The Times is running a somber but fascinating piece on the skeleton crew of anonymous technicians who are struggling to prevent a complete meltdown at the quake-stricken Fukushima nuclear facility in japan. Many of these technicians are risking radiation poisoning or death by remaining on the job. That kind of professional dedication might be the only thing standing between the people of Japan and catastrophe. Let’s hope their efforts to contain the meltdown are successful and that they live long enough to recount these dark days to their grandchildren.

This video of swaying skyscrapers in downtown Tokyo during today’s earthquake is both terrifying and amazing. If not for the ingenuity of Japanese engineers, tens of thousands of people would likely have died. They could teach us a thing or two about investing in infrastructure.

Let’s just hope that same ingenuity can prevent the northern half of Japan from becoming a fallout zone.

Wisconsin Republicans just upped the ante in their fight to strip collective bargaining rights from public unions. In a devious bit of parliamentary maneuvering, Republicans stripped the anti-union provisions out of the “budget repair” bill and placed them in a standalone bill. Since the standalone bill has no budget implications, it can be passed in the absence of the Wisconsin state senators who decamped to Illinois to deny the Republicans a quorum.

This latest move undermines the Republicans’ talking point that the collective bargaining provisions are needed to balance the budget. The real goal has always been to destroy unions as a political force in the state. Governor Walker and his allies may finally get their way, but this very public battle has revealed their true intentions. They are determined to transform Wisconsin into a state where the interests of corporations reign supreme while workers in both the public and private sectors are slapped around by the unforgiving invisible hand of the free market.

It’s important to remember that this is what Wisconsin voters chose. Walker and his ilk made no secret of their contempt for organized labor and a host of other Democratic constituencies, including the poor and people with disabilities. If they don’t like watching their state being transformed into a Randian utopia, they should have considered that possibility on Election Day. Perhaps the lesson to be learned from all this is that every election matters, not just the ones where we choose a president.

Nope, I still don’t want an iPad. The iPad 2 does nothing to address the glaring accessibility flaws of the first iPad. In fact, most tablet manufacturers seem to be devoting little time to improving the accessibility of their devices. And that’s disappointing. People with disabilities can choose from a rich ecosystem of alternative input devices for standard computers, but tablets simply don’t allow for much in the way of modification. Perhaps that will change in time, but I’m not sure how you make a touch-based interface accessible without changing the user experience for everyone else. I’m beginning to wonder if those of us with significant disabilities may have to sit out the tablet phase of computing and wait for the next big leap in interface technology, whether that’s speech or thought or something else entirely.

In the meantime, I’d like to remind content producers that there are plenty of us who would still like to be able to consume your product on devices other than iPads. I’m looking at you, BBC.

Like most geeks, I’ve watched Blade Runner more times than I care to count. And not once in the course of those innumerable viewings did I ever think “What this movie really needs is a sequel. Or maybe a prequel.” But that’s the difference between me and the Hollywood producers who are planning on turning Blade Runner into a franchise. I have no interest in watching Blade Runner: The Early Years. I have no interest in watching Blade Runner II: The Wrath of Deckard, in which our grizzled protagonist takes on a whole fleet of attack ships off the shoulder of Orion. Actually, that might be a fun movie, but it wouldn’t be Blade Runner.

I don’t have anything against franchises. I’ll gladly pay money for the next Star Trek sequel. But Blade Runner works well as a self-contained story. It doesn’t need a continuation or a prelude.

Now, Galaxy Quest, on the other hand…