DISSING STAN LEE

At the closing forum for SVCC, the head honcho* insured that the sound was at ear hurting level, then he talked very loudly directly into the mike.

Stan Lee explained to him twice, that every time HH spoke, all Mr. Lee could hear was "WAAH, WAAH, WAAH." He explained that he was deaf and that he could hear Woz** just fine, as Woz was holding his mike about 12 inches away and we could all hear Woz.

HH continued to shout into his mike, whereupon Mr. Lee left with his daughter to be replaced by an actor pretending to be Mr. Lee.

Overly loud sound has a known effect on modern hearing aids. I am certain that someone explained this to HH. But HH just ignored the problem.

It is very sad that this happened at SVCC, especially after Woz had told us all how the two Steves wanted to help the blind and the deaf with their new computer. Woz was proud that they HAD been able to help the blind and deaf.

In case you think that this was an isolated incident, SVCC provided sign interpreters for the deaf, but they were too cheap to hire a camera person so that the signing could be put up as picture in picture on the big screen. This meant that only the deaf in the front right rows could see the signing.

I really enjoyed SVCC. I have lots of photos of me with people in costumes.

I hope next year that SVCC is more responsive to the needs of the disabled.

* Head honcho (HH) -- Outdated, non-insulting slang meaning the head of any organization.

** Silicon Valley's nickname for Steve Wozniak, one of the two Steves that founded Apple Computer.

DESTRUCTIVE DESPERATION

My heart breaks for the victims of the Brussels bombs.

This kind of destructive violence comes out of the desperation caused by social isolation.

The social isolation sometimes comes from the culture of the bombers. Too often the social isolation comes from the daily sneers given to any outsider from those who are secure of their place in society.

This all becomes worse if even the educated, smart people can not get a job in their professional field because no one wants to work with a _______. (Often that word is "woman, Black, Muslim, or foreigner".)

I have spent my life being sneered at. Even before I had to use a wheelchair, I got sneers for being fat, for being a loudmouth, for wearing tie dye, for never wearing panty hose, .....

I am lucky because I found a profession that I love so much that I dread retiring. I am also lucky that court transcripts do not describe the designer suits, just the words said.

Once a heart is filled with anger, it is very hard to fill that heart with love.

So we all need to smile at everyone. We all need to talk to everyone. And we all need to try hard to help anyone who get daily sneers.

THE BEST AND WORST OF SVCC

THANKS WOZ! I really enjoyed the first Silicon Valley Comic Convention.

Sadly, I was unable to participate in ANY of the science forums that you arranged.

Registration for the convention, and ALL science forums were on the lower level of the San Jose Convention Center. This lower level had ONLY ONE ELEVATOR, WHICH WAS BROKEN ALL WEEKEND!

Worse, there was another way in for a disabled speaker. This route was NOT made available to ANY OTHER DISABLED PERSON.

The San Jose Convention Center is owned by the City of San Jose, which has a duty to ensure that the center does not violate unimportant little laws like the Americans With Disabilities Act and the Unruh Civil Rights Act. You know, the ones where the owner of a building is REQUIRED to ENSURE that ALL DISABLED PEOPLE HAVE ACCESS TO ALL PUBLIC PARTS OF A BUILDING.

I know Republicans think that all disabled people are faking it, but many of the disappointed disabled people were VETERANS.

Under the UNRUH Civil Rights Act, you are able to file suit for $4000 for every event you could not attend. Please add in $4000 for every time you had to go through the criminally stupid security.

You do not have to sue cities. Instead you file a CLAIM FORM, which is available ON LINE. If the city has not paid up within six months, you can then sue.

The more claim forms the city receives, the quicker they will pay attention to FIXING THIS PROBLEM.

Was that $130 million renovation done by a cousin of the mayor who attended Bellarmine High?

SYRIAN PEACE TALKS

The thoughts and prayers of the entire world are with the people of Syria as they try to solve their differences with talk rather than fighting.

This is not easy. I am an attorney, who sometimes takes a child custody case. There have been some cases where I wondered whether the child would be better off if one of the parents were no longer with us.

But I KNOW that finding a peaceful resolution to conflict has been my life's work.

I remind all parties that NO GROUP will get exactly what they want.

The CIVIL RIGHTS of ALL PEOPLE MUST BE PROTECTED. This includes women, Christians, Kurds, Alawites, Sunnis, Shiites, and ALL other groups.

I think that Assad must realize that his people have voted against him with their feet.

Those countries whose leaders resigned under pressure may be having problems with rebels who can not compromise. But at least they are not stuck for the next forty years with the children or grandchildren of the dictator they deposed.

Like Assad, these children were raised in such an entitled manner that they believe that their word is the law.

Almost all religions strongly disapprove of someone who believes their word is more important than religious principles.

STARTING AND STOPPING WARS

We need to stop the WAR ON some DRUGS and start a WAR ON some GERMS.

Now we have to worry about brain and nerve damage from a virus that targets babies.

The war on some drugs is EXACTLY the same as prohibition of alcohol, and is TOTALLY STUPID for all the exact same reasons. The TAX FREE drug money is causing corruption in EVERY aspect of our lives.

A WAR ON some GERMS will make life safer for the entire human race.

If you look at the problem of smog without political correctness, you say very simply..."Smog can be greatly controlled by NOT burning coal. We should only allow coal to be burned if there is NO other reasonable alternative. We should convert coal burning to burning natural gas as natural gas makes almost no smog."

If you look at the problem of Zika, without political correctness, you say very simply..."We need to provide clean water and flush toilets to everyone on the planet. Polluting water is STUPID as almost 90% of our oxygen comes from the ocean. We need to stop dumping raw sewage into our rivers and oceans."

ALL DRUGS which are less harmful than alcohol* should be LEGAL all the way back to the farmer or manufacturer. Otherwise street drugs will continue to kill our children because they have no way of knowing how much they took or whether the drug also contained poison.

Worse, the bad guys will continue to make tax free money.

THE BABIES WE SAVE WILL BE OUR OWN!

* heroin, opium, LSD, cocaine, methamphetamine, ecstasy, and most other street drugs.

MANY REDNECKS* ARE NOT STUPID

Rednecks have figured out that, if a pregnant girlfriend can not get the abortion she WANTS, then the father will HAVE to pay child support.

Rednecks have figured out that forcing poor women to have unwanted babies will raise taxes when we all decide that it is a bad idea to let babies starve.

By voting for a person who respects Planned Parenthood, Republicans are demonstrating that they are tired of politicians who want to control women's bodies.

It is sad that the 'wink, wink' racism of the conservative movement is now being exposed in words that none of our leaders should be saying.

I will warn Republicans who support racist candidates. David Duke won one election. Now being even associated with him is political suicide.

* Redneck is slang for a white man from the South who works outdoors, giving him a "red neck". I have a lot of friends who are rednecks. It is a bad idea to assume that someone who does physical work is stupid.