Victorian Science Fiction: Steampunk Conference Returns to the Upstate
Oct 9th
Nuclear energy never happened, electricity doesn’t work, steam power dominates locomotion, and airships fill the sky. Dapper gentlemen and elegant ladies go beyond Victorian high-fashion and wear goggles, carry makeshift rifles made of copper and tubing, and use watches that tell more than time. Static electricity, steam powered locomotives, and robots are the frontier of technology in the world of Steampunk.
The Upstate Steampunk conference returns for a second year to the Upstate this October. The three day academic conference at the Anderson Hilton Garden Inn runs from September 30th through October 2nd. Various fulfillments of the genre create a dynamic and fun event. Vendors, workshops, live music, indie films, and music videos, Victorian bathing suit pool parties, a Mr. and Ms. Upstate Steampunk Contest, a grand ball, and dueling are a few of the many features of the weekend.
Gypsey Teague created the regional conference last year “because no one else did.” Amazed at the interest in the genre, Teague and her partner put together the conference which had over 200 attendees from all over the Southeast in its inaugural year. The conference joins a cycle of similar conferences in the area including an Atlanta conference in February and a Raleigh More >
Save the House Page Program
Aug 9th
Speaker of the House John Boehner and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi have recently instructed the Clerk of the House to end the U.S. House of Representatives Page Program.
Congressional Pages have served Congress for the past two centuries, in fact, before the Declaration of Independence was signed, or the Constitution was written. These bright high school students are given the rare opportunity to contribute to, and witness our nation’s political process in action. They are been given a variety of tasks to perform including delivering legislative documents to and from House offices and the Capitol building. The use of technology is expanding, and Blackberry’s are being used more often to do this work. Pages, however, are not limited to just document delivery: Pages record the Congressional votes, deliver the paper copies of the Congressional Record, deliver flags, raise and lower the flags on top of the Capitol, deliver personal messages to Members of Congress, and assist in the Cloakrooms, just to name a few responsibilities.
As a former Congressional Page, I can attest to the overwhelmingly positive influence the House Page Program has had on my life. My time in the Page Program has introduced me not only to many Members of More >
Eastern European Democracy
May 8th
Over my spring break, I took a 12 day trip exploring Eastern Europe. On one of the best trips of my life, I saw many beautiful cities, cathedrals, monasteries, mountains, parks, and Roman ruins. I enjoyed the sightseeing immensely, but while there, I was keenly aware of the marks left by communism.
The first city that I visited was Bucharest the capital of Romania. Evident from my first hour within the country was the amount of poverty that still abounds. Upon leaving the airport to transfer to my bus, I was heckled by dozens of taxi drivers, all blatantly lying to me to rip me off and get me to ride with them. Because of an unfortunate communication problem on the bus (where no one spoke English), I wasn’t able to purchase a ticket after I’d gotten on the bus. Coincidentally, a stop later I was fined by RATB security for not having a ticket. With the mandatory default fine about thirty US dollars, the security guard was happy to initiate a fifteen dollar bribe instead.
In Bucharest, I noticed not only how cheap most food was, but how poor most of the people there are. There are many beggars and it More >
The Education Bubble
Apr 10th
Recently, Professor Glenn Reynolds, a Professor of Law at the University of Tennessee, better known for his online blog, Instapundit, gave a public talk in the Strom Thurmond Institute’s Self Auditorium. It was part of the John W. Pope Lecture Series. His topic was specifically titled “The Higher Education Bubble and What Comes Next.”
He started out by defining a bubble, or a trade of products with inflated values when compared to their intrinsic values. He cited the importance of “Herbert Stein’s Law,” and it’s importance in simplicity: “If something can’t go on forever, it won’t.” Repeating the law a second time, and pausing for dramatic effect, he flipped to his visual aid — a slide with a chart depicting the rise in education prices compared to the rise (and dramatic fall) of the real estate market that led into the current recession.
He then asserted that the “Education Bubble” was an unstustainable situation. Education prices have escalated rapidly, increasing over 445% in the last 25 years. These higher and higher education prices have been producing extra debt. Reynolds posed the question, “When will we hit the debt limit?”
A brief overview of collegiate history followed. College was a luxury good before WWII, More >