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"…we store information differently, reading a science fiction story, to make it make sense."
- Samuel R. Delany
 |
| Drinking Bulb | ||
| A small container, used for drinks. |
| Jim suddenly remembered the drinking bulb in his hand. He drank from it, hospitably passed it to Steve. |
| Technovelgy from The Warriors,
by Larry Niven. Published by Worlds of If in 1966 Additional resources -
|
Louis Wu gets an unusual invitation on his 200th birthday: to accompany several aliens on a trip to see a place called Ringworld. I'm not really sure what they're drinking from, or what they look like, but they sound kind of, well, tasty.
Oh, fine. Louis sucked at the bulb an anonymous donor had handed him. It held vodka and droobleberry juice and shaved ice. The kzin's tail lashed restlessly. "Why should we not ride with an avowed maniac? You must be madder than most, to wish to ride with a kzin."
Droobleberry juice? Don't ask; it might be alien. But every sentient species needs to take some sort of liquid refreshment (don't they?); and serving it in a bulb seems to meet everyone's needs. So why can't I buy one?
I'm not sure, but I think one of the key innovations with this device is that it combines the container and the straw; as a parent, one of the frustrations of using a juice bag is locating and inserting the straw.
Also, it occurs to me that this item would probably be a good idea under weightless conditions. And if the pens that write upside down (or in weightless conditions) sold, why wouldn't drinking bulbs?
From Flatlander (1967) by Niven:
"No. Long enough to know how
to use a drinking bulb."
Compare to plastibulbs from The Proud Robot (1943) by Lewis Padgett, the water bulb from Pohl and Kornbluth's 1952 classic The Space Merchants and the Clearsac from The Water Knife (2015) by Paolo Bacigalupi.
"Perhaps I was not strictly fair with you, Louis. My species judges me mad."
He'd obviously reached the bar way ahead
of me. "A flatlander! Dammit,
everywhere I go I'm a flatlander. Do
you know how many hours I've spent
in space?"
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Additional
resources:
More Ideas
and Technology from The Warriors
More Ideas
and Technology by Larry Niven
Tech news articles related to The Warriors
Tech news articles related to works by Larry Niven
Drinking Bulb-related
news articles:
- On-Orbit Space Coffee Cup
| Sleep Pods At Daxing International Airport |
| Amazon Blimp Parent Drone Concept |
| Tortoise Mobile Smart Stores |
| Sony Pocket Air Conditioner Is Phil Dick's Idea! |
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'...I saw a nice black heavy-looking cloud sailing by just now, and I can get the electrical machine out in five minutes to draw it down.'
'From a distance it could resolve the cosmic rays reflected from various substances.'
'The answer to the dumb student's prayer.'
'He had travelled the space-lanes of the solar system for the greater part of his life...'
'The dinner was excellent. It was completely vegetarian — grown in specially prepared gardens in this Moon base...'
'Telepaths had their sensitiveness enlarged to an immense range by the pin-sets, which were telepathic amplifiers adapted to the mammal mind.'
'It was a relief to enter one of the comfortable autos, whisper a direction down the tube, and just know that you would be taken to your destination in the quickest, safest, and cheapest manner.'
'But he didn't get very far with it before another noise in his ear radio scattered his thoughts. George winced...'
