WisCon stuff

[cabell]

1) deepforestowl made a post about the Troll incident (you know, Rachel Moss, the UW-Madison grad student with a heart of poo?), and the comments discussion has reminded me about how, despite sort of vague assurances to the contrary, it was never "dealt with" in any sense recognizable to me or mine. Not that we necessarily expect some particular concrete

Comments

[chr0me_kitten]

re #2: I plan to propose a panel about cyborg living in terms of medical equipment and adaptive technology. Your idea would be an interesting companion panel.

[cabell]

Interesting. Will you include medication in your cyborg panel? My advisor has an insulin pump, which seems like a pretty clear cyborg accessory, but I sometimes wonder if my required daily dose of warfarin is in some sense a cyborg addition to my self--or hell, even my birth control, which I get in shot form every three months (again, things like the patch might seem more classically cyborg).

[kaygigi]

I feel like Donna Harraway would classify all of those as cyborg, to bring it back to the Manifesto. There is that interesting tension between the post-modern cyborg techno-human and the classic sci-fi style cyborg, epitomized by the Borg from ST. The line isn't so neat!

[chr0me_kitten]

I think medication definitely counts along the lines of what kaygigi says below (well, above once I post this), but I want to specifically talk about dependence on machines. I have a friend who also depends on an insulin pump, which is one of the things that inspired the idea. I have a friend who just had electrodes implanted into her head to control chronic pain. I use a CPAP machine every night. My brother uses a PDA as an adaptive measure to help with his brain injury-related memory problems.

I'll likely include medication as technology in the panel description, but I definitely want the main focus of the panel to be on machines.

[revena]

I'm having the same issues with my Wii Fit, and I think it'd be a really interesting panel topic starter, for sure.

[cabell]

You haven't figured out how to make Boardy stop talking, have you?

[revena]

Alas, I have not. Stupid Boardy.

[cabell]

Having heard from several people on the topic--and also having written a column about physical activity and the Wii in general before I actually had one--I think I'll definitely propose a panel.

[cabell]

I just included you on an email I sent out about this--I'm getting really frustrated with the reaction to deepforestowl's post and I'd like to think about how we could most effectively draw attention to the issue.

[pinkhairedcyn]

Oh my god, I hate that about the wii fit too! I set my goal as to stay the same weight, just to piss it off. Which is amusing because now it kind of doesn't know what to do. I should have set my goal as gaining weight.

[cabell]

Especially if it's going to be constantly telling you your BMI--which, hello, GOES UP if you put on muscle! Grrr.

Oh, and some of its little tips are total lies, like when it tells you that an uneven pace won't burn fat as fast on the run. O rly? So a constant rate of 1mph burns FEWER calories than that rate with bursts of 5mph here and there? >:o

For the love of god, isn't there ANY way to make the animated board stop talking?

[mad_maudlin]

Re #3--is there a connection among these three topics that I'm not seeing? I mean, I'm up for talking about them individually at any time, but as a group...?

[cabell]

No, no--that's just a conglomeration of loose ends.

[mad_maudlin]

Shame. Werewolves with Facebook accounts might have some interesting things to say about Firefly. :-)

[cabell]

Ehehehe.

And why don't YOU come to WisCon, hm?