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Lizard Blizzard
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From:
"10 technologies that deserve to die"
By Bruce Sterling
Technology Review
10.21.2003
A science fiction writer's irreverent take.
[More than irreverent, he seems to be misinformed on occasion. I do not
necessarily agree or disagree with any of the rest of his article.
Sadly, he doesn't seem to be aware that incandescents have already been
replaced in most commercial situations. With fluo lights, of course.]
4. INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULBS
IN REALITY, these sad devices are "heat bulbs." Supposedly a lighting
technology, they produce nine times more raw heat than they do
illumination. The light they do give, admittedly, is still prettier
than the eerie glow of compact fluorescents and light- emitting diodes.
But it's still a far cry from the glories of natural daylight.
Plus there's the cost of light bulbs, their fragility, the replacement
overhead, the vast waste of energy, glass, and tungsten, the goofy
hassle of running air conditioners to do battle with the blazing heat of
all these round little glass stoves...let's face it, these gizmos
deserve to vanish.
They will be replaced by a superior technology, something cheap, cool,
and precisely engineered, that emits visible wavelengths genuinely
suited to a consumer's human eyeball. Our descendants will stare at
those vacuum-shrouded wires as if they were whale-oil lanterns.
--
----------------(from OED Mini-Dictionary)-----------------
PUNCTUATION - Apostrophe
Incorrect uses: (i) the apostrophe must not be used with a plural
where there is no possessive sense, as in ~tea's are served here~;
(ii) there is no such word as ~her's, our's, their's, your's~.
Confusions: it's = it is or it has (not 'belonging to it'); correct
uses are ~it's here~ (= it is here); ~it's gone~ (= it has gone);
but ~the dog wagged its tail~ (no apostrophe).
----------------(For the Apostrophe challenged)----------------
From a fully deputized officer of the Apostrophe Police!
<<Spammers use Weapons of Mass Distraction!>>
I bought some batteries, but they weren't included,
so I had to buy them again.
-- Steven Wright
FOR SALE: Nice parachute: never opened - used once.
(Problem) Evidence of leak on right main landing gear
(Solution) Evidence removed
F
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g
h
i
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"
e
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..
"10 technologies that deserve to die"
By Bruce Sterling
Technology Review
10.21.2003
A science fiction writer's irreverent take.
[More than irreverent, he seems to be misinformed on occasion. I do not
necessarily agree or disagree with any of the rest of his article.
Sadly, he doesn't seem to be aware that incandescents have already been
replaced in most commercial situations. With fluo lights, of course.]
4. INCANDESCENT LIGHT BULBS
IN REALITY, these sad devices are "heat bulbs." Supposedly a lighting
technology, they produce nine times more raw heat than they do
illumination. The light they do give, admittedly, is still prettier
than the eerie glow of compact fluorescents and light- emitting diodes.
But it's still a far cry from the glories of natural daylight.
Plus there's the cost of light bulbs, their fragility, the replacement
overhead, the vast waste of energy, glass, and tungsten, the goofy
hassle of running air conditioners to do battle with the blazing heat of
all these round little glass stoves...let's face it, these gizmos
deserve to vanish.
They will be replaced by a superior technology, something cheap, cool,
and precisely engineered, that emits visible wavelengths genuinely
suited to a consumer's human eyeball. Our descendants will stare at
those vacuum-shrouded wires as if they were whale-oil lanterns.
--
----------------(from OED Mini-Dictionary)-----------------
PUNCTUATION - Apostrophe
Incorrect uses: (i) the apostrophe must not be used with a plural
where there is no possessive sense, as in ~tea's are served here~;
(ii) there is no such word as ~her's, our's, their's, your's~.
Confusions: it's = it is or it has (not 'belonging to it'); correct
uses are ~it's here~ (= it is here); ~it's gone~ (= it has gone);
but ~the dog wagged its tail~ (no apostrophe).
----------------(For the Apostrophe challenged)----------------
From a fully deputized officer of the Apostrophe Police!
<<Spammers use Weapons of Mass Distraction!>>
I bought some batteries, but they weren't included,
so I had to buy them again.
-- Steven Wright
FOR SALE: Nice parachute: never opened - used once.
(Problem) Evidence of leak on right main landing gear
(Solution) Evidence removed
F
o
d
d
e
r
f
o
r
s
t
u
p
i
d
"
n
o
t
e
n
o
u
g
h
i
n
c
l
d
u
d
e
d
t
e
x
t
"
e
r
r
o
r
m
s
g
..