Justin Sharman

January 18, 2001

I feel the need to correct a factual error in one of your books- The Worms of Kukumlima.

The inventor of the “little plastic thing”- er, the bread-clip, is not Seamus Finneganstein, and he does not own the World Famous Little Plastic Thing Company. In reality, the inventor of the plastic thing was a guy by the name of Floyd Paxton- (his place of residence was just a spit and half from where I grew up). His company, Kwik Lox Corporation, which owns the patent to those plastic things, was passed on to his son.

Floyd ran for state senate a few times, but was smacked around all 3 times. His politics could be summized by the fact that he was a leader of the John Birch Society for a time. Scary thought, I think: every time you buy a bread-clip, a portion of the profits goes to the John Birch Society. (Of course, if a consumer thinks that way, their head will spin.)

I haven’t noticed any other factual error in any of your books, and I don’t think you’ve committed any. I believe that there are blue moose who talk, and pigeons who spill paint on buildings, and I’ve been in coffeehouses full of bohemians and bad poets. Sooo, I’ll call it a day.

Patent and copyright conflicts and disputes abound. Sometimes they are rectified in time--sometimes not. Until historians can unearth the bedrock truth, we shall have to agree to disagree, beside which--you're wrong.