Turkish Dogs - particularly Anatolian Shepherd Dogs

My old copy of NexTalk has been getting a lot of use in the past few weeks and suddenly it kept crashing or just truncating my phone sessions - requiring a reboot to resume a call. Ugh! So I decided to uninstall and clean out the registry and file folders of the program and then reinstall an upgrade. I went to download the program again and was happy to find that the newest version is designed so that it also works on Vista now and has a FAX option. Interesting. Anyway, with Vista capability, now I can install it on my (new to me) Gateway notebook which has Vista installed. :)

The link for NexTalk is here. This is a free program that enables a deaf person (who wants to use the computer interface) to call a person who can hear. An operator types text messages back to the deaf person, typing out whatever is being said at the hearing end. It works a lot like using a real time instant messenger. Thanks to all those wonderful relay operators out there that make these services possible. :D

Now here's a wonderful video with text, showing a sweet dog named Cowboy learning something new. :)

Labels: compu-internet, deaf, humor, Video

Leo

Some nice news on one of Vick's former pit doggies at Mercury News. (EDIT: I originally posted a link directly to the article but it is doing some Mercury News related odd login/redirect and page failure thing! --so here's the full text followed by the original URL)

Kids, elders befriend a Vick fighting dog
By Linda Goldston
Mercury News
Article Launched: 01/31/2008 01:42:57 AM PST

[picture of Leo above]Caption:
Leo, one of the 50 pit bulls confiscated from former NFL star Michael Vick,... ( Stephanie Lam )

He faced a life of fighting, a cruel death by hanging or drowning if he couldn't make it in the pit.

Now he brings smiles to children, tears of joy to seniors.

Leo, one of 50 pit bulls confiscated from former NFL star Michael Vick's dog fighting kennel, has a new leash on life, thanks to a South Bay rescue group.

He also has a new job: He's been transformed into a therapy dog. Instead of risking his life in a dog fight, he will help fight the fear and loneliness of children and seniors in hospitals and convalescent homes.

"He'll put his paws on the bed and give them the soft warm 'love me' eyes," said Marthina McClay, a dog trainer and founder of Our Pack, Inc., who has worked with Leo since Dec. 16. "That's why he's such a good therapy dog. He's very polite."

When Leo arrived in the Bay Area, he had scars behind his ears and showed signs that handlers at Vick's Bad Newz Kennels in Virginia were starting to condition the pit bull terrier for fights, McClay said.

"He was starting to fight or had done some fighting but it hadn't gone on long enough that he was beyond repair," she said. "Now he's fine and loves to play with other dogs."

Leo shares toy bones with McClay's female pit bull, Hailey, and gives a wide berth to her Chihuahua. He greets visitors with a wagging tail and piercing brown eyes. But there is no jumping up on anyone. This dog sits down and watches you to see what comes next.

"He's a fabulous dog," McClay said. "A real sweetheart."

After authorities seized dozens of dogs from Vick's property in Virginia, the animals were kept in shelters while investigators put together their case. A court-appointed attorney for the dogs decided which rescue groups could take them. Bay Area Doglovers Responsible About Pitbulls or BAD RAP, an Oakland-based pit bull rescue group, helped with the evaluations and drove 13 of the dogs to the Bay Area.

Pack got one of the dogs, Leo, and BAD RAP placed the rest in foster homes.

Vick, former star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, is serving 23 months in prison after pleading guilty to a dog-fighting conspiracy.

Dogs bought for fighting went through a testing process; if they didn't perform well, they were drowned, electrocuted or hanged at Bad Newz Kennel.

Even though he has minor scarring from fights, Leo likely would have faced one of those violent deaths, McClay said.

"He just wants to play," McClay said as Leo snored on her couch.

McClay and others said the Vick dog-fighting case is remarkable because the dogs were not euthanized.

"People stood up and said, 'Wait a minute,' " she said.

What the rehabilitated dogs are showing now "is their core temperament," McClay said. "Their hallmark is people-pleasing. Otherwise, Michael Vick couldn't have done what he did.

"The dogs aren't criminals. The humans who abuse them are the criminals."

IF YOU'RE INTERESTED
For more information on pit bulls, dog training and Our Pack, Inc., see the Web site at www.ourpack.org.
______________
Contact Linda Goldston at lgoldston@mercurynews.com or (408) 920-5862.

ORIGINAL MERCURY NEWS URL- http://www.mercurynews.com/lifeandstyleheadlines/ci_8126693

Breed Specific Legislation is WRONG!


And time for some Deaf silliness :)
No captions on this one, but it's all quite clear!

Labels: BSL, deaf, humor, Video

I'm still trying to shake off a bad cold and just have been too tired lately to keep up with any reading. I have previously read much ado about potential problems from cell phone radiation exposure but until recently, I just really haven't been paying much attention since I don't one. James used the landline primarily but his cell phone useage has become frequent and habitual -- time for us to wake up. Just saw this new article last night about how cell phone use interferes with sleep. Other general warnings which compare cell phone radiation to wireless laptop use. Interesting.

Last month, I read some articles regarding internet accessibility regarding how deaf captioning in online video shows (the professional ones) are so lacking. For example, you can watch some of the same newsclips on TV with the captions but the online versions never do have captions. From one of the articles discussing this issue, I ran into some delightful YouTube films that were captioned (Yay!) and had to do with with deaf topics. Here's one of them that has humor from Deaf culture featured. :)


Jamie Berke at About.com has a wonderful article explaining about how exhausting or frustrating it is for hearing impaired students at school, and actually applies to some extent for all deaf and hearing impaired in almost all social situations... see the Classroom Ghost.

On a lighter note, thanks to Diane who posted a link to a "Human Tetris" clip last week, I ended up looking at several hilarious clips showing a Japanese game show with a Tetris-like theme. Good laughs are much needed sometimes. :)

Labels: deaf, frustration, humor, Video

Ratatouille Elegance!

Looking forward to this new Rat movie.

I'm not much of a movie watcher but James has been occasionally picking up some cinema titles from Netflix for me. I never go to movies since becoming completely deaf. Not having handy dandy closed captions while at the cinema is a bummer. I miss the pop corn ambience. I understand that where cinema captions are available, deaf folk have problems simultaniously seeing the action in the movie, noting who is speaking -- while correlating the info with a separate caption device provided for deaf viewers - boy IS that even a mouthful. You probably need Marty Feldman eyes to do all that ALL at the same time. It is just more sensible for the time being to wait for shows to be on DVD or VHS format. And lately DVD movies from Netflix are just what Semavi Lady ordered! Convenience, captions (usually) and fun!

Actually, the captions don't always work as they should. On our entertainment center DVD player, sometimes the captions do not resolve, so it's yet another silent movie for me (not to be confused with the comedy called Silent Movie) --but it is rare enough that it is not a huge issue. Also... playing the DVD on the computer sometimes gets different results than our TV/DVD player. At least a couple movies had separate screens for subtitles on the computer, but no caption on the movie itself. While on TV it was all hunky dory. It probably less than 5% of the time (I'm not keeping track). So it's still a good deal, most movies play just fine on the computer.

Anyway, I'm really looking forward to seeing Ratatouille and all the older Pixar movies I haven't yet seen. Finding Nemo was one of the last ones I got to see. Hard to pick favorites but if I had to so far, my absolute favorite is Cars! Pixar is wonderful at telling stories and the artwork is in a league all its own.

In order to help plan out which of the oldies to rent, I checked out the Pixar site to discover what all the names of their feature movies are ----- and then I noted that they had this video material below for bloggers and web sites. I can't resist so here you are! There are several movies on the play list button. I just wish they had these things captioned! Nevertheless it's wonderful eye candy and fantastic animated art!



Noted from my about.com news that Sony seems to be in the rootkit business again. :( At least I don't have to worry about inadvertently installing a Sony Rootkit, since I'm never playing music on my machine but the warning mentions games too? ...hrm, what about movie videos?

Labels: deaf, Video

District files appeal against deaf student: "Administrative Law Judge Clara Slifkin criticized the school for giving Solorzano a sign language interpreter, even though she is an oral learner and uses sign language only socially, not academically."

I chose the graphic to illustrate how the student might feel. Imagine being faced with the challenge of language barrier deliberately imposed by the school as a solution to helping a deaf student to get through her lesson. Not being able to understand the lecture given in a "foreign language" (sign language in this case) just slows down the progress of the student.

I'm late deafened and there are so many times I wish CART were instantly available for me. On the computer it's great to be able to chat to someone using email, or in real time with a text interface (IM programs, MUDS and other such). Some day in the future will it go to everyday living? A cure for deafness would be awesome!

Software is still being developed which will allow a computer to have working speech recognition and there are hopes that perhaps a laptop can be used in real time, to interpret with good accuracy, flowing conversations for someone who cannot hear. This will allow more of us to attend lectures or participate in other communications. I have tried the route of having friends or family members take notes, but often the things they catch and write down are basics that I already know and I wonder if the lecture actually had any depth beyond 3rd grade knowledge of basics. Don't mean to sound ungrateful but when you pay $100 or there abouts to attend a seminar and come back with notes that someone took for you, all content that you already knew and may well be new stuff for your notetaking friend... it really is a darned bit discouraging. Never mind any serious consideration of new academic pursuits that rely on interpretation of lecture material.

I have read about how it (speech recognition) is still quite quirky; some voices and inflections do not convert to text very well and need editing corrections to train the software. Back when I had residual hearing and used an FM system and hearing aids, I still had a lot of problems picking up what people were saying due to the problematic nature of all these combined enhancements. I have no residual hearing now, so text really is the best of the communication tools for me. I've also learned that many hearing people do appreciate captioning and wish more in the way of transcripts could be provided (accessibility!) since sometimes computer quirks, poor software, slow connections are a fact of life for many that cannot make use of the pod casts and other 'enhancements' online.

Related:
Communication Access Realtime Translation (CART)

Labels: deaf, frustration

The $100 Laptop.


Cute machine! A prototype from "One Laptop Per Child" Project

Julie at DeafDC Blog writes on the subject of One Laptop Per Child… Possible? The cultural questions she poses are among the first things I pondered when I first found information about the project at MIT site last year. Deafness & disability combined with a fascination with science, technology and fondness for animals created ready misunderstanding and rifts where my own family did not always understand nor tolerate my differences in whatever they felt was the 'norm'. It was easier for me to focus on things with which I could be skillful and truly it was the only way to go because as a handicapped child, things others took for granted were difficult for me and often others had no point of reference for understanding.

Browsing and reading from a junior encyclopedia or piles of National Geographic magazines was far more interesting to me than watching TV with my mother and siblings when I could not always hear well enough to understand the words spoken on the programs. My mother's frustration with my differences when I was in grade school included the fact that at one point, I had read every single horse story available at the school library during one of the genre binges I entertained at the time - My instructor had no idea what grief this would cause me in my family when she shared my delight in reading with my parents at one PTA. My father was delighted, but I could not understand why that was such a problem for her -- I had the longest list of 'books I read' among my classmates. :D My sibs didn't have much interest in reading and that just seemed more 'normal' to her. :)

So it is with that background, I wonder about conflict within families, even if the conflict has something to do with better education. There are cultures where females are just not expected to expand their worlds and when they do, they become alienated. Children are quick studies in accepting and seeking new technology, but how will it affect their relationships with their families in third world countries? Will the kids be safe with this technology, could something happen to them if they are alone with one of these machines and another person wants it? It's very easy for me to imagine how technology or pursuit of it could backfire in some ways, while on the other hand there are benefits and advancements to be had.

Will it be welcome? You can find stories such as this one in India providing another aspect of food for thought.

Parents usually are role models and provide guidance to their kids, maybe more so in some cultures than they are in some modern cultures. Kids that understand things far beyond their parents at much younger ages may lose the guidance that they need due to a widening communication and cultural gap between the kids and parents. Painful memories... Parents that didn't get an opportunity at a good education are not always supportive of the achievements of their children when they don't understand those things.

Anyway, the technology is promising. Problems to come?
For now, it's all speculation.


The first prototype I saw last year


Another prototype

I think education is a good thing and I hope that in communities receptive to the "One Laptop Per Child" program, that great advancements can be made by first opening up the minds and curiosity of those who will benefit most.

To read more about the project, to see a FAQ and more images, go here to laptop.org

Labels: compu-internet, deaf