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The Heretofore Unpublished Letters of Ernest Glitch

Roger Curry writes "Letters to Michael Faraday in 1856 from previously unknown victorian experimentalist Ernest Glitch have recently been discovered. The history of science may need to be revised. His letters, and accounts of his work, would appear to indicate the observation of laser action in air, a Victorian Nitrogen Laser, more than a century before Maiman first demonstrated his ruby laser. Also, in a letter dated 8th July 1856 he notes the crystallisation of the fullerene C60 some 150 years before Kroto. Amazingly, there are also accounts of a Liquid-Fuel Rocket Engine detailing the use of hypergolic propellants and deLaval nozzles, a Victorian Tesla Coil, with reference to a possible medieval Coil, and Manned Flight achieved long before the Wright Bros., using Multiple Valve-less Pulse Jets."

12 of 180 comments (clear)

  1. Can you say.... by Gothmolly · · Score: 5, Informative

    hoax? Get it, get it, the "It's Funny, Laugh" icon should be a hint. The guy's name is "Glitch" for crying out loud.

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  2. Kroto and C60 by Mystic_Rhythms · · Score: 3, Informative

    Kroto wasn't the first to see crystals of C60, Huffman was. Kroto only saw C60 as a peak in a mass spectrometer.

  3. Re:In other news... by Speare · · Score: 3, Informative

    This reminded me at once of "The Difference Engine" by Sterling and Gibson.

    Synopsis: A collaborative novel from the premier cyberpunk authors, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling. Part detective story, part historical thriller, The Difference Engine takes us not forward but back, to an imagined 1885: the Industrial Revolution is in full and inexorable swing, powered by steam-driven, cybernetic engines. Charles Babbage perfects his Analytical Engine, and the computer age arrives a century ahead of its time.

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  4. Re:Remember this from Rozencrantz and Gildenstern? by AJWM · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, loved it. Steam engines, Newton's laws ... all so close.

    Minor nitpick -- the movie isn't merely set in the time of Hamlet, it's set in the play Hamlet; Rozencrantz and Gildenstern are minor characters in that play, but this movie focuses on them (with a lot of action beyond what Shakespeare wrote) rather than on the Prince of Denmark. Which is also amusing.

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    -- Alastair
  5. Now, *there's* a hoax - not by Gore... by cirby · · Score: 4, Informative

    This is one of the great hoaxes put on the American people, and it's gained a life of its own. Gore correctly took credit - in a casual comment in an interview - for taking the initiative in Congress in creating what we consider to be the Internet (increasing funding and taking it from a military to a commercial and academic network). Some weeks later, Republicans started using the false "invented" claim.

    1. Re:Now, *there's* a hoax - not by Gore... by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 5, Informative

      Yeah.

      I spoke to David Farber a little after that whole thing got started. Dave Farber was involved in the invention of ethernet, and a number of other key technologies. He's been a well connected, well known geek for a very, very long time. I asked him what he thought of Gore's claim that he invented the internet, expecting to get a chuckle out of him, because he knew many of the people that might have actually been able to make that kind of claim.

      Instead, he got kindof serious, and said, "Well, no, he didn't create the internet, and I think he's been quoted out of context, but he was absolutely responsible for creating the legislative environment that allowed that type of research to be done, and lead to the creation of the internet."

      I felt like an idiot.

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      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
    2. Re:Now, *there's* a hoax - not by Gore... by Elwood+P+Dowd · · Score: 3, Informative

      No, that's the point. Gore never claimed that he invented the internet. He was quoted out of context. Legislation that he passed that funded the researchers was totally crucial. No one else was going to do it. That's all he claimed to have done.

      So, at best, Mr. Gore did exactly what Farber said. Which also happened to be what Mr. Gore said. He passed laws that made researchers able to do this kind of work, and get paid for it. That's kindof cool.

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      There are no trails. There are no trees out here.
  6. Re:Thank you. by fmaxwell · · Score: 3, Informative

    Yes, it's almost as bad as the distortion that Bush was "appointed" President.

    That is not a distortion. It is a fact. Florida's own laws regarding election recounts were broken in order to assure Bush's "victory." Kathleen Harris, Florida's then Secretary of State, was G.W. Bush's Campaign Chairman in Florida. Jeb, as we all know, is the President's brother. Both of them should have recused themselves from the debacle. Instead, Harris ordered a stop to the recounts in order to assure victory for her candidate.

  7. Re:Thank you. by operagost · · Score: 3, Informative

    Jeb did stay out of the issue. Don't let the facts get in the way of your arguments, however; I find it so amusing!

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  8. Re:Remember this from Rozencrantz and Gildenstern? by AJWM · · Score: 3, Informative

    No, just that time of isn't very specific. For one thing, like many of Shakespeare's plays, things are sometimes anachronistic -- clocks in Julius Caesar, for example. Hamlet is based on a 12th century Danish story, but the play (and movie) are more contemporaneous with Shakespeare's 16th.

    Given that range, the movie The Emperor's New Groove set (loosely and anachronistically) in the pre-Columbian Incan empire could be said to be "in the time of Hamlet" -- but it wouldn't be in the play.

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    -- Alastair
  9. Hoax and funny too. by Performer+Guy · · Score: 3, Informative

    Of course it's a hoax, the whole thing reads like a comedy of errors where the poor servant Hodges is subjected to various nasty injuries as a result of Glitch's experiments.