Glenn Hauman: A View From Above

Here at PhilCon as a panelist on "Sam Will Kill Him If He Tries Anything: Blogging and SF" with Charles Stross, Hugh Casey, Shadesong, Nathan Lilly, and Dusti Lewars.

Still not moderator.

Moderator joke gets big laugh from audience.

Nathan developed the Philcon Website. Hugh pimps for him some more. Nathan feigns humility.

Charlie Stross gripes about having three back-to-back panels on Sunday AM. Has been on the web since 93, blogging since 2000.

Shadesong speaks about her 900+ friends list, still a bit of a shock to her.

Dusti blogs as Elionwyr. This blogging panel stuff was all her idea, so she ends up on it.

I blather about myself, and find myself unable to blather and blog at the same time. I can blab verbally or textually, but not both simultaneously.

Hugh gives his intro, ex-Philcon chair, blogs on livejournal as hughcasey. New pick-up line: You look just like your icon!

What got us into blogging? Shadesong got here during a move, and started using to keep in contact with friends, and a way to keep busy during work. For me, it was all Peter David's fault, but now it's grown to the point where I have groupies. On cue, two of my groupies come into the hall and hand me a token of their affec-- all right, they hand me back my car keys.

End up explaining my Jesus at Philcon story to the crowd to counter Hugh's "WWHCD?" buttons.

Charles got on as an escape from Usenet, to publish some of his short stories, and then started adding pages. He now has 670 readers on his LJ. Minor digression about Warren Ellis outing his LJ account. Charles blames it on Warren accidentally ingesting inorganic monkey glands.

I explain why I blog, minor digression on why I don't like LJ. Commentary on LJ regional accents, including those who come from IM systems and uses of abbreviations.

Dusti uses LJ as a quick way to keep all her friends notifying on her upcoming and doings on her business. Hugh comments on how one person talks about having a bad day, leading to 500 people posting *huuuuuuuuuuugs!* and how it all gets a bit silly.

Audience Q: Why does everybody (except me) use LJ? Charlie talks about network externals and friends lists, so everybody else joins in. Nathan dislikes using it because he doesn't like the loss of control of his content.

11:40. Having trouble keeping up with discussion and keeping focus on myself. Still not moderator.

Audience provides lots of helpful discussions on how to work with LJ.

I ask stupid question, and get heckled from audience, and even more stupidly blog about it. Audience asks about panel title, which leads to explanation of The Very Secret Diaries. Shadesong says she doesn't like LOTR, crowd turns v. nasty.

Getting back to blogging and SF, I mention that blogging is becoming SF-- influencing elections, showing effects of Katrina, etc. Now passing laptop to Shadesong, who's looking over my shoulder-- she declines to write anything, saving it for her own traffic.

Nathan notes: "In the future, we'll all be famous for 15 megabytes." Comment from the audience, "In the future, we'll all be famous to 15 people." Wondering who my fifteen are...

Audience member pledges to write Firefox extension to append real names to LJ handles, in response to Kathryn Cramer's complaint, echoed by many, that most can't keep track of LJ names vs. real names. Lordy, I hope so.

End of panel. Can't find decent hotspot to send file in between panels, then have to get on the road. Posting when I get home, giving me time to put links in. Hope that Charles hasn't beaten me to posting. Of course, he could be posting on LJ, where I'd never see it. Damn youuuuuuu...!

Did I mention that I'm going to be at Philcon this weekend? I'm going to be at Philcon this weekend. My panels:

Fri 8:00 PM in Logans 2 (1 hour) JOSS WHEDON: KING OF ALL MEDIA! (90)

Sat 12:00 PM in Parlor B (1 hour) GRAPHIC TALES: COMICS, GRAPHIC NOVELS, AND SF (106)

Sat 3:00 PM in Seminar A (1 hour) EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS IN VIRTUAL WORLDS (292)

Sat 8:00 PM in Seminar A (1 hour) COMPUTER GAMING AS A SOCIAL TOOL (273)

Sun 11:00 AM in Freedom Ballroom (1 hour) SAM WILL KILL HIM IF HE TRIES ANYTHING: BLOGGING AND SF (86)

Sun 2:00 PM in Parlor B (1 hour) WON'T THE REAL SUPERHERO PLEASE STAND UP? (100)

Feel free to come up and say hi. Just don't tug on my robes, okay? It's been done.

A great victory. Not for the Democrats, mind you, and certainly not for the Republicans, but for me. I won money on the election. A certain ex-college roommate turned science fiction author let his natural pessimism flare up again and he swore up and down that the Dems wouldn't flip one house of Congress.

He really should learn not to bet with me. Remind me to tell you about the bet he made regarding the premiere of his DS9 episode.

As far as for who else this election is a victory, it's the Internet.

A decade ago, Declan McCullagh and I were bringing a book proposal around to various publishers entitled "Digital Nation: How The Online Community Became The Most Powerful Political Force In America... And Why" where we spoke about the birth of the new social paradigm and how it was showing up in legal venues, etc. It centered around the ACLU v. Reno lawsuit to outlaw the Communications Decency Act, but touched on the various cultural and social battles that sprang up around it, from Marty Rimm to 24 hours in Cyberspace. Taking a piece from our proposal:

...this is a book about the digital revolution-- not the one everybody "predicted" where everybody would have a computer on their desk linked to a pager on their hip, but an old-style political revolution where old governments were overthrown, subverted, or simply made irrelevant to the new age. This is the story of how the online community became the most powerful political force in America.

The online community is the largest voluntary organization in the world. Bar none. Currently estimated at 40 million users worldwide, it crosses national, ethnic, gender, age, and ideological lines. And it is growing at an exponential rate-- it is accepted as a general rule of thumb that the user base doubles every ten to twelve months. In the United States alone, current users outnumber the population of New England. By the time this book is published, they will outnumber New England and New York.

I predicted at the beginning of the year that 1996 would be the year of the Net as a political force, on a par with the Black or gay vote-- and the Net is now very angry. And if you don't believe the Net as a whole has power and influence when it gets angry, ask Intel about what happened to them when they said "So the Pentium makes a few math errors. Big deal! Who's going to care? Nobody listens to those geeks on the Internet!" The Pentium disaster ended up costing them over a billion dollars.

For the most part, Net users were content just to be left alone, and we wouldn't get in anybody's way-- we'd just sit in front of our monitors developing vision disorders and carpal tunnel syndrome. But instead, we've been told to shut up. We've been told that others know better, and we get orders that come from outside the borders of cyberspace. And I don't want to think what'll happen when some legislature tries to tax our transactions... the roar will be deafening.

Think about this: If the Internet ages in dog years, it was settled 182 years ago. It began to get heavily settled in the last 50. It is now having laws imposed on it from outside sovereigns, willy-nilly and without representation. It responded to this with a revolt that darkened whole sections of the Net.

The Jamestown colony was settled in 1607. The Revolutionary War started 158 years later.

Now, a decade later (seventy years in Internet time) we have entire national elections that turn on what happens on the Internet.

The First YouTube Election, and Not the Last:

RUMS FELLED

You gotta love the New York Post.

Thus today’s headline reports Rummy's demise, encapsulating in two words the entire changing of the guard now under way in Washington after Tuesday’s game-changer elections.

And we owe it all not to the mainstream press, which, as far as I can recall did not break a single investigative piece of news that mattered to the voters on Tuesday.

It was, rather, thanks to YouTube.

For it was on YouTube that Virginia Senator George Allen was shown to the world, his shirtsleeves rolled up, microphone in hand, clearly unnerved by the presence of an observer with a video camera recording his off-the-cuff remarks, attempting to turn the tables by pointing to the cameraman and saying,

“Let’s give a welcome to macaca here, welcome to America”

And it was on YouTube that Montana Senator Conrad Burns was shown to the world, eyelids flickering, elbows slipping, as he tried to stop himself from dozing off in the middle of an agricultural hearing.

His campaign slogan? "Delivering for Montana."

Democrats complained last time around when bloggers discredited pieces of John Kerry’s self-styled Vietnam heroics and flat-out dismantled the forged document Dan Rather somberly presented as fact on National Television.

So too Republicans will complain this time around that their precious Senate majority was lost thanks to wise-guy video-tapers looking for "gotcha" moments.

But if the mainstream press isn’t going to keep things honest—and they have proven they can’t, or won’t—then why not give that power to individuals?

Which is exactly what the internet has done.

(Via Jeff Matthews Is Not Making This Up.)

There were also the inadvertent stars of YouTube, like Stephen Colbert and Keith Olbermann, whose commentaries were getting more viewers on YouTube than they were on their own network broadcasts. And of course, we have the blogs, the netroots, and on and on and on...

The country is becoming connected in ways previously unimagined, and we're beginning to see how the other 99% lives, just over the river or through the woods. And more and more, as we all network, we're all remembering, or relearning, or even learning for the first time-- we're all in this together. Or, as they like to put on the money, e pluribus unum. Out of many, one.

For a while, we've beaten back a bit of the "Fuck Everyone But Me" mentality that has pervaded this country--

Fuck international obligations, norms and laws, even where we were the ones that established them. Fuck our own history. Fuck the air. Fuck the water. Fuck science. Fuck the planet. Fuck the poor. Fuck the weak. Fuck tolerance. Fuck the Constitution. Fuck Jesus.

--or we've gotten smart enough to realize that it's simply enlightened self-interest if we all make each other better. Network effects work on the social level too.

I think we've all had enough of Republicans trading on their dad's famous name as a springboard to higher political office, haven't we? And we certainly don't need one that will enable another one.

Don't forget to vote.

I see no reason the fifth of November (or John M. Ford) ever should be forgot:

AMERICAN GUY
(C'mon. You know the tune, whether or not you
remember all the words.)

A long, long time ago
But it should be remembered
How it fell out on November five
Some nobles and a guy named Guy
Thought they'd make their oppressors fly
And there'd be revolution, by and by . . .
The commissary must have shivered
When all those herrings were delivered
Barrels in the basement
For Parliament's effacement
It was a bold, quixotic dream
(Though some say Salisbury's scheme)
Explosive treason was the theme
The day the fuse went out

They started singing:
Remember, remember, the fifth of November
It was a night full of gunpowder, treason and plot
I see no reason
Why a gunpowder treason
Ever, ever should be forgot
Ever, ever should be forgot

One day with Lord Monteagle's bacon
A note says, bangers have been laid on
Take a powder, signed, A Friend
The sort of hint that starts you thinking
With leaks like this, we'll soon be sinking
Knot the rope that marks the end
They thought rebellion had a chance
But no one got up for the dance
Guy bent but didn't break
Until Salisbury's stake
The bottom line could not be plainer
A round of trials and attainder
Divide by four with no remainder
The day the fuse went out
They started singing. . . .

I met a girl who fiddled fine
And she handed me some sparkling wine
(Outside, the champagne's always chilled)
Upon the kindling, Guy stands straight
As annually he meets his fate
The host ignites the fire, we watch it build
And in the yard we take our stations
Awaiting the illuminations
Foggy conversations
Then colored conflagrations
And the words we most admire to say
Light Blue Touchpaper, Get Away
They'll get a workout on the day
The night we light the fuse
And we'll be singing. . . .

-- John M. Ford

Question for the audience.

When a new company absorbs a floundering company, they often dump the management that got them in over their heads, and often with the blessings of the shareholders.

So let me give you this hypothetical. Other NATO nations say that they will send a total of 300,000 soldiers to Iraq, to shore up the inadequate number of US troops, but they will do so only under one condition-- the Bush administration must resign. The nations providing the soldiers claim that the US upper management is clearly not up to the task, and furthermore, Bush and Cheney are so polarizing that their continued presence in office would prevent any sort of peace being brought to the region. Dubya would be, in essence, bought out like he was for Harken, Spectrum 7, the Texas Rangers, and so may other times when he was able to wash his hands clean of the mess and hand it off to someone else.

What do the nation's shareholders-- citizens-- say to this offer? What do you say? I've got my own thoughts on the issue, but I want to hear what the rest of you think.

Mona Charen suggests 13 Reasons to vote Republican on Nov. 7, many of which are simply wrong. Seven are actually reasons to vote for Democrats.

Larry Gelbart gives us 350 reasons not to vote for Republicans.

Go with Gelbart.

Many people have already been reporting that NBC and the CW are refusing to run ads for the new Dixie Chicks documentary, Shut Up And Sing. But now, looking at the Apple trailers website, it seems that Apple has yanked the trailer as well-- clicking on the URL at the trailers page sends you to a "page not found" link.

Mr. Jobs? Care to explain? And since you're the largest shareholder of Disney, which owns ABC and ESPN, does that mean that they won't run the ads either?

Crooks and Liars actually has the videos here.

UPDATE: The Apple page is back up now. Good, I was worried.

I'll believe that as soon as the Administration claims that this isn't conveniently timed. And I wish someone would call Bush on it.

Arrrrgh...:

The outlook wasn't brilliant for the New York Mets that day: The score stood one to one, with but one inning more to play, And then when Rolen got to first, Molina's turn at bat Made it clear to one and all the game shouldn't end like that.

A straggling few got up to go in deep despair. The rest Clung to that hope which springs eternal in the human breast; They thought, "If only Beltran could but get a whack at that— We'd put up even money now, with Beltran at the bat.

But Floyd preceded Beltran, as did also Valentin, And the former one was injured, while the latter wasn't "in"; So upon that stricken multitude grim melancholy sat, For there seemed but little chance of Beltran getting to the bat.

But Valentin and Chavez to the wonderment of all, Hit two singles in a row, they really slammed that ball; And though hopes were pinned on Reyes, after Floyd's depressing stance, With Lo Duca loading bases, it seemed the Mets might get to dance.

Then from a million throats and more there rose a lusty yell; It rumbled through the valley, it rattled in the dell; It pounded on the mountain and recoiled upon the flat, For Beltran, mighty Beltran, was advancing to the bat.

There was ease in Beltran's manner as he stepped into his place; There was pride in Beltran's bearing and a smile lit Beltran's face. And when, responding to the cheers, he lightly doffed his hat, No stranger in the crowd could doubt 'twas Beltran at the bat.

Two million eyes were on him as he rubbed his hands with dirt; A million tongues applauded when he wiped them on his shirt; Then while the writhing pitcher ground the ball into his hip, Defiance flashed in Beltran's eye, a sneer curled Beltran's lip.

And now the leather-covered sphere came hurtling through the air, And Beltran stood a-watching it in haughty grandeur there. Close by the sturdy batsman the changeup pitch it sped— "That ain't my style," said Beltran. "Strike one!" the umpire said.

From the benches, black with people, there went up a muffled roar, Like the beating of the storm-waves on a stern and distant shore; "Kill him! Kill the umpire!" shouted someone on the stand; And it's likely they'd have killed him had not Beltran raised his hand.

With a smile of Christian charity great Beltran's visage shone; He stilled the rising tumult; he bade the game go on; He signaled to the pitcher, and once more the dun sphere flew; This time it was a curveball, and the umpire said, "Strike two!"

"Fraud!" cried the maddened Mets fans, and echo answered "Fraud!" But one scornful look from Beltran and the audience was awed. They saw his face grow stern and cold, they saw his muscles strain, And they knew that Beltran wouldn't let that ball go by again.

The sneer is gone from Beltran's lip, his teeth are clenched in hate, He pounds with cruel violence his bat upon the plate; And Adam Wainwright holds the ball, and now he lets it fling And now the crowd is screaming because Beltran doesn't swing.

Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright, The band is playing somewhere, and somewhere hearts are light; And somewhere men are laughing, and somewhere children shout, But there is no joy in Metsville—mighty Beltran has struck out.

(Thanks heaps, Michael.)

But where's Jack Kirby? That would be even ruder...

So I'm sitting in my basement working when my tenant Shira comes downstairs and pops her head in. She tells me that she's making her New York City stage debut in a little two-person one-act, and would I like to come and see it? Sure, I say. I'm always happy to be a patron of the arts, particularly if it means that my tenant will have more reliable income.

The premiere was last Saturday, and I dutifully bought my ticket and sat down to enjoy myself.

And lo and behold, the character opposite Shira is named Glenn. And this Glenn spends a lot of time in his basement. And he's a bit creepy. And he's got some anger issues. And... oh, man, this is getting just surreal. Every time I hear her call him by name, I have to remind myself I'm in a theater and not answer.

Revealing more about the character reveals more about the play and/or me than is probably fair, so I'll just tell you to see it for yourself.

Greater Buffalo is atthe Theater for the New City, 155 1st Avenue (between 9th & 10th), NYC, Thursday-Saturday at 8:00 p.m., and Sunday at 3:00 p.m. for the next two weeks. Sex, drugs, and ping pong. Let me know if you see it, so I can tell you which parts aren't me.

Because they provide more information than the evening news. Duh. Disappointing, but true.

Read them. Learn them. Live them.

and we know what that means-- it's time to attack Iran!

Hey, it makes as much sense as attacking Iraq over September 11th.