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Jeff Mach’s event is huge. The largest of the steampunk conventions I’ve gone to with 4,000 attendees last year. In the lead up to this year they filled up the two main hotels quickly. Filled up an overflow hotel and then another overflow hotel.
The halls were going to be packed.
Friday
And, when we got there, a big chunk of parking lot was closed. And I am not just referring to the spaces that were closed off for the Midway tents and performance stage, this was a bunch of space in front of the Embassy Suites that was blocked off. What’s with that? Didn’t they know we were coming? Heck, even Wikipedia knows the con attendance numbers.
My first of four presentations was my most practiced Mystery Airships. The con’s projector worked without issue though the alignment wasn’t the best for the space. The room wasn’t packed but it was pretty full and afterwards I received a lot of compliments in addition to a few questions. A couple, Lee and Diane, were very complimentary. They are involved in the Philly Science Fiction Society and will often bring speakers to their meetings though my being from Pittsburgh might make that a little prohibitive. They are also involved with programming at Philcon and I explained that I hadn’t been going to Philcon recently, being busy with steampunk focused cons rather than the more general science fiction cons, but if I were to be comped a membership I would certainly consider coming out to be on programming and panels.
I took my presentation stuff back to the room and came down with my copy of Morlock Night because at 10pm there was to be a “Hangout with K. W. Jeter" event in the bar. I didn’t know what Jeter looked like but when I saw Lee and Diane sitting with a few people at a table I thought I was on the right track. And, since I had already met them, it wouldn’t seem to strange for me to introduce myself and ask to join them.
So, for the next few hours I hung out with K. W. Jeter, his wife Geri, Paul DiFillipo, and (as I later looked up on the web) Lee Weinstein, assistant editor for Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in the late 70s and early 80s, and Diane Weinstein, who had been editor of Weird Tales magazine through the 90s.
With such an august assemblage I probably should have made more of an effort to talk about writing and presentations and otherwise network myself. Instead, it was mostly about the Jeter’s adventures of living in Ecuador.
Saturday
Recognizing that partying goes on, there was no programming until 11am and most things didn’t get going until noon. That allowed me to sleep as much as I could. That was still no later than about 9am.
My Victorian Spacecraft program was at 1:15. I neglected to research a few things that I had learned at the Steampunk Symposium that I might have wanted to add but their omission did not detract. This is my second-most practiced program and it went smoothly and on time.
Last year, Louise Krasniewicz did a presentation on the Worlds Fairs and introduced the story of Emma Allison, the woman who ran the steam engine that powers the Womens’ Pavillion at the 1976 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Based on that introduction, I added Emma Allison to the Civil War narrative “A World Unmade” that I was writing for TeslaCon.
This year, the presentation was specifically on Emma Allison and we learned more. For example, we learned that she was not from Iowa, as had been reported in the previous presentation, but was from Ontario. This means that I will need to make a few minor adjustments to “A World Unmade.” A few words in a single paragraph will cover it but I will still need to get a hold of Lord Bobbins to make sure the change is in there.
Frank Todaro, host of The Invisible World radio program, did a presentation on the Victorian Paranormal, specifically focusing on spirit photography. He started off with a few “ghost” photographs including the Amityville Ghost Boy photo and the Wem Town Hall fire . He presented the Wem Town Hall picture as fact or “a mystery” when I know that it was debunked as a hoax with the girl spliced in from a postcard.
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He then proceeded to cover 19th century “spirit” photography which, time and time again was shown to be simple (and sometimes hilariously inept) double exposures. Even so, with fake after fake after fake presented, at the end he told a few spooky, unsubstantiated stories and insisted that just because all these things are obvious or proven fakes doesn’t mean that there aren’t real ones out there and that there aren’t really ghosts.
“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
Sorry, but that’s not true. Oh, in a certain gnostic sense we cannot know with absolute certainty that in a massive universe such a thing isn’t possible, but possibility is not probability and we don’t operate in that fringe world.
If I loose my keys and search my house; looking in my pockets, on top of the dresser, in the drawers, under the furniture, in the refrigerator and so on, if I don’t find the keys then eventually I must come to the conclusion that since it is not anywhere I have looked in the house and I have looked in a large majority of places in the house to be looked in, the probability is that the keys are not in the house. Each place looked in without success changes the probability that they will be found in the house and ultimately that probability becomes so small as to become virtually non-existant. The keys could still be in the house, in some bizarre place requiring a strange set of unusual circumstances wherein a squirrel broke into my house, grabbed my keys and stashed them behind the rafters in the attic, but, at some point, I should accept that the odds are against it and I should give up and search somewhere else.
This is the intuitive version of Bayes Theorem that we use every day. So, in the aforementioned case, when we compare the number of spirit photographs (a very large number) with the number of spirit photographs that were shown to be actual spirits (zero or, to be exceedingly generous, a very small number), no mater how much you want to believe, the odds are that spirit photography is untrue.
And, once that conclusion is accepted, the burden of proof falls on the claimant to overturn the overwhelming lack of evidence with some extraordinary evidence to support their claim. Just saying, “it’s possible” and “you’re just being closed minded” isn’t enough, they have to actually find the squirrel that took the keys.
This is why one of presentations I want to develop will be on 19th century pseudo-science, hoaxes and charlatans. Spirit photography was debunked in the 19th Century. William Mumler, the man credited with beginning the spirit photography industry was convicted of fraud within a decade of going into business. Homeopathy was considered humbug from the outset but was conclusively falsified by Avagadro’s theories, also within a decade or so. Phrenology, introduced in 1809 was completely discredited by the 1840s. All of these things were known to be false shortly after they were introduced because the people proposing them failed to present any evidence to support their claims. Lacking that, the scientific community had no choice but to conclude that there was no there there and moved on. That the proponents of these discredited and unsupported pseudosciences continued to promote their ideas is a testament, not to that triumph of the underdog fighting against the establishment but speaks to the gullibility of people who want to believe.
My Century of the Beard presentation is still too long, leading me to rush through the end. I will need to cut even more photographs. The advantage is that the next time I present at Up In The Aether, they have me at the end of the block so I could, theoretically, go on as long as people were willing to sit. I’ll trim and then go with what I have at an appropriate pace. Without rushing, I’ll be able to get a better sense of just how far I’ve gone over time so that I know precisely how many pictures I would need to cut.
I realigned the projector with the screen on the other side of the front of the room to maximize the image.
I went to the Steam Powered Giraffe concert. They were entertaining but not enough for me to become a fanboy. I saw plenty of people in makeup and costume so I know that there are a lot of people who are enamored of their act but I’m simply not one of them.
After that we went back to the room which, at the Raddison, was overlooking the parking lot where the performance stage was set up. That meant that Voltaire’s performance was clearly audible from the room so there wasn’t going to be any sleeping until that was over.
Even so, I probably got to sleep earlier on Saturday night than I had on Friday night.
Sunday
The beard contest was “first thing” on Sunday morning. A number of fine beards and mustaches. I did not win or place.
I have been looking for gear buttons to spruce up my tailcoat. I had seen some online but hadn’t ordered them because I wanted to be sure of the size. Threads of Time had them for more than I would pay online but with shipping and the knowledge of exactly what I was getting they purchased at the merely inflated “con pricing.” I also bought some lacing from Tandy Leather for the rifle/shotgun scabbards I plan on building.
Last year I had intended to purchase a reprint of “Varney the Vampire” but the dealer had sold out. He brought extras so that he was not sold out before the last hours of the con.
My fourth program for the weekend was my Airship Technology and History presentation. After previous performances I had completely retooled it, focusing on the technology of how airships work rather than going through a chronological history of airships. Though there are still things I would like to cover, this presentation went much better overall.
I would have liked to have stayed for the Airships in Literature presentation but Euphorbia looked like she wanted to get going and, in all honesty, I was burning out as well. We both had to go to work the next day and getting going earlier rather than later was probably a good thing.
As I was leaving, I received several compliments for my airship presentation, which I humbly received. I was also given a box of squid bits. No, really. I was given a container of cephalopod tentacles.
Over dinner in Carslile, Euphorbia and I talked a little about being comped. Even though I have been involved with cons for a long time, even with running them, she knows more about the inside and said that if someone does three panels or more, they will typically be comped. That is the policy at Confluence. I’ve done four at SPWF and at TeslaCon and paid my full rate at the gate.
Should I start limiting myself or holding out for a presented badge? I’ve talked to Brian Thomas (Major Girth of the IAAC) and he seemed to indicate that he won’t go unless he is comped, citing that he is an author and is working. He’s not there to have fun. I’m not an author yet, so I don’t have that sort of “leverage”, I’m working on that a bit with TeslaCon but that hasn’t panned out yet.
Should I say, “sure, I’ll do presentations but if you have me doing more than three I’d like to be comped in some way.” Am I still not enough of a somebody to pull that off? SPWF is huge and has a big chunk of revenue going on. Do I hold out for compensation from them but lighten it for smaller, less financially secure cons?
The Up In The Aether convention is this upcoming weekend and I’m doing all four of my presentations there.
The halls were going to be packed.
Friday
And, when we got there, a big chunk of parking lot was closed. And I am not just referring to the spaces that were closed off for the Midway tents and performance stage, this was a bunch of space in front of the Embassy Suites that was blocked off. What’s with that? Didn’t they know we were coming? Heck, even Wikipedia knows the con attendance numbers.
My first of four presentations was my most practiced Mystery Airships. The con’s projector worked without issue though the alignment wasn’t the best for the space. The room wasn’t packed but it was pretty full and afterwards I received a lot of compliments in addition to a few questions. A couple, Lee and Diane, were very complimentary. They are involved in the Philly Science Fiction Society and will often bring speakers to their meetings though my being from Pittsburgh might make that a little prohibitive. They are also involved with programming at Philcon and I explained that I hadn’t been going to Philcon recently, being busy with steampunk focused cons rather than the more general science fiction cons, but if I were to be comped a membership I would certainly consider coming out to be on programming and panels.
I took my presentation stuff back to the room and came down with my copy of Morlock Night because at 10pm there was to be a “Hangout with K. W. Jeter" event in the bar. I didn’t know what Jeter looked like but when I saw Lee and Diane sitting with a few people at a table I thought I was on the right track. And, since I had already met them, it wouldn’t seem to strange for me to introduce myself and ask to join them.
So, for the next few hours I hung out with K. W. Jeter, his wife Geri, Paul DiFillipo, and (as I later looked up on the web) Lee Weinstein, assistant editor for Isaac Asimov’s Science Fiction Magazine in the late 70s and early 80s, and Diane Weinstein, who had been editor of Weird Tales magazine through the 90s.
With such an august assemblage I probably should have made more of an effort to talk about writing and presentations and otherwise network myself. Instead, it was mostly about the Jeter’s adventures of living in Ecuador.
Saturday
Recognizing that partying goes on, there was no programming until 11am and most things didn’t get going until noon. That allowed me to sleep as much as I could. That was still no later than about 9am.
My Victorian Spacecraft program was at 1:15. I neglected to research a few things that I had learned at the Steampunk Symposium that I might have wanted to add but their omission did not detract. This is my second-most practiced program and it went smoothly and on time.
Last year, Louise Krasniewicz did a presentation on the Worlds Fairs and introduced the story of Emma Allison, the woman who ran the steam engine that powers the Womens’ Pavillion at the 1976 Centennial Exhibition in Philadelphia. Based on that introduction, I added Emma Allison to the Civil War narrative “A World Unmade” that I was writing for TeslaCon.
This year, the presentation was specifically on Emma Allison and we learned more. For example, we learned that she was not from Iowa, as had been reported in the previous presentation, but was from Ontario. This means that I will need to make a few minor adjustments to “A World Unmade.” A few words in a single paragraph will cover it but I will still need to get a hold of Lord Bobbins to make sure the change is in there.
Frank Todaro, host of The Invisible World radio program, did a presentation on the Victorian Paranormal, specifically focusing on spirit photography. He started off with a few “ghost” photographs including the Amityville Ghost Boy photo and the Wem Town Hall fire . He presented the Wem Town Hall picture as fact or “a mystery” when I know that it was debunked as a hoax with the girl spliced in from a postcard.
“Absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.”
Sorry, but that’s not true. Oh, in a certain gnostic sense we cannot know with absolute certainty that in a massive universe such a thing isn’t possible, but possibility is not probability and we don’t operate in that fringe world.
If I loose my keys and search my house; looking in my pockets, on top of the dresser, in the drawers, under the furniture, in the refrigerator and so on, if I don’t find the keys then eventually I must come to the conclusion that since it is not anywhere I have looked in the house and I have looked in a large majority of places in the house to be looked in, the probability is that the keys are not in the house. Each place looked in without success changes the probability that they will be found in the house and ultimately that probability becomes so small as to become virtually non-existant. The keys could still be in the house, in some bizarre place requiring a strange set of unusual circumstances wherein a squirrel broke into my house, grabbed my keys and stashed them behind the rafters in the attic, but, at some point, I should accept that the odds are against it and I should give up and search somewhere else.
This is the intuitive version of Bayes Theorem that we use every day. So, in the aforementioned case, when we compare the number of spirit photographs (a very large number) with the number of spirit photographs that were shown to be actual spirits (zero or, to be exceedingly generous, a very small number), no mater how much you want to believe, the odds are that spirit photography is untrue.
And, once that conclusion is accepted, the burden of proof falls on the claimant to overturn the overwhelming lack of evidence with some extraordinary evidence to support their claim. Just saying, “it’s possible” and “you’re just being closed minded” isn’t enough, they have to actually find the squirrel that took the keys.
This is why one of presentations I want to develop will be on 19th century pseudo-science, hoaxes and charlatans. Spirit photography was debunked in the 19th Century. William Mumler, the man credited with beginning the spirit photography industry was convicted of fraud within a decade of going into business. Homeopathy was considered humbug from the outset but was conclusively falsified by Avagadro’s theories, also within a decade or so. Phrenology, introduced in 1809 was completely discredited by the 1840s. All of these things were known to be false shortly after they were introduced because the people proposing them failed to present any evidence to support their claims. Lacking that, the scientific community had no choice but to conclude that there was no there there and moved on. That the proponents of these discredited and unsupported pseudosciences continued to promote their ideas is a testament, not to that triumph of the underdog fighting against the establishment but speaks to the gullibility of people who want to believe.
My Century of the Beard presentation is still too long, leading me to rush through the end. I will need to cut even more photographs. The advantage is that the next time I present at Up In The Aether, they have me at the end of the block so I could, theoretically, go on as long as people were willing to sit. I’ll trim and then go with what I have at an appropriate pace. Without rushing, I’ll be able to get a better sense of just how far I’ve gone over time so that I know precisely how many pictures I would need to cut.
I realigned the projector with the screen on the other side of the front of the room to maximize the image.
I went to the Steam Powered Giraffe concert. They were entertaining but not enough for me to become a fanboy. I saw plenty of people in makeup and costume so I know that there are a lot of people who are enamored of their act but I’m simply not one of them.
After that we went back to the room which, at the Raddison, was overlooking the parking lot where the performance stage was set up. That meant that Voltaire’s performance was clearly audible from the room so there wasn’t going to be any sleeping until that was over.
Even so, I probably got to sleep earlier on Saturday night than I had on Friday night.
Sunday
The beard contest was “first thing” on Sunday morning. A number of fine beards and mustaches. I did not win or place.
I have been looking for gear buttons to spruce up my tailcoat. I had seen some online but hadn’t ordered them because I wanted to be sure of the size. Threads of Time had them for more than I would pay online but with shipping and the knowledge of exactly what I was getting they purchased at the merely inflated “con pricing.” I also bought some lacing from Tandy Leather for the rifle/shotgun scabbards I plan on building.
Last year I had intended to purchase a reprint of “Varney the Vampire” but the dealer had sold out. He brought extras so that he was not sold out before the last hours of the con.
My fourth program for the weekend was my Airship Technology and History presentation. After previous performances I had completely retooled it, focusing on the technology of how airships work rather than going through a chronological history of airships. Though there are still things I would like to cover, this presentation went much better overall.
I would have liked to have stayed for the Airships in Literature presentation but Euphorbia looked like she wanted to get going and, in all honesty, I was burning out as well. We both had to go to work the next day and getting going earlier rather than later was probably a good thing.
As I was leaving, I received several compliments for my airship presentation, which I humbly received. I was also given a box of squid bits. No, really. I was given a container of cephalopod tentacles.
Over dinner in Carslile, Euphorbia and I talked a little about being comped. Even though I have been involved with cons for a long time, even with running them, she knows more about the inside and said that if someone does three panels or more, they will typically be comped. That is the policy at Confluence. I’ve done four at SPWF and at TeslaCon and paid my full rate at the gate.
Should I start limiting myself or holding out for a presented badge? I’ve talked to Brian Thomas (Major Girth of the IAAC) and he seemed to indicate that he won’t go unless he is comped, citing that he is an author and is working. He’s not there to have fun. I’m not an author yet, so I don’t have that sort of “leverage”, I’m working on that a bit with TeslaCon but that hasn’t panned out yet.
Should I say, “sure, I’ll do presentations but if you have me doing more than three I’d like to be comped in some way.” Am I still not enough of a somebody to pull that off? SPWF is huge and has a big chunk of revenue going on. Do I hold out for compensation from them but lighten it for smaller, less financially secure cons?
The Up In The Aether convention is this upcoming weekend and I’m doing all four of my presentations there.
