This year’s World Science Fiction Convention is in Boston, and accordingly, the URL for the con is boston2004.com. By a funny coincidence, the Democratic National Convention is also in Boston, and its URL is boston04.com. The inevitable confusion is quite humorous — the organisers of the WorldCon have compiled a list of ways in which the WorldCon is unlike the DNC:
# We’re not $10 million over budget. We don’t even have a $10 million budget.
# Our promises for the future are supposed to be fiction.
# You don’t have to donate thousands of dollars to us (though we wouldn’t complain)—we’ll give you a high-level appointment to work for us for free!
# The media will not outnumber the attendees.
# Thoats and banthas are more interesting animals than donkeys and elephants.
# The folks wandering around with walkie-talkies are likely to be helpful and friendly.
# The slogans on our buttons are actually funny, and many of them are about cats.
# No one will be kissing babies except their immediate families and friends.
# When we talk about “skull and bones” it’s probably in a discussion about paleontology.
# When we sling mud, it’s probably in a workshop on making alien pottery.