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Retirement Age in the Honorverse

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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by cthia   » Sat Nov 17, 2018 5:22 pm

cthia
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If they get to worry about such luxuries, what is the retirement age of armsmen on prolong? Honor tried to retire her Steward fairly young. Mac couldn't have been much over 60. Of course, 40 million dollars is a heck of an incentive to retire.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by ldwechsler   » Mon Nov 19, 2018 5:45 pm

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cthia wrote:If they get to worry about such luxuries, what is the retirement age of armsmen on prolong? Honor tried to retire her Steward fairly young. Mac couldn't have been much over 60. Of course, 40 million dollars is a heck of an incentive to retire.



I'm not certain we ever got Mac's age. And she didn't directly retire him because of age. She basically just tried to keep him from the action after a while.

Keep in mind that the issue really has not risen yet in the books because her armsmen were all Graysons and most of the early ones did not have prolong.Later there would be issues but not yet.
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by cthia   » Tue Nov 20, 2018 2:54 pm

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GUILTY, WITH EXPLANATION.

PeterZ wrote:Read. The. Book.

He knows not what he asks of me.
I have not read Uncompromising Honor. :o

kzt wrote:
PeterZ wrote:Read. The. Book.

You know that has never actually read any of the books, right? He just comes here to talk about what he reads on wikipedia.
PeterZ wrote:I merely suspect that is base libel rather than know it is.


Well, kzt, you're consistent if nothing else.

Though I must admit, you are correct that I read Wikipedia. I love Wikipedia! And admittedly, I have yet to read Uncompromising Honor. But to say I don't read the books is something I could say about all of you. I've since realized that you do indeed read the books, but you consistently miss the forest for the trees. Something appears to be dead inside of you. You seem to only care about the performance numbers of the tech, at the expense of so much more of the real story.

I was perfectly content minding my own business, but it seems you insist on an explanation. When you prick me, do I not bleed? Here I shall pour out my blood. Blame yourself if it gets messy and winded, but you're in dire need of a transfusion.

When I was in the seventh grade, first year in Junior High School, I was blessed with a lovely English Teacher. She was so gorgeous I could bite the head off of a rusty nail. I endured a regular diet of those nails throughout my tenure in her class to vent my "adolescent frustrations." She would assign a book on every Friday for the entire class to read and discuss the following Friday, passing out a copy of the book to each student. Class participation was worth extra points on your exam. You could receive 1 to 3 extra points per Friday to be added on to your exam score! I was already a bookworm and I wanted to perform extra well for that teacher. I was going to be the teacher's pet that year! So I read each book until I was sure I knew every aspect of it.

Every Friday also featured a 10 minute pop quiz, most of the time. The remaining period was spent reading the assigned book. Well, while I was reading the very first assigned book, a particularly emotional passage hit me in the gut one day. Tears began to flow down my face and the more I tried to hide it from the class the more the stop-cock opened. The teacher noticed and asked me what was wrong which made the entire class notice the tears streaming down my face.

Uh oh, class discussion with me center stage, which led to that particular teacher telling me, "You have an uncanny ability to become the character. Don't ever lose that." I was consistently the only male in many of my classes, year after year. My high IQ got me placed with the brighter students who mostly happened to be female. Mostly. Imagine crying over a book in front of a lot of females. Maybe one or two males. So you see, that "ability to become the character," that I so often speak of, comes at a price. I would happen to have no less than two English teachers agree on that in my life, with just about every English teacher noticing my deep involvement with the characters.

At any rate, I cannot read a particularly emotional book in public. Nope. It ain't gonna happen, because I know what's coming and I don't particularly wish to put myself or the public through that. The same thing happens with certain movies or tv shows. I have five sisters and they all grew up with one eye on the movie and one eye on me, ready to come to my rescue. As I grew older it got worse. My emotional investment became absolute. That made me pick and choose which books I'd read in public. I grew accustomed to the hugs from my mother and sisters. They are family and they know me.

Enter David Weber's On Basilisk Station. Immediately following the War Games the passages became particularly troublesome to read. I felt Honor's pain as if it were my own. I began to cry so hard over that hook my jaws were trembling. I happened to be in Bucharest, Romania. Amongst a party of eleven people, seven women. "What is that book you are reading?" I didn't expect that to happen with a Sci-Fi book. Oh, it happens with just about any genre, but not as severe. OBS was to stand out in that regard. I simply couldn't get through those passages. I'd put the book down and start fresh, retackling the same passages and reacting the exact same way or worse. On Basilisk Station was confiscated by my Romanian friends in 2013 and just recently returned to the States after having been read and signed over 100 times.

So, kzt, you are correct. I don't read the books. That is for mere mortals like yourself. When I wield a book, I become the book. Only with that kind of emotional investment am I able to peer under the deepest layers of skin, which is why many of my threads are controversial, but exciting and engaging I've been told. You only have to take note of the class participation measured by post count and the many views. A reader can't dive below the water line where the tears are held and where the real meat and potatoes of the story are served-up without actually reading the book, without absorbing the book intravenously. That is what allows me to catch the hidden elements that all of you miss, certainly from what I can tell.

Over in the Beowulf the Karma Suitsya thread, how could anyone doubt that the SLN and many Solarian League officers, not to mention many Solarian citizens would think Beowulf's actions were treasonous? How? Just how could anyone not see that? Judging by that thread, I am the only one who saw that! Unbelievable!

Yet, I am the one charged with not actually reading the books. Mamma Mia, what's in those meatballs?! I must be trapped in Rod Serling's Twilight Zone.

It is the same with each of Weber's books that I discuss, as it is with all books I discuss. I get so much more out of the books, peering under the hypodermis layer. The results are the same every time. One thread was closed because I accused Theisman of treason against the Republic - in the eyes of the overthrown government, being a spokesperson for that particular government. It isn't so much what I personally felt, but it is part of the truths that lie under the skin. Truths that aren't necessarily black and white. Truths, almost never are. The current topic in the Rambling's thread contains a can-o-worms I opened that's still raging, even in my own social circles amongst friends and family in several countries.

No, I don't read books. Reading is for mere mortals. I leave the solar system during adventures between the covers of a book. I will never read one of Christine Feehan's Ghostwalker books in public. I'm emotionally exhausted for days when I read one of those books. And considering the hints everyone has been dropping, I expect a full emotional flush when I read UH.

Carolyn Wolcott, Raghnild Pavletic, Mai Ling, Mercedes Brigham, the horrors of the POWs on Blackbird, the kids on the field trip aboard the bus which included the young and innocent chess prodigy and her friend. And please let's not forget the Mueller Middle School disaster. All of those passages were particularly difficult for me to get through. The family of Elizabeth, the deaths of the treecats. Such unbearable pain on an empathic species tore me up. Can you imagine what real life does to me?


Back to Uncompromising Honor. I'm a large part Native American and this time of the year is particularly busy for me. This is the time for our traditional Powwow and there are many family members visiting and I am passing down certain skills to the upcoming generations. There is no way in hell I can read UH now. I need private time. Time when I can enjoy the read as it was meant to be. I need privacy where I can lick my emotional wounds. Walk to the window and stare out into nothingness. Or gather wool while stirring the embers in the fireplace. Albeit, these aren't the only elements conspiring to keep me from UH.

But there's nothing stopping all of you from discussing the book. Spoiler season is long gone. I'll await you to burn yourself out on the tech (there's nothing wrong with that besides an unbalanced diet) then after I read the book I'll bring the heat in which to cook the real raw meat. I've got plenty of time, most of you don't seem to like raw meat.

I'm having trouble opening my last bottle of fine wine. Drank yours already? Aww, that was the last bottle too.

I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop eyeing mine. You all remind me of my brothers and sisters after they'd wolf down their peach cobbler so quickly they barely tasted it.

One more time in case someone missed it . . .

Does anyone understand me? UH is the last bottle of Vintage wine, released in 2018 by the world renown brewer that hails from South Carolina. This isn't just the finest wine ever produced - the one lying on my bookcase, whose cover I have lovingly caressed, whose pages I have opened and smelled its aroma - it represents my very last bottle of 2018 Carolina Daveed Webbere.

I haven't opened my bottle yet because it demands a special occasion. I would appreciate it if everyone would stop trying to get me to open this last bottle of fine wine before its time. Are you jealous that you've already consumed yours?

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by ldwechsler   » Wed Nov 21, 2018 7:39 am

ldwechsler
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Posts: 1235
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cthia wrote:GUILTY, WITH EXPLANATION.

PeterZ wrote:Read. The. Book.

He knows not what he asks of me.
I have not read Uncompromising Honor. :o
PeterZ wrote:Read. The. Book.

You know that has never actually read any of the books, right? He just comes here to talk about what he reads on wikipedia.
PeterZ wrote:I merely suspect that is base libel rather than know it is.


Well, kzt, you're consistent if nothing else.

Though I must admit, you are correct that I read Wikipedia. I love Wikipedia! And admittedly, I have yet to read Uncompromising Honor. But to say I don't read the books is something I could say about all of you. I've since realized that you do indeed read the books, but you consistently miss the forest for the trees. Something appears to be dead inside of you. You seem to only care about the performance numbers of the tech, at the expense of so much more of the real story.

I was perfectly content minding my own business, but it seems you insist on an explanation. When you prick me, do I not bleed? Here I shall pour out my blood. Blame yourself if it gets messy and winded, but you're in dire need of a transfusion.

When I was in the seventh grade, first year in Junior High School, I was blessed with a lovely English Teacher. She was so gorgeous I could bite the head off of a rusty nail. I endured a regular diet of those nails throughout my tenure in her class to vent my "adolescent frustrations." She would assign a book on every Friday for the entire class to read and discuss the following Friday, passing out a copy of the book to each student. Class participation was worth extra points on your exam. You could receive 1 to 3 extra points per Friday to be added on to your exam score! I was already a bookworm and I wanted to perform extra well for that teacher. I was going to be the teacher's pet that year! So I read each book until I was sure I knew every aspect of it.

Every Friday also featured a 10 minute pop quiz, most of the time. The remaining period was spent reading the assigned book. Well, while I was reading the very first assigned book, a particularly emotional passage hit me in the gut one day. Tears began to flow down my face and the more I tried to hide it from the class the more the stop-cock opened. The teacher noticed and asked me what was wrong which made the entire class notice the tears streaming down my face.

Uh oh, class discussion with me center stage, which led to that particular teacher telling me, "You have an uncanny ability to become the character. Don't ever lose that." I was consistently the only male in many of my classes, year after year. My high IQ got me placed with the brighter students who mostly happened to be female. Mostly. Imagine crying over a book in front of a lot of females. Maybe one or two males. So you see, that "ability to become the character," that I so often speak of, comes at a price. I would happen to have no less than two English teachers agree on that in my life, with just about every English teacher noticing my deep involvement with the characters.

At any rate, I cannot read a particularly emotional book in public. Nope. It ain't gonna happen, because I know what's coming and I don't particularly wish to put myself or the public through that. The same thing happens with certain movies or tv shows. I have five sisters and they all grew up with one eye on the movie and one eye on me, ready to come to my rescue. As I grew older it got worse. My emotional investment became absolute. That made me pick and choose which books I'd read in public. I grew accustomed to the hugs from my mother and sisters. They are family and they know me.

Enter David Weber's On Basilisk Station. Immediately following the War Games the passages became particularly troublesome to read. I felt Honor's pain as if it were my own. I began to cry so hard over that hook my jaws were trembling. I happened to be in Bucharest, Romania. Amongst a party of eleven people, seven women. "What is that book you are reading?" I didn't expect that to happen with a Sci-Fi book. Oh, it happens with just about any genre, but not as severe. OBS was to stand out in that regard. I simply couldn't get through those passages. I'd put the book down and start fresh, retackling the same passages and reacting the exact same way or worse. On Basilisk Station was confiscated by my Romanian friends in 2013 and just recently returned to the States after having been read and signed over 100 times.

So, kzt, you are correct. I don't read the books. That is for mere mortals like yourself. When I wield a book, I become the book. Only with that kind of emotional investment am I able to peer under the deepest layers of skin, which is why many of my threads are controversial, but exciting and engaging I've been told. You only have to take note of the class participation measured by post count and the many views. A reader can't dive below the water line where the tears are held and where the real meat and potatoes of the story are served-up without actually reading the book, without absorbing the book intravenously. That is what allows me to catch the hidden elements that all of you miss, certainly from what I can tell.

Over in the Beowulf the Karma Suitsya thread, how could anyone doubt that the SLN and many Solarian League officers, not to mention many Solarian citizens would think Beowulf's actions were treasonous? How? Just how could anyone not see that? Judging by that thread, I am the only one who saw that! Unbelievable!

Yet, I am the one charged with not actually reading the books. Mamma Mia, what's in those meatballs?! I must be trapped in Rod Serling's Twilight Zone.

It is the same with each of Weber's books that I discuss, as it is with all books I discuss. I get so much more out of the books, peering under the hypodermis layer. The results are the same every time. One thread was closed because I accused Theisman of treason against the Republic - in the eyes of the overthrown government, being a spokesperson for that particular government. It isn't so much what I personally felt, but it is part of the truths that lie under the skin. Truths that aren't necessarily black and white. Truths, almost never are. The current topic in the Rambling's thread contains a can-o-worms I opened that's still raging, even in my own social circles amongst friends and family in several countries.

No, I don't read books. Reading is for mere mortals. I leave the solar system during adventures between the covers of a book. I will never read one of Christine Feehan's Ghostwalker books in public. I'm emotionally exhausted for days when I read one of those books. And considering the hints everyone has been dropping, I expect a full emotional flush when I read UH.

Carolyn Wolcott, Raghnild Pavletic, Mai Ling, Mercedes Brigham, the horrors of the POWs on Blackbird, the kids on the field trip aboard the bus which included the young and innocent chess prodigy and her friend. And please let's not forget the Mueller Middle School disaster. All of those passages were particularly difficult for me to get through. The family of Elizabeth, the deaths of the treecats. Such unbearable pain on an empathic species tore me up. Can you imagine what real life does to me?


Back to Uncompromising Honor. I'm a large part Native American and this time of the year is particularly busy for me. This is the time for our traditional Powwow and there are many family members visiting and I am passing down certain skills to the upcoming generations. There is no way in hell I can read UH now. I need private time. Time when I can enjoy the read as it was meant to be. I need privacy where I can lick my emotional wounds. Walk to the window and stare out into nothingness. Or gather wool while stirring the embers in the fireplace. Albeit, these aren't the only elements conspiring to keep me from UH.

But there's nothing stopping all of you from discussing the book. Spoiler season is long gone. I'll await you to burn yourself out on the tech (there's nothing wrong with that besides an unbalanced diet) then after I read the book I'll bring the heat in which to cook the real raw meat. I've got plenty of time, most of you don't seem to like raw meat.

I'm having trouble opening my last bottle of fine wine. Drank yours already? Aww, that was the last bottle too.

I'd really appreciate it if you'd stop eyeing mine. You all remind me of my brothers and sisters after they'd wolf down their peach cobbler so quickly they barely tasted it.

One more time in case someone missed it . . .

Does anyone understand me? UH is the last bottle of Vintage wine, released in 2018 by the world renown brewer that hails from South Carolina. This isn't just the finest wine ever produced - the one lying on my bookcase, whose cover I have lovingly caressed, whose pages I have opened and smelled its aroma - it represents my very last bottle of 2018 Carolina Daveed Webbere.

I haven't opened my bottle yet because it demands a special occasion. I would appreciate it if everyone would stop trying to get me to open this last bottle of fine wine before its time. Are you jealous that you've already consumed yours?[/quote]

I hope this was satire.
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by cthia   » Mon Dec 03, 2018 5:19 am

cthia
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Posts: 14951
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:10 pm

Oats from the horse's mouth on retirement.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by cthia   » Thu Dec 20, 2018 2:01 am

cthia
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Posts: 14951
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:10 pm

Should we consider the retirement age of the Cats? Their usefulness may be longer lived than the two-legs along with their willingness to continue to search for the wicked two-legs that caused them so much harm. But then, if their two-leg retires, what does that say about the bond if the Cat wants to continue on in the service of the Kingdom and the Clan?

Does Nimitz have to retire simply because Honor has? Especially since the Cats have such an impassioned agenda of their own.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by Daryl   » Thu Dec 20, 2018 7:23 am

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Joined: Sat Apr 24, 2010 1:57 am
Location: Queensland Australia

I turned 70 this week, retired 12 years ago to plan as I had sorted out my investments and could. No regrets. Been busy since.
One question I will never get an answer on that I can be sure of is. Do the changes in attitude and values come with accumulation of experience, or accumulation of frailties? Am I more cautious and calculating because I now know that Murphy lurks everywhere, or because I just plain physically can't do what I used to?
So would an 80 year old on prolong who had the physical equivalent body of a fit 20 year old be as partial to contact sports and risky endeavours like motor racing as a real 20 year old would? Honor seems to.

Incidentally Cthia, we Australians originally had some cockneys among our convict predecessors and have an addiction to rhyming slang, so I would politely refer to you as a banker. Many on here have high IQs, many get emotional connections to fictional characters and their situations. Many travel extensively, having friends around the globe. Your story is far from unique, but publicly talking about it is unusual.
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by cthia   » Thu Dec 20, 2018 10:19 am

cthia
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Posts: 14951
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:10 pm

Daryl wrote:I turned 70 this week, retired 12 years ago to plan as I had sorted out my investments and could. No regrets. Been busy since.
One question I will never get an answer on that I can be sure of is. Do the changes in attitude and values come with accumulation of experience, or accumulation of frailties? Am I more cautious and calculating because I now know that Murphy lurks everywhere, or because I just plain physically can't do what I used to?
So would an 80 year old on prolong who had the physical equivalent body of a fit 20 year old be as partial to contact sports and risky endeavours like motor racing as a real 20 year old would? Honor seems to.

Incidentally Cthia, we Australians originally had some cockneys among our convict predecessors and have an addiction to rhyming slang, so I would politely refer to you as a banker. Many on here have high IQs, many get emotional connections to fictional characters and their situations. Many travel extensively, having friends around the globe. Your story is far from unique, but publicly talking about it is unusual.


I'm going to assume that you aren't equating a high IQ with the ability to emotionally connect with characters.

Indeed, intimate connections to characters is not unique. Though a few of my teachers seemed to think my particular brand of emotional investment is one of a kind. Most everyone who knows me and grew up with me agrees. I'm certain you would too if we spent any time together watching movies or reading books. Once upon a time, I used to feel it was a handicap, an embarrassing handicap. When I was a kid, I often screamed at God over it under my breath.

Spilling tears at the rate of the great flood, over books, songs, movies and plain old life is, not only unique, but I'm yet to come across anyone else with the same sort of problem/blessing/curse. Especially in public. Especially by a man. I've got an unusual predisposition to leak in public from an unusual amount of compassion from my maker that I once detested. I've since learned to embrace it. That kind of compassion outwardly emanating from a man, is very unusual. I've learned to share the truth during my life because those around me almost deserve an explanation.

Not so much I would've thought sharing these truths in a forum would be necessary, but oftentimes my posts - if I'm honest, most of the time - seem abusive. But it is closely related to my emotional and compassionate investment in storyline and my love for book discussions. It also enables me to see things that others don't. It's a kind of detector that demands I remain true to myself. A self who is oftentimes misunderstood in the forum as you're doing now. But I do understand. As far as I know, I'm a lone wolf where God fell asleep at the wheel when he was passing out emotion and compassion. I've often wondered how a treecat would assimilate my over the top emotional mindglow. Since I was charged with being abusive, I thought an explanation was in order.

But, mainly because I was being "harassed" - for lack of a better word - for waiting for the correct time for me, to read UH. So I thought I'd share.

I cried like a baby when . . .

They shot Old Yellow. When Willy the great whale jumped the wall, when E.T. made it home. Gone With The Wind leaves me a sobbing wreck every single time. Several Audrey Hepburn movies but especially Roman Holiday. Christine Feehan's Ghostwalker series leaves me a sobbing mess. One of my sisters once told me about one of her books "Oh please don't read that now!" The evening news oftentimes leaves me needing therapy. It all started with, "A Little Princess."

Are you saying it happens to you too? Know anyone else with the same level of compassion born on his sleeve? So it is unique!

But yea, I'm sure there are many more people in the forum, especially males, who have to wait to read UH in private. SO HE CAN ENJOY IT! Instead of fidgeting from apprehension and fear of a disarming bout of emotional epilepsy, that will certainly come like clockwork! Again, you too? As far as sharing it, I do when I feel it is necessary. And, well, I'm quite comfortable in my skin.

Songs that rake me over the coals like kryptonite. . .

Don't Take The Girl leaves me a pitiful crying mess.
I Want To Know What Love Is
We Are The World
Holding Back The Years
Linger
Ode To My Family Please don't play that song!
All I Wanna Do
Voices Carry

And many many more.

They are only songs you see. But I can't seem to listen to them without leaking. ::shrug::

For those of you who are suggesting that I need therapy. Been there, done that. In the ninth grade I saw a therapist. We watched a movie together so she could gage the extent of my "problem." She ordered me to let it all out when it happens and we'd stop the movie, VHS tape at the time, and talk about it. She asked me to tell her every single thing I was feeling.

She ended up crying too, a worse mess than I was. She told me "There's nothing wrong with you. Everything is right with you. The world is all screwed up."

I don't share that very often because it seems too self-serving. But true.

Don't begrudge the messenger. You asked for it.

::shrug::

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by cthia   » Thu Dec 20, 2018 1:17 pm

cthia
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Posts: 14951
Joined: Thu Jan 23, 2014 1:10 pm

Daryl wrote:One question I will never get an answer on that I can be sure of is. Do the changes in attitude and values come with accumulation of experience, or accumulation of frailties? Am I more cautious and calculating because I now know that Murphy lurks everywhere, or because I just plain physically can't do what I used to?
So would an 80 year old on prolong who had the physical equivalent body of a fit 20 year old be as partial to contact sports and risky endeavours like motor racing as a real 20 year old would? Honor seems to.

I think it depends on the individual and is probably a combination of all the above. Just as different people handle grief differently. Realizing our own mortality plays a part as well, our biological time clock, if you will, is ticking and some of us realize we haven't gotten too far on our bucket list, yet the bucket is almost empty. Consider this 80 yr old woman skydiving off her bucket list.

Son, your mother says I have to hang you. Personally I don't think this is a capital offense. But if I don't hang you, she's gonna hang me and frankly, I'm not the one in trouble. —cthia's father. Incident in ? Axiom of Common Sense
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Re: Retirement Age in the Honorverse
Post by NortonIDaughter   » Fri Dec 21, 2018 4:05 am

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Posts: 265
Joined: Thu Jan 16, 2014 12:09 am

It'd be interesting to see what happens when a treecat wants to retire-- or doesn't want to retire-- from a line of work when their person does. I suspect they'd work it out between themselves like any other close relationship.

Age-wise, I wonder what we'll be seeing a hundred fifty or so years down the road, when the treecats start dying before their people for the first time. Honor wonders in "Best Laid Plans" if the 'cats are aware of prolong yet, but we haven't seen any follow-up on that point, and Honor actively shies away from thinking about it from her end whenever it gets brought up after her own adoption. Previously, most treecats suicided after the deaths of their humans. We don't have a hint how humans react, except for Fritz Montoya's fibs to Ransom. Even though he was lying to save Honor, I doubt he was exaggerating that wildly-- dying relatively soon after a beloved spouse passes away is not uncommon IRL, let alone after the loss of someone who's as much a part of you as your 'cat. I could see that shortening the lives, or working lives, of adoptees in the future.

Which brings me to another question-- do you have the legal right to refuse prolong? What are the laws on suicide, assisted or otherwise? Is right-to-die a thing?
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