23 Comments

And if Wallace is known for anything now, it's being the co-creator of King Kong...

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Yes. I actually didn't know that before I started reading this book. A shame he didn't live to see it

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There may be something in what you say, Terry.

😉🤣😁

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I was waiting for this. I was not disappointed.

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I can’t believe I was the first, Bryn! 🤣

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😂

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😂

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🤣🤣

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Charteris and Wallace forgotten? I know who they were.

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Me too. It seems that the authors who made the list are those whose books are no longer in print and who a lot of people have never heard of in the first place.

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"She replied to say she was glad I found her talk useful. Eh? When did I say that? " Hilarious! This part about old ideas presented as new ideas by people who haven't done their homework struck a chord. Just today, I myself published a little story about a place I invented called Kyrzek. Then found that someone had already used that name in a story! What? I once wrote a story about an AI partner - a "compandroid" and then discovered someone already used that term in fiction a long time ago. I wrote about a race horse named "Boy Howdy" and, sure enough, there was a real race horse with that name! Is there nothing new under the sun? Google is waiting to tell you. Due diligence, friends! Lovely letter today, Terry. It is always the first thing I read -- in lieu of actually being able to sit down over tea with you two, which I would dearly love. Thank you.

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😄 thanks, Sharron. Yes, due diligence plus having an interest in something apart from one's ego!

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I find it so interesting when individuals come up with the same thing entirely independently of each other - it's something I came across pretty often in my previous life as a glass artist. New materials would come to the market every now and again - a new formulation, a new colour, a more reactive/less reactive version of x, y, and z - and all of us glass artists (independent, sole-trading artisans, mostly working alone) would experiment away with the new ingredients we suddenly had to play with. Guess what? We'd come up with similar effects and reactions... and then 'things' would kick off on social media. Ho hum.

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Well yes, it's like the wheel being invented in several parts of the world around the same time.

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This post is as multifaceted as your personality! From Freud and Mayor Terry’s concern about potholes to the English language and vagaries of musical notes. I died (and was luckily reborn) reading your experience on the “no soliciting”😆. Freud museum in London?! The one in Vienna boasts the psychotherapy chair he used with his patients;) As for egos, what can I say, I am glad I don’t work a traditional job. As a consultant, I point out stuff and leave—for others to take care of egos!

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The furniture in Vienna, we were told, is from Freud’s waiting room. The couch, and the chair he sat in, are in London. Yes, that’s what I liked about being a consultant too! Glad you enjoyed the post and found it useful 🤣

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Three things in life are certain: Death, taxes and potholes

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😂

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YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!! There's no escaping any of them! 🤣

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You can if you go to the moon!

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Yup, a reasonable suggestion!

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I love this post so much resonates with me. I have gone past the reinventing the wheel anger. Hearing people gush about brilliant ideas you implemented over 25 years ago. That a government destroyed was a red rag to a bull. Now as an old curmudgeon I can not be bothered, let them go through all the stress and frustration of inventing something they can look up and what worked and what didn’t. I can feel the anger bubbling, actually no I don't anymore. I'll leave it there and go and mutter in the kitchen 😁

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Thanks, Jo. I'm the same as you: just let them get on with it!

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