I'm planning to make FOGcon my yearly local must-attend convention.

[azurelunatic]

Sometime after I get a decent night's sleep, I should write in more detail about FOGcon, especially as I took notes.

A few important points before I do go the fuck to sleep:

I went to this con hoping to avoid one specific person. That specific person was literally the first one I saw, and she looks much happier than she did while attending the meeting from hell led by the Buck-Stopper and the Buck-Stopper's Thug.

I can in fact have hella fun doing Lobbycon and winding up attending exactly zero panels.

One rogue light socket can perform a Denial of Service attack on your whole smart house.

There are certain classes of (usually self-published) authors on Twitter who don't actually bother to be very human on Twitter while cycling the same ~5 self-promotional links over and over.

"They're as useful as ... tweeting lightbulbs!" I said, hearkening back to the previous conversation about the smart house.

I had no idea that I knew (directly, vaguely, or friends-of-friends) so many people at this convention.

Comments

[vass]

I think that's more of a smrt house than a smart house.

When I saw that on Tumblr, I had this whole long rant about sustainability and the tragedy of the commons and open culture and the rise of specialists and mostly-electronic cars and radios with no user servicable parts inside and patented seeds and the loss of ordinary household skills jump to my fingers, and then after a few paragraphs I calmed down, deleted it, and went for an Imperial Radch joke instead.

Very short version of that rant: okay, fine, I don't object to that guy wiring up his whole house as a hobby, that's not that much worse than installing Linux in the 90s, just on a larger scale. But as the Way of the Future for everyone... OMG NOOOOOOOOOOOOO.

[azurelunatic]

Now I am pondering how many "smart car" (tiny, looks like a roller skate) owners have custom license plates and have opted to drop vowels.

The wisdom of [off-topic] says that usability and non-fragility are important in home automation, and spousal veto is not infrequent. I salute the sensible spouses of the world.

[azurelunatic]

Also I think you will like Mithi when I write more of her world. I have really got to give her more brainspace.

[wibbble]

'LobbyCon', also known as 'the hallway track', or 'hanging out in the bar'. Many people go to things like EasterCon and have never attended a single panel!

[cynthia1960]

I do LobbyCon and BarCon at WisCon because they're disconnected. The Walnut Creek Marriott combines both, and I like that a lot.

[wordweaverlynn]

I'm so sorry I didn't see you at FOGcon. That's the curse of being on concom -- I was insanely busy all the way through.

[azurelunatic]

Oh, I'm sure!

I told Wendy that if I am less terrifyingly busy next year, I miiiiight be able to be roped into doing something. (February/March tends to be when the planning for my department's conference kicks into OH FUCK mode.)

[emceeaich]

The lobby at the Marriott is ideal for lobbycon. The employees at the bar and restaurant were working hard, so I hope everyone tipped really well. It's really just a wonderful convention and look forward to next year.

[azurelunatic]

It was glorious.

[cynthia1960]

The hotel employees were really nice, and the folks in the bar and restaurant seemed to enjoy us as much as we appreciated them.

[jesse_the_k]

Great! Did they invent some SFnal drinks?

[metaphortunate]

It was lovely to meet you in person. I wish I'd been there for longer and could have chatted!

[azurelunatic]

Likewise! This con is so rich in amazing people.