Percy…

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I just got word tonight that Percy Julian Jr. passed away; he was only 67 years old. Percy was the son of Percy Julian Sr. – the renowned scientist; he was a pioneering civil rights attorney [read more: http://www.madison.com/tct/news/274194].
He was also a student at Aikido of Madison. I had the pleasure of taking classes with him, but also of having some great conversations with him off the mat. On one particular occasion, we bumped into each other at Cleveland’s Diner off the Square and had brunch together.
He was a kind, intelligent, wise man who led a fascinating life.He had been away from Aikido for a while when he re-appeared this past Fall. It was great to see him on the mat, and to get a chance to catch up with him. I looked forward to many more conversations with him; those, alas, I will never have.
67; a stroke; it’s all so fragile, folks…

spineless…

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Glenn Greenwald over at Salon.com gives a very thorough and easy to understand commentary on all of this, but the long and short of it is that the Democrats have once again rolled over and given the Bush administration a major victory, passing FISA – the Federal Intelligence and Surveillance Act, a bill that gives total, retroactive, immunity to Bush and members of his administration plus any telecom corporation that willingly gives over information on OUR communications (email, phone, cell phone) without a warrant. 

 

Says Greenwald:

“That’s really the most extraordinary aspect of all of this, if one really thinks about it — it isn’t merely that the Democratic Senate failed to investigate or bring about accountability for the clearest and more brazen acts of lawbreaking in the Bush administration, although that is true. Far beyond that, once in power, they are eagerly and aggressively taking affirmative steps — extraordinary steps — to protect Bush officials.”

 

Please note that neither Sen. Clinton nor Sen. Obama voted on this act. I know, they’re campaigning and all, but apparently their busy schedules didn’t afford them time to actually put their money where their mouth is and vote against this abhorrent piece of legislation.

 

Read more: 

 

Amnesty Day for Bush and lawbreaking telecoms

http://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/index.html

Fire in an (un)crowded apartment…

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… very uncrowded, as in vacant, as in the apartment downstairs from me… vacant for a year now, so not surprising that in this sub-zero weather the pipes froze.

 

In an effort to avoid cracks in said pipes, the manager from the building called one of the maintenance folks to come in and thaw them. Even though he had a hair dryer handy, he decided he wanted the job done quicker, and pulled out his propane torch. Seems the end of the nozzle on the torch was faulty, because just after he lit it, the nozzle bent and fell off, leaving him with a propane tank with a fireball on top of it.

 

He dumped the tank into the sink and within a second the drapes on the kitchen window caught and within moments the ceiling and cabinets became involved.

 

All of this was happening below me, as I was innocently typing away in my living room. Then I heard raised voices, and poked my head out my apartment door to see what was happening. I went downstairs and poked my head in the apartment below and saw the orange glow of flames and thick black smoke in the kitchen. Bill, our resident manager, ran past me to his apartment across the hall to grab a fire extinguisher. Poor fellow, he ran right past the large one hanging in the hall; I grabbed it, and ran back into the apartment – by this time the smoke was thick and I had to stoop at the waist to get under it to breath and see.

 

I handed the extinguisher to the maintenance guy and he got the fire out. I the mean time, I rushed back to the hall, where the stairwell was quickly filling up with smoke. I opened the small window in the stairwell, and then rushed to my apartment; when I got to my doorway, I turned and looked back – the smoke was so thick behind me I could not see a thing.

 

All of this took maybe thirty seconds. I am absolutely humbled and stunned at how fast it all moved – the flames and the smoke. I’ve never been in a fire before (esp. one inside, and with accelerants). I will never look upon them in the same way.

 

This also meant, I had to open all my windows to air out my apartment – on one of the coldest days we’ve had all winter. That, and I had to re-vacuum the living room (which I had just vacuumed this morning) to get rid of some soot that floated in with the smoke.

 

Smoke alarms, smoke alarm batteries, fire extinguishers, a well-thought out escape plan, folks.

 

Seriously.

2008: web workers of the world unite!

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If you haven’t ever visited Web Worker Daily you should take this occasion to drop by; it’s a great blog with a variety of info regarding not just how the web works, but how to work with/in/as part of this vast, constantly growing, swiftly changing technological hub.

I’m a daily visitor, and not only a big fan, but today a sort-of participant; they’re having a contest on the site relating to envisioning what/why web work will be/will not be relevant to our future selves living in the year 2008.

So… “2008 will be the Year of the Web Worker because”…

Speaking for myself, it will have to be; I started this year in a job I didn’t like with the notion that I’d more than likely lose said job within the year – which turned out to be clairvoyant on my part…

All of my subsequent job leads have come via the web. What little money I have made in the last seven months (other than the checks I get from the State – and even those I apply for online every week) has been via the web; most infamously, even though the job didn’t fully pan out, my email submission of resume and letter to a local computer store in response to their Craigslist position posting yielded a job interview within sixty seconds of its being submitted. How’s that for efficiency?…

Beyond the personal realm, it’s apparent that 2008 will be the year of the web worker due to the fact that we are heading into an election year (finally) which will undoubtedly prove to be the most web-influenced national election in our history. Add to this the continued shift in our economy – devaluing dollar, continued march of manufacturing and production overseas – and we can see the growing attraction, if not need, for more and more American workers to generate income from their own homes using the tools and skills which are becoming more and more ubiquitous.

Under the knife…

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So, tomorrow I go under the knife again for the fourth time in my life; this latest is what I hope will be the final volley in my endeavor to fix my sinus, apnea, and general breathing issues. In short, I’m getting a new schnoz…

Well, not really. Just a reworking of the scaffolding inside the schnoz; like the statue of liberty getting some new girders (as opposed to new garters).

And wouldn’t you know it, in my own Michael Moore moment, in the eleventh hour the insurance company has denied coverage for one of the three procedures that my surgeon was to perform. The “reason” given: “not medically necessary.” When I called said insurance company to inquire further, the physician who signed off on this did not leave any notes or further information as to how he/she arrived at this conclusion.

So, let me get this straight – a doctor who doesn’t know me, who has never met me or examined me, has determined what I need in terms of medical intervention. Welcome to the American insurance business…

And I can totally tell you that what’s at play here is a “one size fits all” approach to healthcare. Many people who are diagnosed with sleep apnea have gained weight or have obesity issues; that’s not the case with me (in fact, every person who has examined me along the way has always started by commenting that they are suprised when they see me in person after looking at my chart because I look like I shouldn’t be a candidate for apnea). Apnea is either neurologically driven or structurally driven; my sleep study showed that it’s structural, not originating in the brain, so it would seem to reason that if the structure is the problem, changing the structure could be a cure. I know of several people who were over-weight and through weight-loss were able to alleviate their apnea symptoms; as someone who is not over-weight, this avenue is not an option for me, but obviously trimming some of the tissue in the back of the throat could be. This is the procedure that the insurance company has denied.

They want the quick fix (which they think will be more cost-effective in the long run): you have apnea? here’s a CPAP machine, that’s how we “treat” it. Next!”

The CPAP is not a treatment, it’s a means of forcing pressurized air into the nasal cavity when the patient desat’s to the point of losing respirations; in other words (or to put it in terms that my brethren in the anti-violence movement can understand) it’s not prevention it’s intervention. This approach does not take into account the unique circumstances that could be at play with my particular biological, physiological reality as a patient. It does not take into account the reality of me (and by the way, I’m the paying customer; remember me? – I’m the one who is paying for your company to exist; I’m the one who pays your salary…)

So, if I should happen to survive the anesthesia and all tomorrow, I’m going to appeal this decision to the hilt. And assuming I am successful, this company, that was so concerned with saving a buck, will end up paying for surgery TWICE! I mean, never mind how angry I am as the patient, as a paying customer of this company, I’m appalled at the blatantly stupid decisions. This is going to end up costing us all more in the long run.

I think I’m going to buy Sicko for everyone on my X-mas list…