From: psperson@old.netcom.invalid   
      
   On Sat, 6 Dec 2025 14:38:44 -0500 (EST), kludge@panix.com (Scott   
   Dorsey) wrote:   
      
   >Cryptoengineer   wrote:   
   >>On 12/5/2025 6:44 PM, Scott Dorsey wrote:   
   >>> What is most incredibly dated are the original Tom Swift books, and they   
   were   
   >>> incredibly dated when I read them in the sixties.  Swiftboats that are   
   >>> propelled by electromagnets that repel the earth's magnetic field!  Flying   
   >>> machines that operate by electrical repulsion!  This is the world I was   
   >>> hoping to someday live in.   
   >>   
   >>I read those too, but remember, this is Tom Swift    
   >   
   >No, the Tom Swift Jr. books are far more up to date, with spaceships and    
   >so forth instead of high powered river craft and long distance radio.   
   >They didn't seem anywhere near as interesting as the originals to me as   
   >a kid because the originals predicted future technology and got it all   
   >so wrong.   
   >   
   >>The original Tom Swift appeared in 1910, with "Tom Swift   
   >>and His Motorcycle".   
   >   
   >Yes.  As the former owner of a Moto-Guzzi let me say that the motorcycle   
   >offers just the kind of freedom that Mr. Appleton predicted, but at a    
   >cost he did not forsee.   
      
      
   One of HG Well's social novels explored how the bicycle was opening   
   the world up to the lower classes.   
   --    
   "Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,   
   Who evil spoke of everyone but God,   
   Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)