LAST EDITED ON Dec-30-05 AT 00:07 AM (EST)
 
Hi! I'm Ard Sumhenner, and I'm one of your local EPU forum moderators. In the world of Undocumented Features, most of you know me better as Janice Barlow, the resident Ragolian Hunter. At the moment, I'm one of EPU's Usual Suspects and staff authors-- I beta-read works in progress, proofread final drafts, compose the occasional chunk of a Symphony movement or other FI story, and assist other authors on avatar creation/ timeline management/ project management where needed.

As a member of the Blue Team of forum mods, I manage threads and posts in the entire Undocumented Features conference, as well as a goodly chunk of the rest of the Forum. I am usually fairly tolerant, if a bit snarky-- however, I do not suffer fools gladly, and I am far less avoidant of conflict than Gryphon is. Fear not, however; I don't expect to have to put on my jackboots. ;)

Outside of EPU, I'm a post production student at a Los Angeles-area community college; I specialize in nonlinear editing with Final Cut Pro and digital image manipulation with Photoshop. I'm, as far as I know, the only UF character whose author avatar is actually a swordfighter-- I trained under a good friend in a hybrid style that uses shinai to emulate both the Western broadsword and the katana. (I incurred amazing bruises, too, trust me.) I'm fond of Bad Religion, the Dropkick Murphys, and Big Country, and can often be found with my nose in thick books about Adobe Photoshop, After Effects, and Final Cut. As someone with a visual disability, I'm interested in adaptive technology and ophthalmology, so expect me to comment if either of those topics turn up. I'm Pagan, with a primary interest in the gods of the British Isles, although my general mythology knowledge is solid; expect me to chime in there as well.

I'm also turning 30 on January 26th and expect appropriate tribute to be made in my honor. ;)

Ard Sumhenner
that Janice chick
Usual Suspect and general menace

Pleased to meetcha! Love your av. Janice is great fun. The Dropkick Murphys rock my face.

Now for the reason I'm typing a response: Your mentioning of vision correction technology reminded me of an article in Wired magazine I read several years ago. I found it on their site, here:

http://www.wired.com/news/medtech/0,1286,59634,00.html

Maybe you'll find it interesting :)

~AVG
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It's always good to see what the current estimate on the bionic eye is; I think the last time I checked, it was ten years out, which would be about right (I started having my current problems in 2001). I probably have about another decade before they really have to get aggro on the issue; my retinal condition is stable in my bad eye (the one UFme's had replaced) and degenerative-but-not-seriously-threatening in my good eye.

It's also nice to see Wired focusing on peer-reviewed, standards-compliant university research on this topic for once; the last time they had a restoring-sight article, it was about some procedure that required you to have an extra USD250K on-hand and the willingness to go to Spain to have seriously dodgy surgery performed, after which you'd basically be the guinea pig for some guy in his workshop. I pretty much had to stop reading when it got to the point where the only guy who's ever had the implant procedure managed to give himself a grand mal seizure while working with the camera controller. That's really not science; it's not going to give anyone any reproducible results, and it's highly unlikely to ever get safer if they've got a sample size of one. However, it *is* great shock journalism. :P

Ard Sumhenner
that Janice chick
Usual Suspect and general menace

Yes, I remember that article as well! Published in 98/99 or thereabouts. Guy with the computer on a belt holster, or something like.

I have friends that have health and wellbeing issues in their lives...I try to stay abreast of just what is being developed that might help them somehow.

I guess it comes from a need to understand what it is they're going through and what's being done to help remedy the problem.

As for Wired's previous articles, I do agree. I wish I had more sources that offered detail-oriented coverage of the subject matter, rather than just a paragraph notification, or trying to impress me with action.

Now that I think about it, "shock" anything really gets my teeth to grinding. I am trying to learn, after all.

~AVG
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Trapt -- "Use Me to Use You" _Someone In Control_

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