Date: Mon, 14 Mar 2005 23:50:48 -0500 To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> From: "Mike B." <omni at omniphile.com> Subject: [WSFA] Re: Ship-Con and Camp-Con (was: Re: [WSFA] Re: Balticon in 2006 - Hunt... Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at WSFA.org> At 11:19 PM 3/14/05 EST, MarkLFischer at aol.com wrote: >In a message dated 3/14/2005 10:47:41 PM Eastern Standard Time, >omni at omniphile.com writes: > >>Such as? (not that I was all that serious to start with, but I'm curious... > >The regulations involved in operating a large vessel carrying passengers for >hire are daunting, which is the primary reason you never see a US-flag >cruise ship. I figured it was for two bigger reasons: taxes and lawyers. The regs may be duanting, but more than one company managed to survive them profitably. >Things get somewhat easier if you're simply using the ship as a >hotel barge, and never carrying anyone but crew when shifting from port to port. Yep. You've still got all sorts of international agreements to abide by though, like filtering bilge water to avoid dumping oil, etc.. >You still have the overhead of paying licensed crew, an awe-inspiring list >of fees and taxes, and upkeep on the vessel. A boat is described as a hole in >the water into which you pour money, a cruise ship is a yawning chasm into >which you pour a small country's defense budget. Yep, but if you can keep the rooms rented, you still make a profit. It's not the cost of the operation that matters, it's the ratio of income to outgo... >>I've wondered for a while why there aren't more "camp-cons", where you pick >>some state park or private camp ground and just take over a section for a >>few days. The SCA does that for things like the Pensic Wars, and it's a >>blast. > >That's an oversimplification, and Pennsic's a really bad example. The SCA >has a ages-old and carefully-nurtured understanding with the Coopers for the >use of their campground, and even local events usually make sure all paperwork and permissions are in order before using public areas. When I said, "take over" I was being a smartass. I really meant "rent according to the customary arrangements and with advance warning about the activities planned"...but that was a lot more typing. Markland had a couple of camping events I went to up northwest of Baltimore many years ago. It was a state park, and they just rented one of the camping areas for the weekend. Ended up costing about $5 a person for the number of people we had, and for that we got about 10 acres of open space and access to the local river (which supported both skinny dipping and textile-compulsive bathing activities due to a nice bend and trees) as well as use of the rustic, but functional shower/toilet facilities and nearby parking lot (typical state park setups). Camp fires weren't allowed, but grills were fine if I remember right. One guy brought a bunch of turkey legs and charcoal and fed those who didn't want to cook for a couple of bucks each...had a nice inviting sign: "Dead Burned Bird Parts" to attract business. Only had one injury all weekend that needed medical assistance...a blacksmith using his own blade sliced his hand up pretty well. Really good at making sharp blades, really poor at making good grips for them... It would be a different kind of event, and wouldn't appeal to all fans, but it might be fun and wouldn't cost much to run compared to renting a hotel and setting up movie and other A/V equipment...but I'll leave comments on that to those who've run a few conventions. I've only been on one con-com before, and I left all the hard stuff to the others (I did pre-reg and treasurer and wrote the software to do the data entry and 5-digit zip sorted labels for the mass mailing...and got my boss to let us use the company computer (this was pre-PC days more or less...the home computers we had at the time weren't up to the task). >>>Permanent Floating RiotCon, anyone? > >>Your Niven is showing... > >Damn, is it obvious? I thought I had those pants repaired.... Got to take them to a tailor with at least a partial name, not just the job description, if you want the best work... -- Mike B. -- In theory, theory and reality are the same. In reality, they are not.