Reading Saturday notes

RantWoman's version of Saturday Night Live, offered partly in response to invitation to share more of her daily vexations. Okay. RantWoman is sharing. RantWoman is unclear how many people actually WANT her sharing. RantWoman is clear to share in her blog and to email links.

It's past time for RantWoman to be ASLEEP. RantWoman is not asleep. Not only is RantWoman not asleep, RantWoman is feeling called to fill the interwebs with tonight's verbal splatter about her experience reading in various formats.

RantWoman convened her monthly Blindness and Low Vision Technology Meetup today. The first technology needing attention was adjustments for new chairs at the friendly Neighborhood Center for Extreme Computing.

Various computer technologies came up. In particular, the work of reading manuals while learning the technology used to read the manual is a recurring theme. RantWoman has to listen practice, repeat. Then RantWoman has to take a break and come back and repeat it. This is a lot more work through a screen reader than it is visually whine.

The Victor Reader Stream came up. The Victor Reader looks to RantWoman a little like a hand grenade, not that RantWoman knows a lot about hand grenades. The Victor reader has tactile buttons for reading audio books distributed by the National Library for the Blind and physically Handicapped. No, RantWoman does not know enough about how to use the Stream to provide the help asked for today. The Friendly Neighborhood Center... does n fact own one, a donation that RantWoman accepted. RantWoman would like permission to take the Stream away from the noise of the Friendly Neighborhood center to test and play with. So far permission to do that has not happened. Grrrr..

Digital Talking Book player: RantWoman ADORES her Digital Talking Book player for terrific tactile buttons, NO SCREEN, and a bunch of other reasons that merit their own post. Books can either be downloaded orrequested on cartridge in WA through the WA Talking Book and Braille library. The NO SCREEN is perfect for bedtime. RantWoman tends to set the reader to read for half an hour, by which time RantWoman is usually though not always asleep.

Read until fall asleep comes with interesting risks.

For awhile RantWoman was reading Bishop Tutu's book on the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Parts of that book definitely should NOT be read at bedtime RantWoman is not sure what it means for he r own psyche that she can fall asleep while reading this, but the images definitely come back in the daytime.

Or consider Breme Brown: she has really interesting speech patterns. She reads her own stuff. She includes lists that are supposed to be helpful mnemonics  and article references. Almost pointless if not able to write down or find easily. In other words more work than RantWoman should attempt at bedtime.

RantWoman has posted before about Bibles. Here is today's Light.
Recently RantWoman visited a store called Sight Connection now in a new location of Aurora  in N Seattle. RantWoman could write a whole treatise about PENS, her purpose in going there.

The pens that helped find the Bible

RantWoman also suggested to someone she knows who both works there and has other topical certifications that it would be AWESOME to put cane-friendly directions from the nearest bus stop(s) on the website. But the important thing for this blog:

Most important RantWoman also scored a "Giant Print" King James Bible which she has already donated to her Meeting's library. RantWoman will appreciate KJV for poetry though not contemporary concepts. RantWoman was so happy to put her hands on a book without waiting around for mail order that RantWoman can just cope. RantWoman may also still think about options for other editions and even bigger print, but here's to initiative.



Holy Bible, "Giant" print