Re: 25 Classic Books That Have Been Banned

On Mon, 23 Jun 2025 23:39:44 -0700, The Horny Goat <lcraver@home.ca>
wrote:

On Thu, 29 May 2025 09:55:09 +0100, Robert Carnegie
<rja.carnegie@gmail.com> wrote:
>

Also, as Arthur C. Clarke revealed to us,
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is
indistinguishable from magic."  So for instance,
some miracles could be performed with concealed
magnets.  Especially if someone doesn't know
that magnets exist.

>
You mean anybody in the time of the Roman Empire (aka 'the life and
times of Jesus') knew what a magnet was?

According to
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnet#Discovery_and_development>,
knowledge of "loadstones" goes back 2500 years. And Pliny's /Natural
History/ discusses them
<https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natural_History_(Pliny)#Mineralogy>

Granted, this was a bit later on (77 to 79 AD). But only a bit.

So I would say it is possible that educated (in the Roman/Greek sense)
persons were aware of magnets at the time you designated.

I think most of us as children did all kinds of things with magnets to
impress our friends. My favorite trick was holding a magnet under a
piece of paper to make another magnetic jump into the air (typically
no more than 1 or 2 inches) by means of repulsion.
>
My favorite magnets were the 3/4" round magnets (by roughly 3/16"
thick) that were suitable for the above types of tricks.

I am wondering whether my flat refrigerator magnets, of which I have
an abundance, are recyclable or not -- that is, if they are magnetic
enough to count.
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"