http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2007/04/freequotage.html defending our rights from the ramparts Sat, 11 Feb 2012 02:52:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2007/04/freequotage.html#comment-197 Linoge Mon, 16 Apr 2007 16:07:05 +0000 http://www.wallsofthecity.net/?p=215#comment-197 I already told Better Half she was going to have to read it, since it portrays a lot of concepts that are similar to ones bouncing around in my head a lot better than I could ever express myself... That, and it is a bloody good story. As for Central American nations... yeah, they are more than a little unique. I have spent a fair amount of time in Panama, which is arguably the best-off one out there, and it even felt remarkably unregulated, and remarkably poor... but with segments that were absurdly rich. Very strange. As you implied, the real catch of Freehold is that they could control who all landed on their planet, to the point of incinerating those who did not receive clearance. With that ability in mind, they could easily weed out the "undesirables" and maintain a healthy and relatively rich (especially with their high-quality exports) population of people with similar mindsets. Of course (and unfortunately), such a concept is completely incompatible with our world in this modern day and age. I can definitely understand skipping the war part - it was just as good as the rest of the story, but... yeah. I already told Better Half she was going to have to read it, since it portrays a lot of concepts that are similar to ones bouncing around in my head a lot better than I could ever express myself… That, and it is a bloody good story.
As for Central American nations… yeah, they are more than a little unique. I have spent a fair amount of time in Panama, which is arguably the best-off one out there, and it even felt remarkably unregulated, and remarkably poor… but with segments that were absurdly rich. Very strange. As you implied, the real catch of Freehold is that they could control who all landed on their planet, to the point of incinerating those who did not receive clearance. With that ability in mind, they could easily weed out the “undesirables” and maintain a healthy and relatively rich (especially with their high-quality exports) population of people with similar mindsets. Of course (and unfortunately), such a concept is completely incompatible with our world in this modern day and age.
I can definitely understand skipping the war part – it was just as good as the rest of the story, but… yeah.

]]> http://www.wallsofthecity.net/2007/04/freequotage.html#comment-196 Ron Mon, 16 Apr 2007 13:52:39 +0000 http://www.wallsofthecity.net/?p=215#comment-196 Now that you've read Freehold, which I got my wife reading this weekend, you may want to get The Weapon, which is set in the same universe. I read Freehold the first time while traveling central America and found many of those countries effectively have little government. And they are dirt poor, unlike Freehold. I asked Micheal about how it would work if Freehold couldn't control its immigration. He said he wanted to do a book about the people stranded on space stations who could get there, but didn't qualify for Freehold itself. I do find myself going back to that book over and over. I kind of like to read till the war starts and then skip through to the end. Now that you’ve read Freehold, which I got my wife reading this weekend, you may want to get The Weapon, which is set in the same universe.
I read Freehold the first time while traveling central America and found many of those countries effectively have little government. And they are dirt poor, unlike Freehold. I asked Micheal about how it would work if Freehold couldn’t control its immigration. He said he wanted to do a book about the people stranded on space stations who could get there, but didn’t qualify for Freehold itself.
I do find myself going back to that book over and over. I kind of like to read till the war starts and then skip through to the end.

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