Topical Guide 84
Mark Dorset
Gadgets, Electronic
By the time the crocuses began to pop up in corners of Gumma and Guppa’s lawn, the chassis looked quite complete from the top. There were handsome black sockets that would hold the tubes and coils, and there were stocky transformers and some shiny things that looked like little cans.
Little Follies, “The Static of the Spheres”
At that point, it might have looked something like this:
By the time the first tomatoes ripened in Guppa’s garden, the underside of the chassis looked like my father’s workbench. Wires of many colors connected most of the prongs and lugs, and most of the colorful resistors and drab capacitors were hooked in there somehow too.
Little Follies, “The Static of the Spheres”
At that point, it might have looked something like this:
I had swept dust from the walls around the cellar, and then, with no more dust available, had given up sweeping the cellar, and had sat on the metal stool beside Guppa, watching him solder connection after connection.
Little Follies, “The Static of the Spheres”
At that point, Herb might have looked something like this:
Persistence
I had developed a deep admiration for Guppa’s stick-to-itiveness that persists to this day.
Little Follies, “The Static of the Spheres”
Every man who proposes to grow eminent by learning should carry in his mind at once the difficulty of excellence and the force of industry; and remember that fame is not conferred but as the recompense of labour, and that labour, vigorously continued, has not often failed of its reward.
Cliffhangers; Foreshadowings
“All we have to do now,” he said, “is wind the coils.”
Little Follies, “The Static of the Spheres”
[more to come on Wednesday, September 8, 2021]
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