The Long Earth "Code" - SPOILERS!

[Quatermass]

That bit reminds me of the Red Dwarf episode Legion, where Rimmer, somewhat ineptly, attempts to persuade Legion to join them on Starbug. Which ends when Rimmer crosses the anti-matter chopsticks. Food flies, hilarity ensues.

I can also imagine David Tennant voicing Lobsang. Any voice that can do a sense of wonder, arrogance, and a playful sense of humour. Which means that any Doctor could play Lobsang, pretty much.

[poohcarrot]

ALICE IN WONDERLAND/LONG EARTH CONNECTION cont....

I just dug out my Alice in Wonderland book, read chapter 7 (A Mad Tea-Party) and all I can say is I'm Gobsmacked!!

Not only is there an anagram of Alice (thus leading the reader to find the "Allys" anagram in chapter 7 Long Earth), but also if , you know your Discworld, you'll see where the name "Lobsang" comes from!!

[Jan Van Quirm]

I always though Lobsang was just an orange-clad monk joke, it being a reasonably common Tibetan name (Dalai Llamas etc?)

Come to that - have we mentioned Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance at all yet...

[Who's Wee Dug]

ALICE IN WONDERLAND/LONG EARTH CONNECTION cont....

I just dug out my Alice in Wonderland book, read chapter 7 (A Mad Tea-Party) and all I can say is I'm Gobsmacked!!

Not only is there an anagram of Alice (thus leading the reader to find the "Allys" anagram in chapter 7 Long Earth), but also if , you know your Discworld, you'll see where the name "Lobsang" comes from!!

Ah sweeper! good bit detective deduction there.

[poohcarrot]

ALICE IN WONDERLAND/LONG EARTH CONNECTION cont....

...so in A Mad Tea-Party (Chapter 7 - Alice), the Dormouse tells a story about three little sisters whose name were Elsie, Lacie and Tillie . Lacie is an anagram of Alice.

"If you knew Time as well as I do," said the Hatter, "you wouldn't talk about wasting it. It's a him."

The Mad Hatter quarrelled with Time last month and Time won't do a thing now so it's always 6 o'clock.

In the end of Thief of Time, Time is called Lobsang!

[Jan Van Quirm]

Now go out and get some fresh air please

[Del]

Started The Long Earth Yesterday... almost through.

I know the song. Will have to go back and reread to get it again.

I wouldn't step east.... I would end up in the Pacific. The deep Pacific West? Hmmmmm not much out that way except desert THOUGH it would be interesting as when I lived out in the outback we regularly found seashells.

I was so disappointed with the speech for the Australian parts (mates?????? NOONE says mates plural... even in the passage with the modern day aborigines)

Yeah Jan..... Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance was the first thing I thought of when I read what he had been

[Batty]

Conclusion

So there we have it. A totally pants theory/code jobbie, which if I were you, I'd take with a large pinch of salt.

I'm quite clearly barking mad ...

Yep! You are entertaining, though!

You haven't offered any 'code' theory for the number of humans to trolls: 1890. Is that date or number important? It's mentioned more than once, so it may be.

I was really pleased that David Kossof was remembered (P.231).
My very first Saturday job was on the loose sweet counter at Woolworths, in East Dulwich. I used to serve him every Saturday. He really was a gentle man.

[Who's Wee Dug]

Maybe something to do with 1890 land grant universities.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_la ... iversities

[Batty]

I nearly went Coo! at that information Dug, until I looked up Wisconsin - Mitchigan, and it gave the date as 1866.

I'm very impressed with your research, though!

[Who's Wee Dug]

That's when it started Batty.

[raisindot]

Actually, UW-Madison started in 1848. (I know, because I'm a UW-Madison alum).

[raisindot]

I just finished this, so I'm late to the game, but.

I don't agree that the Humanity Firsters are supposed to be Tea Partiers. Unlike the Tea Partiers, the HFers aren't against government nor are they against paying taxes--they simply want their taxes to be used to only benefit Datum Earth Americans and not to subsidize the Long Earth colonizers. The HFers may be anti-Washington, but they're not libertarians like the Tea Partiers. If they were, they would be fully supporting the idea of stepping and doing everything they could to find a way to step to new worlds themselves, far away from gummint control).

What the HFers are are simply a broad parody of violent right-wing extremists in general. People who, being left out of the opportunity to share in the economic opportunities enjoyed by the more fortunate (i.e., the steppers), become violently jealous, paranoid, and use any kind of rationalization to justify their anger.

[RosM]

I am surprised at the focus on 2012 US politics when there are so many other things going on. For example:
* Lobsang the motorcycle mechanic (Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance),
* Joshua, son of Maria - Joshua is Jesus' name in Aramaic (Jesus is the Greek version), and Maria is a form of Mary. Joshua's father isn't known. Joshua coming down to earth protected by his 'heavenly father' Lobsang. Joshua doesn't have sex, or even try to.

There are no inconsistencies around all the other worlds having no people - homo sapiens only evolved in one world - in all the others our ancestors learned to step, so they never needed to evolve intelligence to escape enemies or find food. I suppose their populations stayed relatively low because they retained the hunter/gatherer lifestyle.

There's a lot of depth in the book.

[Tonyblack]

I am surprised at the focus on 2012 US politics when there are so many other things going on. For example:
* Lobsang the motorcycle mechanic (Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance),
* Joshua, son of Maria - Joshua is Jesus' name in Aramaic (Jesus is the Greek version), and Maria is a form of Mary. Joshua's father isn't known. Joshua coming down to earth protected by his 'heavenly father' Lobsang. Joshua doesn't have sex, or even try to.

There are no inconsistencies around all the other worlds having no people - homo sapiens only evolved in one world - in all the others our ancestors learned to step, so they never needed to evolve intelligence to escape enemies or find food. I suppose their populations stayed relatively low because they retained the hunter/gatherer lifestyle.

There's a lot of depth in the book.

Try looking at the proper discussion rather than this.