# Danny Dunn and the Random Futuristic Widget **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 17, 2005, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694 "2005-04-17T00:23:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/21 "2005-04-17T11:36:44Z")
Oh, and I forgot to mention that when Irene’s geography report came out garbled\*, she was able to give an acceptable report from memory. So she did know the material! \*and now I’m not going to rest until I find a copy of that soundtrack! ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/22 "2005-04-17T11:49:56Z")
I wasn’t making the plagiarism argument (for once–though Danny does argue that the machine can print out homework for him, and Irene, and Joe as one of its advantages) --I was making the argument that Miss Arnold makes, that “children learn through practice.” I object to children relying on calculators (even if they’ve got enough arithmetic to be able to input the information) because that makes them less able to perform calculation without the computer handy. In my own field, I object to kids relying on spellcheck, partly for the same reason and partly because spellcheck has its own problems. But I often get Danny’s eye-rolling, exasperated response when I try persuading some (college-age) students that knowing how to proofread is a valuable (if tedious) skill. There’s a world of difference between professionals using shortcuts and students using them because one is applying skills and the other is presumably learning them. If Danny were a computer-programmer, his arguments would bear more weight–but he’s an elementary school student who has yet to demonstrate his mastery of basic skills. It’s true, he HAS those skills (for the most part) but he hasn’t yet shown (to Miss Arnold’s standards) that he has mastered them yet. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/23 "2005-04-17T11:52:54Z")
All right; fair enough. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/24 "2005-04-17T16:26:50Z")
> [@Diogenes the Cynic](#): > > The “homework machine” is almost comically quaint now. I can’t seeing internet generation kids being impressed by a slow, creaking monstrosity like that. And that’s probably why the books remain out of print. Every book is based on some gosh-wow futuristic technology. And some of the technologies seem quaint nowadays, while others (the time machine, the antigravity paint, the smallifying machine) are almost certainly impossible, and today’s scientifically literate young readers know it. Maybe we need a new Danny Dunn for the new millennium – a set of kids’ adventure books hinging on the possible applications of nanotechnology, the space elevator, genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, and direct neural-electronic interfaces. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/25 "2005-04-17T16:31:36Z")
Correction to the above: I don’t remember any particular futuristic technology in _Danny Dunn on a Desert Island._ But practically all the others hinged on one. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/26 "2005-04-17T20:04:26Z")
I thought that it was the Desert Island that had the superconductor… I don’t remember there being one called _…and the Swamp Monster_. Certainly, though, there was an aquatic monster in the superconductor book: A sort of cross between a coelecanth and an oversized electric eel, which they use to provide the initial current to start up the superconductor circuit. I read Danny Dunn voraciously, though even by the time of my childhood they were starting to become dated. Of the ones listed in the library catalog, I read all except for _…and the Anti-Gravity Paint_, but looking at the OP’s list, I don’t recall hearing of _…and the Fossil Cave_ or _…Time Traveller_, and I’m not sure about _…Scientific Detective_ (can someone tell me what the gee-whiz device was in that one?). Is there any way to buy these any more, other than scrounging used book sales? Or even buying them as a whole set? ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/27 "2005-04-17T20:21:53Z")
Which Danny Dunn book was it that had DD and friends decoding the alien transmission and uncovering a binary image of faraway star systems and beings? I used to be a die-hard DD reader, and the bit about taking the signal and finding the two unique factors (to form the grid for decoding the message) still sticks in my mind. ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/28 "2005-04-17T20:32:04Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’m not sure about _…Scientific Detective_ (can someone tell me what the gee-whiz device was in that one?)… IIRC, it was some sort of electronic bloodhound that Danny used to track scents. Here’s a trivia question. Which book didn’t include Irene? > [@rjung](#): > > Which Danny Dunn book was it that had DD and friends decoding the alien transmission and uncovering a binary image of faraway star systems and beings? I used to be a die-hard DD reader, and the bit about taking the signal and finding the two unique factors (to form the grid for decoding the message) still sticks in my mind. I believe it was _Danny Dunn and the Message from Space_ ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/29 "2005-04-17T20:57:08Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > **Uke** , one nitpick: Irene was no one’s girlfriend… Joe wrote her a poem ("… Who will I pin up if I have to go into the army when I am eighteen? Irene.") Joe is clearly stating that he plans to masturbate to a cheesecake photograph of Irene whilst undergoing military service at some future date. This is as close to having a girlfriend as Joe is likely to get. Hah! I’ve run rings around ya logically! {Bronx Cheer Smiley} ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/30 "2005-04-17T21:00:51Z")
> [@Linus Van Pelt](#): > > Here’s a trivia question. Which book didn’t include Irene? There were two. _Anti-Gravity Paint_ and _Desert Island_. She was introduced in _Homework Machine_, the third in the series. > [@](#): > > I believe it was _Danny Dunn and the Message from Space_ _Voice From Space_, actually. ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/31 "2005-04-17T21:03:28Z")
\*\*Ukulele Ike: \*\* “Joe is clearly stating that he plans to masturbate to a cheesecake photograph of Irene” There’s so much I missed the first time around. I’ve got to re-read these books. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/32 "2005-04-17T21:14:16Z")
Here’s another trivia question: What was Prof. Bullfinch’s first name? ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/33 "2005-04-17T21:18:45Z")
That would be Euclid. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/34 "2005-04-17T21:31:03Z")
Correct! ---
**Author:** ![pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a9a28c/32.png) [@pseudotriton\_ruber\_ruber](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pseudotriton_ruber_ruber)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/35 "2005-04-17T22:13:46Z")
Well, I’ve got the book open on the table right next to the computer, after all. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/36 "2005-04-17T22:17:07Z")
Yeah, I remembered right after I posted. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ebca7d/32.png) [@Linus\_Van\_Pelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linus_Van_Pelt)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/37 "2005-04-17T23:05:23Z")
> [@pseudotriton ruber ruber](#): > > BTW, Danny Dunn makes the argument (to his teacher, Miss Arnold, in DD AND THE HW MACHINE) that I’ve grown to despise: the (now) old “Why do I have do my homework myself when the machine does it better and faster, and I could do it if I wanted to, only slower and worse, and scientists use computers so why not kids?” argument. And she freaking concedes that he “has a serious point.” YOW! See, that’s because you never heard it set to music. As we all know, _any_ argument is more convincing presented as a musical number. All of this remeniscing has gotten me to remember another number which included lyrics such as: “Old fashioned ideas are great for museums But not for us kids with jet-propelled dreams” and “Computers shouldn’t be a crime They give you leisure time Help you do your work much speedier Like an Encyclepedia” How could she resist? > [@Rilchiam](#): > > Voice From Space, actually. Oooh! So close. Do I get partial credit? Even if I used a computer to type my answer? ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/38 "2005-04-17T23:14:14Z")
Well, you input the information yourself, so, sure! And that brings me to another concept that I got from DD. Bullfinch was demonstrating the Scuttler (primitive robot that was the inspiration for the automatic house) to someone on the University’s board of trustees. He started out by stating that the idea was based on experiments someone else had done. “Ha! So in the first place it isn’t an original invention, is it?” “My dear sir, I don’t know what you mean by an ‘original invention’. All scientists draw on the work of others.” True, that! ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2005, 11:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/39 "2005-04-17T23:36:47Z")
**Chronos** wrote: > [@](#): > > I thought that it was the Desert Island that had the superconductor… I don’t remember there being one called …and the Swamp Monster. It was definitely called _[Danny Dunn and the Swamp Monster](http://www.readingwell.com/danny%20dunn.html)_. Just to be sure I wasn’t smoking the crack, I googled it. I didn’t find a page that verified that it was the one with the superconductor, but I did find [this page](http://www.exemplars.com/resources/alignments/bib_phys_sci.html) which lists it under the category “Transferal and Transformation of Engergy” and [this picture of the cover](http://whatihaveread.net/i/0567.jpg) which shows the force field they made from, as my memory of it goes, a large coil of superconducting wire. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2005, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694/40 "2005-04-18T00:21:54Z")
Nuts to Danny Dunn. Now, Tom Swift Jr… **he** rocks! [![](http://www.tomswift.info/homepage/thinking.jpg) ](http://www.tomswift.info/homepage/thinking.jpg) I **want** his Subocean Geotron! The advanced diving suits look like fun, too! [http://www.series.net/swift/volume27.jpg](http://www.series.net/swift/volume27.jpg) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/danny-dunn-and-the-random-futuristic-widget/299694.md?page=3)