Six Degrees of Victor Frankenstein

Happy "Kevin Bacon is born and Kim il Sung is Dead" Day!(Probably a good trade.)

John D. Rockefeller, Marty Feldman, Phil Gramm and Toby Keith were also born today. (Well, not TODAY, but you know what I mean).

We should also remember Christian Huygens (an all-around super-genius whose contributions to mankind include the internal combustion engine) and Percy Bysshe Shelley, the English poet whose (sort of) wife, Mary Shelley, penned the world's first science fiction novel, titled "Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus" in 1818. Mary Shelley later published "The Last Man", another science fiction novel set in the 21st Century. Excerpt:

In the autumn of this year 2096, the spirit of emigration crept in among the few survivors, who, congregating from various parts of England, met in London. This spirit existed as a breath, a wish, a far off thought, until communicated to Adrian, who imbibed it with ardour, and instantly engaged himself in plans for its execution. The fear of immediate death vanished with the heats of September. Another winter was before us, and we might elect our mode of passing it to the best advantage. Perhaps in rational philosophy none could be better chosen than this scheme of migration, which would draw us from the immediate scene of our woe, and, leading us through pleasant and picturesque countries, amuse for a time our despair. The idea once broached, all were impatient to put it in execution.

I dunno what any of that means, but it sounds pretty deep.

Approximately 160 years after Shelley penned Frankenstein, Mel Brooks produced "Young Frankenstein" starring Gene Wilder and Marty Feldman. Mere coincidence? Yeah, sure, buddy...