Yeah, that was a good one.
I've always thought it was strange that so many nuts & bolts types react so, um, passionately to so-called free-energy devices when a hardcore guy like Asimov presented a rather straightforward explanation for the phenom a long time ago.
(Although, to be honest, the thing I remember _most_ about the book was how the alternate universe beings would, umm, gratify themselves by making two tendrils infinitely thin and then passing the tips through each other back and forth...)
Mark W.
If you'll recall, they were simultaneously trisexual and single entities.
Most practical engineers will leap to the defense of the 1st and 2nd LOT when challenged, because we have to operate under their limitations everyday. Asimov is a classic example of someone proposing a free-energy source who doesn't actually have to apply his theorem to any practical use other than selling books.
In short, some goober in an outhouse is not going to violate the laws of thermodynamics.
As someelse put so eloquently, there ain't no such thing as free energy. Hear it, love it, live it.