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* Head honcho (HH) -- Outdated, non-insulting slang meaning the head of any organization.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