From: rmarsh@waikato.ac.nz
Newsgroups: alt.callahans
Subject: All wrapped up
Date: 14 Apr 92 03:07:53 +1200
Organization: University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand

  Stumpy has somehow managed to sleep through the last couple of days,
dreaming of RL as one does in VR. Slowly he wakes, something important
nagging at his mind... what was it? He gets up and looks at the somewhat
burned out bonfire... "Bit of a breeze would have that blazing away again
in no time" he says, thinking aloud.
  He staggers into the bar and plunks a dollar down on the counter.
  "Orange juice, Mike, bitte." He frowns. "That's *please*, Mike, not
bitter juice." Callahan serves a long straight glass of orange liquid and
turns to polishing glassware. Stumpy drinks it down and then sneezes, three
times. "I always do that after the first juice in the morning... never
figured out why."
  Stumpy picks a chair near the french windows to sit down in and looks at
the soap boxes scattered about the Place, and those slowly burning in the 
meadow. Seemingly reminded of something he begins speaking to nobody in
particular.

  "Someone (Kitten wasn't it?) was saying that those who breed and neglect
their kids would end up better off under a resource rights/leasing scheme.
To a certain extent that's probably true, but there are other things to
consider. For a start there's the fact that those with higher standards of
living tend to have fewer children. Then there's the fact that under such a
system population growth leads to reduced shares for everyone - of course
people often don't think in terms of the big picture so that's not a
greatly convincing argument. However there's also the provision that if a 
child or some other appropriate body thinks the parents' care is 
inadequate the child can be raised by someone else, even by themselves if 
they want, using their resource share, so really bad parents don't profit 
for long.
  "As to what is an appropriate body to decide what is appropriate care,
that kind of runs into the abortion discussion. I have to agree that I have
never seen such a reasoned discussion on such a hot topic in... ever. My
mother and I discussed it in RL only last night, and we got pretty heated
over it... and we usually think the same way about things. My view? I agree
with the pro-choice people. Not pro-abortion mind, pro-choice. In my
opinion this is one of those sticky moral questions where anyone who holds
an opinion holds it strongly, and nobody has the right to force their
opinions on someone else. If you as a prospective parent believe that it is
better to abort than to try to bring up an unwanted child then so be it. If
you (still as prospective parent) think the foetus' life is more important
than other concerns then carry it through. On questions of morality
everyone has an opinion and unless almost everyone agrees on one 'right' 
way to go (and even then) there's no reason why that should necessarily be
better than any other opinion.
  "As for managers, I just realised that that thread came from one of my
postings too, I have been causing trouble since I arrived, haven't I? I
don't know where the points of contention are now - it seemed at last
glance that everyone agreed that to be a good manager you need management
skills (training?) and a knowledge of whatever you are to manage. What
I'd like to know is: does being skilled as a business manager make you 
better suited to life as we know it?"

  Stumpy gets up out of the chair, down off his soapbox, picks it up and
heads through the french windows toward the bonfire, the mood shirt showing
a certain degree of consternation. He can be heard to be muttering to
himself, something about having forgotten something. Reaching the bonfire
he throws the latest box into its glowing heart. He reaches down and picks
up a solid looking hunk of wood wrapped in brown paper and is about to poke
at the fire with it when he suddenly stops.
  "That's it! I knew it was important!" He turns and looks around the
somewhat more surreal meadow, locating a particular white-clad rodent.
Spotting his quarry Stumpy jogs across to the slowly dispersing crowd of
well-wishers surrounding Danger Mouse.
  "Sorry I'm late DM, I'd have sent my offering with the others if I were 
allowed E-mail, but as it is I have to do it personally and a little late. 
Here..."
  He holds out the brown wrapped package. DM discovers as he unwraps it
that the package contains a finely crafted, excalibur styled, mouse-eared
cricket bat.
  "For cricket and crusading," explains Stumpy, "You've got the white
outfit already, and there was a suggestion that you liked bats, and that
comment about my name possibly being cricket inspired and... well anyway,
happy birthday DM, and many happy returns."
-- 
Robert 'Stumpy' Marsh | Brought to you from the bottom of the world
rmarsh@waikato.ac.nz  | both topographically and socio-politically.
+64 7 855 4406        | Whatever happened to Godzone?
    SnailMail: 95 Fairfield Rd, Hamilton, Aotearoa (New Zealand)
Newsgroups: alt.callahans