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"To get anywhere, or even live a long time, a man has to guess, and guess right, over and over again, without enough data for a logical answer."
- Robert Heinlein
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| Microwavable Food | ||
| Food that is prepared specifically for use in a microwave (high-frequency) oven. |
| Theoretically every ration taken aboard a Patrol vessel is pre-cooked and ready for eating as soon as it is taken out of freeze and subjected to the number of seconds, plainly marked on the package, of high-frequency heating required. |
| Technovelgy from Space Cadet,
by Robert Heinlein. Published by Scribner's Sons in 1948 Additional resources -
|
The idea of using microwave radiation was patented by the end of 1946 by Raytheon; the first commercial microwave oven was introduced sometime in 1947. At almost six feet tall, 750 pounds and costing $5,000, it won few converts. It's not clear if it was offered as a consumer product, or to the food service industry.
Also, I believe that there were some canned soups that were available with self-heating bottoms in the 1930's. And packaged meals were certainly available in the form of military rations.
The first true heat-n-eat packaged meal was probably the Swanson TV Dinner, introduced in 1954. For 98 cents, you got an aluminum tray with roast turkey, stuffing and gravy, sweet potatoes and peas. I don't remember the cooking time, but it was at least thirty minutes in the oven. It wasn't until 1986 that Swanson introduced a plastic tray for microwave cooking. See the TV Dinner History page for references. Also, take a look at this history of the microwave oven - the Radarange; thanks to Doug for comments on this article.
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'... an artificial intelligence equal to the human.'
'Rayno folded up the microterm and tucked it back inside his jumper.'
'Nemourlon armor of reasonable weight resists penetration by most fragments and any bullet that is not both reasonably heavy and fairly high-velocity.'
'Several thousand of them formed the positioning grid on the rubble pile.'
'Its slack walls tightened, bulged, were crossed by ripples and waves of movement.'
'Norman... had never ridden any motorized device that lacked onboard steering and balance systems.'
You will note that HG Wells also figured out the aspect ratio of the future!
'As though a switch had been turned off, the pain stopped...'
'At the ringside opposite them a table had been removed to make room for a large transparent plastic capsule on wheels.'
