Booking a hotel for Worldcon

Just did ours. Make yours, as appropriate, via the Worldcon's hotel pages. The Marriott River Center is the "party hotel." But the Marriott River Walk is a leisurely stroll away and also very pleasant, from my memory.

OTOH, staying in the main party hotel means not dealing (more than the trip to and from the convention center) with what my body remembers as truly impressive heat and humidity in San Antonio. :-)

Our journey is not complete...

Probably the most impressive quote from President Obama's Second Inaugural Address:

Our journey is not complete until our gay brothers and sisters are treated like anyone else under the law –- for if we are truly created equal, then surely the love we commit to one another must be equal as well.

It seems to me that public acknowledgement of the gay community's rights and needs - from the most significant pulpit in the nation and during the most important speaking occasion we have every four years - is vital. That the president said this in his inaugural address would have been unthinkable in my youth.

Bravo, Mr. President.

As I watch the Inaugural Parade...

...I was struck by how much the standard of Boy Scout Troop 358 from Germantown, Pennsylvania...looked like a giant Campbell's Soup label. (Here's a video from the Philly CBS affiliate...you can see the standard displayed in the video.)

Then I realized that Camden, NJ, where Campbell's is headquartered...is about 15 miles away from Germantown. :-)

More thoughts on the Inaugural Parade

What we would not have seen 40 years ago (besides the black president, of course): women in all of the military bands, color guards, and marching groups. Women astronauts. Women mounted police officers. Women of all colors and ages.

Yeah. Like that. Living in the future's a fine, fine thing.

(Edit: And the Lesbian and Gay Band just walked past the viewing area. Woot!)

So...where are we?

Curiosity knows.