Nard,

When I was speaking with Ray today I mentioned to him about the Jeopardy show and the final question. He didn't really say too much about it though, although I detected a bit of amusement in that the question involved F451.

Ray may have written other books better, or even more imaginative than '451,' however...he succeeded in preventing the banning of books based strictly on their unique ideas, simply by writing '451' itself.

Brilliant. Really, it is. Think of it.

Every time from now until eternity, possible book-banners will be directed to '451.' It is a literary insurance policy, issued by Ray, without premiums, and the policy is good for....ever.

quote:

Originally posted by Robert M Blevins:
In England, it is a hanging offense to rustle sheep.
I did NOT make that one up.
Although they abolished the death penalty in England, they forgot to take that one off the books. Source: British Author Geoff Nelder at geoffnelder.com

This isn't true. The Human Rights Act of 1998 (enacted in 2000) and Protocol 6 to the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR), ratified by the UK government in 1999, abolished the death penalty once and for all.

Sorry about that...Geoff is usually very reliable. He lives in Chester, England and sometimes does editing of manuscripts for us. I will send him a note.
Thanks for setting me straight on that one.

"Big Brother, in another way!"
We recycle diligently -paper, metals, plastics ("petroleum produced," you all know!), glass, cardboard. Going to the recyling center is a Saturday morning sojourn of 20 miles or so, round-trip. Usually, I have a young co-pilot or two with me. Thus, the task becomes an adventure in some way before we have returned home.

In speaking with the county employees who man the station, I was very disappointed to hear that though the paper always finds its way back into the marketing stream, glass or tin or plastic will only be truly recycled for manufacturing purposes when the market and cost warrants its recovery. Now, we live in a rather rural area with relatively small populations. If this is the standard operating procedure across the country, no wonder gas is $3+ a gallon, and even the cost of a face cord of wood has sky-rocketed to nearly three times its amount of just a few years ago.

The waste stream is a gold mine our society continues to ignore. Think "WWII," before my time but a frequent topic of discussion with my parents as I was growing up. I remember the first job I ever had as a kid of 9 or 10 was sorting every type of bottle you could possibly image down in the hot, dark, scary cellar of our large family store. (Mission orange and grape, Hires Root Beer, Royal Crown Cola, Dr. Pepper, 7-Up, Canada Dry Ginger Ale, Birch Beer, Rheingold, Old Topper, Ballantine, Genesee,.... ah, a youthful flashback!!).

When I was done, an hour or so had passed, and the bottles were lined up in their wooden crates like so many soldiers ready for a general's inspection. I was always proud of the subterranean chore I had completed.

Everything was glass and worth a nickel. No cans, no plastic. It was an easy routine, everybody did it, and ever business was (somehow) better off for the effort. Now, check the roadside as you drive along today and ask yourself if we can say the same with all of our throw away conveniences?!

Back to B.B.'s hands in the landfill, the materials that are not recovered and made into "something" are beyond my comprehension. Oh, and the fate of the unclaimed materials being brought in by local residents? Into the landfill they go, I am told!

A bit of irony a la "The City" comes to mind!

Here's a new wrinkle in the Big Brother debate--In a newspaper article today in my local paper it told about a grocery store here (Cub Foods) that now has fingerprint scanning for making your payments. When you first register your fingerprint, you also give them either your bank or charge account numbers. So when you check out, all you have to do is scan your finger across this small box, and your bill is automatically deducted. Sounds very convenient, but very creepy. I'm going to avoid that one for as long as possible.

Lynn,

I haven't heard of a Cub foodstore since I left Minnesota almost five years ago. Down here it is Publix or Albertsons and lots of Winn-Dixies.

Cub was always on the cutting edge. I wonder who shops for Ray and what his favorite eats might be. I could ask him sometime.