{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/5607",
    "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": 5607,
    "subject": "is Terminus Est really just a simple piece of hardware?",
    "messages": 2,
    "voices": 2,
    "first": "2010-05-17T16:03:44+00:00",
    "last": "2010-05-18T01:52:07+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<AANLkTilGKkQfgMw6wVBbKPql6ntHJb4Xy2ffI1tup2DA@mail.gmail.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Cliff Judge",
        "address": "transentient at gmail.com"
      },
      "date": "2010-05-17T16:03:44+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) is Terminus Est really just a simple piece of hardware?",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I plan on keeping my eye on descriptions of Terminus Est throughout the New\nSun books, but something about how Dorcas described it when she was\nrecounting to Severian what happened when he went down during the duel was\ninteresting.\n\nI am wondering if the sword might be an artifact of much higher technology\nthan Severian gives it credit for. Certainly it must be cleaned, oiled, and\nsharpened at various times in the book, but the description of a channel of\nliquid metal inside the blade seems to ring with the general \"lostech\"\ndescriptions of many of the devices in the Mataquin Tower. When I get my\nhands on the book I will transcribe the passage where Dorcase describes\nusing it to cut the avern that was about to bite Severian, it sounded like\nmore was going on then simply a transfer of weight inside the blade."
        }
      ]
    },
    {
      "message_id": "<4BF1F2C7.9060309@io.com>",
      "from": {
        "name": "Jeff Wilson",
        "address": "jwilson at io.com"
      },
      "date": "2010-05-18T01:52:07+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) is Terminus Est really just a simple piece of hardware?",
      "in_reply_to": "<AANLkTilGKkQfgMw6wVBbKPql6ntHJb4Xy2ffI1tup2DA@mail.gmail.com>",
      "reply_link": "header",
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "On 5/17/2010 11:03 AM, Cliff Judge wrote:\nI plan on keeping my eye on descriptions of Terminus Est throughout the\nNew Sun books, but something about how Dorcas described it when she was\nrecounting to Severian what happened when he went down during the duel\nwas interesting.\n\nI am wondering if the sword might be an artifact of much higher\ntechnology than Severian gives it credit for. Certainly it must be\ncleaned, oiled, and sharpened at various times in the book, but the\ndescription of a channel of liquid metal inside the blade seems to ring\nwith the general \"lostech\" descriptions of many of the devices in the\nMataquin Tower."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "The preparation of the blade's metal and the mercury is within the means \nof a medieval society, but drilling the channel down the finished center \nand fitting it with a threaded stopper would require something like a \ndrill press, which would not be particularly unexpected in a place like \nNessus, where enough old technology remains useful that mechanical limbs \nare not particularly remarkable."
        },
        {
          "kind": "sig",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "Jeff Wilson - jwilson at io.com\nIEEE Student Chapter Blog at\n< http://ieeetamut.org >"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}