Worst System (Except for All the Others)

The WSFS Business Meeting is taking a fair amount of abuse for using a parliamentary rules manual (Robert's Rules of Order, the most common, but not the only such manual) for its formal decision-making process.

WSFS actually manages only two things of significant importance: The Hugo Awards rules and the rules for selecting future Worldcon sites. (There are other things, which I can detail upon request.) Everything else about how Worldcons are run is done by the individual Worldcon committees.

So, before I hit the road for El Paso, I leave this question before you all: Direct Democracy as WSFS practices it is extremely messy. If you were allowed to change things to suit yourself (other than simply saying, "I'm King and You'll All Required to do what I say when I say it"), how would you change the governance process for the Hugo Awards and Site Selection rules?

Come up with a better system that doesn't have the flaws you perceive are present in the current system. Please.

Stage 8: Fort Stockton TX to Deming NM

We slept in for a couple of hours on Wednesday, and I tried to deal with the flood of mail (mostly reactions to Worldcon, plus some Day Jobbery). We didn't get on the road until Noon; however, we made quick progress. In fact, When we reached the rest area around I-10 milepost 50, Lisa suggested we push farther on than El Paso, our planned stop for tonight. It being before 6 PM (that's the last chance to change it), I called IHG and they found that the Holiday Inn Express Demming had rooms tonight and rebooked the El Paso reservation.

We did not stop in El Paso (although we briefly stopped at the New Mexico Welcome Center). I saw something I'd never seen before on a freeway: Exit 0 on I-10 just before leaving Texas. We got to the hotel in Deming at 6:30 PM, and that puts us about two hours ahead for tomorrow for the next leg of the trip, to Tuscon.

You can blame the approximately 500 messages having to do with post-Worldcon reactions for me having no photos to post. We took none today, but there are a pile in the camera, going back to LSC3, including the Worldcon Chairs Photos.

The Deming HIX gets high marks in some areas. It's brand new but has wired internet, not just wi-fi. The rooms are nice. Lisa says she'd love to have a room like this for a Worldcon: large, comfy, with a full-sized refrigerator (not a mini-fridge), microwave, and wet-bar sink. And working wired internet is a bonus. OTOH, there's only one washing machine (which someone was using), and while they had quarters at the front desk, they had no laundry soap, as they've only recently opened and are awaiting delivery of initial supplies. It does have a significant fault in that there's nothing there but the hotel; not even a mini-market. Still, it's comfortable, and as soon as I get this entry finished, I'm going to use that bed.

Today's progress: 353 miles in 6.5 hours, an astonishing 55 MPH average. That's because a whole lot of that was on 80 MPH freeways.