Denying that representation is transparent doesn't entail denying that it represents. ~ "In cases of planning, conservation, welfare, and social decisions of all kinds, a set of values which are, at least notionally, quantified in terms of resources, are confronted by values which are not quantifiable in terms of resources. [....] Again and again defenders of such values are faced with the dilemma, of either refusing to quantify the value in question, in which case it disappears from the sum altogether, or else of trying to attach some quantity to it, in which case they misrepresent what they are about and also usually lose the argument, since the specified value is not enough to tip the scale." -- Bernard Williams, "Utilitarianism" ~ "We've got to be able to discuss music without instantly confronting the earth-shaking question of whether you LIIIIIIIIKE the music or not, as though being LIIIIIIIKED was music's sole purpose for existing." -- Kyle Gann, btiching about comment trolls. ~ Leaving the business completely is one thing, but coming back to do one episode each of Family Ties and Simon & Simon? Every time I run across a list of credits with a gap of, say, 22 years, I wish there were an IMDB-equivalent for stage appearances, as I can't imagine what else could have been going on in those unfilmed decades. ~ My present state: near-constant amazement at anyone who can do much more than keep functioning. (Read, for everything after "can," "write.")