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"Modern science fiction is the only form of literature that consistently considers the nature of the changes that face us, the possible consequences, and the possible solutions."
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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?
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. Comment/Join this discussion ( 1 ) | RSS/XML | Blog This | Additional
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Science Fiction
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