But this was a funny story, because no harm was caused to anybody!
On Tue, 8 Mar 2016, Judy Jones <sonshines59@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
More than likely a lady would have picked up on the poplin thing, but is a
very cute story. Did she like her popin skirt?
Judy
-----Original Message-----
From: DavidPlumlee (Redacted sender "knobman" for DMARC)
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2016 5:45 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: The Cranmer Abacus
Speaking of a humorous event that happened to me while using my Optacon.
Most of you probably know that many catalogs use "proportional spacing" type
styles. This fact means that lower-case letters such as an "l" or "I" can
be very close together - and sometimes hard to read with complete accuracy
if the print is small. I received a catalog featuring women's clothes one
day, and I decided to go through some of its pages in hope of finding
something nice for my wife. At one point on a page showing skirts, I saw
one which I interpreted as a "popin' skirt." I thought it was a "gag" skirt
that someone would buy for a woman just for fun; when she wore it, it would
go "pop, pop, pop" as she walked along - especially in a very windy day.
When I called the company and told the service lady that I wanted one of
those "poppin' skirts," she was rather puzzled. Fortunately, I was able to
find the page number of the flyer, and I gave her that information and said
that I had receive
d it only a couple of days ago. When she turned to that page and looked,
she asked if I meant a "poplin skirt." I asked her what "poplin" is, and
she said it was a cotton-type material, as I remember. After I told her
that I had read about the skirt using an Optacon, which allows a blind
person to read print, a light came on in her mind. "oh, I see. The "l" and
the "I" are so close together and small print that you thought it was a
"poppin' skirt." We both had a good laugh when I told her that I expected
the skirt to pop with each step as my wife walked along on a windy day.
After our laugh, I bought two of the poplin skirts even though I knew that
they wouldn't pop as Debbie walked along. Debbie also had a good laugh when
I told her about my expectation to buy her a poppin' skirt. Chalk that one
up to small print, proportional spacing, and a guy who knew virtually
nothing about women's outerwear.
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Carolyn Arnold
Sent: Monday, 7 March, 2016 3:48 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: The Cranmer Abacus
True, and I think that the Phoenicians used them?
Bye for now,
Carolyn
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Kane Brolin
Sent: Monday, March 7, 2016 4:28 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: The Cranmer Abacus
On 3/7/16, Carolyn Arnold <4carolyna@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I believe that the origin of the abacus is China, way back hundreds of
years ago.
What's amazing to me is that, even without high technology, you still had a
kind of extended global village with cross-cultural learning that happened
in ancient times. I don't think it is an accident that versions of the
abacus, for example, came about in Greece and Rome at the same time (or
after the time) that they came about in China. Lots of ideas went back and
forth along the silk roads, along with soldiers and textiles and exotic
animals and wine and the rest of it.
Have a great day.
-Kane
to view the list archives, go to:
www.freelists.org/archives/optacon-l
To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message
to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
to view the list archives, go to:
www.freelists.org/archives/optacon-l
To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message
to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
to view the list archives, go to:
www.freelists.org/archives/optacon-l
To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message
to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
to view the list archives, go to:
www.freelists.org/archives/optacon-l
To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "unsubscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
Tell your friends about the list. They can subscribe by sending a message to:
optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the word "subscribe" (without the
quotes) in the message subject.
