RSGeo-007

"Put Away Your Guns and Knives"

2011-11-23T09:00:00.000-05:00

Back when Virginia Tech was hit by the student shooting other students and teachers, it started with some colleges setting up an alert system of some sort, usually sending alerts to someone's pager via email or text. It also got me wondering how other students like me are able to keep from getting killed when this happens. It's too easy for deaf people to walk into the middle of a gunfight and be shot dead, never hearing the fatal shots. Same with those with walking issues, as they can't move fast enough out of the line of fire. So what is the best way to keep this from happening to them if the alert messages aren't received in time?

It's also not a time for anyone to make any sort of humor about this event. I had one or two teachers actually say "put away your guns and knives." Now just how heartless is that sort of quote when you have a tragic event like this happen and people died or nearly did? This is not the time for making fun of what happened. Teachers are, in a way, a first line of defense against something like this due to working with their students. Listen to your students. Maybe in the first few minutes of class, ask how your students are doing and how they're feeling.

But saying "put away your guns and knives?!" Report that teacher to the dean.

Gally Homecoming Game Win - 10/22

2011-11-16T09:00:00.000-05:00

It was a pretty interesting Homecoming game on October 22 against Becker College. Gally won 44-20. A couple safeties, and a bunch of touchdowns and field goals. Just when it looked like Becker was going to catch up, Gally thundered ahead. It was 24-0 at half time.

Gallaudet celebrates Homecoming win over Becker, Matt Harris records seven sacks

The food choices weren't as much as last time, but there were still some nice choices. It looked like people added desserts and stuff around half time. It was a pretty big crowd as well.

Post-surgery knees - Part 7

2011-11-07T09:00:00.000-05:00

I'm continuing to improve here and there, though I need to get out walking more.

I mentioned my being able to walk into the local grocery store. My ability to have longer shopping times have improved.

There's also an area in front of this building next to me that I've walked around to see how many laps I can make. Since the surgery, I can do just one lap easy, compared to barely shortly after the surgery. I just did two laps. Now to try doing more. I'm hoping to get to three or four by summertime.

We had a small flood at our house back in early September, and I was able to pull up part of the carpet with some help before someone came by and said we could stop. The cleanup service came by later that night. We were able to save some more cash by pulling up the tiles which had 4% Chrysotile. This kind of asbestos comes out of the body more easily than the other kind. The health issues that come up years later come from prolonged exposure. Our exposure time was a few hours, and we only broke about an average of one tile per row. Mopping the floor twice with a strong mixture of bleach and water was a bit tough, but it also cleaned up any remnants of mold and other dirt.

All that work is good for me. Still more work downstairs to do.

Suit to Add Handicapped-Accessible Cabs Unfar?

2011-10-30T09:00:00.000-04:00

An even louder Bronx cheer, wetter raspberries and razzing, and an even smellier fart are directed in Bloomberg's general direction. I posted about this earlier in NYC Taxis Inaccessible! Shame on you, Bloomberg!.

Bloomberg says suit to add handicapped-accessible cabs unfair to 'average' riders, wastes gas, money

You have GOT to be kidding me, Mr. Mayor B! Unfair to average riders, wastes gas and money, and...

Disabled-friendly cabs are a health hazard, would cause injuries & spark lawsuits, mayor says

...a hazard? Hazard to WHO? Yourself? You have more to worry about hubcaps coming off other cars and them spraying water on you than a wheelchair user lobbing a golf ball-sized water balloon at you using a rubber band slingshot. YOU yourself can be a rider of the subways, as many officials, even mayors and related public officials, have been known to do.

Have you even ridden in one of those wheelchair-friendly cabs? Have you even spent time in the DC area seeing how the paratransit system and accessible cabs work? Have you even talked to the owners of those cabs to see if they really are hazardous? Have you been in a modified wheelchair-accessible van driven by a wheelchair user? I DON'T THINK SO. YOU can try riding these things not just once, but multiple times. I've been there, done that.

How about making the ENTIRE NYC subway system accessible, adding elevators and escalators? Adding newer accessible vans would be much cheaper than the huge bill of retrofitting the entire NYC subway system. But yep, looks like they're doing some accessibility work here and there, with 89 out of 468 accessible stations.

MTA Guide to Accessible Transit

Funny Moment 9: Silly String

2011-09-14T09:00:00.003-04:00

When I attended NTID, there were a few times I'd heard about and seen Silly Stringed hallways in the dorms. It gets even more impressive when you cover someone else with the stuff.

A friend and I were talking a bit and I had a can of the stuff in my hand, talking in the doorway of the dorm room. One girl walks by, and I give her a short burst of String spray. Next thing we know, she's screaming her head off, trying to brush the stuff off her while running down the hallway. Needless to say, my friend and I were nearly on the floor laughing til her boyfriend comes up and close to me. "Don't you ever do that again" he said.

It could have been worse, but we were too far gone laughing. I was only able to stop briefly til he left before we just fell over laughing again.

Last time we laughed like that, we were watching Brewster's Millions. The baseball game scene where John Candy's catcher character was insulting the batter put us on the floor for the next 5-10 minutes. We had to stop the movie til then.

Growing Up Deaf Update 5

2011-09-02T09:00:00.002-04:00

Something else came to mind when I was talking with someone about their school years, related to the Growing Up Deaf Part 19 and Part 20 posts. Back when I attended the School From Hell, there were a number of times some kids angrily asked me why I was a year older than them. I told them maybe due to my birthdate being so early in the school year? Maybe something else. Or I just plain said I didn't know.

The truth was that I attended kindergarten not for the normal one year, but two years. Remember I said I lost my hearing around age 5 in Growing Up Deaf Part 5?

Had I told them, who knows what they would have done?

Bringing Down the House 3: Classroom presentations

2011-08-25T09:00:00.005-04:00

This was shortly after what happened in the Bringing Down the House 2: Panels post, about a semester or two later. I had to do a presentation as a class requirement. It was based on the Internet's Request for Comments, known as RFCs. They're technical papers that propose protocol changes or other events like that to the Internet. In some places, there's humor, and I decided to include that.

So, come presentation time, I mentioned some of the things mentioned in there, the more common stuff. Then I added in some of the more unusual stuff including the more hilarious ones. By the time I nearly get to the end of the presentation, everyone's laughing some.

All I had to do was show the final slide and step back:

"RFC #3999: The Henny Youngman Proposal
Take My Professor, Please!"

The entire classroom was rolling including the teacher. I got an A for it.

Recipe: Chicken mushroom casserole

2011-08-17T09:00:00.007-04:00

4 lbs chicken
2-3 cans cream of mushroom
3 green peppers
2 large onions
2 potato

Heat up the oven to 400 degrees.

You may want to add more or less cream of mushroom, though the general ratio seems to be for every two pounds of chicken, use one can cream of mushroom. We used three cans, and it still came out nicely. A large casserole dish works nicely for this.

Chop up the green pepper, onion, and potato. Add to the chicken and cream of mushroom in the casserole dish. Other veggies like zucchini, celery, and carrots can be used as long as they're not too wet, like tomatoes. Add more veggies to balance out the meat.

Bake for 45-60 minutes. Adjust cooking times if you use more or less chicken.

Serves four hungry people.

Thanks to a friend for passing it on to me.

Peter Falk/Columbo Passes Away

2011-08-09T20:53:00.003-04:00

I know I'm late in mentioning that Peter Falk passed away.

Peter Falk, TV's rumpled Columbo, has died

Many TV viewers enjoyed his Columbo character, what with his way of playing the somewhat bumbling character. He was kind of a combination of Peter Sellers' Inspector Clousau in the Pink Panther movies and Monk on TV, but without Clouseau's accident-prone or slapstick behaviors or Monk's obsessive-compulsiveness.

Thanks for being the character, Mr. Falk.

*fake exit*

And another thing... I don't think anyone can easily replace him.

Hearing Aids STILL Cost Too Much

2011-06-27T09:00:00.006-04:00

The Why Hearing Aids Cost So Much blog post on the SayWhatClub blog pretty much has nailed the question and issue right there. Then they follow up with The Cost of Hearing Aids–Why It May NOT Be About Supply and Demand.

I've always wondered why the prices of analog hearing aids have stayed sky-high over the years, despite many being made and sold? By now, we should have, for example, an Oticon 380P for less than $150. Have you looked inside? Many of the parts can be easily found off the shelf, thus making the total cost cheap, from most good electronics houses. There may be a few parts that may be hard to get. It helps if you have the skills to deal with the very fine wires, tiny parts, and even smaller solder points.

With the right skills and equipment, the hearing aids can be repaired. One website says you can build them for about $300, but it's possible to do for far less than this. You can make a hearing aid that costs less, has AGC, and has the abilities of other hearing aids.

Why do hearing aids cost so much? (Michigan news station)
Hearing Aid Cost
Bluetooth Headsets & Hearing Aids - also has a discussion list/forum
Hearing Aids - Too Expensive?

The slight drawback is you'll look a bit like a Borg if you don't make the circuits small enough and use too many flashing lights. Then again, we're starting to look like them anyway.

As for the marketing angle, marketers tend to make us want to spend more when we really don't need to do so.

Greed at its best.

Funny Moment 8: Make Me Laugh

2011-06-22T09:00:00.002-04:00

Before we had to have passports to get back into the States from Canada, we used our drivers licenses. Today, you can't get back into the States without the passport.

I was at a Canada/US border crossing gate being interviewed by the guard, ID out.

Guard: "Got anything to declare?"
Me: (I'm in a Geo Metro hatchback) "Nothing to declare, but I got a bag of M&Ms if you want some (I hold it up), and a broken water gun in back if you want it (clearly seen in the back)."
Guard: (laughs) "You may go."

That's probably the only time I've gotten a guard like that to laugh. These days, it could easily get you in trouble.

Post-surgery Knees - Part 6

2011-06-16T09:00:00.001-04:00

Been having some improvements here and there. I've been able to go on short walks here and there. That'll improve in time. I also had a couple milestones.

First was my being able to walk into the local grocery store without the wheelchair, just using the cart to help move around. I can do short quick stops there, but not longer shopping times, yet.

Second was my walking to the store from home before dinner at a friend's place. I was never able to walk that far til now. Then while Jamie went into the store, I sat on a bench outside, then we both walked to the friend's place.

Heading to an ASL dinner via the local metro/subway, I managed to walk around a bit more, going to a bookstore to look around some before dinner.

I still can't quite effectively use the elliptical/stepper machine, though I can use a leg press.

I've doing some gardening here and there. I can't quite do it all day, but it'll happen sometime.

How many rows can I mow this summer?

Got A Wireless Router? Password It!

2011-06-09T09:00:00.001-04:00

Over the years, I've seen how people have gone from wired to wireless. I can understand the appeal, but the issues of security remain. Even though encryption is used, it takes time for the password to be cracked and the victim's service to be used and abused.

NY case underscores Wi-Fi privacy dangers

Not passwording a wireless router is asking for trouble, and quite a bit of it. If you can't seem to set the password, then TURN OFF the wireless part or ask for help from someone who has done it. That plus change the password of the router. The major reason an open access point is found is due to those who wardrive. Meaning, they look for access points, whether encrypted or not, by way of walking around, driving, or using a bike using something like Netstumbler. When I last wardrove about 2007 for a report for class, there were around 1700 access points. A little over HALF were encrypted!

The second reason is that there are websites that list default passwords for every router made. So if the router password isn't changed despite the wireless being turned on and encrypted, trouble can still happen.

In short, when a wireless router is used, either turn off wireless or set a password, and a good strong one, including the login password. Wired is still quite secure.

NYC Taxis Inaccessible! Shame on you, Bloomberg!

2011-06-03T09:00:00.007-04:00

A big Bronx cheer, raspberries, razzing, and to quote Monty Python, a fart in Bloomberg's general direction.

City’s Next Taxi: A Nissan Van Short on Looks, Perhaps, but Full of Comforts
The Nissan Taxi Is Rolling In, to a Bronx Cheer (letters to the Editor)
United Spinal Denounces New York City Taxi Pick

NYC's Mayor Bloomberg and administration chose a non-wheelchair accessible taxi Nissan van that was not wheelchair accessible over an accessible Turkish van. Come on, sirs. You're blowing off and ignoring the disabled community in your city! There may be paratransit services, but this doesn't excuse the fact that even those with disabilities need a taxi! I oughta know, using a wheelchair from time to time due to my knee surgeries. I used a taxi van equipped with a wheelchair ramp or lift coming home from the metro/subway one time.

In DC, they just rolled out a program called rollDC.

Wheelchair-accessible cabs increase DC mobility

While most of NYC's subway stops aren't quite wheelchair accessible, some are. Compare that to DC's stations and subway cars, which are all accessible. I'm sure other cities are just as accessible. I've seen Memphis, TN's trolleys and and I think San Jose/San Francisco's subway trains use some sort of elevated platform for wheelchair users.

Again, Mayor Bloomberg, shame on you. You just passed up an opportunity to help improve your city's economy.

Funny Moment 7: Drop the Ball! Bark Not.

2011-05-31T09:00:00.001-04:00

The same dog in Funny Moment 4 sometimes was a bit of a clown. Once I was playing with him, tossing around this large partially deflated ball.

I nearly fell over laughing when at one point it looked like he refused to drop the ball.

He couldn't because it was stuck in his mouth.

Transferring Data From A Sidekick To The SK 4G

2011-05-25T09:00:00.006-04:00

I mentioned earlier the ways that the data can be imported from your old Sidekick from TMobile's webpage to the new Sidekick 4G.

Before transferring your service, place the SD card currently in the SK 4G into the old Sidekick and save your photos onto it. Next is download the utility to send your other info to the SIM card, and do the transfer. I didn't do it this way, but it could easily be a headache-free way to transfer your data.

What I did was a bit different since I was told to use synchronize when importing my data but it never worked for some reason. TMobile's site has a page called MobileLife. Go there and follow the prompts to upload the CSV or VCF file and then click synchronize. You may need to compare what's on the old SK with the info on the website. Then update and synchronize every now and then. If you transferred the pics as transferred above and put it back into the new SK, you're in good shape.

Next was a little troublesome for me for some reason. Use the USB cable to transfer your Notes from your export from the computer to the new Sidekick. You'll see a menu of choices, one of them is to use the SK as a mass storage device. Choose that. Your computer should detect the SK and set up a drive in My Computer for you to make the transfer. Then copy the files from the export directory onto that drive. In my case, it set up the SK as drive E:.

Some of you may have used Intellisync to do the transfers. Customer Service may be able to help if all else fails. I did a bit of research on this as well before doing my transfers.

T-Mobile Sidekick 4G Review

2011-05-17T09:00:00.002-04:00

The newer Sidekick 4G seems to follow in the footsteps of its predecessors that used the Danger OS formerly owned by Microsoft. And who can forget the 3-4 day data outage that cause a lot of problems and inconvenience for many people? The keyboard was a great advantage. Its built-in AIM client when the vibrating part was set right, was quite strong. In some cases, strong enough to vibrate itself off a table. I would venture to say it was strong enough to generate a few comedy bits...

"But officer, this big thing vibrated my car right into the pole..." We all know not to text and drive. In some cases, it felt kinda like a joy buzzer, making you look like when you're shaking hands with someone who had one.

If you were waiting for a relay phone call, you could easily put it under your head or chest and the vibrating could wake you.

On to the Sidekick 4G. The Android OS was a nice change including the touch screen. The trackball is still there, but not as a rolling, but as an optical. Just roll your finger over it. Some other basic features were kept like the Menu and other keys. It doesn't vibrate as strongly as the old Sidekicks did, but it's still a good vibration. The screen doesn't do a 180 degree flip, rather, you're pushing it upwards to open to show the tactile keyboard underneath. I'm a little worried about some people who tend to open their screens a little hard, thus possibly breaking the little plastic piece in back. The thing is probably a bit tougher than it looks. Rather than hold down the lower right button to put it into sleep mode, you tap the power button. Turning it off, hold it down and press "Power off" when the menu pops up.

The number of applications available, more free than pay, are quite a few. Some look better than others. One of the first things I installed was the AIM program. Next thing I noticed was that the vibration wasn't much of a vibration. Just a quick "boomp." Kinda felt like someone fell over and died unless I missed something in the setups. I looked around for other AIM and other IM clients and came across Meebo. It used a longer vibration time, about the same as the old Sidekick. But its buddy list isn't that great.

The included browser was pretty nice, and a little looking around netted me Firefox, Opera, and some other browsers. The browser had a couple bookmarks that you couldn't delete. A workaround was to create a folder, move them into that folder, and delete that. You can even uninstall and delete an app that you downloaded, but the included apps you can't quite remove.

Other included apps were Maps with GPS directions, Calendar, an office kind of editor, Files access on the SD card, front and back camera, YouTube, TV, and a whole lot more. One big thing is the YouTube application also includes captioning support, as evidenced from when I watched an Annoying Orange video.

Battery power seems to be a bit short, unless I recharged it wrong when I got it. It uses a standard Samsung EB504465VA 1500mah battery. The USB connector isn't the standard size connector but a smaller size one. Next post in a week or two will tell how to put your exported data back in.

The Sidekick 4G isn't exactly a smartphone killer, but it does the job for those who don't heavily use their phones like others do. But of course, there's always the pads, tablets, and netbooks out there.

Black Sand Review

2011-05-10T09:00:00.000-04:00

A few weeks ago, MSSD's Malz Theatre showed Black Sand. This looks like a thriller style of movie, complete with a lot of suspense. But what made the movie move slowly in its two hour showtime were all the flashbacks. Despite that, it was fairly good. I had a hard time understanding some things due to the signing nature of some of the actors, but I managed to understand what was going on. I'll watch the DVD with subtitles.

The synopsis on the webpage:

"Four students descend upon a tropical rain forest resort in Costa Rica with the purpose of having an adventure for a vacation at an aunt's place. Beautiful waterfalls and lush green jungles are the first sign of heaven but there's also a darker side to paradise. The four are warned not to venture outside after dark. Something from the jungle is stalking the vacationers. Whatever it is, is it protecting a secret or is it something so unspeakable?"

The end was a bit of a surprise, with a few twists and turns thrown in.

I'm not going to reveal the ending if you've not seen it. I'll just say romance is in the air.

Bringing Down the House 2: Panels

2011-05-03T09:00:00.001-04:00

Back in a previous post, I said I would post about bringing down the house. I was out at a costuming convention, and Jamie Berke was with me when I did a lifecasting panel. Lifecasting is the process of making a copy of your head and face by the use of alginate, plaster bandages, and bald cap, to list a few supplies. When I do panels, I involve the audience as well as pass around references, supplies, humor, and so on.

In this case, there was an Improv panel before mine, meaning they were a comedy improvisation panel. You can guess the rest.

I started out by a brief description of what's used and what to do and what not to do. Then I brought out my model, got him ready, mixed the alginate and applied to him. After that, it became more a Comedy Central panel than a lifecasting panel what with the humor the Improv people and I were throwing around, keeping everyone rolling in the aisles.

Once I was done with applying the plaster strips to the alginate-covered model, I sat down and let a few people draw on the drying plaster head with markers, thus bringing more laughter. As it turns out, the entire panel had just about every seat loaded and some people were standing in the back as well as in the doorway.

I then removed the entire mess from the model and showed the audience what it looked like inside. I didn't have time to pour the casting media in there as the curing time would take overnight. It was the end of the panel after a short question and answer period.

I later heard from a couple friends that they'd like to see me do the panel again. I think I could if those Improv people would invade. They helped in keeping the place rolling.

Shades of 1974!

2011-04-29T09:00:00.003-04:00

...it's 1974 all over again...

Good grief... What weather we've been having. When CNN mentioned April 1974 in this story:

Experts: Severe weather across South could set tornado record

I remembered the one that hit Louisville, KY, but I was living in FL at the time.

Here's another page, April 3, 1974 - The Tornado Super Outbreak. Nearly 150 tornadoes hit 13 states! Google has more.

Tornadoes and hurricanes are nothing to laugh at what with property damage and loss of life.

Stay safe!

The Persistent 4th Grade Reading Level Myth

2011-04-27T09:00:00.001-04:00

I came across this article, Born deaf, a Pinellas County girl starts school - and hears the school bell. Then one paragraph I read made me think "not again."

“Unfortunately, people who have hearing aides only, really can only get to a fourth grade reading level," said speech language pathologist Sarah Wilson. "You can't get very far in school with that reading level. Research has shown people with implants can go in regular classes, graduate from high school, go to college. So, the impact on education is humongous."

Those who have hearing aids only? Just WHERE do they get that kind of info? Either that's what the audiologist said at the interview or the reporter screwed up majorly in taking interview notes. There's plenty of those who have hearing aids and have gone through college and their reading level and English skills are pretty high.

Karen Putz wrote in her recent Barefoot in the Burbs blog It's Not What You Can Hear, It's About Attitude. Dang... Definitely attitude and then some!

Here's one more on the myth: A Permanent Breakdown in Communication. Some good points are made in there, but this line:

"Prelingually deafened children raised using ASL or another of the signed English systems (which keep trying to force ASL to be more like English) have roughly a 10% success rate at reading English (or any other traditionally spoken language) on grade level above the 4th grade."

I'm pretty sure the number is MUCH higher than 10%. I was reading at or above my grade level and was reading and devouring books pretty quickly. So much so that my two brothers complained at times that I was reading too much!

So let's quit stereotyping the so-called "fourth grade reading level" bull droppings myth. We're smarter than that.

You Have To Be Hearing To Say Yikes!

2011-04-22T09:00:00.004-04:00

Seek Geo's Deaf? YIKES!! got me laughing a bit. Sure, I've had my share of people who have said "I'm sorry" when they find I'm deaf. Nothing to be sorry about. Let's communicate!

Two of the most oddball things I'd ever heard, and fortunately, I've only heard them said once...
- Heard from a friend who heard it from someone else - "If I touch you, will I become deaf also?"
- This was from a Christian Scientist mother whose son I was friends with. She thought deafness was caused by spirits or something like that. She asked me if she could cure me. I didn't laugh, just thought I'd let her try. She then puts her fingers in my ears after I take off my hearing aids, says something which I've mostly forgotten, one part saying something about deaf spirits. But of course, no hearing improvement.

I even had one person who took one look at my hearing aids, tapped them, and said "are these things on?"

Maybe I should have tapped the other person in the forehead and ask "Is your brain on? Good. Same here. Don't tap me and I won't tap you."

Why No Movie Subtitles on Flights?

2011-04-14T09:00:00.001-04:00

It's been over 10 years since captioning was introduced. One place it has consistently never shown up is on planes. The airline industry keeps saying it's too expensive to add. How hard can it be to add in subtitle/caption support? Those little TVs and wall monitors can show the words. With some airline companies, the pre-flight instruction videos are captioned or subtitled. However, the movies aren't.

The circuitry is small and simple enough to be added to just about anything out there.

http://category.alldatasheet.com/index.jsp?semiconductor=CAPTION
http://www.brouhaha.com/~eric/pic/caption/

More can also be found on Google. It's a simple matter to turn on the subtitles if there's any. But to deny others enjoyment of a movie while on a long flight?

With portable DVD players getting cheaper and better, let's hope the airlines take notice of this. Keep spare batteries with you as well. Long flights can outlast batteries at times. Same goes with laptops with DVD players. Oh, wait, the airlines have noticed this but don't want to throw any money at it. Too bad. They'll probably have more satisfied flyers if they did.

Funny Moment 5: Delicious Hot Pizza!

2011-04-07T09:00:00.005-04:00

I worked at this local pizza place as a delivery driver and sometimes had to make pizzas in between runs when we weren't that busy as well as other tasks. This one day, these two older ladies, one of our regulars, came in for lunch. They shared a small personal pizza and wanted jalapenos on it.

Later, I asked my manager how the pizza was for them, and he said it was a bit hot but good.

Should have seen his eyes bug out when I told him I used two scoops instead of one.

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Final Part

2011-03-30T09:00:00.010-04:00

Wait a minute. "...does not bear the sword in vain?" Again, this brings up the question. Why picket the funerals if the soldiers were doing their basic jobs of protection and defense? This isn't a question of sin. Take a look at the Huffington Post article Supreme Court To Hear Military Funeral Protest Case.

It's a free speech conundrum here. The family has the right to bury their son at a funeral, but gets picketed by a church who has the right to picket.

Major ouch. It's a pickle of an issue and still is, as as mentioned in Supreme Court: Raucous funeral picketers allowed.

Did I read right? Margie Phelps says "Nation, hear this little church. If you want them to stop dying, stop sinning." Are they ordering us to "quit sinning?" Does that mean the soldiers should stop doing their jobs? Westboro and congregation would be FLATTENED in no time!

Nowhere in the Bible does it say to "love the sinner, hate the sin," as in this article titled, appropriately enough, Love the Sinner, Hate the Sin. But Matthew 7:3-5 comes to mind:

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye."

Enough of the picketing, enough of the hate, enough already.

Just LET people grieve at the funerals, please.

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Part 4

2011-03-28T09:00:00.009-04:00

What is a soldier's basic job? Protection and defense! Here's an interesting blog post titled The Ultimate Battlefield Tragedy by Ron Hutchcraft Ministries. Some rather good points here!

But picketing the funeral of an innocent CHILD who was at the Giffords event in Arizona?! What's the logic of that?

All this leads to some questions to answer.

- Can the church be prosecuted for harassment and stalking? They've been served protection orders in the past.
- How do they afford all the travelling they do and court time? (Southern Poverty Law Center's Westboro Baptist Church article and Slate magazine's "Subsidized Hate") This leads to the question of how to remove the tax exemption.
- Is the RICO Act applicable? (Go to the webpage and see the offenses list)

But come on... Let the families mourn their loved ones they're burying in peace.

Here's a blog post titled My take: Fred Phelps is wrong about the gospel, right about the law. Some very good points are made in here. Remember what I said above about a soldier's basic job being protection? Two paragraphs says:

"These wars are essentially wars to defend our nation from terrorism, and as such they are “just wars.” Therefore a soldier who fights in these wars to protect our nation is what the apostle Paul calls “God’s servant for your good” (Romans 13:4).

"In carrying a weapon to defeat a nation’s enemies, a soldier “does not bear the sword in vain” but he is “a servant of God . . . who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer” (Romans 13:4)."

Interesting. Not just terrorism. Invasions and other sorts of attacks as well.

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Part 3

2011-03-26T09:00:00.004-04:00

We know that historically, many young men became soldiers. Numbers 1 has a common line:

"All the men twenty years old or more who were able to serve in the army were listed by name, according to the records of their clans and families."

Again I ask, just WHAT is the reason for all these soldiers being picketed, no matter where they're from? The Westboro picketers are always claiming homosexuality, terrorism, and a host of other sins. They forget that the armed forces, the soldiers themselves, are the first line of defense against those who wish to do evil against us. Now apply this soldier subject to law enforcement. Why isn't Westboro going after them? Why aren't they picketing every law enforcement officer who has died in the line of duty, especially the annual event at the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial in DC? Many police officers were with the armed forces.

Again, here's a verse that shows how soldiers have protected people, in Acts 21:31-35:

"While they were trying to kill him, news reached the commander of the Roman troops that the whole city of Jerusalem was in an uproar. He at once took some officers and soldiers and ran down to the crowd. When the rioters saw the commander and his soldiers, they stopped beating Paul.

"The commander came up and arrested him and ordered him to be bound with two chains. Then he asked who he was and what he had done. Some in the crowd shouted one thing and some another, and since the commander could not get at the truth because of the uproar, he ordered that Paul be taken into the barracks. When Paul reached the steps, the violence of the mob was so great he had to be carried by the soldiers."

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Part 2

2011-03-24T09:00:00.004-04:00

Think about it... Where would we be without soldiers protecting and defending us? Where would Westboro be and what would they be doing, if anything? Even back in our country's early days, we didn't quite have the military. We had people who just took up arms and defended their city/state/country. Throughout history, we've had examples of when people are building something, like a wall, castle, home, etc., a weapon of some sort is nearby or at hand. If not that, then someone else standing watch, as seen in Nehemiah 4:13-18.

"Therefore I stationed some of the people behind the lowest points of the wall at the exposed places, posting them by families, with their swords, spears and bows. After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, “Don’t be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your families, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes.”

"When our enemies heard that we were aware of their plot and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to our own work.

"From that day on, half of my men did the work, while the other half were equipped with spears, shields, bows and armor. The officers posted themselves behind all the people of Judah who were building the wall. Those who carried materials did their work with one hand and held a weapon in the other, and each of the builders wore his sword at his side as he worked. But the man who sounded the trumpet stayed with me."

There were even some brave soldiers who went into battle no matter what, as seen in 1 Samuel 14:52:

"All the days of Saul there was bitter war with the Philistines, and whenever Saul saw a mighty or brave man, he took him into his service."

Westboro Baptist's Antics - Part 1

2011-03-22T09:00:00.006-04:00

Before I start, one must remember that a blog is just that, one of opinion. This blog post wasn't just posted out of opinion, but has researched areas in there together with links. I have also asked questions. That being said, there will be five parts to this post.

I've been watching the antics of Westboro Baptist since around 1993. I thought their godhatesfags.com site was going to be a short-lived fad site and would burn out in a short time. Guess not. A lot of what they've done amounts to hate, according to the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. Are they also a cult? Some anti-cult people say yes.

But picketing soldiers who died in wars and young kids who were innocently shot? Just WHAT does this have to do with homosexuality, 9/11, and/or terrorism? Just what gives these people the right to be so overly judgmental?

In the ChildCare Action Project (CAP): Christian Analysis of American Culture page titled Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged!, it says in one paragraph:

"Yes, we do have the right and the authority to judge the behavior of others as long as we honor and obey His Word in doing so."

But picketing like this with these signs? John 7:24 says "Judge not according to the appearance, but judge righteous judgment." They're no judges. Neither are they doing it in His honor.

Stairs and the Knees - Part 2

2011-03-14T10:00:00.007-04:00

In the first post, Stairs and the knees, I mentioned it was a bit difficult to get down the steps carrying a laundry bag. I just toss the bag down the steps.

Going upstairs, I put the bag up a few steps, go up those steps, and repeat the process til I'm at the top. If I can, and the bag is light enough, I'll just toss it up the steps. Now and then I've done it Santa-style, on the back.

One other interesting thing is that it's getting easier to carry things around. With my volunteer job as computer refurbisher, I had difficulties a lot of the time in carrying the computer from a storage area to my work area. I had someone bring the computers to me at times. Now, it's getting easier to do that, making sure no obstacles are in my path.

Hills and Wind and Water after Knee Surgery

2011-03-01T09:00:00.002-05:00

Booktoots posted Natural Way to Increase Resistance While Walking and it got me thinking...

Where I live is a steep hill going downhill going one way from the house. Going the other way is a gentle hill. You wouldn't really notice it if you weren't looking at it. But it's there. Walking to the store and back I can't quite do yet. Towards the store, you're going up the hill. It's a gentle grade, but it's still some good exercise. Going up my driveway is easier than going downhill. Can't quite do that when it's snowed or there's some ice around.

Where I used to live had hills galore of varying steepness. You could stay on the same street and go uphill a little, then downhill, then suddenly downhill, then turn a corner to another street, and go right back uphill. Then go round a corner, downhill a bit, then go around another corner, steep hill, then gentle hill. Back home, one gentle hill up and down. Wow... Good walking.

Personally, water walking does a great job.

When I was still able to use a bike in high school, I had this paper route that took me up a hill, then down. Think how hard it was for me to go up the hill when the wind was blowing hard. Now think how much harder it is when your bike is stuck in third gear...

Growing Up Deaf Update 4

2011-02-21T09:00:00.002-05:00

Jamie and I were talking about the mumps when she was writing Mumps Can Lead to Deafness. I mention in Growing Up Deaf Part 1 and Part 5 about the diagnosis and how I lost my hearing. But she gave me a historical aspect that I had to check.

I have a paper from my doctor back then that my dad was "trying to locate record of MMR." I don't think it was ever found.

According to the Measles Vaccine Questions and Answers page, the mumps vaccine wasn't available til 1967. Neither was the MMR vaccine til 1971.

Seems I wasn't vaccinated in time. I'll find out the story sometime, somehow.

Funny Moment 6: Popcorn!

2011-02-09T09:00:00.001-05:00

Some years ago, I was out at a computer show and was at the food counter to pick up a drink. A security guard was just leaving with some popcorn.

I couldn't resist.

"Ah, popcorn instead of donuts..."

I wonder what would happen if someone gave a bag of bagels to some cops.

Post-surgery Knees - Part 5

2011-02-02T20:33:00.002-05:00

Whoa... It's been a few months since I last posted. Been a little busy with an online class and some other things.

I'm improving more here and there, though still using a store's electric scooter. One scooter I used ran out of power halfway through my shopping. I managed to walk to the front of the store to get a cart, take it back to the scooter, transfer the items and finish up my shopping. That was a little easier than I thought. One of these days, I'll do a quick bit of grocery shopping without the scooter.

A few weeks ago, the local area had about an inch of dry snow. I had to see if I could do it. After a little bundling up, I spent 30 minutes shoveling a path through the driveway and sidewalk without help. I had to stop once to rest. Then recently, we had a snowstorm which dumped about a few inches of snow. I managed to get half the driveway done, with Jamie taking finishing the rest. I did it again that morning to get the rest of the snowfall, again getting half the driveway done.

There was also this ASL dinner I went to between surgeries. I went back out there and had to stop a couple times to rest a bit. Getting my tray with food up the steps was a little difficult, but I made it, something I wasn't able to do last time I was there.

I'm getting there in terms of my endurance. It'll take time, though. Let's see how much of the lawn I can mow this summer.

Sherlock's Computer Nearly Taken Hostage

2010-09-13T20:29:00.003-04:00

Not too long ago, I had a frantic request for help from Sherlock Steve. As it turned out, his computer was taken over by something called Security Suite Antivirus. Unfortunately, it's not a normal so-called anti-virus suite of programs. What this thing does is it just badly takes over the computer. It claims that everything you try using and running are infected. In fact, the programs that are "infected" are not. It's the Security Suite Antivirus saying these things.

Here's more on Security Suite Antivirus and how it's a scam;

Remove Windows Security Suite. Description and removal instructions
Windows Security Suite

Security Suite is ransomware. Meaning, it holds your computer hostage, allowing nothing to work, claiming it's "finding malware." It says you must pay the fee in order to get your computer back. This is similar to scareware, which runs and claims you're badly infected but doesn't quite take over the computer like Security Suite does.

Internet Explorer didn't even begin to work properly, not even allowing a new browsing tab. It kept going to Security Suite's webpage. Task Manager wouldn't work, neither would a CTRL-ALT-DEL, etc.

Next was to go into Safe Mode via F8. He had Admin mode, another account. That was one plus that helped make things easier. We followed the instructions on this page;

How To Uninstall / Remove Security Suite Virus ( Removal Guide )

Malwarebytes Antimalware found quite a few as did SuperantiSpyware, Spybot, and AVG. All four are free.

Sherlock got his computer back up and working the same day.

Post-surgery Knees - Part 4

2010-09-10T16:32:00.003-04:00

It's been a little time since I last posted about my knees. I've had a couple milestones since then. I'm still swimming here and there and doing water walking.

We have an elliptical, so I'm just easing into the thing. It's tougher than it looks since I can only walk or tread on it slowly at the moment. Riding an actual bike will take a bit more time.

I managed to walk from the house to a friend's place, only stopping for a few minutes to rest, then walked right back home. It was a pretty warm day and I was sweaty by then.

I was also at Jamie's dad's place and managed to walk from his house to the lake. Getting there required me to walk downhill on a gravel and rock path. Fortunately, it wasn't too long a path. I wasn't able to go down it before the second surgery.

Funny Moment 4: Bark Goes the Microwave

2010-08-06T09:00:00.000-04:00

But of course, some of us have dogs like I had some years ago. Man's best friend. Remember the egg I blew up in the microwave in a previous post? My dog loved eggs. This one egg didn't pop, but you could see it shake. I managed to get it out of there, but it was too hot for me to hold, so it went rolling rolling rolling...

...onto the floor with a bit of a pop...

The dog loved it but he first had to get past the hot egg, ears laid back.

Life's Little Musings

2010-07-27T09:00:00.000-04:00

There's days that I wonder how things would have been different with me.

When I was adopted, mom was married to a highway patrol officer who died in the line of duty a little over a year later. I'm wondering how things would be different had he lived. Would he still be a patrolman? Would we still be living in California?

I started losing my hearing around kindergarten at 5 when we lived in Kentucky. Would I have still lost or kept my hearing if we stayed in California and adoptive dad not died? Things would have been totally different then.

Suppose I had not been adopted, kept by birth mom? I probably would be hearing. Would birth mom and dad still be married?

If I had been hearing, where would I have gone to school and college? Would I have been in the military?

Back in 1995, if I did not have that accident with the sign truck, I'm only guessing that my arthritis would not have gotten started and my knees would be in better shape today. Or maybe it would have had its onset delayed?

I'm also wondering how things would have been changed had I gone to MSSD and not gone to the School from Hell.

I'm wondering if it's possible to go back in time and check all the possibilities...

Back from the NAD Conference in Philadelphia!

2010-07-19T08:30:00.004-04:00

So I'm posting this a bit late! Whoa... What a week... I was out at the NAD convention in Philadelphia, PA, with Jamie Berke. We took Amtrak from the Alexandria, VA, station to Philadelphia's 30th Street Station. Then SEPTA to the Marriott Hotel, two stops away on the 13th Street station. It was pretty much a relaxed ride getting there.

The hotel's Grand Ballroom was used for events like the College Bowl, Miss Deaf America, the Opening Ceremony, the Closing Ceremony, and a few others. They set up large screens on both sides of the stage and captioned the proceedings underneath the video of those on stage.

And whoo... This convention has been like a who's who here and there. I had the interesting pleasure of "bashing heads" with Google's Ken Harrington during the College Bowl, trying to answer the trivia questions. Ed Waterstreet was there as well, though I didn't get a chance to talk with him. I did have a conversation with Jack Gannon (Deaf Heritage author), his wife, and Yerker Anderson (World Federation of the Deaf) during a Gallaudet breakfast Friday morning. RIT/NTID had their breakfast Thursday morning. Current Gallaudet President Alan Hurwitz and his wife were there as well, and they were often seen walking around talking with others. RIT/NTID's interim dean Gerald Buckley was there also. Karen Putz was there as well. We talked briefly about the Steak and Shake case as well as other things. Meeting up here and there with NAD's Kirsten Poston was good, as well as attending her workshops. There's others I've probably forgotten.

It was good seeing some old friends here and there, including someone I'd not seen for about 15-20 years from when I lived in Louisville, KY. NAD will have their next convention in 2012 out there in Horse Cave, KY. It's not too far from Cave City, which has some cave tours.

Update: The NAD convention is actually in Louisville, KY, July 3-7, 2012. The Horse Cave event, DeaFestival, is this September 3-5. Somehow, I got my information screwed up...

The workshops I attended had some good information, some that I knew, some that I didn't. Jamie and I had our workshop on HR3101/S3304 and that was fairly well attended. Then the next day, COAT's Rosaline Crawford and Jenifer Simpson had their workshop on the same thing, but it was more on how the two bills are different, what needs to happen for the bills to pass, and how they fit into the National Broadband Plan.

ZVRS had an invite-only event that was pretty well-attended at the nearby Hard Rock Cafe. Imagine being able to use VRS with your cellphone. That's exactly what the iZ is, but it uses the iPhone4. Limited, I know, but plans are being made for other phones to use it as well. I tried calling someone as well, but seems they weren't home, dangit. Amy Cohen Efron attended and she posted about it - ZVRS, AT&T, and Apple created iZ!

RIT/NTID also had an invite-only event where we had light foods and met the College Bowl contestants. Gallaudet had another invite-only event after the College Bowl. Jamie took a pic of Bob Weinstock there after someone poured some water or Gatorade or other liquid on him. Deafnation posted a video about it, NAD 2010: College Bowl Finals.

One landmark to visit when in the area is the Reading Terminal Market. It's a combo food court, grocery store, and gift shop, not to mention a candy shop, all under one roof. Amy Cohen Efron commented "I died and went to food heaven." It's literally foodie heaven. There's servers of Indian, Greek, Italian, Amish, and regular foods. Want to have a famous Philly Cheesesteak? That's where it started. That was one good sandwich. Only downside is that they close at 6 on Monday to Saturday, 5 on Sunday.

There's some other good restaurants in the area, and there was even a 7-11 across the street. A little walking time often got us to some of the good places around, including a gelato place called Capogiro and an Indian place called Bindi's. There was also Zio's Pizza along 13th Street which sold pizza by the slice. They had some pretty good stuff.

Other than the museums and City Hall nearby with easy access to the SEPTA stations, there's the large underground Mall underneath the Reading Railroad station which has FOUR floors of retail shops. The lower floor has two food courts. They close at 7...

The weather didn't quite cooperate much of the time there, It was over 100 degrees and rained part of the day on the last day. That heat wave made it hazardous for some people to walk longer distances for sightseeing. But the other good thing is that the entire hotel and area including SEPTA was quite wheelchair accessible for those attendees using wheelchairs and scooters.

Recipe: Pita Pizza

2010-06-30T11:00:00.000-04:00

I've tried making my own pizzas using various things, but one thing that stands out is making it using pita bread after using flatbreads. You tend to fill up on the bread rather than the toppings.

- hummus or regular sauce
- cheese (soy, veggie, or regular)
- 4-5 toppings, spread around evenly
- top cheese

Heat up the oven to 350 degrees and cook for 20-30 minutes or until the cheese is melted enough to your satisfaction. The pita bread will be a little soft or crunchy, depending on how long it was in the oven. I've put the pizza on foil squares. When removing from the oven, put it on newspaper so you don't lose it on the floor if the foil tears.

For a variation, open up the pita and put in some cheese and/or a topping.

Post-surgery Knees - Part 3

2010-06-22T10:00:00.004-04:00

I'm feeling a bit more improvement here and there. We have an electric mower and there were some technical problems here and there in trying to mow the somewhat overgrown side of the house due to another mower that kicked the bucket. Normally, I don't do much except to make sure that the extension cable doesn't get mowed and damaged like it did one time, me sitting off to the side.

In this case, I was out there for about 20-25 minutes after resetting the electrical breaker box. Then I started mowing a few rows. No pain, just some stiffness on the left knee, which was expected. Later on, I used the edger in places.

Looks like I could get back to doing at least some mowing next year.

I did some grilling in the back yard's small brick grill with the help of Jamie's young son. He did a nice job in flipping some of the burgers and hot dogs and helping out in taking in the cooked items.

While watching the "See What I'm Saying" documentary at MSSD's Malz Theatre, I didn't use the wheelchair. I walked in, standing part of the time before the show, and standing much of the time afterwards, talking with others. That's pretty much another milestone right there.

"See What I'm Saying" Review

2010-06-15T08:30:00.007-04:00

Last Saturday afternoon, I saw Hilari Scarl's "See What I'm Saying" documentary at MSSD's Malz Theatre. Many short films by other deaf have been done, but a documentary? It was pretty nicely done. So's the introductory music video by Powder. We see Robert DeMayo going from having an apartment to homeless to having a home, shared with the homeowner. It's a common theme we see throughout the movie, that it's much more difficult for a deaf actor to get jobs in the hearing world. We see CJ Jones, Robert, and TL Forsberg try to "invite" the hearing people into their world, but very few take up the invitation. It was especially disappointing for CJ to play at a hearing black-oriented convention in the theatre. Less than 20 people showed up total for 3-4 shows.

The most heartbreaking scene was when Robert's mother was in the hospital for the final stages of cancer which spread to her brain. Despite all the attempts with and without interpreter to communicate why he has an interpreter and his attempts to communicate without, he leaves the hospital. His mom passes away without even learning sign a few weeks later, despite him giving her a book on signs some time earlier.

The best parts were watching them perform including audience reactions and interviews. The Beethoven's Nightmare guitarist with the light gray top hat was kinda like a cross between AC/DC's Angus Young (without the extreme antics) and former Guns N Roses guitarist Slash (without the long hair), including other male rockers. TL had her own style that used elements from various female rockers. You have to give her credit for going so far as to make her signing more understandable with GLAD's help.

The post-show Q&A period was interesting, though a little hard to understand in places. It was an interesting treat to see Robert come on stage with Hilari. Outside the theatre, they sold tshirts, and there was mention of the DVD coming out.

Watch this documentary if you can. It's not just ASL-focused, but also has sound and subtitles for those who don't know sign.

Update: They've got a Facebook page!

See What I'm Saying on Facebook

Post-surgery Knees - Part 2

2010-05-30T10:47:00.003-04:00

It's getting easier for me to do things here and there. I'm able to walk a bit further than before. It'll be a bit of time before I can walk to the store just up the road as it's a one-way walk at the moment. The contracture is still there a bit, but I'm hoping to have it resolved within a couple of years.

I was out at an ASL dinner not long ago and was in line for about 15-20 minutes. I couldn't stand that long before the surgeries.

I also had to help out in getting a new electric mower working properly since it kept blowing the fuse. When I finally got everything working, I even went so far as to do some mowing, thus being outside and mowing some high grass for about 20 minutes. I was beginning to hurt a little and the left knee was stiffening up a bit. I'm hoping next year I'll be able to mow longer.

Will I be able to get to classes without using the wheelchair, just using the cane? I should know sometime soon.

Funny Moment 3: Oh How Waffle!

2010-04-30T16:05:00.002-04:00

There's always going to be days that someone forgets the basic rule of physics when heating up things in the microwave. Never keep a container tightly closed. I just had to make that mistake when I was in the kitchen alone late night some time ago. 30 seconds later after putting a closed and upside down bottle with the last of maple syrup, there's a puddle underneath. All I had to do was open it slightly over the pancakes.

*POP!* Impressive mess.

I just had on shorts and tshirt. I got it all over that plus my legs, the counter, and the floor.

Fortunately, it was an easy 5-minute cleanup and one minute change.

Exercise and the knees - Part 2

2010-04-19T14:00:00.002-04:00

There is a park in northern Virginia called Clemyjontri that is designed to be accessible to children of all abilities to play together. Even the adults play as well. I've visited before and after my second knee surgery. It's had around 200,000 visitors a year, making it a very successful park in its own right. People from miles away, even as far away as New York State and Delaware have visited.

There's an interesting side effect to my last visit. It's a rehab facility in a way for me. A seesaw with springs becomes a knee stretcher with someone on the other end. A balance beam with handrails on each other allows me to do a little moving around and stretching my upper leg muscles as well as my being able to move along a narrow path. Another piece of equipment with alternating heights of steps allows me to work on my ability to step up and down on higher/lower steps. A couple other sets allow me to do other exercises.

Sometimes even the right type of playground can become a rehab facility, provided you're there at the right time and kids haven't quite taken over the place.

Post-Surgery Knees

2010-04-11T23:37:00.001-04:00

I'm seeing improvements here and there on the right knee and it's nearly there in being straightened. The left one still has the muscle contractures, but is straightening out here and there in little bits.

Two milestones came up...

I spent two hours each on a Saturday and a Sunday with Jamie in the back yard doing some planting. While I was sitting at least part of the time, I was helping out here and there in digging holes with something called a garden weasel and removing rocks as I broke up soil chunks. I was able to do more than I could before and just a little pain.

My sister visited with her family and we walked to the building next door which has a playground in back then back to the house. It was a little difficult, but no pain. I probably could walk around the building quite soon.

Hearing Aids vs Humans

2010-03-28T17:22:00.003-04:00

I had to laugh when I read Eh? Huh? What?'s blog on What Not To Do With Your Hearing Aids.

I've had my share of broken tubing including ones that just plain split. In the split case, I was in class in high school and it was whistling the entire time. At the end of class, my interpreter told me. I wondered why no one told me at all.

Whatever happened to saving the dead batteries for recycling? Just fill up a small jar or something like that and go from there. Just don't toss it in the fire. I did that once at this camp and the resulting little explosion was interesting. For years I was wondering how big an explosion a 9V battery would have, as well as the big lantern batteries. A fireplace isn't the place to do it. Then i heard about this deaf camp where a couple kids tossed a couple dead batteries into the fire. Then there were the other kids who threw their batteries into the fire, even though they were still good.

Even I'm guilty of putting my hearing aid(s) into my pocket. I had a fairly good excuse when I was going to a local amusement park. It's great for when you're on the roller coaster. But I'd forgotten the plastic baggie and had to get a bag from a food counter when I was going to get on one of the wet water rides... Heck, best to double-bag just to keep the hearing aids dry. Most ride attendants won't even know what to do with them if you give it to them. It's rather easy to put them on the shelf, where a rider could easily toss something there, thus get crushed or dropped into the water...

Cleaning your earmolds with unconventional tools? What's wrong with using a pin (sewing or safety)? Sometimes even I've had to blow the tubing clear in some public places, hiding it in my hands and make it look like I'm blowing into them.

Post-Surgery Right Knee - Part 5

2010-03-19T21:57:00.002-04:00

A lot has happened since I posted Part 4. I'm done with physical therapy and the right knee has improved quite a bit, but isn't quite completely straight. I still use the local rec center's pool and hot tub with some stretches in and outside the hot tub. I still use the heating pad as well.

Walking around the house has improved, though I'm still a bit off-balance due to the left knee. That should improve over time as it straightens out. The surgical scar's still a bit red, but that will improve.

I got some walking challenges ahead of me... There's a building nearby that has some seats outside that I've walked around before the second surgery. I'm hoping that by the end of summer, I can walk around it without too much trouble.

The snow piles we had from that big snowfall last month are mostly gone. At the local metro/subway stop, there was this large pile that reached up to the second level of the parking garage. It's now about half that size. There was this big snowfall in Illinois around 1982 that had a large snow pile about 12-15 feet high. The local kids dug a cave at the bottom and a tunnel at the top.

Exercise and the knees

2010-02-24T16:24:00.005-05:00

Another thing Marie of Booktoots's Weblog posted was Don’t Stop Exercising After A TKR. I'm still going through physical therapy, and may go through it for another 2-3 months. I should be able to walk around the building next door maybe around 3 months if not sooner with the assistance of a cane. I can see her point in saying that we shouldn't stop exercising. Walking is probably the best thing to do after this and even way afterwards. I had arthroscopies some years ago, and was a delivery driver around that time. That meant a lot of walking and using steps. That probably helped me out in getting back to walking quickly.

My doing water walking and using the hot tub at the local rec center before the second surgery most likely did a great job in my being able to walk further than I did the first time and head on home. After the first surgery, I couldn't even go far out of the hospital room and went on to a rehab facility for 3 weeks.

Either way, one thing that's been recommended by doctors and therapists is a heating pad. Wrap it around your thigh in a way that even the knee joint will get the benefit of warmth. Use a medium heat setting for about 30 minutes, then start doing stretches and other exercises. Using a hot tub or similar can have the same benefits. Electric blankets may sound like a good idea, but they most likely won't do as good a job as the pads. The ones measuring 12 x 24 are an excellent size. I use the medium setting for 20-30 minutes. This would be the second setting in a 3- or 4- setting control. Any higher and burns may occur in the surgical area.

I'm still not quite there in terms of pedaling a bike. I tried at therapy, but wasn't able to do the full cycle on a stationary. I'll try again, this time adjusting the seat higher.

Related post - Post-Knee Surgery Exercises.

I'm using a leg press during therapy, using 60 pounds, doing 3 sets of 15 repetitions. Check with your therapist if you're allowed to do this and what to use.

Stairs and the knees

2010-02-14T20:36:00.003-05:00

Booktoots's Weblog had an interesting posting on A Possible Stairs Maneuver for TKR Folk. Stairs are a concern for those with knee issues including post-surgery recovery. We know that the knees, hips, and ankles/feet are the most-used joints when using the stairs. It's a major help if the stairwell has railings. Some of us may never be able to take the steps two or three at a time.

What do you do with the wall if there is one on one side and the railing is on the other? Sure, we'll use it to steady ourselves, but after a bit of time, all that touching adds up to become black handmarks and streaks. A good scrubbing with a cleaning agent works wonders.

Marie's post mentioned an email from someone who was going down the steps backwards, but she wasn't able to do so. For some of us with knee replacements, it's a most logical method since our new knees may not be able to go downstairs the normal way at first. I've been using this method since my knee issues started. After I returned from a wedding my sister said that she was impressed by the way I "flew down the steps backwards."

There are hazards to this. Being familiar with your own steps works. If you miss a step, three things can happen. You'll hit the next stop down and nothing will happen, it will hurt, or fall painfully down the remainder of the steps. An alternative would be sidestepping down, a slow method. Work with a therapist on this to develop methods that will work for you.

Can You Smell Me Now?

2010-01-26T14:55:00.002-05:00

The person who cleaned the office refrigerator had allergies and had nasal surgery, didn't smell a thing.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/05/13/foul.refrigerator/

Weird Al Yankovic's Like A Surgeon came to mind when I asked Sherlock Steve about it. He related the story of how he had to clean the refrigerator at work, putting on protective clothing and gloves.

Just leaving food in there piling up is pretty much asking for it.

Upcoming 2010 Census

2010-01-21T16:01:00.004-05:00

Reading Sherlock Steve's Use Caution with 2010 Census Workers!, I had the feeling this was going to happen sooner or later. They're brazenly going from email to doing it in broad daylight, especially in this age when some people have security cams on their front porch, guard dogs, weapons, etc. But some are still going to do it in email and in fake websites.

He's right when he says never invite them into the house. Perfect opportunity for a home invasion, burglary, and murder to happen. Ask yourself *WHY* these people need your financial and SSN info when all they're doing is counting people.

Here's a little more info from the Census site;

Are You In A Survey?

In the Household Surveys tab, there's "Is This Person a Census Bureau emploee?" and "Is this a legitimate phone call?" Important info there.

The Beltway Sniper Execution

2010-01-14T00:12:00.002-05:00

Back in 2002, it was a time of fear, with people reducing their activities or making themselves less of a target for the sniper. As time went by, I noticed he was hitting one target per county. Malvo and Muhammad's biggest mistake was stopping at a rest area to sleep, and it took an alert trucker and some other people to box them in and call the police. This, fortunately, stopped the shootings.

CNN had a story on Muhammad's execution.

Had the police not ignored the reports of a Chevy Caprice and focused on the white box trucks at first, the spree could have ended sooner. It was noticeable with people making fast tracks to their car or the store as well as sitting in their cars while pumping gas. There was even a gas station owner who found the largest tarp he could find and hung it from the roof above the pumps thus shielding his customers from being the next target.

When the sniper hit the FBI analyst, I had the feeling the FBI would take it personally. Seems they did. I was elsewhere 5 miles away finishing up on a bowling game and preparing to head home. Fortunately, I was stuck in the the beginning part of the backups, but it got much worse not long afterwards. I've been to the area where that shot was made. Law enforcement bottlenecked the traffic on the highway I was on, throttling it down from about 3-4 lanes to one. They did this to other major roadways. Many agents had automatic weapons other than their usual service weapons. Just about every highway exit had at least one law enforcement vehicle and agent standing there.

Out at the Newseum, they had a replica of the car used for the shootings, but this one didn't have the hole in the trunk the original car had. This hole allowed them to place their deadly shots. They also had the Unabomber's cabin on display as well. They may still be there today.

Personally, I'm glad they've removed both suspects from society...

Looking back on 2009

2010-01-01T13:07:00.004-05:00

It's been an interesting year for me. Going through two surgeries (well, one in December 2008 and another in November 2009), being in a rehab facility, and a few months worth in physical therapy will pretty much tire out people. But I needed these two surgeries. I'm already feeling a whole lot better than I was in the last 2-3 years leading up to the surgeries. The left knee's bone on bone condition didn't just hurt there, but caused me to be in pain all over.

I spent a lot of time in recovery, just trying to get back to how I was before the surgeries. That may take awhile, but I'm getting there. I still have at least some exercises to do, mostly getting the right knee to bend more. I'll still need to keep up the exercises here and there. Swimming does a great job, and it helped out in my not needing to go to a rehab facility, just head home with home health services. The physical therapist I worked with at the hospital watched me go from walking just outside my hospital room the day after surgery to the other end of the hall the day I was to head home.

The surgeries helped out in more ways than one. But of course, you're going to be a captive in your home, with people helping you out with some things. I was a growly and grumpy guy before the first one due to all the pain both knees were in. Now, if any pain, it's quite manageable. I'd like to walk to the grocery store up the road and back home. Getting back to classes is another. This one may take awhile, maybe a couple years - bowling. At least some of us have had that painful experience of having the ball swipe our knee on the downstroke just before release. Let's hope I don't crack the ball when that happens with me. While there may be some things I may never do again, like running or some sports like basketball, I can still do other things.

Sherlock and I want to lose some weight. I've got a weight set here at home that took me several days to assemble alone just before my second surgery. I've not been able to use it since I can't get down to where it is since those steps don't have handrails.

I still got my volunteer job. They know I've been out for the surgeries, returning from the first one a few months afterward. Someone will carry a computer to my workspace for me when I'm unable to do so. Computer distributions are tougher. I can't carry the computers or monitors from downstairs to upstairs as there's only steps. I help out in other ways, though.

2010 leading into 2011 should be good years for me in terms of doing what I couldn't do before the surgeries.

Drive safely out there. Use a sober designated driver or a taxi if you've been drinking. Drunk driving demolishes more lives than one.

Post-Surgery Right Knee - Part 4

2009-12-28T22:24:00.005-05:00

I just graduated from home health care services to outpatient therapy. I've got my therapy schedule of appointments for the next two months.

I can walk slowly around some in the house without the walker, though limited, as long as I'm near something to hold onto. Steps are slow going as well now that I'm just starting to use the knee to climb steps. With the cane, it's slow going til I get more flexibility in the knee. I can straighten it out to within maybe 5-10 degrees of being straight. I think I've straightened it out a few times. I've used a heating pad on the knee to help it get more extension to around 90-95 degrees. I couldn't use it while on the blood thinner medication, though I'm off it now.

The surgical area does look pretty good and the butterfly strips have fallen off. It's still a bit sensitive, which sometimes gives me trouble sleeping at night. I should be able to sleep through the night in maybe a couple months.

The 16-20 inch snowfall we had kinda made me miss doing the snow shoveling, something I've been doing over the years. One snowfall in Kentucky took me 3 days to shovel the driveway due to the bitter cold and wind chills, thus I wasn't able to stay out long. I did manage to make two 5-6 foot snow piles on both sides of the driveway. Took a bit over a month to melt.

Post-surgery Right Knee - Part 3

2009-12-10T07:42:00.004-05:00

I had the staples removed Friday morning by the nurse and Jamie was around. She said it was an interesting experience watching them get removed. All that's left are the butterfly strips, and even then, they're falling off. The incision area looks quite good.

As for the CPM, I'm now up to around 85-90 degrees, letting the knee joint warm up after some flexes. Has anyone fallen asleep after a bit of time on the CPM? I think I'm soon to go from home health care to outpatient therapy. The occupational therapist was around earlier, watched me do things, and said I don't need any extra help.

I'm not yet able to do any cooking, but I can get stuff from the refrigerator to the table via multiple transfers. I place the items on a nearby counter, then I move near the table and then move the items from the counter to the table.

Could be next month when I get to using a cane and maybe another month or two for me to be able to get down the the basement since the steps don't have railings. It's just five steps down, but I'm not going to use the wall to help get up or down.

Looking at the now-healed left knee, it reminds me how far I've come and what's left to be done.

Kids Say the Darndest Things

2009-12-01T23:49:00.004-05:00

Art Linkletter said it all when they said the darndest things in his live TV show some years ago (no, I never saw it), and the books.

Awhile ago, Sherlock Steve posted something on his blog, tidbitting around, that I passed on to him that killed me laughing when I read it.

Just the other day, I found this, which blew me apart...

Po-tate-o, Po-tat-o

They've always got the ability to bring down the house without trying...

Post-surgery Knee and Bonus - Part 2

2009-11-27T21:59:00.003-05:00

It's good being home. I'd probably have driven the rehab center people nuts, maybe only stayed for up to a week.

Thanksgiving was a buffet at a local hotel. Quite a good buffet dinner. Next year, we grill the turkey. If there's snow, expect melted snow in front of the grill, an outdoor brick thing. It cooks nicely.

I can tolerate the CPM machine for as long as I can lay on my back. I previously couldn't sleep on my back due to the knees, now I can. I just went 3 hours straight. I'm up to 75 degrees flexion, but the tape holding the dressings and the staples are kind of holding me back from doing more. I can briefly do 80 before going back.

Staple count for this surgery: 28. It was 32 last year.

Post-surgery Knee and Bonus

2009-11-23T11:35:00.006-05:00

It's been an interesting time since I got here, what with the total knee replacement on the right knee. Let me break this down;

- pre-surgery - I had the same pre-op bed bay, same nurse and anesthesiologist. Same OR as well! Last year, I remember going past the OR room number (7) to the door and that was it. This time, I made it into the OR for a few minutes before I was out.
- recovery room - I don't remember being in it last year, just being in the hall coming from there. I was awake and coherent just long enough to answer a question from Jamie. I was in surgery for 3 hours, compared to 4 last year.
- hospital room - Again, the same people from last year were around including some new people as well as this one nurse nicknamed "the vampire" since she works at night and often draws blood. Wonderful lady... I was only a door or two away from the room I was in last year.

This time, since the muscle contractures weren't as bad on the right knee, I was able to use the CPM (Continuous Pulsing Motion) machine for the first time, going up to 55 degrees. I was able to tolerate it for almost 3 hours. I nearly wore out my physical therapist since the right knee and leg had a bit of strength.

Another big bonus... Since I'm doing much better than last year, I'm not going to a rehab center. I'm heading home and will have some home health care people helping out with things for about a month or two. It took me 3 weeks just to be able to walk from the rehab room to the nurses station nearby and back to the rehab room and walked a little more. This time, I went that far, just a few days after surgery.

This recovery should be a bit easier or a little tougher...

Surgery on the Right Knee

2009-11-19T17:44:00.003-05:00

Just tonight, I got the call I was cleared for my next surgery tomorrow morning. This time it's a total knee replacement on the right knee, just like on the left last year. This time, unlike last year, there were no foul-ups, no misunderstandings. Just a rescheduling of the surgery date when I had a conflict.

This is where things should allow me to improve more. This is where the left can improve even more with the right's going through rehab as well.

Now to have a nice pre-surgical meal...

Wedding Videos Gone Viral

2009-11-10T19:33:00.003-05:00

We've all seen videos that go viral, but it was a matter of time before it was a *WEDDING!*

Jill and Kevin's Wedding

Then I did some checking around and found some students did a spoof (a divorce dance in court!) and the Australians did their version of it. The wedded couple and dancers were even invited to the Today Show in New York City to do a repeat performance!

DWTS doing the 'Forever' wedding entrance dance

Then there's YouTube's Most-Viewed page

Arrest Me? Say What?

2009-10-20T08:05:00.004-04:00

Has anyone gotten a so-called email from the FBI that says something like a Nigerian or other international bank releasing a large sum of money and mention terrorism? Then it finishes with this;

"So to this regards you are to re-assure and proof to us that what you are about to receive is a clean money by sending to us FBI International Clearance and also Diplomatic Immunity Seal Of Transfer (DIST) to satisfy to us that the money your about to receive is legitimate and real money. If you fail to provide the Documents to us, we will charge you either to U S federal Court or international court of justice and take our proper action against you for not proofing the legitimacy of the funds you are about to receive.

"THIS CONDITION IS VALID UNTIL (date) AFTER WE SHALL TAKE ACTIONS ON CANCELLING THE PAYMENT AND THEN CHARGES YOU FOR ILLEGALL MOVING OF FUNDS OUT OF NIGERIA GOVERNMENT. FUNDS WILL BE RELEASED ON CONFIRMATION OF THE DOCUMENTS."

*sniffing the air* Now that's a whole lot of bovine stinky droppings. Anyone want a cow pattie burger with a large urine?

Those two paragraphs make absolutely zero sense...

Relay SWAT calls

2009-10-01T22:10:00.003-04:00

Having read the Watch Out for That SWAT! blog post and a followup article in the Washington Post recently, it's a frightening thing when your home is invaded by a SWAT team. Apparently they're there for no reason other than the fact that someone tried to "prank" the police into thinking you're a dangerous person.

I use a cane or wheelchair when I'm out and about due to my knee surgery, and usually don't use the cane at home. Could this easily cause me to get shot with them thinking I was holding a weapon? Probably the best thing for me to do if this kind of thing happens would be for me to immediately stop where I am, drop the cane, and raise my hands. Or will they shoot anyway and ask questions later in their adrenaline-soaked mad dash through the door?

What's the best way to handle something like this?

My Knee's Progress 4

2009-09-25T17:45:00.004-04:00

It's getting easier to walk longer distances. I was able to walk to someone's place near me which is near this grocery store I mentioned before. I wasn't too out of breath or too tired when I got there, which is a good sign of improvement. But even then, I still can't make it to the store and back home. It's pretty much a one-way trip. That's still a pretty big improvement from before when it was harder for me to get there a few months earlier.

It's the other knee that has me at a standstill or slow improvements til the next surgery. I had to change the date due to a conflict with Jamie's class on the same day. I won't be missing Halloween. The new surgery date is November 20 in the early morning. Then the week after that is Thanksgiving. Pretty much means I'll be in the rehab facility. Means I'll be a captive audience for dinner.

To walk a mile, bowl again... It'll happen. I know I can now do a tenth of a mile, which is good.

Never give out your password - Part 3

2009-09-09T09:09:00.001-04:00

As I've said many times, never give out your password to anyone. We've heard about the phishing scams out there. They will tell you to go to the "company" website and fill out your info including password or respond to an email asking for your password. The best defense against that is to type in the URL yourself in the browser for that company and go from there. That way, you know you're going to the correct site. It's good to read the URL carefully. Something that looks like http://[domain name].com/youtube.com/ does NOT go to YouTube, but a fake site.

Administrators of password-protected sites can change your password for you. They have access to your account. They don't need your password or your security question answers sent them in email. What do you think they do when they reset your password if you've forgotten it? Depending on the software used, the password will either show up or it won't on the administrator's screen, with the ability to change it or disable/delete the account.

An email asking you to send back your username, password, security question answers, and other things is a definite phish. If the email says your account will be closed or there is legal action, most likely it is fake. Check with your ISP to confirm. So are the emails for lotteries, jackpots, and any kind of winnings programs. Federal law forbids collection of "fees" to receive your winnings. Read this from the NAD;

Scam Alert – Protect Yourself

"Growing Up Deaf" Update 3

2009-09-02T07:34:00.004-04:00

Sherlock Steve's blog post against the deafness.about.com post! reminded me of a few things.

But first, in my Growing up Deaf - Part 11 post, I mentioned that I had printed information on MSSD, but never went. I talked with mom about this when I went home to join my family for a wedding. She said she and dad wanted me to stay home and learn more. I'll talk more with her when I head back sometime.

As mentioned before, I didn't quite get full immersion into deaf culture til college, with some immersion here and there in middle and high schools, deaf church ministries, and the deaf camp in Louisiana. My dad got upset a lot of the time when I had my hearing aids off, even when I was lipreading him. Did that make him an audist? I don't think so. They never forced hearing aids onto me, just encouraged me to wear them.

As for that four year old kid, the decision to wear his implant is up to him. It was a major mistake for the doctor to tell his mother to hold him down. I'm surprised someone didn't call Child Protective Services on the guy. Right now is the time for worried mom to work on communications, both sign and reading/writing. Nothing's worse than a deaf kid with no language. What a waste of a good mind.

Knees and ASL Dinners

2009-08-24T17:44:00.003-04:00

Not long ago, I came back from an ASL dinner in DC's Dupont Circle. The restaurant location was not accessible via wheelchair, but I managed to make it just using the cane. Jamie and I parked at a metro stop and walked to the train platform, taking the escalator down rather than use the elevator. Then arriving at our stop, we took the escalator out and get to the place. This was further than I was able to go before the surgery. I was also out of town for a family wedding, and was able to stand and walk around longer than before. Airports are still a challenge, as I used the wheelchair.

As it turns out, Jamie had to help me out in getting my food tray upstairs, as I wasn't quite able to carry it up there myself.

Getting back to the car, I had to stop once to rest a bit.

That's a pretty big milestone to make, eight months after surgery. They're right about it taking a lot of work.

I also have a surgery date of October 23rd for the right knee. This is when things will get interesting.

Funny Food Names

2009-08-10T15:38:00.003-04:00

While browsing the forum messages on the Deafness site on about.com, I came across this message titled "Tall Jan" about funny food names and fouled-up captions. There's a food item called "MAMA" out at the local grocery store. Oh, the comedic possibilities...

There's always going to be days when you go grocery shopping in an ethnic grocery store and you come across something with a weird name. The Washington DC area has a number of good ethnic stores. Apart from the smaller individually-owned stores, we have multiple stores owned by a person or corporation. Todos is one, with Global Foods being another. I've been to Global Foods a few times for various things, including a 5 pound package of lo mein for stir fry.

Then there's a merlot wine called Fat Bastard I found and Sherlock Steve posted about it in The Austin Powers Wine!

Swimming after Knee Surgery - Part 2

2009-07-22T00:02:00.003-04:00

The left knee is still improving here and there, though the contracture on the quadriceps and hamstring will take time to improve. Booktoots' post, Walking On Gravel & A TKR, reminded me of while I was at a Florida beach recently.

While solid ground is easier to walk on, it's the uneven areas that give me some trouble. I know that will improve in time. It was a bit of slow going from a table near a parking space through the sand to the water's edge. I was able to walk into the water, but a drop-off gave me a little trouble and an outgoing wave swept my feet from underneath me. A nearby mother with young child thought it was pretty funny. From there it was easy enough to stay in the water and move around despite the waves.

But getting out took a little creativity. I couldn't just get out normally like others could. My cane was still at the table. It took me a couple tries to actually get past the drop-off. I used the incoming waves to help push me up past the drop-off. A wave came in, take a couple steps, wait for the next wave to come in, a few steps, til I was past the drop-off. Walking back from there to the table was a bit slow and difficult going, but I made it.

Pool ladders still give me trouble, but after my right knee is worked on, that should be resolved in time.

Swimming after Knee Surgery

2009-07-07T07:05:00.003-04:00

One of the best things to do after a total knee replacement is swimming. It's best to wait til the stitches or staples are out before doing so. The water helps support you and if you trip somehow, you're not going to fall face-first into a hard surface. The other good thing is that you don't need any kind of walking aids.

When I'm swimming, I don't just water walk. My therapist recommended walking forwards, backwards, and sideways, 3-4 laps each. I've also tried slow paddling for a minute or two, then return to walking. Leg lifts can easily be done as well. Don't just stay in the shallow end. I usually go from about 3 1/2 feet of water to 5 feet and back. Sometimes I'll stay in the 4.5-5 foot area for awhile. Maybe later I'll add on the flippers. Swim shoes seem to add a little more water resistance when slow paddling.

About 20-45 minutes of this could be the equivalent of an hour's worth of exercise without making you overly tired. Just make sure the water isn't too cold as it can make it harder to swim.

I still can't quite use the ladders, though I can still use the steps in the shallow end. If the pool is large and has steps in the deep end, I can use that.

Has anyone worn a wetsuit while doing their exercises in the pool?

Moderation in Postings

2009-06-29T07:40:00.003-04:00

I had to write this after the near-flamefest here (the audism posts) and on The Deaf Sherlock last month. Over the years, I've been a moderator in chatrooms and message areas. Sometimes the work is fun. But then there's the occasional time when you'll have a member who is quite abusive and openly flouts the rules.

In some cases, moderators need the ability to clamp down in order to prevent an explosive subject from getting out of control. It's all too easy for this to happen and I have seen groups going from active to meltdown dead in short time due to certain subjects being brought up. In some cases, the operators are forced to start over.

It's not a freedom of speech issue. It's about following the rules. Most forum rules are common sense, usually treat each other well, no attacks, stay on topic, that kind of thing. One to remember is that the moderator has the final word on things, reserving the right to moderate, edit, or delete comments. If members complain about something, the moderator will take action on that. There will always be some who cause trouble, known as trolls. They have been known to start flame wars.

For more on understanding what needs to be done, read these sites;

How to effectively moderate forums
Internet Forum Moderation...for Dummies
Internet Forums on Wikipedia

One must have flexibility in being a moderator without looking like a dictator, silencing everything that you disagree with. Neither do you want to be known as having a heavy hand and/or being a control freak.

My Knee's Progress 2 / National Police Week

2009-06-16T07:42:00.004-04:00

Back in mid-May, I attended National Police Week's Candlelight Vigil at the National Law Enforcement Officer Memorial. I mentioned my first adoptive dad in my Growing Up Deaf - Part 4 post.

My attending this event marked the first time I used the metro/subway without using the wheelchair. It was a longer walk compared to when I walked to someone's house for dinner in the My Knee's Progress - Part 1 post. I walked from the parking garage to the waiting train using the escalator, a bit out of breath and almost no pain. It was a bit shorter walk this time, as I used the elevator which put me right in the middle of the seating area. The seats filled quickly, and I arrived two hours before the event.

It was an emotional event. One of the speakers was Eric Holder, US Attorney General. (Blog post found here) I found that there was an interpreter after the event started, but wasn't able to get to where she was. The crowd numbered around several thousand according to the Washington Post which included those from police agencies around the nation and world. Most impressive were the many candles held by the crowd, with most electric lights off. They had a laser which was aimed from the back from a building to the front podium.

While waiting for my train after the event, I sat for a bit on side of the escalator. Interestingly enough, a group from the UK who attended the event waited near and around me. One of them showed a little toy which got everyone laughing, including me. After a little talk with a couple of them, someone from the group gave me a little pin signifying fallen police officers. Arriving at my stop an hour later, I was a bit tired from the walk.

I still got a ways to go in terms of left knee strength improvement and the right knee being operated on. I'll find out more what will happen next at my August appointment with the doctor.

New Tech Solutions Needed To Save Captions

2009-06-10T17:28:00.003-04:00

After I posted the "More Info" post, Jamie mentioned something from her time as a captioning activist some time ago;

"Long ago I was told that when the media format changes, e.g. from movie to DVD to television to internet, the closed captions are lost because of the altering of time codes on the media. Closed captions have to match up with time codes.

"In addition, I remember that in the early days there was discussion about how because captioning is a service, there may be issues with payment. That is, if Company A pays for captioning then gives the media in a new format to Company B with captions included, then Company B saves money that Company A had to pay.

"But the bottom line problem is the loss of captions as media formats change. We need new technical solutions or more use of existing solutions. One way to save the captions would be to use the available tools CCExtractor or CaptionKeeper to extract the captions into a separate file before converting the media to another format. Then the captions can be refitted to the new media format (and this is a manual process as explained by Hulu).

"The deaf community and its hearing friends are going to have to pressure the original content providers to save captions before converting the media."

In short, by "issues with payment" in the second paragraph, the business that received the captioning services may not want to just give the captioned file/media to Company B.

Also, some utilities I've seen will remove the subtitles AND captioning when the movie is transferred from DVD to a format like AVI and/or send them to a separate file. One I've seen will do just this in PAL/NTSC conversions. I'm checking on the Matroska (.MKV) (Wikipedia entry) container, as it can hold many tracks in one file.

More Info from Hulu on Captioning

2009-06-09T22:59:00.003-04:00

While Jamie and I have been discussing the issues related to Hulu and Netflix, including the upcoming new Epix website, Jamie got a response from two people from Hulu;

Eugene from the help desk writes;
"I think the issue is that often we're sent digitized videomasters that have the captions stripped out. It's not the same as recording media off of TV and then stripping the captions out of it."

Then Rob Post says;
"We use a similar tool to extract the captions from The Daily show and Colbert Report. But we are extracting the live captioning, not subtitles. Very few digital masters we receive have this data embedded within them, when we find them we try to use them."

Vitac gave a similar response.

Taking into consideration these two responses, this means that it is the CONTENT PROVIDERS who are removing the captioning signal, thus reducing Hulu's ability to provide captioned videos. Netflix has also said that it is the fault of the content providers. Now we have two people saying the same thing. However, we still have the Netflix CEO's insensitive and dismissive attitude, saying it's not high on the agenda.

Then came my own questions: Are copyright issues involved? Are the captioning signals analog or digital? Jamie sent those questions to Rob Post and should be getting a response soon.

There's also some other issues related to video and captioning. We'll have another post on this later.

Correction to the Hulu Blog Post

2009-06-05T21:30:00.003-04:00

Jamie and I had some minor errors in our previous post, How Might Hulu Be Showing Its Captions? It's more attitude than software which gets the captioning across the the viewer. Also in the previous post, Jamie got a response from Hulu which was posted in comments and I'll repeat here;

"We ask all our content providers for caption files. Some have them available, others do not or are still working on it. Then we try to read the caption files as there are many formats.

"Then, if we can read the file, we have someone sit and watch the video and sync the captions to the video as timings are often off because broadcast timing may differ from the online video file timing for a variety of reasons.

"We've been able to increase our coverage a lot just by sheer effort. We still have room to improve our coverage through that means. There will be some portion that will require other solutions, and we'll continue to investigate.

"Captions are a priority for us, and we'll continue to push to make them more of a standard for online video."

As we can see, it's not just attitude, but a LOT of hard work and time. I have also attempted to time subtitles with a movie and can appreciate the work that it takes. These utilities can be found with some searching.

Interestingly enough, Marlee Matlin has been tweeting that she wants captions on Netflix as well.

In another interesting area, the government has a YouTube website, but seems it's violating its own laws by not making them accessible in terms of captioning.

http://www.youtube.com/usgovernment
http://www.youtube.com/user/usedgov

Only some videos are captioned, and embarrassingly enough, the Department of Education has almost none! You can tweet complaints to them via @usedgov.

How Might Hulu Be Showing Its Captions?

2009-06-03T22:46:00.004-04:00

How is Hulu able to show closed captions when Netflix does not? That is the $60 million dollar question.

A bit of research online by Jamie and me yielded some clues. First, according to an April 2008 article in Entertainment Close-Up, Hulu is using Signiant Software. Signiant makes digital media distribution management solutions. Google Hulu and Signiant and more articles will turn up.

Poking around Signiant's website led to a blog, Digital Media Galaxy. Searching that blog on "captioning" led to one result, Rhozet Carbon Coder/Signiant Integration Video. That blog post mentions closed captioning extraction capabilities. As best as I understand it, Signiant's software integrates with software from Rhozet called Carbon Coder and through this integration, is able to extract closed captions. A check of the Rhozet website found that the Carbon Coder product is indeed able to extract closed captions.

Not only that, an examination of the Carbon Coder product's additional functions page revealed that under Advanced Operations, Carbon Coder can do subtitle/CC imprint, and line 21/CC conversion.

Last but not least, on Signiant's website there is a page that explains more about Rhozet's Carbon Coder. The information there is so important that I'm quoting it here:

"Traditional broadcast companies continue to grow their content business with alternate media delivery through the web, mobile or Video on Demand (VOD). However, one size does not fit all. They are challenged with the multiple CODECs and containers required to support these delivery mechanisms. Media is often captured in one format; edited in another; delivered live in a 3rd format; stored in a yet another format and so on. With the dramatic increase in the number of formats along with shorter service level agreements and Business To Business (B2B) relationships spanning the globe, content production is becoming more challenging. Rhozet's Carbon Coder is an industry leading transcoder which can simultaneously support all the major formats required in today's media environment."

Based on all this information, I have developed a theory about how Hulu is able to show closed captions. I theorize that Hulu is using the Signiant Software integration with Rhozet's Carbon Coder software to extract the closed captions from DVDs and overlay it onto the streamed media. One of the arguments that we have been given for not having captions on streamed media is that the formats are different between DVDs and digital media; but according to the Signiant page on Rhozet, Rhozet can handle ALL formats.

Netflix CEO Said No To Captions?

2009-06-01T22:40:00.007-04:00

Did I read Jared's Netflix CEO really doesn’t care about subtitles/captioning blog post (including the shareholder meeting post) right? The Netflix CEO said there's no captioning technology or it's not widespread? Picking my jaws up off the floor, I read further...

"Mr. Hastings said other sites didn’t offer captions, and mentioned hulu.com as one of them."

Does he live under a rock? Then he said we could receive DVDs in the mail and most had captions. That's pretty insensitive, ignorant, and dismissive.

Cry me a river, Mr. CEO... You've had two years to add this "nonexistent" tech according to this blog post. Check these sites out which have captioning/subtitling utilities and related forums;

http://www.doom9.org/
http://www.videohelp.com/
http://www.cdfreaks.com/
http://autocaption.com/
http://www.cpcweb.com/

Adobe's Encore has the ability to add subs. We know YouTube, CNET, and Hulu have captions/subtitles. Google has more hits on these using keywords (dvd captions), and/or (dvd subtitles), including (netflix captioning online deaf), minus the (). Check out Hulu Has Captions and Netflix Doesn't. Why?

Care to try that again, Mr. CEO?

Let's get a new Caption Action off the ground!

Update: I neglected to add the Facebook group Netflix Watch-Instantly Needs Closed Captions!

Laundry after Knee Surgery

2009-05-28T06:01:00.002-04:00

In Stairs, Laundry, and A TKR, she mentions how she handled the laundry post-TKR. Since I'm in a split level, the steps down to the lower part of the house don't have railings. I just hold onto the corner as I go down sidestep. Rather than a basket, I have a net bag, and roll it down the steps, making sure no one's in the way.

...that plus make sure the cat's not playing with the drawstring...

I still have some trouble in carrying things up the steps, having to put the item a few steps up, step up a few steps, until I'm at the top. For heavier items going up the steps, I'll put it on a small handcart, strap it down, and haul it up one step at a time.

When is Audism Not Audism? - Part 4

2009-05-21T22:17:00.004-04:00

So I ask once more, when is audism not audism?

Returning to the definition of audism, it is the belief that hearing and speaking are better than sign language. It is the notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who hears. It is all in the attitude. Hearing people who refuse to do anything other than speak to the deaf person, thinking they'll be understood, may be committing audism or may simply be unfamiliar with how to communicate. Adding to the term confuses and obfuscates the issue even more. Elimination of audism begins with education. Sometimes all it takes is the deaf person doing something with the audist that can change the attitude of the audist.

Bullying, social rejection, and cliques are not audism. They are issues of sociality that are faced by all members of society, no matter what the disability. There is still freedom of speech, but there are rules that must be followed here and there. This is not audism, but rule enforcement. However, Arthur Nonymous in a final comment in Part 2 had a good point.

Being offered tools for hearing better is not audism. It is a choice, to accept or refuse. The underlying hearing loss is still there. Education of the parents and user about the hearing tools is not audism, but informing them of the choices.

Deaf people will still be around, even with hearing assistance devices. Being militant will only make things worse and may cause other hearing people to commit even worse acts of discrimination and/or audism or simply refuse to deal with any deaf person, thus fueling the audism fire.

When is Audism Not Audism? - Part 3

2009-05-18T22:13:00.003-04:00

Here's another of Jamie Berke's articles on Deaf Culture - Audism. It's got a lot of good points here including a couple of good links, especially the two resources near the end.

Please do not say that I don't understand. I've been there, done that, got the t-shirt, felt the emotional impact, and then some. I have even talked about my own experiences in my Growing Up Deaf posts (parts 8, 9, and 10) in going to school, having experienced the Oralist vs Manualist fight. I posted Affected Emotionally by the AG Bell Protests? when a recent protest at AGBell in DC brought all the emotions back to the surface. My final post on the Growing Up Deaf serial sums things up.

Just because there is a bill out there for children for hearing aids and CIs doesn't mean it's an audist bill. The person sponsoring it may have the wrong ideas, but it is making more available of these tools to help, whether used or not. It simply means that you're giving the child a chance to hear with a hearing aid or a CI. If they don't help the child, not a problem. They are tools. The child can decide later on if they want to use hearing aids or CIs.

Completely separating ourselves from the hearing world would be a mistake. One would need to deal with the hearing people at some time or another. This is not a time for us to be divided based on the this word's meaning. What unites us is a common theme, our hearing loss. Don't let this become the equivalent of the Civil War, one that nearly destroyed our country.

Next: Part 4

When is Audism Not Audism? - Part 2

2009-05-16T20:38:00.004-04:00

Let's move back in time when the Oralism vs Manualism debate was hotter, and the child was mainstreamed or in a deaf school. For the child who was mainstreamed, there were often issues such as being able to follow along with the lesson and classroom discussion including socialization with peers and classmates. In some schools, especially middle, there is a lot of peer pressure, wanting to fit in, and acceptance/rejection. The kids with disabilities could be instantly rejected the day they joined that school and/or bullied to an extent. With deaf kids who had this issue, this was not audism at all. It was plain ignorance and immaturity on the part of the non-disabled kids and in some cases, adults. Bullying can happen anywhere, regardless of disability.

Refer back to my Growing Up Deaf posts parts 18, 19, 20, and 21 on Teasing and Mistreatment. Again, as I said in the previous paragraph, it was not audism.

In Jamie Berke's article, Worse Than Last...Not at All. - A Growing Up Deaf Memory, she talks of being picked last. I had this exact same thing happen to me, not occasionally, but all the time. That is not audism, but a form of social rejection. You could SEE it in their eyes when I was last to be picked, an "oh crap, we got him" look. There was also another HEARING boy who had this same issue, and team captains often debated who to pick! Yet, the gym teacher did nothing, even though they knew about my deafness! I actually had ONE gym teacher stand up to someone who was really giving me trouble! There was another disabled girl who was in the same middle school as I, who was also rejected. So again, it was not audism, but social rejection. Mix that with immaturity and ignorance...

Remember this relay log in An Example of What Deaf Jobseekers Face? That was not audism. It was a recruiter who wasn't familiar with the relay and got intimidated and nervous by the process.

Next: Part 3

When is Audism Not Audism? - Part 1

2009-05-14T20:57:00.004-04:00

I'm seeing many other deaf call any kind of mistreatment of them audism. It's become too much of a blanket term. But first, before I start, the definition of audism as coined by Tom Humphries in his unpublished 1975 work "The Making of a Word;"

"Audism- (o diz m) n. the notion that one is superior based on one’s ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who hears."

In short, it's the application of hearing ability onto someone who has a hearing loss and may or may not use a hearing assistance device, and expect them to be able to hear well. I have often said that with many deaf, hearing and understanding can easily be two different things. Just because something is heard, if at all, does not mean it will be understood. It stereotypes those with hearing losses. Before I continue;

Audism by Susan F. Crist

She's right about how we've expanded the term. Thus, this is why others have said while others think it's audism, most likely it may not. Wikipedia's definition of audism seems to have a somewhat slanted view.

Think about how blind people feel when a lot of the world is highly visual in this article, Being blind, 'you have to be adventurous'. What would they call it? Visualism? It's quite true our world is highly sensual. This reminds me of a short story by HG Wells, The Country of the Blind where every citizen is blind, and there is no such thing as sight. Now apply this to a country of the deaf, where every citizen is deaf, and there is no such thing as hearing.

There's an interesting parallel to this short story and the hearing/deaf world. Near the end of the story, the blind doctors want to remove his eyes to "cure him."

Next: Part 2

Interpreter Scam with a Twist

2009-04-25T17:33:00.002-04:00

Another interpreter scam has come up, but this one has a bit of a twist. In Ocean City, Maryland, an interpreter basically created a need for interpreters by sending false messages from fake email accounts from deaf people. She pretended to be deaf, sending interpreter request emails, in order to create work for herself.

Here's the article;

OC Police Probe Reveals Sign Language Scheme

Related blog post: Forget the DC Tax Scam. We Got An Interpreter Scam

Men in Black and a Wedding

2009-04-24T06:22:00.004-04:00

Back in 1997, before my sister's wedding, I was considering a Men In Black style lighting of the candles. My brother and I, after we lit the candles, considered putting on dark sunglasses and flip the brass candle lighters upside down, like the way Jones' character used that flashing rod device. Then we'd walk back down the aisles, sunglasses still on. I was going to use a small flash device in my hand.

Unfortunately, mom heard about the plan and forbade it to be done. The idea went over well in the post-wedding chats...

Had it been done, we would have had an annoyed sister, an upset mother, and one house that came down.

Update: I just found this is my 100th post!

"Growing Up Deaf" Post Update 2 - Part 2

2009-04-17T13:44:00.004-04:00

After doing some more research on this Utley book, Google had a page that contained a passage that says exactly how it is with those who were in oral schools and were forbidden to even learn or use sign, and then learned sign later;

Effective education for learners with exceptionalities By Festus E. Obiakor, Cheryl Anita Rose Utley, and Anthony F. Rotatori. ISBN 076230975X, 9780762309757.

This will put you on page 240. Read the last paragraph up to where it mentions cued speech.

At least some of those who read that will see themselves in it. Powerful stuff right there!

This doesn't mean the oralists were completely wrong in their methods. It means that total communications, meaning speech/lipreading AND signing, should have been included and used.

"Growing Up Deaf" Post Update 2 - Part 1

2009-04-15T07:47:00.005-04:00

Update from Growing Up Deaf - Part 10.

I managed to find a classmate from third grade on a social networking site and she remembered me. Then I broke out the report cards and checked some notations made way long ago. One thing that I missed all these years was something written in my first grade report card.

"REGULAR grade 2. No need for special class. Definitely *no* 'deaf' class."

Perhaps something more surprising was buried in one of the grading categories, under Music, was "Auditory Training." Also listed in there was "Utley book." Has anyone had experience with this? Google gives me mention of auditory/visual speech recognition. Then under "Speech and Phonics" is "Child shows desire to communicate orally." These were "primary deaf-oral classes" according to the supplement stapled to the report card.

Interesting what one finds when one breaks out the old report cards and looks through them.

Next - Part 2

My Knee's Progress - Part 1

2009-04-12T20:35:00.003-04:00

I'll post here and there about how my left knee has been doing post-surgery. Lately, it's been getting easier to walk longer distances and a recent event gave me some encouragement.

Here's what's happened in the last couple weeks;
- I had to meet up with a counselor at my local college. I walked from the parking deck to the building and then to the office. That wasn't painful at all.
- I walked with Jamie from home to a building next door, walking along the entire front sidewalk and back home, resting a couple times. She commented a couple times it looked like I wasn't using the cane. I was, as it was keeping me from limping too much. This was further than the above, and;
- I walked to someone's house for dinner, which was about the above two walks put together, and this was a few hours after physical therapy. I wasn't quite up for going further, as a little more distance away was the local grocery store. MILESTONE!

So far, no pain, just some fatigue when I overuse it, but the right knee will hurt some. I can stand longer as well.

Will Metered Internet Hurt Deaf?

2009-04-07T20:31:00.007-04:00

I was passed this article about metered Internet in the Rochester area by Time Warner Cable. It's a pretty hot issue and very unpopular.

Deaf community reacts to Time Warner metered pricing

In short, Time Warner Cable will be implementing metered pricing. When that happens, those who use videophones could be priced out of using them. Watching online videos like Hulu and YouTube adds up as well. Some downloadable videos are in the megabytes, while downloaded DVD movies can be about 4-8 gigabytes.

My question at the moment is how much data is being passed through the lines in a 30 minute session? Many VPs send data at 256Kbps and receive at 384Kbps.

It's a possibility this may be implemented in other broadband markets.

Update April 19:

Check the Victory of Internet Freedom blog post by Sharyn. She reports that Time Warner Cable has backed down from their metering proposal.

Post-surgery meals

2009-04-06T00:47:00.004-04:00

Booktoots's Weblog has two posts on how it helps greatly to pre-make your meals and eating right which can help in the recovery process.

In Healthy Eating Speeds the TKR Recuperation Process, this is absolutely correct. You can't just eat junk food as it will slow down the healing. Multivitamins with calcium and a few other things will help. Doing your exercises will also.

Here's a reason to eat healthy... Some time ago, I weighed 250, ready to go higher since I was eating fast foods almost daily. Then I quit and managed to lose 50 pounds in nearly two years. I started eating better, and the results showed. I felt better also. I still need to lose more, though.

Last year before my evening college class, I'd get a salad from the local grocery store's salad bar. I'd finish it in the classroom before class time, using olive oil with garlic as dressing. I was told later on you could smell it through the classroom, but no one complained! I'm now at 200, and will try to lose some more before the next surgery.

She also says in Meal Preparation After A TKR that it helps to prepare foods ahead of time. About a month before surgery, Jamie and I started making freezer dinners. When I came home 4 weeks after surgery, there were still some left.

Seeing the Knee Doctor - Part 3

2009-04-02T06:32:00.003-04:00

My last two appointments were pretty much the same with a few questions here and there. For the most part, I've improved here and there. My flexion and extension have improved a few degrees. I'm able to walk further with the cane and stand longer.

Last week, I was able to get down the steps to the lower level of the house, a split-level. This set of steps doesn't have any railings, just a couple corners for me to hold onto while I go down there backwards.

My hamstring shortened due the knee not being able to move a lot before surgery, known as a contracture. I'm going to be using a heating pad to help out in getting that and the quadriceps to stretch out a bit more. I most likely have that on the right knee as well.

The doctor and physical therapist have both said I'm progressing well. The doctor agreed with me when I said I'll be going for having the other knee done in early fall.

New Disabled Blog

2009-03-27T21:31:00.003-04:00

Jamie Berke alerted me to this rather interesting blog and site which says it has "news and insights on assistive technologies and innovations for people with disabilities" on their About Us page. Co-founder and editor Suzanne Robitaille herself is deaf, though her partner, Gregory Papajohn, is not. Not only is it a blog, but there's News Watch, Tech Talk, and Expert Views.

One article of interest is Do Movies Deserve Captions? The blog's got other disability issues, such as Amazon's Kindle 2 failing the accessibility test, ignoring accessibility being a costly gamble, talking books, toys for seniors and disabled, and more.

Recipe - Cube Steak Quesadillas

2009-03-25T14:14:00.003-04:00

I made this when I had to make dinner quickly and we had some cube steak, also known as "steak-umm."

2 tablespoons cooking oil like wok oil
1 box Steak-Umm or cube steak (about 12-16 oz)
2 eggs
1 diced medium onion
3-4 chopped scallions
2 chopped garlic cloves
1/2 can stewed tomatoes (optional)
tortillas (large or small)
cheese

1. Break up and brown the cube steak
2. In a wok or other cooking utensil, stir fry the eggs and garlic.
3. Add the cut-up onion and scallions when the egg is done.
4. When the onions are soft enough, add in the cube steak and stir fry for a few minutes
5. Serve hot on tortillas. Eat like a wrap or fold it over, sprinkling cheese on top.

Depending on the size of your tortillas and how hungry people are, it can feed 2-3.

Post-Knee Surgery Exercises

2009-03-23T19:45:00.006-04:00

They say that putting your knee back to work after a total knee replacement is important. They're so right. Check Marie's post, Exercise after a TKR Is Critical, and article link within. Within two days of surgery, you can put your weight on your new knee unless your doctor tells you otherwise. Here's a listing of exercises that have helped me out greatly;

- leg lifts - 20-40 twice a day,
- side to side leg slides - 20-40 twice twice a day,
- heel slides - 20-40 twice a day, hold in extended position 5-10 seconds,
- foot slides - while sitting, slide your foot backwards on the floor, using your other foot to assist if needed, and hold for about 20-30 seconds. You may have to move forward a little yourself. This may be a bit painful.
- Ways to Elevate Your Leg While Sitting At A Desk - I use a computer case,
- if physical therapy calls for it, a 4-pound weight on the knee for 2-4 minutes,
- take a walk around the house, inside and out, and maybe to the mailbox and the corner, and if you can, walk further, and,
- in a swimming pool, walk forwards, backwards, and sideways - 3-4 laps each

It helps also if you do upper body exercises with weights and stretchy items. Don't have weights at home? Improvise.

But first, talk with your physical therapist to determine what program is best for you.

"Growing Up Deaf" Post Update

2009-03-17T01:10:00.011-04:00

Back in my Growing Up Deaf - Part 6 post, I mentioned something about a character called P. Mooney. Apparently, I was using the wrong search keywords. I tried again recently and found something.

http://www.pearsonassessments.com/pldkp.aspx

...and a closeup of the puppet on page 4...

http://www.cdlcpreschool.org/documents/MicrosoftWord-Oct08.pdf

...and then there's the Whee post on a blog called School of Blog...

Amazing what we find when we remember more...

Researching Your Knee Replacement - Part 3

2009-03-15T01:50:00.003-04:00

As mentioned in the previous two posts, doing your research and pre-op activities can help the healing process along. For getting around, you may need some walking aids like cane and walker/rollator. Sometimes a wheelchair helps if you can borrow one. Many good drugstores have canes for up to $30. Membership warehouses such as Sams Club may have collapsible canes.

You may need to go through a home/inpatient program and then outpatient before you do things at home on your own. Will you go right on home after hospital discharge or will you go to a rehab facility? When I had an occupational therapist come to my house, I showed her what I could do as she listed them. The only things I could not do was put the trash out front and get down the last few steps (split level home - ground level to lower - no handrails) for the laundry.

Most important is how to get home and in the house. Driving yourself is out if you use the operated leg for driving. You may not be able to drive for about several weeks.

Researching Your Knee Replacement - Part 2

2009-03-04T14:00:00.003-05:00

In Marie's Getting Prepared for a TKR post, I agree with her that preparing your living space is an important thing. Not doing so can really cause problems. At first, I thought steps were going to be a problem, but I didn't have to worry. Going up I can do, but I go down backwards. The rehab center's physical therapists agreed with me when I said that I'd be able to better use the steps after the other knee was done.

Don't forget the bathroom. A commode chair with handgrips and a shower seat can help BIG TIME! Bed Bath and Beyond may have a grab bar that uses suction cups. You can get a handheld shower head as well as a tub bar. Plastic lawn chairs are great. I used one when I had my arthroscopy on both knees in 1994 and 1995. Check ebay and Craigs List including other auction/seller sites, but be careful of what you're getting and ASK QUESTIONS of the seller.

All these things can be picked up over time before the surgery. Sure, it might drive some people nuts, but it's going to save them from having to deal with you when you need help most.

The Rest of the Story

2009-03-01T04:34:00.003-05:00

There was this young boy, born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, who just about grew up in newsrooms, building his own radio sets. His frequent contributions to radio and communications lent him a spot in the Radio Hall of Fame. While at KCOK in St. Louis, a girl walked into his life whom would he would marry.

When both moved to Chicago, both combined their talents into a newroom career. He created his own style of delivery while one of his radio programs, one of which was "The Rest Of The Story." He could be heard on numerous radio stations and had many more fans. Each story described a certain well-known person in history, ending with him revealing who he just described, with a "...now you know the rest of the story." If you missed the broadcasts, he published "The Rest Of The Story." I read them years ago, and they're quite a good read since I couldn't understand the radio what with my hearing loss.

He was one of 14 recipients of the presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005, given by President Bush.

He passed away February 28, 2009, at age 90 in Phoenix, Arizona.

Thanks for your contributions, Paul Harvey.

And now you know...the rest of the story.

Researching Your Knee Replacement - Part 1

2009-02-26T21:29:00.004-05:00

Not researching your upcoming surgery and asking your doctor questions can backfire in terms of nasty surprises and then some arising from false assumptions. Even I had a few unexpected things pop up. This is not a surgery to take lightly. It's something that *WILL* change your life to a degree and the road to recovery will take a LOT of work.

Robin's Total Knee Replacement site was the first I visited. She underwent two total knee replacements (TKR). It's got links for TKR and hip replacements sites. Her knee's inability to straighten out at first mirrors me at the moment, as seen in her TKR entry updated July 1998. Exercise and walking can help in straightening it out more, including swimming.

Marie wrote Is a Total Knee Replacement Worth It? Her experiences nearly mirror mine. It was worth it despite being in a rehab facility for 3 weeks. I went from bedbound to using a walker.

While beds in hospitals and some at nursing homes and rehab facilities are adjustable in height, your own bed may not be. It may help to keep something nearby to get up onto it if it's higher than normal.

Deaf-Blind Man Facing Child Porn Charges

2009-02-23T19:53:00.003-05:00

Someone passed this article on to me, Deaf, sight-impaired man not competent to face child porn charges, about a deaf-blind man who is accused of uploading child porn pics to a website. Another search found me this article, Attorney General Abbott's Investigators Arrest Waco Student Following Child Porn Indictments.

The major issue I see here is that when he uploaded the pics to the website, he had to have known where he was uploading it and what he was uploading. He had to have known that what he was doing was wrong, even with low english and/or communication skills. According to AG Abbott's site, Lopez was enrolled in Texas State Technical College's Computer Maintenance Technology program. At least some good English skills are needed to get on the internet and be enrolled in college classes.

However, we know how hackers can at times remotely take over or zombie a computer. Was Lopez knowledgeable enough with his computer to know something may be wrong with it? Did he notice anything amiss like unusual slowdowns or extra files? Did he use some sort of protection on it like a firewall or malware/virus checkers?

I wonder if they've tried to make him understand the charges by rephrasing things in a lower grade level.

Technology and Equal Access

2009-02-17T01:26:00.005-05:00

Interesting vlog titled We, Deafies have equal access to today's techology. NOT! She has MANY good points, especially when she said that we still have a long way to go in catching up.

I was in the hospital in 2003 for a bad infection and December 2008 for knee surgery. I had the same problem as RLM in the comments when he was trying to use the call button on his hospital bed. I had my hearing aids on/off and I could hear/feel them talk, but that was it. All I could do is tell them I needed them for something. At one DC Metro stop's turnstile near the elevator, when my farecard didn't work a couple times, I had to press the help button. When someone said something, I just said "I'm deaf, I can't understand you."

It shouldn't be too hard to put some sort of notification to note that a patient in a room has a hearing loss and may or may not be able to respond to the patent pressing the call button.

But, technology *CAN* be used to create things to allow someone at the other end to respond. If that's created, one problem that will be faced is those who will abuse and vandalize it.

When it's inclusive of everyone, then we know we've gotten some inroads somewhere. We've got at least some with the TTY phones in airports and other places. But in the meantime, sometimes you gotta depend on other people.

Technology, indeed. It can be good and a curse at the same time...