All Clear

Fortunately for me, when I had a look inside the Big Box o' Stuff for Match Game SF, I found a small supply of blank A/B cards -- overruns from a previous show. There were enough for me to print the questions for our show at SiliCon. I'm planning to do four games in two hours, and we have material (some re-runs) for two more if we under-run, but that's rare. What's more likely is that if we end up having multiple tie games like we did at Worldcon, we'll only get three games in before we hit our hard stop at 3:50 to allow turnover for the Feedback session.

Again, anyone who wants to come help with setup is encouraged to come by the Siskiyou/Donner Pass Ballroom from 1 PM onward on Sunday.

I expect to be heading down to the Doubletree pretty soon. I don't know what my internet connectivity will be, although even if it's pay-to-play, I'll probably need to spring for it at least for today, for I'm effectively on call until late this afternoon.

SiliCon Ho

Hooray for free wireless internet in the hotel's public areas! I'm settled in at the San Jose in 2011 Westercon bid table, for whom I brought the front-of-table banner and bid stickers. Bid Chairman Glenn Glazer is off posting party flyers; when he comes back, I'll go around and start posting promotional flyers for Match Game SF.

The old Coffee Garden restaurant, which is where many of us Doubltree con-goers have spent many happy hours, has morphed into a new restaurant called "Sprigs," and is only open from 6 AM to 2 PM, even during events like this that should throw off business. Instead, we're told we should got to the fancy, expensive restaurant or eat in the bar. This is something we'll have to address with the Westercon bid, I think.

Somewhat to my surprise, given how few people are here during the early-afternoon set-up hours, we've already sold a couple of pre-supporting memberships to the Westercon bid.

Not Joe Six-Pack

I've been avoiding most mention of politics here, partially because at least as far as the presidential election goes, it hardly matters how I vote, on account of I live in California, and it's a forgone conclusion how this state votes. (Happily, this means we don't have many presidential campaign commercials in our market.) The things on my ballot about which I'm passionate are voting in favor of Proposition 1A (High Speed Rail) and against Proposition 8 (undo existing same-sex marriages and prohibit future ones). But anyway, mckitterick pointed me at an article about "Joe Six-Pack" that resonated with me.

Mind you, I don't drink beer, and I have a B.Sc. in computer science and have a professional job that means that most people would consider me one of the Filthy Rich, despite my being under a crushing debt load and living in a medium-size apartment and not in the lap of luxury. Therefore, I can't be "Joe Six-Pack." Still, I was very taken by the article to which I linked above.

I've been reading a book about the growing anti-intellectualism of the USA. It's depressing reading. I hope we as a people aren't going to say that intellectually incurious people (a phrase I picked up from jaylake) like the current president and the woman running for vice president on the Republican ticket are "What America Should Be."