Innumerable as the Starrs of Night,
Or Starrs of Morning, Dew-drops, which the Sun Impearls on every leaf and every flouer Milton |
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Impearls | ||
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Beauty is truth, truth beauty,
— that is all Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know. Keats
E = M
Energy is eternal delight.
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What wailing wight
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Impearls: 2004-05-02 Archive Earthdate 2004-05-08
Robert A. Heinlein and Albert Einstein on Immortality
Noted science fiction author Robert A. Heinlein passed on 16 years ago today. On this anniversary of his death it's worthy remembering a passage near the end of Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold, where after being returned thousands of years back into the past to arrive before the nuclear conflagration which started the whole story off, Hugh and Barbara Farnham stop by their old household…: 1
Certain passages in Heinlein's books (a certain naivete about relativity) reveal that he wasn't much of an Einstein reader, but it turns out Albert Einstein said much the same thing, in a letter of condolence to the sister and son of his long-time closest friend, upon his death, four weeks before Einstein's own. 2 (Albert's anniversary of passing, by the way, occurred two weeks ago on April 18, 49 years ago.)
Thus, rest in peace, Heinlein and Einstein; or rather, live where you are — in spacetime.
UPDATE: 2004-05-23 05:00 UT: Jeff Soyer at Alphecca has linked to this piece, with the comment: “By now, most of you know I'm a huge sci-fi reader. And science reader. So is Michael at Impearls with this remembrance [pointing here] from Heinlein's Farnham's Freehold on the anniversary of Heinlein's death. “Naturally, Bill at the Heinlein Blog
remembers, too.”
Bill's Heinlein Blog piece, well worth reading in its own right, points in turn to
this essay
at the Heinlein Society by J. Neil Schulman, which attempts to put Heinlein's work in perspective.
References 1 Robert A. Heinlein, Farnham's Freehold, The New American Library, Signet Books, New York, 1964; pp. 246-247. 2 Albert Einstein, in a letter of condolence to the sister and son of Michele Besso, Einstein's long-time closest friend, on his death, 4 weeks before Einstein's, 1955.
Impearls: 2004-05-02 Archive Earthdate 2004-05-05
Timor and East Timor – A history
Joel at the superb Asia-Pacific oriented
Far Outliers
blog has posted several articles recently on Timor (an island a bit smaller than British Columbia's Vancouver Island, a fifth larger than Sicily, and half again the size of the state of Israel, just for comparison purposes), together with the new nation of East Timor (itself incorporating three-quarters the area of Israel, along with one-sixth its population) which occupies the island's eastern half — see, for instance, Joel's piece
here.
This article,
however, is particularly intriguing, linking to a book by the Australian National University called
Out of the Ashes: Deconstruction and Reconstruction of East Timor,
which it notes is “a collection of essays that examine the historical background to developments in East Timor and provide political analysis on the initial reconstruction stage in the country's transition to independence.”
Joel's Far Outliers' piece quotes extensively from Out of the Ashes' fascinating chapter on the historical background of Timor, within which one can find the above map illustrating the languages of Timor. (Don't miss much other captivating stuff on that same Far Outliers' archive page.)
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