This a traditional letter column.
You are encouraged to write a letter of comment on anything that you
find worthy of comment. It will (may) be published in this column along
with my reply. As editor I reserve the right to delete material;
however I will not alter the undeleted material. E-mail to me that solely
references the contents of this site will be assumed to be publishable
mail. All other e-mail is assumed to be private. And, of course, anything
marked not for publication is not for publication. Oh yes, letters of
appreciation for the scholarly resources provided by this site will be
handled very discreetly. This page contains the correspondence for
March 2005.
Some of it is a little ancient; I’m slowly catching up – very slowly.
From: marek
LORD MAREK FROM POLAND
From: siteops
Dude, you decide to cheat me ? Wrong way!
From: Paulo
From: Peter Neilson
In the spirit of your correspondent “beno”, I, too, would like
to exchange links. There is a modest one just down the street,
at the Deep River Golf Club, and there are several prestegious
ones not far away in Southern Pines and Pinehurst. I would be
willing to exchange any of these for one of the Highmore links.
You would gain the benefit of a small area where you could play
warm, sunny golf throughout much of the year. I would gain a
spot of land where natural air-conditioning would keep me cold
and bleak in all but the hottest of summer daze.
The only catch in all of this is the transportation. My truck
is too small for the task. We would have to use yours.
My understanding is that in your parts liquid water frequently falls
from the sky, in the form of something called rein or rayon or
something like that. South Dakota grass has evolved to thrive in
the absence of torrents from the sky. Grass, hereabouts, is a
healthy, vibrant tannish brown. If the links were moved the grass
might well do poorly and become a sickly green.
Perhaps we should work up on this. We could start by exchanging
indoor putting greens. If that went well we might move on to a
minature golf course, and so on, until we arrived at the real thing.
From: Peter Neilson
Was it by mere oversight, by deliberate consideration, or
by pure, unadaulterated malice that you neglected to tell
ej W that it’s Turtles All The Way Down? That neat solution
to the problem of making the universe makers reminds me of
an analysis I once heard of Russell’s solution to his
version of the paradox of Epimenides, which is often called
Russell’s paradox): “By creating his theory of types,
Russell does not eliminate the contradictions, but merely
enumerates them ad infinitum.” Don’t remember who said it,
except that it was someone hanging around MIT about 1970.
[1] Once upon a time (and perhaps more recently) there was an
informal but widespread secret society called the turtles. If you were
a turtle and someone asked you if you were a turtle you were supposed
to reply “You bet your sweet ass I am.” Anyone who was a turtle could
induct anyone else into the order by teaching the three secret questions
and their answers. I only remember one of them, to wit:
Q: What does a man do standing up, a woman do sitting down, and a
dog do standing on three legs?
From: Jack Anderson
Hi,
I looked at your web site – https://richardhartersworld.com – and I would
really like to set up a partnership with you.
From: Jrohuskey
A dead perfect fit…………another funny one. I’m a undertaker myself although I dont carry any false teeth around in my pocket!
From: beno
Hi;
https://richardhartersworld.com/cri/fandom.html
However, if it is your policy to only link from a specific link page, we
understand and appreciate the reciprocal link. If you are interested, please
use our simple Link Exchange Form:
http://www.cruciangold.com/Add_Link.pt?contactID=11486
From: Jrohuskey
From: Orlando
I an interested in finding out when will The Cold Equations be playing and
what channel will it play on. I haven’t had the opportunity to see the
entire movie and I haven’t seen it in over nine or ten years. Please
update me with the next time The Cold Equations will be played so I can be
sure to catch it.
From: Brian Woodley
Hi;
https://richardhartersworld.com/cri_b/fiction/1998/doggy.html
I don’t know you, but I do know this classic ditty.
Your friend was pulling your leg, perhaps having at laugh at your expense.
Hope he’s come clean since then, but in case he hasn’t, here’s the actual
lyrics:
How much is that doggie in the window (arf, arf)
For the record, I thought his version was funny, but the point derived from
it has better examples. You may now confidently mete what punishment you
feel fits the situation.
Just a random intrusion from a perfect stranger…
From: ej W
A have a question for you- one which I believe is quite simple. I would
like a simple reply, and I hope that is reasonable. Getting something
from nothing is impossible, I hope you agree with that… so in the big
bang, what banged, and where did it come from?
Where did it come from is another matter. Nobody really knows. In one class of theories the universe was spawned from a
predecessor universe. In some of these theories there are an enormous number of spawned universes. Another theory is that
existence of the physical universe is due to a chance quantum fluctuation in timeless nothingness. I’m not sure that I quite
understand how that works. Then there are a class of theories that say that the universe was created by some being,
e.g., the biblical Jehovah, Olaf Stapledon’s Star Maker, and the Hindu Brahma. The trouble with the physics based theories
is that we don’t know enough about physics. The trouble with theories about universe makers is who made them.
I hope this helps.
From: vicky
Dear horse loves,
From: Rita Malongo
I am the secretary to a director in Department of Health & Welfare Negotiations,
Ministry of Health, South Africa.
My boss has directed me to solicit a potential individual/organization with
a view to receive Sickle Cell Donations amounting to TWELVE MILLION UNITED
STATES DOLLARS as part of a humanitarian grant scheme operated by the Ministry
of Health, South Africa.
Upon indicating your interest, I will inform my boss about you and he will
proceed to add and facilitate you as a beneficiary of the grant. You will
receive FORTY PERCENT of the money as your commission, while SIXTY PERCENT
goes to us.
Please, treat this mail as confidential as possible as myself and my boss
are still serving government officials, if you are not in a position to be
part of this, do not respond to this mail and I apologize for taking your
time.
I could scarcely resist this appeal to unscrupulous avarice save for
the certainty that the only anemia involved would be that of my bank
account.
Index of contributors
Other Correspondence Pages
Date: 3/20/2005
Subj: (none)
It’s always a pleasure to hear from the Polish nobility.
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I see that you’re not royalty since you have no subjects.
Date: 3/11/2005
Subj: return my money ASAP!
My apologies. What would be the right way to cheat you?
Return to index of contributors
Date: 3/12/2005
Subj: i am really angry
And you wrote?
Return to index of contributors
Nothing at all, apparently. Whatever your problem is,
I hope you get over it. Take two aspirin and send me
an email in the morning.
Date: 3/17/2005
Subj: Link Exchange
There is much to be said for your proposal, although I am not sure
that such words should appear in a family values web site. (A very
dysfunctional family, to be sure.) I do foresee a difficulty though.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 3/9/2005
Subj: The big bang
Deliberate consideration – I was moderately certain that he
wasn’t a turtle [1]. Quine’s New Foundations is even more elegant.
In it, so to speak, types are floating. The effect is that contradictions
cannot be found because they are just out of sight.
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A: Shaking hands.
Date: 3/5/2005
Subj: Partnership between lesbian dating sites
As it happens that isn’t a valid URL – I rather fancy that you
never actually looked at my web site. Allah is merciful.
I own a site that provides information on mens gay relationships
– http://www.gay-personals-same-sex-dating-lesbian.com. Since our
sites are related to each other, I would like to propose a link
exchange partnership with your site.
Given the nature of your
web site I am more than a little nervous about what sort of
partnership you have in mind.
My site gets a lot of traffic every day, so a link from my site
to your site will bring in a decent amount of traffic to your
site.
It’s the indecent traffic that gives me pause.
Also, as you probably already know, it will improve the link
popularity and the search engine ranking of your site.
Shudder.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 3/3/2005
Subj: undertaker
I’ve never known an undertaker to carry around false teeth, but what
do I know. Still, it’s a good story.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 3/1/2005
Subj: Link Exchange
I would like to exchange links with you. The Web resource we are optimizing
for, http://www.cruciangold.com/index.pt, is similarly themed to yours, particularly for the
keyword phrase ‘SILVER’. We would specifically like a link from
this page:
You misapprehend. The silver referred to on that page is the name of a person.
Be that as it may, a link to your site will appear on my web site, albeit not on
the page you mentioned. You needn’t bother with adding a link to my site.
In fact I wish you wouldn’t – far too many people link to my site as it is.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 2/28/2005
Subj: poem
I love The leaf poem–beautiful
Thank you. Kind words are appreciated. Your kind of words are particularly
appreciated.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 2/27/2005
Subj: The Cold Equations
Me too. I’ve never seen it at all. I tell you what. If I hear it’s playing I’ll let you know, and if you hear it’s playing,
you let me know. Better yet, if you hear it’s playing, don’t tell me.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 2/25/2005
Subj: How much is that bullshit in the window…
Just finished reading your site:
The one with the waggley tail
How much is that doggie in the window (arf, arf)
I do hope that doggie’s for sale
I must take a trip to California
And leave my poor sweetheart alone
If he has a dog he won’t be lonesome
And the doggie will have a good home
How much is that doggie in the window (arf, arf)
The one with the waggley tail
How much is that doggie in the window (arf, arf)
I do hope that doggie’s for sale
I read in the papers there are robbers (roof, roof)
With flashlights that shine in the dark
My love needs a doggie to protect him
And scare them away with one bark
I don’t want a bunny or a kitty
I don’t want a parrot that talks
I don’t want a bowl of little fishies
He can’t take a goldfish for a walk
How much is that doggie in the window (arf, arf)
The one with the waggley tail
How much is that doggie in the window (arf, arf)
I do hope that doggie’s for sale
I hate to break it to you, but Thomas Jones is a bit of fiction as is the page
(page, not site) that you were looking at. I do appreciate hearing from you
though. You might wander through my site further if you like. I warn you,
though, that it is tainted through and through.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 2/25/2005
Subj: The big bang
A simple reply may be beyond my capablilities or even beyond anybody’s capabilities. The answer to the first question is simple
enough. In the beginning everything was concentrated in a single point – not just matter and energy, but all of space as well.
What “banged” was space itself. Space stretched (and is still stretching) in all directions.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 2/24/2005
Subj: horses
I love horses so much that I play cow girl and breand that I have a rope. I
also play horse back riding so much that I play it al the time at school.
It’s good that you love horses. May I suggest, however, that you pay
some attention to your spelling and your grammar while you are in school.
Return to index of contributors
Date: 2/21/2005
Subj: topic
One of the amusing things about the “Nigerian Scam” is that most of
them presume the lowest of low character on the part of the recipient.
Thus the recipient is variously invited to share in proceeds of corrupt
officials, help the families of dictators relocate wealth looted from
suffering countries, and fraudulently claim inheritances. In this one
the recipient is invited to steal from charitable contributions meant
for treating sickle cell anemia.
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This page was last updated March 20, 2005.
It was moved August 6, 2007