Yesterday, to get to San Jose, Roni was one of the first to pay the Golden Gate Bridge $5 toll. She was filmed for TV! Also, sometime last week, she met the American Independent candidate for Governor.

Our feet hurt. In fact, Rich is planning to drive Sailor to the softball complex for a week or so to rest his. Hence, it seemed like a good idea to ride the trolley again. Even on holidays, it runs frequently, just with shorter trains. I called Monica to offer to treat people to dinner tonight, and off we went.

First we went up to the Consuite to check quarters and to see what they are going to sell. The beach towels are going to an animal shelter, and I didn't see anything else I had to have. (The con did a number of great charities. Locks of Love was haircuts for wigs for kids with cancer, etc. I seriously thought about it, but figured no kid would want a gray wig. Rich told me, later, that they could dye it. Drat. Turns out they got enough for 28 wigs!)

They are using the newsletters to lecture people on how to be civilized. Tip the waiters, tip the hotel maids, don't move walls, and yesterday they were giving the 6-2-1 rule. Every day, 6 hours of sleep, 2 meals, and 1 shower. Some of these folks look like its 6 meals for every 2 hours of sleep!

Many are chosen, but few are Pict

Outsmarting Evolution in Action: Can we Get Ahead of Antibiotic Resistant Bugs?

Rich was at Soviet Space Disasters. In a surprising panel choice, mine had Frank Wu. He let down his blue-tipped hair and said "I must be beautiful before I unleash my rage." It turns out that he has a PhD in bacteriology and genetics. Without an overhead, though, he was having a hard time. He knew it all and wanted to tell it all to the audience, and lost me on the first polysyllabic enzyme. Other panelists were Kristine Smith, Scott Parker, William Thomasson ("writing about science is easier than doing it"), and Elizabeth Moon.

Before I got lost in the polysyllabic enzymes, I did note that DNA->RNA->protein. Sulfa compounds get in the way of bacteria production of RNA or protein. ("It's very flattering to be immortalized for posterity.") Resistant bacteria have no competition. Agriculture and inefficient medicine are two ways we increase tolerance for antibiotics. Kids who got a shot every time they got a cold have now grown up believing there's a shot for everything. In rural communities they dig into the barn box for medication. EM: cross resistance because we feed cattle antibiotics to grow faster. If you don't take all your drugs you help select for drug resistance. Antibiotics are sprayed on trees, in the oil pipeline, they're everywhere. WT listed new smarter ways of using antibiotics. These days it takes a day to figure out what's wrong then another couple of days to find the right anti-biotic. They are working on a way to use DNA tech to quickly identify the cause and cure of diseases. Most resistance comes from ear infections in children. They can use two different antibiotics which will help because most germs don't have resistance for both. In Britain, and some VA hospitals in the US, they have rotated antibiotics. They're currently using this hospital-wide, but there's talk about expanding to counties.

Bugs in the news. We talked about nanoparticles and phages. Is there antibiotic toothpaste? Probably the dentist meant antibacterial. EM pointed out that using one bacterium to catch another was kind of like a protection racket.

T-shirt: Think one person can change the world? Think again.

Buttons:

They laughed at all the great inventers and discoverers. They laughed at Galileo, at Edison's lightbulb. They even laughed at nitrous oxide.

A Real Friend isn't someone that you use once and throw away, a Real Friend is someone that you can use again and again.

First they came for the verbs and I said nothing because verbing weirds language. Then they arrival for the nouns and I speech nothing because I no verbs.

Domestic Architecture in 2050

This panel was overcrowded. I don't think they realized how popular it would be, but hey, everyone has a home. (Rich went to Cyberindigestion.) Subdivisions were developed in the 1940s and '50s and are now seen as the natural state of housing. The US has the highest %tage of single home ownership in the world. The Community Reinvestment act of 1977 has the unexpected consequence of yuppifying cities. One of the panellists is redoing a condo in the Yerba Buena Redevelopment area. One must be an artist, and they are live/work lofts. Her building was an envelope factory, then the Emporium, and now condos.

The ratio of public to private space in houses has changed. Victorian houses had lots of public space. There's a decline in household size, not only because of fewer children, but also no servants, not multigenerational families. Houses are not used so much as business space, thought that might be changing back. There is less stuff (!). There's a decline of domestic arts and sciences. Cooking for one isn't much fun and a lot of people, 20%, live alone. The 2000 census showed more adult children live alone, and there's a higher trend of unrelated people living alone (not in a relationship, that is.)

Even though many people don't actually cook any more, kitchens are getting bigger and more glamourous. There are two of everything. Home beautification magazines show houses that people don't live in. It wasn't till a few years ago that any pictures had a TV or books. There's a showy living/dining area and a huge master bedroom with dressing area. I'm reminded of my neighbor's redone house with their Great Room and huge bedroom. The magazines sell the idea that "I will be a better-dressed person if I live in this house." I thought about the things they sell at the home shows... I not only want all the magical cleaning tools, I want them to work magically, or at least to have the demonstrator come with them to use them at my house.

Trends are imposed on already-existing buildings. Building codes get in the way. One woman is building a house of separated rooms to take advantage of the natural air conditioning and it's a hassle. Her 5000 sq-ft house has only 2 bedrooms and the inspectors are giving her trouble. Builders don't know how to use new materials and the labor unions are stuck with wood frame construction. This may take 100 years to change. Insurance firms won't insure manufactured homes even though they are tied to a frame.

In Taos, the Earthship is made of used tires and recycled materials which building codes in California won't allow. Tract houses are not apt to last. Building hasn't downturned with the rest of the economy. In Sacramento, they are building 7500 foot houses on 6500 foot lots. People like us, with the quarter-acre lot, are getting rarer, so even though Mossyrocks is not ideal, we should definitely hold onto it. The panel talked about five bedrooms for empty-nesters. (Hey, more room for books!)

Laws are dominated by people who give a damn. Building codes are made by builders. Building costs are lower, but land goes up. Meanwhile, neighborhoods are changing, too. Technologies no longer are in cities and they don't take so much money. Pittsburgh has changed from steel mills to financial institutions and real estate. Businesses tend to cluster. 20 years ago it took 220 sq-ft per employees and today it's 10 sq-ft. Wood today is of lower quality than it was even ten years ago. However, a guy who used to work for Weyerhauser says there's hardwood coming in another 10 years. ("Money does grow on trees, but it takes a long time.")

The economy that built cities and suburbs is different. The flight to the suburbs was from people who had lived during the Depression. The more room you have, the more you want. Realtors don't know how people live in houses, they know comps, how many bedrooms, how many baths. People are being sold a modern look without attention to how it's used. There's a dichotomy between what we think we want and what we can actually live in.

Janet Lafler, who I remember from rec.arts.books, talked about a million-dollar teardown of (ouch) a Julia Morgan house. I suddenly don't mind the dot-com crash. Philistines!

The granny annex may be the big change in zoning and building codes in the future. Electronics will be built in as a matter of course in 2050. They asked when are we going to get soft tubs? (WHAT A GOOD IDEA!) JL predicts fewer single-family houses. Public space is becoming commercial space.

ObGoe T-shirt: Ivanova is God, Ivanova is always right.

Forensic Analysis of the World Trade Center Tragedy

Bernadette and Robert went to the Online Comic SIG. Patricia MacEwan, who is a forensics expert, had a slide show and they actually had everything she needed! (There was a guy in a medieval Arab costume at the talk.) Forensics means to identify the suspects, identify the method, identify prevention. Engineering experts have studied why the towers fell, why they stood up so long (and thank God they didn't fall and create a domino effect, which is what They hoped for) and what can we do to improve design. The jet fuel made instant fireballs on the floor which pored down the elevators. The structure ignited. The total enery was involved approximated the output of a large commercial power-generating plant.

There were 58,100 people in the WTC when it was attacked. 3000 were killed, including 343 emergency workers. I am struck by how lucky we were. Up to now I've focused on how many were killed, but look at how many weren't! There were another 10 major buildings destroyed. 30 million square feet of office space were lost, "only" 12 million of it in the WTC complex.

She showed us how to use fingerprints for ID. Unlike what one hears on TV, there's not a minimum number of points necessary to get a match. Shoes can be used, and footprints are unique, too.

To date the FBI Disaster Squad has helped with 207 disasters, and of 8235 victims, they'd identified 4490. DMORT is about 1500 private citizens with special skills. They are called up like the Reserves when they are needed. 236 of them went to the WTC. The Pentagon dealt with the Pentagon.

By June 24, 1200 victims were identibyed, mostly by DNA. A third of these were kinship DNA. The rest were by comparison with direct references. 80% of the victims were men. She says that John Doe #2 may have been blown up in OKC.

She told the audience about DNA analysis. STR, short tandem repeat analysis, needs only one nanogram of DNA for analysis. Mitochondrial DNA is harier, but less specific. You can't tell two people with the same mother apart. It is present in hair. SNP, single nucleotide matching, works as well as RLFP (? sorry) at a ratio of 6.4::1.

We left when the questions started. She asked "do you think it will happen again" and an audience member started a long, egotistical, boring answer. My answer is "probably", but we can discourage a lot of repeats.

Rich and I left the Convention Center for the last time. We checked for quarters, and then explored the area a little bit. Apparently A.P. Gianini (who founded the Bank of Italy/Bank of America) was born in a parking garage. Actually, I think his home is out at the museum in Kelley Park. We saw how the Peralta Adobe and Fallon House fit into the city. When we visited them around the time of Monica's wedding, it was a long drive from Santa Clara and I hadn't realized how close they were to the Convention Center and the Tech. Finally, we went to Johnny Rocket for lunch.

Then it was time for

Closing Ceremony

We saw Bernarob in the hall waiting for the doors to open. She'd run into the Rubber Duck brigade in the bathroom, where one had fallen to her knees and said "Lather, Rinse, Repent." We got seats right in front. There were bad jokes, Feghoots, with the punchlines:

• No plate like chrome for the Hollandaize
• Pickle your tribbles in you old kit bag and smile, smile, smile
• Wee Vishnu a very merry crushed moose and a hoppy Jew near
• Let old and quaint tents be for God and never brought to mines

There were other guest of honor speeches. Bjo Trimble referred to "throwing myself on the live grenade that is my children."

The Great Washed came in chanting the "Lather, Rinse, Repent" mantra and presented the Grand Loofah. Then the con chairmen happily turned over the gavel to the Toronto con chairman. Who screamed. He called himself a "Con Hoser, eh?" to general groans.

He described Toronto as meaning "the village" and talked about Worldcon #61, that's a number 6 and a number 1 and he said something about the Green Door. Then the whole Canadian team donned hard hats and said they were under con-struction, and we left. They gave out building blocks with Smarties, which are Brit/Canadian M&Ms.

We said goodbye to Bernadette and Robert and went over to the trolley. And waited and waited. Rich got a Sacajawea dollar. I pondered the "Norman Mineta Airport." Geeze. And we waited. The trolleys were running on time in the other direction, but ours was fifteen minutes late. When we got off it, the next one was about five minutes later. Such timing.

I read the Hugo newsletter. I was offended by the lack of mention of Gharlane of Eddore. Bernadette later explained to me that it wasn't nominations they listed, but Hugo votes. The Libertarian award to "The Prisoner", which is another ObGoe for the day. FALLING STARS was a runnerup. The "e" satire newsletter said it's really a mylar pentagram (about the mylar maze/labyrinth.)

We went over to Monica's. She'd guilted Mark into staying home with the baby, so we all piled into our neat little car. Almost nothing was open, and we ended back up downtown at the Tied House. I enjoyed this meal. Back at the house, we said goodnight to Genevieve, and Bernadette and Robert packed up to go back to Sacramento. (Hey, this is pretty much their honeymoon, after all.) We said goodbye to M&M and went back downtown to go to the Dead Dog party.

Presumably this is a few diehards sitting around and blearing at each other. But this had a couple of hundred people and they were selling off their stuff. Rich missed getting a big can of nuts, but we did get a colorful tray (and two blue plates I don't care about) for $1. There were about 60 cases of soft drinks left piled up. It was hectic and noisy. We talked to a woman who said she would hold her nose and vote for Davis. We tried to talk her into either not voting in the Governor's race or voting for a minor-party candidate. After all, there's a Druid in the race. My thought is that this is what Davis does to us when he's running for re-election, how awful it would be when he's running for President.

I had a lot more fun than I thought I would have at this con. Harlan Ellison wasn't there. however, some people I wanted to avoid didn't come. The two I saw who did were avoidable (albeit we had a couple of close calls). I missed my dwarf, but it wasn't as bad as I'd feared. Rich and Robert had a good time, and I think Bernadette got the most out of it. She made a lot of contacts and was inspired with a lot of ideas.