[snip various responses] > Perhaps the real issue here is that I disagree with what I hear as > (unwarranted) certainty in your claims. Perhaps I'm just advocating > a different version of certainty, but I hope not. > Groovy. I've got no problem with that. I was getting confused with the bouncing around from one viewpoint to another but I see now where you're coming from. For my part, I've become a proponent of Occam's Razor in regards the Brustiad. I'm reacting in large part to the sometimes convoluted theories and explanations that we readers come up with to explain various things, so I've been moving more and more towards Adron's own concern as voiced by Paarfi; namely, that things are exactly as they appear to be. Of course, we've seen where that thinking got Adron... *heh*