Widget, Wadget, Go-Go Gadget — SFBIG Panel This Thursday
Have you read The Ugly Little Boy and The Widget, the Wadget, and the Boff? I didn’t think so. It’s an Isaac Asimov tale, further described as
the depiction of 21st-century society rounded out and the history of
the Neanderthal tribe from which the eponymous boy was abducted more
fully given. When the woebegone waif, now named Timmie, was snatched
from his epoch, he was brought into a pool of no-time, which exists
coincident with the present.Since Timmie is condemned to living within
that pool forever, his presence raises moral questions: Is it abusive
to leave him alone in this limbo for eternity? Would it be equally
cruel to send him back to the Ice Age?
These are questions that not even I, in full working mode, can attempt to tackle. In fact, it makes me a little teary to even think about it. Why not let someone else explore not these issues, but those with the same terminology (wadgets, limbo, and woebegone waifs) and casually observe the discussion, all while less-casually drinking?
SFBIG is sponsoring a panel tomorrow — Thursday the 24th of January — in which some clever people will talk about "The Wadget Revolution." Let’s be clear: I have no idea what a wadget is. (I do, however, know what a woebegone waif is, having seen Oliver! the musical upwards of 18 times.) But if SFBIG thinks it is important enough to have an event centered around it, and would even go so far as to call it a revolution, then by god, you should attend.
When: 6-10pm (panel begins at 7:00pm)
Where: St. Francis Hotel, San Francisco
What to Wear: your best business SF-casual. trendy riding boots optional.
What to Bring: a flask full of JW Black. what a way to make new friends!
