Facts of the Day:
Earthworms have 5 hearts.
"Duff" is the decaying organic matter found on a forest floor.
11% of the world is left-handed.
---Source, Facts of the Day
http://uselessfacts.net/category/facts-of-the-day/
The Braille Highway
By Nat Armeni
As the seasons have changed to Spring in many parts of the world, Autumn or
Fall in others, there is a particular language that has been in existents
for over 200 years that is undergoing change as well. Braille as we know it
English Braille American Edition (EBAE) is being changed and people like
myself, who have been a braille reader for over 30 years will take some
getting use too. In this month's article I will be mentioning some of the
changes and my personal opinions about some of them. I invite you to email
me your thoughts or your rebuttals. nat@the blindperspective.com
One never knows, I may put some of your points of view in the May edition.
There are 9 contractions that are being used in the current Literary Braille
Code that are being eliminated in the Unified English Braille Code (UEB).
These are: by, into, to, com, ble, dd, ation, ally, and o'clock. Another
major change is the elimination of grouping of contractions. No longer can
you group the following contractions together: and, a, the, for, into, by,
and with. The reasons given for these changes can be found at click here
to read about these changes
They state, "The overarching reasons for deletion of these contractions are
the need for accurate, automatic, forward- and back-translation between
print and braille, the need to allow for more symbols without creating
conflicts in the code, and the principle of reducing exceptions to braille
rules."
It has become second nature for me to add those specific words to the word
"the" without a space in between. For example, at the top of this article
it says by Nat Armeni. If that was written with the UEB Code the word By
would be on its own and spelt out b y. No more the lower j and next to the
following word with no space in between. The way we used to braille and the,
for the, with the, and into the are just a few examples of what has
changed. It has changed to better reflect the printed word.
Somethings I am finding challenging to read and write are words such as:
really, creation, and enabled, just to name a few. If you are a braille
reader, then the next part is second nature to you when it comes to English
Braille American Edition. For example, the word creation; the EBAE way of
brailling it would be c, r, e, and the ation contraction. As for the UEB way
it is c, r, the e a contraction, and the t i o n contraction. It takes some
getting used to reading this word in the new way as well as brailling it.
The word really in EBAE way is r, e, and the a l l y contraction. In UEB it
is r, e a contraction, l, l, and y. The word enabled looks different due to
the fact that the b l e contraction has been eliminated. So the old way is
e n contraction, the b l e contraction, and the letter d. Now with UeB it
is written this way, e n contraction, a, b, l, and e d contraction.
One new change that I am excited about is the elimination of the Computer
Code. So when writing web addresses or email addresses we no longer need to
surround it with the Computer Code symbols. Also, we can include
contractions in the writing of both Web Site and email addresses. Using
www.the blind perspective dot com as an example, you would braile it like
this; w, w, w, period sign, the contraction, bl contraction (for blind), p,
e r contraction, s, p, e, c, t, I, v, e, period sign, c, o, and m. Another
exciting change is the period stays the same in any way you braille it.
Therefore, along with website and email addresses the period sign (lower d)
is used in decimals and ellipsis.
In no way have I completely covered all the changes in the Unified English
Braille Code, but I have given you some highlights along with my personal
opinions.
Remember to stay on the dotted line of life.
He sees the perils that are in our path that we cannot see. He speaks to us
in mercy and grace and He builds us up to meet the dangers and be prepared
to receive the things we could not wisely use today. There are many things
which we can employ tomorrow that we cannot wisely use today.
-A.A. Conrad
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Robert Acosta, President
Helping Hands for the Blind
(818) 998-0044
www.helpinghands4theblind.org
