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Re: OT needed - Robot bees on Mars NASA funding a swarm of drones

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In article <20180417a@crcomp.net>, D B Davis  <g@crcomp.net> wrote:
>
>a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com> wrote:
>> Robot bees on Mars NASA funding a swarm of drones to
>> explore the Red Planet
>> 5 Amazing Things You Can Do with Drones
>>
>> (Like the sensors in Spoor's "Boundary")
>>
>> 1:04
>> /
>> 1:52
>>
>> Robot bees on Mars NASA funding a swarm of drones to explore the Red
>
>> Planet
>> The Curiosity Rover has done its share of exploring Mars by land, but
>> now, NASA is looking to take to the skies above the Red Planet. A team
>> of Japanese and American engineers is hoping to send a team of drones
>> inspired by bees, aptly named "Marsbees."
>
>_Martian Chronicles_ (Bradbury) calls them "golden bees." Weaponized
>Martian golden bees murder more savagely than a predator drone.
>
>    Late in the day Dr. Nlle had not put in an appearance. Ylla's
>    husband did not seem overly surprised. When it was quite late
>    he murmured something, went to a closet, and drew forth an
>    evil weapon, a long yellowish tube ending in a bellows and a
>    trigger. He turned, and upon his face was a mask, hammered
>    from silver metal, expressionless, the mask that he always
>    wore when he wished to hide his feelings, the mask which
>    curved and hollowed so exquisitely to his thin cheeks and
>    chin and brow. The mask glinted, and he held the evil
>    weapon in his hands, considering it. It hummed constantly,
>    an insect hum. From it hordes of golden bees could be flung
>    out with a high shriek. Golden, horrid bees that stung,
>    poisoned, and fell lifeless on the sand.
>
>    That passage contains an obscure (to me) grammar rule. It looks like
>it's legal for a writer to use the conjunction "and" multiple times in a
>row.

Well, "legal" doesn't enter into it.  It's grammatical.  It may
not be considered the best of style by some, but style is to some
extent a matter of personal taste.  I just searched for, and
couldn't find, a cartoon by S. Harris representing two dogs,
labeled "Hemingway's Dog" and "Faulkner's Dog."

I'm going to have to misquote from memory, since I can't find the
thing by searching, but Hemingway's dog is saying things like,
"Woof.  Bow and wow.  A nice woof," and Faulkner's dog is saying
things like, "Bowing and wowing, the bow and wow woofed woofishly
through the woofs...."

Style.  Most writers have one, and a reader accustomed to their
work can frequently recognize a writer's style without seeing his/her
name on the page.

-- 
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com

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Thread

OT needed - Robot bees on Mars — NASA funding a swarm of drones a425couple <a425couple@hotmail.com> - 2018-04-17 08:21 -0700
  Re: OT needed - Robot bees on Mars — NASA funding a swarm of drones Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2018-04-17 13:24 -0700
    Re: Re: OT needed - Robot bees on Mars — NASA funding a swarm of drones Jibini Kula Tumbili Kujisalimisha <taustinca@gmail.com> - 2018-04-17 14:23 -0700
  Re: OT needed - Robot bees on Mars NASA funding a swarm of drones D B Davis <g@crcomp.net> - 2018-04-18 00:01 +0000
    Re: OT needed - Robot bees on Mars NASA funding a swarm of drones djheydt@kithrup.com (Dorothy J Heydt) - 2018-04-18 01:18 +0000
    Re: OT needed - Robot bees on Mars NASA funding a swarm of drones Robert Carnegie <rja.carnegie@excite.com> - 2018-04-18 13:01 -0700
  Re: OT needed - Robot bees on Mars — NASA funding a swarm of drones goldfarb@ocf.berkeley.edu (David Goldfarb) - 2018-04-18 05:31 +0000

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