On or about Sat, 24 Dec 2005 00:39:37 -0500 did Davoud
dribble thusly:

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..."

I'm not sold on the "magic" of Santa Claus. I think the view that it
trains children to be credulous has a significant amount of merit.

Of course, I was only 3 when I caught my parents putting presents
under the tree. My parents' inability to justify Santa's presence in
more than one mall at a time clinched it for me (they tried to pass
the guys in red suits off as just his workers).

I can't say if it's causal or symptomatic, but I'm certainly quite
skeptical of nonsense as an adult.

There's plenty of "magic" in reality, in my opinion.
--
- Mike

Ignore the Python in me to send e-mail.