Thursday 3 May 2018

Van Rijn And The Spiral Arm

"Van Rijn tapped two liters of beer from his cooler, clinked glasses and explained.
"The galaxy, even this tiny fragment of one spiral arm which we have somewhat explored, is inconceivably huge."
-Poul Anderson, "The Trouble Twisters" IN Anderson, David Falkayn: Star Trader (Riverdale, NY, 2010), pp. 77-208 AT II, p. 98.

I am about to turn in but had to record Nicholas van Rijn joining the "one spiral arm" club. Tomorrow, I will visit my technical adviser, Ketlan, and no doubt will find something else to post about. Good night.

5 comments:

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, Paul!

I'm AWED at how Old Nick was able to drink two LITERS of beer at the same time! One or two modest bottles of beer is about as much as I can endure. (Smiles)

Sean

David Birr said...

Sean:
The reference to "clinked glasses" leads me to think van Rijn, being hospitable, gave one of those two liters to Falkayn.

Sean M. Brooks said...

Kaor, DAVID!

And that reminds me of how Emil Dalmady was given, a bit to his dismay, a huge drink in "Esau." (Smiles)

Sean

S.M. Stirling said...

I think van Rijn translates into English as "larger than life".

Sean M. Brooks said...

Dear Mr. Stirling,

Old Nick was certainly EXUBERANTLY larger than life!

Sean