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"I long ago realized that I could reach far more people by writing something, than by walking down the street with a banner."
- John Brunner
 |
| Weather Integrator | ||
| An entire technology for controlling the weather. |
Lazarus Long, oldest member of the Howard Families, is flying a space freighter down to Earth when he runs into a bit of a surprise.
| Entering the stratosphere and circling two-thirds of the globe took no longer than he had estimated. He used part of the hour's leeway he had allowed himself by being very stingy in his maneuvers in order to spare the worn, obsolescent injection meters. Then he was down in the troposphere and making his approach, with skin temperatures high but not dangerously so. Presently he realized what Ford had meant about the weather. Oklahoma and half of Texas were covered with deep, thick clouds. Lazarus was amazed and somehow pleased; it reminded him of other days, when weather was something experienced rather than controlled. Life had lost some flavor, in his opinion, when the weather engineers had learned how to harness the elements. He hoped that their planet-if they found one!-would have some nice, lively weather. Then he was down in it and too busy to meditate. In spite of her size the freighter bucked and complained. Whew! Ford must have ordered this little charivari the minute the time was set-and, at that, the integrators must have had a big low-pressure area close at hand to build on. |
| From Methuselah's Children,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Astounding Science-Fiction in 1941 Additional resources -
|
The weather integrators were not able to handle everything Mother Nature dishes out:
"...this emergency will be somewhat less troublesome than a low pressure minimum too big for the weather integrators."
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| Has Climate Change Already Been Solved By Aliens? |
| Skin Electronics 3D Printed |
| Super-Resolution Microscopy Provides '4D' Views |
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'Merton... placed the electrodes of the sleep-inducer on his forehead.'
'... we can descend and live down there at one of those year-round aquatic resorts.'
'...she would have to be coaxed by another series of pats into a circular orbit.'
'The sleek, tapered space shuttle lay immobile upon the private landing field...'
Yes, people of the future, robots will dress you.
