Principalities and travel

[Leslie Miller]

> But under principalities, we won't be better informed about candidates, 
> we'll be
> paying attention to far fewer candidates.

You know, this may be an issue of quality vs quantity.  Speaking as 
someone who rarely makes it south of Steppes/Elfsea as it is, I don't 
honestly think things would change much if Principalities were created.  
People who travel will still continue to travel, people who 
don't/can't travel will probably continue visiting events in the same 
areas they always have.  The Principalities, however, may provide 
people who don't/can't travel with a little additional support than 
they had before...in the form of awards, yes (and we can debate 
forever over whether or not awards are a good thing or a bad thing, 
but for some people they obviously provide a source of productive energy);
and perhaps a bit more activity amoungst the peers in their own 
Principality, as Gunnora seems to suggest, (although who knows if that 
would really happen or not.) 

I can't say what effect Principalities will have on other people, but 
I do know that the only potential effect it would have on my travel 
agenda is that I might travel *more* within my own region, with it having
little or no effect on whether I travel any more or less outside of it.
In other words, if Amarillo and Lubbock were joined to the northern 
region in a principality, I think it is likely that I would be more 
inclined to travel to their events than I am right now.  Maybe this 
is poor reflection on myself, but it's true for whatever it's worth.

I am, however, very curious how the creation of Principalities might 
effect the travel agendas of other members of the list?  I am basing 
my opinion solely on myself, and perhaps it would be very different for 
other people.  I can see how Principalities might cater to the lazy 
travelers' inclinations, causing some people to travel less.  (I'm 
already a lazy traveler which is why it won't have much of an 
effect....)

Gunhilda 
(who plans to be at Elfsea for only her second sojourn south of the 
Red River this year, not including Gulf Wars...)
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Leslie Miller                  
Safety Training Coordinator
Oklahoma State University
Environmental Health and Safety
(405) 744-7241
miller at pp.okstate.edu       
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