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On Tue, Aug 31, 2010 at 12:28 AM, Gwern Branwen <gwern0 at gmail.com> wrote: I think the people are even clever enough to use the pried-up cobblestones as part of the material fo…
31 Aug 2010, 23:27
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Or even stay here. ... As I recall, physicists believed that in an oscillating-universe of cyclical mode, each oscillation would have to last longer than the previous one becaus…
12 Aug 2010, 04:13
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So for Severian's history, it makes sense for Apheta to tell him the people he knew are unborn? Thanks. Wait a second. Not in the text, maybe, but Wolfe made at least one expli…
12 Aug 2010, 01:25
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From: Lee Berman <severiansola at hotmail.com> ... Not to speak for Roy, but I'd be very surprised if that's what he was thinking. I will. I think there are different dimension…
11 Aug 2010, 05:09
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It's reputable among physicists and most other people. That doesn't mean Severian and Apheta, or Wolfe, have to believe it. I'm not arguing, but it's hard to see how they could …
10 Aug 2010, 19:28
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I'll agree if his job in this case is to determine the guilt for a crime. In other words, I think the examiner is the interrogator. I'd assumed that the fulgurator was an electr…
06 Aug 2010, 15:35
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I'm not going to participate in this unless Josh requests opinions explicitly, and I hope others will consider that plan. Jerry Friedman ----- Original Message ---- From: Jeff…
02 Aug 2010, 01:09
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I don't remember that either. The doctor who works for Vodalus and treats Severian in /Citadel/, Ch. XXVI. The phrase "old leech" is in the text. Thanks to Jeff Wilson for poin…
01 Aug 2010, 03:47
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I agree so far. Still agreeing. Of course we can. What Severian says is, "The catamite beneath (if catamite he was)..." and "Large though he [the boy] was, I have never been ab…
29 Jul 2010, 15:16
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I too agree with this. ... What metallic skin? I admit I'm tired, so I may have missed something. Isangoma is clearly athletic, with his "sinewy frame", capable of "leaping up"…
29 Jul 2010, 05:00
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People keep saying this, but Severian tells us twice that he doubts the boy is a catamite. At least so far. Jerry Friedman…
29 Jul 2010, 03:44
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The Cumaean refers to Jolenta as "big red gold" in contrast to Dorcas, "little pale-hair" (CotC, Ch. XXX). It hadn't occurred to me till now that her mention of two colors, wit…
27 Jul 2010, 19:13
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I don't think we should consider that--it allows us to ignore anything. "Your It's been common in England for a long time too. Hamlet: Your worm is your only emperor for diet: w…
27 Jul 2010, 14:58
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I wrote: ... Actually, this is not a good argument, since Severian asks whether people do that and Roche says that "amateurs" (is that how the Guild thinks of non-Guild sadists…
22 Jul 2010, 05:07
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So true. ... Does he say that, or does he just not mention his sexual thoughts and any activities? When Roche takes Severian to the House Azure, he warns him not to "strike her…
22 Jul 2010, 03:40
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Specifically, not in the endlessly desirable Jolenta. You did say specifically that Baldanders liked the attentions of "men", not "men and boys". And where should I have noticed…
22 Jul 2010, 03:01
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I suspect it's more about compassion than justice. Severian has been trained to think of those people as "clients", the way sellers (not just Agia and Agilus) think of buyers. …
22 Jul 2010, 02:32
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From: David Stockhoff <dstockhoff at verizon.net> He thinks we'll read the copy in the library, not knowing that it will probably be destroyed by the flood and that we're in a la…
17 Jul 2010, 03:51
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The punch line of the preposition joke? Something like "Okay, where are you from, asshole?" I first heard this thirty years ago with Harvard instead of New York City, a "hick" …
13 Jul 2010, 20:51
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I'm enjoying this. I like the idea that Severian created both the Black Pit and the White Fountain as the two ends of the same structure, with Murphy's Law applying to the timin…
13 Jul 2010, 18:54
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You know "long i" in American English means the vowel in "eye", /aI/? We use "long" for the vowel sounds that "say their names". The usage in other English-speaking is differen…
13 Jul 2010, 18:47
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And though I'm a back-wheel skid, that was my first thought too. But why is he the only one with a decipherable title? And are any caloyers, sannyasins, etc., ever addressed or…
10 Jul 2010, 04:07
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He might have just had monkeys on his mind at the time. Or happened to think of characters who were monkeylike. Or wanted them in a book (that may be) about transcending one's …
10 Jul 2010, 00:55
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... I don't see that. If there are any "good" characters in /Pirate Freedom/, they're pretty minor. As I recall. But I don't think Tzadkiel (who I'd like to forget) was suppo…
09 Jul 2010, 21:31
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"According to Wolfe he [Brother Porter] is a regular torturer of the Guild who does not actually do any torturing." /Lexicon Urthus/, 2nd ed., p. 288. Michael Andre-Driussi says …
04 Jul 2010, 14:05
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04 Jul 2010, 00:33
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It's not "of course". Ex-military people have all kinds of different feelings. I agree that nothing is surprising about it. But the opposite happens too. Kurt Vonnegut fought i…
03 Jul 2010, 20:49
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From: James Wynn <crushtv at gmail.com> I wrote: And what about /The Wizard Knight/? The Aelf could be toys in the hands of evil humans if the humans realized it, just as huma…
02 Jul 2010, 21:57
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So is there a consensus on what the seventeen megatherians are? 1) What I thought when I first noticed that title was that they were big animals, possibly with "ther(e)" in their …
02 Jul 2010, 20:36
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From: Ant?nio Pedro Marques <entonio at gmail.com> John Watkins wrote: ... who oppose the evil power are not, generally speaking, better people than the others, and in fact seem…
01 Jul 2010, 19:06
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Not me, but thanks for the smile. Jerry Friedman…
01 Jul 2010, 03:54
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wasn't disagreeing with you... In fact, I think it's crucial that his name can be (almost certainly is) Gene Wolfe. Anyone, including the author, would give rise to people as ev…
28 Jun 2010, 01:39
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Thecla and presumably her khaibit. the story have notably small or delicate hands? "impossibly narrow" hands, which I picture as long and thin, like her "The deep blue of the wo…
20 Jun 2010, 21:50
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Second most important? :-) As people have pointed out, she's good at getting people to do what she wants, and she controls Hethor, who controls the monsters. I think part of the …
20 Jun 2010, 20:14
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I won't answer that because I'm afraid to get into a game with ancient, inviolable rules that I don't know. But if I were to answer it, I'd say Thecla and presumably her khaibit.…
20 Jun 2010, 19:03
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I think we're to think that she's of Far Eastern and European ancestry, or whatever the equivalents are in that previous universe. People were talking as if she were Asian. I poi…
20 Jun 2010, 02:21
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Thanks. So much for that. Applying Brunians's radical principle, I see "chemical" comes from a Greek word for "transmutation". Referring isotopes in a tiny reactor? Jerry Fried…
19 Jun 2010, 23:16
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They're not all that Asian in appearance. Agia has "brown hair" (/SotT/ Ch. XXI, referred to elsewhere too, I think) and "fair skin and freckles" (/SotL/ Ch. XXVIII, in a brief me…
19 Jun 2010, 22:34
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.... That sounds reasonable to me. Also, maybe their power source is electrochemical, namely batteries. Was there ever anything in the Long Sun books about where they get their …
18 Jun 2010, 14:25
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From: "brunians at brunians.org" <brunians at brunians.org> [quotations on chems from BotLS] nullify my hypothesis. Here are two more: "'It's not just reuniting the metal, Pater…
18 Jun 2010, 04:11
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[...] Severian failed to notice (or say anything about) any unusual features revealed by decapitating Agilus. He mentions blood, though. And since Agilus is presumably not a rob…
17 Jun 2010, 20:57
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Oh, okay, could well be. Do we have evidence of weapons with a line-of-sight range? Evidence that there are many? When Severian is in battle, it's clear that such weapons are qu…
17 Jun 2010, 16:33
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Interesting question, but it says the sound is as "sharp" as the tap of a mason's hammer, not that it sounds the same in all ways. I took this to mean that the sound has a sudden …
17 Jun 2010, 15:33
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Not to mention an excuse for him--has he ever used it?--or readers when he makes a mistake. I feel certain the dimensions of the Wall given in TUotNS are a mistake. Second choice…
17 Jun 2010, 15:29
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I'm not talking about warm fuzzy conservation, and anyway we know many exultants like to hunt. But as Brunians pointed out, you don't have to be a nice person to want to assure yo…
15 Jun 2010, 18:42
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Fortunately, this last is not true in general. The bald eagle, golden eagle, and white-tailed eagle (the widespread species in the cooler parts of the northern hemisphere) are all…
15 Jun 2010, 04:39
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----- Original Message ---- ... He estimated the Wall's height at 3000 feet (taking the flight ceiling for waterfowl to be 4,000 feet). He didn't mention the quotation from /TUo…
15 Jun 2010, 04:18
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Only the guys from the south ride elephants. The humans from the east aren't described as dark-skinned, as I recall. Maybe you're talking about the orcs, though. If people have …
07 Jun 2010, 18:03
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From: Jane Delawney <jane_delawney at sky.com> ... I'm one of those people, as I mentioned recently, but please disregard my feeling completely. I wouldn't want my dislike of a …
07 Jun 2010, 17:09
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I'm one who felt betrayed by /TLtW&tW/, and as David Stockhoff said, timing was important. I read all the Narnia books eagerly when I was seven. When I was maybe 10 or 12, I lear…
06 Jun 2010, 20:12
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