April 30, 2009

The Orcs Are Working For Scale

The Hunt for Gollum is a fan-produced sequel to The Lord of the Rings trilogy that premieres on the web this weekend. The film's trailer looks polished, although it seems to rely too much on fly-over shots of generic landscapes. The BBC interview with the director reveals that he assembled a good-sized production crew on a paltry budget.

One of the good things that might come out of this recession is a bumper crop of amateur but high-quality video productions. Cameras are getting cheaper and video editing software is getting more powerful every year. And plenty of creative people now have extra time on their hands.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:14 PM | Comments (1)

April 29, 2009

Attention, Stalkers

I'm now tweeting (I still think that sounds vaguely obscene) at mcsiegel19. Yes, I remember my recent dismissal of Twitter. But then I realized that some of you have the impression that I have this really busy, active life. Through Twitter, I hope to demonstrate that nothing could be farther from the truth.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 11:01 PM | Comments (2)

Impasse

The Minnesota House and Senate have passed budget bills that slash health care spending. Nursing homes, hospitals, home care agencies, and other health care providers are all likely to see rate reductions. And it's likely that the final version of the bill will be vetoed because both the House and Senate rely on tax increases to avoid deeper cuts that would result in tens of thousands losing all health coverage.

What we're seeing in Minnesota is a precursor to the larger national debate coming this summer on the proper role of government in providing health care. Pawlenty and his allies argue that health care spending is taking a bigger bite out of the budget pie every year. Democrats argue that shrinking public health insurance rolls will only increase costs for everyone and push people deeper into poverty, particularly in small towns where nursing homes are one of the largest local employers. Unfortunately, there are no good solutions and both sides know it. Expect a lot of posturing and bluster as the Legislature and governor try to figure where to draw their lines in the sand.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:36 PM | Comments (3)

April 28, 2009

Into The Fold

Senator Specter's switch to the Democratic Party is as much about political realignments as it is about Specter's own desire to remain in power. The era of the Northeast moderate Republican is effectively over. Pennsylvania, along with the rest of the region, has been trending blue for a long time. And the minority who identify as Republicans are becoming ever more conservative. Specter knew that electoral prospects in a contested primary for a middle-of-the-roader like himself were increasingly dim, so switching parties vastly improves his chances for being reelected. And it's probably easier to be the dissenting moderate voice in a left-of-center party than the dissenting moderate voice in a far-right party.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:18 PM | Comments (0)

April 27, 2009

Project Blue

You wouldn't be alone if the news of outbreaks of a virulent flu strain evoked comparisons to a certain doorstopper of a postapocalyptic novel. A friend and I were chatting this morning about how we both thought of The Stand while scanning the headlines over the weekend. There are plenty of other pop culture treatments of your standard killer-virus-wipes-out-the-world scenario, but The Stand is the measure by which they are judged. It's the book that best illustrates Stephen King's affection for all things Americana and his recognition that civilizations are fragile things.

Incidentally, The Stand is now being adapted into a comic book series that I'm enjoying quite a bit.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:58 PM | Comments (2)

April 26, 2009

The Silent Treatment

I was sitting outside the other day with a friend during lunch when my ventilator tube popped off. My friend knew something was wrong because I suddenly wasn't able to speak and, not noticing the disconnected tube, ran to get my nurse. I can breathe fairly well on my own, so I wasn't too concerned. Another friend of mine happens by while my friend is away and starts making conversation. Since I'm not able to speak, all I can do is nod my head and move my eyebrows in what I hope is an engaged and active manner. She soon also realized that something was wrong. And the whole time she was trying to talk to me, my biggest worry was that she must think I'm incredibly rude for not saying anything.

I have a feeling that, even when I'm on my deathbed, I'll be preoccupied with the worry that I'm going to leave behind a mess for someone to clean up.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:44 PM | Comments (3)

April 25, 2009

Insurance Policy

Ever since the election, 2009 looked like the year health care reform would be achieved. But barring a complete breakdown in the political process, the odds of passing a health care bill have been elevated from pretty good to great. Congressional Democrats agreed yesterday to use reconciliation to protect health care legislation from a Republican filibuster. Reconciliation can be thought of as the big beefy guy who will be standing behind the Democrats during negotiations with the Republicans. If the bill can't get 60 votes, reconciliation will allow it to pass with a simple majority.

Republicans argue that health care reform is too important to be passed by a simple majority and that such parliamentarian tactics will only provoke partisan bickering. But I would argue just the opposite. This issue is too important to let it be held hostage by a party that has shown so little interest in striking any sort of compromise with the president. A health care bill will be passed, with or without Republican support. Given that reality, perhaps Republicans will decide it's in their best interest to be collaborators rather than taking their ball and going home.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:41 PM | Comments (1)

April 24, 2009

Game On

So I signed up for a World of Warcraft account. This could either be a lot of fun or a huge mistake. You may recall that I previously made a brief foray into the land of Azeroth, but I recently made a return trip and decided it merited a longer stay this time. The game really does an excellent job of triggering my "just a few minutes more" response. If you come across a night elf priest named Kalendi who moves around in a somewhat herky-jerky fashion, stop and say hello. I probably won't be as loquacious as I am on this blog, but I should be able to manage to muster a quick "hi".

I really should program some keyboard macros for frequently used game phrases like "Heal me!", "Where's the inn?", or "Kid, who taught you how to spell?"

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:42 PM | Comments (1)

April 23, 2009

Viewers Like You

Rejoice, my fellow PBS-loving nerds. The new PBS Video website serves up recent and classic episodes of public television staples like NewsHour, Frontline, Nova, and Nature. The site is still in beta, so the streaming is still choppy and the video has a grainy Youtube-y quality when viewed in full-screen. I'm hoping that PBS will eventually offer higher-quality video as well as all of the Doctor Who episodes from the Tom Baker era. That beats a tote bag any day.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:43 PM | Comments (0)

April 22, 2009

Instant Message

I'm not a Twitter user, mostly because I don't see the point. Between this blog and my Facebook page, anyone curious enough has ample opportunity to find out what's going on inside my head. But it's still exciting to see University of Wisconsin researchers using a neural computer interface to compose Twitter messages. The researchers point out that Twitter is ideally suited to this kind of interface because sending a tweet takes relatively few steps.

This technology is bound to become more responsive and easier to use, but that's probably all the more reason for me to stay away from Twitter. If the interface is too sensitive, it might start broadcasting tweets from my subconscious:

• really have to pee
• wonder if I have any Pringles left at home
  
• OMG fishnets!
  

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:19 PM | Comments (4)

April 21, 2009

Get Well Soon

You had me worried there for a second, Professor Hawking. When I read that you had been hospitalized with a serious illness, all kinds of questions raced through my head. Would he forfeit our long-planned zero-gravity deathmatch? Would I get all of the prize money? Did I needlessly purchase a diamond-studded silk robe with the words "Baddest Cripple on the Planet" written on the back in real gold trim to wear on fight night? But such worries vanished when I read today that doctors expect you to make a full recovery.

Just to show you (and the public) that I have a soft side, I'm dispatching my personal masseuse and personal nutritionist to your bedside. They'll have you in fighting shape in no time. But keep an eye on Kelli, the masseuse. Her hands like to roam, if you know what I mean.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:21 PM | Comments (1)

April 20, 2009

Found Art

The great thing about art is that it doesn't require any special training or education. All that's needed is the urge to create and access to the necessary tools. Make is a documentary that tells the stories of four artists with disabilities who dwelled at the edges of mainstream society, but still managed to create unique and provocative works. One of the artists, Judith Scott, had Down's Syndrome and found her medium in intricate sculptures of yarn and found objects. Another artist, Royal Robertson, coped with mental illness and painted strangely beautiful images that fused elements of pop culture and religious iconography.

Many artists with disabilities don't have the wherewithal to promote their own work and are dependent on others, like the producers of this documentary, to get the public's attention. It makes me wonder about all the anonymous people who created something worth preserving while living in institutions, psychiatric hospitals, and group homes across the country, but whose work is now lost because it was discarded by a family member or caregiver.

Make is showing at the Rico/Maresca Gallery in New York on Saturday evenings through May 2nd. 

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:15 PM | Comments (0)

April 19, 2009

Next Up Is The Ironman

Despite this morning's gloom and chill, I made it over to Nicollet Island to participate in this year's Race for Justice, an annual charity run/walk that raises money to fund student loan repayments for new lawyers who choose careers in legal aid. I finished the 5K course in about 45 minutes (although I did take one shortcut that shaved off a few minutes), which translates into a top wheelchair speed of 4 miles per hour. Not bad, but my previous chair could do almost double that speed. I'm slowing down as I approach middle age's upslope.

On a separate note, I'd like to welcome a new addition to the disability blogosphere: Never Walked in High Heels by Athena Stevens. Athena splits her time between London and Las Vegas, which must cause all kinds of cognitive dissonance. Go check her out.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:35 PM | Comments (3)

April 18, 2009

The House That Steinbrenner Built

My eyelids get heavy even when I overhear someone utter the word "baseball", but I'd pony up the money for a ticket to a game at the new uber-accessible Yankee Stadium. I'm accustomed to seeing disability seating in sports venues clustered in a few spots (and usually priced at a premium), but the new ballpark has disability and companion seating scattered throughout the whole park, even the cheap seats. The dugouts and fields are also accessible, which means fans with disabilities will be able to rush the field along with everyone else when the Yankees win the next pennant. The team will also provide assistive listening devices and game programs printed in Braille and large print.

I recently walked by the nearly-complete Target Field (only the Yankee have the resources to avoid slapping a corporate logo on their stadium), the new home for the Twins which opens next year. I'm hopeful it will provide a similar level of accessibility.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 01:22 PM | Comments (0)

April 17, 2009

Critic At Large: Junior By Royksopp

The new Royksopp album, Junior, offers up a bittersweet confection of Scandinavian electropop that's good enough to earn heavy repeat play on my iTunes queue. The album includes several instrumental and vocal arrangements that sound like they were composed in the solitary walk home from a great party. Established Nordic chanteuses including Robyn, Lykke Li, and Karin Dreijer-Anderrson from The Knife bring considerable talents to full bear here, but the standout track is "You Don't Have a Clue" featuring the vocals of frequent Royksopp collaborator Anneli Drecker. It's a gorgeous song that defines the groovy but chilly ambience that permeates the rest of Junior. This is one of my favorite albums of the year so far.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:12 PM | Comments (0)

April 16, 2009

No Eggs Benedict For You

Last week, my sister attempted to make brunch reservations at a popular local restaurant that shall remain nameless. My sister explained that she needed reservations for six, including one person in a wheelchair. The hostess informed my sister that she could accommodate everyone in the party except for the person in the wheelchair. My sister protested and asked to speak to the manager. The hostess called my sister back a short while later and backtracked on her earlier prohibition on me and my wheelchair entering her restaurant.

I understand that restaurants have space issues, particularly during busy weekends. But we could have made the reservations without mentioning my disability, shown up at the restaurant, and let the staff decide at that moment whether to accommodate. And it's a good illustration of how disability bias differs from other kinds of bias. I don't encounter many people who outright hate me because of my disability. Instead, I'm usually seen as an inconvenient presence, an unexpected and confounding interruption to someone's daily routine. It's easier to ignore me rather than figure out how to accommodate me. It's a perfectly human reaction that can usually be countered with a judicious mix of humor and patience, but there are times when I get weary of being a mobile teachable moment and just want to shove someone into the path of the oncoming clue train.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:18 PM | Comments (2)

April 15, 2009

Deadline? What Deadline?

A few people have asked me whether the Legislature will finish up its work--including the passage of a comprehensive budget--before the constitutional deadline of May 18th. And I'm sure the same question has been keeping many of you up at night. Short answer: I doubt it. There's little sign that the governor and the DFL-controlled Legislature are ready to begin the kind of serious negotiations that would bring a swift end to the session. On matters pertaining to health care, the two sides remain particularly far apart. Some of my colleagues are wondering whether this impasse will lead to another government shutdown, a possibility that could trigger a lot of time-consuming contingency planning. I remain optimistic that a deal will be reached my mid-June, but I also thought we would have our second senator sworn in by Easter.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:49 PM | Comments (1)

April 14, 2009

History Lesson

Minneapolis, like any urban center, has its share of blight. These days, the North Side is considered the sketchy part of town. But a few decades ago, Minneapolis' skid row was located near downtown, only a few blocks from my home. A locally produced documentary that aired on public television ten or twenty years ago includes amazingly candid footage of Washington Avenue's denizens circa 1960. Back then, Washington Avenue was a much different place--bars and flophouses lined the street and drunken railroad workers horsed around on the sidewalk and in the alleys. The film's narrator, a former bar owner who calls himself Johnny Rex, expresses a great deal of affection for these skid row inhabitants and doesn't dwell much on the part he played in feeding their habits.

The forces of gentrification and time have erased most signs that these places ever existed. Washington Avenue is now lined with condos and coffehouses. And it will probably be completely transformed again in another fifty years' time.

Thanks to BoingBoing for the tip.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:16 PM | Comments (0)

April 13, 2009

Throwing Money At The Problem

Are you a policy wonk with dreams of fortune and glory? Have you been feverishly working on a brilliant plan to restructure the American health care system? If you answered "yes" to both questions, then you could find yourself on the receiving end of a $10 million prize, courtesy of the X-Prize Foundation and health insurer Wellpoint. The X Prize Foundation previously handed out a $10 million dollar prize to a group of engineers and entrepreneurs who achieved the first privately funded spaceflight.

Like the Economix blogger who first posted this story, I'm not sure what kind of incentive this prize is supposed to provide. Fixing health care isn't an engineering problem. Plenty of ideas have been put forth; the problem is one of persuasion. Plenty of vested interests, including Wellpoint, stand to lose something if health care reform passes and it's going to take a whole lot of people making a whole lot of phone calls and writing a whole lot of e-mails to convince Congress to muster the political will to stand up to those interests. I don't think they hand out prizes for that kind of grunt work.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:36 PM | Comments (1)

April 12, 2009

Down And Out In Buenos Aires

When it comes to achieving full employment of people with disabilities who want to work, the United States still has a long way to go. But things are much grimmer in places like Argentina, where one in three people with disabilities have not even completed elementary and concepts like "reasonable accommodation" are unheard of.

The author of the report states that job opportunities for people with disabilities in Argentina will only improve once they don't have to "generate  profits" for others. I'm not sure that's right. Rather, activists and advocates need to help employers understand that people with disabilities can be as productive as able-bodied employees and can usually be accommodated at minimal expense. It requires some employers to be willing to serve as trendsetters and hire people with disabilities, thus demonstrating to everyone else that this is a win-win proposition for the employer and employee.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:02 PM | Comments (1)

April 11, 2009

And All The Nerds Screamed Like Teenage Girls

How do you make a theater full of geeks collectively swoon? Lure them into the theater with the promise of showing them a restored print of Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. Fake technical problems with the movie and then bring Leonard Nimoy onstage to announce that he's brought a copy of the new Star Trek movie to screen for the audience. That's what happened at a theater in Austin, Texas earlier this week and the subsequent reviews have been overwhelmingly positive. J.J. Abrams, the director of the new Trek, better start getting measured for his pedestal because he's about to join Joss Whedon in the pantheon of geek gods. And I'm beginning to suspect that this might be one of the rare movies I see more than once on the big screen.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 02:12 PM | Comments (2)

April 10, 2009

Going It Alone

"Do you think I need a lawyer?"

People ask me that question regularly and I usually give the standard answer they teach us in law school: "It depends." Not every legal issue requires an attorney's advice. When I clerked for a judge in Hennepin County, I saw plenty of people appear before the court pro se. Sometimes, people can represent themselves just fine. But in many cases, people would have been better served by having a lawyer at their side. But lawyers can be expensive and, as the Times points out, the recession is forcing more people to represent themselves whether they want to or not.

The judge for whom I clerked did his best to guide pro se parties through the hearing process and to ensure that they don't get ambushed by opposing counsel. But judges aren't advocates; I can remember the pained expression on my judges's face as we watched a confused and sometimes terrified pro se individual struggle to present his or her side of the case. My own rule of thumb: if the other side is represented by counsel, do whatever you can to obtain representation.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 06:45 PM | Comments (0)

April 09, 2009

Effective Work Habits

I don't take a lunch break, at least not in the traditional sense. After all, it only takes me a few minutes to pour a can of Osmolite down my g-tube. But I do indulge in a couple websurfing breaks during the day to check e-mail and scan a few news articles. And if the latest research is to be believed, my surfing is making me a more productive worker. I can focus on a task for a good amount of time, but when I notice that my mind is beginning to wander, a quick visit to Google Reader perks me right up. And a perky brain is better at catching drafting errors in legislative bills.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:47 PM | Comments (1)

April 08, 2009

Boy Meets Girl

This week's run of Doonesbury features a charming but clear-eyed take on disability and dating. Alex, the comic strip's resident overachieving and slightly awkward Gen-Y'er, pays a visit to Toggle, a boy she met on Facebook. Toggle also happens to have a traumatic brain injury that he acquired while serving in Iraq. So far, the two of them seem to be hitting it off nicely.

Trudeau has addressed disability issues previously (longtime readers might recall B.D. becoming an amputee while also serving in Iraq) and has done so with wit and a light touch. And in Toggle I see a kindred spirit: a guy who speaks slowly and digs geeky women. Perhaps I should start spending more time on Facebook.

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

April 07, 2009

Market Forces

Beginning today, iTunes is implementing a new variable pricing scheme for music. After years of pricing every song at 99 cents, Apple will now charge $1.29, 99 cents, or 69 cents per track depending on its popularity. My musical tastes tend to favor the midlisters over the new hotness, so this change probably won't affect me much. And I doubt many Lady GaGa fans will be dissuaded from buying her songs because of a thirty-cent price bump. The record labels are hoping this move will give a boost to their balance sheets, but I'm dubious. Pop music is such a fragmented industry these days; even big acts like Coldplay will never sell the ridiculous amount of records that a Michael Jackson or Pink Floyd sold in their heyday.

This kind of price variability might actually signal that the digital music market is maturing. After all, we don't expect to go into a bookstore and expect to buy any book for $5.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:28 PM | Comments (2)

April 06, 2009

The Natives Of Fantasyland Are Restless

Michelle Bachmann, our representative from the strange and distant lands of the northern Twin Cities suburbs, is doing her darndest to hold her own in the GOP's current auditions for its new reality series: Paranoid Island. She sees the recent passage of the Edward Kennedy Serve America Act, which expands Americorps, as a precursor to re-education camps for the nation's gullible youth. Here's Bachmann in her own words:

I believe that there is a very strong chance that we will see that young people will be put into mandatory service. And the real concerns is that there are provisions for what I would call re-education camps for young people, where young people have to go and get trained in a philosophy that the government puts forward and then they have to go to work in some of these politically-correct forums.

A decade ago, I was an Americorps volunteer for a year. In return for matching law students with pro bono opportunities, I received a monthly stipend that most people would consider a few days' wages. I don't remember any forced bus ride to a camp deep in the wilderness where they dressed us up in camo and blasted Clinton speeches over the loudspeakers.

Look, I'm willing to admit that many on the left said some irresponsibly daft things during the Bush years. He was no Hitler and he was not the figurehead of a shadow theocracy. But the pervasiveness of hysterical conspiracy theories like Bachmann's among much of the conservative base is something to behold. It's as if Obama's election gave them permission to revel in their wildest apocalyptic fantasies; the kind fueled by too many late-night viewings of old X-Files episodes. I keep waiting for someone to launch into a rant about the black helicopters kept hidden in secret U.N. bases in Canada.

There are plenty of things to worry about in this world. But when elected officials start espousing delusional drivel, it cheapens both them and us.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:45 PM | Comments (3)

April 05, 2009

It Takes A Village

If I had been born to prehistoric parents, would I have been abandoned in some remote corner of the forest as soon as my disability became evident? Maybe not. Researchers recently unearthed the 500,000-year-old skull of a child who likely had craniosynotosis, a congenital disability that causes pieces of the skull to prematurely fuse and leads to significant cognitive disabilities. The size of the skull indicates that child lived to at least age five and possibly longer, which means that his parents and other tribe members devoted themselves to his care despite his disability.

I like to think that, under similar circumstances, I would have lived long enough to become the tribe's resident storyteller and dispenser of sage advice. I might have even had a shot at the chief's daughter after composing an epic poem of grunts and whistles for her while sitting around the campfire.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 07:20 PM | Comments (3)

April 04, 2009

All Eyes On Des Moines

It's been more than 24 hours since the Iowa Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage and I can't see any pillars of salt from my window. I'm a little embarrassed that our neighbors to the south beat us to the punch on recognizing marriage equality. Minnesotans have long lorded a sense of superiority over our Iowan cousins and made them the butt of jokes, but the Iowa decision makes us look backward and square. Local advocates for marriage equality will probably play it cool for a while as events unfold in our sister state. But I'm confident that Minnesota will follow suit in the not-too-distant future.

We should also note that many of the jurists coming out in favor of marriage equality are Republican appointees. The clarity and plain rationality of their decisions is a refreshing reminder that, when it comes to recognizing the fundamental issue of fairness at stake here, not all conservatives are blinded by fear and bigotry

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 03:16 PM | Comments (0)

April 03, 2009

Just Say Yes

It's Friday night and some of you might be reading this while you're smoking a joint. I have no idea of what percentage of my readership partakes of the bud, but I'm betting there are at least a few of you. A recent Economist cover story and a question asked during an on-line Obama press conference have brought new attention to the issue of legalizing marijuana. But all that talk will probably remain just that...talk. For reasons both historical and cultural, Americans have no problem admitting they got wasted on Jell-O shots, but we keep our pot smoking on the down-low lest our colleagues and families think we're hedonistic deviants.

I'm all for legalization. Marijuana holds real benefits for lots of people and our cops have better things to do. Sin taxes are the only kind of tax that gets broad support, so why not legalize and tax it? And to answer your next question, no, I've never tried it. I know what you're thinking: "Mark, you urbane hipster you, how is it that you've never gotten high?" Well, I was too much of a chickenshit in high school and college to seek it out. And when I finally did get my hands on the stuff, I couldn't figure out a way to get in my system without coughing up a lung. That, and I have a compulsive need to always feel in control. You'd probably have to get me drunk to get me stoned, which seems both excessive and redundant.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 08:12 PM | Comments (4)

April 02, 2009

Markdown

The recession could reshape the economics of the legal profession, according to the Times. The era of lucrative starting salaries for new associates in private firms may be coming to an end, which could also restore some sanity to law school tuition. Law school deans could once point to the generous compensation packages awaiting law school grads as justification for soaring tuitions, but firms probably won't be able to throw the money around like they once did. And if students can get a legal education without taking out a mortgage-sized loan, they might be more willing to explore careers in government or public interest law.

The big firms will always be able to outbid the legal aid societies when recruiting new hires, but more new grads might decide they don't want to endure years of indentured servitude and would rather practice a more rewarding kind of law.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 09:17 PM | Comments (2)

April 01, 2009

Stories From The Trenches

Last night's episode of Frontline entitled "Sick Around America" did a good job of personalizing the plight of the country's uninsured and underinsured. It also highlights one of the most intractable problems facing policymakers: how do you cover everyone while keeping costs under control? As the program points out, Massachusetts requires insurers to cover everyone in the state, but the premiums are still too expensive for many individuals and families.

Many of us wonks think that any health care reform must include the choice of a comprehensive public plan in order to keep private plans honest. But moderate Democrats seem to view a public plan as little more than a bargaining chip to be traded away in final negotiations, which seems to concede the point a little too readily for my tastes. I'm not expecting us to get everything right the first time around, but universal coverage is going to be a hollow victory if it bankrupts us in a few years.

Posted by wintermute2_0 at 05:59 PM | Comments (1)