Sign of the times

As of this afternoon, a google search on the phrase "you voted for an idiot" returns 859 hits.

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"Sign of the times" will be a continuing feature.

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Update: Mon Sep 22 15:46:30 EDT 2008: As of this afternoon, the count is up to 1,310 hits.

Imaginary Nations

My friend Justin posted this at his blog:

Y'know, there's a worthwhile sociological experiment to be done: spread the word that Nigeria doesn't really exist -- it's just a hoax invented for the purpose of fake Internet rumors. Anything you hear about Nigeria is, by definition, false.

Well, I'm always willing to play along. So I looked it up, and this is what I found:

After Britain ceded independence to her colonies in that region, around 1960, there actually was a unification movement that advocated for a federal nation to be called "Nigeria". It was supposed to include Southern Niger, Biafra, some provinces from the Republic of North Cameroon, the Yoruba Free State, and Lagos-Benin.

Internal squabbling between the three major political parties -- the Nigerian People's Congress, National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, and the Action Group -- scuttled the idea. A series of conflicts (the Lagos Delta war, the Biafran insurgency, the Cameroon Successions, etc etc etc) discredited all of the pro-unification advocates, and by 1963 the modern borders were pretty much set.

There's still a small pro-unity political group in the region, called "The 419" (named for the UN Security Council Resolution 419, which was to have recognized a "Greater Nigeria") but they have been plagued by corruption in their ranks, and don't have much credibility.

The idea is one of history's interesting might-have-beens.

So when you get those emails from people claiming to be from someplace called “Nigeria” — well, now you know where they got the name from. A single state in that region, well-governed, would probably have provided a lot of economic growth and stability to the whole area, and been a benefit to its neighbors and the world. Too bad it never worked out. Pretty weird speculation though, huh?

Free Science Fiction For Everybody!

“Free Electricity for Everybody!” was the motto and goal of genius inventor and inter-dimensional refugee Nikola Tesla. That may not have endeared him to his financial backers, so we're still paying for our AC the old-fashioned way: cash for wire-delivered current.

But here in the future, at least we can enjoy a stream of other aether-borne free goods, including a weekly SF story from Escape Pod. For a couple of years now, podhost Steve Eley has been buying real high-quality SF from authors new and old, classic and up-and-coming, and putting it out each week to a loyal listener base that should include you.

Recent entries have included M.K. Hobson's “God Juice”, K.K. Rusch's “Elites”, and my personal favorite, Michael Swanwick's “A Small Room in Koboldtown” — a Hugo finalist and this year's Nebula winner. We've also been treated to a few of Jeffrey R. DeRego's tales in the Union Dues series, an unexpected angle on the behind-the-scenes lives of superheros. Eley reads many of these himself, and when he doesn't, he calls on any number of authors, sf bloggers, and other odd netizens to help out. In this regard, “Koboldtown” deserves special mention for Cheyenne Wright's invocation of the varied accents of a peculiar city that isn't too much like, say, New Orleans, oh no, not at all.

Eley's introductions and other discussions are mostly focused, considered, and on-point. You don't hear any of that “well, I've just turned on the mike, now what the hell should I talk about?” fumfering that bloats some otherwise-good podcasts. And every now and again, just for fun, he features one of singer-songwriter Jonathan Coulton's peculiar sf-themed geek-pop tunes. (Don't be surprised if Coulton's bouncy cheery-sounding “Chiron Beta Prime” becomes one of your Xmas-time holiday favorites.)

Escape Pod began by covering horror and fantasy as well as science fiction, but now has two sister podcasts, Pseudopod and Podcastle. There should be links to those from the Escape Pod site. If not, write to tell Steve that you found out about him here, and tell him to get those links up, fergoshsakes. And once you get hooked, don't forget to buy some merch or make a regular donation. It's free, yeah, but it ain't cheap, you know?