<HTML><BODY style="word-wrap: break-word; -khtml-nbsp-mode: space; -khtml-line-break: after-white-space; "><DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV><FONT class="Apple-style-span" color="#0000DD">Jef Albright wrote:</FONT></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica"><SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>[...] I felt compelled in the sense of</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">expressing my values, making the world a little better, rather than in</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">terms of any (clearly non-existent) contract or other form of</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">obligation.</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>Good. <BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"></BLOCKQUOTE><BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"><P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">As for the possibility of pedagogical condescension and resultant</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">offense implied in your statement, I had no such intention whatsoever,</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">and as I indicated, my contributions to the public discourse are with</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">our few hundred lurkers in mind.</FONT></P></BLOCKQUOTE><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>Well, see what you get for using me as your example? : ) I admit you have a great touch with hypersensitives, such as I, once you know with what you deal. I can't seem to help liking you even when you irritate me. <BR><BLOCKQUOTE type="cite"> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px"><BR></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">[...] intelligence, mutual respect and good humor for granted, not needing</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">ongoing reinforcement and reassurance.<SPAN class="Apple-converted-space"> </SPAN>In this regard, with certain</FONT></P> <P style="margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px"><FONT face="Helvetica" size="3" style="font: 12.0px Helvetica">individuals, I am clearly lacking.</FONT></P> </BLOCKQUOTE></DIV><DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV>Ironically, this prompts me to thank you for your extra effort on my behalf. I enjoy practicing routine appreciation almost to the point of distraction. It certainly pays off in my personal life. Enough!<DIV><BR class="khtml-block-placeholder"></DIV><DIV>May I appeal once again to your tour guide compulsion? What makes a vague abstract entity more extensible and coherent than a concrete expression of will as the source of personal identity? -- Thomas<BR><DIV> <DIV style="text-align: center;"><A href="mailto:Thomas@ThomasOliver.net">Thomas@ThomasOliver.net</A></DIV> </DIV><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>