  This document is the first installment of three in the Cerro Grande Fire
Series. It is a collection of letters written to various colleagues, most of
whom regularly circuit this archive, including Howard Barnum, Paul Benioff,
Charles Bennett, Herbert Bernstein, Doug Bilodeau, Gilles Brassard, Jeffrey
Bub, Carlton Caves, Gregory Comer, Robert Griffiths, Adrian Kent, Rolf
Landauer, Hideo Mabuchi, David Mermin, David Meyer, Michael Nielsen, Asher
Peres, John Preskill, Mary Beth Ruskai, Ruediger Schack, Abner Shimony, William
Wootters, Anton Zeilinger, and many others. The singular thread sewing all the
letters together is the quantum. Some of the pieces are my best efforts to date
to give substance to an evanescent thought I see rising from the field of
quantum information---I call it the Paulian idea. To the extent I have
communicated its misty shadow to my correspondents and seen a twinkle of
enthusiasm, it seemed worthwhile to expand the jury on this anniversary
occasion.
