January 31, 2008

Reality Sets In

California's effort to extend universal health care coverage to its residents stalled in committee and appears to be dead. As the Wall Street Journal rightly points out, individual states don't have the political authority to keep health care costs under control. These attempts by states to develop their own patchwork solutions are interesting, but I don't see them as viable solutions. The deteriorating economic outlook isn't going to do much to encourage other states to experiment with expanding health care coverage. All this is to say that the only viable solution is a national solution. But for any national solution to be really effective, it must address the market forces that drive costs higher. I'm still not convinced that either Clinton's or Obama's plan does this.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:55 PM | Comments (1)

January 30, 2008

Inhale, Exhale

The Gimp Parade links to a news story describing how the power outages in Gaza brought on by the Israeli blockade are affecting people like Maher Al-Assali, a Palestinian boy who is ventilator-dependent. During the frequent blackouts, the boy's family must manually ventilate him with an Ambu bag.

This post isn't intended as a criticism of Israeli policy. But having been in situations where my ventilator quit working, I can tell you that manually bagging someone is exhausting work for the bagger and rather uncomfortable for the bagee. A human being can't possibly mimic the regular, measured breaths of a mechanical ventilator.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:39 PM | Comments (0)

January 29, 2008

The Comeback "Kid"

The Republicans look poised to nominate an old white man for president. Quel surprise. McCain would be a tough opponent, especially considering his appeal to independents as a self-styled "maverick". Then again, plenty of conservatives absolutely revile the man. McCain seems to inspire a lot of anxiety in the progressive blogosphere, but it's a waste of time to fret about who will emerge as the opponent. If Democrats can't capitalize on the current political climate, they don't deserve to win.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:16 PM | Comments (1)

January 28, 2008

Bob's House

Deaf employees at Pepsi produced this clever ad that will appear during the Super Bowl pre-game show. The lack of sound is going to have a lot of people fumbling for their remotes,  but it makes the ad that much more effective. Other major corporations might want to take notice and consider doing some advertising targeted at the disability community. Our collective discretionary income is only going to increase as more employers open their doors to us.

Thanks to my colleague Sonny for the tip.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:07 PM | Comments (0)

January 27, 2008

A Better, Simpler Time

Fellow Gen-Xers: I present you with three hours of MTV from 1983, complete with commercials. Lose yourselves in the mulleted awesomeness of Night Ranger. Get funky with the so-white-they'll-make-you-go-blind Huey Lewis & the News. Sigh with nostalgia at the ads for cassette tapes.

And if you're late for work tomorrow because you stayed up late reliving your youth, don't come crying to me.

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

January 26, 2008

Critic At Large: No Country For Old Men

"This country is hard on people."

That line, spoken by an ailing ex-sheriff, captures the relentless grimness of No Country for Old Men. A stoic Texan stumbles across the carnage from a drug deal gone bad and makes off with a satchel full of cash. A crisis of conscience causes him to return to the scene and he soon finds himself being tracked by a psychopathic killer charged with finding the money.

The movie was adapted from the book by Cormac McCarthy. I was critical of his spare, stilted writing style in The Road (his most recent book), but it translates well to the screen here. Perhaps that's because this is a movie about hard men who don't have a lot to say. All of the performances are good, but Tommy Lee Jones is especially good as the small-town sheriff who is baffled by the brutality that has come to visit his little corner of the world. The Coen brothers have always done noir with flair and this is probably their best film in a decade.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:29 PM | Comments (0)

January 25, 2008

This Just In

CNN was running promos this morning for a story about "the amazing wheelchair that climbs stairs" or something to that effect, but I turned it off before the story aired. I'm beginning to suspect that the news outlets possess several variations of the wheelchair-that-climbs-stairs piece that they pull off the shelves whenever they need to fill time. The technology itself certainly isn't new; I saw these chairs being demoed four or five years ago. But able-bodied folks seem to get a kick out of watching us gimps go up stairs all by ourselves. I'm going to record a video of myself typing a blog post, stick it up on YouTube, and see if that gets a similar reaction.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:37 PM | Comments (2)

January 24, 2008

Old Habits Die Hard

In a speech to a local chamber of commerce today, Governor Pawlenty remarked that Minnesota "is overemphasizing social services and welfare at the expense of some
other key priorities, like K-12 education, like higher education, and
like transportation." While I don't agree with his characterization that we are "overemphasizing" spending on health care and social services, those costs are beginning to crowd out our ability to increase spending in other key areas. In fact, we just discussed this in today's session of the emerging leaders program in which I'm participating. The state demographer gave an excellent lecture on the dramatic shifts that are changing the face of Minnesota, including a rapidly aging population. By 2020, the number of Minnesotans age 65 and older will increase 53%. And a substantial number of aging boomers will need expensive medical care, pushing up our public health care costs.

The governor was addressing a business crowd, an audience that is concerned with public investments that will boost worker productivity (like transportation and education spending). But I don't think that's an excuse to toss out a not-so-subtle dig at the people served by programs like MinnesotaCare. Besides, the lion's share of rising health care costs can be attributed to the unprecedented aging of our population. What the governor should be advocating is a national solution that makes health care affordable for everyone.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:55 PM | Comments (1)

January 23, 2008

Short And Sweet

I keep thinking that the entire country of Japan inhabits a space-time distortion that puts it 5-10 years ahead of the rest of the planet. It's a place where novels written on and for the mobile phone make it onto the bestseller lists. Here's how one successful author of mobile phone fiction explains the popularity of the genre:

They [Japanese twentysomethings] don’t read works by professional writers because their sentences
are too difficult to understand, their expressions are intentionally
wordy, and the stories are not familiar to them.

I don't see this taking off in the States, mostly because Americans aren't accustomed to reading anything on their phones longer than "whr u at?". Maybe the notion of a literary form specifically tailored to electronic devices is an intriguing one.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:06 PM | Comments (1)

January 22, 2008

Maiden Voyage

A trailer for the upcoming Star Trek film is now online. I like the iconic use of the Enterprise, although the first few seconds had me half-expecting to hear Pete Bob Seger start belting out "Like A Rock". And, man, Spock is starting to sound old. I hereby volunteer to serve as the human vessel for his katra when the time comes. A little Vulcan mojo might help me score with the ladies.

Three-quarters of you have no idea what the hell I'm talking about, do you?

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:05 PM | Comments (4)

January 21, 2008

365 Days And Counting

Much of the Internet is in a twitter with the observation that we are exactly one year away from the end of the Bush Administration. In some ways, it already feels like his presidency is over. The upcoming State of the Union address is not getting so much as a whisper of attention in the press and the recent coverage of his trip to the Mideast was distinctly perfunctory. The nation is reaching the end of its long road trip with Bush at the wheel and it's anxious to get the hell out of the car and hitch a ride with someone, anyone, else.

In related news, Oliver Stone--the self-important director of a lot of self-important movies--is commencing filming on a biopic of George W. Bush that could be in theaters by the end of the year. I'm no movie executive, but I'm not sensing a lot of pent-up demand for a cinematic treatment of this man's life. Nostalgia usually takes a few years to kick in. But if nostalgia for this president ever sweeps the country, break out the suicide pills because we will be well and truly fucked.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:06 PM | Comments (1)

January 20, 2008

Competing Priorities

I'm going to a movie this afternoon with a friend (Atonement), which means that I'll probably miss the first half of the Packers-Giants game. So, nobody tell me the score until I've had a chance to watch the whole thing on my TiVo (which, when skipping the commercials, should only take a couple hours). One of the nice things about not living in Green Bay is that I can go see an epic romance on game day and not have my masculinity questioned.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:38 PM | Comments (3)

January 19, 2008

You're A Worthy Opponent, Mr. Pickles

Scientists are now implanting electrodes in the brains of monkeys to control robots located on the other side of the globe. You know what this means, don't you? A decade or two from now, I'll be spending my free time playing a more sophisticated version of Rock 'Em, Sock 'Em Robots with some lab chimp strung out on military-grade amphetamines. It could be great reality television, as long as the monkey is kept in a remote location. I'm not about to let some augmented primate fling its poo at me every time I win, no matter how much the network is paying me.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:24 PM | Comments (2)

January 18, 2008

Flawed Genius

Bobby Fischer is dead and the world is a little less weird. We'll probably never see another chess rock star again and maybe that's a good thing. Look how this one turned out.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:11 PM | Comments (0)

January 17, 2008

Competitive Spirit

The BBC has a good article covering the Oscar Pistorius controversy. Pistorius is an athlete who is missing both of his and he runs on carbon-fiber prosthetics. He petitioned to compete in the 2008 Beijing Olympics, but the ruling committee denied his petition because his prosthetics are "technical aids". Here's footage of Pistorius competing in a race in Rome.

I'll post thoughts on this when I'm feeling more coherent. Thanks to my friend Rosie for the tip.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:56 PM | Comments (0)

January 16, 2008

Killjoy

Hasbro and Mattel, co-owners of the copyright to the original Scrabble game, are asking Facebook to remove the ridiculously popular Scrabulous app. See, this is why people hate lawyers. Everyone's minding their own business and having a little fun when--BAM!--Mr. Corporate McLackey, Esq. decides that he needs to do his part to make the world just a little drearier. Well, they can take away our Scrabulous, but they can never take away our FREEDOM!

I promise that's the one and only Braveheart riff you'll ever see on this blog.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:10 PM | Comments (2)

January 15, 2008

Point Of View

It's independent film week here on The 19th Floor. NPR is running a story about Rolling, a documentary featuring footage shot by three different wheelchair users. The site also features a few clips from the doc and I was compelled to smile at the familiarity of the lingering crotch shot featured in the second clip. Imagine the carnival of horrors I would be subjected to if I ever had to venture into a nudist colony. More disturbing is the third clip: a woman's wheelchair stalls on the way home from a party and her paratransit driver refuses to help her get inside her house, so she remains stuck in her driveway for what looks like hours.

If I mounted a camera on my wheelchair, I would shoot footage of my daily elevator rides in my building. Our elevators are on the small side and occasionally people have to high-step over my footrest to squeeze themselves in. They're usually cool with this, but occasionally I'm the recipient of irritated glances and heavy sighs. Whenever this happens, the impulsive side of me wants to feign concern, apologize for being such a nuisance, and invite them to sit on my lap.

Thanks to my bestest friend Amy C. for the tip.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:00 PM | Comments (5)

January 14, 2008

Life Story

Last night, I caught the second half of Today's Man, a documentary in PBS' Independent Lens series. The subject of Today's Man is Nicky Gottlieb, who was diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome in his early twenties. People with Asperger's tend to be extremely bright individuals who have great difficulty deciphering and responding to the cues of everyday social interactions. The film, directed by Nicky's sister, tracks him over several years as he tries to find work and a place of his own. It doesn't flinch from some of Nicky's obsessive and occasionally irksome behaviors, which are on full display during a confrontation with a job supervisor. But the director's love for her brother is what gives the documentary emotional heft. Check it out if you can.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:50 PM | Comments (3)

January 13, 2008

Ho-Hum

We don't have flying cars yet. We're not taking vacations in low-Earth orbit. Our computers aren't talking to us in soothing conversational tones. But brace yourselves, because the forces of progress are going to change our lives in dramatic ways. Imagine...being able to rent movies...on your computer. Imagine...being able to purchase digital music...that will play on any device. Imagine...being able to download things...really, really fast. Truly, we live in an age of wonders.

I understand that the future will come in a series of shuffling, incremental steps rather than a heady rush. A decade from now, I might marvel at how we ever put up with [insert today's cutting-edge but inevitably kludgy and obsolete technology here] for so long. But until I get to have sex with robots, everything else is underwhelming hype.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:46 PM | Comments (0)

January 12, 2008

Playoff Fever

A friend is dropping by later to watch the Packers take on the Seahawks. I'd peg their odds of making the Super Bowl somewhere between "good" and "pretty good". I'd peg their odds of beating the Patriots somewhere between "remote" and "cosmically infinitesimal". Still, it would be fun to watch a a Super Bowl where I actually care about the outcome of the game. And no, the commercials are not a reason to watch. This is why we have YouTube: to watch mildly amusing ads and videos of a drunken David Hasselhoff trying to eat a hamburger.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:39 PM | Comments (1)

January 11, 2008

Putting A Stop To It

Dear bloggers:

Can we all agree that the word "intertubes" has lost whatever snarky charm it once possessed and should be relegated to the place where overused web slang goes to die? We can bury it right next to "teh" and "ownz0r4ed". Trust me, the world will be a better place.

Sincerely,

Mark

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:06 PM | Comments (0)

January 10, 2008

Turn Me On

One aggravating aspect of the assistive technology I use is that I can easily turn off my computer, but I can't turn it back on without someone else's assistance. It seems counterintuitive that I should be able to independently turn something off, but not turn it on. According to New Scientist, scientists are looking for ways to solve the "powering on" conundrum, at least as it relates to brain-computer interfaces. The brain cannot be used to send an "on" because current technology cannot reliably distinguish such a command from unrelated thought processes. However, users might be able to send such a signal via other biological processes such as an increased breath or heart rate.

This doesn't strike me as a sophisticated solution. It doesn't take much to get my heart rate up. A future where my computer turns on whenever I start thinking about fishnet stockings could be really annoying.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:00 PM | Comments (0)

January 09, 2008

Pimping Myself Out

I'm giving some thought to doing some freelance work to supplement my regular income. Last year, a small magazine offered to contract with me to write an article, but I had to turn them down because work was crazy-busy. Things are more settled now and it might be interesting to take on some side writing projects. Grant writing is one possible avenue; I've done a fair amount of it and it's something that always seems to be in demand. I have friends who do some occasional feature writing and that could be fun if the topic was interesting. Or I could combine a couple interests and try doing some disability-related consulting for technology companies.

My overarching goal is twofold: to further develop my writing and to put some cash value on all this free time I already spend in front of my computer. I don't have much of a portfolio, but this blog and some of the work I did for the BBC should prove that I can at least string together words in a semi-engaging fashion. Any advice from other freelancers on how to hawk my wares?

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:42 PM | Comments (2)

January 08, 2008

No Clear Favorite

Whatever the final results are in New Hampshire, it seems clear that the Democratic race will not be decided until at least February. The press will be scratching their heads for the next few weeks as they try to puzzle out how the polls showing a decisive Obama win failed to accurately predict tonight's close finish. I can support either candidate, but I'll have some thinking to do between now and February fifth.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:40 PM | Comments (0)

January 07, 2008

Putting It On The To-Do List

I really should take down the string of Christmas lights I put up a few weeks ago. For some reason, a good third of the bulbs have gone dark, as if they're suffering from a case of the post-holiday blahs.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 10:03 PM | Comments (0)

January 06, 2008

Word Games

My brother and I have started playing Scrabulous, the Scrabble knock-off that is quickly becoming the most popular time-waster on the Facebook network. Our game is looking like something out of a medical textbook with words like "aorta" and "urea". My brother warned me that this game can become an obsession and I'm beginning to understand how right he is. If I start using words like "ephebe" in my blog posts, you'll know that I've been playing way too much.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:15 PM | Comments (1)

January 05, 2008

Going Out Of Business

The Borders bookstore in the downtown Minneapolis Block E complex is finally making good on its promise to close up shop. This news follows a string of other announcements from retail businesses stating that they would leave their downtown locations. The news about Borders' departure is particularly troubling because it couldn't find another tenant to sublet the space. The restaurants and nightclubs in Block E are thriving, but the city councilmembers who voted to subsidize the development probably didn't envision that it would have tens of thousands of square feet of vacant retail space within five years of opening. And I have yet to understand why the city invested millions of dollars in a poorly lit, poorly designed structure that looks like something out of a cheap theme park.

Minnesota Monthly recently ran article on how Block E could be improved. Some of the ideas are questionable (giant video walls?), but almost anything would be an improvement.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 04:02 PM | Comments (0)

January 04, 2008

As If The Internet Wasn't Geeky Enough

Gawker Media, the New Media empire that operates several popular blogs that run the gamut from personal productivity to politics, has just launched a new science fiction blog with the cryptic title io9. It covers an interesting mishmash of topics such as "What's with all the three-breasted women in science fiction?" and "Which science fiction drug would you most like to try?". The authors also throw in the occasional post on real, honest-to-goodness science. I wonder if they need some part-time writers. Daddy needs the ST:TNG DVD box set.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:40 PM | Comments (0)

January 03, 2008

A New Age?

Obama and Huckabee appear to have won their respective caucuses. A rather remarkable turn of events, considering that the dominant political narrative for much of 2007 had Clinton and Giuliani as the presumptive frontrunners. Expect to see a lot of establishment Republicans gnashing their teeth and doing their best to downplay the significance of Huckabee's win over the next few days. Obama looks well-positioned for the New Hampshire primary. If he wins there, he will probably be the Democratic nominee for president.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:42 PM | Comments (0)

January 02, 2008

The Tyranny Of The Minority

The Iowa caucus is tomorrow night and I'm not even going to try to predict the outcome. The polls are all over the place, but I must admit that I'm hopeful Edwards will come out on top. As for the Republican side of things, I'd like to see Ron Paul get put out of his misery so that his supporters can turn off their computers and go back to reading The Fountainhead for the nth time. That's probably expecting too much, though. Frankly, I regard the whole caucus process as woefully undemocratic. Why should ten percent of voting-age adults of a relatively obscure Midwestern state exercise such tremendous influence on the selection of a presidential nominee? I get the fact that we like to perpetuate the myth of the heartland as the soul of the nation, but it's just that, a myth. Not to pick on Iowa, but it's hardly representative of the country as a whole. Hell, it's not even that representative of the upper Midwest. The Iowa caucus is just one more example of American tradition getting in the way of progress.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:43 PM | Comments (0)

January 01, 2008

Setting A Good Example

I went to see a movie this afternoon at a little art house theater in Edina, a Minneapolis suburb where everyone is wealthier and prettier than me. Lots of other people must have had the same idea because the ticket line stretched across a whole block. My friend and my nurse were gently goading me to use my gimp status to cut ahead in line so that we could escape the biting cold, but I was having none of it. There is a time and place to play the cripple card, but with great power comes great responsibility. Sure, I could have probably spared myself the numb hands and partially frozen lips, but everyone in that line would have thought I (and by implication, every other person in a wheelchair) was a total wuss and I won't be responsible for perpetuating such insidious stereotypes. Of course, I am a wuss, but only when nobody is watching.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:43 PM | Comments (1)