Ahhhhh, you have FALLEN INTO MY NITPICKER'S TRAP. Carefully baited, it now springs, revealing two important factors that you have no considered!

1. Time dilation from relativistic-speed space travel

2. Extended duration of "generation" among immortals.

The real story (no joke, afaict!): http://physics.about.com/cs/legends/a/280703.htm

Excellent work, Cory!

Also, congratulations. You've earned your place in the sci-fi pantheon alongside Asimov, Roddenberry, et. al.: You have at least one obsessed, nerdy nitpicker who obnoxiously points out holes in the worlds you create! To wit:

"[T]he backup of a third-gen Bitchun, born at the end of the XXIst century... Seventy years later, her/his backup was a rich tapestry of memories... [etc.]"

So the story takes place in 2170 or thereabouts. (It's possible this person was deadheading for a century or so and thus she/he has only 70 years of memories, but "seventy years later" seems in context to be Adrian's assessment as an outside observer.)

Now, referencing Nestor's backup, you have:

"The person was so old, saurian and slow, nearly 300, an original revolutionary from the dawn of the Bitchun Society."

An age of "almost 300" in 2170 would mean that Nestor was born in the late XIXth century. So then this means that, in the universe both "Truncat" and "Down & Out in the Magic Kingdom" occupy, the Bitchun society started around 1900? The novel says that Disney World and the original Disney characters were created pre-Bitchun, so this seems inconsistent.

Thanks again for an excellent story. (Great title, too.)

My. This is not my night... thanks for the tips.

The day-pass thing doesn't require your email, zippy.

I already did the free day-pass ad thing; I think I've run out of alternate emails to sign up with. Can you use a fake one?

Heck, I just open another window while that ad does its thing.

-Donut

ps. HUD is "Heads Up Display". Sorry. Nerd. Taking pills for it.

Do you actually consider watching an advertisement to be 'whoring yourself'? An ad that nobody is really making you watch, being that you could just click on the link, put your head in a soundproof bag and wait for a minute, after which you are given full access to the full gamut of stuff that Salon publishes, including Cory's story?

Lock your doors; I've elected for #3. :-P

Well, lessee:

1. You could ask a friend to whore her/himself for a pass and capture the story to a text file and email it to you.

2. You could buy a Salon subscription.

3. You could break into my house and steal my backup drive.

4. You could approach the janitor and say, "My good man, I will trade you this perfectly good barometer if you will tell me how tall this building is."

Is there some other way to read the full story without whoring myself for a Salon pass?