Still not feeling great. Hopefully, I’ll be a more amusing host tomorrow.
Sep 212006
Sep 202006
I’m feeling rather icky right now, so this is going to be short. As I always say when I get these bothersome respiratory infections, send me your positive karma. I’m not sure I believe in karma, but I’m enough of an egotist to get a kick out of the knowledge that complete strangers are wishing me well. Or at least I hope you are.
Sep 192006
Did anybody notice that the newest season of The Amazing Race has a contestant with a disability? Sarah is a triathlete who happens to be missing one of her lower legs. She’s already been the target of snide remarks from other contestants who were griping about her being able to pre-board flights. I fail to see how this gives her an advantage in the actual race, but this sort of reaction didn’t completely surprise me.
I was joking with my nurse that I should be compete on the next iteration of the show. I can just imagine the looks I would get as some rickshaw hauls my crippled ass through the streets of Pnomh Penh. It would be great fun until my ventilator gets crushed by a piece of luggage carelessly stowed in the overhead bin. Imagine the promo: “On the next Amazing Race, one of the contestants meets a tragic end! Tune in for this very special episode!” Cut to footage of me turning blue.
Sep 182006
I spent a few hours fiddling with Ubuntu tonight. I managed to successfully set up partitions and configure a dual boot system, which gave me a minor sense of victory. It took forever to get the OS to recognize my adaptive hardware (mostly because I failed to distinguish between the letter “O” and the number “0” when editing a config file, which apparently was sufficient to completely crash Linux). I finally figured out what I did wrong and managed to get Ubuntu to recognize my hardware. Then I try to load up the built-in on-screen keyboard. It spits back at me a head-scratching error message.
Linux may be what all the l33t h4x0rz are running, but its accessibility out of the box leaves a lot to be desired. I may try tinkering with it again in another couple years, but for now I am beholden to Windows. It’s like the temperamental mistress that does things no other OS will do for me.
Sep 172006
I’m doing a little research into dual-booting Ubuntu. Fear not, my Redmond overlords: I don’t plan on switching from Windows as my primary platform. At this point, I’m mostly motivated out of curiosity and the desire to do a little fiddling. I think I’ll start with the Live CD, which will let me experiment with the OS without having to potentially worry about hosing my system.
Sep 162006
Even though I have to wait until next month for my complete fix of Battlestar Galactica goodness, the webisodes currently being posted on SciFi.com are tiding me over nicely. I’m pleasantly surprised with the quality of these three-minute clips. Aside from featuring many of the series’ main players, the storyline of the nascent human resistance on New Caprica is compelling and well-written. It bears strong resemblance to noi-ish films about the resistance movement against the Nazis. I think that’s why I’m such a fan of BSG–with it’s femmes fatales, themes of moral uncertainty, and shadowy set design, it’s noir in space.
Technorati Tags: battlestar galactica six noir science fiction
Sep 152006
I’ve been without my TiVo for the past week because I sent it off to the friendly people at WeaKnees to have a second hard drive installed. In the few times that I have turned on the television, I’ve noticed a curious phenomenon. Every ten to fifteen minutes, the program I’m watching will be interrupted by these thirty-seconds short films in which the performers seem oddly enthusiastic about a particular brand of potato chips or bathroom cleanser. They’re actually quite annoying. Perhaps one of you out there would be so kind as to explain the concept to me.
Sep 142006
I depend on Target to keep me in hair gel and Pringles and I can’t even begin to calculate the amount of money I’ve spent in their stores over the years. But I’m dismayed to read that Target’s website is still inaccessible to users with visual impairments. I seem to recall commenting on this case previously and I can’t understand why Target simply won’t promise to make its website accessible and spare itself a lot of bad publicity. But what this case really illustrates is that perhaps disability advocates should–once the political climate is a little more friendly–push for an amendment to Title III of the ADA to explicitly cover websites that receive a certain threshold of traffic. Granted, crafting that amendment might be tricky, but it might be the only way to force corporate stonewallers like Target to see the light regarding web accessibility.
Sep 132006
Aside from the AG race, there weren’t any real surprises in yesterday’s state primary races. Congratulations to Keith Ellison for beating out the other DFL contenders for the 5th District Congressional seat. The smear attacks directed against him didn’t do any significant damage and he ran a strong, effective grassroots campaign. I’m proud to count myself among his financial contributors. I’m also hopeful that Ellison’s name on the ballot will increase voter turnout in the general election, which will be critical in our efforts to defeat Pawlenty.
As for the DFL candidates for Attorney General, I was disappointed that Steve Kelley came out on the losing end. The guy just can’t get a break this year. But I have no doubt that Lori Swanson will make a fine advocate for the people of Minnesota.
Game on.
Sep 122006
Off to see The Illusionist with my brother. More soon.