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<DIV style="font-color: black"><B>From:</B> <A title=severiansola@hotmail.com
href="mailto:severiansola@hotmail.com">Lee Berman</A> </DIV>
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<DIV><BR>> Juturna also mentions Baldanders a few times during the
conversation and this (along with the<BR>> Lake Diuturna/eel connections) is
supposed to be enough for a reader to connect the dots and<BR>> figure out
the underwater breathing connection. Once again, I think Wolfe makes the puzzle
a<BR>> bit too difficult. I haven't seen the "mermaid's kiss" connection in
any published scholarly<BR>> analysis. I think it was figured out exclusively
on this board and that within the past few<BR>> years.</DIV>
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<DIV>I don’t see any mystery about an “underwater breathing connection”.
Juturna says out straight that Baldanders will eventually have to enter the
water: presumably by the time he does, he will have arrange some way to
respire. Talos makes a reference to it somewhere too. And of course
we have seen mysterious ‘scars’ on his neck, so the obvious interpretation is
that he has already fitted himself with gills.<BR><BR> <BR>> A debate on
whether "magic" is used seems sophomoric. The conversation with The CUmaean
and<BR>> Merryn warns us against falling into that trap. Magic is that
which cannot be explained by <BR>> science. And hopefully none is so
narrow sighted as to think that science is the only possible <BR>>
explanatory mechanism that will ever be available, be it the long ago past or
far future. We <BR>> happen to live now in a time period which is the Age Of
Science, but it seems obvious that will <BR>>not be the case forever.Some of
the limitatons of science are already starting to show.</DIV>
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<DIV>That is not at all what the conversation implies. First Merryn points
out that there is no magic, only technology. The Cumaean then states that
words are symbols, and either word might refer to the same thing. But
everywhere in this sequence it is made clear to us that advanced technology or
scientific understanding are the basis for events. Both the glamour placed
on Jolenta and the raising of Apu-Punchau are described in such terms.</DIV>
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<DIV>- Gerry Quinn</DIV>
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