All:
As an external 'lurker' of questionable origin and the advanced age of
90 + I wish to report that I find the 'musings' and abilities of Alice
and Miriam to be of great value to me and my 'aged' mental processes.
Richard
On 5/24/2016 1:40 PM, Alice Dampman Humel wrote:
Roger, I had to smile at your distinction between loving to learn and loving to know. I once had a violin student, she wasn’t half bad, who said to me, I don’t want to learn to play the violin, I want to play the violin. I wonder what ever became of her?
Remember, too, that you are still significantly younger than Miriam or I, and you are much more technically minded and inclined than many, and, as I said before, what might be easy for one person to grasp might be extremely difficult for another whose intelligence is of a different nature.
And, I must say, Miriam has far from given up, and, although she doesn’t seem to think this about herself, she is capable of doing a hell of a lot with computers and other devices she uses well and on a regular basis.
Alice
On May 24, 2016, at 3:15 PM, Roger Loran Bailey (Redacted sender "rogerbailey81" for DMARC) <dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:dmarc-noreply@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Struggle is the right word. In 2003 I bought a computer and found that about the only thing I knew about it was how to even plug it in and I was lucky to know that. I then proceeded to teach myself how to use it. I was determined to not have wasted all that money I had spent on it. Very often I would work with it all day and go to bed absolutely mentally exhausted and then start again the next day. I actually had a technical support number to call, but I didn't know what it was and the fact that the word technical was in it kept me from calling because I thought it would be over my head. Eventually I did find that the more I learned the easier it was to learn something else. Then I discovered technical email lists. My first one was the Bookshare volunteer list. It was from that list that I learned how to transfer files. I found out that my learning rate did increase considerably once I started reading those technical support lists. There are still a lot of things I do not know how to do though. For one thing, I really don't know where to start in handling PDF files and I keep telling myself that I really should get around to tackling that too. One thing is certain. If I had told myself that I am too old to learn and then given up before I even started you would not be reading my words now. I have said here before that I love to learn. That is not exactly true. Learning can be exhausting and it can be very tempting to give up. What I love is knowing. The trouble is that one cannot know without learning. So I gird myself and get down to learning so that I can then know. Before I ever touched a computer that became a habit for me and I still remember experiencing some mental exhaustion in other areas such as trigonometry or chemistry.
On 5/24/2016 11:11 AM, Alice Dampman Humel wrote:
Miriam,
Believe you me, it was an enormous struggle, but I’m nothing if not persistent and determined, so…and I am also sadly aware that I don’t know how to do half of what I am sure can be done on this computer, the iPhone, and with VoiceOver…
So it has far less to do with ability than you might think…I don’t have that much ability, either.
I think many of us are in the same boat…we were plain and simple too old when all this techno stuff exploded onto the scene!
Alice
On May 24, 2016, at 10:41 AM, Miriam Vieni <miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Alice,
I'm envious of your ability to learn new things. I'm actually avoiding
upgrades and anything new if I can help it. I was never trained properly on
computers, have no knack for them, and didn't learn new stuff easily on
themwhen I was younger. At this point, if I can just do the things I know
how to do, I'm grateful. At some point, I'll have to upgrade something and
then I'll be in a mess!
Miriam
________________________________
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Alice Dampman
Humel
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 10:02 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: one more thought about the stream and the NLS
player
If you use a Mac, you don't even have to bother with all that companion or
unzipping.
The Mac automatically unzips the book, and all you have to do is copy it
onto the sd card or the cartridge.
I know Apple products are not for everyone, but I, for one, am glad I put in
the effort to learn at least part of what can be done on the Mac with
VoiceOver and how to do it and thereby released from these constant JAWS
upgrades and the giant conglomerate of Microbloat, the incompatibilities of
JAWS with different websites and software, etc.
Not an endorsement, advice or recommendation, just FYI, one person's
experience and opinion. On May 24, 2016, at 9:20 AM, Miriam Vieni
<miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:miriamvieni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
I'm glad that you are enjoying the stream. There is a piece of
software from
Humanware that was developed for the stream 1. It's called the
Humanware
Companion Software. Once it's downloaded, it makes transferring and
opening
books very easy.
Miriam
-----Original Message-----
From: blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:blind-democracy-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Martian.Lady
Sent: Tuesday, May 24, 2016 1:13 AM
To: blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:blind-democracy@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [blind-democracy] Re: one more thought about the stream and
the NLS
player
Hi
I definitely am not a blind gadget geek. I have a Windows 7
computer
because Microsoft made me give up my Windows XP computer. I have a
flip
phone from Walmart which cost $19.95. I bought a Victor Stream so I
could
download BARD and Book share books directly because I didn't know
how to
transfer books from the BARD site through the computer. As I said
before I
love my stream.
Marsha
