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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>Haven’t thought about Stanislaw Lem in ages. I had an English teacher
that turned me on to him. Let me read stuff like that in place of the drivel
we were supposed to read. Probably the only reason I got a passing grade in
high school English.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";
color:#1F497D'>But to explain why I’m so warped, I remember reading Dahlgren by
Delany as a teen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
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color:#1F497D'><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> ale-bounces@ale.org
[mailto:ale-bounces@ale.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jeff Lightner<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Saturday, December 19, 2009 9:01 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [ale] "i am a god" - Sci-F<o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Stranger in a Strange Land is one of the classics of SciFi – Even
if you read no other Heinlein you should read it. Heinlein was
called “The Dean of Science Fiction” because many of his contemporaries saw him
as a master of the genre. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Don’t get me wrong – There are some Heinlein books that I could do
without but by and large I enjoyed most of what he wrote. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>By the way Jubal shows up again in Heinlein’s Job: A Comedy of
Justice.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>My favorite concept from Stranger was the “Fair
Witness”. This was a professional beyond a notary public that you
would hire to observe something that could be used as an unbiased witness in
the event there were legal questions later. The example Jubal
uses in talking to Dorcas (his staff fair witness) is to ask her what color the
house up the hill is. She turns and looks at it and says “It is
white on this side”. He notes that since he asked her what color it
“is” rather than “was” she had to look before replying and also could only state
what she could observe “this side”. This despite the fact she had
seen the house many times before and the obvious assumption most would make
that it is white all the way around.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Arthur C. Clarke was also one of my favorites. If you like
him you’d probably like Orson Scott Card as he like Clarke spends time
exploring how his characters feel. </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'>Stanislaw Lem was interesting reading. He writes in his
native Polish. His books translated into German and then into
English seemed very humorless though quite good. His books translated
directly into English were quite humorous. I always wondered if it was
the German translation that lost humor or if it was just the difference in the
stories themselves.</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
color:navy'> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'>From:</span></b><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Tahoma","sans-serif"'> ale-bounces@ale.org
[mailto:ale-bounces@ale.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Jim Kinney<br>
<b>Sent:</b> Friday, December 18, 2009 9:06 PM<br>
<b>To:</b> Atlanta Linux Enthusiasts - Yes! We run Linux!<br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [ale] "i am a god"</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p>You should see the company he keeps!<o:p></o:p></p>
<blockquote style='margin-top:5.0pt;margin-bottom:5.0pt'>
<p class=MsoNormal style='margin-bottom:12.0pt'>On Dec 18, 2009 6:47 PM,
"aaron" <<a href="mailto:aaron@pd.org">aaron@pd.org</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='color:#500050'>On 2009, Dec, 18, , at 8:51 AM, Jim Kinney
wrote: > I never read Stranger until 1993. A that time I...</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>I haven't read Stranger -- more of an Arthur Clarke / Kurt
Vonnegut /<br>
Kilgore Trout / Stannislaw Lem scifi fan -- so the name alone made<br>
me curious about the character. This is the front of his wikipedia<br>
entry:<br>
<br>
" Jubal Harshaw is a fictional character featured in Stranger in a<br>
Strange Land,<br>
a novel by Robert A. Heinlein. He is described as: "Jubal E. Harshaw,<br>
LL.B., M.D.,<br>
Sc.D., bon vivant, gourmet, sybarite, popular author extraordinary,<br>
neo-pessimist<br>
philosopher, devout agnostic, professional clown, amateur subversive,<br>
and parasite<br>
by choice. "<br>
<br>
I definitely can see the appeal in being this person. Sans the<br>
degrees (which I can fake if needed...) I'm about 75% Jubal without<br>
even knowing it and I figure Jim at about 85% without trying, too.<br>
:-)<br>
<br>
peace<br>
aaron<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='color:#500050'>> >> On Dec 18, 2009 8:38 AM, "Jeff
Lightner" <<a href="mailto:jlightner@water.com">jlightner@water.com</a>>
wrote: >> >> I know - I ...</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>> _______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='color:#500050'>> Ale mailing list > <a
href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a> > <a
href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a>
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>> See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='color:#500050'>> <a
href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a>
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal>_______________________________________________<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='color:#500050'>Ale mailing list <a href="mailto:Ale@ale.org">Ale@ale.org</a>
<a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo/ale</a>
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<p class=MsoNormal>See JOBS, ANNOUNCE and SCHOOLS lists at<o:p></o:p></p>
<p><span style='color:#500050'><a href="http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo">http://mail.ale.org/mailman/listinfo</a>
</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</blockquote>
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<p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"'>Proud
partner. Susan G. Komen for the Cure.</span> <o:p></o:p></p>
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