August 31, 2007

Charity Event

If you happen to be in Minneapolis on Sunday, September 23rd, consider attending the VSA arts of Minnesota Autumn Silent Auction. VSA is local non-profit that promotes access to the arts for people with disabilities. I sit on its Board of Directors and this is our third silent auction event. There will be plenty of interesting items to bid on, like original artwork, theater tickets, gift certificates to restaurants, etc. And there will be plenty of food and drink to keep you happy while you empty your wallet in support of a good cause.

Here's the vital information:

VSA arts of Minnesota Autumn Silent Auction
Sunday, September 23rd, 2:00-5:00 p.m.
12th Floor of Macy's, 700 Nicollet Mall, Downtown Minneapolis
Tickets: $30 apiece if purchased before September 18; $35 after September 18

You can order tickets on-line or through me. All proceeds benefit VSA. You'll have a good time, I promise. And when have I ever disappointed you?

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:51 PM | Comments (1)

August 30, 2007

Machines Have Feelings, Too

Time is short tonight, which is another way of saying I've wasted much of the evening wandering the internets. And my computer is getting flaky. I think it caught me ogling parts for a new system and it's feeling jealous. More soon.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:44 PM | Comments (0)

August 29, 2007

Emerging Artist

This week's City Pages includes a feature profile of Christopher Harmon. Christopher has a rare neurological condition that has left him deaf, legally blind, and in a wheelchair. The article details Harmon's efforts to come to terms with the severity of his disability, as well as his aspirations to become a writer. It also describes his struggle with the county to maintain funding for the sign language interpreters who help him communicate with the rest of the world on a daily basis.

I've run into Christopher a few times at various functions, but I don't have the privilege of knowing him personally. I hope he's happy with the article; I think it's wonderful.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:39 PM | Comments (1)

August 28, 2007

And So On And So On

My latest BBC post is up, in which I get all wonky. Probably nothing you guys haven't heard before, but feel free to check it out. I promise, I'll make up for the brevity of this post by writing a future post that features naked pictures of..I dunno...someone. Definitely not me.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:38 PM | Comments (0)

August 27, 2007

Natural Born Philistines

According to a recent AP poll, 25% of Americans didn't read a book in the last year. Over at the Guardian Books Blog, it's posited that capitalism is to blame for the mass aversion to the printed page that so many Americans seem to have developed. I think that's an oversimplification of what's really going on. To be sure, reading--and I want to emphasize that we're talking about books here--has never been a popular American pastime. Credit the vociferous anti-intellectualism that took root here as soon as the Puritans dropped anchor. Credit the agrarian economy that dominated the first half of the nation's history (reading can't be a priority when there are crops to be sown). Books might have become mass entertainment if the industrial revolution hadn't been immediately followed by the advent of radio and then television.

Some might point out that the Web and videogames and television turned people away from books. Maybe. Perhaps technology finally reached a point where it could satiate a human brain hungry for visual stimulation. Why make the effort to process words into images when the TV is sitting right there, ready to mainline all kinds of pretty pictures into our cerebral cortexes? The siren call of the TV is hardwired into our neural pathways. The decline of reading is just as much about biology as anything else.

But books and the reading of books will survive. Despite the best efforts of a broken educational system and a mass culture that is becoming ever more hyper-visual, a significant minority of people--yes, even Americans--will continue to take refuge and solace in books. A certain kind of person will cling to the permanence of the stories and ideas presented in books as a way to keep one's bearings in an age of ephemera and disposability.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:43 PM | Comments (3)

August 26, 2007

Bringing Order To Chaos

One challenge I have as a blogger is stumbling across some interesting tidbit of information, thinking "You know, that would make a really great topic for a posting", and then completely forgetting about it once I move on to something else. In an effort to better organize my thoughts (and reduce those excruciating episodes of writer's block), I'm going to start using Google Notebook to catalog and annotate not just the interesting scraps of information I find on-line, but also the (very) occasional ideas and insights I might generate all by myself. I chose Google Notebook not because I'm a hopeless fanboy (although I suppose you could make the argument), but because I like how it's easily accessible from within my browser and I can easily clip information from websites. And it's probably less pretentious than me carrying around one of the hipster's favored accouterments: the moleskine notebook. Not that I could actually write anything in a moleskine, but I'm just saying.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:22 PM | Comments (0)

August 25, 2007

Critic At Large: The Hard Way

Lee Child puts his own spin on the lone-hero archetype in The Hard Way, one of the latest books in Child's series of books that feature Jack Reacher. Reacher is an ex-military cop who has a knack for finding trouble. In this book, Reacher gets involved with the investigation of a mercenary's trophy wife. Reacher soon discovers that said mercenary doesn't possess many redeeming qualities, even for a mercenary, and Reacher begins to suspect foul play.

The narrative moves along at a brisk pace without inducing seeming far-fetched, which is a common pitfall for the thriller genre. There isn't much in the way of character development, but that really isn't the point in books like these. It's all about plot twists, which Child delivers in a well-crafted manner. When I'm in the mood for another breezy read, I'll be happy to return to the world of Jack Reacher.

Next up is The Store, Bentley Little's critique of consumerism disguised as a horror novel.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:44 PM | Comments (0)

August 24, 2007

Some Marriages Don't Last This Long

Today marks five years since I posted my first entry on this blog. I really should get working on putting together entries for WTF?: The Best of The 19th Floor 2002-2007. Because that book deal should be coming along any day now. I'm thinking of including a Fan Favorites section, so let me know if you have a favorite post that you'd like to see included.

In case you can't tell, this is a mind game to help me justify all the hours I've spent in front of the computer when I could've been out and, oh, I don't know, having some sort of life.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:38 PM | Comments (1)

August 23, 2007

The Price Of Fame

My first posting for the BBC can be found here. You want to know the great thing about blogging for two sites simultaneously? You get to stare at a blank screen for twice as much time, desperately trying to think of something clever to say for two audiences. Before long, I'll develop a crushing form of performance anxiety that can only be remedied by copious amounts of illicit narcotics. And the only thing that will stop my rapid downward spiral is an intervention where my friends and family force me to put my computer up for sale on Craigslist.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:01 PM | Comments (0)

August 22, 2007

Professional Development

Being in Duluth was like stepping through some time vortex that transported me two months into the future. It was cool, overcast, and foggy for most of my visit. I also learned some important things, like the fact that cocktail straws are ideally sized for me to sip from a martini glass. And that maybe I should look for a used Macbook to fill idle moments on these occasional trips. And that I should probably load up some white noise on my iPod to help me fall asleep in strange hotel beds that have mattresses made of granite.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:38 PM | Comments (1)

August 19, 2007

Intercontinental

I'm leaving tomorrow for a short business trip to Duluth. Blogging probably won't resume until Wednesday. But here's a bit of news to tide you over: beginning August 23, I'll be guest-blogging on the BBC Ouch site for the next weeks. No, I don't why they asked me, either. But the British are known for their appreciation of both quirkiness (see Eddie Izzard or any season of Doctor Who) and crotchety-ness (see Richard Dawkins or Christopher Hitchens), so maybe I'll fit right in. I'll still be doing my regular 19th Floor blogging, which means you can still get your dose of my vulgar Mr. Hyde while my genteel Dr. Jeckyll is trying to be all mannered and cultured for the Beeb.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:30 PM | Comments (0)

August 17, 2007

Cease And Desist

When I checked my e-mail this morning, I found that the good folks at Comcast had sent me a DMCA notice. For those of you who aren't conversant in geek, a DMCA notice is a warning that internet service providers send to customers suspected of downloading copyrighted material (TV shows, movies, and the like). Time to remind my nurses that my network is not to be used for illicit activities. Because downloading old episodes of The Office is not only against the law; it's just plain wrong.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:50 PM | Comments (1)

August 16, 2007

Blink Twice For "No"

Here's an interesting post describing various ideas to assist people with locked-in syndrome to communicate. People who have locked-in syndrome are completely paralyzed, oftentimes unable to even move their eyes. The closest I've ever come to being unable to communicate was when I was hospitalized as a kid and had a ventilator tube shoved down my throat. The inability to direct someone to the exact spot of an itch or to emphatically state "No, I do not want to watch another MASH rerun" could be incredibly frustrating. The hospital staff did develop a laminated communication board that let me whine and complain by pointing at letters, but it was an excruciatingly slow and cumbersome method. I invented my own system of tongue clicks and facial gestures to communicate simple concepts and some of those adaptive behaviors have become deeply ingrained. To this day, I flutter my eyebrows when I'm saying "yes". 

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:54 PM | Comments (0)

August 14, 2007

Any Publicity Is Good Publicity

I want Bill O'Reilly to notice my blog. There, I said it. I want him to mention my blog and the Communist Manifesto in the same breath. I want him to make outlandish comparisons of my readers to followers of [insert radical and discredited ideology here]. I want him to warn his dimwitted and paranoid Fox viewers that, second only to Markos at Daily Kos, I am the most dangerous blogger in America. Can you imagine the traffic that kind of buzz would generate for me? But you guys need to help me out. I need each of you to post, say, 5,000 comments each over the next few days. Under assumed names, of course. My blog won't have that air of menacing influence if I'm only getting a few comments a week. I realize it's a lot to ask, but I have every confidence that you guys will pull through for me.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:22 PM | Comments (5)

August 13, 2007

Floppy's Revenge

I have one word of advice for the cast members of the upcoming Star Trek movie: chart your subsequent career path very carefully, or you might end up starring in a movie about homicidal bunny rabbits.

And in case you're doubting the existence of such a cinematic abomination, here's a video clip, complete with a stampede of said mutant bunnies. This piece of filmmaking is one more reason to be thankful that the Seventies can never, ever come back.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)

August 12, 2007

The First Taste Is Free

My friend brought his copy of World of Warcraft with him and he has graciously allowed me to try it out using a guest pass. I'm normally not a huge fan of on-line games, but this I'm beginning to think that this one should be put on the controlled substances list. If I was a weaker man, I could easily see myself calling in sick for days on end just to give myself more playing time. My blog would become neglected and I'd stop returning friends' phone calls. Before long, I'd require an intervention and months of detox. All the more reason to be glad this pass only last ten days.

Which should be enough time for Farwalk, my level 4 night elf cleric, to reach at least level 10.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:36 PM | Comments (0)

August 10, 2007

Turf Wars

To the guys at BoingBoing: you're starting to make me look bad. Why should people continue to visit my blog when they can get all their gimp-centric news from you? Sure, I could post something semi-original about the new DVD of excerpts from artist Sean Patrick's forthcoming documentary on his experience with Lou Gehrig's disease, but we'd both know I was just shamelessly cribbing your material. How about we negotiate some sort of deal on who gets to scoop the big gimp stories? I'm willing to be reasonable. Have your people call my people.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:06 PM | Comments (0)

August 09, 2007

Worker Bee

It's almost 9 p.m. and I'm still here in the office, trying to finish things up before I leave on vacation. Blogging might be a little light over the next week as I'll have a friend visiting me. I predict much loafing, late-night gaming, and all-around geeking out.

I so need to get away from this computer before I think of another e-mail to send. Time to make my getaway.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:49 PM | Comments (1)

August 08, 2007

Fetch!

I spent the evening at my friend Rosie's house, where I made the acquaintance of Percy, her chocolate lab. Percy, in a demonstration of impeccable character judgment, took an instant liking to me and he eagerly deposited his goopy tennis ball on my lap several times. He seemed a little puzzled when I wouldn't throw it for him. I considered using my Jedi powers, but I'm actually a little hesitant to do so. Once I start using them, I may not be able to contain myself. Before long, I'd be shooting lightning out my fingertips as a means of disciplining my nurses.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:14 PM | Comments (0)

August 07, 2007

Public Works

Minneapolis' wi-fi network, which I've discussed previously, proved its worth when the 35W bridge collapsed. Emergency responders were able to transmit detailed maps of the site to and from the command center. US Internet, the private firm responsible for operating the network, also took the civic-minded step of opening up the network for the use of the general public in the hours immediately after the disaster. As the Minnesota Monitor points out, the performance of the wi-fi network during the recent emergency should silence any remaining critics of its construction.

While I'm on the topic, I'd like to point your attention to this Request for Proposals that was just released by the Minneapolis Foundation. A considerable amount of money is available to local non-profits and government entities for purposes of promoting digital inclusion. This could include computer education, making personal computers available to low-income residents, or any number of other creative purposes. I sit on the Digital Inclusion Fund Advisory Committee, which is responsible for reviewing the proposals and making funding recommendations, and we really want to see some innovative proposals. This is a unique funding opportunity and the deadline is September 14th, so I'm hoping people will spread the word.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)

August 06, 2007

Enablers

As a strong supporter of DFL candidates like Tim Walz and Amy Klobuchar during the last election cycle, I'm deeply dismayed with their vote to authorize the Protect America Act (a title that is only a smidgen less cynical than the PATRIOT Act). The law grants the government the power to conduct warrantless wiretaps with almost no judicial oversight or explicit restrictions on the surveillance of domestic communications. As it's currently worded, the law contains a gaping hole that lets the administration spy on any phone call or e-mail as long as the surveillance is "directed at a person reasonably believed to be located outside of the United States". I read this to mean that the government can listen in when my mom calls one of my uncles in Germany. Or it can read the e-mails I send to my brother when he's overseas.

I'm not completely surprised by Walz's vote. He's a Blue Dog Democrat who is trying to look tough for the conservative voters back home. Except this isn't acting tough--it's acting scared. Walz flinched when the administration put on its Bin Laden mask and said, "Boo!" Disappointing, but predictable. Klobuchar, however, should know better. When she took her oath as an attorney, she vowed to uphold the Constitution. Even when it's politically inconvenient. Even when it might earn you the scorn of Fox News. Even when you're tired and crabby and ready to go on vacation. All the time, Amy. All the time.

I know my fifty bucks doesn't mean much, but they're going to have to do a lot better than this if they expect me to pull out my wallet for them in the future.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:19 PM | Comments (0)

August 05, 2007

Lazy Sunday

I was all psyched to see Sunshine today, but I failed to realize that this is also the final day of the Uptown Art Fair. All of the street parking was blocked off and I didn't want to see the movie badly enough to pay nine bucks to park in a lot. I need to catch up on some things here at home, so it's probably just as well. The staff at the Lagoon Theater was starting to greet me by name, which was a little embarrassing.

Last night's party was great fun, but I'm starting to think I should throw another party just to get rid of all this excess food.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:20 PM | Comments (2)

August 04, 2007

Kudos

A friend and I were talking last night about the stellar emergency response to the 35W bridge collapse. The crisis management protocols at the local and state level functioned just as they were supposed to. The responders on the scene were well-trained and competent. Regular citizens played an important role in rescuing survivors in the first few minutes after the collapse. I would expect nothing less from my fellow civic-minded Minnesotans. As far as disasters go, this one was relatively small in scale, but that doesn't detract from the exemplary performance of our emergency services. And for the rest of the country, it's a good example of careful planning put into practice.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:20 PM | Comments (0)

August 03, 2007

Open Invitation

You are coming to my party tomorrow. This is not a request. I have enough booze sitting around here to give a whole space shuttle crew alcohol poisoning. And I'm really tempted to start picking at the lovely cheese plate I picked up at Byerly's, but that would be bad form.

You know you want to come. There will be cake. Everybody likes cake.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:47 PM | Comments (0)

August 02, 2007

Aftermath

Traffic around the Twin Cities seemed relatively light today. I didn't experience any major delays traveling between Minneapolis and St. Paul, although officials from the Department of Transportation remarked that the real test of post-collapse traffic will come on Monday. Estimates on the time it will take to rebuild the bridge range from one to three years. One thing about the news coverage is bugging me: the 35W bridge does not connect Minneapolis and St. Paul. 35W is a north-south highway that runs through Minneapolis and several western suburbs. While the Mississippi does serve as a demarcation between Minneapolis and our fair twin city to the east, the river takes a turn north and runs through the center of Minneapolis. This happens near the spot where yesterday's tragedy occurred. It's a small but significant detail and it seems to have escaped much of the national media.

Some commentators are already using the bridge collapse as a touchstone for the larger issue of the nation's crumbling infrastructure. This discussion is long overdue. but it's deeply unfortunate that it took a tragedy like this to prompt it.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:11 PM | Comments (0)

August 01, 2007

Disaster

The 35W bridge, a major commuting route that cuts through downtown Minneapolis, collapsed into the Mississippi River a little over an hour ago. No word on whether anyone was killed. I've driven over this bridge hundreds of times, particularly during the years I worked in Roseville (a suburb just north of Minneapolis). A local news station is showing dramatic footage of a huge section of roadway partially submerged in the river.

This is awful.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:08 PM | Comments (1)