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--></style></head><body lang=EN-US link="#0563C1" vlink="#954F72" style='word-wrap:break-word'><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><div><div style='border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in'><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> spike@rainier66.com <spike@rainier66.com> <br><b>…</b></span><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p></div></div><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>Regarding Clarke's Profiles of the Future, I am sending two photos, in separate postings for a reason, which I will explain.</span> This is the front side of the mug… {photo cut out for a reason}<span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='color:black'>This is the </span>other<span style='color:black'> side of </span>the<span style='color:black'> mug:<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><span style='mso-ligatures:none'><img width=316 height=430 style='width:3.2916in;height:4.4791in' id="Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:image002.jpg@01DC7015.92AB5B80"></span><span style='color:black'><o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I was on one of those programs which was is so secret even I don’t know what I am doing.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>We were at a project board meeting, and I was one of the junior guys back in those days, not even in management, just an engineering and technology lead, invited to hang with the big kids.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>They were trying to come up with a slogan for the program. The guys at the wooden table were coming up with lame ideas, but we all knew they sucked, all of them.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>So… the top dog said to us in the peanut gallery: any ideas, engineers?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>I uttered the phrase written by Clarke, the words burned into my mental retinas. It got really quiet. He said: Spike say that again. I repeated it, and said it was a direct quote from Arthur C. Clarke.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>The big guys voted, it was unanimous, that comment from Profiles of the Future became our program official slogan.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>My corollary to Clarke’s third law: Any sufficiently Arthur-Clarke-like person is virtually indistinguishable from god.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>That man saw it all.<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText>spike <o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p><p class=MsoPlainText><o:p> </o:p></p></div></body></html>