I’m going to spend the weekend clicking monsters to death in Diablo III and testing Comcast’s commitment to suspending its broadband cap. See you on the Monday side of things.
May 182012
May 172012
In today’s pop-culture-news-simply-too-awesome-to-ignore, there’s word of a forthcoming Sin City sequel. One can only hope…well, I can only hope…it will feature even more fishnet-clad prostitutes wielding automatic weapons. And Clive Owen. But if I have to choose between Clive Owen and homicidal ladies of the night, I’ll have to go with the latter. Especially the one who wore the mask and the cowboy hat. Remember her? She looked like the Lone Ranger’s wet dream, if the Lone Ranger ever allowed himself a wet dream, which he probably didn’t.
My work superiors will likely withdraw that promotion if they ever read this post.
May 162012
Research on brain-computer interfaces continues its steady march forward. The latest development reported by The Times focuses on a quadriplegic woman who can control a robotic arm via an implanted chip. She’s able to move the arm with enough fine control to take a sip of coffee through a drinking straw.
I can’t wait to begin my second career as a champion ultimate robot fighter. My twelve-foot combat bot, Mortimer, and I will make the rounds on the talk show circuit and engage in friendly sparring matches with the hosts. Fame and fortune will be mine until that fateful day when Mortimer punches a hole straight through an elderly Conan O’Brien’s chest cavity because I’m high on designer drugs.
Here’s video of the robotic arm in action:
May 152012
Science fiction writer John Scalzi recently posted a great blog entry framing white male privilege in gaming terms. He asks the reader to think of life as one long role-playing game with “Straight White Male” being the lowest difficulty setting. It’s still entirely possible to lose badly on this setting, but you start the game with much better odds of success than someone playing on the “Gay Woman of Color” setting.
And no, I don’t think I’m playing at a much higher difficulty setting. My disability certainly makes the game more challenging, but I started out with the same advantages as most other straight white men. The fact that I’m living a comfortable middle-class life simply demonstrates how powerful those advantages are.
May 142012
This morning, I dropped off my van at a local garage for some expensive but fairly routine repairs and maintenance. When I returned this afternoon to pick it up, I discovered that the sliding door and ramp were completely inoperable. The fact that it stopped working while in the shop may be a huge coincidence, but I’m skeptical. Of course, the staff pled ignorance, but they did agree to try to fix it tomorrow in consultation with the dealer’s mechanics. Perhaps it’s something as simple as a disconnected wire (at least, that’s what I’m hoping). I’ve had plenty of shops work on my van and never had a problem like this before. Typically, they leave the modifications alone. But after this incident, I can’t assume that will always be the case.
May 112012
As we await the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Affordable Care Act, Sarah Kliff of The Washington Post continues to do provide great coverage of the health care reform beat. In her latest blog post, Kliff points out that emergency rooms are not, despite the claims of some conservatives, providing universal health care. While hospitals are required to treat people with life-threatening conditions, the emergency care that the uninsured receive is likely to be less intensive and less comprehensive than the treatment received by those who have insurance. And emergency room care is expensive, which means that people without insurance receive care only when they can’t ignore their symptoms any longer; well past the point when most illnesses can be treated with minimal cost.
The claim that anyone can get treated in an ER–and thus we don’t need health reform–has always left me exasperated. It’s a willful oversimplification that turns a blind eye to the real problems low-income people face when trying to access health care.
May 102012
Obama’s interminable hedging regarding his views on gay marriage tested the patience of many progressives, so it’s good to see that his evolution on the matter is finally complete and that he endorsed marriage equality. It won’t change anything in the near term–states like North Carolina continue to incorporate blatant discrimination into their constitutions. But the fact that the President of the United States supports the right of people like my brother and his partner to marry is still significant. It leaves no doubt that no doubt that marriage equality is no longer just a mainstream notion, but an inevitable outcome. That outcome may still be years away from being fully realized, but it will come to pass–regardless of who wins this particular election. And someday we’ll look back at this moment and wonder how a guy as smart as Obama took so long to reach such an obvious conclusion.
May 092012
I’m actually surprised the Legislature is on the verge of passing a bill to fund a new Vikings stadium. Until a few weeks ago, most legislators didn’t appear too interested in discussing the commitment of public funds for a professional football stadium. But the NFL and a boisterous cadre of Vikings fans did an effective job of scaring legislators into believing that the team would decamp for Los Angeles if it didn’t get its way now. The whole thing smacks of corporate entitlement and hasty policymaking. I’d be less annoyed if I thought legislators would be just as inclined to to consider new revenue to plug next year’s deficit, but that’s not likely.
May 082012
Over the past couple of months, I’ve noticed that the world of Star Wars: The Old Republic isn’t quite as “massively multiplayer” compared to when I first started playing in December. It’s a rare thing to see more than ten people signed into my particular corner of the server at one time. I thought perhaps I was playing during off-peak hours, but I began to read reports of dwindling player participation across all servers. Electronic Arts confirmed those rumors yesterday when it revealed that the game had lost 400,000 subscribers in the previous quarter. I still enjoy playing through the story, but it’s become nearly impossible to find teammates for the multiplayer content (which is some of the game’s best content).
I’ll likely remain a subscriber for a while longer in the hopes that Bioware figures out how to make the game world feel more dynamic and less like an abandoned amusement park. Of course, I may not give the matter much thought once Diablo III conjures itself onto my hard drive next week.
May 072012
Yes, The Avengers can be a dizzying, frenetic maelstrom of quick cuts and superhero-y one-upmanship, but the movie never stops being fun. The elaborate action set-pieces that the comic book nerds will be deconstructing all summer long don’t seem bloated or disconnected from the rest of the film. And the characters are interesting, troubled people who bicker and argue like a dysfunctional team of co-workers. Perhaps The Avengers is best viewed as a modern workplace dramedy, except that the office drones have been replaced with demi-gods, mutants, and assassins. But it’s the subversively funny moments that give The Avengers its broad appeal. I’m still chuckling over a certain scene containing a perfectly timed sucker punch.
The fact that Joss Whedon’s name is now associated with astronomical box office numbers can only be a good thing for the future of pop culture. It’s probably unreasonable to expect Disney to bankroll a Serenity sequel, but a geek can dream.