This week my column is about green libertarianism, something that most people think doesn’t or can’t exist. I like the idea of merging green values with libertarianism because it seems to me that the only way we’re going to start engaging in serious preservation practices is by making them appeal to smart people who believe in the free market system (i.e., libertarians). This was definitely one of those columns where I was thinking while writing, sort of coming up with ideas as I went along. Towards the end, I began writing about what a green libertarian future would look like, which was probably the most interesting part for me. What do you think?

I wrote several blog posts about WisCon for the Underwire blog on Wired. One covered two comic book panels on female superheroes, another was about a panel called “Why Is This Universe So White?” The latter has gotten some really amazing comments from people arguing over the importance (or lack thereof) of having more people of color in science fiction and fantasy stories. I also wrote about a strange performance art piece called Cafe Scifi+tique put on by Mari Kotani, a Japanese science fiction author, who wanted to critique Japanese “maid cafes” by staging a maid cafe where mad scientists wait on women. I think the mad scientists were supposed to be like the otaku who normally go to maid cafes and get waited on by cute girls. So the tables were turned: otaku waited on the cute girls, rather than vice versa. Finally, I talked about Andrea Rubenstein’s fascinating paper about body image in video games, especially her stuff about sexual dimorphism among fantasy creatures in World of Warcraft.

Feminism + science fiction / Wisconsin = WisCon! I’ll be at the world’s premiere feminist science fiction this weekend in Madison, feeling about as happy as I could possibly be. I hope to return home with a lot of books and new ideas.

I’m speaking on a few panels: Friday night, I’m on a panel called “Whither Hero(in)es?”, a discussion about the (lack of) strong women in TV show Heroes; Sunday afternoon I’m part of the “Battlestar Galactica Debate,” which no doubt will involve much dissection of Starbuck. Then, Sunday night, I’m on a late-night panel called “What if you don’t want to have children?” Topic is self-explanatory. I’ll talk about why I got a tubal ligation 10 years ago. Monday afternoon is a book-signing for She’s Such a Geek, and then it’s back to San Francisco! If you’re there, please say hi! I can be shy about approaching people, but I’m very nice if you talk to me.

Last week, Wired published an article I wrote about an event I attended in LA devoted to conceptual designers who create imaginary cities and buildings for science fiction/fantasy movies. Moderated by the amazing Geoff Manaugh, whose BLDG BLOG I’ve been reading for ages, the panel was a great introduction to unsung architectural artists of the movie industry. Now you can learn about speculative urban design and see a bunch of amazing pictures in the photo gallery.

My column this week is about the AACS key protests, in which millions of people posted a 128-bit number that is a partial key to unlocking the encryption on HD-DVD and Blu-ray DVDs. The MPAA has been trying to cease-and-desist these numbers away, claiming that they violate the DMCA because they allow people to circumvent the DRM on high definition DVDs. But popular sentiment is so anti-MPAA that nobody has been able to squelch the number from popping up everywhere, including Wikipedia, MySpace, LiveJournal, Digg, and Wired.

Why are people protesting? It’s not because they want to copy their high definition DVDs — it’s because the AACS scheme allows a cartel of electronics and entertainment companies determine which DVD players are “authorized” to play their discs. Consumers who aren’t lucky enough to have bought an authorized player won’t be able to play their lawfully-purchased media. This cartel can also revoke authorization at any time, thus forcing expensive upgrades on consumers who were prescient enough to get authorized players. The whole thing feels like an excuse to force people to buy new DVD players. And that’s why consumers are fighting back. Read more.

No, you can’t digitize everything. No, you won’t ever have access to an electronic library that contains the sum of human knowledge. And yes, that means we will always need physical libraries, museums and warehouses to hold our history. Read my latest column for three reasons why we must crush the myth of the universal digital library to save our future.

I just published an article in Wired about the state of cell phone forensics — basically, it’s about what those CSI types do when they get a court order to seize your cell phone and suck evidence off of it. What I discovered shouldn’t surprise anyone who realizes that cell phones at this point are a lot like computers. It’s easy to fake evidence on them, including stuff you may not have even realized is on your phone: erased SMS messages and the location of the last cell phone tower your passed by. (Most of the time, cell evidence is used to place people at the scene of a crime, so the location of nearby cell towers is crucial.)

Want to find out how detectives get evidence from mobiles, as well as the flaws in that process? Read the article.

Almost forgot . . . last week I was on another episode of Cranky Geeks. Check out my loud yellow shirt, as well as my complete lack of patience when excellent but silly host John Dvorak calls me “one of our female guests.” Here’s Cranky Geeks, starring a bunch of dorks (including yours truly).

I’ve just written a couple of angry rants: one about work, and one about reproduction.

In my most recent column, I critique a recent business book in the so-called GTD genre: you know, self-help tomes about “getting things done,” being productive, and making tons of money. Unlike the usual GTD screed, however, Tim Ferriss’ The 4-Hour Work Week is so extreme that it reveals the dark side of productivity worship. Ferriss proposes, in various ways, that the best way to live the good life and work smart is to outsource your life to the developing world. You can live more cheaply if you spend most of the year traveling in countries like Thailand on your US dollars; and you can work more effectively if you pay service workers in Bangalore to answer your e-mail for you. I’m not sure it really counts as “productivity” when all you’re doing is making somebody do your dirty work for you. Read more about the freakiness that is extreme GTD.

Last week, I was as mystified and weirded out by the Supreme Court decision on partial-birth abortions. That’s why I wrote my column about another female reproductive issue — pills that stop periods. Lybrel, a pill for women who don’t want to menstruate, may soon be approved by the FDA, though it’s been quite controversial. Many women say that it’s unnatural to stop having the annoying “little visitor” who leaves stains on your underwear. But I say let’s take charge of our own bodies and not endure something as constant and irritating as periods if we don’t have to do it. I think women’s reluctance to try Lybrel can be traced to a fear of controlling our own bodies — the same fear that undermines our fight for abortion rights, as well as the right to share the burdens of childcare equally with men. Read more about taking charge of our bodies by refusing to bleed.