The WGA strike started at midnight Sunday. I’ve never been on strike before. This will be new.

In case you’re curious and the news reports don’t make the issues clear, the deal is extremely simple. Advancing technology is constantly changing the means through which the stuff we write is sold and delivered. Our deal doesn’t cover those changes properly, and until it does, we’ll get paid less and less fairly as time goes on.

As you know from your own experience, an ever-increasing percentage of the audience is seeing our work through DVDs, downloads, streaming media, and so on. Our last agreement dates to before YouTube and its ilk even existed.

Heck, nobody even knows how the audience will see stuff five or ten or fifty years from now. It might all be delivered wirelessly through the Internet, or to our phones, or to giant glowing mandatory probes inserted in the backs of our necks and jacked directly into our brain stems. (I only pray these will be designed by Apple. I mean, who wants a giant glowing mandatory neck probe made by Microsoft? Not me.)

One thing we do know, though: new media will be a large, growing, and possibly dominant part of the future. So WGA has to demand fair payment, or face literally signing away the writers’ share of that future.

And while the studios will make money no matter how the work is distributed, our current deal simply doesn’t extend properly into new media yet. So we’re asking to get paid our fair share (and really nothing more than that, honest) for our work, no matter where it’s shown.

That’s it. That’s the heart of the issue.

Basically, when they get paid for our work, we should get paid for our work — whether it’s in DVDs, downloads, or giant glowing mandatory neck probes.

Until then, sadly — nobody wanted this — pickets.

And hopefully some fairly creative slogans. Because, well, writers. Damn well better be.

PS: If you’d like more specifics, an excellent and clear issue-by-issue breakdown, along with the basic outlines of a possible agreement, are here.

The WGA strike started at midnight Sunday. I’ve never been on strike before. This will be new.

In case you’re curious and the news reports don’t make the issues clear, the deal is extremely simple. Advancing technology is constantly changing the means through which the stuff we write is sold and delivered. Our deal doesn’t cover those changes properly, and until it does, we’ll get paid less and less fairly as time goes on.

As you know from your own experience, an ever-increasing percentage of the audience is seeing our work through DVDs, downloads, streaming media, and so on. Our last agreement dates to before YouTube and its ilk even existed.

Heck, nobody even knows how the audience will see stuff five or ten or fifty years from now. It might all be delivered wirelessly through the Internet, or to our phones, or to giant glowing mandatory probes inserted in the backs of our necks and jacked directly into our brain stems. (I only pray these will be designed by Apple. I mean, who wants a giant glowing mandatory neck probe made by Microsoft? Not me.)

One thing we do know, though: new media will be a large, growing, and possibly dominant part of the future. So WGA has to demand fair payment, or face literally signing away the writers’ share of that future.

And while the studios will make money no matter how the work is distributed, our current deal simply doesn’t extend properly into new media yet. So we’re asking to get paid our fair share (and really nothing more than that, honest) for our work, no matter where it’s shown.

That’s it. That’s the heart of the issue.

Basically, when they get paid for our work, we should get paid for our work — whether it’s in DVDs, downloads, or giant glowing mandatory neck probes.

Until then, sadly — nobody wanted this — pickets.

And hopefully some fairly creative slogans. Because, well, writers. Damn well better be.

PS: If you’d like more specifics, an excellent and clear issue-by-issue breakdown, along with the basic outlines of a possible agreement, are here.

We get a lot of questions about pudu maintenance. For example, some people’s pudus wobble through corners at high speed.

So how often should a pudu’s legs be rotated?  Is it better to switch out the front pair with the back, or to rotate them four ways, like with a car?

Generally, you can just switch the front legs with the back legs and get improved mileage and stability.  (Above, a pudu in mid-repair.)

With proper care, your pudu should be reliably tiny for many years to come.

Photo by an Argentine named Ricardo Cenzano, whose work I love looking at and who probably has a wonderful life.

Putting it plainiac, you’d be insaniac not to obtainiac. It’s entertainiac.

Early next year — just in time not to be just in time for the holidays, unfortunately — Ken Jennings also has a new upcoming trivia almanac, in hardbac.

If you’re a quiz-bowl type, the whole book is a cardstac.

Fun while eating hardtac in a guardshac.

I will stop now, before you complainiac.

From last weekend, here’s one of the most exciting plays in football in years — an amazing 15-lateral, 62-second-long, come-from-behind last play desperation miracle to end a Division III game between Trinity University and Millsaps College:

Compare and contrast with this string of rugby highlights I grabbed pretty much at random.  (These happen to be  from the 2002 New Zealand domestic club competition.) These are all great plays, but also perfectly typical of the game’s speed and excitement, the sort of thing rugby fans the world over take almost for granted.

You see the resemblance.