Davoud wrote:
At the end of the story Mr. MacRobert's biographical sketch says "Alan
MacRobert independently disproved the existence of Santa Claus around
age 7, by dividing the number of houses in North America by the number
of minutes in the night before Christmas. He found the process
liberating rather than disappointing."

Liberated from the magic of childhood at only age 7? I can't help but
imagine what might have happened if Mr. MacRobert had been a budding
biologist at age 7: "Alan MacRobert received a puppy for Christmas
around age 7, and he dissected it..."


Hi Davoud:

I don't find this "sad;" I find it a rather charming story about an
intellectually precocious young man (who grew up to be a talented
writer and observer).

A part of me is glad my buddies and I back in the 60s continued to
believe in good old Father Christmas long after we "should" have..but
the thing is, nobody liberated us from our beliefs...we just grew out
of them, as Alan apparently outgrew his (albeit a few years before we
did) without being liberated from them. ;-)

Anyhoo...HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO YOU AND ALL THE GOOD FOLK ON S.A.A. (or is
saying "happy _holidays_" no longer politically correct? Not that I
care... ;-)).

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
and _The Urban Astronomer's Guide_

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