Mortaine’s Blog

As relates to avian flu:

The President is all concerned about avian flu infecting people and causing an epidemic. This is a legitimate concern. We should all be worried about modern-day epidemics and their effects. I wouldn’t have chosen bird flu, myself, as I think epidemics like HIV are more prevalent and more damaging, but since avian flu can infect straight, upstanding Republican money-men* as well as gay drug abusers, it’s a less scary disease to talk about.

The Right would also like to increase the powers to allow for military force to be used to enforce quarantines more easily. Personally, I would like to have any evidence that the federal agencies tasked with actually managing crises had their heads out of their asses before allowing them to call in the troops when a third grader gets the sniffles.

Meanwhile, here is my Liberal thought of the day. Why don’t we, instead of panicking the public about avian flu (or West Nile, or Tse Tse fever, or any other strange “foreign” illness that sounds scary and exotic), which is really unlikely to infect, let alone kill, anyone, why don’t we ensure universal health care and affordable drugs for everybody? That way, when someone does get sick, they can get treatment and get better and not keep going to work to infect everyone else around them?

Their solution: Make sure we can call in the troops to control everyone and decide where they can and cannot go.
My solution: Make sure a mother of five working three jobs can go to the doctor.

I know, I know. I’m such a raving liberal lunatic.

* Am I the only one who wonders if GWB is or ever has been an intravenous drug user and, if so, if he’s ever had an HIV test and worried over its result?

I went to the con and had a wonderful time. It was really awesome. Got to have a lovely conversation with Peter S. Beagle about favorite authors, with Phil Yeh about literacy and comic books and being the “cool” aunt, and went filking with Diana Paxson (and didn’t realize it till morning).

Ann and I went to parties on Friday and Saturday nights and had Warp Core Coolants at Mara’s Bar (a Klingon party bar at local cons). On Saturday, a guy who was there promoting his small film saw that I was lugging around my dulcimer and wanted to take a look and, if permitted, play it. Well, he did more than play– I swear, I think he might be dating it now! He was very impressed by its manufacture and said “while I wouldn’t call it a Stradivarius…. take good care of it, please.” I was amused. I don’t think I’ve ever had a man want to smell my dulcimer before (and not have it be a euphemism).

The Eye of Argon reading Saturday night (my first) was… hilarious, but very late. We left a little early and got to bed at 2 AM.

Yesterday’s videoblogging presentation was… so-so. We didn’t have much of an audience, which is common for that time slot. One of my co-presenters was irked by that, I suppose. We presented to those we could, is all I can say.

I video-interviewed a couple of folks at the con, and will post the interviews to my videoblog when they’re done, which should be cool, especially since I haven’t vlogged in ages.

Yesterday was also so-so because I woke up with a migraine. Unfortunately, drugs haven’t touched it. Sleep helped last night, but it’s back this morning. I don’t know what to do about that. I should go to work– we have a release note that I had to finish up late Friday night. But it hurts so much, and I don’t really want to drive with that much pain.

Last night, driving home with this enormous migraine, there were downed power lines across 17 blocking southbound traffic. I lucked out and was able to get off the highway and onto a frontage road, but it was a longer route home than usual (but faster than waiting in traffic), and I was in pain, but at least I got home.

I’ve come to a decision about (my 2002 NaNo novel). It doesn’t work very well as a novel– the pacing is wrong and there’s a lot of action in it that would translate better to the screen, but who wants to come up with that kind of money? So, instead: Graphic Novel. This is why I spent a lot of my time at the comic book art and cartooning panels, by the way. I may also try to re-work it so it’s set in the pseudo-1950’s. Aside from using the Internet as a marketing medium, it actually works pretty well for a 1950’s or early 60’s period.