Well maybe. Not 5 days after receiving my Aspire One Netbook back from Acer, with nothing more informative than "updated BIOS" on the repair report, the machine failed again. Not trusting Acer tech support, because 1) it is always a bit of a headache trying to deal with tech support who tends to freak out when you tell them you can't see; not to ( Read more... )

A couple other things I saw that I thought were cool.

Touch Graphics
(Not to be connfused with InTouch Graphics although they seem to do similar things). There's an older (and more standard version) which has an embossed graphical rendering of a map (for instance) that is placed on a touch-sensitive electronic pad. Then the user can tap on a ( Read more... )

As I mentioned, this was the first CSUN (Conference on Technology and
People with Disabilities)* that I've attended where there hasn't been a real or implied agenda to the sessions I've attended or the people I talk to. I was chatting with a former MS coworker who said something like, "It must be nice to not to have to apologize" for where you ( Read more... )

Unlike the other times where I've disappeared from LJ as part of a meditation/retreat/regrouping exercise, this absence was technologically imposed. Mid-February I went to restart my li'l laptop (the Aspire One that is my personal machine) after Jaws and something in the system got into a snit and Jaws suddenly decided it was in demo mode and ( Read more... )

"[The Wealth of Nations], like Das Capital and the Bible, is one of the three books that people feel free to refer to without having to read them."--J. Kenneth Galbraith (paraphrased)*

"When given the choice between changing their minds and proving that there is no reason to do so, most people will get to work on the proof."--ibid

*At this point ( Read more... )

I know I've mentioned them before, but posts like this one just solidify my love for language log ( Read more... )

I am pleased to call the reporter who inspired this a friend.

On February 6, 2006, I was called down to a common room at the Seeing Eye, clipped my leash to a bouncy 3/4 lab-1/4 golden retriever and was told to bring her back to my room and get acquainted. Still a bit gunshy after the circumstances around retiring her predecessor I wasn't sure if I was ready for this new creature in my life. She, in no ( Read more... )

I need to upgrade the encryption software on my work machine. Although I don't see why this could negatively impact screenreader funcctioning, I've been unpleasantly surprised in the past at the level of inaccessibility or incompatibility I've encountered. Would somebody be willing to hang out as backup visually-capable person (it could be at a ( Read more... )

Okay, I think that physiological and behavioral indicators make it safe to say that Pepper really is better now. She is eating, and bouncy and wiggly and killing her toys again.
The evil evil rimadyl* has left her system and the medication she is now on is successfully managing the residual digestive issues ( Read more... )