Analog Nation

Oh, come on. This is officially insane. Honestly, it is. This time they have gone too far. They are flaunting it, shoving our noses in the shards of our broken toys, heaving back their heads in gales of laughter. It’s as if they told the children of the world that there’s no Santa, and he [...]

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MEMORANDUM 21 July 1953 Charles Blakely Vice President, Product Development E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. CC: Thomas Carlson Charlie, Read the script last night, great work. Mylar is an exciting product, and this film will showcase its qualities to the world. “What’s It To You” is a strong title. It’s a bold statement, but [...]

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We live in a time of great scientific achievement. Each of us did ten things today that Robert Heinlein himself would have chalked up to fevered hallucination. Even against such a backdrop, news has broken of a feat that will violate your system like an adrenaline shot through the sternum. Sitting down would be a [...]

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Earth’s salvation rests in a display case on the Upper West Side. It is a cloth, somewhere between a rug and a shawl, with long, wispy tassels. A dizzying pattern weaves up and down its length, the work of many hands. It is a nearly perfect shade of gold. Dozens of pins hold the cloth [...]

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Having grown up in the 80s, I know a thing or two about witnessing an arms race. After blowing things up for a thousand years or so, we as a species had finally gotten truly excellent at it, to the point where there was an actual chance that we might blow up every single thing, [...]

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One of the basic tenets of popular culture is that the villain is always one piece away from completing his master plan. Sauron needed the One Ring. Belloq needed the Staff of Ra. Megatron needed the Allspice, or something — honestly, that movie made so little sense, my back started to hurt (I’m not kidding). [...]

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