When I heard about British DJ Steve Miller’s supposed allergy to wi-fi, I immediately looked the guy up on Twitter. What could be more interesting than following someone trying to dodge the electromagnetic telecommunications waves that permeate every moment of our existence these days? Unfortunately, I couldn’t find him.

Some are questioning whether this wifi allergy could possibly be real and suggest that Miller must be trying to get attention or is completely neurotic. I, for one, never dispute the possibility of the human body reacting strangely to any sort of stimulus. People seem to have the potential to develop physical intolerance to anything.

I just want a glimpse into how the guy gets by. I mean, whole cities are wired these days. Where could he possibly find relief? Moreover, where’s the screenplay? Ed Norton could rock that role.

AbFab

I’m a huge fan of “Absolutely Fabulous” (a British comedy that, in my opinion, makes the urban diva decadence shows that followed it like “Sex and the City” and even the various “Real Housewives” look painfully anemic). I’ve long thought that Joanna Lumley (Patsy) was a goddess. Apparently adoring throngs in Nepal agree with me.

The enthusiasm in Nepal has nothing to do with Patsy-esque designer clothes obsession and hilarious antics under the influence. Joanna is getting Nepali love for helping with a campaign for the rights of Gurkhas, an ethnic group in Nepal known for being warriors and who, despite fighting in the British military, have not gotten fair treatment or the right to settle in the UK.

And not that this has anything to do with Nepal, but I just wanted to shout out Joanna Lumley and Jennifer Saunders (Eddie) for being outrageous PR-ialistas supreme well before Samantha Jones, sweetie darling.

Saffie: I’m sorry, mum, but I’ve never seen what it is that you actually do.
Eddie: PRrr.
Saffie: Yes, but…
Eddie: PR. I PR things. People. Places. Concepts…
Patsy: …Lulu.
Eddie: Lulu… I make the fabulous… I make the crap into credible. I make the dull into…
Patsy: …Delicious.

So now President Obama regrets his comment about the Cambridge Police acting “stupidly” in the arrest of Professor Gates.

• a) The press conference where this comment was taken from was about health care and this question was bait. Focusing on his response is an irrelevant distraction,

• b) Anyone who has ever had the misfortune of being at the wrong end of law due to their race would agree that there is a great deal of stupidity in the experience, and

• c) Anyone still naive enough to think that there is no such thing as racial profiling in the US has lived an extraordinarily sheltered life.

The health care debate is clearly a big deal right now. Yet, as in the past, most of us don’t understand all that much about what is going on.The good news is that regardless of what happens in DC, there are some wonderful new models for improving care and revolutionizing medicine. Ironically, some of the best lessons for the future may come from looking to the past.

I studied health care policy, employing a human rights approach. Basically, using human rights for health policy means looking for ways to achieve the highest possible standard of health, given available resources. Human rights require nations to do the best they can to ensure that people have what they need to be as healthy as they can — realizing, of course, that healthy living is also a matter of personal responsibility and the consequences of a passion for chicken wings are ultimately an individual problem to manage.

I guess that I might be a bit cynical about the outcome of health care reform. I think that I am just a realist. At best, I expect that reform will mean that we might get some sort of mandated minimum coverage for catastrophic instances and not true universal coverage to comprehensivre health care. Don’t get me wrong. I wouldn’t knock it. It’s better than nada.

I wouldn’t go looking to DC to keep us well but I was happy to hear President Obama mention the need to give doctors an incentive to provide quality care, instead of focusing on quantity. What came to mind as a good model for people to look at are micropractices. Basically, they offer the future of quality care by stepping into the past. Think trusted family doctor of the past who spent lots of time with each patient and really had a relationship with you.

The beauty is that such practices are actually facilitated by modern technology. It gives doctors the ability to practice as they want to and become part of a community with their patients, which would be a step forward. Best of all, this is a bit of progress that hopefully DC could support but it can be done regardless of how the health care stalemate turns out.

I just knew that the iPhone apps and these GoogleWave robots would lead to bloodthirsty cyborgs someday…

From Daily Galaxy…

“I see a strong parallel between the evolution of robot intelligence and the biological intelligence that preceded it. The largest nervous systems doubled in size about every fifteen million years since the Cambrian explosion 550 million years ago. Robot controllers double in complexity (processing power) every year or two. They are now barely at the lower range of vertebrate complexity, but should catch up with us within a half century.”

Hans Moravec,  pioneer in mobile robot research and founder of Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotics Institute.

Coldplay Sells a Million Digital Albums, Confirms Downloads Are King

BY Kit Eaton

Coldplay is the king of downloads. According to Neilsen, the band has become the first to sell over one million digital albums in the US, and over two million worldwide. It may be surprising that this hasn’t happened before, but it basically confirms something we all knew anyway–digital downloads are the future for music.

What’s up with the Emmy‘s recycling the same portfolio of already acclaimed actresses for Lead Actress in a Drama? It would have been nice to see a little mix-up. There were a few notable snubs this year. I’m particularly disappointed that there was no nomination for Jill Scott.

Jill has proven how truly versatile and remarkable she is as Mma Ramostwe in the HBO series The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency based on  the popular books by Alexander McCall Smith. Quiet as kept, she is one of the most profoundly gifted people out there.

On a side note, how real is it that she had to switch dialect coaches because she was starting to sound more like the Zimbabwean coach than her Botswanan character? I wouldn’t say that she “botched the accent.” She did a great job but I did think that she reminded me a bit of a Zimbabwean in the beginning of the series. I just think it’s amazing that she was that deep into the subtleties and authenticity. Not many actors could convincingly pull this character off. Kudos, Jill. I wish that I could give you an award.

This is just downright surreal…

Eunuchs oppose gay sex ruling
Sanjay Pandey, Lucknow, DHNS:

While the religious leaders were opposed to legalising gay sex on grounds of morality, the eunuchs have a more compelling reason to oppose the same. According to the eunuchs the move would affect their livelihood. “We earn our livelihood by singing and dancing at functions held after a child is born in a family,” said the eunuchs.

“Legalisation of homosexuality and abolition of Section 377 of the IPC could result in increased gay marriages. Obviously we cannot expect children out of such wedlocks,” quipped Puja, an eunuch.

In fact the eunuchs, who had held a national convention in UP’s Etah town, which concluded on Monday, condemned the move to legalise gay sex. “The government must not succumb to any kind of pressure and abolish Sec 377,” it said, according to Puja, convenor of the “Kinnar Mahasammelan”.

Such move can destroy our culture and we may be forced to become beggars, Jameela, another eunuch said.

Natalia Estemirova, a Russian human rights defender working in Chechnya was killed today. It’s tragic to hear about a courageous person losing her life for exposing injustice and violence. Here is a statement from Human Rights Watch with a video about her work made in 2007. And here are her own words about the urgent need for pressure from the international community when human rights defenders are at risk and/or detained.

“I suggest that whenever a human rights defender is suffering, we should hold massive press gatherings to free the defender and lead proper investigations into their arrests” – Natalia Estemirova

Tomorrow is Taste of East Atlanta. For just a buck per venue, you can sample all the local eateries of East Atlanta Village (EAV). So drop by and dig in. If you are feeling adventurous, there are a number of parlors dotting the area such as 13 Roses, where you can get a nice conversation-starting tattoo. Last night, I crossed paths with a bodypainting party at Eastside Lounge. I heart EAV. It reminds me of a less extreme, ATLien mini-version of Williamsburg, Bklyn (in a good way).