The most recent 20 comments posted to Making Light by Ellen Asher:

I'm still in shock. I saw him at Readercon, and he seemed much as usual, although, as someone above noted, very pale. Back when I was a newly hatched editor with bits of shell clinging to my feathers, he was one of the pillars of science fictional knowledge, and "Locus" was and continued to be indispensable. He'd already moved to California, so I never got to know him well, to my regret. I find it impossible to imagine the SF world without him

I find this sad. The first time I visited Wookey Hole, mumble mumble years ago, it was basically just a series of caves with a few guide ropes set up so that visitors wouldn't fall into any crevasses. You had to go through with a guide, of course; it would have been too dangerous otherwise. It was dark and spooky and very, very impressive. I went again some years later and found it had been transformed into a Cheddar Caves-like Tourist Attraction, which I found deeply disheartening. It sounds as though things are only getting worse.

PJ @ 33
I think the national anthem has always been sung at sports events -- baseball, anyway, where I'm pretty sure I remember it from when my Dad took me in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Flags were probably there, too, but I wouldn't have noticed them -- they were just part of the decor.

The real proliferation of flags -- on buses and windows and baby carriages and whatall -- took place after 9/11.

Mary Aileen @64: The London bookstore that used to shelve books by publisher was Foyle's on Charing Cross Road. Some years ago, though, they saw the light (possibly because too many of their customers had been deserting them for the more plebeian but more navigable Waterstone's) and began shelving books like everyone else, by topic.

I was knocked out when a horse who was galloping with me in Central Park (it wasn't my idea, but that's another story) fell. I don't know how long I was out, but when I woke up I was surrounded by worried looking policemen and EMTs, and the ambulance was there.

They told me to get in the ambulance and go to the hospital; I said I had to take the horse back to the stable. Then I tried to get up, and I realized they were absolutely right. At the hospital, they x-rayed me, decided nothing was broken and sent me home with a list of things that, if they happened, would signal an immediate need for medical attention.

I had a splitting headache for two days but no other ill effects, and since this happened about 35 years ago, it doesn't worry me. But if I hadn't been wearing a helmet, I would definitely be dead.

Debcha @135: You only tie; my home's WalkScore is also 100. Of course I live in Manhattan, where I suspect everything has a WalkScore of 100. They make the usual mistakes (like citing the A&P which closed more than five years ago), but everything I need in daily life is in easy walking distance, and everything else is easily reachable by subway or bus. Car? I couldn't have one even if I wanted to; I don't have a license. Yes, I'm a native New Yorker.

Not having a smallpox vaccination scar doesn't necessarily mean you weren't vaccinated -- I don't have one, and I certainly was. And revaccinated every three years once I began traveling abroad. I just dug out my old WHO booklet, and my last revaccination stamp is dated June 6, 1973, so it must have been in the mid-70s that it stopped being required.

I had the tetanus-typhoid-diphtheria shots, which were all that was available, when I was a kid. I remember my mother trying to expose me to all the childhood diseases, but the only ones I ever caught were mumps (which I loved; I was sick enough to not have to go to school or practice the piano or drink orange juice, but not too sick to read or play cards) and German measles, which didn't count because it didn't give you permanent immunity (or so we believed). The polio vaccine didn't come along until I was in high school, but fortunately my parents were well enough off to send me out of the city to summer camp during the worst of the annual epidemics.

I obviously had a lot of natural immunity, and a lot of luck. Kids today don't know what they're missing -- thank God.

Elise: I don't know Scraps and Velma personally -- and don't comment much anyway -- so I haven't said much here, but I'm reading every time I go on line and sending hopes and prayers for full recovery. Thanks so much for keeping us all up to date.

I don't do Pay Pal, but I mailed a check to Marilee this morning, with good wishes.

Damn; I know Scraps only through Making Light, but he has all the good wishes I can find for his recovery. I hope it all goes as well as we hope and better than we fear.

Meanwhile, let those of us who don't do Pay Pal know where to send a check.

Emerging from lurking to wish Teresa continued boredom in the hospital and a speedy and total recovery. My thoughts and prayers are with all of you.

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