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The Continuum Hypothesis (more or less, there are no infinite sets larger than the set of integers and smaller than the set of reals) is independent of ZFC (Zermelo-Fraenkel axioms…
09 Oct 2014, 20:12
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Not much to do with Wolfe, but Lakoff and Nunez's book *Where Mathematics Comes From* may be of some interest from a philosophical standpoint.…
09 Oct 2014, 14:17
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I think maybe there's a third principle to add to my Two Keys To Wolfe, but I think they're all articulations of the same ur-theme, which I haven't found a nice concise aphorism. …
26 Nov 2012, 16:57
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Has anyone noticed that B, F, and O are all spectral types that burn hotter, brighter, and more short-lived than G-class stars, such as the Sun? (is there an "A" we're missing?) …
20 Nov 2011, 18:51
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"Captured in a noose of light" -- imagine the sun rising directly behind the tower. I also had never read this and thought about the Slingers' Song. But now that I see the stars …
10 Nov 2011, 21:28
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Not putting too much stock in this but the map of Oz is famous for its east/west reversal.…
02 Nov 2011, 16:51
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On Wed, 25 May 2011 10:05:49 -0700, "Dan'l Danehy-Oakes" Particularly since given Wolfe's admitted liking of filk and folk, and the presence of multiple iterations of Severian, he…
25 May 2011, 17:22
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12 Caesars vs. 12 Apostles. Football match. And which football program has a Twelfth Man tradition? Wolfe's alma mater of course! We're onto something!…
23 May 2011, 00:35
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Charles Kinbote, or perhaps, "Charles Kinbote", of course, as long as we're on Nabokov. Adam…
19 Apr 2011, 20:24
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If nothing else, there's the whole Severian-Thecla "My love for her was pure and chaste," when it's Severian, and "And then he was all-a-grabbin' my breasts," when it's Thecla do…
18 Apr 2011, 03:36
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I dig Pale Fire a whole lot too, but I've only read it once and can't claim to have gotten very much of it. Adam…
13 Apr 2011, 23:25
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For $70,000, it seems likely that you could publish 99-cent ebook editions and probably make it back over a few years, even if you sold zero of the movie rights. I mean, there are…
07 Mar 2011, 21:54
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I'm in for $100. Adam…
07 Mar 2011, 20:52
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Wow. I wish I had $75,000. Adam…
07 Mar 2011, 20:48
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Dude, it *is* Nethack. "Who do you think you are, War?" Adam…
13 Feb 2011, 22:06
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From the scene in the library, we're pretty sure their name is "Wolfe." Adam…
13 Feb 2011, 20:31
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So....if Latro is Ares, does that make the Soldier Cycle _Nethack_ ? That little "pop" you just heard was just my brain aneurism. Don't worry. Adam…
13 Feb 2011, 20:30
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If he got annoying, could you ask him to sing 4'33" to you? Adam…
08 Feb 2011, 00:11
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What he said. "Increate" is like "Prime Mover"--there is only one such thing, and it is the ultimate cause of all other things. Adam…
03 Feb 2011, 03:02
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I reproduce here a snippet of the lyrics to "Old Blevins" by the Austin Lounge Lizards: Had he gone plumb 'round the bend? Or could I just not comprehend? His lips were writing li…
31 Jan 2011, 23:35
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Huh. D&D art is certainly a mixed bag...but David Trampier was astonishingly talented. Erol Otus did an awful lot of hallucinatory fever-dream paintings that I like too. Jim Hol…
31 Jan 2011, 22:31
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Dude. It's Something Awful. Don't expect much out of it. Although their WTF, D&D series about illustrations in RPGs is really funny.…
31 Jan 2011, 22:03
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I'd also comb through Borges. Adam…
31 Jan 2011, 20:33
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I disbelieve. One of the things I remember figuring out on a very early reading of the books (although I don't think I read _Shadow_ until _Sword_ had already been published, and …
21 Jan 2011, 13:05
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The poppet is a sex-changed Severian from another iteration. Because that just makes me go "ewwwww." Adam…
20 Jan 2011, 19:41
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Yes, unless that's a trick question and you were fishing for Ruth Plumly Thompson's Oz series, which Wolfe enjoys but is wrong to. Adam…
18 Jan 2011, 04:35
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Note also that Tik-Tok is a sidekick in another series of novels Wolfe enjoys very much. Adam…
18 Jan 2011, 03:12
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Doesn't this mean that Fechin--who was known to be handy with the ladies--is Rudesind's biological father? Or is that theory just cuckoo? Adam…
17 Jan 2011, 15:08
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Given the number of Severian Iterations....this might mean something different than we all think it does. Adam…
17 Jan 2011, 04:11
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Oreb's always calling out his name. <rimshot> Adam…
16 Jan 2011, 21:13
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Through a glass is how things are usually seen darkly. Perhaps a mirror. Now I'm having an image of The Last Supper, except that the apostles are poker-playing dogs, except that…
14 Jan 2011, 14:03
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What evidence do we have that he was that old? Because in my mind, Severian, when he goes on his Big Adventure, has always been about seventeen. Or perhaps, Seventeen. He sure…
13 Jan 2011, 04:19
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"You can't eat just one," as the alzabo said to the Vodalarius. Adam…
12 Jan 2011, 20:42
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I'm positive. Or rather, I should have specified positive integers. Adam…
12 Jan 2011, 18:42
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Does the supposition in "The Library of Babel" that, if you were immortal and went in any direction long enough, you'd eventually encounter the same books in the same disorder, w…
12 Jan 2011, 06:09
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Ultan's library occupies some space between (in a mythical sense) Borges' Library of Babel and Borges' National Library. Adam…
12 Jan 2011, 04:12
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I thought we were in _The Wonders of Urth and Sky_. Perhaps I will look for it tomorrow. Adam…
12 Jan 2011, 04:10
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It's all in the post above. Fomalhaut is prematurely red because its inhabitants, like those of Urth, were Bad somehow, and provoked the Hieros into putting a black hole into th…
12 Jan 2011, 02:08
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Oh. So _The Sorceror's House_ *is* in the same universe. Periwinkle. Adam…
12 Jan 2011, 02:02
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I *told* you it was a Balrog! Oh dear. I don't think I was quite accurate in my portrayal of Fat Severian as Elvis. What if in addition to *not skinny*, he is *not tall*? Like,…
11 Jan 2011, 20:34
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He's not fat! I mean....not if he's a reliable narrator...uh oh. Now I'm thinking of a shirtless Vegas Elvis. Thanks. Thanks a LOT. Adam…
11 Jan 2011, 19:34
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But isn't the Whorl sort of cigar-shaped? You know, kind of like an artificial phallus filled with a liquid that will enable memories to be transplanted from host to host if used …
11 Jan 2011, 19:00
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Yes, but a *Yahoo* user would have had to clarify, "Hey, *I* said Yahoo sucks!" Adam…
10 Jan 2011, 23:51
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On Mon, 10 Jan 2011 14:19:34 -0800 (PST), Jerry Friedman It's an ill woodwind that nobody blows good, as the courtesan said to the clergyman. Adam…
10 Jan 2011, 22:42
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On 01/07/2011 02:50 PM, Lee Berman wrotef Under which of these do you classify "arguing from a different set of axioms"? That's how I feel about US political discourse recently.…
08 Jan 2011, 03:46
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Oook.…
07 Jan 2011, 16:20
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Liege A slightly more hopeful reading would be more along the lines of "we become what we imitate." Adam…
03 Jan 2011, 16:17
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Preserve us from the House Of Clocks! Adam…
02 Jan 2011, 23:09
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I'm quite sure that: 1) Ultan is meant to be (FSVO) Borges. In fact it's Ultan that convinced me that Nessus was intended to be the future Buenos Aires, because after all how m…
01 Jan 2011, 21:57
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Well, given the source, I would expect them to be found in Borges. And given that Borges did not originally write in English, it seems plausible that we're seeing Wolfe's transl…
01 Jan 2011, 16:38
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