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"The permanent government now is the anchorpeople. They don't get elected, and year after year they're responding emotionally to this or that."
- Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.
 |
| Skycar | ||
| A personal means of transportation that flies. |
As far as I know, this is the first use of this term.
| “Red Hades,” murmured the doctor. “I’ve always been afraid it would happen. I must get there quickly.” Twenty minutes later his private skycar, bearing the blazing-fire cross of the medical profession, was piercing the atmosphere at a thousand miles an hour, on its way to Los Angeles, where the mighty studios of World Teletainments, Inc., were situated. |
| Technovelgy from Prima Donna 1980,
by Bernard Brown. Published by Amazing Stories in 1931 Additional resources -
|
Another detail:
Robert Heinlein liked this term enough that he used it in his classic 1941 novel Methuselah's Children:
This term also appears in The Swordsman of Sarvon (1932) by Charles Cloukey:
Read more about the Camden speedster, the car referred to the above quote..
...it was well past five o’clock when Doctor Heiberg climbed into the tiny saloon of his private skycar and adjusted the pneumatic side grips.
Had there been a bystander, he would have been startled to observe what appeared to be a standard Camden rise up off the ground as easily as a skycar. He would not have long to wonder - the car moved out over the lake, dropped down to the water and sank beneath it. Seventeen minutes later, the car rose up to the surface of a small pool of water, a pool that occupied much of the floor of an artificial cavern.
The little skycar maintained its headlong rush for almost two hours. Then it circled down to land upon the wide ledge half-way up the cliff-side, the ledge upon which the cave opened.
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Tech news articles related to Prima Donna 1980
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Skycar-related
news articles:
- Moller M400 SkyCar Taking Too Long
| Engineer Creates Crazy Motorized Track Hospital Bed |
| Xiaomi Self-Driving Self-Balancing Scooter |
| AV-STEP To Permit Sale Of Vehicles Without Steering Wheels Or Pedals |
| 'Robovan' Name Already Taken - Elon, Try These |
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'...Anything was possible in my imaginary environment.'
'Somewhere in space, a chrome and blue automobile raced the green light of Earth.'
'That explains how it was so easy for me to remain motionless in midair...'
'We had discovered that metal was relatively impervious to the telepathic effect.'
'Detailed plans for the construction of the Gundstetter-Halone warp drive were flowing.'
'Do not waste your priceless company on the unappreciative folds of a sleep pod...'
'...so we've promised him a generous pension from the royalties.'
'Hocus-pocus religions and archaic weapons are no substitute for a good blaster at your side.'
