On Monday, July 2, 2018 at 6:12:22 AM UTC-6, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 11:16:27 PM UTC-6, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>
> > ===
> > No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
> > century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
> > intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
> > as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
> > scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
> > a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
> > and multiply in a drop of water.
> It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...
>
> With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little
> affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible
> that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
> the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to
> dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to
> recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men
> fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and
> ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
> that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects
> vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
> slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
> century came the great disillusionment.
>
> > ===
> > I am a very old man; how old I do not know.
> And this one.
>
> Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I have never
> aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I
> have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
> years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some
> day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
> know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet
> I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
> this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.

One other one is also worth taking beyond the first sentence...

Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.

They will usually concede a basis for the accusation but point to
California as the focus of the infection. Californians stoutly maintain
that their bad reputation is derived solely from the acts of the inabitants
of Los Angeles County. Angelenos will, when pressed, admit the charge
but explain hastily, "It's Hollywood. It's not our fault - we didn't ask for
it; Hollywood just grew."

The people in Hollywood don't care; they glory in it. If you are interested,
they will drive you up Laurel Canyon "-where we keep the violent cases."
The Canyonites - the brown-legged women, the trunks-clad men constantly
busy building and rebuilding their slap-happy unfinished houses - regard with
faint contempt the dull creatures who live down in the flats, and treasure in
their hearts the secret knowledge that they, and only they, know how to live.

John Savard

On Fri, 19 Nov 2021 18:09:12 -0800 (PST), Quadibloc
<jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:

>On Monday, July 2, 2018 at 6:12:22 AM UTC-6, Quadibloc wrote:
>> On Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 11:16:27 PM UTC-6, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>>
>> > ===
>> > No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
>> > century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
>> > intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
>> > as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
>> > scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
>> > a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
>> > and multiply in a drop of water.
>> It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...
>>
>> With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little
>> affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible
>> that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
>> the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to
>> dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to
>> recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men
>> fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and
>> ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
>> that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects
>> vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
>> slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
>> century came the great disillusionment.
>>
>> > ===
>> > I am a very old man; how old I do not know.
>> And this one.
>>
>> Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I have never
>> aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I
>> have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
>> years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some
>> day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
>> know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet
>> I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
>> this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.
>
>One other one is also worth taking beyond the first sentence...
>
>Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.
>
>They will usually concede a basis for the accusation but point to
>California as the focus of the infection. Californians stoutly maintain
>that their bad reputation is derived solely from the acts of the inabitants
>of Los Angeles County. Angelenos will, when pressed, admit the charge
>but explain hastily, "It's Hollywood. It's not our fault - we didn't ask for
>it; Hollywood just grew."
>
>The people in Hollywood don't care; they glory in it. If you are interested,
>they will drive you up Laurel Canyon "-where we keep the violent cases."
>The Canyonites - the brown-legged women, the trunks-clad men constantly
>busy building and rebuilding their slap-happy unfinished houses - regard with
>faint contempt the dull creatures who live down in the flats, and treasure in
>their hearts the secret knowledge that they, and only they, know how to live.

The sooner it all drops into the Pacific, the happier the world will
be.

Maybe Elon Musk _knows_ something.

On Friday, November 19, 2021 at 9:09:15 PM UTC-5, Quadibloc wrote:
> On Monday, July 2, 2018 at 6:12:22 AM UTC-6, Quadibloc wrote:
> > On Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 11:16:27 PM UTC-6, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
> >
> > > ===
> > > No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
> > > century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
> > > intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
> > > as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
> > > scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
> > > a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
> > > and multiply in a drop of water.
> > It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...
> >
> > With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little
> > affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible
> > that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
> > the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of them only to
> > dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is curious to
> > recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most terrestrial men
> > fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to themselves and
> > ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
> > that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects
> > vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
> > slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
> > century came the great disillusionment.
> >
> > > ===
> > > I am a very old man; how old I do not know.
> > And this one.
> >
> > Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I have never
> > aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can recollect I
> > have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
> > years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever; that some
> > day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
> > know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still alive; but yet
> > I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
> > this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.
> One other one is also worth taking beyond the first sentence...
> Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.
> They will usually concede a basis for the accusation but point to
> California as the focus of the infection. Californians stoutly maintain
> that their bad reputation is derived solely from the acts of the inabitants
> of Los Angeles County. Angelenos will, when pressed, admit the charge
> but explain hastily, "It's Hollywood. It's not our fault - we didn't ask for
> it; Hollywood just grew."
>
> The people in Hollywood don't care; they glory in it. If you are interested,
> they will drive you up Laurel Canyon "-where we keep the violent cases."
> The Canyonites - the brown-legged women, the trunks-clad men constantly
> busy building and rebuilding their slap-happy unfinished houses - regard with
> faint contempt the dull creatures who live down in the flats, and treasure in
> their hearts the secret knowledge that they, and only they, know how to live.

When Heinlein wrote that, he lived on Laurel Canyon Drive. IIRC, the next
paragraph alludes to him.

Pt

In article <9cd3e299-b6e6-4d76-bdd6-8398f712a6dcn@googlegroups.com>,
Quadibloc <jsavard@ecn.ab.ca> wrote:
>On Monday, July 2, 2018 at 6:12:22 AM UTC-6, Quadibloc wrote:
>> On Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 11:16:27 PM UTC-6, Ted Nolan <tednolan> wrote:
>>
>> > ===
>> > No one would have believed in the last years of the nineteenth
>> > century that this world was being watched keenly and closely by
>> > intelligences greater than man's and yet as mortal as his own; that
>> > as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were
>> > scrutinised and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with
>> > a microscope might scrutinise the transient creatures that swarm
>> > and multiply in a drop of water.
>> It's worth reviewing how that one continues as well...
>>
>> With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about
>their little
>> affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is
>possible
>> that the infusoria under the microscope do the same. No one gave a thought to
>> the older worlds of space as sources of human danger, or thought of
>them only to
>> dismiss the idea of life upon them as impossible or improbable. It is
>curious to
>> recall some of the mental habits of those departed days. At most
>terrestrial men
>> fancied there might be other men upon Mars, perhaps inferior to
>themselves and
>> ready to welcome a missionary enterprise. Yet across the gulf of space, minds
>> that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish,
>intellects
>> vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and
>> slowly and surely drew their plans against us. And early in the twentieth
>> century came the great disillusionment.
>>
>> > ===
>> > I am a very old man; how old I do not know.
>> And this one.
>>
>> Possibly I am a hundred, possibly more: but I cannot tell because I
>have never
>> aged as other men, nor do I remember any childhood. So far as I can
>recollect I
>> have always been a man, a man of about thirty. I appear today as I did forty
>> years and more ago, and yet I feel that I cannot go on living forever;
>that some
>> day I shall die the real death from which there is no resurrection. I do not
>> know why I should fear death, I who have died twice and am still
>alive; but yet
>> I have the same horror of it as you who have never died, and it is because of
>> this terror of death, I believe, that I am so convinced of my mortality.
>
>One other one is also worth taking beyond the first sentence...
>
>Americans are considered crazy anywhere in the world.
>
>They will usually concede a basis for the accusation but point to
>California as the focus of the infection. Californians stoutly maintain
>that their bad reputation is derived solely from the acts of the inabitants
>of Los Angeles County. Angelenos will, when pressed, admit the charge
>but explain hastily, "It's Hollywood. It's not our fault - we didn't ask for
>it; Hollywood just grew."
>
>The people in Hollywood don't care; they glory in it. If you are interested,
>they will drive you up Laurel Canyon "-where we keep the violent cases."
>The Canyonites - the brown-legged women, the trunks-clad men constantly
>busy building and rebuilding their slap-happy unfinished houses - regard with
>faint contempt the dull creatures who live down in the flats, and treasure in
>their hearts the secret knowledge that they, and only they, know how to live.

That's a good one.

Along with

He doesn't know which of us I am these days....

and

The doorknob opened a blue eye and looked at him.

--
Dorothy J. Heydt
Vallejo, California
djheydt at gmail dot com
Www.kithrup.com/~djheydt/