As a devoted Firefox user, I’m ethically obliged to point out that the final version of Firefox 4 is now available for download. I’ve previously shared my positive impressions of the beta and I’m no less impressed with the final release. It’s a sleek, modern browser that is snappy and highly customizable. If you’re still using Firefox 3.6 (or *cringe* Internet Explorer), you owe it to yourself to upgrade.
Slate continues to cover the bursting of the law school bubble; this time pointing out that law school applications are down 11.5% from this time last year. The job market for new attorneys has improved somewhat in recent months, but not nearly enough to accommodate the glut of law school graduates that enter the workforce every year. Perhaps this decline in applications will portend a shuttering of some of the more marginal law schools, which would only benefit the legal profession as a whole.
Some might might argue that cheering for the closing of lower-tier schools smacks of elitism. Maybe so, but just as not everyone can or should be a physician, not everyone can or should be an attorney. The proliferation of law schools may have thrown open the doors of graduate education to more people, but that wasn’t in the service of the public interest or even the students’ interest. Times are changing and a legal education is not the guarantor of affluence and stability that it once was; a fact with which law schools are only beginning to grapple. And I say this as someone who recognizes that even veteran attorneys face tenuous career prospects. If state government downsizes, I could find myself competing with the aforementioned glut of new grads.
When I finally get my brain-computer interface installed in my melon, I’d like some assurances that they won’t have to crack my skull open six months later to replace the batteries. I may not have to worry too much since a recent study shows that these microprocessors have an operational life of at least 1,000 days after implantation. By the time I get mine, it will probably last until the alien invaders upload me into my cyborg body, which is good enough for me.
Minnesota Republicans released their proposed cuts to health and human services this week. There’s much to not like in these bills, but one of the most damaging proposals is what my colleagues and I refer to as the “global waiver”. Minnesota would be required to seek a federal waiver that would allow the state to administer its Medicaid program as it wishes and without regard to pesky federal regulations. Specifically, lawmakers want to be free to increase cost-sharing, restrict services based on population or geographic region, establish stricter income and asset limits, and require individuals to purchase private health insurance. It would transform Minnesota’s Medicaid program into something much more limited in reach and scope.
Republicans attribute significant savings to this waiver, but that’s problematic. The waiver proposal is written so vaguely that it’s difficult for state officials to determine exactly how it would change the program and thus how much savings it would generate. Furthermore, the federal government is unlikely to approve such a waiver (even if the governor signs off on it, which is also doubtful). It’s budget balancing through wishful thinking. But wishful thinking is more palatable than cutting funds to nursing homes or services for people with disabilities, which is what Republicans may have to do if they are truly committed to balancing the budget without raising taxes.
I was going to blog about health care policy shenanigans at the Capitol, but I just spent the last few hours in a meeting and then typing notes from the meeting. The stupid is starting to settle in my mind and make itself a sandwich, so my cogent observations will have to wait until tomorrow.
I just realized I have a little more than two months to squeeze in the rest of my CLE credits for the year. I always put this off until the last minute and usually have to request an extension. Bad attorney.
Limitless is the kind of serviceable if not terribly inventive thriller that usually hits theaters in the couple months preceding the summer blockbuster season. Bradley Cooper plays a slacker writer who, for reasons that remain inexplicable, has landed a book deal. One small complication: he can’t focus enough to actually start writing it. In one of those twists of fate that are the bread and butter of thrillers like this, Eddie just happens to run into his skeevy former brother-in-law, who just happens to be in possession of a pill that dramatically increases the brain power of the user. Dubious yet desperate, Eddie later ingests the pill. Suddenly, everything snaps into focus. Writing is effortless. Math is easy. He gets laid after some clever verbal sparring with his landlord’s girlfriend. He gets a haircut.
You can probably figure out where the story goes from there. Despite the fame and fortune that follow, Eddie is soon reminded that drugs are bad, m’kay? But not before he entangles himself with a crazy Russian mobster and a shrewd billionaire investor (Robert De Niro in an uncharacteristically restrained performance). One of these entanglements will be resolved in one of the film’s few gross-out moments, a sure sign that a movie is just trying too hard. Still, it’s entertaining and briskly plotted. You could do worse at the multiplex.
The NY Times unveiled its paywall scheme yesterday and it’s priced a little higher than I’d like. The cheapest subscription is $15 every 4 weeks for web and smartphone access. I don’t do much reading on my iPhone, so I don’t appreciate having to pay for a combo package. But I do get most of my news from the Times and I generally like the writing and add-on features like the blogs. Perhaps I’m just feeling subscription fatigue since I already subscribe to several magazines and digital services. $15 isn’t a big deal for me, but it will probably be out of reach for people on tight budgets, which only reinforces the Times‘ reputation as the urban yuppie paper of record.
MPR examines how Minnesota’s recent expansion of Medical Assistance is helping low-income people in rural areas get better access to health care. The previous state health care program for the poor required people to get medical care at one of a few locations in the Twin Cities. Since most people living in poverty don’t have access to transportation, the rural poor were effectively denied access to health care unless they went to an emergency room (thanks, Governor Pawlenty!). And even then, they would often be saddled with medical bills they simply couldn’t pay. Now, they can access clinics and other health care providers close to home. As I’ve said countless times before, elections matter.
It’s also worth noting that a lot of public workers have worked long hours to ensure that our fellow Minnesotans get the health care they need.
A friend sent me a link to an article on about disability and sexuality aimed at teens. The author states in plain terms that people with disabilities are sexual beings and dwell alongside their able-bodied peers on the continuum of human sexuality. Articles like this actually make me a little envious of the Millennial generation of teen and young adults with disabilities who are coming of age in this digital world of ours. The 16-year-old version of me would have found adolescence a little less excruciating if resources like this had been available to him. It might not have helped him get a partner, but it would have at least assured him that he wasn’t so different from everybody else. If he had had access to the Internet, he might have even gotten himself a date to the prom.
Or he might have just consumed ridiculous amounts of porn. Probably the latter.