Today, I attended the first meeting of the Wireless Minneapolis Task Force.  Of course, I’m thrilled to be on the Task Force, especially after all the blogging I’ve done about the city’s efforts to set up a wireless network (and in case you’re wondering, my blog didn’t get me this appointment; it came through my work with the Mayor’s Advisory Committee on People with Disabilities).  Hopefully, my work on the Task Force will give me the opportunity to realize my vision of creating an assistive technology fund for Minneapolis residents with disabilities.  I’m also looking forward to getting to know the other Task Force members; the City seems to have recruited heavily from the non-profit, government, and private sectors.  I’m all about the networking. 

 

Yesterday, my primary physician told me I’m healthier than most of his more able-bodied patients.  Yet more evidence that I am indeed the toughest cripple on the block. 

I’ll be at the Metrodome tonight to watch two baseball teams try to figure out which one of them sucks more.  Meanwhile, the Legislature seems poised to do…something…about the long-simmering stadium debate here in Minnesota.  I really like the current bill in the Senate, which would raise the sales tax in the seven-county metro area by a half-cent, which would pay for stadiums for both the Twins and Vikings while also generating additional funding for some much-needed transit projects.  The only thing I don’t like about the bill is that it would require voter approval through a referendum.  Referenda are wasteful affairs that allow legislators to shirk their accountability to voters while simultaneously undermining our system of representative democracy. 

 

But this bill probably has little chance of passage, given the fact that Governor Pawlenty and House throw their arms in the air and scream like adolescent schoolgirls when anyone suggests anything that looks like a tax increase.  The most likely result is that Hennepin County will foot much of the bill for a new baseball stadium.  I suppose I can live with that, but the new stadium better have killer disability seating. 

After reading several strong reviews, I decided to see United 93 yesterday.  The film, as you might imagine, is grim and sometimes difficult to watch.  It is a powerful illustration of the cascading miscommunications between bureaucracies that contributed to the chaos of September 11th.  It’s also a respectful and straightforward recounting of the final minutes of the lives of the passengers on that flight.  The movie is careful not to make any political statements and the director and writer, Paul Greengrass, should be commended for the gracefully light touch he brought to a difficult subject. 

When I first read the plot summary of Cell, I was skeptical.  The story of a malicious Pulse broadcast to the world’s cell phones that turns their users into murderous drones sounded like a weak, even derivative, plot for a novel.  But while King is obviously paying homage to Romero and Matheson, his skill as a writer makes this iteration of the familiar zombies-take-over-the-world tale engaging and disquieting.  King is by no means the most nuanced of writers, but I like reading him because he knows how to balance character and plot.  I cared about the characters and what happened to them as they made the trek out of a devastated Boston and into the New England countryside.  Not everything in the book works.  King’s efforts to work in plot elements regarding computer viruses and worms felt a little clumsy.  But these quibbles are small; Cell is a satisfying piece of escapist fiction that is by no means phoned in.