Brain Dump

[jesse_the_k]

Unusually for me, this post is dripping out of my brain, down my fingers, and directly into the post form. Feel free to seek clarifications if incoherence wins.

SLATE has been online for twenty-two years. If you asked me in the mid naughts, I would have said it's slightly to the right of Democratic centralism. Since my news fast, I can't speak to its current position. But its "Future Tense" section on technology, society, now and in the future, has always been worth reading. They bring a welcome critical eye to the endless enthusiasm about assistive technology, for example. And they've recently been commissioning paired essays and short SF stories on hot topics.

All of them here:
http://www.slate.com/topics/f/future_tense_fiction.html

Charlie Jane Anders' "The Minnesota Diet" was especially creepy and insightful:

https://slate.com/technology/2018/01/the-minnesota-diet-a-new-short-story-by-charlie-jane-anders.html

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Assistive technology is one of my primary fandoms, and this past Friday was a convention of sorts. Called Abilities Expo, it's a commercial endeavor with six US shows and one in Toronto. MyGuy & Bella ferried me down to grim Renaissance Hotel in Schaumburg IL, and I zoomed around the show for 3 hours. (They continued down to Aurora to visit with his sister and her dog. Sadly, the two dogs didn't get along.)

Things I saw & thoughts I had:

• Foldawheel's line of folding power chairs. I met C.Y.Cheung, the company's founder, and we talked inside baseball. Mr Cheung is an experienced engineer, who began to design wheelchair improvements for his dad. He's clearly keen to hear user feedback, and we spitballed some hacks that might make their product, The Foldawheel PW 1000xl usable for me. The fit and finish on these machines is impressive--and it better be, since they're in Malaysia. They have a range of folding power and manual chairs, as well as stairclimbers and standing chairs: all details at their lively URL
  Wheelchair88


• Pride Mobility now also has an entry in the folding-powerchair-with-lithium batteries, the Jazzy Passport. While the seat is much better for my purposes, I was less impressed by the wobbly feel, as well as 12 years of bad luck with Pride/Quantum motors. The good news is that it's likely to be available through a local DME supplier.


• P&L Development is the first company I've seen making a wheelchair-accessible van from a Transit Connect (the "Euro-style" small commercial vehicle that finally made it to the U.S. in the past few years). I'm excited because it's conceivable that it would fit four people plus a power chair, and all four people would have decent seats. Most of the conversion minivans I saw had horribly uncomfortable seats behind the driver. Their floor staff were also respectful and fun. More details at PLsalesandservice.com


• I met Becky & David Bennet, a mom&pop operation with a fascinating product. I was able to share some experience gained from my small AT company. Their SOL-US is a carefully designed mobility aid for people who can use one or two legs to kick along. The first model was built for a congenital amputee, and the seat has a space for her stump to rest in. It has articulated steering and brakes, and rolls quite nicely over a wide range of surfaces. Many pictures, movies, and explanations at SolusInnovations.com


• The award for prettiest swag goes to Wheel-Life.org: They handed out postcards labeled "Keep Calm It's Just a Wheelchair." I have yet to figure out what it is they do: they have a site and social media presence, but the content on the site seems to be mainly press releases. However I'm sure that the piece about adaptive aerial yoga for wheelchair users will be of interest to at least one of my readers:
  http://www.wheel-life.org/adaptive-aerial-yoga-allows-wheelchair-users-to-fly/


• Wheelchairs on tracks--like construction machinery or tanks--were definitely A Thing. There were three different organizations showing them off. I found the Freedom Trax the most sensible: it's a separate powered frame that can attach to an existing manual chair. Two tracks fabricated from super-tough plastic are powered by a lithium-ion battery: the whole deal folds into a 27 x 36 x 4 inch rectangle that looks easy to transport in the trunk of a car. They claim the tracks don't mark up soft wood floors, and the many openings prevent snow clogging them. They flaunt photos showing riders in sand, snow, gravel, mud and other challenging surfaces. View the travelog FreedomTraxInternational.com


• ClearCaptions is a competitor to Madison-based CapTel. The products look similar: don't understand the economics of this space. It's partly supported by the Universal Service Fees on our phone bills (these funds also go to telephone relay for dead/speech impaired). If you can speak for yourself and need to read the response, check out
  ClearCaptions.com or CapTel.com


• The award for "traveled the furthest with the most ambitious project" definitely goes to Alucat Catamarans. They've designed a v-hull powerboat with an extensive flat floor and a built-in roll-on ramp. It's James Bond's pontoon boat. Yes, of course it's Finnish. Pictures at www.alucat.fi/en

I could natter on for a long time, but I'll leave myself something to chat about tomorrow.

Comments

[sasha_feather]

Sounds like you had a great time!

these funds also go to telephone relay for dead/

Hello, Afterlife? I'd like to telephone relay with a bunch of dead presidents so I can give them a piece of my mind!