Pixel Scroll 3/15/16 At The Age of 37, She Realized She’d Never Scroll Through Paris With The Warm Pixels In Her Hair

(1) THE MAN WHO WOULD BE WHO. An actor who’s already accumulated a lot of experience traveling in time one day in front of the next has his eye on the prize. Metro News says “Brian Blessed wants to be the next Doctor Who after Peter Capaldi”

The actor, who is fast approaching the ripe old age of 80, has been speaking to Calibre magazine about his desire to be the next Time Lord after Peter Capaldi; he said:

‘I would love to play the Doctor, absolutely!’

Doctor Who fans may remember Blessed as King Ycarnos in 1986’s The Trial Of A Time Lord, where his character went on to marry the Sixth Doctor’s companion, Peri.

If Blessed were to become the next Doctor, he would be the oldest actor to do so, with some twenty years on current TARDIS pilot Capaldi.

(2) BEANS IN SPACE. Whereas the poster for the Australian competition referenced Mad Max: Fury Road, the “2016 Hungarian Aeropress Championship” post goes with a Star Wars icon.

Hungarian aeropress championship COMP

Fast circulating rumours, perhaps with the assistance of a HyperDrive, are suggesting the coffee has been sourced by coffee’s home planet of Alderaan. Unfortunately these rumours have been denied by Ewoks on the forrest moon of Endor who have hand-picked all the rainforest alliance coffee. The variety of the coffee is mostly heirloom, sometimes also know as Degu(bah) and is famous for having very high midi-chorian levels, but low caffeine.  The coffee was fermented and de-pulped in the now re-purposed garbage disposal units on the detention level of the Death Star. That’s enough lame Star Wars references for now i think…

(3) HPL ON THE AUCTION BLOCK. FineBooks & Collections reports “Found: Lovecraft-Houdini Manuscript”.

Whispered about by hopeful collectors and scholars for decades, the manuscript of H.P. Lovecraft’s The Cancer of Superstition, commisssioned and co-written by magician Harry Houdini, has finally come to light. It was rather incredibly “discovered by a private collector among the records of a now-defunct magic shop,” according to Chicago’s Potter & Potter Auctions, which will auction the 31-page typewritten story on April 9.

A brief description of the manuscript is provided in the Potter & Potter auction catalog available for download here [PDF file]. The bidding will open at lucky $13,000….

(4) OCTAVIA BUTLER. From Southern California Public Radio, “The life and legacy of Octavia Butler – and 5 stories you should read”.

It’s been a decade since science fiction writer Octavia Butler passed away.

The California native fell in love with storytelling as a kid at the Pasadena Library, and later grew up to be the only sci-fi writer to receive a MacArthur Genius Fellowship. She was also the first African American woman in the genre to achieve international fame.

According to her friend and fellow writer Steven Barnes, Butler anticipated the challenges of presenting black characters in her stories.

“In her early novels, they would put green people or aliens on the covers of her books,” Barnes said.

“Or blond, white women,” added Tananarive Due, also a friend of Butler’s.

As a teacher and another African American female author, Due knows firsthand how influential Butler’s work is.

“I wish I had discovered Octavia’s work when I was a learning writer,” Due said. “When I wrote my first novel, I had no idea whether or not there would be an audience for speculative fiction — speculative fiction being science fiction, fantasy or horror novel — with black characters, you know, not necessarily intended for black readers.”

(5) JONESING. Everyone who’s still alive in 2019 can see if the iconic star of the Indiana Jones movies can claim the same. The Walt Disney Company announces, “Spielberg and Ford Reunite as Indiana Jones Returns to Theaters July 19, 2019”.

Indiana Jones will return to the big screen on July 19, 2019, for a fifth epic adventure in the blockbuster series. Steven Spielberg, who directed all four previous films, will helm the as-yet-untitled project with star Harrison Ford reprising his iconic role. Franchise veterans Kathleen Kennedy and Frank Marshall will produce.

“Indiana Jones is one of the greatest heroes in cinematic history, and we can’t wait to bring him back to the screen in 2019,” said Alan Horn, Chairman, The Walt Disney Studios. “It’s rare to have such a perfect combination of director, producers, actor and role, and we couldn’t be more excited to embark on this adventure with Harrison and Steven.”

(6) GAVEL RAPPER. Kevin Standlee says a Business Meeting chair has “No Magic Bullets”. Nor any other kind, to be sure.

A couple of days ago, I got into a conversation on billroper‘s LJ about the “Heckler’s Veto” and that led to me thinking about something that had worried me about running the WSFS Business Meeting. After all, the entire meeting process, and parliamentary procedure itself, assumes that the people gathering actually are willing to play by the rules. If a significant number of the people showing up won’t play by the rules, the meeting will dissolve. It would be like a bunch of football players deciding during a match that they don’t like the rule book and that they can ignore the officials and do anything they want. There’s not a lot the officials can do in that case, other than leave.

I did give a lot of thought to this approaching the 2015 WSFS Business Meeting, what with doomsday scenarios of thousands of people overrunning the meeting and refusing to obey any rules and shouting down anything they didn’t like and generally causing chaos. I concluded that a meeting whose members refuse to follow their own rules is not a meeting, but a mob, and I’m not chairing a mob. Had such a thing happened, I would have ordered the meeting adjourned “at the call of the chair” and turned to the convention for help. The convention would then in turn have had to ask the convention security to clear the area, and potentially even call the police if non-members (including any people who had their memberships revoked) refused to leave on their own accord.

(7) TO HAL WITH IT. 2001 A Space Odyssey: A Look Behind the Future is a 1960s promotional film. The 10-minute color documentary includes production of props, revolving spaceship set, etc.

(8) CURRENT EVENTS. A much more recent sf film will also be the subject of a documentary: Secrets of The Force Awakens: A Cinematic Journey.  It will be a bonus on the movie’s Blu-Ray disc, to be released April 5.

(9) GROWING UP AI. At The Way Finder, Hugh C. Howey says he has observed “The Birth of Artificial Intelligence”.

…This was not the week, however, that AI was born. This was the week that I realized that AI was born quite some time ago…..

It’s in the early years of human development where I think we can see the current state of AI being somewhere post-birth and yet pre-awareness. But the development of strong AI will have incredible advantages over the human acquisition of general intelligence. This arise from the modular nature of intelligence.

Our brains are not one big thinking engine; they are collections of hundreds of individual engines, each of which develop at different rates. What’s amazing about AI is that the learning does not need to be done twice for every module. When we build a chess-playing module, and a Go-playing module, and a Jeopardy-playing module, all of these can be “plugged in” to our general AI. Our baby girl is growing every day, and thousands of people are pouring billions of dollars of research into her education. We, the general public, are contributing with petabytes of data. It is already happening, and we won’t even recognize when our first daughter graduates into strong AI. Every day will be — as parents know — one small miracle added to the last, a succession of amazing little first steps that result in them going off to college and being their own person.

Each headline you read is us — as collective parents — gasping to our spouse at what our baby girl just did for the first time.

Google has already taught our daughter to drive a car. Amazon is doing amazing things with their Alexa device, creating the beginnings of the virtual assistant seen in Her. IBM is building the best medical mind the field has ever known. In the last five years, AI has taken strides that even the optimistic find startling. The next five years will see similar advances. And this progress will only accelerate, because we’re operating in the realm of Moore’s Law. We are building the tools that help us build faster tools, which help us build faster tools.

(10) IRENE LARSEN OBIT. Magic Castle co-founder Irene Larsen died February 25 reports Variety.

Irene Larsen, co-founder of the Academy of Magical Arts and the private clubhouse the Magic Castle, died unexpectedly on Thursday morning at her Los Angeles home. She was 79.

After she assisted her late husband William “Bill” Larsen Jr. in his various magic acts for years, the two launched the Magic Castle together in 1963. Larsen’s dedication to the role of ambassador of magic helped elevate the AMA to an internationally renowned and respected organization within the art’s community.

(11) WRITING WHILE WAITING FOR THE EMERGENCY. Amanda S. Green’s “Putting things into perspective” at Mad Genius Club demonstrates how a professional writer honors her real-life priorities — a friend’s health and her writing commitments .

…One of my oldest and dearest friends is facing a challenge the vast majority of us will only ever read about. She is going to need me with her as she faces this challenge. Even if she hadn’t asked, I would be there for her. Why? Because she has always been there for me and mine.

That’s what friends and family do. You rally around those you care about.

But, when you do, work is impacted.

I know that the next few weeks and months will see us waiting for the shoe to drop. In some ways, it will be like those last weeks of pregnancy. A bag will be packed, the gas tank filled and we will all be waiting for the phone to ring to tell us it is time to leave. No, not a bug-out, at least not in a Ringo-esque sort of way. This is the call to get to the hospital within a certain amount of time. The clock is ticking and it is very loud….

It has also meant changing what I have with me at any time. I’ve always had my phone and a small notepad squirreled away in my purse in case I needed to make a note about something. Smart phones are great for being able to use for dictation and look up things, etc. Now, however, the small purse — my preference — has been traded for a larger one. The smartphone and pad have been joined by my Surface Pro 3, stylus and charger. Why? Because the SP3 gives me everything my laptop does but at a fraction of the weight. The screen, while small, is still larger than my Android tablet and the keyboard is much better than the virtual keyboard on the Android. Add in the thumb drive with all my working files and I have my office on the go….

The result has been that I can and have been getting the job done despite the worry that is constantly there right now. I am working hard to not only meet the schedule I set for myself at the beginning of the year but to get ahead. I want that cushion for the day when we get the call telling us it is time to meet my friends at the hospital. I want to be able to be there for them and not worry about falling behind on “work”. I need to know that I am keeping with my schedule so the money can and will keep coming in. I need to know that, no matter what the time of day or day of the week, I am able to continue working without worry about where I happen to be….

(12) COMIC-CON HQ TO LAUNCH. San Diego’s Comic-Con International will brand a video-on-demand service.

The Hollywood Reporter: “Lionsgate, Comic-Con Set Launch Date for Streaming Service”

Lionsgate and Comic-Con International will launch Comic-Con HQ, their newly-named fanboy streamer, on May 7, ahead of an official launch in June. The subscription video-on-demand service will have a soft launch in May, with an official bow to follow in June in the lead up to Comic-Con International: San Diego in July.

Deadline: “Lionsgate & Comic-Con’s SVOD Channel Comic-Con HQ Sets Launch Date”

The ad-free streaming service will feature “an evolving slate of programming including original scripted and unscripted series, recurring daily and weekly entertainment commentary, plus unique access to a growing library of live and archival programming from their world-class events, a highly-curated selection of film and TV genre titles, and behind-the-scenes access and bonus features from genre titles that defy and define pop culture,” per the announcement.

Variety: “Lionsgate to Launch Comic-Con Channel in May”

Monday’s announcement disclosed that gaming personality Adam Sessler, former host of G4’s X-Play, will executive produce programs on comics, science and gaming, along with hosting his own interview series. Other formats being developed include a general pop culture news show, a late-night talk show, a weekly movie talk in partnership with Complex’s Collider and an all-female panel on pop culture from women’s perspectives.

(13) ONCE AROUND THE BLOCK. Mr. Sci-Fi has something to say about the Paramount/CBS suit against the maker of Axanar.

Sci-Fi Writer-Producer Marc Zicree discusses Paramount’s lawsuit against Star Trek Axanar and puts it in context with the long history of science fiction fan fiction and fan films — and suggests several possible win-win strategies for a successful outcome.

 

[Thanks to Will R., Steven Johnson, Andrew Porter, and John King Tarpinian for some of these stories. Title credit goes to File 770 contributing editor of the day Steve Davidson.]

148 thoughts on “Pixel Scroll 3/15/16 At The Age of 37, She Realized She’d Never Scroll Through Paris With The Warm Pixels In Her Hair

  1. I saw there are two sequels. I only ordered the first book, in case the writing and “found photo” gimmick doesn’t work for us.

    You’re one up on me–I didn’t know that there was third book already.

    Unrelated, but another “sequel” I just discovered to have been available for a while is Folk Legends from Tono, by Yanagita Kunio. In an earlier Pixel Scroll I recommended Legends of Tono, which is a collection of Japanese folklore gathered by Yanagita, who is considered the father of Japanese folklore studies. Folk Legends from Tono collects all of the material that was available in Japan as Tono Monogatari but not in the English Legends of Tono. Strongly recommended for anyone with an interest in folklore.

    Linkseses:

    Review LoT
    Buy LoT
    Review FLoT
    Buy FLoT
    One of Yanagata’s books (Japanese Folk Tales/Nippon no Mukashibanashi, one of several translated by Fanny Hagin Mayer) is available for free (legally) as a PDF. This book is more on the “fairy tales” end of the spectrum.

  2. What indicates a robot to me (or another common thing nowadays is to use someone with a good ability to understand spoken English but a strong accent to trigger pre-recorded responses spoken by a native English speaker) is the wrong timing between what I say and the responses. Apparently hitting the right button takes a little longer than actually speaking.

    If the timing or the responses feel “off” to me I set them a very simple arithmetic problem. If they can’t answer “what is six plus one” or “what is ten minus one” they are wasting my time and I hang up.

    But phone spam is becoming a huge problem. I was getting literally three or four times as many spam calls as genuine calls from people I wanted to speak to. The one about lowering the rate on my credit card I was getting *every day* and the one about the free cruise to the Bahamas I was getting once a week or so. One advantage of getting a new ISP was that I got a new phone number in the process. Blessed quiet, at least for now.

  3. JJ on March 17, 2016 at 2:49 am said:

    Valley Forge NASFIC Bid: we will not prohibit anyone with a valid Pennsylvania concealed carry permit from carrying a firearm in accordance with all relevant laws and statutes, so long as you keep the weapon concealed. If you brandish, flash, or otherwise display your firearm, you will be in violation of this code of conduct.

    WHAT. THE. FUCKING. FUCK.

    Yeah, nah, I won’t be supporting any con bid that prioritizes the concealed carry rights of their attendees over the safety of their attendees. And I’ll be encouraging all my friends not to support that bid, either.

    I’m sure that it will be a huge comfort to any attendee who is wounded or killed by a nutjob carrying a weapon at Valley Forge that their assailant will be found to be in violation of the con’s Code of Conduct.

    That this sort of stupidity is endorsed by the concom for what would be the North American Worldcon in 2017 is just unfathomable to me.

    It’s legal in the Commonwealth for concealed carry. I suspect they cannot ban conceal carry at the convention. The bid is dealing with legal realities. It would be irresponsible for them not to.

  4. Too late to edit my earlier post but too good not to mention–some googling just turned up another Yanagita book as a free PDF (that wasn’t available the last time I did deep trolling for easily-available English translations of his work.) It is The Yanagita Kunio Guide to the Japanese Folk Tale (Nihon Mukashibanashi Meii, also translated by Fanny Hagin Mayer) and available here.

  5. It’s legal in the Commonwealth for concealed carry. I suspect they cannot ban conceal carry at the convention.

    Most of the time it is permissible for private venues to set their own policies concerning firearms. A quick perusal of the relevant Pennsylvania code sections doesn’t seem to provide an answer either way.

  6. Aaron on March 17, 2016 at 7:45 am said:

    It’s legal in the Commonwealth for concealed carry. I suspect they cannot ban conceal carry at the convention.

    Most of the time it is permissible for private venues to set their own policies concerning firearms. A quick perusal of the relevant Pennsylvania code sections doesn’t seem to provide an answer either way.

    I suspect ( …and hope) they’ve looked into the law. Hopefully the Valley Forge folks will respond to help clear things up.

    Oh, and apparently in Puerto Rico … “As of June 20, 2015, both concealed and open carry without a permit are legal” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gun_laws_in_Puerto_Rico

  7. VA Code § 18.2-308.01 C:

    “The granting of a concealed handgun permit pursuant to this article shall not thereby authorize the possession of any handgun or other weapon on property or in places where such possession is otherwise prohibited by law or is prohibited by the owner of private property.”

    Seems pretty clear to me.

  8. Call blocker.

    Mine has 49 numbers since the beginning of the year. It was invaluable during the primary election season.

  9. Nicholas Whyte on March 17, 2016 at 8:03 am said:

    VA Code § 18.2-308.01 C:

    “The granting of a concealed handgun permit pursuant to this article shall not thereby authorize the possession of any handgun or other weapon on property or in places where such possession is otherwise prohibited by law or is prohibited by the owner of private property.”

    Seems pretty clear to me.

    You’re quoting Virginia law.

  10. I haven’t found a Pennsylvania code citation that directly talks about whether private property owners can prohibit carrying firearms (most notes point to the general statute against criminal trespass at 18 Pa 3503 for support of the position that carrying firearms may be prohibited by a private property owner), the Washington County, Pennsylvania website says this:

    Note: A License to Carry a Firearm gives no one the right to carry a firearm in or on any property whether private, local, state or federal where possession of a firearm is restricted or posted a firearm is prohibited.

  11. Valley Forge NASFIC Bid
    from a Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence:

    Pennsylvania prohibits any person, even the holder of a license to carry a firearm, from knowingly possessing a firearm in a court facility or knowingly causing a firearm to be present in a court facility, with certain limited exceptions.1
    Pennsylvania has no laws prohibiting firearms in the following places, although administrative regulations may apply:
    * Bars and other places where alcoholic beverages are sold or served;
    * Places of worship;
    * Sports arenas;
    * Gambling facilities; or
    * Polling places.

    1. 18 Pa. Cons. Stat. Ann. § 913

    My cold has my not up to doing much research. I’m sure a simple phone call to the local police could get an answer as to whether private events at hotels can prohibit guns. I’m also certain if I were feeling better I could research to find out what administrative regulations means and how they apply.

  12. Hold on. Are there actually places in the US where the owner of a property or business cannot forbid people from carrying firearms? That they can legally do so irrespective of the owners wishes?

    WTF?

  13. Hold on. Are there actually places in the US where the owner of a property or business cannot forbid people from carrying firearms?

    Some concealed carry laws are written in such a way that this is the case, yes.

  14. It’s legal in the Commonwealth for concealed carry. I suspect they cannot ban conceal carry at the convention.

    I read this as “We are not going to search everyone coming in. If we don’t know you’ve got it, and you don’t take it out, we’re going to act as though there are no guns.”
    Trying to take people’s guns off them might make for more of a problem.

  15. @snowcrash
    Yep the US is a fascinating place. Who can carry a gun where literally changes town to town in many states and in a few areas business owners may not be able to forbid guns from their premises. The information on the applicable laws is not always easy to find. Usually between the appropriate state website, NRA, Wikipedia, it’s possible to find the basic answer to the question “can an event/private business ban guns”. For Pennsylvania I was unable to find an answer.

    I must say I didn’t expect to become more knowledgeable about US gun laws when I became more involved in fandom. I guess I should thank the SP/RP campaigns for getting me to learn more about an issue I care about.

    @NickPheas
    No weapons policies don’t mean people are searched or metal detectors are used. They are used to set the tone of a convention in much the same way a code of conduct is. This behavior is acceptable and this other behavior is not. Members will willingly follow the social rules and if not you have another tool available if you need to take action (such as call the police).

    We can’t actually prevent murder but we still have laws forbidding it.

  16. @Tasha Turner:

    I’m biased against this group due to past interaction.

    I don’t know the group, so I’m just going by what they wrote. It doesn’t really seem all that bad, to me, speaking as someone who has fairly recently been in involved in writing a Code of Conduct like object for Minicon and for the sponsoring club, Mnstf.

    We are aware that there has never been a system that someone hasn’t tried to hack, be it jurisprudence, firewall security or Dungeons and Dragons. Any attempts to circumvent the intention or spirit of this code of conduct will be considered a violation of this code of conduct.

    Ok, but why include this in your CoC?

    I take this as an attempt to delineate the problem they are trying to solve. And in a lot of ways, I approve. I have seen some CoC that are simply an invitation to rules-lawyering. So I think they’re indulging in some pre-emptive rules-lawyering of their own. My first draft of the Mnstf Anti-Harassment policy had a rather lengthy paragraph with roughly the same import. We eventually deleted it, but I understand the impulse to put it in.

    We do not anticipate that anyone will intentionally violate these guidelines, but we are also prepared to handle whatever situation may arise. We promise to evaluate situations covered by this code to the best of our judgement and resources. Keep in mind that this evaluation is not a jurisprudential procedure. “Beyond a reasonable doubt” does not apply here.

    This immediately follows the previous statement. Feels out of place. We also have years of experience within fandom of missing stairs. This feels to me like a denial of the very problem a CoC is for. If the CoC is denying a problem how much faith can there be in follow through.

    I would not assume that based on the text alone. I think that this is an extension of the previous statement that they aren’t going to try to design a system that can’t be rules-lawyered. And they are specifically stating that they will not indulge in a judicial cos-play system, such as Wiscon attempted to deploy and which led to a spectacular failure.

    Silence is not consent. Cosplay is not consent. In order to give consent, a person should be a legal adult and not of impaired judgement. Judgement may be impaired by many things, such as intoxication or other physical states.

    Other physical states?

    They may be making a distinction between legal intoxication and the high from illegal pharmaceuticals. I think it’s probably a silly thing to say, but what do I know.

    In the middle of the harassment definitions and actions they might/can take is this:

    We believe that it is possible to discuss controversial or sensitive issues critically without resorting to disparagement or vulgarity. We are also aware that sometimes this line can be blurry, and different people may have different ideas about what constitutes disparaging or vulgar language. When in doubt, we recommend compassion in word and deed.

    Is this meant to be preemptive? Compassion from whom? I’ve seen this language used many times to silence the victims. This may not be the intent here. This is a tricky line to walk.

    It is, indeed, a tricky line to walk. Codes of Conduct are written for several different audiences with very different agendas. They are written, first, as an aspirational document for the organization. They are a mission statement. (I really hate mission statements, and used to, as a party trick, reel off one of any desired length on any topic someone cared to name. They can, however, be useful, if there are adequate procedures to back them. Usually, there aren’t.) So they serve as a general template on which the organization will build its procedures. Their second audience are people who feel that they may be vulnerable to harassment. It needs to serve as a commitment to them that their complaints will be heard and acted on appropriately. The third audience is the rest of the membership, who are coming to anti-harassment initiatives with a variety of baggage and insecurities. They aren’t real sure about how the rules are changing, and they need to be reassured that they, too, will be treated fairly. The one audience for which the CoC is not written is the predators and serial harassers. They know their behavior is unacceptable, they have no interest in changing, and their only interest in the CoC is to see if it is game-able. There’s no real point in talking to them.

    Notwithstanding the above, we will not prohibit anyone with a valid Pennsylvania concealed carry permit from carrying a firearm in accordance with all relevant laws and statutes, so long as you keep the weapon concealed. If you brandish, flash, or otherwise display your firearm, you will be in violation of this code of conduct. We may ask law enforcement to become involved.

    Oh goody armed congoers. I’m dying to attend cons with armed attendees. /sarcasm

    I’m on your side, here. If the actual meaning is that they just aren’t going to frisk for concealed weapons, I think they could have phrased it better. If they are trying to condone concealed carry at a convention…that’s not a good idea, she understated.

    Codes of Conduct are for the safety of current attendees. It’s not about punishment of the ones who harm people. The bid committee/comcon writing the policy need to have that as their focus and goal while creating CoC and procedures for follow through. Does this CoC read that way?

    I don’t really like the safety model for dealing with harassment, but other than that, I agree with you. However, what I really want to see is their internal procedures before I have an opinion. Policies are aspirational. Procedures are where the rubber meets the road. In my heart of hearts, I’m a bureaucrat. A good bureaucrat, but still. Failing that, I want to see what happens when they have to field an actual complaint. I think it’s really, really hard to tell from a policy whether or not the committee will deal with problems well.

  17. Lydy Nickerson: If the actual meaning is that they just aren’t going to frisk for concealed weapons, I think they could have phrased it better. If they are trying to condone concealed carry at a convention…that’s not a good idea, she understated.

    I don’t expect con staff to frisk attendees or check bags. I do expect a con’s weapons policy to be “No firearms in con-allocated areas, period, full stop” — unless they can quote a statute which makes such a policy illegal.

  18.   I do expect a con’s weapons policy to be “No firearms in con-allocated areas, period, full stop” — unless they can quote a statute which makes such a policy illegal.

    This, because anything else is beyond ridiculous.

  19. @ JJ & Cheryl: I have been wracking my brains for a reason for there to be a different policy, and I can’t think of one. I can easily imagine the type of rabbit-hole that the drafters went down which resulted in that policy. Writing policies is a weird process, and people do tend to get distracted and end up with unfortunate bits with implications they don’t understand. I really, really hope that’s what’s happening, here. Unfortunately, what we’ve got is what they’ve written, and it seems pretty egregious.

    Seriously, why would you need a firearm in convention space? C’mon, people!

  20. @Lydy Nickerson: Seriously, why would you need a firearm in convention space?

    Because they are afraid of other convention attendees? This has been stated as a reason why a number of SP leaders/regular commenters on their blogs are intending to conceal carry at this year’s Worldcon. They are afraid puppy-kickers might speak to them, realize they are puppies, do something, and want to be able to fully protect themselves from unarmed but scary congoers.

    The above is why I think it’s even more important to have a no guns weapons policy. If the state/location your holding your con in doesn’t allow private events to ban guns (but does allow banning of all other weapons) then I’d suggest citing the relevant law(s) and if possible linking to them so people like me don’t bring this up for speculation.

  21. “Other physical states” might be meant to cover things like a person hallucinating because they haven’t slept in more than 48 hours.

  22. Michael J. Walsh: Oh, and apparently in Puerto Rico … “As of June 20, 2015, both concealed and open carry without a permit are legal”

    And I would expect the San Juan NASFIC bid to also have a “No firearms in con-allocated areas” policy as well.

    There is just no good reason why anyone would need to be engaging in concealed carry at a Science Fiction convention. It’s just asking for trouble from people with poor impulse-control (I point out the hothead who rushed the stage at the bar at Sasquan when they didn’t like what the filker was singing).

  23. @me: Hold on. Are there actually places in the US where the owner of a property or business cannot forbid people from carrying firearms?

    @Aaron: Some concealed carry laws are written in such a way that this is the case, yes.… I’ll be honest. This is possibly the stupidest damn thing I’ve heard about American gun laws, and that’s an incredibly competitive field.

  24. I’ve been part of mission statement processes several times and thought I’d experienced pretty much every rabbit hole committees could drop into, but nope. I will charitably conclude that the (trying and failing at neutrality here) adults were asleep when the firearms policy was drafted, because I can’t imagine anyone could fail to see the implications of the one being discussed.

    ETA – . It has long been a source of sour amusement that gun proponents don’t think I should have a choice about guns in public spaces.

  25. re: robo and telemarketing calls.

    I’m late to this discussion but thought I’d chime in anyway 🙂

    If you’re a USian, you can register with the No Call Register and reduce the irritating calls. We’ve been on it for nearly 10 years and it’s really helped.

    https://www.donotcall.gov

    It’s not perfect and, unfortunately, doesn’t apply to ‘advertising’ during voting seasons.

    We have found that after initially stopping almost all calls for quite a while, the number of unsolicited irritations began to rise. I finally demanded to speak to a supervisor and threatened to file a complaint with just one company and all the calls reduced to a trickle again. Rinse, repeat every few years.

    HTH

  26. Gah. stupid backslash. Screwed up formatting my earlier post, should be as follows:

    @me: Hold on. Are there actually places in the US where the owner of a property or business cannot forbid people from carrying firearms?

    @Aaron: Some concealed carry laws are written in such a way that this is the case, yes.

    … I’ll be honest. This is possibly the stupidest damn thing I’ve heard about American gun laws, and that’s an incredibly competitive field.

  27. @Various: Even if a jurisdiction doesn’t allow private events to enforce restrictions on firearms in their spaces (which boggles my mind) – and it sounds like (from what @Aaron quoted) that’s not even the case here – even so, a con could still have a policy saying something like, “While this is legal, we don’t want you bringing firearms here. Please don’t do it.” But how many jurisdictions really prevent private events from having more restrictive rules about guns?

    Disclaimer: This isn’t a deal-breaker for me (though I’m no fan of guns).

  28. @Tasha: If you are actually afraid of other con attendees why are you attending? Seriously, dude.

    Firearm training in Minnesota, the required training that you need to get a carry permit, stresses that your first, best choice is to not go places where you’re in danger, and second best choice is to run away. You only get to shoot people if you cannot retreat. That’s in the law.

    People who choose to spend their leisure time in company with people who scare them should take up MMA or some other extreme sport.

  29. Lydy Nickerson: If you are actually afraid of other con attendees why are you attending? Seriously, dude.

    Yep, someone who feels so anxious and insecure that they need to carry a firearm with them at a convention would probably find their money better spent getting assistance to help them get over the need to carry a firearm at a convention.

    I just don’t get that mentality — and I don’t want to be around people who have that mentality.

  30. @Lydy: “You only get to shoot people if you cannot retreat. That’s in the law.”

    Unfortunately, several states have passed “stand your ground” laws with the stated purpose of promoting the “castle doctrine” – that someone can open fire to defend themselves instead of being required to abandon their home/property by retreating from an intruder. However, in practice that turns into “shoot somebody and claim you felt threatened by them” all too often. George Zimmerman is merely one example.

  31. @Lydy Nickerson: If you are actually afraid of other con attendees why are you attending? Seriously, dude.

    But they have as much right to attend a con as anyone else.

    Women attend knowing they might be sexually harassed or assaulted. POC attend knowing the event will be full of microaggressions and possibly worse. LGBTI same. Why shouldn’t the Christian Conservative minority attend? The only difference between the groups mentioned is one is able to be arned while the others are net not. /sarcasm off

  32. Tasha, no, the beauty of America is that everyone is able to be armed! Even those [misogynistic slur]s and [homophobic slur]s! Guns for everyone!

    (I am very afraid of guns. Fortunately I don’t live in the U.S.)

  33. @Tasha: I’m not questioning their right, I’m questioning their motives. On balance, the risk of being harassed is often countered by the real enjoyment that is likely at a convention. And while harassment is a real and serious issue, it is not usually life-threatening. (There are extreme cases, and I am nodding in that general direction, but they are unusual circumstances.) Carrying a gun _should_ mean that the person is actually in fear of their life. Anything less should not be met with small arms fire. So, if they are in fear of their lives, why are they attending? That would seem to require a pretty extreme possible pay-off. If they like being in fear of their lives, they should sky-dive or join an MMA group or some other social function which actively provides that in a consenting environment. And if they are just trying to intimidate other people with their big fucking guns, which I assume is what’s actually going on, I wish they would fuck right off. Preferably while I mock them mercilessly. And, I get to point out that this last motive is not one which most groups which advocate for gun ownership endorse, and many feel is seriously stupid and unsafe.

    I’m not afraid of guns. I am afraid of people who don’t understand what guns are for, and use them as an extension of their poor insecurity management system.

  34. Lydy Nickerson: Carrying a gun _should_ mean that the person is actually in fear of their life.

    In the 1980s there were several small arms enthusiasts at LASFS who basically liked to share their ammo reloading experiences, but when one of them began to carry at the club I had a rule passed that guns should not be brought on the clubhouse premises. My argument was, in fact, that the only reason to carry a gun to club meetings was if they thought they might need to use it on someone, which was contrary to the motives of friendship which brought us there.

    I say that because I empathize with your argument, however, I don’t believe the argument aligns with a gun-carriers’ motivation. I suspect that’s more on the order of “I’d hate to need it and not have it,” the possible need based on stuff the news reports happens in public places. What’s more, they’d say you’re projecting, that you’d have no need to feel intimidated if you understood that is the purpose of carrying. (And then probably throw in some reductio ad absurdum arguments about things you don’t object to at the con which could also be used to kill people, but never mind that.)

    That doesn’t change my strong preference to keep cons from being an environment where some convention members go armed.

  35. MIke: I expect you’re right about how the argument would go. In fact, if I wanted to check, I could nip down to the basement and have a chat with DDB about the motivations for carrying. He does carry, in many situations where I think it’s bonkers to do so. Not, however, at conventions. But you’re right, the “hate to not have it when I needed it” argument is one that he uses.

    So, I back away from my caustic characterization of some gun-toters motivations to tote guns. But I know some of the other kind, too, and they rather more stick in my head, I guess.

  36. the “hate to not have it when I needed it” argument

    Knowing what I know about how regular and continuous firearm practice must be in order for the user to retain reflexes and accuracy, this argument doesn’t carry any weight with me; 99% of these people who insist on concealed carrying at a con would not be able to perform adequately if a situation actually arose — as compared to the much higher likelihood of someone’s weapon getting misused in a moment of anger or drunkenness.

    I fail to understand why someone’s right to conceal carry at a con should take precedence over other peoples’ right to be in a much safer non-firearm environment.

  37. @Lydy:

    Y’know, I had somehow missed your connection to DDB. I still recall him using the bytestick to moderate the Fidonet SF echo, back when DeJohn and Joel and Pat were participating…

  38. This is one of those situations where I have a hard time putting myself in someone else’s shoes. I just don’t seem able to put myself in the head of someone who needs to be armed at all times. Who needs a gun to protect them from someone like me because I disagree with some things they say.

  39. Rev Bob: I still have my tapdancing knife thrower button from the SF echo. Tappity tappity WHACK.

  40. @Tasha Turner:

    I just don’t seem able to put myself in the head of someone who needs to be armed at all times.

    I tried a little thought experiment and was surprised at how quickly I arrived at Reducto. Which isn’t particularly helpful.

    “Back off! I’ve got a shrink gun…”

  41. @Christian Brunschen: Here’s a different take on it, to be filmed this year by Keith Hartman: Vampire Strippers Must Die, about male go-go dancers fighting vampires. 🙂 “When Magic Mike meets Buffy the Vampire Slayer!” I backed this; hopefully it’s turns out better than the movie you linked to. 😉

  42. @Kendall, Christian:

    At least Zombie Strippers had Robert Englund in it, and some half-decent satire of the GOP.

  43. @ Rev. Bob: DDB says “tappity tappity whack.” David and I have been together for about 21 years, so after the Fido-net days, but for a bit of a bit, now.

  44. @Tasha Turner: I haven’t seen “Zombie Strippers.” The one I mentioned isn’t out yet (actually I think it may be done filming though) and probably is going to be online or DVD only (small indie film), methinks. 😉

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