Celebrity News:

When you endeavour to predict the future, you risk appearing completely ridiculous to future generations. Just think of how many past futurists were sure we’d be whizzing around in flying cars by now. Yet from the vantage point of 2007, the idea of an airborne Toyota Corolla seems awfully silly. Still, it seems to be a part of human nature to want to look forward to what will be tomorrow, even if that means exposing yourself to future mockery.

At the Paelo-Future Web site, you will find a large catalogue of such past predictions, ranging from an 1882 lithograph depicting people going to the opera in the year 2000 (yes, they’re travelling in flying cars) and a 1986 news report about how robots would soon be taking over most aspects of retail shopping.

Not surprisingly, most of the predictions at the site are inaccurate. Which is too bad, because that Xerox machine that makes three-dimensional copies would really come in handy on those days when your three kids are all fighting over the same toy. But time has proven some of the featured futurists impressively prescient.

The author of a 1978 magazine article predicted that one day people would get their news from electronic newspapers. And in a 1967 piece, Hubert H. Humphrey prophesied that people would soon see the advent of human organ transplants and personality-modifying psychiatric drugs. Then again, he also forecast a permanent base on the moon by 1987, so he wasn’t exactly clairvoyant.

www.celebheights.com

People who are unusually tall or short tend to find comfort in finding successful celebrities who share their stature; it’s a good thing for them that there’s a Web site out there that lists famous people’s heights.

Since I tend to be the shortest person in the room except for dogs and young children, the first thing I did when I visited CelebHeights was scan the 50 latest entries for anyone standing less than 5’2’’. The results weren’t especially encouraging. Halfway through the list, I had only come up with two teenaged actors, Danielle Harmer and Nikki Blonsky), both of whom are probably still growing.

At that point, I cut to the chase and used the site’s search tool ("Celebs my Height" at the bottom of the right sidebar) to find that I’m about as tall as Lucy Liu and Salma Hayek. I can live with that.

But just in case I get insecure again later, I also checked out the site’s list of running shoe heights and made a note that a pair of Nike Shox can be counted on to add almost an inch and a half.