Prescription for Chaos Read Online Free Page B
"There's Don with the food." He started to get up.
"I'll get it," said Fred, springing to his feet.
Don came in carrying a stacked tray balanced on a pile of magazines. He was grinning like an imbecile.
"You out of your head, boy?" said Fred. "Watch that tray!"
Howard scowled. "What are all those magazines? What are you bringing them in here for?"
Don shrugged. "I told you a thing like that had to have a catch in it." He plopped down the stack of magazines.
" Varlet ," he said. He tossed a copy onto the desk. " Devilish ." He tossed a copy of Devilish onto the desk. " Sly ." He tossed a copy of it on the desk. " Villain ." Another copy. " Slicker ." Another. " Hellion , Rascal , Knave , Cheat ." He tossed them on the desk in rapid succession.
"Open any one," said Don. "Look at the stories. Good stuff."
Howard blinked.
Fred closed the door furtively and locked it. "What are you getting at?" he asked. "We've still got the Reader's Companion coming out."
"I think I get it," said Howard slowly. "What's that last thing you've got in your hands there?"
Don held it out for him to see. "The Publishers Gazette ." He opened it to an ad on an inside page.
Howard took it and read:
"Writivac-120, the new all-purpose electronic writer, composes stories typed, double or single-spaced, adjustable margins. Neat copy. Choose one of several styles. Mystery Master, at $3650, is a sound low-priced machine. Can be converted to any other standard type by inserting pop-in coils (available at extra cost). Genre King, at $5750, supplies the best in versatile production-ability with complete control over content. Flexible. Swift. Reliable. Get yours today.
"Available with pica or elite type. Prices slightly higher west of the Mississippi."
"Well—" said Howard.
"I knew there was something fishy," said Don. "What they did was give us a pilot model and watch to see if we complained of quirks while they got their production lines tooled up. Now they're in mass-production. If they get the price down far enough, or the payments spaced out long enough, there'll be one in every living room in the country. We've had it."
Fred stared at the floor.
Howard cleared his throat. "How's that welding course coming?" he asked hopefully. "Is there room for two more in the class?"
A Handheld Primer
How many of us, the last one or two Christmases, have shared that sinking sensation on being grabbed by a junior member of the family who looks up with a piercing gaze:
"Can I have a handle for Christmas? Can I? Glenn Thomas has got one ."
A "handle," of course, is a "handheld," known also as a "magic box," "thinkbox," "pocket brain," or "PERM" (Pocketable Electronic Reference Module). This is one of those things that was impossible five years ago, scientifically unthinkable ten years ago, and twenty years ago it was science fiction. The possibility of it has been so well debunked by now that it is a little unnerving to run into it in fourteen different models at one end of the camera counter.
It was the thought that others must have found themselves equally unprepared that led to this article, which should give, at least, a better picture of the handheld.
First, the essentials.
The price ranges from the collapsed levels of remaindered products of the industry's latest bankrupts into the realms of fantasy. In short, you can buy them from $4.95 up . The highest price for a standard job—an all-purpose multiprogrammable financial, real-estate, and stock-and-bond-market model with built-in expandable reference library of data and programs—is $45,000.00. But then there are custom-built models, with no price limit in sight.
The best bet seems to be to stay under twenty bucks for the first one, particularly if it is a present for someone not yet nearly old enough to vote, and most particularly if the someone happens to be a small boy. There is something about an expensive handheld that can translate the merely obnoxious to levels truly
"I'll get it," said Fred, springing to his feet.
Don came in carrying a stacked tray balanced on a pile of magazines. He was grinning like an imbecile.
"You out of your head, boy?" said Fred. "Watch that tray!"
Howard scowled. "What are all those magazines? What are you bringing them in here for?"
Don shrugged. "I told you a thing like that had to have a catch in it." He plopped down the stack of magazines.
" Varlet ," he said. He tossed a copy onto the desk. " Devilish ." He tossed a copy of Devilish onto the desk. " Sly ." He tossed a copy of it on the desk. " Villain ." Another copy. " Slicker ." Another. " Hellion , Rascal , Knave , Cheat ." He tossed them on the desk in rapid succession.
"Open any one," said Don. "Look at the stories. Good stuff."
Howard blinked.
Fred closed the door furtively and locked it. "What are you getting at?" he asked. "We've still got the Reader's Companion coming out."
"I think I get it," said Howard slowly. "What's that last thing you've got in your hands there?"
Don held it out for him to see. "The Publishers Gazette ." He opened it to an ad on an inside page.
Howard took it and read:
"Writivac-120, the new all-purpose electronic writer, composes stories typed, double or single-spaced, adjustable margins. Neat copy. Choose one of several styles. Mystery Master, at $3650, is a sound low-priced machine. Can be converted to any other standard type by inserting pop-in coils (available at extra cost). Genre King, at $5750, supplies the best in versatile production-ability with complete control over content. Flexible. Swift. Reliable. Get yours today.
"Available with pica or elite type. Prices slightly higher west of the Mississippi."
"Well—" said Howard.
"I knew there was something fishy," said Don. "What they did was give us a pilot model and watch to see if we complained of quirks while they got their production lines tooled up. Now they're in mass-production. If they get the price down far enough, or the payments spaced out long enough, there'll be one in every living room in the country. We've had it."
Fred stared at the floor.
Howard cleared his throat. "How's that welding course coming?" he asked hopefully. "Is there room for two more in the class?"
A Handheld Primer
How many of us, the last one or two Christmases, have shared that sinking sensation on being grabbed by a junior member of the family who looks up with a piercing gaze:
"Can I have a handle for Christmas? Can I? Glenn Thomas has got one ."
A "handle," of course, is a "handheld," known also as a "magic box," "thinkbox," "pocket brain," or "PERM" (Pocketable Electronic Reference Module). This is one of those things that was impossible five years ago, scientifically unthinkable ten years ago, and twenty years ago it was science fiction. The possibility of it has been so well debunked by now that it is a little unnerving to run into it in fourteen different models at one end of the camera counter.
It was the thought that others must have found themselves equally unprepared that led to this article, which should give, at least, a better picture of the handheld.
First, the essentials.
The price ranges from the collapsed levels of remaindered products of the industry's latest bankrupts into the realms of fantasy. In short, you can buy them from $4.95 up . The highest price for a standard job—an all-purpose multiprogrammable financial, real-estate, and stock-and-bond-market model with built-in expandable reference library of data and programs—is $45,000.00. But then there are custom-built models, with no price limit in sight.
The best bet seems to be to stay under twenty bucks for the first one, particularly if it is a present for someone not yet nearly old enough to vote, and most particularly if the someone happens to be a small boy. There is something about an expensive handheld that can translate the merely obnoxious to levels truly
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