Post #331,581
8/19/10 11:07:35 PM
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Heinlein, and Asimov on Heinlein.
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Post #331,610
8/20/10 7:17:51 PM
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I knew a guy in Santa Cruz
...who did some handyman-type odd jobs for the Heinleins, and who maintained ever after that the initials R.A.H. actually stood for Royal AssHole. I read Stranger in a Strange Land at sixteen, and took it for a work of literature. I returned to it at twenty and cringed. Lordamighty, what gawdawful hokum! I threw it aside in disgust—whether more at its lunatic author or at my younger self is hard to say at this remove—and have not returned to it, though from time to time I've speed-read through his earlier honest pulp.
cordially,
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Post #331,611
8/20/10 8:19:35 PM
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Neat.
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Post #331,612
8/20/10 11:51:05 PM
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I salvaged from that wish-fantasy a useful item
Fairwitness
... the woman who, upon donning suitable white garb became able to resolve difficult homo-sap matters ~ wisely.. yeah, fantasy Indeed!
(Also my eBay handle -- noted and commented on by a few, during the Tek scope fixing & selling daze of yore)
... now over forever as Murica became merely a reMarketiing land of crass opportunists in search of retirement at 30ish, thus to play endlessly with the toys while watching non-interlaced Hi-Def pap on 80" screens, at 95 dBm.
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Post #331,617
8/21/10 1:42:45 PM
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Well, actually, yeah
No such thing as a fair witness.
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Post #331,626
8/21/10 4:22:10 PM
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Ah butt.. there Could be.
I could almost see voting for Palin in 2012 on the grounds that this sorry ratfucking excuse for a republic, this savage, smirking, predatory empire deserves her. Bring on the Rapture, motherfuckers!
-- via RC
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Post #331,645
8/22/10 3:33:35 AM
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No there couldn't
Only a video camera, not a person.
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Post #331,647
8/22/10 3:45:23 AM
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Video cams can sniff pheromones and interpret body language?
Nope, there will never be a wise transistorized thing.
(Nor likely -- two humans with identical 'definitions' of wisdom?)
We are stuck with fuzzy-logic and even far from universally accepted word definitions, when flailing about on such matters.
Which-all is why I thought Heinlein's fantasy encapsulated all that and more. Uncertainty of an electron's position/speed is an easy concept. Fairness makes Heisenberg's a trivial pursuit.
We likely won't agree on much of this. That also is to be expected.
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Post #331,627
8/21/10 5:15:54 PM
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Which is why I won't re-read them
Leave them to my fond memories.
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #331,649
8/22/10 4:20:14 AM
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I picked up "Nine Tomorrows" the other day
I originally read it some 25 years ago.
And really enjoyed it.
But now - oh dear. So stilted. So stiff.
Yes. Don't rape your memories.
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Post #331,653
8/22/10 7:35:37 AM
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I'm wondering what I don't want to go back to.
What did I treasure when I was younger... C. S. Lewis? Hmm. Well his fiction is as well written today as it ever was. Anne MacAffrey? Well, her earliest writing is far better and edgier than the later stuff, but that's a different problem. David Eddings? No, his writing is still good. Clifford Simak? *shrug* He's still great.
Never read any Heinlein, though. Somehow avoided him. Read a little Asimov and Clarke; my brother liked them better. Pournelle and Niven I discovered more recently.
Wade.
Q:Is it proper to eat cheeseburgers with your fingers?
A:No, the fingers should be eaten separately.
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Post #331,659
8/22/10 11:22:24 AM
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Heinlein, Piers Anthony
Those two are the ones I won't do again.
Well, I lie. Heinlein's really early stuff (Space Cadet, etc.) I've read to my sons. The pre-OMGSEX0RZ Heinlein.
Regards,
-scott
Welcome to Rivendell, Mr. Anderson.
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Post #331,668
8/22/10 3:00:13 PM
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Yeah Piers Anthony...
Is all about having sex with his relatives ...
I all the Biography of a Space Tyrant... was good... but sheesh get on with the story.
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Post #331,663
8/22/10 12:27:08 PM
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Not SF but
Mark Twain.
Dang. Huck Finn was a pretty good book when I was a kid, incredible now.
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I think it's perfectly clear we're in the wrong band.
(Tori Amos)
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