There are people who believe conservative science fiction and fantasy have been unfairly slighted in the World Science Fiction Society awards (aka the Hugos.)  As some of you know, this year two groups have tried to remedy the problem they see.

Perhaps there should be a list of older sf which Sad Puppies, Mad Puppies, and those inclined to agree with them might find objectionable.  

Here is a start:

Robert A. Heinlein, Revolt in 2100.  A strongly Christian US government is overthrown, with the author's obvious approval.

Robert A. Heinlein, The Puppet Masters.  The future setting has term marriages.

Robert A. Heinlein, "Delilah and the Space Rigger."  Blatant feminism.

H. G. Wells, The Time Machine.  In the far future, descendants of the upper classes are exploited by the dictatorship of the proletariat.  (Marxists might also find this novel objectionable.)

Harry Turtledove, Guns of the South.  A victorious Confederate government deprives many citizens of their property.

"An election is coming.  Universal peace is declared, and the foxes have a sincere interest in prolonging the lives of the poultry."  George Eliot; Felix Holt

Wednesday November 5, 2014 As I expected, Minnesota's Independence Party has lost major party status.

The party had one real success:  Jesse Ventura's 1998 election as governor.  The Republican and DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) parties got him elected, by choosing unpopular candidates.  (Note:  Back then, it was the Reform Party.)

***Freelancers Union Twin Cities After Hours event at CoCo Coworking Uptown.

CoCo's business is one which no futurist or science fiction writer predicted (to the best of my knowledge.)  It provides a place for people to plug in their computers and work together.  Or to work alone.  They provide free coffee and tea, and there's a kitchen.

There were about 13 people at this After Hours.  Largest group:  people with computer-related skills.  Second largest:  writers, editors, copy editors, etc.  Some attendees were both.

A dog attended part of the meeting, but did not give its profession.

There was an agenda, set nationwide for November After Hours.  Formal (sorta) discussions were followed by socializing.

I believe some connections were made at the meeting.

DFl Minneapolis City Convention

Saturday April 26, 2014   "Performed an operation on a twin while still in the womb."   On a wall plaque at Roosevelt High School, where the DFL City Convention was being held.   (DFL:   Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.)

There was a Somali interpreter.  

Sidenote:  Somali immigrants have been doing well in Minneapolis politics.   Which may seem odd considering Somalia is a political mess.  Then again, Irish immigrants in the US, Canada, Latin America, and Australia and their descendants have shown more political competence than politicians in Ireland (both the Republic and Northern Ireland.)

Transcription on screen.   Wonky.   "Awed torl um" for auditorium at one point.   "A claymation" for acclamation several times.  "Tell gate" a couple of times.

Candidate forum.   Changed one School Board At-Large choice.   There was only one candidate for my district (District 1); and she impressed me favorably enough that I didn't decide to go for No Endorsement.

(School Board elections are nonpartisan, but parties make endorsements.)

Credentials given out.   There was a long, long line.   This was scheduled to take an hour; took almost twice as long.

A bunch of formal stuff at the beginning, most of it routine.  More formal bumpf at intervals.

School Board candidate speeches.

Several candidates brought supporters on stage.   I found this annoying.   I wanted to see and hear the candidates themselves.   ( I was favorably impressed by the candidate who had a few of his students speak in support, though.   But he wasn't running for my district or at-large.)

Followed by balloting.   One set of ballots for each district which had a vacancy to fill; another set for districts which had only the At-Large election.

Minneapolis party officers elected.   Two candidates for Chair.   The incumbent won.

Other offices mostly had only one candidate nominated.   Two Fundraising Director candidates, but one declined the nomination.

There was one resolution with enough signatures to be voted on.   Someone proposed an amendment; then someone moved to amend that amendment.

The School Board results were announced.   Of the four candidates, one got enough votes (over the 60% minimum) for endorsement.  Another was one vote short.

A large number of  ballots were spoiled -- not signed on the back.   "Sign your ballot on the back" had been announced several times, but not everyone had listened.

Second  ballot.   After my ballot was gathered up, I decided to leave.   I had been there about nine hours, and nothing else I did was likely to influence anything.

Will I attend again?   Whenever School Board endorsements are being considered, yes.

Tuesday February 4, 2014  Would mammoths be halal?  Searching on "elephants" and "halal" didn't bring up a definitive answer.

I did confirm that mammoths wouldn't be kosher.

***DFL (Democratic-Farmer-Labor) precinct caucus. 

A bit over half the residents of SE Como (my neighborhood) are college age; the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campus is close by.  Last year, most caucus attendees were US-born senior citizens who looked Northern European.  This year there were also a number of Somalis. 

The incumbent state representative has a Somali challenger this year.  Her campaign literature makes a point of her having Somali supporters.

This part of Minneapolis votes left of San Francisco (not left of Berkeley, usually.)  The state DFL is farther right -- a bit left of the UK Labour Party, I think.

The caucus was entitled to elect delegates to various upcoming party conventions.  I became a delegate to the part of the city convention which will choose school board nominees. 

Almost everyone who wanted to be a delegate was elected.  The rest became alternates.

There were also party positions to be filled, and fewer candidates than positions open.

Nearby, the Cedar-Riverside precinct caucus was shut down after a fight broke out between supporters of the state representative candidates.  Apparently, both groups were made up of Somalis.

***Comments of Comment:

seawasp 2/04/14: It may also be "Yes, I think this is a good idea, but if it's not enacted and no one seems likely to, why should I deprive myself and my family of obviously gainful opportunities that are currently perfectly legal and that many argue AREN'T ethically problematic?"

***From Twitter:

Julieanne Smolinski ‏@BoobsRadley How sad for bathing suit designers that they have never ever seen or touched a breast. I mean, I'm assuming.

Saturday December 7, 2013 Pearl Harbor Day

Comments of comment:  Ed Meskys 12/06: Thanks. A good view of what SF is really about. I am also a Gilbert & Sullivan fan, and their parodies are of their current stuation, whether it be set in Japan (MIKADO) or the middle ages (PRINCESS IDA). So many stf writers see a future like ours. How many stories had an interstellar civilization continuing to fight a Soviet empire!

***From Twitter:

Jonathan Martin ‏@jmartNYT Vintage @newtgingrich, pushing back w a history lesson at conservs who knocked him for praising Mandela > http://www.gingrichproductions.com/2013/12/what-would-you-have-done-nelson-mandela-and-american-conservatives/ …

Marcus Chown ‏@marcuschown Retweet if you think the NHS would be safer run by this baby owl in a knitted hat than by David Cameron pic.twitter.com/3xCWyvTiHy
Retweeted by Moonbootica

Al Jazeera America ‏@ajam Judge says Denver bakery must sell wedding cakes to gay couples http://alj.am/1hF24YF

Wednesday November 13, 2013  Minnesota Daily story on the Hawaii legislature passing a bill legalizing same-sex marriage:  "Sen. Sam Slon...said the government should stay out of legislating marriage.

"'People have differences, and you can't legislate morality.  You can try, but you can't do it' ...."

I see an inconsistency there.

***To Waite House for NAPS (Nutritional Assistance for Seniors) food.

And for the twice-monthly produce distribution.  Abundant apples, radishes, and cabbage available.

***Southeast Como neighborhood organization Annual Meeting at Van Cleve Park.  Attendance was light.  And only three or four were college age, in a neighborhood where 52 percent of the population is 18 to 24.

In fiction, political meetings are usually exciting.  In real life?  File that trope with "War is fun."

***Comments from: Bonnie Randall Schutzman 11/13: "I think in images and sounds, but there's also usually a word-based narrative going on."

tickertape synesthesia

Carole Zastera Michels 11/13  "Words for me. I asked a friend in Germany which language he thought in, and he said he didn't think in a language."

Carol Kennedy 11/13  "In something like patterns, but as I have said before, if one doesn't think in words, it's very hard to describe in words how one thinks!"

John Shannonhouse 11/13 "I think in processes."

Lee Gold 11/13 "Words
"Memory flashbacks (embedded experiences, which includes all senses)"

***From Twitter:

Jeff Noon ‏@jeffnoon My dead wife often speaks clearly: “In two miles turn left.” Other times her voice is garbled, fuzzy with static. The car veers on the road.

Jesse Sheidlower ‏@jessesheidlower Reading Dictionary of Old English online; Chrome asks, "This page is in Malay. Would you like to translate it?" Hmm.

PLOS ONE ‏@PLOSONE Stone-Tipped Spears Predate Existence of Humans http://news.discovery.com/human/evolution/stone-tipped-spears-pre-date-existence-of-humans-131113.htm … via @Discovery_News
[More precisely, they predate our species of human.]

Wonkette ‏@Wonkette Help Us Keep Our Day Drinking Sexy And Discreet With This Bra That Holds Wine - http://happynicetimepeople.com/help-us-keep-day-drinking-sexy-discreet-bra-holds-wine/ …

Sunday November 3, 2013.  Daylight Losing Time; All Hallows Day.  And in one fantasy story, St. Hammer-and-Sickle's Day. 

***David Tenner in soc.history.what-if:  "Richard Albert. 'The Constitutional Politics of Presidential Succession,' Hofstra Law Review 39, no.3 (2011): 497-576, http://tinyurl.com/kr2wlp5 argues that the current system is all wrong and proposes an alternative I have never seen mentioned before...."

I downloaded the PDF.  "Here is what I suggest: the solution is to revise the order of succession to insert former living Presidents—in reverse chronological order of service, beginning with former Presidents of the same party as the unavailable president—into the line of succession and to concurrently remove the Speaker of the House and the Senate President pro tempore. Under this new presidential succession sequence, a former President will serve only temporarily until a special election is held to elect a new head of state. Former Presidents are the only ones equipped with the proven competence, domestic repute, and foreign stature needed to pull the United States out of the depths of disaster. Moreover, they are known quantities seen as motivated by the public interest and not driven by political posturing."

"To illustrate the line of succession more vividly, here is the order of presidential succession assuming it had been activated on March 1, 2010, under the administration of President Barack Obama: assuming Vice President Joe Biden were unavailable, the first four statutory successors would be former Presidents Bill Clinton, Jimmy Carter, George W. Bush, and George H. W. Bush, followed by the Cabinet."

Note:  Hypothetical Presidents and successors are referred to as "she" and "her," with one exception that I spotted.

Commenters on the newsgroup were divided between those who thought it was a stupid idea and those who thought it was an outstandingly stupid idea.

***From Twitter:

US Reality Check ‏@USRealityCheck Monsanto's Losses Widen as #GMO Seed Sales Decline http://dld.bz/cSGAY  #GMOs #RightToKnow #LabelGMOs

R.L. Ripples ‏@TweetsofOld A Chicago physician says small feet indicate a hot temper and an evil tongue. KY1883

I Don't Want to Be Normal.  I Want to Be Healthy. #6 Dan Goodman, 1720 Como Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.  dsgood at iphouse.com or at gmail.com.  612-298-2354

Wednesday October 16, 2013  Sickish.  At least partly Fall allergies, I suspect.

***In my opinion, the House Republican leadership has done for responsible conservatism what Frank and Jesse James did for the banking industry.  But now, at the last minute, they acted responsibly.

****October 15 Seawasp says:
"> Thoughts: Ability to transmit sensations other than sight and sound might
> make computer dating sites more interesting. 'This is what my [body part]
> feels and tastes like.'

"> I haven't seen this done in science fiction. Has anyone else?

"Well, that sounds like immersive VR with selectable transmission (for your dating idea).

"OOO! How about this! Computer dating where your date controls the sensations you can access! So like many games, you get achievements at various levels of successful dating. *Bing* Your recent dates have made _Your Date_ very happy. You have unlocked Breasts!"

I was thinking about using the Net to find people for in-person dating.  But this does sound interesting.

From Twitter:
RAND Congressional ‏@RAND_OCR
Just ended: brief on preparing for possibility of #NKorea regime collapse. Download book free http://bit.ly/1cupGuk  pic.twitter.com/d9ZdYZMHuS
Retweeted by RAND Corporation

Davho Pldal ‏@SnarkOnTap
*spit-take* RT @AlanColmes: GOP Rep: Press To Blame For Falsely Reporting We Wanted To Repeal Obamacare http://colm.es/1cuObHC  #p2

Kory Stamper ‏@KoryStamper
Oh, email: "Just because a word is in historic print, or because people used it, doesn't make it a word!!" By this logic, words don't exist.
Retweeted by Copyediting

I Don't Want to Be Normal.  I Want to Be Healthy. #3 Dan Goodman, 1720 Como Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.  dsgood at iphouse.com or at gmail.com.  612-298-2354

Sunday October 13, 2013 "A Few Geniuses More" (working title, sf short) is now going well.

***Comments to me:

October 9 Lee Gold. "A recent article I noticed on Salon or on GoogleNews disclosed that federal rules allow unpaid interns to continue working for free, with the result that interns are now doing a lot of work during the shutdown."
http://www.salon.com/2013/10/08/government_quietly_being_staffed_during_shutdown_by_unpaid_interns/

"You might be interested in the various rumors recently debunked by Snopes in which the Federal Government cloaks Mount Rushmore, shuts down the Amber Alert system, and threatens to arrest Catholic chaplains in the military if they hold Mass."

I wonder why specifically Catholic chaplains?

August 23 Lee Gold <lee.gold@ca.rr.com>
"On 8/23/2013 4:09 PM, Daniel S. Goodman wrote: 'I sometimes wonder how a teleportation network would affect where people live.  If they could commute from places with extremely low housing prices to jobs anywhere, how many would do it?'

"Places with extremely low housing prices may have higher rates for heating & air conditioning
(or will you cheaply teleport hot/cold air to them?).  They may also have more annoying noise levels and smells and other problems."

These are among the things which people who now make such moves run into.  Plus weather they're not used to, high food prices, unaccustomed poisonous plants, less choice of utility providers ....

August 20 Fred Lerner. "Deer certainly are kosher, if slaughtered properly. A bit of googling should take you to sources for kosher venison. We used to get kosher bison from a butcher in New Haven, but they haven't had any lately. (I'd hate to be the guy who has to get up close and schecht the critter!)"

Thanks for the correction.

August 22 Lee Gold. "> Friday August 16, 2013 The New York Times has a culinary report from Montana, where meat slaughtered in a most unkosher manner is more legal than it had been.
> http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/us/roadkill-gains-traction-as-a-home-menu-item.html?hpw
>
> Deliberately running down deer for eating has not been legalized.  And human roadkill doesn't seem to be discussed.

"How do they tell whether a deer was accidentally hit or deliberately run down?
Or illegally shot (out of season, maybe) and then disguised as an accident victim?"

"> From politicalwire.com:
> Iranian politician Nina Siakhali Moradi had her city council election overturned by religious conservatives, who barred her from office for being too pretty, Iran Wire reports.
> http://iranwire.com/en/projects/1961

"Did the article say she was too pretty?
Or just that she was a young woman behaving improperly?"

It said she was too attractive.

""> [Note:  Deer, pegasi, and most insects are not kosher.]

"Deer split the hoof and chew cud, and therefore are kosher -- if they are properly slaughtered.
http://www.jewfaq.org/kashrut.htm  -- 'Cattle, sheep, goats, deer and bison are kosher.'

"Pegasi would probably get classed as a variant of horse -- which doesn't split the hoof OR chew cud.  But if you could persuade your rabbis to class pegasi as flying animals, then they might get by on the grounds that they're not any of the forbidden species.  In practice, though, kosher rules only accept birds for which there's a tradition of Jews eating them.  The turkey squeaked through on its resemblance to chickens, as I understand it.  A "pegasus" built on a deerlike or goatlike body might qualify, and this means that deerlike depictions of unicorns would qualify and horselike ones wouldn't."

I Don't Want to Be Normal.  I Want to Be Healthy. #2 Dan Goodman, 1720 Como Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.  dsgood at iphouse.com or at gmail.com.  612-298-2354

Thursday October 10, 2013  At Steeple People Thrift Store, found a manbag which I liked better than the one I'd been using.

Across Lyndale Avenue to the Wedge Coop.

***Among the new books at Central Library, found:  Paula Guran, The Mammoth Book of Angels and Demons.  (Mammoth is the publisher; unfortunately, none of the angels or demons are mammoths.)  Recommended; theological accuracy not guaranteed.

***I arrived at the Adult Children Anonymous meeting place with a large backpack.  Someone remarked that I was obviously prepared for any emergency.

No, I said.  I only had one elephant gun.

***From politicalwire.com:

Drunk Dial Congress
A new service randomly connects you to the office of a Member of Congress so you can yell at them.
drunkdialcongress.org

***From Twitter:

Jim Antle ‏@jimantle
Don't believe the liberal pollsters on the shutdown. These are the same skewed polls that said Obama would be reelected.
Retweeted by Josh Gerstein

Friday October 11, 2013  The Star Tribune had an article on the upcoming Zombie Pub Crawl.  The Brain Eating Contest will use veal brain tacos, which I'd never heard of before.

***Intentional communities designed for autistic people:
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/10/garden/the-architecture-of-autism.html?hpw&pagewanted=all&_r=0

***From Twitter:
Nancy Friedman ‏@Fritinancy
Portmonthteau of the day: Socktober. http://soulpancake.com/socktober/

Swedish Canary ‏@SwedishCanary 9 Oct
Listen, strange women lying in ponds distributing swords as a basis for a system of government is starting to sound better every minute.
Retweeted by Bug G. Membracid

I Don't Want to Be Normal.  I Want to Be Healthy. #1 Dan Goodman, 1720 Como Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.  dsgood at iphouse.com or at gmail.com.  612-298-2354


Wednesday October 9, 2013  To Waite House for NAPS and produce distribution.

***The Geek Partnership Society (currently the major sf/fantasy fandom(s) group in the Twin Cities Metro) is now on Meetup.   

***From politicalwire.com:

Headline of the Day
"IRS Official Says She Never Consorted With the Devil"
-- Associated Press, October 9, 2013.

***From Publishers Lunch (free email from Publishers Marketplace):
Book deal: "NYT bestselling author of WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S STAR WARS Ian Doescher's THE EMPIRE STRIKETH BACK and THE JEDI DOTH RETURN, completing the original Star Wars trilogy in iambic pentameter"

***From Twitter:

MarkMillerITPro ‏@MarkMillerITPro
I hate it when I use the wrong word in my status and people just consume that I am stupid. Jeanette Breedt #quote

Julieanne Smolinski ‏@BoobsRadley
I think more credit for the baby boom should go to food in the 1950s. Jello salad, or sex with just about anyone? You know what you'd pick.

Petteri Tarkkonen ‏@ptarkkonen
"Just because nobody complains doesn't mean all parachutes are perfect." -Benny Hill #business

Gates Foundation ‏@gatesfoundation
More than 2/3 in Kenya use mobile money. MT @BillGates: There are only 10 ATMs for every 100K adults in #Kenya. http://gates.ly/GGyAts
Retweeted by Futurist Watcher

Godzilla, Warrior Princess 8/16/13  Dan Goodman, 1720 Como Ave SE, Minneapolis, MN 55414.  dsgood at iphouse.com or at gmail.com.  Previous at dsgoodman.blogspot.com

Friday August 16, 2013 The New York Times has a culinary report from Montana, where meat slaughtered in a most unkosher manner is more legal than it had been. 
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/16/us/roadkill-gains-traction-as-a-home-menu-item.html?hpw

Deliberately running down deer for eating has not been legalized.  And human roadkill doesn't seem to be discussed. 

***From politicalwire.com:
Iranian politician Nina Siakhali Moradi had her city council election overturned by religious conservatives, who barred her from office for being too pretty, Iran Wire reports.
http://iranwire.com/en/projects/1961

"Anthony Weiner may be lagging in the race for New York City mayor, but he is winning in another area -- hot dog marketing," ABC News reports.

"The delicious combination of Anthony Weiner's name and his sexually suggestive Twitter antics were apparently too good to pass up for one Florida marketing man, who has joined forces with an Illinois hot dog company to create a hot dog brand called Carlos Danger Weiners, which he has incorporated into the company Carlos Danger LLC."

***From Twitter:
Pollster.com ‏@pollster
HUFFPOLLSTER: Can Twitter Predict Elections? Not So Fast http://huff.to/1acYMIJ

Mickey McCauley ‏@Mickey_McCauley
Somehow people who ask what you'll do in the zombie apocalypse get annoyed when you say you'll ride your Pegasus to safety
Retweeted by Ray Radlein

inhabitat ‏@inhabitat
The world's first "Pestaurant" is serving up chocolate-dipped ants and salty crickets in London! http://bit.ly/16TNaXV

[Note:  Deer, pegasi, and most insects are not kosher.]

Tuesday August 6, 2013  National Night Out.  I didn't attend any of the local gatherings -- which, considering the evening's weather (episodes of hail and rain), was just as well.

But there will be a "PPL National Night Out" gathering on the 16th at Van Cleve Park.  (The National Night Out movement has had a schism.)

***T-shirt: "Ce n'est pas un t-shirt."

***Seen at the Minneapolis Central Library, a Christian sf novel which I disrecommend: The Tuloriad, (Oct 2009, John Ringo, Tom Kratman, publ. Baen, 1-4391-3304-2, $26.00, 385pp, hc)

Main reason for disrecommendation:  Tom Kratman doesn't demonstrate as much Christian charity as th average Satanist.

***Shopped at St. Vincent De Paul thrift store and the Wedge Coop.  Paid for next thirty days of no-contract phone service.

At Southeast Library, picked up a collection of George Orwell's essays.

From politicalwire.com:
Bonus Quote of the Day
"What are you going to do about it, grandpa?"

-- Anthony Weiner, quoted by the New York Post, to a 69-year-old man who objected to Weiner touching him at an AARP mayoral forum.
http://preview.tinyurl.com/lf27bjt

From Twitter:
R.L. Ripples ‏@TweetsofOld
Mondays have been designated "Hangman's" day in South Carolina. "We should worry." MN1913

Friday August 2, 2013  Idea I probably won't do anything with:  A proposed US constitutional convention to clarify the Second Amendment; supported by groups with rather different ideas of what "the right to bear arms" should mean.

And found myself thinking about adding functional constituencies to Congress.

***Never let it be said that American politics is a few clowns short of a circus. 

From politicalwire.com:
August 02, 2013

Quote of the Day
"We all are freaky. He just exposed his freaky-ism in the wrong way."

-- Jimmy McMillan of The Rent is Too Damn High Party, quoted by Politicker, endorsing Anthony Weiner in the New York City mayoral race.

For those who don't keep up with such news:  Anthony Weiner sent x-rated messages (in some of which he exposed himself) to various women.  Some of them after he had supposedly stopped doing so.

7/4/13 Fourth of July

Thursday July 4, 2013.  Independence Day.

Evening sounds:  fireworks, some probably legal.

***From politicalwire.com:
A new Gallup survey finds that despite a high 85% of Americans saying they are "extremely" or "very" proud to be an American, 71% say the signers of the Declaration of Independence would be disappointed in today's United States, while 27% say they would be pleased.

My view:  "The signers would be disappointed" and "Things went wrong" are not the same thing.  Some would be disappointed because slavery has been written out of the Constitution.  Some because women have the vote.

Others for reasons I'd be more sympathetic to.  The size of permanent military forces, for example.

***From Twitter:
Simon Bisson ‏@sbisson
We are actually living in a computer simulation in the far future, made up of NSA records and Google Streetview images.

Pinboard ‏@Pinboard
Canada is a chilling reminder of what would have happened if there had been no Declaration of Independence
Retweeted by Tim Maly

Tuesday May 21, 2013  From Twitter:  Peace Corps ‏@PeaceCorps
Proud to announce we'll begin accepting Volunteer apps from same-sex domestic partners who want to serve together http://1.usa.gov/16McG2M
Retweeted by rivenhomewood

***From Twitter: Media Matters ‏@mmfa
NRA lists the 'coolest gun movies': http://bit.ly/10SdID9  Flashback: NRA blames mass shootings on movies http://mm4a.org/UkYROn
Retweeted by Dan Savage

***Shopping:  The Wedge Coop.  Steeple People Thrift Store, where I found a couple of things I needed.

On to the Dollar Store on Franklin Avenue, and the nearby Aldi grocery.

***"DARE [Dictionary of American Regional English] has received a grant from NEH to do a pilot study in Wisconsin to
test a new Questionnaire and a new methodology for a second round of nationwide fieldwork.

"This time we won't be using Word Wagons--instead, the survey will be conducted online. We are working with the University of Wisconsin Survey Center to develop the method, and we will include a recorded telephone interview to collect phonological data for comparison with the original DARE recordings.

"We plan to omit questions for practices that are now obsolete (farming with oxen, kinds of sleigh, etc) and add questions that reflect changes in our society over the last 50 years."

And what questions will they be asking 50 years from now?

Tuesday May 7, 2013.  DFL 2nd Ward caucus.  (They're officially called "conventions" rather than caucuses now.  I don't know why.)

Each of the Ward's ten precincts was entitled to send up to 49 delegates (and 49 alternates.)  There were 54 delegates total, a bit short of 490. 

Some other Wards had crowded precinct caucuses; I think because they had contests for City Council seats.  Up to the Ward caucus, there hadn't been any declared candidates.  The incumbent is a Green who won his last election unopposed.  (In Minneapolis, the Republicans are a minor party.)  One candidate for City Council endorsement did turn up.

Mayoral-endorsement candidates and their volunteers were very much present, though that endorsement wouldn't be voted on till the city-wide caucus in mid-June.  There were also candidates for the Park Board and the Board of Estimates and Taxation -- which, again, weren't to be voted on till June.

Note:  All these offices are nonpartisan. 

Among the suggested rules:  "One or more Convention Chairs, with gender balance, shall be elected by a plurality vote of the convention."  Achieving gender balance with one Chair would be an interesting problem.

Mayoral candidates spoke.  Candidates for the Boards spoke.  The City Council candidate spoke.  There were question periods.

All candidates, and all delegates, were in favor of:  job creation; a greener Minneapolis; freedom to marry; fewer guns.

At the end, there was a non-DFL speaker:  Cam Gordon, Council incumbent.  Among other things, he said it would be a good thing if parties could cross-endorse.  Both the DFL and the Greens have specific rules against multi-party endorsements, it seems.

Tuesday April 16, 2013  A political day. 

First, picked up Robert A. Heinlein's Double Star from Southeast Library.  I consider it one of the best science fiction novels about politics, if not the best.

In the evening I attended the Ward 2, Precinct 3 DFL caucus.  (DFL:  Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party.  Except for the name, I don't think anything's left of the Farmer-Labor Party.)

Seven people showed up.  Fifty-two percent of Southeast Como residents are between 18 and 24 years old -- the University of Minnesota's Minneapolis campuses are nearby.  I don't think any caucus attendees were under 50.

(Some other DFL caucuses were crowded.  However, Ward 2 didn't have any declared DFL City Council candidates.  Nor Republican candidates.  The incumbent is a Green, and may be re-elected with no opposition.)

The precinct caucus was entitled to elect 49 delegates and 49 alternates to the Ward 2 caucus.  I had no trouble getting elected.

Also, 13 delegates and 13 alternates to the Minneapolis caucus.  I had no trouble being elected.

City elections will use Ranked Choice Voting for the first time this year.  An explanation of RCV was given.  I didn't need it; I'm familiar with the Australian Ballot from science fiction club elections.

The incumbent Park Board member showed up to ask for support.

Someone came to ask for support for mayoral candidate Mark Andrew.

It was mentioned that Minneapolis has a "weak mayor" system, which means the city council has most of the power.

I pointed out that Chicago also has a "weak mayor" system in theory.  (In practice, most Chicago mayors have been powerful.)

One set of resolutions, to have Minneapolis consider the possibility of producing its own power.  Passed.

Note: Minneapolis city elections are nonpartisan.  Which does not keep parties from making endorsements.