Enjoy the long weekend. I’ll likely be plopping myself in front of the telly tomorrow evening to catch the Dr. Who season premiere. In past years, I’ve waited for the DVD sets, but the hype for the show has reached such heights that avoiding spoilers will be difficult. I’m hoping for plenty of Daleks and at least a couple scenes featuring Karen Gillan in a short skirt.
Bill Nye, Science Guy, has a message for parents who ascribe to creationism. You are free to believe what you want, but don’t inflict your beliefs on your children. According to Nye, such indoctrination will only hinder kids’ capacity to learn science and compete for the increasing number of science-based jobs that are sure to be part of our future economy. Nye’s comments aren’t going to win many admirers among conservatives and fundamentalists, but they reflect an interesting tactic: think of the children!
Here’s Nye’s video message. The bow tie adds that extra bit of gravitas.
The Times examines how the state Medicaid budget cuts of the last few years are restricting access to dental care for many low-income adults. The inability to obtain preventive care results in more emergency room visits for tooth pain and other dental issues, which E.R.s are ill-equipped to treat. Minnesota is among the states that have cut dental coverage for adults on Medicaid, but it has also begun licensing dental therapists, mid-level professionals who can perform many procedures that dentists traditionally perform. As you might imagine, dentists are not keen on the idea.
Medicaid coverage of dental services may seem like an easily pared optional service, but the importance of good oral health cannot be understated. Gum disease has been linked to diabetes and stroke. Poor dental health can also complicate efforts to obtain employment. Let’s hope states can eventually restore some of these services.
I’m a little late linking to this news that Raiders of the Lost Ark is being released in IMAX format in a couple weeks. I have vague memories of my mom taking me to see it when it was released way back in 1981, but it will be fun to experience it again in a theater with other people. I’m also curious to see how it looks on a much larger screen. Will the asps look even more threatening? Will that German guy in the dark suit look even pastier?
My site statistics have revealed that the blog attracts the most hits on Saturdays. I’m guessing that many of you catch up on the previous week’s entries over a bowl of cereal. Or, considering this crowd’s sophisticated nature, a bowl of muesli. Whatever your preferred breakfast food, the increased weekend traffic is most welcome. When I cut my blogging down to weekdays only, I anticipated a steep dropoff in hits on the weekends. But I’m happy to assist you in frittering your weekends away. Perhaps I should start posting some sort of weekly video wrap-up. Then again, that might drive traffic away.
Do you like videogames? Do you like 80s pop culture references? Do you like books about videogames replete with 80s pop culture references? Then Ready Player One might be for you. It tells the story of Wade, a teen living in the American Midwest circa 2041. Things are not going well in Wade’s future America; the economy is in permanent recession, the climate is wrecked, and most people live in miserable poverty. Wade lives in a suburban ghetto built from old trailer homes and cars. His only escape is OASIS, a highly sophisticated online environment that has its origins in games like World of Warcraft. Wade spends nearly every waking moment in OASIS, attending school, playing games, and hanging out with the avatars of friends he has never met in person. And like millions of other OASIS denizens, he is trying to solve a series of puzzles left behind by OASIS’ deceased founder, a reclusive genius. The first person to successfully complete the puzzle sequence wins complete control of OASIS and unimaginable wealth. Nobody has managed to determine the significance of the first clue in the years since the founder’s death until Wade experiences a pivotal eureka moment.
Author Ernest Cline isn’t afraid to let his geek flag fly and writes an affectionate tribute to gaming and pop culture obsessives. This is probably the only novel you’ll read that references Family Ties, Ladyhawke, and Cyndi Lauper. Much of the book is set OASIS, which allows for all sorts of narrative pyrotechnics. Cline sometimes makes the mistake of pushing the reader to be as enamored with the mechanics of his invented world as Cline so plainly is, but it’s a forgivable sin. Cline’s workmanlike prose keeps the tale of disaffected youth and nefarious corporations breezing along to a saatisfying end.
Other commitments are getting in the way of blogging this week, so my apologies for the lack of substance. Consider this the final summer lull before I start obsessing over the election season.
It’s very simple. If I post a want ad asking for your resume, send me your resume. Don’t send me a 1-sentence e-mail asking for an interview. Tell me why I should interview you. Don’t they teach this stuff in school anymore? I’m pretty sure most employers still require resumes and look down upon requests to check out your Facebook page.
I don’t have much time to post tonight, but I thought this video from the hacking-themed Ben Heck Show is interesting. It shows Ben trying to create a hands-free control for a wheelchair used by an expectant father with a disability. It’s a little technical, but still enjoyable:
This observation from Amy Davidson on Representative Todd Akin’s bizarre remarks regarding rape and pregnancy are spot-on:
Beyond that, there is a notion, common in conservative rhetoric lately, that desperation is always elsewhere, and that the crises in ordinary lives do not need to be contemplated or worried about—not by nice people. They are rare; something has gone wrong; maybe the complaint isn’t legitimate; maybe it’s their own fault. That indifference goes beyond the question of rape and abortion
I’m sure there are a significant number of evangelicals and social conservatives who find Akin’s comments laughable, but their silence on the matter makes it that much easier for the media (and a good chunk of the left) to lump them together with the true cranks. Aren’t people of faith tired of a few eccentric and ignorant politicians anointing themselves as spokespersons for millions? One can be staunchly pro-life and still acknowledge that pregnancy can result from rape. From a Christian perspective, don’t we live in a fallen world? And if that’s true, why do some Christians put so much effort into glossing over those instances when our fallen nature inflicts misery on a fellow human being?