My iPhone 3GS, all cutting-edge shiny less than a year ago, is now heading over the cliff of obsolescence. The iPhone 4‘s sturdy-looking veneer is appealing and I’m sure my, er, foreign film collection would look fabulous on its high-res screen, but I don’t feel compelled to join the fanboy stampede for an upgrade. I don’t have much use for video chat (although it’s worth noting that sign language is featured prominently in this iPhone 4 promotional video) and my current model already does everything I need and several things that I don’t. I’ll probably wait until my contract is up, at which time the iPhone 5 should be available. And it better have a mind control interface or else I’m crossing over to the Android side of the fence. It’s not like Apple hasn’t already invented it. I have it on good authority that Steve Jobs uses his to Force-choke his minions when they displease him.

The editors at gaming site Kotaku seem pretty impressed with video of a gamer with a disability playing Modern Warfare 2 quite skillfully even though his fingers are paralyzed. His ability to use a standard game controller despite his limited range of motion is commendable, but I’m not sure it warrants this gushy remark from the editor:

Faced with a similar setback I honestly wonder if I would have it in me to do the same. But Iain’s resolve to continue enjoying all the things in life that have made him happy, before and after his accident, is as touching as it is admirable.

I play World of Warcraft with my head and a twitching thumb, but I don’t expect anyone to get all misty-eyed about it. At least, not until my priest hits level 80. I might have a little cry myself when that happens.

Given the dismal job market for attorneys, you would think that a law student seeking work as a paralegal would do anything to please a potential employer. This snippy e-mail thread between an actual lawyer and law student looking for a job would prove you wrong. It’s not the function of a law school to polish students’ social skills, but a little career coaching could mean the difference between finding a legal job and working at Best Buy because of unbridled narcissism. The attorney involved in this confrontation also deserves a scolding for not knowing how to disengage while maintaining an air of professionalism.

I have a friend who works with law students on a daily basis. I’m going to suggest that she circulate this link to students at the start of the next school year as a reminder that one thoughtless e-mail can seriously compromise one’s future.

The Strib profiles one man who will be affected by major changes to the state’s General Assistance Medical Care program that begin today. The deep cuts to GAMC mean that this man will have to drive from Duluth to the Twin Cities for medical care. Thousands of people who live in rural Minnesota are going to face similar challenges in accessing health care. The Legislature’s move to let the next governor decide whether to expand Medicaid to poor single adults will, at least for the next several months, make things much more difficult for people who are already struggling to maintain stability in their lives. I wouldn’t be surprised to see more stories like this appear as the consequences of a implementing a drastically pared-down safety net program begin to make themselves apparent.

Here’s a short Youtube video of baby having his cochlear implant turned on for the first time, allowing him to hear sound. The baby’s reaction is pretty adorable, but I imagine that a substantial number of deaf people might find this video troubling. Deaf culture is premised on, well, deafness; sign language and the entire cultural ecosystem surrounding sign language is a response to the inability to hear and communicate in the traditional sense. Introducing an artificial means of hearing to this kid at an early age is going to short-circuit his introduction to and immersion in deaf culture. Whether that’s an objectively bad thing is difficult for me to say. While no particular culture is associated with my disability, I’m pretty confident that technology will make people like me historical curiosities in the next few decades. Deafness probably has a similar fate awaiting it and, given rapid advances in implant technology, the timeline might even be shorter. I’d be curious as to whether the deaf community has considered how to respond to families and medical professionals who are going to find such technology irresistible.