[ExI] happy birthday robert pirsig

John Grigg possiblepaths2050 at gmail.com
Mon Sep 8 03:12:04 UTC 2008


Damien wrote:
> No, my fabled artifact would be a Hieronymus Machine coupled to an
> E-Meter mounted on a Dean Drive papered with Zener cards, built from
> instructions published in John W. Campbell's ASTOUNDING SCIENCE
> FICTION magazine in the 1950s.

I had to wikipedia every item in your Santa's gift list to figure out
what you were talking about! LOL  I get it now, you were pulling my
leg! hee  It was cool to learn about John W. Campbell & Astounding's
involvement with the Dean Drive and the infamous Hieronymus Machine.
In an Arizona New Age periodical an ex-girlfriend of mine gets, they
had a Hieronymus Machine "schematic" that she tried out.  I think the
placebo effect was what gave her a good impression of it.  When she
first showed me the article and diagram I kept on thinking it was a
design for a build it yourself electronic gizmo.

> (I know you sprightly youngsters couldn't even begin to understand
> the fun we kids had back in the day. Keith, maybe.)

I'm just old enough to remember based on what others told me & old
magazines I've read.  The kid's today would drool at having access to
the "take your life into your own hands" home chemistry sets that the
kids in your generation had.  And I have heard many anecdotes about
the very challenging erector sets.  As a kid who had a free
subscription to Boy's Life due to being a Scout, I always had wanted
to build the cool stuff advertised in the back of the magazine, such
as a hovercraft, robot or ray gun.

A cool article about the creator of the erector set:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_1216/is_2_205/ai_63923435

Ray guns!:

http://www.cooltoyreview.com/story/front/Weta_Rayguns_News_105646.asp

I could see Spike and his son one day having fun with a book like this...

http://www.amazon.com/Curious-Boys-Book-Exploration/dp/159514207X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_a

John Grigg  : )



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