The Slinky Method: a shape for progress.

Fleet Building Mural / Panel 7, Photo by George Rex
“Fleet Building Mural / Panel 7. Artist: Dorothy Annan, 1960. Panel 7 depicts waveforms on cathode ray oscilloscopes used in the testing of telecommunications equipment.” Photo ©2013 George Rex. License: CC BY-SA 2.0.

“Things To Come,” as it turns out, actually does have a shape.

Just a dude, hard at work, unleashing forces beyond control.
Lee de Forest
“Diode inventor, Lee de Forest, at a radiotelephone transmitter.” ©2010 Tekniska museet. License: CC BY 2.0.
Lee De Forest related that in 1906 he once carried in his pocket “the entire world’s supply of three-electrode tubes.” —but by 1952, he was quite unhappy with some of the changes his inventions brought about. “Almost incredible is the loathsome fact that already in 21 cities bus riders must listen to never-ending, blatant advertising and unwelcome jitterbug and bop music,” he wrote.
How much do you really want to know about your microwave popcorn?
“Things To Come,” as it turns out, actually does have a shape.
Other spiral shaped things, courtesty of the Coriolis Effect.
The Japanese word for slinky is… well. I don’t actually know, but…
Whirlpool in the Naruto strait off Awaji Island, Utagawa Hiroshige
“Woodblock print of the vision of a whirlpool in the Naruto strait off Awaji Island by Utagawa Hiroshige (1797–1858).” From Peter D Burrows, Nature Immunology 13, 625–627 (2012).

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