Rich and Strange Aeons

Beta Colony and Switzerland

2014-03-19T02:03:13Z

Lois Bujold has referred to California -- or California before it got "wonky" -- as the inspiration for Beta Colony. "Very politically correct, very liberal, with some hidden illiberalities." Big on sexual freedom and education -- 60s and 70s California, and Pat Brown's California of the nearly free colleges, not the dying school system of Proposition 13 California. And in universe Beta is an America colony, and the only American colony.

Nonetheless, the more I learn about Switzerland and think about Beta, the more the two seem to line up in my head. Coincidence, my selective filters, or the natural result of highly democratic states? You may judge.

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A bit of Hawaii history and Komarr

2013-02-03T20:18:34Z

On the Lois Bujold list, a perennial argument about the conquest and treatment of Komarr saw someone suggesting Hawaii as a model of successful integration. After only 70 years it was a state, and a year later a future President was born there! "Um" I thought and I went to look at Wikipedia.

"By 1820, Eurasian diseases, famine, and wars among the chiefs killed more than half of the Native Hawaiian population."

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Give Barrayar credit: even after applying an elite perspective bias, they seem to be treating Komarr better. Then again, all but the first five years since the Conquest have been under one of two would-be enlightened despots.

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Delia Koudelka

2011-12-18T21:15:33Z

I'd never noticed that she could be named for Cordelia.

And Kareen after the late Princess, and Olivia possibly after Aral's mother. Martya can't be shoehorned in.

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