<< The artist himself declared this was not a pipe >>

Yes csteele, he was so bored out of his silly little brain that he declared that his OBVIOUS illustration of a pipe was not a pipe! Poor fellow!

He produced a pretty nice image of a pipe (whether it was modelled on a real pipe or just drawn from his imagination / memory of what a pipe looks like is surely irrelevant). But he should have left it at that, coz he was no good at tautology or intellectual discussion…

…because it is a pipe. It IS a pipe! IT IZZSZZZZZSZZZSZSZZZZSZZZZSZ A PIPE !! ! !! ! !!

Uhhh!

Perhaps he was being a tad gullible with his pipe-dream of hearing people say en masse; ‘yes oh mighty master Magritte… it is not a pipe…it is not a pipe….it.. is… noooooooot…. a ….piiiipe! ( ;~/

Csteele, the sun IZZ shining brightly here at the moment (which reminds to get outta this café and back down on the beach before it gets too hot [37 in Adelaide today], seein as I am now a professional beachbum n all). Even if the sun had somehow been wiped out of existence five minutes ago, it is still shining where I am.

The shine is shining. That is the truth, whether or not it exists!! You could also say that the non-existent sun is shining, if you happened to know that it had just been obliterated. Both would be true!

In just the same way, some stars millions of lightyears away still shine their light into the telescopes of planet Earth, even though they turned into supernovae and exploded into smitherines perhaps a million years or more ago. These stars are shining. You could also say that these non-existent stars are shining. Both would be true, yes?

Ludwig,

Gawd your image of the pipe must have special qualities. What did it feel like. Was the bowl smooth? When you turned it over in your hands, did it catch the gleam of the setting sun. How much tobacco were you able to fit in the bowl. Did it light well? Was the aroma of the tobacco all that you imagined?

And did you ask Magritte how he came to think up his "image"? Was he forthcoming on the process? (My Magritte is merely an image - he's not actually there - but apparently your "Magritte" exists in flesh and animation)

Dear individual,

Given the number of murders and attempted murders taking place daily in Australia I think you may have a very good point.

Try this Ludwig, rotate it 90 degrees in your line of sight. Is it still a pipe? What if you rotate it 180 degrees? Is it still a pipe?

It's not a pipe. This is a pipe:

http://www.deltat.com/uploaded/In-Line_Pipe_Heater_from_Convectronics.JPG

Cheers,

Tony