June 30, 2004

Play Ball

Here's your "Awww, that's nice" moment for the day: a story about a baseball league for kids with disabilities. somebody should have told the writer to ease up on the word "handicapped," but otherwise it's a cute story. I remember doing something similar when I was at an MDA-sponsored summer camp near Milwaukee many years ago. Of course, the best part of the experience for me was having an attractive woman stand behind me to help me hold the bat. Guess I haven't changed much since then.

After reading about yet another security flaw in Internet Explorer, I've been asking myself whether I should switch to another browser like Firefox. My geek street cred is probably compromised by the fact that I still use IE. But part of me doesn't want to go through the hassle of converting my bookmarks. I know, I'm pathetically lazy. Maybe I'll make that one of my projects for the upcoming long weekend.

Matt Drudge, that paragon of journalistic integrity, is reporting that Kerry may offer the veep spot to Hillary Clinton. I'd be okay with that, but I think the story is bullshit. First, Hillary would mobilize the Democratic base, but her selection would also stoke the fires of the far-right wingnuts who would do their damnedest to turn out even more votes. Furthermore, I don't think Hillary wants to be put in the position of possibly waiting eight years before she can make her own run. Nope, it'll be Edwards or Gephardt, preferably Edwards.

I'm giving myself the day off from working on the book, so I think I'll indulge in some gaming. At the rate I've been progressing through Knights of the Old Republic, I'll finish it sometime before the end of the decade. I like to get my money's worth from my games.

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June 29, 2004

But Think Of The Children!

SCOTUS continues to be full of surprises. Today, they ruled that the Child Online Protection Act is "likely" unconstitutional because of its chilling effect on protected forms of on-line speech. For example, websites about birth control or illustrations of certain works of art might have been deemed obscene under COPA, subjecting the operators to criminal prosecution. And Clarence Thomas, of all people, was in the majority. And Stephen Breyer was in the minority. The hell? Is this some alternate-universe Supreme Court, perhaps from the same universe where Spock had that totally bitchin' fu manchu?

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June 28, 2004

Con Game

This is kind of interesting. In October, the Millennium Hotel in Minneapolis will be host to the Fiddler's Green Convention. From the website:

Fiddler's Green will be a Sandman-focused convention at the Millennium Hotel, Minneapolis, 12-14 November 2004. Membership is limited to 500 paid attending members, plus convention guests and staff.

All proceeds, after the con is over and the bills are paid, will be donated to the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund.

It's a $100 to register, which for me means $200 to cover myself and a nurse, so I'm not sure I'll go. I've only been to one con in my whole life, a Star Trek con back in Green Bay in '88 or '89. My reaction then to the whole experience was to get a bit freaked out. I liked Trek, but I wasn't about to put on a uniform and become fluent in Klingon. I was a fan, but these people were freaks. Or at least that's how my insecure 16-year-old mind perceived it back then. But I do remember buying a white baseball cap with the United Federation of Planets logo on the front, so I can't completely deny my own geek tendencies. I think it'd be a blast to go to a con now. I hope I would be a little less judgmental and simply enjoy the spectacle. Imagine all the great pictures I could get for the blog.

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June 27, 2004

Agitprop At Its Best

Whatever your political persuasion, I think it's not difficult to be moved by some of the scenes in F-9/11. Moore isn't a raving anti-American peacenik as some people have tried to portray him. His interviews with American soldiers and their families are deeply respectful and compassionate. Moore's beef isn't with the military; it's with Bush and his administration for getting us into this mess. The clips of Bush should be particularly embarrassing for any self-respecting American. He comes across as decidedly un-Presidential, often behaving vacuous or simply overwhelmed. I don't know if this movie will give Kerry any bounce in the polls, but it definitely can't hurt him.

I should note that it was a good thing I bought tickets in advance because the 7:00 showing at the Lagoon was sold out when I got there. And almost everyone applauded at the end.

Oh, and I'm not sure what Bush is trying to accomplish when he commissioned an ad juxtaposing Hitler with Kerry. It's more puzzling than upsetting. Is his campaign starting to feel a little desperate? The Hitler card is usually a strategy of last resort in political debates.

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June 26, 2004

Out With The Old

I'll try to post some thoughts on Fahrenheit 9/11 later tonight, depending on how ambitious I feel.

A new printer may be in order soon. My current, bulky HP model dates back to my law school days and the feed mechanism is essentially kaput. Any suggestions on what to get? I don't need anything too fancy. Photo quality would be nice, along with something that can spit out B&W pages quickly. And preferably under a C-note.

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June 25, 2004

Broadcast News

I had the CBS Early Show on while I was getting ready for work and they were showing a human interest story about a couple who adopted a baby after being scammed by a fertility clinic. The wife happened to have cerebral palsy and, at the end of the story, the interviewer made a point to say that "Mom is never alone with the baby" and that "advocates for people with cerebral palsy say that there is nothing about her disability that prevents her from being a mother."

Hey, CBS, condescending much? The very fact that those statements were uttered implies that the audience should feel a little nervous about the whole situation. I've read about a number of situations where where parents with disabilities are assumed to be incompetent and/or neglectful and it's maddening. Last time I checked, there wasn't a job description for parents that mentioned physical ability as a prerequisite. Witness all the crappy able-bodied parents in the world. I think I'll e-mail a brief admonishment to CBS for having such bone-headed reporters. But I got a small measure of comfort when Michael Moore came on as the next guest and lambasted the network for being completely dropping the ball in its reporting during the lead-up to the Iraqi invasion.

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June 24, 2004

The Protest Vote

Kos has some interesting tidbits on Nader's likely failure to get on the ballot in Arizona. More than half of the signatures on the petition to get him on the ballot came from Republicans. Minneapolis has significant numbers of Green supporters and I know a few well-intentioned, politically naive people who are still considering voting for him. Maybe stories like this will persuade them that they're being tools for the GOP. I understand wanting to support a candidate who was always opposed to the war, but this election is about other big issues, as well. It's about better health care access, real education reform, the future of the Supreme Court, gay rights, civil liberties, raising the minimum wage, researching alternative energy sources, promoting stem cell research, and the list goes on. There's no way in hell you can argue that Kerry and Bush are similar on any of these points. The Democrats were led like sheep into Iraq, but Nader has his own band of sheep who could unwittingly give us another four years of Bush. And I simply can't understand how any true, rational progressive can support Nader at a time like this.

I'm going to see Fahrenheit 9/11 on Saturday, so I better reserve my tickets at the Lagoon now. I'm betting it will be packed.

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June 23, 2004

Kiss And Tell

Mattie Stepanek, child author of Heartsongs and its many sequels, died today. Whatever you may have thought of his poetry, the kid had a lot of heart. He accomplished what most writers only dream of, getting his work published and read by millions of people. And along the way, he got to hang with Oprah and Jimmy Carter. Mattie made his mark on the world and he will be remembered by others, which I think is the most any of us can hope for.

Jeri Ryan was the only reason I watched Star Trek: Voyager (some of you may be noticing that my viewing choices are easily swayed by a pretty face). Divorce papers recently made public indicate that her Jack Ryan, her ex, a millionaire running for the Senate in Illinois, wasn't content to simply show her off at the restaurants and country clubs. He took the whole concept of public displays of affection to an extreme, taking his wife to sex clubs and asking for a little nookie in front of the other patrons. I'm relieved to know that not all Republicans are sexless cyborgs like Cheney. People should get as freaky as they want, assuming the other party is welcoming of said freakiness. The Democratic candidate (Barack Obama, my favorite person to watch in this election cycle) is too classy to make an issue of this, but the GOP morality police (I'm looking at you, DeLay) will would be well-advised to tone down their "family values" diatribes.

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June 22, 2004

Card Shark

Poker is suddenly everywhere. Poker tournaments on television, books on improving your poker, people blogging about poker. It seems like every white male ages 18-35 is suddenly a poker freak. I've never gotten into cards much, although I did manage to win about $60 at blackjack on my one and only visit to an Indian casino back in Green Bay. I think I'd like poker, though. It has an interesting mixture of luck, strategy and psychology that I think I'd find appealing. The guy with whom I clerked had a regular game going. Maybe he'd let me in sometime. I'd just have to make sure the nurse holding my cards doesn't have any revealing "tells" that would give my hand away.

Another hostage in Iraq killed. You have to wonder how many more contractors will die before companies decide that it's just not worth it and pull out. I think the Defense Department made a big mistake when they contracted out most of the rebuilding of Iraq. It may have been cheaper, but you have civilians living and working in what is essentially still a combat zone. Most of them have no security training and are easy targets for roving militants. But I guess that train has already left the station.

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June 21, 2004

Pagan Rituals

It never fails. Every six months I have to fill out paperwork to demonstrate that I am still eligible for Medical Assistance. And 50% of the time, Hennepin County manages to foul things up. I got a letter from them today saying they never received my documentation. Damn bureaucrats. Er, not that there's anything wrong with bureaucrats per se. I hear some of them are quite capable.

Isaac Asimov included the concept of a "neural whip" in some of his books. The basic concept of the whip was that it was a kind of mob control device; you simply pointed it at a person and it would inflict severe pain sensations throughout the individual's nervous system. Looks like someone in the military liked Asimov's idea so much that they decided to build the real thing. We can probably expect to see it deployed in Iraq by the end of the year, giving the Iraqi people another reason to love us.

Today marks the summer solstice. Show of hands: how many of you were at Stonehenge at 3 a.m. this morning to celebrate? Nobody? How disappointing. It's a bit discouraging to know that after today, the nights are only going to get longer. The bright mornings make it so much easier to wake up.

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June 20, 2004

Brave New World

The Sunday New York Times has a long article about advances in fetal genetic testing and how more expecting parents are confronted with the option of terminating a pregnancy rather than having a child with a disability. I am pro-choice and I think the decision to have an abortion is always an intensely personal one, no matter the reason. Genetic screening will one day bring us to a point where it is exceedingly rare for a child to be born with a congenital disability. I don't see that as a good or bad thing; simply inevitable. I do think that many people underestimate the quality of a life that can be had with a disability, but I don't think anyone should be condemned for choosing not to raise a child with a disability. Lots of people in the disability community will disagree with me on this point and will say that every pregnancy that is terminated because of genetic screening further devalues the disability community as a whole. That's hyperbole in my eyes. My existence isn't cheapened by the private decision of a stranger. And disability as a facet of human experience isn't going away anytime soon. My life as a person with a disability turned out surprisingly well, but each circumstance is unique and some families may be better off not putting themselves to that test.

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June 19, 2004

The New And Right Stuff

On Monday morning in the Mojave desert, an extraordinary thing may happen. A privately funded, privately manned vehicle will be attempt to ascend to 65 miles above Earth, the threshold of space. SpaceShipOne is part of a larger effort to privatize space exploration. Motivated by the X Prize (given to the first team that can launch a crew of three into space in the same machine twice in two weeks' time), several teams are working to show that spaceflight is not the exclusive domain of governments. This might be the kind of thing that finally gives NASA a kick in the ass. If space is ever going to be accessible to more than a few dozen people, corporate interests have to see that people and goods can be ferried into space cheaply and easily. Of course, an even better technology for getting into orbit, the space elevator, lies on the horizon. I may never get my space station, but maybe by the time I retire I can take a vacation at an orbiting Holiday Inn.

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June 18, 2004

Not Good Enough

A few weeks ago, I managed to get a real live literary agent to look at my manuscript-in-progress. The agent e-mailed me back yesterday and told me she didn't find the material "compelling." I wasn't terribly shocked or dismayed. The book is only half-complete and still needs a lot of polishing. And maybe the story is the kind of thing that won't grab everyone's interest. I won't have a good sense of that until I show it to a few more people. But my gut sense is that it's interesting enough to keep writing, and so I will. I'll keep everyone posted on the many, many rejections that are still to come.

My sister is back from Europe and is staying with me for a few days. She brought me a tres chic black T-shirt from the Cannes Film Festival and a few other trinkets. I was asking about accessibility in Paris. She said that the only accessible Metro station was at St. Michel in the Latin Quarter. The rest have stairs and apparently many have a distinct odor of "bum piss." Her words, not mine. She also said she only saw a handful of people with visible disabilities on the streets of Paris. Does anyone know if the EU has a department that deals with disability issues? Just curious. I suppose I can look myself. I'd be interested in seeing what sort of disability-related statistics are being collected over there in terms of population, household income, and so forth.

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June 17, 2004

All Aboard

Neal Pollack wrote a funny (and kind of scary) piece about Bush and his ties to fundie Christian end-timers. Nothing really new here, but Pollack's outrage and incredulity at the Christian right's near lunacy makes for an entertaining read. I don't pretend to and probably never will understand the fundamentalist mindset, no matter what religion. I've argued with some of my fundie friends that it all comes down to our internal wiring. Some of may simply be born with our Need for External Authority dials turned up to 11 while others manage to live with a certain degree of uncertainty and ambiguity in our lives.

Here are my pictures from the train yesterday. It doesn't officially open until June 26, but I sit on the Mayor's disability advisory committee, so we got a sneak peak. The Hiawatha line runs from downtown Minneapolis to Fort Snelling, about 10-15 miles south of here. In December, it will extend to the airport and the accursed Mall of America. The ride itself was very smooth and it's surprisingly accessible. Each car has four reserved spots for wheelchairs and the gaps between the platform and the train are almost imperceptible. It's frustrating that the train doesn't go into St. Paul or even some of the suburbs. I'd gladly give up my car for the train if it was practical.

Me on the train.

A view of one of the stations near Lake Street.

Here you can see the exterior of the train.

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June 16, 2004

Drowning In A Sea Of Words

Saw the Beastie Boys on Letterman last night. I'm not the biggest Beastie fan, but I like some of their songs; a few of which I've *cough* borrowed *cough* from friends on the Internet. They did an interesting trick last night with what appeared to be a SteadiCam rolling down the street in front of them. Would have made a good video.

This guy is on a mission to read 52 books in 52 weeks. I admire his resolve, but I'm not sure it's the quantity of the reading as the quality of the experience that's important. Is devouring a book in seven days more worthy than reading it at a more leisurely 14 days. I read at a pretty fast clip, but I'll admit that the books keep piling up around my living room. Part of the problem is that I tend to read a lot of stuff on the internet. News aggregators and RSS are great inventions, but they can be like brain crack for someone like me. So lately I've been making a conscious effort to get away from the computer after a reasonable amount of time so that I can devote some to words on paper. And even then, I have to keep up with the five or six magazines I subscribe to. Sigh. Nancy Kress wrote a novel called Beggars in Spain about people who were genetically modified so that they didn't require sleep. I wish someone would hurry up and design a pill that can delete the sleep function encoded in our brains. I've got stuff to do, damnit.

I had the opportunity to get a sneak peak ride on Minneapolis's new light rail train today. Pictures are forthcoming.

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June 15, 2004

Rocket Man

It's not as sexy as the recent Mars Rovers expedition, but the Cassini probe is taking some fascinating pictures of Phoebe, one of Saturn's moons. It looks like the last couple of millennia haven't been too kind on Phoebe. This picture makes the moon look like a potato that somebody took a bite out of. These pictures stir up my old longings to be an astronaut. I remember thinking how way cool it would be to float in zero-g, to escape the confines of gravity and flip a few somersaults. If I had a few extra trillion, I'd build a big ol' space station for all my fellow crips. No more having to worry about stairs or curb cuts or broken-down elevators or bulky wheelchairs. We'd all just glide around and play zero-g versions of basketball and rugby. And we would sometimes take a few minutes to drift up to the observation deck to look at the Earth and ask ourselves why we didn't leave sooner.

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June 14, 2004

Way Down In Dixie

RealNetworks and Starz are launching a movie downloading service for people with broadband internet access. I think it's great that more media distribution is being done over the Web, but I'm not sure people will pay to watch movies on their computer screens. It's not like music, where you can play it and then walk away. You're chained to a desk and sitting in a position that doesn't lend itself to extended inactivity. I'd prefer to be able to kick back and watch a film on my 31" JVC with surround sound than on my 19" monitor. And it's even less ideal on a notebook computer. But maybe I'll give it a try to see what the selection is like and how they handle technical issues like image resolution. I have a feeling it's something crappy like 640x480, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Bob Herbert wrote this NYT editorial about recent Medicaid cuts in Mississippi (registration req'd). No, "cuts" is being charitable. More like "gutting." Almost 65,000 elderly and people with disabilities could lose their health care. People with Alzheimer's and CP and quadriplegia. And what's Governor Haley Barbour's rationale for these draconian measures? He says that taxpayers in Mississippi shouldn't have to "pay for free health care for people who can work and take care of themselves and just choose not to."

I give you the bold new future of compassionate conservatism, ladies and gentlemen, where even those on their deathbeds will be expected to get off their lazy asses and flip a burger or two. Of course, it must be stated that Mississippi expanded Medicaid eligibility in the booming 90's and now lacks the will to raise revenues to keep those benefits intact. It still amazes me how we treat health care like a commodity in this country. It's not something you can give and take away like a child's toy. Idiots.

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June 13, 2004

Morbid Humor

The new season of Six Feet Under premieres on HBO tonight and I'm dutifully TiVo'ing it. When it's good, the show is brilliant and funny. When it's not so good, it's still a decent soap opera. I would totally date the character of Claire. She's cute and creative and sarcastic and a little fucked up but she has insight into her own fucked-upness. We would sit in some coffeehouse and talk for hours about how stupid and shallow human beings are (except us, of course).

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June 12, 2004

Windfall

I got a nice letter from Wells Fargo, my former mortgage holder, saying that they had sent me a refund check in February for a goodly amount and why hadn't I cashed it yet? This was news to me. I can't figure out why they would owe me a refund. But who am I to turn down their money? So I filled out the form asking them to reissue the check. I can always use a little extra scratch to pay down my credit card and maybe put a little towards some new toys.

I know you will find this news as shocking as I did: Karl Rove and his subordinates in the Bush campaign tried to incorporate Reagan's legacy into a new series of campaign ads. These ads did not go over too well with the Reagan-Is-God crowd and now the campaign is being urged to destroy the ads before the public sees them. You have to wonder how desperate things are in the Bush campaign when they resort to co-opting the legacy of a dead president before said president's body is even in the ground. The very idea of comparing this Bush to Reagan is absurd and I don't think even the most ardent conservative would disagree with me.

But if you do, you can comment to your heart's content.

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June 11, 2004

Rain, Rain, Go Away...

It's been overcast all day, but the sky just turned a pretty scary black. Like close-all-the-windows-and-cower-in-the-bathroom kind of black. Thunderstorms used to completely terrify me when I was a kid. Remember how some local television stations used to put a little "W" in the corner of the screen when there was a severe weather watch for the area? I would freak whenever that popped up on the screen. But like most kids, I outgrew my fears and the only concern running through my head is weather I should be concerned about a power surge. For the last year or two years, I've been telling myself that I need to get a UPS for my computer and I still haven't gotten around to it. I would be so screwed if something happened to my system. I've backed up a few things, but a crash would still be disastrous. Buh-bye mp3 collection. Buh bye to all the stuff I've written over the last nine years or so. I should invest in a DVD burner, back up the mission critical stuff, and quit tempting the fates.

The trailer for Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 is out. I will almost definitely see it on opening weekend. The scene at the end of the trailer is absolutely classic. It sums up Bush's style of governing in ten seconds. Watch it for yourself and see if you agree.

And by the way, Mr. Ray Bradbury, you need to take a chill pill. Did nobody tell you there's no copyright on book titles? Jeez, when did one of my favorite writers turn into an old coot?

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June 10, 2004

Test Drive

I know I said I was going to write something about the stem cell controversy today, but I want to save that for a time when my heart's a little more into it. I went in for a wheelchair fitting today and the radio in the waiting room was tuned to Rush Limbaugh. The man's rantings gave me a headache. But I got to sit in my new chair and it's pretty sweet. The thing turns on a dime and doesn't have some of the jerky motion of my current chair. It needs a couple minor modifications and then I should be good to go. I'll post some pictures for those of you who want to compare it with your own ride.

Just talked to my sister, who is back on American soil today after a semester in France. Her French is probably better than mine now and I bet she's smoking Gauloises and reading Camus all the time. Brat.

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June 09, 2004

Feeling Left Out

Can someone score me a Gmail invitation? All the cool kids are getting them...

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Bugging Out

Remember how Nixon was the only one who could go to China? Ariel Sharon may be inching closer to becoming Israel's Nixon. His government is on the brink of collapse because of his plan to evacuate settlers from the Gaza and parts of the West Bank. I don't agree with the context of the pullout; I'd rather see it as part of a negotiated settlement with the Palestinians. But this is probably the best we can hope for given the current political climate in Israel. My brother was in Israel back in 2000, just before the last major peace push at Camp David. He said that most people seemed prepared for a comprehensive peace agreement and that there wasn't much interest in holding on to the territories. And then everything went to hell, at least in part because of Arafat's inability to put the interests of his people ahead of his own neck. In the end, the political result may be the same. Israel will leave most (but not all) of the territories and a de facto Palestinian state will emerge. It remains unclear exactly how the Palestinians will govern themselves. Basic services, like trash collection and police force, will have to be quickly established by the Palestinian Authority for it to retain whatever scraps of credibility it has left. Otherwise, a group like Hamas, which has already outshined the Authority in its ability to provide social services to those living in Gaza, will seize the opportunity to make a power grab in the territories. And a Palestinian state dominated by Hamas does not fill me with a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Boy, it's fun to give opinions about stuff I'm barely qualified to talk about. Tomorrow, stem cells.

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June 08, 2004

Disfigured Sewer Dwellers Need Love, Too

I may treat myself to a showing of Phantom of the Opera next month. I've seen it a couple times before, once in San Francisco and once here. Musicals typically don't do much for me, but I have a soft spot for this one. The whole disfigured-artist-suffering-from-unrequited-love thing somehow resonates with me for reasons I can't explain. And it's playing at the Orpheum, which is only a few blocks from my building. There's a whole string of theaters in my neighborhood; the Orpheum, the State, the Pantages. And in another year or so, the new Guthrie will be completed on the riverfront, also within walking distance. See, this is why I live downtown. Even though I may only make it to these establishments a couple times a year, I like knowing they're nearby.

Just passed 200 pages in the book. About friggin' time.

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June 07, 2004

Simply Grand

Here are some pictures from yesterday:

St. Paul's finest.

A woman, her child, and her dog enjoying the fine day.

A Peruvian band that was quite good.

Okay, this one requires some explanation. To the best of my recollection, I was not gawking at these women. I think my nurse set me up with an opportune picture. But you get an idea of how a crowd of people looks from my perspective. Anyway, the picture made me laugh and I decided to post it while hoping that my female readership won't lynch me.

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June 06, 2004

Across The River

It was simply too gorgeous to stay inside today, so I spent much of the day away from my desk. First, I went to Uncle Hugo's to pick up some summer reading. It's a funky store with lots of old paperbacks and a knowledgeable staff, but like I've written before, it's a pain in the ass to navigate in a wheelchair. Books are scattered everywhere and I came damn close to toppling over a couple stacks. But the staff were very helpful and retrieved a bunch of titles for me, which encourages my philosophy of supporting local businesses. Then I spent a few hours at Grand Ole Day in St. Paul. It's a kind of street fair that runs along historic Grand Avenue, with a lot of live music and pretty good people watching. It used to be called Grand Ole Days, but I think they had to cut it down to one day for budget reasons. I'll post some pictures I took later tonight or tomorrow. I've lived here nine years and this was my first time at that event. There's a few other things like that which I've never made it to, like the Aquatennial and Taste of Minnesota. I'm going to try to remedy that this summer.

And today was the first day where it really felt like summer. The sun was warm on my face and the air smelled like cut grass and barbecue sauce. And I was walking around and thinking it would be nice to have someone to hang out with and do typical summer stuff, like hang at the lakes. Maybe I should start going to these public gatherings wearing a big sandwich board that says FREE LEGAL ADVICE IN EXCHANGE FOR CASUAL DATE.

Yup, that would work.

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June 05, 2004

RIP

Ronald Reagan died a couple hours ago. To live with Alzheimer's as long as he did is a fate I wouldn't wish on anyone. Reagan was a fixture in my childhood and early adolescence. He had as much influence on my own liberal politics as anyone. Even at ten years old, I was afraid that Reagan would deliver the entire world into nuclear oblivion. It will be interesting to see whether the imminent onslaught of media tributes will give much attention to his early political life, when Reagan was a solid FDR Democrat. Someone else said Reagan's political transformation mirrored a shift in the entire nation towards a more conservative worldview. I'm not so sure about that. The pendulum is always swinging back and forth in this country. Conservatives have certainly become increasingly conservative, but there still exists a vast middle ground in the body politic that seems willing to move slightly to the left or the right depending on which way the wind is blowing. Reagan was very good at reaching out to those people. Every president after Reagan has emulated (some more successfully than others) his style of communication. Reagan was the MTV of presidents, placing style over substance. And that tradition continues today.

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June 04, 2004

The Hirsute Gimp

Got my hair cut last night. My hair is the kind that grows incredibly fast. It goes from "presentable" to "big-ass Jewfro" in a matter of a few weeks. But I have a sweet deal worked out with my stylist where she comes over to my place. The only bummer about getting a haircut is that we never seem to be able to fully contain the hair. Somehow, it gets into everything. My chair. My clothes. I've inhaled strands of hair into my trachea a couple times, which leaves me sounding like a cat coughing up a furball. And I'll admit right now that I'm incredibly vain about my hair. Do you remember the scene in the movie O Brother, Where Art Thou? where George Clooney is startled awake from a sound sleep and the first thing he mutters is "My hair!" That is so me. it's my only physical characteristic that I actually like and that's why my bathroom is stocked with overpriced shampoo and frou-frou styling products.

My broadband connection mysteriously stopped working last night. After giving it some thought, I thought the problem might be related to one of the several splitters I had in the cable line to split the signal between my modem, my video card, and the television. And I was right, which means no more television on the computer. Not a big deal, but it was a nice convenience. I think I'll still keep my appointment with the cable guy to check my signal strength.

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June 03, 2004

Starring Quasimodo

Craig Kilborn interviewed Marlee Matlin last night. I think it was a rerun, but I was struck by how gracefully Kilborn handled the interview. Kilborn has a bit of the frat boy air about him, but that wasn't on display during the interview. I don't think he even brought up her deafness and he had the courtesy to interview Matlin's interpreter. Matlin is a beautiful woman and that probably helps in her interactions with the media, but it was still nice to see an actress with a disability being interviewed without condescension or pity. I keep hoping that we'll see more people with disabilities in the entertainment industry, but I'm not sure people like Matlin will ever be more than the occasional anomaly in Hollywood. I get the impression that most entertainment executives think it's okay to have an able-bodied actor play someone who has a disability; they still look normal enough to the audience. But what about the real thing? Will audiences accept an actor who slurs their speech or maybe drools once in a while? That kind of stuff may be excused in aging rock stars, but I don't think people want to see it when they're watching Law & Order.

A big shout-out to Da Goddess for directing some traffic my way. Always grateful to expand my nano-audience.

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June 02, 2004

Good Omens

Congratulations to Stephanie Herseth, who is the second Democrat to win a Congressional special election this year. And in neighboring South Dakota, no less. I hesitate to say that the political tide is turning in this country. The election was close and she'll have to do it again in November. But when a Democrat is able to pull out a victory in what is supposed to be a solidly Republican state, the future seems a bit more hopeful.

Last week, I wrote a short entry in defense of the Washingtonienne, former Senate aide who was fired for blogging about her sex life. Well, wrote in article in the Guardian and she comes off sounding like a brat:

I left Washington on Thursday and my timing could not be better: it's Fleet Week in New York City. Fleet Week is when ships full of US sailors and marines pull into New York harbour to promote our proud maritime heritage. As an American woman, I cannot help but feel proud of the men who defend our country: they are much better off here than in Iraq. They roam the streets in their uniforms looking for fun and everybody wants to show them a good time. All politics aside, women love a man in uniform, especially boy-crazy girls like me. Like I said, my timing could not be better.

And now she is on the verge of getting a book deal, natch:

But the real reason I went to New York is not to hook up with sailors; I am here to meet with book people. If I get a book deal, that means I will actually have to write a book, which means I will actually have to do some work to make a living, which is bitterly ironic, since I had the easiest job in the world before I got sacked.

Sigh. To be expected, I suppose. We all have to work with what we have.

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June 01, 2004

Like Father, Like Son

CNN warns that Wi-Fi users are notorious for not enabling the security features on their wireless routers. I'll confess that I don't have encryption enabled on my router. Partly because I need to keep resetting the damn thing at least once a week and I don't want to go through the hassle of enabling encryption each time. Partly because I'm on the 19th floor of a high-rise building and I'm not too worried about anyone hijacking my bandwidth. I suppose it's possible that one of my neighbors could access it and do all kinds of nefarious things, but I'll take my chances. Maybe I can make a little cash by starting my own little ISP for the people on my floor. I'm sure Time Warner wouldn't mind if I, ahem, rebranded their service.

My dad wants me to make sure everyone reads this Krugman op-ed piece about how the Bush Administration is proposing deep cuts in domestic programs in the next budget cycle. Most of my own politics can be traced back to my parents. My mom grew up in postwar Germany (when the whole Continent was shifting to the left in response to the horrors of fascism) and my dad is from the solidly Democratic Iron Range in northern Minnesota. My siblings and I are probably to the left of them on a few issues, but the fact that they raised three progressive kids--in conservative Green Bay, Wisconsin--is kind of remarkable in itself.

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