thy sting

[In response to a meditation on sffnet -- ]

True enough, Dave.

Of course there's a longer view. The particles that make up your body have been around for 13.75 billion years, and will be around for a lot longer, and for the merest femtofraction of that, a few decades, that material came together and sort of guided itself around, on its way back into chaos. As Voltaire noted, though he can't have been the first, some of the most pleasant time you have spent alive was during deep dreamless sleep. If that is what the rest of the past was like, and the future will be, we have no complaints.

In his six decades, Ralph accomplished a great deal -- and did a great deal of good for people like me. I'm sure he made enemies, since the game he chose has hard rules and people who play for keeps. But he made a lot more friends, and spread a lot of what you have to say is love.

Joe