When I was training to use the optacon, my instructor wanted me to find as many different things to read as I could so I bought a copy of Time Magazine. I can't tell you how good it made me feel to be able to sit down and read a print copy of Time. After that I read several novels including a couple of Star Trek books. Gail The first book I read was "Jonathan Livingston Seagull." What a trip to be reading something in print with such unique concepts for its time...but not as unique as the newspaper I picked up from a booth at a coffee shop in January, 1978, and took home. It was a copy of "The New York Post" and my fingers started perceiving this stuff about a child having been cloned! What? Yes, it was the first report of the cloning of a human baby boy! It also turned out to be a hoax, but the published article launched the first public discussion of such a possibility. Anybody remember that? <smile> Oh yes, let me not forget the novel I was reading when I read the following: "She shook her heads..." Sheesh! <smile> -----Original Message-----Pam From: _optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Kaye Kipp Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 8:54 AM To: _optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) Subject: Re: reading books Oh gee. No fair lol. The first book I read with the Optacon was Go Ask Alice. Kaye ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mary Ellen Earls" <_meearls@xxxxxxxx (mailto:meearls@xxxxxxx) > To: <_optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) > Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 5:53 AM Subject: Re: reading books > Well guess what the first book I read with the Optacon was? _HARRY _S. > _TRUMAN by his daughter, Margaret Truman Daniel. That book was about as > thick as a pocket size bible. > I also read lots of biographies and have tons of print cookbooks because > not > one talking reading machine can read fractions properly > It was interesting when I first brought the optacon home from TSI, we were > having a family party for my Mother's birthday. Mother asked me to bring > the > optacon to the party and show it to my siblings. My Brother-in-law had > been > a Lion and had seen a demonstration of the Optacon when it first came out > so > he knew quite a bit more about it than the rest of the family. Anyway we > had > birthday and them Mother asked my Brother, Dan to go get a book so I could > read a passage. > Do you know what that big twerp of a brother did? He brought me a book and > I > read and I read and I couldn't figure out the text so I turned the book > around to a chorus of "No! You had it right/!" Well I struggled and > finally > there was a chorus of giggles. My Brother had grabbed a fourth year latin > book from the shelf. > How's that for having to eat humble pie? > Mary Ellen Earls > ----- Original Message ----- > From: <_maryemerson@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:maryemerson@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) > > To: <_optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) > > Sent: Thursday, March 08, 2007 3:58 AM > Subject: reading books > > > Hi all, > > I've read full-length books, and when I was a technical writer, I was > responsible for writing a couple manuals that included pictures of command > syntax, and a few flow charts, and a couple books that had pages and pages > of computer screen shots. I had to go through these books and manually > read > the syntax diagrams and other stuff to be sure all the lines connected. > But > I missed a couple places, and I remember a couple errors that I didn't > know > about until the book was printed, and sighted colleagues overlooked when > they glanced through the book before sending the camera-ready copy to the > printers across the country in Mechanicsburg. I never would have been able > to work on these books without the optacon. > > I had at least one interview with an individual who applied for a > technical > writing job; he was recently blinded, didn't know braille, and although he > had a scientific background, couldn't answer when I asked him how he would > proof read his books, since he relied only on speech synthesizers. At the > time, the optacon was still in production, and he had just obtained one > and > was working with it. I urged him to increase his proficiency because he > wouldn't be able to do quality work without at least some optacon skill. > I've noticed that people who work with braille or the optacon can write > much > better and spell much better than those who rely only on speech. In fact, > we > seem to be much more careful than many sighted people. > > For example, I recall the final version of IBM's version of DOS, in which > one of the manuals included a poorly written note from an employee to the > technical writer; the note was written by somebody who hadn't learned > English very well, and the content could have been summarized in one > concise > sentence, but it was overlooked in the final draft. More recently: A few > months ago, I found quite a few errors in a recently published book, and > it > had supposedly been proof-read quite thoroughly. I notice this more and > more > as people rely on spell checkers and less on human effort. > > Mary > To unsubscribe at any time, just send a message to: _optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto: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@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx (mailto:optacon-l-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx) with the word "subscribe" (without the quotes) in the message subject. <BR><BR><BR>**************************************<BR> AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com. 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. 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