The December 1900 issue of Ladies Home Journal contains an incredibly fascinating article by John Elfreth, entitled “What May Happen in the Next Hundred Years”, containing around 30 predictions for the future of the United States and the world in the year 2000. Some of them are what you’d expect from someone in the year 1900 dreaming of a wonderfully progressive Utopian civilization, but some of them are pretty spot on!

Mr. Watkins wrote: “These prophecies will seem strange, almost impossible. Yet, they have come from the most learned and conservative minds in America. To the wisest and most careful men in our greatest institutions of science and learning I have gone, asking each in his turn to forecast for me what, in his opinion, will have been wrought in his own field of investigation before the dawn of 2001 – a century from now. These opinions I have carefully transcribed.”

Prediction #1: There will probably be from 350,000,000 to 500,000,000 people in America and its possessions by the lapse of another century. Nicaragua will ask for admission to our Union after the completion of the great canal. Mexico will be next. Europe, seeking more territory to the south of us, will cause many of the South and Central American republics to be voted into the Union by their own people.”

Prediction #2: The American will be taller by from one to two inches. His increase of stature will result from better health, due to vast reforms in medicine, sanitation, food and athletics. He will live fifty years instead of thirty-five as at present – for he will reside in the suburbs. The city house will practically be no more. Building in blocks will be illegal. The trip from suburban home to office will require a few minutes only. A penny will pay the fare.

Prediction #3: Gymnastics will begin in the nursery, where toys and games will be designed to strengthen the muscles. Exercise will be compulsory in the schools. Every school, college and community will have a complete gymnasium. All cities will have public gymnasiums. A man or woman unable to walk ten miles at a stretch will be regarded as a weakling.

Read more of ”Predictions for the year 2000, from the year 1900“

Not safe to stick in a stereo, but safe to use when sticking other things together, the Indispensable Tape Dispenser is every mix-tape fans dream come true. Shaped like an original cassette tape and packed with two-sided sticky tape, I can see this getting added to lots of kids adding this to their wishlists this holiday season.

I’ve always wanted to open a diner. Greasy spoon, all you can drink coffee at 2am served by waitresses chewing gum who you know just doesn’t give a damn about your problems in the middle of the night. Thankfully, there is always some enterprising company making my (potential) life just that much easier. Atlanta, Georgia’s Dinermite has taken pre-fab architecture to new heights, by offer a series of modular, pre-stocked Diner setups for those of you who’ve always wished about changing your name to Frank or Bill and sticking up a ton of chrome on your street corner. Including everything from the checkerboard flooring to the kitchen sink, Dinermites’ modular diner systems provide almost everything a diner-aficionado needs to get their own greasy spoon up and running. Minus the cute aprons, jukebox and attitude of course.

Dine more: Dinermite! | Collection of diners around the US

Ok, it’s not the *only* thing I want for Christmas (there’s also this, this and this on my list), but damn if this isn’t in my top-5! The Donut Robot 42 belongs to the very lucky Derrick (adw3345) who documented his wonderful robot sidekick on his LiveJournal, teaching us some amazing facts on his vintage robot, such as it’s ability to make 384 donuts per hour, automatically. That’s about 4 more than I need! Per hour.

Read more: Get to know the Donut Robot 42

Another brilliant gallery of vintage marketing from mid-20th century magizines. The theme of this gallery is vintage drug and narcotic advertisements from various mid-20th century magazines, proving that not only has pharmaceutical companies always been totally sleazy with their marketing, but that vintage magazine ads from the 50′s just look fucking awesome.

Read more: Gallery of vintage drug advertisements

I wouldn’t go so far as saying these were movies teaching sexual education, more like banging pots and pans and jumping up and down, which was pretty prevalent in mid-20th century US. That’s not to say we don’t enjoy seeing a few of these propaganda films and enjoying a bit of popcorn with friends. A LiveJournal post has collected a few photos of brilliant vintage movie posters from the golden era of propaganda and scare tactics, featuring several different variations for VD classics “Devil in the Flesh” and “Damaged Goods”.

Read more: Vintage sex-ed movie posters

Indie games outfit, Cogames, has created an exciting (and addicting) browser-based version of Asteroids, only removing the asteroids and replacing them with other players! Users enter an arena with, it appears, up to 4 other players and begins a hectic and exciting free for all match, including power ups such as health and weapons and a chat feature, all through your Flash-enabled browser window. I’ve been playing all morning and I find it even more addictive than the original, much more fast-paced and even plays well on my PowerBook!

[Multiplayer Asteroids]

French artist, Space Invader, or someone close to him, has posted pictures giving Flickr users an inside look of his ‘invasion’ of Vienna throughout June 2006. Creating a mixup of art installation and social exploration game, the artist created tile-based pixel art recreating characters from the classic video games Pac-Man and Space Invaders, then pasted them to buildings around Vienna, Austria. Space Invader is currently at residence in Vienna’s Museumsquartier.

[Space Invader Flickr Gallery | Space Invader]