Project Gutenberg 2016-01-14 Public domain in the USA. 983 McKenty, Jack Beck, Charles Beck $1,000 a Plate One Thousand Dollars a Plate Produced from Galaxy Science Fiction October 1954 Produced by Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net "$1,000 a Plate" by Jack McKenty is a science fiction short story written in the mid-20th century. The narrative is set on Mars and revolves around the challenges faced by the Mars Observatory due to frequent fireworks displays that disrupt their astronomical observations. The story explores themes of cooperation, creativity, and the unintended consequences of one's actions, particularly as it relates to the dangers of entertainment overrunning scientific endeavors. In the story, Dr. Morton and his team of scientists are frustrated by the annual Marsy Gras celebrations and the resulting skyrocket trails that ruin expensive photographic plates crucial for their research. As a solution, Dr. Morton devises a plan to manipulate the local casino owners into agreeing to halt fireworks displays by offering them horoscopes that predict their gambling success. Initially met with success, their plan faces a setback when they are ordered to cease their unscientific practices. In a twist, they resort to creating their own fireworks, leading to comedic mishaps that include the destruction of a casino owner's home. Ultimately, this unexpected outcome positively affects Dr. Morton's research ambitions while simultaneously enhancing the local gambler’s reputation, culminating in a humorous yet insightful commentary on the interplay between science and entertainment. (This is an automatically generated summary.) Reading ease score: 75.0 (7th grade). Fairly easy to read. en Science fiction Short stories Scientists -- Fiction Mars (Planet) -- Fiction Fireworks -- Fiction Casinos -- Fiction PS Text Science Fiction Browsing: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Browsing: Fiction Category: Short Stories Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy Category: Humour 42340 2025-06-20T12:52:10.883443 text/html 18233 2024-10-22T23:43:50 text/html 206230 2025-06-20T12:52:12.839485 application/epub+zip 205061 2025-06-20T12:52:11.372479 application/epub+zip 73339 2025-06-20T12:52:11.140455 application/epub+zip 237716 2025-06-20T12:52:14.149454 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 230401 2025-06-20T12:52:12.603509 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 98944 2022-09-23T07:04:46.686390 application/x-mobipocket-ebook 35741 2023-09-22T07:16:08.470646 text/plain 16017 2024-10-22T23:43:50 text/plain; charset=us-ascii 16949 2025-06-20T12:52:14.294432 application/rdf+xml 24713 2025-06-20T12:52:11.221448 image/jpeg 4256 2025-06-20T12:52:11.180465 image/jpeg 186454 2025-06-20T12:52:10.894472 application/octet-stream application/zip Archives containing the RDF files for *all* our books can be downloaded at https://book.klll.cc/wiki/Gutenberg:Feeds#The_Complete_Project_Gutenberg_Catalog