100 Year Predictions Came True?

close: There will be between 350 and 500 million people in America;

close: Americans will be taller by 1 - 2 inches, and live to 55 instead of the 1911 average of 35;

close: Meals will be bought 'ready-cooked', hot or cold from factories that prepare the foods in advance for delivery to the home ... and having one's own personal cook, or purchasing one's own food, will be considered an extravagance;

close: Foods will not be exposed so to prevent air-borne diseases, and those who violate health and safety rules will be arrested ... refrigerators will keep foods fresh for longer;

close: The human body will, in effect, become transparent to medical practitioners (x-rays), and magnetic imaging will be routine;

close: Central plants will allow every home to be centrally heated and cooled, supplied by pipes and turned on and off at will by spigots;

close: Cars will be the main transportation, air-conditioned and cheaper than horses, the latter only used by the rich for racing, hunting and exercise ... farmers will use power-driven machinery to plough and reap ... children will ride in power-driven sleighs in winter;

close: Street cars will be no more, and personal vehicles will be banned from the inner cities (in London this is largely the case) ... moving stairways will take people from one level to another;

close: Trains will travel at 150 mph and automatically cooled, with electric bullet-style trains able to haul a large amount of carriages behind;

close: Americans will live in suburbs;

close: Sea-vessels running on skis that shoot powerful jets of air allowing them to bounce on water will be in use, and ships will be air-conditioned throughout the cabins;

close: Air-ships (planes?) will be used by every military on earth as deadly war machines, some transporting men and supplies, with others that shoot missiles from the sky and 'hurling deadly thunderbolts', able to hide themselves in the clouds (stealth?);

close: Huge 'forts on wheels' (tanks?) will speed across open spaces at the speed of a 1911 carriage train, able to make 'cavalry-charges';

close: Flying surveillance machines will carry photography equipment that can spy on an enemy from 100 miles away, passing them on to the commanding officer of troops below (drones and satellites?);

close: Huge machines will be able to dig trenches for troops, and rifles will use silencers ... submarines will have the ability to wipe out entire navy's (nuclear subs?);

close: Wireless cameras will allow man to see thousands of miles across and round the world, and the guns of a distant battle will be seen in real-time with full acoustics;

close: Wireless telephones will be in use by everyone rendering the intervention of a "hello girl" (operator) obsolete;

close: Photography will allow for almost instant publication from one side of the world to another, capturing all the colours of nature in virtual real time;

close: Coal will dramatically decline in usage;

close: People will abandon unnecessary letters in the alphabet because they will use a new style of condensed spelling, with no more C,X, and Q (SMS text-message use by many today?);

close: English grammar will be taught without being copied from Latin, and the very poor will receive free rides to and from school and free lunches;

close: The instruments of an orchestra may be automatic (synthesised?) enabling music to be brought into every home, as real as though from a theatre ... live concerts can be enjoyed throughout the world;

close: Fast vehicles will pick up and deliver packages from house to house;

close: Boards of Health will have destroyed breeding grounds of rodents and insects near homes;

close: Animals will be bred to expend all their life energy producing either meat, milk, wool and other by-products, and thus their bones and muscles will atrophy; (very true - but very sad)

close: Vegetables will be grown in special glass houses controlled by electricity, making it possible for winter to become summer and vice versa, and seeds to be started out of season ... plants will as such become larger, weed-free, and disease proof;

close: Refrigerators on planes will make tropical fruits available from around the world, and scientists will make oranges able to grow in cold climates;

not-so close: Strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, gooseberries and currants will be almost as large as apples, and just one will be enough for a day's fruit allowance ... figs will be grown all around America, peas and beans will be as large as beets, and sugar cane will be the main source of sugar supplies;

not-so close: Native rubber will be harvested by machines;

close: Flowers will become huge, and pansy's will no longer just grow to a 1/2 inch head ... roses will grow in all colours, and cross-pollination of flowers and plants will become routine;