{ "export": { "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/2629", "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it. Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.", "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'" }, "archive": "urth", "thread": { "id": 2629, "subject": "Copperhead time", "messages": 4, "voices": 3, "first": "2001-05-08T01:32:13+00:00", "last": "2001-05-09T14:58:11+00:00" }, "messages": [ { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Roy C. Lackey", "address": "rclackey at stic.net" }, "date": "2001-05-08T01:32:13+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Copperhead time", "in_reply_to": null, "reply_link": null, "blocks": [ { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": " Anyone else notice the temporal problems within the story? GW is on\nrecord as stating that he doesn't like to repeat himself wrt important story\ninformation. Yet, the protagonist is repeatedly referred to as the \"new\nPresident\" (hereafter NP). Why? He can't be the \"new\" President. Such an\nadjective could or would normally only be used for the first few months in\noffice, yet, on the evening that the story action takes place, he has been\nin office for about 15 months. If we use the timeframe of the most recent\nelection as a referent, the story yields the following facts:\n\nA) The NP's campaign lasted most or all of the year 2000, culminating in his\nsuccessful election in November. (\"I had been working hard. Not only after\nmy inauguration, but for more than a year before it.\")\n\nB) He was inaugurated January, 2001.\n\nC) He and his wife went to their country retreat in the Spring of 2001 for\nR&R, but returned to Washington after \"eighteen hours\".\n\nD) August, 2001, a UFO crashed.\n\nE) Autumn, 2001, (\"Fall came. Football season.\") the NP receives the Changer\nand the naked woman appears.\n\nF) A murder and suicide follow.\n\nG) It is Spring, 2002. (\"She rose again and went to the window, staring out\ninto the spring night.\")\n\n The NP had this exchange with George, earlier that same evening:\n\n**********************************\n \"I'm sure you're right, Mr. President.\"\n\n \"I know I am. Fortunately we've got three years until the next\nelection.\"\n\n \"Longer than that, Mr. President.\"\n\n \"Nearly three years until the next campaign.\" Although no one was\nwatching, the new President made himself smile. Smiles showed in your voice.\n\"That's what matters.\"\n*********************************\n\n Now, the next election will be in the Autumn of 2004, only about 2 1/2\nyears in the future, and campaigning begins long before the election, so the\nnext presidential campaign will begin, at most, two years from the day the\nstory takes place, and definitely not \"longer\" than the three years\nmentioned above. What's going on here?\n\n-Roy" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jeff Wilson", "address": "jwilson at io.com" }, "date": "2001-05-08T13:48:45+00:00", "subject": "(urth) Re: Copperhead time", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: \"Roy C. Lackey\" " }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": " Anyone else notice the temporal problems within the story? " }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": " \"I'm sure you're right, Mr. President.\"\n\n \"I know I am. Fortunately we've got three years until the next\nelection.\"\n\n \"Longer than that, Mr. President.\"\n\n \"Nearly three years until the next campaign.\" Although no one was\nwatching, the new President made himself smile. Smiles showed in your voice.\n\"That's what matters.\"\n*********************************\n\n Now, the next election will be in the Autumn of 2004, only about 2 1/2\nyears in the future, and campaigning begins long before the election, so the\nnext presidential campaign will begin, at most, two years from the day the\nstory takes place, and definitely not \"longer\" than the three years\nmentioned above. What's going on here?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "\tI haven't read the story, but it seems clear to me that an extension of\nthe president's current term is being implied. The Changer could be\nsuggesting that he can keep the president in power without need of\nreelection." }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "Jeff Wilson\nHow Am I Posting? 1-800-555-6789\n\"If your SecOp can see you, so can the enemy.\" -Cpt Law" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "matthew.malthouse", "address": "matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk" }, "date": "2001-05-09T14:58:11+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Copperhead time", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 08/05/2001 07:32:13 Roy C. Lackey wrote:\n Now, the next election will be in the Autumn of 2004, only about 2 1/2\nyears in the future, and campaigning begins long before the election, so the\nnext presidential campaign will begin, at most, two years from the day the\nstory takes place, and definitely not \"longer\" than the three years\nmentioned above. What's going on here?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Where does it say that a Presidential term is only four years in *that*\nuniverse?\n\nMatthew" } ] }, { "message_id": "", "from": { "name": "Jeff Wilson", "address": "jwilson at io.com" }, "date": "2001-05-09T14:31:22+00:00", "subject": "Re: (urth) Copperhead time", "in_reply_to": "", "reply_link": "subject", "blocks": [ { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "From: matthew.malthouse at guardian.co.uk" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "On 08/05/2001 07:32:13 Roy C. Lackey wrote:" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 2, "text": " Now, the next election will be in the Autumn of 2004, only about 2 1/2\nyears in the future, and campaigning begins long before the election, so the\nnext presidential campaign will begin, at most, two years from the day the\nstory takes place, and definitely not \"longer\" than the three years\nmentioned above. What's going on here?" }, { "kind": "quote", "depth": 1, "text": "Where does it say that a Presidential term is only four years in *that*\nuniverse?" }, { "kind": "text", "depth": 0, "text": "Indeed. Perhaps the NP is himself a replacement from another timeline\nwhere he was a junior politico. References to disasters and unrest that\nwe don't see could be pointing to events there." }, { "kind": "sig", "depth": 0, "text": "Jeff Wilson\nHow Am I Posting? 1-800-555-6789\n\"If your SecOp can see you, so can the enemy.\" -Cpt Law" } ] } ] }