OKCupid, a dating site that I’ve tried off and on over the years, has recently been e-mailing the users deemed to be the most attractive to inform them that their hottie status ensures that they won’t have to look at us snaggletoothed dregs of the gene pool when they search for that special someone. Here’s an excerpt:

We are very pleased to report that you are in the top half of OkCupid’s most attractive users. The scales recently tipped in your favor, and we thought you’d like to know…

Your new elite status comes with one important privilege:

You will now see more attractive people in your match results.

This new status won’t affect your actual match percentages, which are still based purely on your answers and desired match’s answers. But the people we recommend will be more attractive. Also! You’ll be shown to more attractive people in their match results.

I now wish to extend my sympathies to all the extraordinarily beautiful women on OKCupid who will be denied the pleasure of viewing my profile. We could have some good times, but this is a crazy world and it just wasn’t meant to be. There, don’t cry. I’m sure you’ll find someone almost as awesome as me.

A few thoughts after watching a couple World Cup matches over the weekend:

• That English goalie better have a new identity on standby in case his team doesn’t make it to the next round. 
• The Germans have come not just to play, but to conquer. 
• Matches complete in just under two hours! I had no idea it was possible to watch a televised sporting event without losing an entire afternoon. 
• On the other hand, American televised sports aren’t usually accompanied by a soundtrack of angry bees.
• I need somebody to explain the offsides rule to me using simple diagrams.

I’ve written before about the Canadian filmmaker who was working on a way to replace his prosthetic eye with a miniature video camera. He’s now completed a prototype and now his next goal is to wirelessly transmit the video to the Internet. I wonder if he’ll broadcast everything he sees; it could create some awkward moments for his spouse or significant other. I once read a science fiction story in which people lived hundreds of years and everyone had a little robotic insect hovering nearby to record every moment of their lives as a kind of memory aid. The author probably didn’t anticipate that such recording systems would eventually be built right into us. I’m already dreading the reality shows that will emerge with this technology.

While most people only encounter debtors’ prisons in 19th century Victorian novels, the Star Tribune is running a disquieting report on people getting arrested for failing to pay court-ordered judgments that arise out of outstanding debts owed to creditors. Creditors and their collection agencies are becoming more aggressive in pursuing debtors, going so far as to seek arrest warrants for those who don’t pay court-ordered judgments. Those who are arrested usually spend less than a day in jail, but the costs of the arrest can sometimes outweigh the actual amount of the debt.

I sympathize with the notion that people should be held responsible for their debts, but it’s troubling to see law enforcement officers used this way for the benefit of private creditors. When I do occasional pro bono work for people in debt, I often get asked if they will get sent to jail if they don’t pay a certain creditor. Most of my clients are on public benefits and protected from garnishment, so that’s unlikely, but I also tell them to inform me immediately if they receive court papers. Responding directly to a court summons is always preferable to ignoring it, but most people in financial trouble don’t have an attorney to whom they can turn for advice.

Redline Science Fiction, an on-line science fiction magazine, is inviting story submissions for a contest called Towards an Accessible Future. The concept behind the contest is to encourage stories that portray disability ” as a simple fact, not as something to be overcome or something to explain why a character is evil.” The winning story will appear in the September issue and the author will receive a $300 prize. The deadline is August 15th.

It’s an interesting idea, but I’m not sure what the contest sponsors hope to prove. There’s no reason why good science fiction can’t be written featuring characters with disabilities. But it should be in the service of a good story. Everything that happens within a story is “a simple fact,” whether it’s the character’s disability or a spaceship crashing into the desert. This contest seems to undermine its own ideal by requiring that disability be portrayed in a certain light. Why can’t I write about a disabled character who’s a misanthropic, philandering badass with a touch of narcissism? As long as the story is good and the characters believable, does it matter?

Hey, I think I have an idea.

Thanks to io9 for the link.