Here, at least in part for my own convenience, is my so-far partial list of Hugo nominees:

Novels

1) Bitter Angels, C. L. Anderson.

2) Boneshaker, Cherie Priest.

3) Heart of Veridon, Tim Akers.

Short Stories

1) "The Creature in Your Neighborhood" Jim C. Hines (in Strip Mauled (Supernatural Suburbia))

2) "Visual Silence" M. C. Chambers (in Return to Luna).

Editor Eric T. Reynolds

Campbell Award: David J. Williams, timakers (if he's eligible).

I've rather mercilessly criticized Rand Simberg's politics before, and probably will again. However, his views on space exploration and the appropriateness of the Obama vision are right on. Rand has a piece up on Popular Mechanics where he explains and supports the "Flexible Path" program that Obama is proposing.

Basically, "flexible path" is developing a series of technologies that will allow us to go from exploring space to exploiting space. These are:

1) Reliable Earth-to-orbit transport. Here, Obama encourages private enterprise, which will hopefully lead to multiple types of rockets. Thus, if (as will probably happen) one type of rocket is grounded for safety reasons, we have other options.

2) Orbital refueling. This is critical, as launching a ship empty means a lighter ship. That's not just in terms of fuel - the tanks and associated hardware can also be lighter.

3) Lower costs. Lower costs means we fly more, and more types of missions become feasible.

The important fact that all of these prongs recognize is that from Earth orbit, you are halfway to anywhere else in the solar system. That's actually a literal statement - over half the total energy expended to get a pound of material to, say, Mars, is the energy expended to get it to Earth orbit.

It's disappointing not to have a specific date and destination, but if the date and destination aren't feasible, then a flexible plan is needed.

I'm about to leave to attend a Superbowl party, so I shall be brief. I'll be rooting for the Saints for sentimental reasons - they having never won a Superbowl - but I'm not that invested in them otherwise.

My kitchen work progresses. Now I will be able to make coffee and breakfast in it, and hopefully we'll be completely done come Friday. Just in time for me to go to Capricon for the weekend.

I have a new review up on POD People, featuring Alex Stone's humorous novel Hauling Checks.

Lastly, I did get some writing done.

Word Count for Einstein's War
Complete (16,141) Goal (80,000)
20% complete
Word Count This Session = 1,891

So, as you may have heard, Amazon and Macmillan, a very large publishing company, are having a very public slap-fight. Macmillan wants to price their e-books at a certain level, while Amazon wants them cheaper. So Amazon pulled (and so far has not restored) the ability to buy any Macmillan title (e- or paper) via Amazon. Not surprisingly, the authors of those books are mightily pissed. I don't currently have a dog in this fight, but it's an interesting one to watch.

The online argument has devolved, like many arguments, into certain less-than-knowledgeable folks suggesting that the authors should just bypass publishers altogether. After all, "traditional publishing" is going away. Mister John Scalzi, Esquire, thinks not. Having committed self-publishing myself, I agree with Scalzi.

Another argument is that publishers should do like musicians do, and create "indie" labels. Well, besides the problems Scalzi pointed out, Susan Piver, a former music executive, says that the Amazon / Macmillan slap-fight is exactly what destroyed diversity in the music industry. The gist of her argument is simple: large national retailers don't want to deal with lots of small regional suppliers. Once you get rid of the small suppliers, the large guys can't and don't track regional or small-market tastes. The result - a focus on big hits. This has led the record industry to develop a business model of selling a huge number of units of a relatively small number of artists. Or, exactly the opposite of the publishing industry.

At the end of the day, this is an argument about what kind of book market we want - one even more driven by the best seller list or one that's more diverse?

Facts matter, even, or perhaps especially, in our political debate. So, here are some facts:

the Underpants Bomber is providing intelligence to authorities. Despite various Republican statements to the contrary, we are in fact getting intelligence out of this guy. In part, we're getting intelligence because his parents came to America to help out. Somehow, I don't think they'd be as helpful if we were busily waterboarding the SOB.

Global Warming The website surfacestations.org cataloged hundreds of US surface weather stations, with the goal of proving that microclimates (station too close to a parking lot, etc.) were causing a warming bias in temperature data. Apparently, there is a bias; the 'bad' stations skew cooler!

Don't Ask, Don't Tell When I was in the military, allowing gays to serve didn't seem like a good idea. But as I was reminded recently, that was decades ago. If I were still in, I would be Captain of a ship - the "Old Man" both figuratively and literally, at age 43. The attitude of today's youth is different. Even Colin Powell,the guy who invented Don't Ask Don't Tell gets it. So what's John McCain's problem?

Let me stipulate that Toyota makes some good cars. Let me further stipulate that my Dad and two uncles retired from General Motors (AKA "Generous Motors" for their pay scale) so I am hardly unbiased.

Having said that, Toyota is having a quality problem with their vehicles. This is understandable - the people that design and make Toyotas put their pants on one leg at a time like everybody else. But please don't tell me how "all American cars are crap" and "all Japanese cars are wonderful." Both types of companies make vehicles good and bad.

Over the weekend, while surveying the wreckage of my being-remodeled house, I read Sarah Hoyt's new novel DarkShip Thieves. I found it very enjoyable.

Darkship Thieves is set several hundred years into the future, and stars as protagonist and narrator Athena Hera Sinistra, the daughter of a Good Man, a member of the ruling class of Earth. Athena is not a nice person, which takes a bit to become apparent, although at the same time she's fleeing for her life almost from page one. Hoyt's future Earth is not a nice place to live, with rule by hereditary Good Men, and ravaged by a series of past wars, including one with genetically-enhanced humans.

Hoyt is a big fan of Robert A. Heinlein, as evidenced by her naming her first-born son "Robert Anson," and her book reads like a Heinlein romp. Athena as a character shows great growth, and the world-building is first rate. I really enjoyed Darkship Thieves and hope to see more science fiction from Hoyt.

So, President Obama released his new NASA budget yesterday. The first headlines were along the lines of "Moon Program Canceled." These headlines were deceiving at best. As the closing line to this Popular Mechanics post says, of the budget, "it points the way to truly sustainable development in space." (Gacked from The Usual Suspects. Basically, what the budget does is:

1) Kill the Constellation program, which was overbudget, late and a step backwards technologically.

2) Direct NASA to fund alternative, private ground-to-orbit technologies.

3) Create incentives for NASA and private industry to develop the kind of sustainable technology we'll need to actually exploit space. These are technologies like refueling in orbit and closed-loop life support systems.

In short, it's the right thing to do. So, write your Congressman and ask them to support this budget.

So, regarding my distant cousin Don Tucker, about whom I blogged Friday, my dad writes that Don worked on U2 spy planes in Turkey during the late 50s and 60s. He was based in Amarillo AFB, and officially he was flying out of Amarillo as a instructor going to other bases to show other mechanics how to install new equipment. Instead, he was going under cover to a base in Turkey for a month at a time. This was back before the American public had even seen a U2.

In other news, my kitchen remodel is at the "total mess" stage of remodeling. My refrigerator is blocking my front door, which is not an access issue since I usually go in and out via the garage. However, getting to the refrigerator requires me to skinny between the wall and the refrigerator. I would say it helps with my diet, except considering that I can't make anything at home more complicated than a drink, I've been eating out. It's just like being on vacation! (Not.) Remodeling is the best example of a PITA (Pain In The Ass) I can think of.

On the writing front, Kage Baker died. I was not familiar with her work, but reviewed her wonderful novel Empress of Mars a while back. Lastly, and presented without comment, writing stats:

Word Count for Einstein's War
Complete (14,250) Goal (80,000)
18% complete
Word Count This Session = 1,412

So, a few random thoughts for a friday:

Over on POD People, we're having a Free Book Friday drawing for a science fiction novel, David Drazul's Armistice Day. Come on over and put your name in the hat.

Found via various sources, Jared Diamond has a theory as to why Haiti is so much poorer than the Dominican Republic. It's an interesting idea, and linked to Diamond's general theory that geography determines destiny. I'm not entirely sure I fully agree - the influence of the clan Duvalier is hard to overstate - but Diamond is always worth a read.

From my dad, I learn of the death of a distant cousin, Don Tucker. Don is related to us on the Ballard side, and flew B-17s in WWII. I believe he was shot down and spent some time as a POW. Don is the last WWII vet related to anybody in the family.

The Ballard family has an interesting story. They were coal miners in Tennessee, and, back in the 1920s, when the mine went on strike, all the Ballard women and children were put on a train and sent as far north as they could afford to go. Back then, mine strikes tended to get put down by private detectives shooting and beating miners. "As far north as possible" ended up being Westville. After the strike failed, the men came up north. There's a book in there, if I ever find time to write it.

Twenty four years ago today the space shuttle Challenger exploded. I was in high school, and I don't think I saw footage of the explosion until I got home that afternoon.

Since I was a space geek even then, I was saddened by the event, but I did not understand the people who claimed that getting astronauts killed somehow would end the space program. What it did prove was that the Shuttle was "a bridge too far" - a system too complex and expensive for the available technology. Unfortunately, it took NASA a damn long time to get that lesson, and in fact I'm not sure they've yet internalized it - witness the NASA fixation on "heavy lift" vehicles.

We will eventually need the ability to get very large payloads into space. But just like we didn't go directly from the Wright Flyer to the 747 (or even the Lockheed Constellation), so we can't go from Apollo directly to shuttle. The key to developing space is getting there reliably, and developing reliable ships means:

1) Build small ships to a budget
2) Fly them until they break, both to develop the system and get an understanding of the cost.
3) Make the next ship better.
4) Repeat steps 1-3.

This is nothing I haven't said before. Fortunately, their are signs that the current administration is getting this right.

So, my Law of Totem Poles post continues to cause debate. timakers wonders why the subject of slavery in America brings up such passion. He also deplores the tendency of some "civilized" people to bash and belittle the South.

Let me be clear - bashing the South for the sins of the Confederacy was not my intention. I've lived in the South and have friends and family down there. Stereotyping, bashing and labeling Southerners as stupid is wrong. But wondering why the subject of antebellum slavery still creates heat is an interesting one. I think there are two interrelated factors.

The first factor is what I call the "high school football coach theory of history." One of the people who taught history in my high school was also the football coach. He taught an unquestioned "America was always right" version of history. Now, I do think the USA is the greatest country in the world (and I'll defend that to my Canadian readers ETA and other foreigners), but "greatest" is not "always right." In fact, admitting we're wrong and fixing it is part of what makes us great.

The second factor, and linked to the first, is that this "football theory" of history has gotten linked to the American political right. So, people who advocate for right-wing positions tend to use this version of history to support their views. It gets even more pernicious and frankly insulting when people who point out that America was not always right are branded by these same folks as "unpatriotic" or "un-American."

So, when I see a sitting Governor of the State of Texas idly talk about leaving the Union, and saying "we left once - we can do so again" - well, I see a bit of red.

So, my post yesterday created a firestorm of comments about how the Civil War was not about slavery. Now, one may argue that the people who fought for the South believed in states rights. It is said that many Russians in WWII fought for Russia, not Stalin. It is well documented by the historian S. L. A. Marshall that, in battle, men fight for each other, not a cause. But arguing that the political elites of the South didn't lead their region into war over the issue of slavery is a dangerous misreading of history.

Prior to 1820

Slavery was a bone of contention between North and South as early as the Constitutional Convention of 1787. At that meeting, Congress was prohibited from banning the slave trade until 1808 and the Three Fifths compromise (de facto allowing the south to vote their slaves) was created. By 1820, the US Congress had made a decision that the South had to have parity in the Senate, resulting in the Compromise of 1820.

Texas and Alto (Upper) Mexico

The United States in the 19th Century was very expansionistic. Various schemes were floated to conquer Cuba, adding to the slave territory. Also being settled for slaves was Texas, then part of Upper Mexico. But Mexico had abolished slavery in 1829, although the Texans got a one-year extension.

Considering that the governmental services provided to Upper Mexico were poor even by feckless Mexican standards, I am reluctant to blame that war entirely on slavery, but it was a factor. Extending slavery's reach was a definite factor in the Mexican-American War, and that factor, obvious to all, was one reason then-Congressman Abe Lincoln voted against the war.

1850s and the Civil War

By the 1850s, slavery was attempting to expand its reach. Despite their cry of "states' rights" the South was pushing the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850, a Federal law reaching into Northern states. This was followed by Bloody Kansas, an attempt to forcibly make Kansas a slave state, and Dred Scott, which saw the Federal government in the form of Chief Justice Taney (from Maryland) invalidate many Northern anti-slavery laws.

Lincoln really didn't want to free the slaves, but in the election of 1860 he definitely wanted to stop the expansion of slavery into the North. This proved unacceptable to the South Carolina legislature (and others) and war broke out. The Emancipation Proclamation was an attempt to end the war, saying "come back and keep your slaves." It didn't work. Even in 1864, at Hampton Roads, Lincoln was willing to let the South back in while compensating them for the loss of slaves. It was rejected.

Reconstruction, or a Successful Insurgency

It is possible that, if the South had left peaceably, they would have freed their slaves, as did Brazil. Arguing against that is the violent insurgency led by the Ku Klux Klan during Reconstruction. That insurgency, paired with a fundamental indifference to the plight of blacks, led to Jim Crow. Yes, Reconstruction was an attempt by the Federal government to intervene in the state's actions. Of course, the states were attempting to violently deny some of their citizens civil rights.

In short, arguing that the South didn't end up going to war to defend slavery is dead wrong. As they say in the South, "that dog won't hunt."

I was having an online conversation with daveon the other day, and I was reminded of a scene in an old Powers Boothe movie. The movie was (I think) Into The Homeland, a made-for-TV movie in which Boothe’s daughter is kidnapped by white separatists.

The scene is one where Boothe, who had gotten some information from a helpful gas station attendant, discovers said attendant is a white separatist himself. This was a surprise to me, but not my dad. Speaking of the attendant, Dad said “that’s exactly the sort of guy you’d expect to be involved with the separatists.” After some thought, this led me to promulgate Gerrib’s Law of the Totem Pole.

My law says that the person most invested in the rightness and goodness of the totem pole is the guy who is second from the bottom. Now, all disclaimers about trying to judge individuals as members of a group apply here, but this generality offers some insight.

So, according to the Law of the Totem Pole, the second-lowest person is most invested in the whole concept of totem poles. The guy at the bottom – he’s got nothing to lose. The guy at the top – he can lose a lot and still have a nice view. But Mister-Almost-Anchorman (MAA, for short), he’s got a lot to lose. This law has two corollaries.

The first corollary is that the MAA will focus a lot on whatever distinguishes him from the bottom man. It doesn’t matter what that “it” is, be it race, creed, street address, whatever, that factor will get a lot of attention. The second corollary is between MAA and the top man. The MAA will tend to think that the top man is special. I mean, the top man has to be special – how else would he get on top?

This law is why frequently the most reactionary elements of a society are the ones not quite on the bottom. It explains, for example, why poor Southern white farmers followed plantation owners to war to defend slavery, even though slavery seriously depressed white earnings. Other examples are left as an exercise for the reader.

So, I spent a couple of hours yesterday pricing out various vacation options. For anything I wanted to do, I was coming out at a grand or so. Now, I can afford that, but between buying the new TV and spending the money on a kitchen redo, I'm not sure that I want to spend that kind of money.

So I decided I'm not. I'll plan a big vacation for the summer / fall, and in the mean time just do shorter local stuff.

My tenative programming schedule for Capricon, Chicago February 11-14.

E-Readers: The Greening of Books
Friday, 02-12-2010 - 2:30 pm to 4:00 pm - Willow B
Discussion and Demos - bring your reader to show it off!
Walt Boyes
Chris Gerrib
Kathryn Sullivan
Curtis Taitel

Evil vs. Good: What Makes a Better Story? Evil or Good Winning the Day?
Friday, 02-12-2010 - 4:00 pm to 5:30 pm - Willow A
At its most basic, a conflict has a good side (our side) and an evil side (their side). Traditionally, story-telling has the good side come out on top, but is that all their is? Can the evil side win and still provide a story that speaks to the reader? What are the strengths and weaknesses of letting the evil side win? What are some of the classics that focus on Evil Victorious?
Rachel Cohan
Chris Gerrib
Paul McComas
Kevin Spencer
Joy Ward

Chicago of Tomorrow
Saturday, 02-13-2010 - 10:00 am to 11:30 am - Birch A
In this interactive panel event, the panelists and audience discuss the changes they would like to see in Chicago (both realistic and pie in the sky) over the next twenty years. The panelists will address the various suggestions and look at their feasibility.
Walt Boyes
Richard Chwedyk
Phyllis Eisenstein
Chris Gerrib

On the Internet No One Knows You're a Dog!
Saturday, 02-13-2010 - 5:30 pm to 7:00 pm - Willow B
The internet offers an unprecedented level of anonymity. While many users revel in the ability to be whomever they want at different times, others feel that people hiding behind anonymity is one of the problems with the internet. Is there, should there, be a compromise between the forces of anonymity and those who want users to take reponsibility for their posts?
Chris Gerrib
Trista Gunderman
Jer Lance
Becky Thomson

So, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations can spend as much money as they want to buy political ads. I'm not terribly happy about that rule, although I think Keith Olbermann is wetting the bed just a little. I'm also not sure that if we make corporations disclose their donations in detail we could dispell some of the astroturfing that plagues American politics.

Of course, The Usual Suspects are celebrating the "blow struck for freedom." When I pointed out to one of them that size and scale matters, he replied "why shouldn't Bill Gates get to spend his money however he wants to?"

I don't worry about Bill Gates. I worry about John Chambers and Constance H. Lau. Who, you say? John Chambers is CEO of Cisco Systems, and he controls point zero six percent (0.06%) of Cisco stock. Ms. Lau is CEO of Hawaiian Electric, and she controls point two one percent (0.21%) of the stock of her company. Now, both of those people get to use "their" companies to play like Bill Gates does.

I own Hawaiian Electric stock, so technically Lau works for me. But here's what really happens - I get a packet in the mail with a slate of directors (who I never heard of) and official biographies, and I get to vote yes, no or abstain. I have no idea how these people got to be on the board, or what they plan to do while on it. I probably own Cisco stock, or more correctly own a mutual fund that owns stock. But I don't even get to vote that stock - some fund manager (who I didn't elect and don't know) votes it.

If you get the idea that the average American corporation is ran by somebody elected with all the transparency and democracy of Pope Benedict XVI, you'd not be far off. Given that, I'm not sure how much power I want to give these folks.

After going through a virus attack, losing a hard drive, fighting off hackers, upgrading all my software, installing fire-walls, being threatened with being cut-off by my email provider, and a host of other problems,

I have fixed my computer... and NOW it works exactly the way I want it to.




(taken from an email sent to me - show a source and I'll credit it)

So, as you may have heard, Massachusetts had an election last night, in which the Democrats lost. My thoughts very closely track those of John Scalzi, so click on over and read them. It's probably the only political post you'll see today with the words "gonads," "collapse like a flan in the cupboard" and "flip the GOP the bird" in it.

In other news, I have a date with destiny my new kitchen - the week of January 25. We're installing a new sink, countertop, refacing cabinets, lights and paint. Looks like a week of eating out, which is no big deal since I had events scheduled for three evenings anyway.

Also on the home front, my new 40-inch Samsung TV is up and running. It's an LCD with really good picture quality (even though I don't yet have high-def cable) and all the other bells and whistles one would want. It's a big upgrade on my 25 inch Big Glass Box. Said BGB was removed by the delivery people, and I suspect that one of them will be keeping it for his personal use, which is fine by me.

Lastly, I got an email with my tentative schedule for programing at Capricon. Since I understand we have until Friday to make any needed changes, I'll wait until then to post it.

So, I suffer from a mild case of acid reflux decease. To treat it, I take a daily dose of Prevacid. Now, my insurance gets charged $5 / pill for the 30 milligram prescription version of the drug. But I can get the 15 milligram version of the same drug over-the-counter (OTC) for 60 cents / pill. So even if I take 2 OTC pills, I can save $3.60 per day. Consider this yet another exhibit showing how screwed up our health care system is in America.

Today is Rotary, and tonight is writer's workshop, so not much else for blogging today.