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Random Thoughts, Apology Edition
May. 26th, 2015 11:09 amRandom Thought #1 - ConQuest Elevators
This is the second year ConQuest was at the same hotel. The only change I could determine was that the management installed a new elevator control system. At each floor was a touch-screen, and one selected your desired floor. The screen then told you which elevator (A thru E) to take. There were no floor buttons inside the cab. I found the system annoying and counter-intuitive.
Random Thought #2 - Scalzi's book deal
Unless you were under a rock, you've probably heard that SF writer John Scalzi signed a $3.4 million dollar, 10-year deal for 13 books. (That's just over $250,000 per book.) Using Scalzi's scale, that's an “I’m Getting the Next Round" level deal. No sooner had the news broke then various Scalzi critics were attempting to minimize the deal or suggest that Scalzi could have done better. Green is a great color if you're an Orion slave-girl; not so much for the merely envious.
Random Thought #3 - An Apology
At a panel on Sunday, I made a statement the intent of which was to say that the Spanish conquistadors had systematically written out of the history the contributions of their Indian allies. (Which they did - most of the actual fighting in Peru and Mexico was done by Indian enemies of the ruling empires.)
What came out made it sound like the conquest was the Indian's fault, and I did not get a chance to correct the record on the panel. I'm sorry.
This is the second year ConQuest was at the same hotel. The only change I could determine was that the management installed a new elevator control system. At each floor was a touch-screen, and one selected your desired floor. The screen then told you which elevator (A thru E) to take. There were no floor buttons inside the cab. I found the system annoying and counter-intuitive.
Random Thought #2 - Scalzi's book deal
Unless you were under a rock, you've probably heard that SF writer John Scalzi signed a $3.4 million dollar, 10-year deal for 13 books. (That's just over $250,000 per book.) Using Scalzi's scale, that's an “I’m Getting the Next Round" level deal. No sooner had the news broke then various Scalzi critics were attempting to minimize the deal or suggest that Scalzi could have done better. Green is a great color if you're an Orion slave-girl; not so much for the merely envious.
Random Thought #3 - An Apology
At a panel on Sunday, I made a statement the intent of which was to say that the Spanish conquistadors had systematically written out of the history the contributions of their Indian allies. (Which they did - most of the actual fighting in Peru and Mexico was done by Indian enemies of the ruling empires.)
What came out made it sound like the conquest was the Indian's fault, and I did not get a chance to correct the record on the panel. I'm sorry.
