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"[Science fiction] is the only kind of writing that allows you to look at the world we live in and change one piece at a time."
- Frederik Pohl
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| Metal Desk Car | ||
| A combination work desk and vehicle for librarians and researchers; part desk part carnival ride. |
No area is too small - make it more efficient!
| The research workers rode up
and down among the walls of books and
filing cabinets in little metal desk cars,
like marbles chasing through an upright
maze.
The eager King of Speed donned a brain stimulator, glanced at his assignments, mounted a car, sailed up the wall, and delved into the cases. Charged with hope, he zipped from stack to stack... ...Although the wall-scaling mechanisms were replete with safety devices, Ben, in a burst of energy following his exercise, found the weak link. Sliding into his desk car, he jammed at a lever, snapped it off clean. With a whiz he rocketed up toward the lofty ceiling too fast, flew the vertical tracks, and plummeted to the floor, car and all. |
| Technovelgy from Ben Gleed, King of Speed,
by Don Wilcox. Published by Amazing Stories in 1939 Additional resources -
|
Read about the desk personal computer from Ender's Game (1985) by Orson Scott Card and the desk secretary from The Long Result (1963) by John Brunner.
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Additional
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More Ideas
and Technology from Ben Gleed, King of Speed
More Ideas
and Technology by Don Wilcox
Tech news articles related to Ben Gleed, King of Speed
Tech news articles related to works by Don Wilcox
Metal Desk Car-related
news articles:
- Moving Desks Not SciFi After All
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| Meetings To Be Recorded And Scored For Body Language |
| Would You Get 'Chipped'? Michigan May Ban Employers |
| Workplace Monitoring Hell, I Mean, Tool For Safe Distancing |
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Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Science Fiction Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
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Science Fiction
Timeline
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'I don't have to tell you about the seven two-mile-diameter orbital mirrors that circulate around the satellite, making it habitable.'
'The steel tortoise gave MacKinnon a feeling of Crusoe- like independence.'
'...then back to their work, though little enough it was on these automatic cultivators.'
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'
