If you could ask the presidential candidates one question, what would it be? Mine would be: "Have you ever worked for minimum wage?"

Not that I think everyone in DC is completely out of touch with the majority of the real world. Oh no.

My opinion of Napster:

Yes, I think it's copyright infringement. I think it would be equivalent to me scanning a published story and putting it on my website--just for my friends to read, y'know? I think that any pro writer, or even wannabe pro writer--especially the ones who get up in arms about electronic rights--is being hypocritical if they use Napster or an equivalent site.

The fourth amendment.

For those of you who aren't up on your bill of rights, that's the one that covers the right against unreasonable search and seizure.

It's amazing how many people want that right to cover themselves... and only themselves. I was talking to the manager of a convenience store the other night, and she was complaining about the fact that the police wouldn't "do anything" about this house in her neighborhood where "everyone knows" drugs are being sold out of. I knew the house to which she was referring, and yes, we know it's a crack house, but I tried to explain to her that we can't just bust in the door and arrest everyone inside. "All the police do is watch the place!" she complained. Again, I tried to explain that we have to have this thing called a search warrant, and for that you need something called Probable Cause. "But everyone knows it's a crack house!" she declared. Yeah, but we can't go to a judge and say, "Your honor, we know it's a crack house. We just know! Please let us bust in and rip it apart!"

Or the people who want you to search another person, because they think that they might have stolen property on them. Now, it's all right to jack up someone else and go through their pockets and pat them down... but you know there'd be a screaming hissy fit if we asked Joe Innocent Citizen to get up against the car.

Yeah, that fourth amendment can be a real pain in the ass... but it applies to everyone. Not just the "good guys."

Why is it socially acceptable to pick your ears, but not your nose?

I picked up a copy of the Year's Best Science Fiction Volume 17, and of course immediately flipped to the back where the Honorable Mentions were listed to see my name and story title in black and white. (Okay, I did that while I was still in the bookstore. You would too.)

But it wasn't until I got home and settled down to read that I got to the real stunner. I read through Gardner's summation, where he talks about the ups and downs of the SF industry in the previous year, books, stories, anthologies, movies, etc... And then got to the end of his summation where he does a brief listing of notable passings, i.e. people of note in the industry or their relatives who have died in the past year.

And goddamn but if I didn't see, near the end, "... W.H. "Pete" Rowland, father of SF writer Diana Rowland..." I was stunned. Floored. Utterly gratified. That, far more than the Honorable Mention, made me feel like a real part of the SF writing community.

Thanks, Gardner.