Ray Saintonge wrote:
I certainly think that there is a place in an encyclopedia for the offbeat and ephemeral. They can be a source of endless fascination to the reader who discovers them and proceeds to introduce them at a dinner-table conversation with the words "Did you know that....?" Articles about Jessica McClure, Bridey Murphey and [[Mike (headless chicken)]] are all perfectly appropriate.
In science and technology there are any number of attempts that might have worked but were superceded by a more practical idea that wasdiscovered before the old plan could be put into operation. Thus the Collins International Telegraph Company scheme to lay a telegraph wire from New York to London via Alaska and Siberia, quashed by the undersea cable laid by the "Great Eastern". Also the 1920s plan to put a series of floating airports as refueling stops across the Atlantic, which quickly lost its appeal after Lindbergh's famous flight.
Truly, it has been said: "Some of the best parts of history never really happened."
I'm an avid observer of the obscure, the unusual, etc. Failed WWII technologies (mile-wide zeppelins!) alone are many many books' worth. It's definitely not the sort of thing to overlook... and sometimes they end up influencing 'important' events in subtle ways.
-- Jake