Aahh. I see it all now in the bigger picture now that some of you have pointed out that Pournelle ate Niven's brain.

Seriously, I've been wondering for years now, how Niven could go from such an excellent writer to producing newer stuff that I can't even finish. The last thing I liked by Niven was A World Out of Time. Such a long time ago.

Now we see that his other faculties are fading. Too bad.

Now the horses are being mentally abused by carrots they'll never get.

It might seem fine that taxpayers did not pay for the Hubbard books. However most libraries have a limited amount of shelf space. That's why they're selling the non circulating books. In other words, bad Hubbard books are taking away shelf space from possibly way better novels and self help.

The Far Side with the 2 mammoths is on page 126 of the prehistory of the Far Side. To me it's not the same gag so I think it isn't plaqiarism. Just cartoonists playing in the same sandbox.

Political cartoons, it seems, are much more likely to use the same joke. I remember seeing many cartoons when Arnie and Gary Coleman were trying to become governor of California and many of the cartoons were almost identical. I bet 50 people independently came up with the name "governator" which has seemed to stick. That's what happens when a large community makes fun of the same few events.