say that he has a neurological disorder that has not been known until now, and may have been sleepwalking for the last three months.

A mathematician at the University of Liverpool has generated a storm of controversy with a study that suggests certain types of astrological predictions have a higher rate of accuracy than would be expected from random chance alone.




Next round will be:

EntertainmentF1r3br4nd
WorldEvents|Kris
BusinessSteve
ScienceAndTech|I.Ching
WeeklyWierdNewsKristin


Kris votes:
  • Least realistic: Oh, alright, it is slightly more far-fetched for Shrub to spend $1B on family entertainment
  • Most realistic: The plasmachron

Steve votes:
  • Least realistic: Probably the family programming as well.
  • Most realistic: The power jacket

Kristin votes:
  • Least realistic: Bush giving a billion to Hollywood (unless maybe he took it away from Headstart). The Jenna/Barbara reality series sounds possible — what else are they going to do, join the army?
  • Most realistic: Not to blow my own horn, but I think the plasmachron is possible.

F1r3br4nd votes:
  • Least realistic: Bush $1 billion family programming initiative (which is not to say it's not funny, b/c it is)
  • Most realistic: Japanese semi-autonomous fighter planes

Voting results:
Most realistic: 2 for plasmachron, 1 for power jacket, 1 for Japanese semi-autonomous fighter planes.
Least realistic: 4 for Bush billion for family programming
Score: +1 for Kristin, -1 for Kris

After everyone votes, we get to answer the question that's foremost on everyone's mind: what's in store for 2007

PS: Folks, I am so, so sorry for going missing. I was having issues. Dealing with work and insomnia. I'm back, sort of. And off topic (since I can't seem to post on the Forum) does anybody know where I can get a decent JPG/GIF of a cave painting showing several hunters with spears and some kind of animal being attacked by them, in the same frame? It would seem like an easy to find, archetypal image, but all I can find after an hour of web searching are pictures of animals without humans nearby. The few that I could find either have the humans so stylized that they don't look human to a modern observer or the humans are too small compared to the animal and get lost. I *know* there's a picture like I'm picturing in my head, I must have seen it in a textbook, and I'm pretty sure it was from France. But I don't really care about the region... just something that the casual observer would immediately identify as "cavemen hunting prey". Thanks. --F1r3br4nd

From Kris: I know there are some good paintings but am having too much fun looking for them. Here is a link to a page with lots of good cave painting sites on it. I'll keep looking, but there's no need for me to hog all the fun. It seems like the Internet is the perfect medium for exploring paleolithic cave art. See especially Lascaux and Chauvet Caves--for Chauvet click on 'visit the cave".

http://archaeology.about.com/od/rockartsites/

''I've fixed your forum access. Don't worry about real life interfering with this stuff, it happens to all of us.
I'll defer to Kris on the cave painting question but will wonder did cave people draw cave people?
Also, I voted but some of us (like me) only have one article; should we try to get another in this weekend before we proceed to 2007?
--steve''

''Thanx.
Hmm, maybe I just have some kind of pop-culture caricature of cave paintings stuck in my head, displacing the real one.
Article: if you feel inspired to write a second before all the votes are in, go for it, Steve
-- f1r3br4nd''

''I did put one in, it was sort of bothering since all the hoohah around the pope not being dead yet.
-- steve''

Cave art! http://www.greywhale.com/rockart.htm has a pic from "Cueva des Flechas, Sierra de San Francisquitos, Baja California Sur" that shows four human figures and a couple of animals. Scroll down the page to see it.

Also — "News of the Weird" is actually a registered trademark (see http://www.newsoftheweird.com/faqs.html). I propose that we call this category "News of the Bizarre" or perhaps "News from the Bizarre Bazaar."
-- Kristin
Created by KKris. Last Modification: Tuesday 08 of March, 2005 08:05:44 EST by steve.