It's Like 'The Seven Samurai' But With Pools

There seems to be some confusion taking place -- at least in my mind.

A few weeks ago, several disabled-rights groups got together and held a protest at the headquarters of the American Hotel & Lodging Association to come out against what they said were AH&LA's efforts to reverse the Americans With Disabilities Act as it pertains to public pools and spas.

I haven't gotten an official number yet but, from eyeballing the event, AH&LA estimates about "50 or so" people participated. The protest was held in conjunction with The National Council on Independent Living's annual conference, making it handy for individuals to show up.

As you can see, the group may not have been very big, but it was quite vocal. The groups are upset that the AH&LA has lobbied the government to allow portable lifts on public pools and spas, rather than mandating fixed lifts on most. (The trade association's efforts also resulted in a year-long extension for ADA compliance, which has the other side none too pleased.) Currently, the ADA says fixed lifts are required as long as it's "readily achievable." Nobody knows what that means -- which I suspect is the real problem.

As is often the case with situations such as this, it's hard to know who's right. Both sides -- the disability-rights groups and AH&LA -- are using very similar language in describing the situation. Check this out:

"We were kind of disappointed because we had reached out to the disability community to reach some sort of compromise that would allow our members to provide access without being too financially burdened. But they opted for this cynical fundraising ploy, really." -- Kevin Maher, senior vice president for governmental affairs, American Hotel & Lodging Association in Washington, D.C.

"The bottom line is we met in good faith hoping that they could accept the middle ground, which is significant concessions on the part of [our members] and they not only refused but we found out after the fact that they never intended to work in good faith." -- Lara Schwartz, vice president of external affairs of the American Association of People with Disabilities in Washington, D.C.

So what are we to believe -- that the disabled just want to raise funds or that the hotels/motels just want to line their pockets with all the money they'll save by not putting in fixed lifts? More to come.

For the most recent interpretation of the ADA's pool-lift stipulation, read here:

http://www.ada.gov/pools_2010.htm

Old Reliable Takes the Gold

I think it's safe to say that few of us strive to be called "reliable." Sure, the reliable folks form the backbone of any successful operation, but still... Ask Aly Raisman or, as her teammates call her, "Reliable Raisman." There were a few sure things about this team -- that Gabby Douglas would dazzle with her bright smile and beautiful form, that Jordyn Wieber would get things done and probably take the women's all-around, and McKayla Maroney -- the "vault specialist" -- would take the gold in the contest on that individual apparatus. What about "Reliable Raisman"? She'd be there. You know, the best-laid plans and all... Don't get me wrong. I'm not dissing this team. They're the best in years. Things just didn't go as planned. While Gabby kicked butt, she did seem to fizzle out at the apparatus competitions. Can't really blame her -- she must have been exhausted. McKayla won the silver -- far from a failure but, judging from her body language, not what she expected. And Jordyn more than did her part in getting the team gold. But for her, the tragedy that was the qualifiers was followed by a problematic floor routine that prevented her from medaling individually. Did anybody think that Aly would end up taking home three medals -- team gold, bronze for the balance beam and gold on the floor? Maybe she didn't.

Everything's starting to sink in.... twitter.com/Aly_Raisman/st…

— Alexandra Raisman (@Aly_Raisman) August 8, 2012

But the praise came from several celebrities, including Little Wayne, Octavia Spencer and Jessica Alba. And then this post from the star of one of my favorite sitcoms.

.@aly_raisman Your floor exercise was incredible! I wish people danced like that to Hava Nagila in my neighborhood.

— Zach Braff (@zachbraff) August 8, 2012

Regardless of whether everybody met expectations, everybody's proud of the team.

LA Observed.... Observed

LA Observed is a very interesting mish-mosh of local and more global content. Even the front page mixes the local with the global, and headlines from publications such as the New York Times. Locally produced photos and cartoons also take prominent spots.

One example of the local flavor was the top piece -- a small write-up about how a storytelling project by local public radio station KCRW “spent a morning talking to servers and other staff” at a Oaxacan restaurant in Koreatown. As something of a critique, I don’t quite know what that meant. Did they tell stories to servers, or ask for stories? And the photo was a close-up of a young lady in front of a microphone. Because it was cropped so tight, I didn’t quite know what she was doing. There’s a link to other photos, which jumps to Facebook.

Mixed with the Oaxacan restaurant piece are stories about the stock market and Facebook, both of which mostly contain aggregated content. The lead-ins to the excerpted material is very conversational. The stock-market piece, in particular, offers a small bit of context and analysis provided by the author before running an excerpt from the New York Times.

I found it interesting that in at least one article, the headline also basically serves as the lead. The headline reads: “OC health inspectors crack down on L.A. food trucks.” The first sentence in the story expands on the headline to say, “Many of them were given temporary permits by the county's Environmental Health Division.” It’s an interesting construction. Generally we see a headline, then a lead that gives a slightly more detailed version of the headline.

I’d say this site is appropriate for somebody who wants to get a broad, if shallow, view of what’s going on. It doesn’t seem to be very generous with in-depth information.

Gawker Gets In The Gray Lady's Face

The New York Times has been called "The Gray Lady" because at one time its text-art ratio was, shall we say, a little on the high side. Though its web page has plenty of art to offer, its tone seems a little gray when you compare it to Gawker, the newish site with the tabloid photo collages and headlines to match, including such in-your-face numbers as "Confessions of a Mayflower Ball Attendant."

The aforementioned story begins, “I’ve done my fair share of joking about dipshit society folks here at Gawker...” Thus breaking a fairly major rule for the New York Times and other such outlets: Don’t say dipshit (and isn't it two words, anyway?). This is the first piece on the opening page, also a big difference from NYTimes.

Yesterday’s NY Times.com opened with somber stories about Syria and lighter fare about what television options parents have since DirecTV’s programming blackout has taken Nickelodeon and its offsping out of the equation. One of the looser, more humorous comments, referring to the other channels enjoying the displaced Nickelodeon viewers, went like this: “For the Disney Channel, Cartoon Network, the Hub and Sprout, it is the equivalent of a baby boom after a hurricane or a snowstorm.” Definitely a lighter touch.

The New York Times headlines are written in traditional headline style: “Damascus Confronts New  Reality After Attack.” Whereas some of Gawker’s headlines almost sound like casual conversation: “Jane Austen Novels to Get Erotic Makeover Because All Books Must Be Sexy Now.”

But Gawker also gives voice to people who, for whatever reason, may not be heard elsewhere, such as Rupert Murdoch’s former nanny, who said that working for Murdoch and his wife, Wendi Deng, was a horrific experience. Other than a tax document that misclassified the nanny and a link to some court papers, there isn’t much indication showing how the reporter checked the validity of the nanny. There isn’t much attribution throughout the piece, even to the nanny.

While the styles are decided different, I’d say each serves a purpose and that there’s room for both.