h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Exactly when do we start getting everybody on the planet to where those "futuristic" silver Jumpsuits that all the movies from the 1950's had us in. The Logistics alone would be mind boggling.



I want my flying car too.

And I think those scientists oughta get cracking on getting those transporters operational as well. What's the use of all these cloned sheep if you can't pop in from one meadow to another really fast in order to shepard all three flocks home in time for dinner?

I thought the jump suits had been done in the 1970's (Disco)
As for the flying car its bad enough with traffic travelling in two dimensions let alone three.(or more?)

Hey they have got them working(kind of) it's just that an unfortunate process is the need to transport each atom
of your body individually, and the fact that they almost certainly won't be put back together in the right order
or even all end up at the same place.

Hmmm...

Well, if jump suits went out in the era of disco and stagflation, then isn't it about time for the "retro-jump-suit" movement to begin? It's been more than 20 years now, that's about the right amount of time for it to become stylish again!

Well I, for one, am willing to be a pioneer in this movement. Heck, I'll even help usher in the "retro-leisure-suit" era, too. It's all about the polyester, baby!

and aren't we all supposed to be eating pills instead of food? well, I don't know about you, but I enjoy a good hefty shite now and again!

Moller M400 Skycar:
http://www.moller.com/skycar/m400/

On the drawing board for years, has 4 Wankle Rotary Engines (Which are fun to say, Wankle!)
And is merely waiting for:
1) The Government (In the US) to update its Air Traffic Control systems
2) The Government to finally give up and hand it over to the private sector, which will immediately

(Mercy! the carriage return key submits the post if you are not careful!)
immediately... hand it over to the serious geeks who will scream about the fact that
none of this machinery has the slightest chance of playing Quake III and all this business of
vectoring people and clearing them for things and calidating flight plans really takes up your
surfing time, so let's just automate most of it.

My two sons (7 and 4) had to start wearing "uniforms" (black pants, white collared shirts, red or black suspenders(braces) or sweaters) to school this year. As a long time science fiction fan I am in favor of homogenizing the masses, but seriously, WHITE shirts, I can usually tell what they had for breakfast and lunch by looking at them.
and anything that does not discolor the white shirt (like chalk or powdered donuts) is plainly visible on the black pants.
My suggestion was this, a one piece jumpsuit with markings (like military fruit salad, or scouting badges) to show where the child should be. Which school/classroom, which table at lunch, which lunch session, which bus, whether they are in extended day programs, etc.
The jumpsuits should be the same color as the dirt in the playground, they should have handles in the small of the back like luggage so when the child throws a tantrum they can be "handled" easily with one hand. Kevlar (tear resistant to the point of being bullet proof) would be the material of choice. Have a collapsible hood in the collar and it doubles as rainwear.

Just an idea.

And where is all the polythene? I mean, the future is one of fetching transparent pink, yellow and blue polythene clothing, after all, isn't it?

We have got one nice piece of the future however, and that of course is Stansted Airport, UK. You know, those drawings you used to see of really futuristic buildings with automated monorails, and only the bare minimum of people to spoil the view? Stansted Airport.

I saw that on a news/science special somewhere. I do have to agree with Bald Bloke though...

Having seen those nasty "Driver's Ed" films that graphically display the carnage on drunken moron can ensue on the roads, I really despise the thought of waking up to find an impact crater in my front yard (or the side of my kitchen for that matter) because some wing-nut had "a few for the road"...

And of course, being as these things are American, the thought of taking away any human control, i.e, automating) the machines, would be a "Greivious assault to their civil liberties", not to mention the feared "Frankenstien" effect of having a machine drive for you.

"military fruit salad"???

Is that a K-ration item, or have they started conscripting plant life and canned goods into the army now?

(hmm... that sounded funnier coming from the little voices in my head)

"have handles in the small of the back like luggage so when the child throws a tantrum
they can be "handled" easily with one hand."

Overalls! The area just between bum and the spot where the sholder straps conect bunches up into a "handle" quite nicely. Only works while they're still in diapers though, after which the children end up getting horrable wedgies.

I'm not so sure about that. When clutches vanished to make way for the automatic gear-box, few people howled...at least, if they did, they weren't recorded as doing so....

Americans love gadgets and novelty, especially if the technology is so simple that an adult can use it without thinking, so automatic air-cars might well fill the bill; besides, anyone who could afford one would likely be chauffeur-driven, anyway.

Funnily, the idea of an air-car landing in someone's kitchen because of a drunk air-carist was never mentioned in any of the sf dreams of the 1950's....but then, they also felt that smoking was socially acceptable, too.

Fruitbat

The idea of dressing the children to accommodate their activies makes a lot of sense to me: saves enormous grief in washing the clothing.

The only drawback to using Kevlar is in its very nature: it's not very flexible and is fairly heavy. Motorcyclists use it instead of leathers. I don't know how well it tailors, however, so maybe adding a massive number of seams for joints everywhere might work...

A worthy idea with different material, perhaps.

Fruitbat

PS: I'm an sf fan too; nobody ever mentioned what any of this clothing was made from, only that it was intended to be worn as a uniform, show curves in the right places (designed by men to be worn by women) and look good in pictures.

I take it you're a fan of Jerry Seinefld. Either that or your minds work in similar ways.
But in answer to your question, I think that the jump suits will be phased in slowly, rather than a "from this day forward, nothing but silver jump suits" thiing. It's gonna be a slow process and one day we'll just realize that it's happened when you go to a wedding and think "good lord, every woman in this room is wearing the same thing as me, oh, i could just die!"
There are copywrite laws (i think) about using commedien's material as your own. A guy on the radio kept doing it a while back.
I'm never gonna were the jump suit though, i think it'll be too uncomfortable, y'know, keep goin' up your ass all the time.

"There are copywrite laws (i think) about using commedien's material as your own."

No there isn't actually. I've a few friends in "the industry" and it's a real hot button issue with them. It falls under some weird "conversaition" kind of loophole, where-in the fact that a comedian will alter the delivery of his/her material slightly each time (feedback from the crowd, trying something new, the number of beers before the set ...) this means that the material changes too,thus, not copyrightable (at least thats what I was told).

I did realize the refference to Seinfeld afterwards, but I don't think he's the first one to use "Jumpsuits in the Future" as comedic fodder...

black trousers, white shirts and red braces eh? a pair of docs and a bowler and theyed fit right in to the 'clockwork orange' scheme of things! (kubrick, you absolute HOUND!)

Love it. Specially the handles on the back. Let's get some made!

I assume you live in N. America, over here in the UK most cars sold are still manual gearboxes with a clutch, I don't know why, but i assume it is to do with smaller cars and engines. anyway i prefer manual.