My good friend (and publisher) Adam Wahlberg has unveiled the website for Think Piece Publishing, his one-man imprint. I remember when Adam first shared, over my beers in my living room, his plans to start a publishing business and I’m thrilled to see his dream take shape. Take a moment to check out the eclectic lineup of authors Adam has assembled and the titles he has lined up for the coming year. You’ll even find a photo that makes me look better than I reasonably should.
Instead of holding the world economy hostage in debt ceiling negotiations, Republicans should make political hay out of the Obama Administration’s refusal to construct a Death Star. Instead of repeating the tired accusation that the President is a socialist, why not label him a Rebel sympathizer who’s gone soft on terrorism? Let’s see Rachel Maddow smugly refute that one.
Enjoy the weekend. I spent most of the afternoon reviewing a lengthy legislative proposal, so I’m not feeling coherent at the moment. Some restorative television viewing is in order.
My dad called me a little while ago, asking me if I was feeling okay. The news of the severe flu outbreak has him a little freaked out and he instructed me to get plenty and see the doctor immediately if I start feeling sick. Of course, I’m feeling fine, but I’ll admit that I’m a bit uneasy. One of my nurses was coughing and hacking a few days ago, which made me cringe. As much as I would like to isolate myself for the next few months, that’s not realistic. All I can do is hope that the flu shot will keep me healthy until the outbreak passes.
Wired is running an essay commemorating Stephen Hawking’s 71st birthday that imagines him as the center of a human-machine distributed network. The essay’s hypothesis is that how Hawking lives his life is increasingly reflective of how the rest of us live. Most of us use some kind of machinery to organize information, communicate with others, and get from Point A to Point B. Hawking simply uses atypical interfaces (a wheelchair, a talking computer, a nurse) that are foreign to most people. From the essay:
Hawking’s persona, his disability, and his embodied network thus becomes a window on our machines, the nature of work, and even our representation of scientific heroes. Popular media shows us that Hawking is a pure, isolated, once-in-a-lifetime genius; ethnographic analysis shows us that Hawking is not that different from other scientists even though he has a disability. In fact, it’s precisely because of his disability that we get to see how all scientists work … and how the entire world will work one day.
In other words, assistive technology neutralizes, to some extent, the barriers between disability and achievement.
Of course, Hawking’s fancy distributed network won’t mean jack when we finally face off in our zero-g deathmatch. I’ve got (relative) youth on my side and a killer left hook. Distribute that, Hawking.
The annual Consumer Electronics Show is once again showing off new gadgets and expensive TVs that you’ll never buy. Eyegaze technology is making another appearance at the CES and it appears to edging closer to general consumer availability. Hardware developer Tobii is in discussions with several game developers to incorporate eyegaze technology into future titles and an add-on device for computers could be available this fall. I’m going to venture a prediction that I’ll be regularly using gaze technology on my desktop or tablet within three years. At which point I’ll resign from my government post to join the League of Legends professional circuit.
This charming illustrated interpretation of a Fresh Air interview between Terry Gross and author Maurice Sendak is worth your time:
Sendak makes some clear-eyed yet deeply humane observations about growing old, losing the people he loves, and his atheism. He also manages to leave Terry Gross momentarily speechless with a comment so generous that it made me cry a little bit as I sat at my desk. If only we all had the words and presence of mind to tell the people we love how much they mean to us.
Enjoy the weekend. My plans center on Saturday evening’s playoff game between the Packers and Vikings. The game is at Lambeau Field, which should give the advantage to my Packers. But Adrian Peterson could exploit the Packers’ weak running defense, which could make for a miserable evening.
Andrew Sullivan, the well-known political blogger, is cutting all ties with traditional media outlets to establish a completely ad-free, reader-supported blog. I read Sullivan regularly and I’m sure I’ll purchase a subscription. The Internet has far too few commercial-free zones of intelligent commentary, so I hope this move by Sullivan will encourage other smart people (Nate Silver, Malcolm Gladwell, and the like) to pursue similar reader-supported projects. Big Media will always be king of the Internet, but we need more of the independent voices that dotted the digital landscape back in early years of the web.
My social calendar unexpectedly filled up this evening, so my commentary on the latest dysfunction in Congress will have to wait. In the meantime, this preview of 2013 pop culture from the AV Club is worth reading.