Friday Night Music

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Blogging Day Off

Over 19 million views in less than a week. This video is everywhere. It also has nothing to do with disability. But I’m taking a day off from blogging, and it is the happiest YouTube video I have ever seen. So, enjoy:

For the record, the second happiest video I have ever seen is one of the first YouTube videos I ever saw:

Music For A Monday Evening

Somehow, the day got away from me, and the plans I had to post something of substance fell through. Maybe tomorrow. Also, look for a new episode of the Disability.TV Podcast on Wednesday. My guest will be Christina Stephens, a.k.a. AmputeeOT, who spoke with me about last fall’s Fox TV show, Red Band Society.

Meanwhile, check out this Beatles video. I watched the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony last night, and one of the highlights was inductee Ringo Starr performing “Boys” with fellow inductees, Green Day. It was pretty great.

Spring Cleaning ... Time For A Musical Digression

So, in lieu of the usual disability blogging, here’s a video I’ve been watching daily for over a week now, of Kim Gordon and the surviving members of Nirvana performing at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction:

Sonic Youth has been one of my favorite bands since Goo came out in 1990. From there I went back and checked out the epic Daydream Nation, and I was hooked. Kim Gordon was always my favorite member of the group, partly for the usual hetrosexual male reasons, but also because she seemed so enigmatic. She recently published an autobiography, and is making the rounds of various culture shows and podcasts. I listened to her interview on Marc Maron’s WTF podcast, and now I want to hear more from her. For now, I’ll just say that I hope I have half of Kim Gordon’s energy and creativity when I am 62, though there’s no way I have ever been a 16th as cool as she is.

And here is my favorite Sonic Youth performance video:

Tipping

Tipping the Scales of Justice

Judge John Hodgman, Episode 158

This is a bit off-topic, but bear with me. I’ll bring it all back to disability issues.

This episode of the fantastic Judge John Hodgman podcast is about tipping … that is, who one is expected to give a gratuity, how much, and why we give tips at all. “Judge” Hodgman, his “Bailiff” Jesse Thorn, and the married couple who are the “Litigants” discuss:

- who actually receives the money from tips (it’s not just your waitress)

- whether it is a reward for good service, or an expected component of service employees’ pay

- which services are you supposed to tip

- whether tipping low or stiffing service workers actually teaches them any lessons (what do YOU think?)

- how much should you tip

When Judge Hodgman also pointed out that generous tipping is an investment in better service, with people and places you plan to use frequently, it made me wonder whether good or bad tipping habits can affect service to customers with disabilities.

I don’t travel a lot, but when I do, I make sure to have a bunch of $5 bills on me just for tips. I’m not talking about tips for waitstaff so much, but in airports, it makes life a whole lot easier. True, I could probably get by purely on asserting my right to accommodations. On the other hand, the people who always have to carry out reasonable accommodations are the lowest paid and least respected people in the industry, and I feel like the extra money works for them, and frankly their improved attitude and more personal commitment to, say, getting me to the gate or hauling my bags off the baggage claim belt, works for me.

Of course, many disabled people can’t afford to be “generous” tippers. Sometimes, that can’t be helped. Nevertheless, I would recommend disabled travelers to budget as much as possible for tips when they plan a trip. Certainly don’t forget about it and just hope you’ve got a little extra cash when the time comes to give the lady pushing your wheelchair a tip.

The other problem is that some of us may actually be kind of clueless about tipping, from lack of experience or because nobody ever bothered to give us the lowdown on tipping customs. It seems like an important independent living skill, but one that probably gets forgotten a lot.

So, fellow disabled readers, what are your tipping experiences and practices?

Music For A Friday Afternoon

I’m working on this week’s podcast episode, so I don’t have anything disability-related to blog. Anyway, it’s been awhile since we had a musical interlude.

Light Blogging Day / Video

Lots of real life activities today, so don't expect much blogging from me. Here is a somewhat appropriate video to fill the void.

Music For A Thursday Afternoon

This is another of those disability songs that isn’t really a disability song, but it feels like one to me.

Fundraising Announcement

After much thought, I have decided to join the Amazon Affiliate program, in order to help me support and expand Disability Thinking. If you buy any products from Amazon.com, using links from this blog, I will get a small percentage of the proceeds. To kick things off, I have added a menu of “Recommended” items to the right-hand sidebar … including ten of my favorite books and DVDs related to disability. From time to time, I will also post product reviews that I hope will be interesting to read, and will also include links to purchase through Disability Thinking.

Blogging isn’t expensive, but it has a cost, and some day soon I hope to add some features that definitely carry a higher price tag. I would greatly appreciate any purchases you make through Disability Thinking!

Music For A Saturday Evening

Music For A Travel Day

I’m on the road today, so no posting, except for this, one of may all-time favorite songs, by Jonathan Richman and The Modern Lovers.

Two Takes on Terminology: Supplemental

Here’s an appropriate TED Talk to go with the post below. TED Talks have become kind of annoying, but every now and then a really good, relevant one comes along.

Music For A Friday Evening: 25 Years Ago ...

I’ll try to keep my comments from sounding too much like an old fart on YouTube.

It’s hard to describe the mixture of feelings watching old video clips from the 1989 Moscow Music and Peace Festival. First of all, it happened in that really short few years when the Russia was still the Soviet Union, a nominally Communist superpower, but in the process of more or less voluntarily loosening up and generally saying “fuck it” to the whole world domination thing. Then of course there are the hair bands. On of them was Bon Jovi, which is still a going concern, but one of my favorites for a little less than a year was, oddly, Cinderella. Let’s just say I think their music aged a lot better than their look. Two years later, the likes of Nirvana took over everything, and I’m not sorry … but I still sort of get a kick out of these guys once in awhile. And it really does look like those Soviet kids are having a great time. I wish things could have gone smoother for them.

Late Night / Early Morning Music

Music For A Friday Evening

A real treasure from one of my favorite bands.

Tax Day!

Where your tax dollars go, in one chart

Matthew Yglesias, Vox.com - April 14, 2014

"As the saying goes, the government is an insurance company with an army — it takes care of the elderly and the sick, and it projects force abroad.”

Since today is tax day, I agree with Vox.com that it is a good time to look at the broad outlines of what the Federal Government spends money on. I am also including the chart they use, from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.

The quote above seems to say it all, and I must say, put this way, it doesn’t sound so terrible. The “insurance” part … Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare I happily support. The military? Well, that’s another matter. Still, until we decide to become an entirely different kind of country, it seems like the United States’ position in the world means that the military will always be a big portion of the Federal Budget, with modest fluctuations as circumstances change.

A few more thoughts:

- It is hard to pick out spending for disabled people, because most of our direct benefits are parts of the Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare categories, plus portions of the 12% “Safety Net” category for things like Food Stamps and Housing Subsidies. This report doesn’t say how much of Social Security is Disability and SSI, and how much is Retirement, which I might try to find out.

- It has been said before, but bears repeating. Non-miliary foreign aid, shown here as “Non-Military International” is only 1% of the Federal Budget. So the notion that we ought to stop spending money on foreigners and help our people here is really kind of an empty idea. The same goes for things like government worker salaries and pensions, and paying Members of Congress. We might begrudge them their perks and benefits, especially when we disagree with them anyhow, but paying them nothing wouldn’t add much to programs we actually like, or reduce the deficit.

- Why is “Education” so low? Because this is the Federal Budget, and most day-to-day costs for public education are borne by states and localities. Federal money for Education generally goes for grants and extra supports which, again, don’t amount to much in comparison to the rest of the Federal Budget.

- Where is Obamacare? It isn’t here yet, in a chart of the 2013 Federal Budget. Next year it will probably be split between the “Medicaid and Medicare” category, and maybe have a category of it’s own for the subsidies people will be getting to buy private insurance.

In Lieu Of Actual Blogging ...

No blogging today. Spring is really here, and I’m planning to enjoy it.

I’m not usually a fan of band reunions, and the last one I would have expected is The Stone Roses, but this is pretty impressive.

Music For A Sunny Afternoon

One of those ‘90s performers I tend to forget, but always enjoy when I rediscover them.

"Vox" Explains: Obamacare and The Debt

The new Vox news website finally has some content other than its introduction. It has also already sparked some controversy due to some of its new hires … plus the inevitable buzz suggesting that these youngish, nerdy, progressive-ish journalists have sold out in some way. I still think the project is worth following, and that the idea of journalism doing more to “explain” the news is a good one.

Here are a couple if videos that seem to represent what their work will look like. They are also on topics of some interest to people with disabilities. The Obamacare / health insurance connection is obvious. As for “The Debt”, well it’s not really a disability issue per se, but I think it’s important to keep in mind the actual nature of the dreaded federal budget deficit when politicians insist that “there’s just no more money” for anything we want to do.

How Obamacare’s individual mandate works … in two minutes

Stop freaking out about the debt

Music For A St. Patrick's Day

Something smooth and light ...



Or, if you’re up for something stronger ...