Fw: M&D to 360 (spoilers)

[davemarc]

Source identification

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> From: davemarc <davemarc at panix.com>
> To: Pynchlist <pynchon-l at waste.org>
> Subject: Re: M&D to 360 (spoilers)
> Date: Friday, May 09, 1997 10:22 AM
> 
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> > From: Steven L. Bender <Steven_L._Bender at dalton.org>
> > 
> > so...
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> ducky matters ahead!
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> [quack]
> > 
> > since the cheese really existed, i can't help but wonder if anyone is
> aware of
> > a historical precedent for the amorous mechanical duck? (not to mention
> the
> > learned english dog).
> > 
> Vaucanson, Jacques de...(1709-82) Engineeer and inventor, born in
Grenoble,
> France.  He went to Paris to study mechanics, and became adept at
> constructing automata such as a duck which swam, quacked, flapped its
> wings, and swallowed its food, developing for this delicate machine tools
> of lasting importance.  Appointed an inspector of silk factories (1741),
he
> devised various improvements to the machines for weaving and dressing the
> silk, and suceeded in making the first fully automated loom (1745),
> controlled through a system of perforated cards.  It was cumbersome and
not
> wholly reliable, however, and it was not until the turn of the century,
> when it was further improved by Jacquard, that it came into widespread
use.
***From The Cambridge Biographical Encyclopedia***
> 
> davemarc duck