At 09:01 -0500 on 07/22/2011, Eric Bielefeld wrote about Re: running
Assembler I/O macro code as AMODE 31, RMODE ANY:
OK - I'll bite. What is thiotimoline? I saw it earlier and just
ignored it, but now I'm curious.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thiotimoline. Basically Science
Fiction Author Isaac Asimov was getting ready to write his Doctoral
Thesis and was worried that all of his writing of SciFi stories would
impact his ability to use the correct Thesis style for his actual
Thesis. So he wrote (and published) a story in the required style to
practice. As an anecdote when he actually took his orals the
examiners signalled him that he passed by making their last question
a request for a comment on thiotimoline (something that would not be
proper if they would going to fail him).
As to your question, it is a fictional substance that dissolves in
water. The special property is that it dissolves up to a second or so
BEFORE the water is added. The paper covers this property and
explains it as well as what happens if after seeing it dissolve the
water is not added. He went on to write additional stories/papers on
this substance (details in the Wikipedia article above).
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