Browse Topics

The Big Ship

The Great Eastern Was A Glorious Failure

According to legend, during the four years it took 2,000 workmen to assemble the ship, a riveter was accidentally sealed alive in one of its airtight compartments, jinxing the ship forever. Whatever the cause, the Great Eastern voyages ended in disaster. Its captains usually lasted only one voyage.

Heating With Wood

Heating with wood has become popular as an inexpensive, safe, and personally satisfying way of staying warm. Many people appreciate being able to keep their houses toasty without relying on the utility company or oil industry.

Excerpts From RAIN

Journal Of Appropriate Technology

RAIN is one of my favorite magazines. Published monthly in Portland, Oregon, RAIN calls itself “a monthly information access journal and reference service for people developing more satisfying patterns that increase local self-reliance and press less heavily on our limited resources.”

Waking Up . . . Or Am I Only Dreaming?

Most of what we call reality falls into a range between the trivial and the transcendent. At one end are the details of waking life. At the other end is what really counts.

Immodest Proposal

In the future “work” as is now known will exist for only a few technicians. Most citizens will be supported by a welfare state which is fully automated. This will be achieved in each home by a device that looks much like an electric chair.

Nuclear Energy: Our Faustian Bargain?

Governor Meldrin Thomson flew in in his helicopter. He’d originally teamed up with the Public Service Company of New Hampshire to push the twin 1150 megawatt set of nuclear power plants, among the biggest ever built, on New Hampshire’s coast, all 18 miles of it. Seabrook got selected without knowing it.

Bringing Black Holes To Light

Hawking takes on Einstein directly: “It therefore seems that Einstein was doubly wrong when he said ‘God does not play dice.’ Consideration of particle emission from black holes would seem to suggest that God not only plays dice but sometimes throws them where they cannot be seen.” Where they can’t be seen is black holes, where singularities dwell.

Tomatoes: Who Stole The Taste?

The “fresh” tomatoes we buy in the supermarkets are picked while they are still green and firm — and then taken to be gassed. (The industry prefers to call this “de-greening.”)

Sporadic E, Or How To Spend More Time Watching Television

No, Sporadic E is not Elvin Hayes in the playoffs (that’s a basketball joke, nonsports fans). It’s something strange that happens high in the sky, like depleting ozone.

The Total FM Guide

Would you use a $15,000 Porsche just to haul groceries? Then why would you use your FM tuner or stereo receiver just to get a few local stations? If your answer is “because that’s all I can get,” you’re wrong. You can get more. Lots more. Would you believe well over 100 different stations? It’s true.