Disney just released another trailer for Tron: Legacy. It’s not quite as eye-poppingly cool as the first one featuring the racing lightcycles, but I approve of the updated look. Namely, the several very attractive women inhabiting the world of Tron are no longer forced to wear those ridiculous head-to-toe costumes. Apparently, the Master Control Program developed a sense of style that didn’t exist online or offline in the early 80s.
It had to happen sooner or later. The first commercially available brain-computer interface has just hit the market. The Intendix (a horribly bland name for such a cool technology) comes with a skullcap and a little netbook computer that displays a grid of letters. Users type by focusing when the desired letter is highlighted on the screen. And it can be yours for the low price of $12,250.
This kind of exorbitant pricing is de rigeur in the world of assistive technology, so I’m not particularly surprised or even outraged. But this technology is different; it’s not inherently limited to people with disabilities. Sure, we’ll be the early adopters out of necessity, but these interfaces should gradually improve. People without disabilities will eventually want brain-controlled computers and that should foster competition and lower prices. At least, that’s my hope.
As a blogger who frequently blogs about pop culture, I’m legally obligated to make some sort of completely uninformed Oscar predictions. So here’s one: Avatar will snag Best Picture (because the Academy wants to demonstrate that it “gets” the movie-going public that made this movie such a juggernaut) while Kathryn Bigelow will take the Best Director award (because the Academy recognizes that The Hurt Locker is a better film and it wants the Monday morning news to be about how that particular David-Goliath match-up ended in a draw). And here’s another: Christoph Waltz will win Best Supporting Actor for his menacing yet alluring portrayal of Colonel Hans Landa or there is no justice in this world.
Darcy Pohland, a local television reporter for WCCO who also had quadriplegia, died unexpectedly yesterday. I don’t watch the local news much anymore, but I remember seeing Pohland on TV when I first moved to Minnesota and being genuinely surprised at seeing a person with such a significant and visible disability making regular appearances in front of a camera. I hesitate to use the term “role model” when describing anyone with a disability, but Pohland’s regular presence in the local media landscape probably shaped some of her viewers’ attitudes on disability for the better.
Pohland was 48.
We all know that the coming wave of neural-computer interfaces will help people with disabilities do things like use computers, operate wheelchairs, and control robot armies. But what about the really important stuff in life? Like playing pinball?
Once this technology arrives, I’m going to start hanging out at the local pinball arcade and hustle high school truants out of their lunch money. I just have to figure out whether there are still any pinball arcades left in the Twin Cities.
Thanks to Allie for the link.
Minnesota, like a lot of states, is contemplating significant budget cuts that would affect people with disabilities. But there’s cutting and then there’s obliterating, which is what South Carolina may do to its services for 26,000 residents with disabilities. All home and community-based services would be eliminated, leaving state funding for institutional care (which is required under federal Medicaid law). As a result of these proposed cuts, family members of of people with disabilities would be forced to quit jobs in order to serve as caregivers. Even worse, some individuals may be forced out of their homes and into nursing homes. In comparison, our own proposed cuts seem almost modest.
I’ll say it again: Medicaid needs to be completely federalized to ensure that people with disabilities aren’t punished for living in a poor state that is apathetic or even openly hostile to the notion of community integration. This patchwork system certainly benefits people like me who are lucky enough to live in a generous, prosperous state like Minnesota, but it does a disservice to so many others.
First, the good news. HBO has greenlit the Game of Thrones series based on the first book of George R.R. Martin’s fantasy opus. The bad news is that it won’t air until next year. It still looks as if HBO is planning to adapt one book for each season of the show, which might give Martin some incentive to hurry up and finish the long-awaited fifth volume of the series. I’ll be curious to see how HBO markets the show. The books are quite dark in tone, but read more like historical fiction than fantasy. There’s no bestiary of fantastic creatures (except for a few dragons) and few displays of magic. There is plenty of sex and violence, which should suit HBO just fine.
This almost makes up for the cancellation of Rome. Almost.
Film critic Roger Ebert appeared on Oprah today to talk about his battle with cancer that left him unable to speak and eat or drink by mouth. He also demonstrated his new computer-generated voice that a software company designed using previous TV and DVD recordings of his voice. It doesn’t have the texture and intonation of a natural human voice, but it sounds enough like him to bring tears to his wife’s eyes.
Let’s hope the developers can eventually make this an iPhone app so that he doesn’t have to pull out a computer every time he wants to speak. And I have no doubt that, in another five years, this artificial voice will be almost indistinguishable from his natural voice. Speech synthesis technology has been around a long time, but it looks like it’s finally reached a point where it can truly replace a voice lost to illness or injury.
As I expected, the Minnesota House of Representatives failed to override Pawlenty’s veto of a bill that would have restored General Assistance Medical Care, the health care program for the state’s poorest citizens. Most of the House Republican moderates who participated in the only successful override of a Pawlenty veto have retired or have been defeated in the last election. And the few remaining are loathe to side with Democrats in an election cycle that strongly favors Republicans. A procedural maneuver allows Democrats to make another attempt, but it seems increasingly unlikely that GAMC will be saved before funding runs out on April 1.
It’s worth noting again that almost everyone eligible for GAMC would be eligible for Medicaid under the Senate health care bill. If Minnesota took advantage of the bill’s early expansion provision, these individuals could be enrolled in Medicaid in a matter of months. I’m not sure how closely our congressional delegation is paying attention to the GAMC fight, but they need to understand how a “yes” vote could almost immediately improve people’s lives.
I’m going to annoy my conservatives friends by linking to this Time article that explores whether liberals are smarter than conservatives. The gist of the article is that people with higher IQ scores are more likely to say they are liberal, even though their actual views might not be as liberal as they think. In other words, liberals can be really annoying poseurs. But conservatives shouldn’t feel too threatened; the same article cites another study that shows that conservatives are more likely to be stronger and more aggressive. So once you’ve had enough of our Obama bumper stickers and push for socialized health care, you can just kick our asses.