Ailanto : PICS : Beware of the Leopard...

But I didn't use that scene in my reply because I couldn't find it in the book - I was looking several pages too late because I had forgotten the house/planet bypass parallel. But after David Angulo forwarded the letter to m-pics, Daniel Tobias also recognized the parallel between the Mensa PICS situation and this scene, and his comments reminded me of the house/planet bypass parallel, and I was then able to put my finger right on the quotation.

>There are some items on your web page that ought to be addressed.
>Prinicipal among them:
>
>>I object to the PICS requirement on the following grounds...
>>
>>This decision was made in secret, with no input from those whose pages
>>had already been linked. Not only was the decision made in secret, but the
>fact that it was even under consideration was withheld from the members of
>this
>>organization.
>
>You clearly misunderstand how the American Mensa Committee subcommittee
>process works. A decision was made in a subcommittee of the AMC. That
>subcommittee files quarterly reports. I file the reports for this
>particular subcommittee, and none has ever been missed since this committee
>was created. If you wanted a copy, you could have asked either me, as
>chair, or the National Office. They would provide you with said copy at no
>cost. The reports are accessible to all members. You could easily have
>discovered this by asking me or any other member of the AMC, including your
>own RVC. The AMC does not act "in secret", as shown by the number of
>members who react to every action taken by that body and its subcommittees.
>
>The PICS matter was under discussion in the American Cyberspace committee
>for some time, but it was not withheld from the membership. To state that
>it was does a disservice to the committee. These are hard working members,
>four AMC members and five members not currently holding other national
>office. They do not deserve to have you or anyone else denigrating their
>work, their planning efforts, or their integrity.
>
>>another member of the
>>Cyberspace Committee had stated on m-pics
>
>Here again, I'm curious when a new list became the "official conduit" for
>information. We've already got Webtalk,Webheads, and Nettalk as mailing
>lists. Until now, they've been used to discuss exactly these issues. I
>personally get more than enough e-mail now without having to subscribe to
>yet another list. You might want to use one of the older existing lists to
>share information, as we have for years. The addresses and subscription
>information can be found either on the AML page or by using the listserv
>itself at "majordomo@lists.us.mensa.org" to find out what lists are
>available.
>
>I'm happy to respond to comments from the membership, but I hope that they
>will do their homework first before posting statements that are without
>foundation.
>
>- Gerry -
>

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> >You clearly misunderstand how the American Mensa Committee subcommittee
> >process works. A decision was made in a subcommittee of the AMC. That
> >subcommittee files quarterly reports. I file the reports for this
> >particular subcommittee, and none has ever been missed since this committee
> >was created. If you wanted a copy, you could have asked either me, as
> >chair, or the National Office. They would provide you with said copy at no
> >cost. The reports are accessible to all members. You could easily have
> >discovered this by asking me or any other member of the AMC, including your
> >own RVC. The AMC does not act "in secret", as shown by the number of
> >members who react to every action taken by that body and its subcommittees.

This concept was parodied by Douglas Adams in the opening chapter of "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," where the protagonist finds that his house is about to be torn down to build a new highway, and the first he knows about it is when the bulldozer is ready to wreck it. The local official who shows up with the wreckers tells him "These plans were submitted years ago, and are on public display at the Town Hall." Of course, he was never actually told that any such plans were in process, so he had no way of knowing to go there and request them (and when he does later, he finds that they're hidden away in the basement of Town Hall).

A little bit later, the alien Vogons show up to demolish the Earth, giving similar talk about how the demolition plans have been on file for centuries in a Galactic Government office over in another solar system.

--Dan -- Webmaster, www.softdisk.com
Shreveport/Bossier Page: www.shreveport.net

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> This concept was parodied by Douglas Adams in the opening
> chapter of "The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy," where the
> protagonist finds that his house is about to be torn down to build a
> new highway, and the first he knows about it is when the bulldozer
> is ready to wreck it. The local official who shows up with the
> wreckers tells him "These plans were submitted years ago, and are
> on public display at the Town Hall." Of course, he was never
> actually told that any such plans were in process, so he had no
> way of knowing to go there and request them (and when he does
> later, he finds that they're hidden away in the basement of Town
> Hall).
>
> A little bit later, the alien Vogons show up to demolish the Earth,
> giving similar talk about how the demolition plans have been on file
> for centuries in a Galactic Government office over in another solar
> system.

And twenty years later, the PICS letter arrives. Hahaha! Somebody else thought of Vogons too! It's a perfect parallel, and the second time within a week that I've thought of HHGG while reading PICS-related messages. I was going to use the Vogon quote in my reply, but I couldn't find the bit with the "Beware of the Leopard" sign. And now it's so obvious, it had to be earlier in the story, so I pulled out the book and found it in seconds. I'd forgotten the bypass parallel... time for a re-read!

> Yes, you're right, in hindsight "secret" isn't the right word. I'll do
> some rewrites. But that's how it felt to me at the time. As I said
> elsewhere, if not for the PICS discussion that began on Webheads, I would
> have known nothing about this decision until I received my PICS letter.
> It should have been announced via email much earlier to those who would
> be affected, and a blurb in the Bulletin would have been nice.

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