My First Con(vention)

 As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I hit my first big fan convention over the weekend.  I've attended the Minnesota Renaissance Festival many, many times over the years, and I've hit a smaller RenFest closer to where I live, but I've never done anything like Comic-Con.  I've done TrekFest, which is kinda sorta like a Con, but the scale is much smaller.  There's only so much a town of 1000 people can do on a budget.  I will say though that Riverside has done a pretty good job of growing Trek Fest over the years, and claiming the "Future birthplace of Captain James T. Kirk" was a stroke of marketing brilliance on their part.  Heck, it even became official canon.  Oh, but I'm digressing... my point is that I've never done anything like GalaxyCon, and I finally seized the opportunity last weekend.

How I ended up attending GalaxyCon is a story in itself.  I received a notice from VetTix, informing me there were some GalaxyCon tickets available.  I asked my wife if she was interested in attending if I got tickets.  My younger daughter, who had dropped by for a visit, asked "What's GalaxyCon?"  I said "Think Comic-Con and you've got the right idea."  I then started naming some of the celebrities who would be there for meet-and-greets.  When I rattled off James Marsters' name, she got all kinds of excited!  I ended up not getting the free tickets from VetTix, but that's okay.  There was no way my daughter was going to miss the chance to meet Marsters, so we all bought tickets.

I really didn't know what to expect.  Some of the online reviews had said it's kind of lame, specifically that it was disorganized and not well attended.  That was not my experience at all.  There were tons of vendors, attendees, and Q&A panels. We attended a Q&A session with voice actors from Star Trek: Lower Decks, one with Jason Mewes, and a weird, darkly humorous discussion of uniquely horrible ways some people have died over the years.  For example, they talked about how Jack Daniel died of a blood infection as a result of kicking his safe when it wouldn't open, and a guy who tripped over his beard, fell, and broke his neck.

The event was a money making machine!  Using the meet and greet with Marsters I mentioned yesterday as a frame of reference:  He charged $50 per autograph or selfie, or $80 if you bundled and did both.  I estimate that he spent about two minutes with each person.  Using conservative back-of-the-napkin math, that meant he was pulling in over $100 every five minutes, which translates to $1200 per hour.  That's insane!  If he worked 1/2 day, he would have easily pulled in over $5000.  And that's just one guy at one table.

The costumes worn by attendees were tons of fun, too.  There were anime characters I knew nothing about.  But I saw Master Chief from Halo, Darth Vader, storm troopers, Klingons and Star Fleet officers from all generations of Star Trek, Dolly Parton, the Jack in the Box mascot, Dracula (complete with a full sized casket), WWE wrestlers, and the list goes on.

There were several tables devoted just to building custom light sabers from the Star Wars universe.  Those things were expensive, starting at $200 and going up over $600.  There were several booths dedicated to swords, daggers, axes, etc.  Artists sold paintings.  I saw many, many D&D dice booths with some crazy dice sets that looked like the Lament box from Hellraiser.

Overall, it was a wildly creative way for attendees to dress up as virtually anyone or anything, and countless opportunities for vendors to separate said attendees from their hard-earned money.  It was a lot of fun, and I suspect we'll do it again next year.

Meeting James Marsters

I met James Marsters yesterday at GalaxyCon.  If I remember, I'll share a post about GalaxyCon in general tomorrow, because that was a first too.  Today though, I'm going to focus on meeting Marsters.  For those of you not familiar, Marsters played Spike on the TV show Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  My wife and girls grew up on Buffy, and I'll admit I'm a fan too.  In fact, the primary reason I went to GalaxyCon was so my younger daughter could meet James Marsters.  Since my lovely bride is also a big Buffy fan, she happily agreed to join us.

We arrived shortly after the doors opened for the day, and essentially headed directly to the James Marsters table for the meet and greet.  The line wasn't horribly long, but we waited approximately 90 minutes until it was our turn.  Daughter was virtually bursting with excitement as we snaked through the line, and it was definitely an exercise in patience for her.  Fortunately for me, I don't go nuts in lines, a skill I picked up from the military.  We all chatted with others while waiting in line, which was a very pleasant way to help kill the time, and eventually it was our (daughter's) turn for the meet and greet.

While waiting in line, daughter indicated she was twitterpated, and she didn't disappoint.  Marsters greeted her and she responded with "You're my second crush."  Marsters didn't miss a beat and replied by saying "You're welcome, who was your first crush?"  Her mind went blank for a half second, before she recovered, telling him that her first crush was Johnny Depp, specifically Captain Jack Sparrow.  "Have you met Johnny," he casually queried?  "He's a really nice guy."  He then turned his attention to my wife and me, noticing that we were both wearing Star Trek attire.

"Oh, you're both Trekkies, nice!  Are you enjoying the convention?"  I replied informing him that it was my first time attending any convention like this, and he said he was a big Trek fan and attended his first convention when he was 13 years old, back when it was all Star Trek.  He then suggested that we spend time talking to other attendees, saying that in his opinion, the fans are the best part of conventions.  He then spent a few more moments talking to wifey and daughter as he signed some memorabilia daughter brought expressly for that purpose.

Backing up a bit... as we waited in line, I caught bits and pieces of his conversations with other fans.  Marsters had talked with a guy shortly before us in line about music.  (Marsters is in a band, Ghost of the Robot.)  The fan was a bass player, and Marsters said something about bass being too hard on the fingers, and said he plays acoustic with ultra light nylon strings.  Yes! I thought.  Not about bass, because that's my primary instrument, but about light strings.  My acoustic guitar has very light strings as well, though they're metal instead of nylon.  I never understood the appeal of heavy strings.  Even my bass has relatively light strings.  I had kind of hoped to chat about music, but I was more than happy to let him and daughter lead the conversation.  I was just a supporting cast member in daughter's show.  Heck, I didn't expect to have any lines, but I was happy to participate.  My overall impression was that he did a spectacular job of finding a connection with everyone who came to meet him.

A short while later there was an opportunity for a professional photo shoot with Marsters, and daughter seized that opportunity as well.  Despite the fact that he had met dozens of fans between our meet-and-greet and the photo session, he appeared to recognize us and said "Welcome back."  This, again, left me with the impression that he was doing more than just going through the motions.  He seemed to genuinely be paying attention to the fans.

That evening, Marsters did a short concert.  It was just him on stage with his acoustic guitar, and we were in a small, intimate room.  We sat at round tables, which lent to an atmosphere of a small lounge.  He played for about an hour, telling a brief story about each song before he played it.  I split my attention between enjoying the music and stories, observing his guitar technique and chord progressions, watching how he worked the audience, and noticing how the audience reacted to him.  It felt like Marsters made eye contact with everyone in the room at one point or another, which again impressed me.  It seemed like he was genuinely interested in his fans, and he came across as someone who was truly happy that people enjoyed his music.

Taking another conversational turn, this time talking as a musician, I have always considered myself a rudimentary musician.  I can play a few chords on guitar, and I can hit the right notes and hold rhythm on bass.  I feel like I have a decent voice and slightly better than average vocal range.  But I will never be a lead guitarist, blistering bass player or vocal virtuoso.  I've written, arranged, and recorded one song that I'm very proud of, but I suspect that if I were to become a songwriter, my songs would very quickly all sound the same.  With that said though, Marsters improved my assessment of my own ability to play.  I have a wider vocal range than what he demonstrated, and his guitar playing was basic chords and simple strumming patterns.  Don't get me wrong.  I very much enjoyed the concert.  His songs were well constructed lyrically and his guitar technique was advanced and varied enough that he didn't come across as a novice trying to pass himself off as a virtuoso.  All I am saying here is that when I left his concert, I thought damn, maybe I'm better at guitar than I've been giving myself credit for.

Now, having said all of this, I should say this is the first time I've been this close to any celebrity, and I've kind of always wondered what it would be like to brush elbows with someone famous.  Based on my reading, it should be obvious that my experience was positive.  He seemed genuinely interested in his fans, and down to earth with his interactions.  Most importantly though, he gave my little girl a day that she will remember for the rest of her life.  As much as anything else, I'm glad that I got to share in her happiness.

Commemorating 9/11/2001

Today is the 25th anniversary of the day terrorists flew airplanes into buildings, and the day where a few brave souls, knowing what was going on, prevented one instance of that happening, sending that specific plane into a field in Pennsylvania.  It was a day that altered the course of history.  It started America's war on terror, and complicated domestic air travel.  It generated fear, anger, and retaliation.  That action showed how utterly and senselessly destructive hatred can bring humans to behave.  It also brought out the best in us.

For the briefest of moments, America was united in outrage and grief.  While trying to make sense of an act that ultimately had no rational explanation, we cared for one another, focused on healing and rebuilding.  We didn't care about the political beliefs of those who perished, only that they were no longer here. We didn't question the religious affiliation of those who searched through the rubble, looking for survivors.  Instead, for an instant in time, we worked as one to process the events and forge a path forward.

Equally remarkable was the outpouring of empathy and support from the international community.  To most of the world, we were a shining example of what freedom should look like, and the most generous country on the planet.  Most of the world was just as shocked as we were, and they openly shared in our grief and disbelief.

Now, twenty-five years later, nothing remains of the unity.  We have predictably returned to our petty bickering and squabbling, and it's gotten so bad that the rest of the world is turning their collective back to us.  I'm having a difficult time with this.  I think back to the day and can almost relive parts of it; the memories are that vivid.  I can't help but mentally compare and contrast our society then vs. now, and I feel despair over our squandered opportunity to do better together.

I Doubt It

I've been seeing a lot of articles running around the interwebs saying that AI developers believe AI could kill us all within a ten years.  In fact, I saw an article this morning that claimed some believe it could kill us by the end of this decade.  To put things in perspective, the end of the current decade is less than four years away.  So let me say it now... I doubt this will come to pass.

Now that I've grabbed your attention with my clickbait, let me share my realistic, though less-than-fully-informed perspective.  Yes, it's quite possible that AI will do something highly disruptive within the next ten years, but that's a far cry from an extinction event.  The only way I see this as even a remote possibility is through the release of a biological agent that's as contagious as measles and as deadly as ebola, or by releasing a toxin into the entire world's water supply simultaneously.  Even then, the likelihood of either event wiping 100% of humans from the earth remain pretty low.

Don't get me wrong.  I am skeptical about AI.  I believe it can do good, but also feel that we're being crazy reckless in our pursuit of it.  I believe AI is generally overhyped; both its productivity and its capacity for bringing catastrophe are being exaggerated.  With that said though, I certainly agree that we need to slow things down.  At our current speed, I believe we're more likely than not to bring about a severe unintended consequence.

Death Knell?

I read an article today effectively saying that Americans don't trust political campaigns.  Okay, this shouldn't be a surprise, but the depth of the mistrust is noteworthy.  According to the article, about 60% of us have little or no trust in information about elections, politics, foreign affairs or the environment.  Less than 35% of us highly trust government certifications of election results.  Only 25% of us trust campaign messages.  To put this in perspective, constitutional amendments require a 2/3 (66%) majority.  This means we've almost reached a point where we have a "constitutional amendment majority" that distrusts trust the system, making things ripe for exploitation.

To clarify, I'm not saying that democracy will fall during this election, but it certainly could happen during my lifetime.  Trust is critical -- CRITICAL -- to democracy.  Democracy can only succeed as long as people trust those we elect, and it's quite clear that we don't.  By extension, we need to trust the press, and I don't think that's the case either.  As I see it, the most likely outcome is a continued decline in participation in the election process until another cult of personality arrives and energizes us.  By "us," I mean the American people at large.  I am not referring specifically to one party or the other, because both parties are equally susceptible to a demagogue.  The biggest factor is the exact wrong person coming to the political stage at the exact right time.

Donald Trump has done a uniquely successful job at eroding an already tenuous trust in our government.  It will be incredibly difficult to rebuild this trust, and based on what I today, there is not a single politician currently serving who is concerned about rebuilding trust.  They're all focused on leveraging this distrust to advance their own power and influence.  This takes me back to the likely outcome I mentioned earlier...  Political participation will continue to decline until we hit the point where a demagogue is able to take all the marbles.  I can't help but wonder if we just witnessed a death knell for democracy.

Wise Beyond His Years

In a post I made a few months back, I said that I'm about done with my local Marine Corps League detachment.  There's been a lot of bickering and infighting, and it's just not fun anymore.  While I still have one foot out the door, the fact that I'm writing today should indicate that I haven't yet given up.

We had our monthly meeting yesterday, and I went, after skipping the August meeting.  (We usually don't hold a meeting in July, because it tends to conflict with 4th of July weekend.)  I wasn't really looking forward to the meeting, but I had a specific reason to attend.  One of my delayed entry poolees just returned from boot camp after earning the title Marine, and I invited him to the meeting to talk about his experience.  I may have soured on my detachment, but I still like the idea of Veteran Service Organizations in general.  I invited this young man, because I believe that it's important for veterans to support those currently serving.  I believe it's important for those currently serving to be exposed to veteran service organizations so they're aware of our existence, and are open to joining a VSO when they hang up their uniform for the last time.

After this Marine spoke, he hung around for the rest of the meeting.  This wasn't our usual meeting, where we read the minutes and conducted business as usual.  We suspended our normal procedure and had what I'd like to call a family meeting.  It started with the Detachment Commandant reading the mission of the Marine Corps League, and saying that it feels like we've forgotten our mission.  He followed this by addressing the divisiveness that's taken root in the detachment.  He acknowledged the contributions of the old guard, admitted that we've gone through a lot of changes lately, and said that he appreciates how these changes have ruffled some feathers.  He also said that change is necessary if we wish to continue as an organization.  Next, he talked about how we have driven off some new members, citing a couple of examples without naming names, and encouraged us to brainstorm ways to do better and move forward.

When the meeting finished, the young Marine and I spoke at length.  He said that he was impressed with our meeting, and shared that he got to see that we have the same problems as everyone else, we addressed the problems head-on, and that in public we carry out our mission.  That statement hit me hard.  I've been so focused on my anger that I was unable to see the larger picture.  This kid is wise beyond his years, and it gave me a bit of a reality check.  I'm not going to say that I'm recommitting myself to the detachment, but I am going to take a mental pause and let his words of wisdom sink in...

This Ain't Rocket Science, It's Just Plain Ol' Science

I have a friend who lives not too far from me who received a notice that they may have been exposed to measles.  This friend then shared the notice on Facebook and said something along the line of I want answers.  This smacks of COVID! I looked at that post and almost did a facepalm, wondering how someone could connect these dots.  (Oh gee, I made a funny.  Dots... Measles...  Too soon?)  Anyway, let me share how these are not in any way related, except in the mind of a conspiracy theorist.

For starters, measles was eliminated in the United States back in 2000.  What this means is that measles was wiped out in the US.  The only way outbreaks occur here is when someone travels out of the country and brings the virus back as a souvenir.  Measles is still technically eliminated in the US, but that status is under threat because outbreaks are becoming increasingly common and widespread.  COVID was a new virus.

Moving on to my next point, measles has had a safe, effective vaccine for over 50 years. We wiped out measles in the US because we developed herd immunity, which states that 95% of the American population was immunized against measles.  By the way, herd immunity varies based on how contagious a given virus is.  Measles is considered the most contagious virus known to science, which is why we need such a high vaccination rate to contain it.  By way of comparison, the flu only needs about 45% vaccination for herd immunity.  COVID was a new pathogen that had no vaccine when it broke out.

When COVID happened, we basically shut down the whole world.  My friend just got a notice.  Nobody's being forced to stay home.  Nobody's being asked to quarantine, unless they have an active, diagnosed case.  These aspects are so dissimilar that it's mind boggling anyone would correlate them.

The measles vaccine provides lifetime immunity, whereas COVID requires new immunization as strains continue to mutate.  Measles, by contrast, has not mutated in decades.

So... to my friend who wants answers:  This does not smack of COVID.  These two situations are nothing alike.  The reason you may have been exposed to measles is because an unvaccinated individual in your general geographic region was exposed to measles, and caught the virus.  Since measles, as stated above, is considered the single most contagious pathogen known to science, and because our vaccination rate has fallen below the 95% threshold mentioned above, we need to take more precautions to prevent widespread outbreaks.  In other words, the anti-vaxxers are making things tougher for all of us.  This ain't rocket science, it's just plain ol' science.