The Vent and Rant Thread - Page 67

LazyScot · 10-31-2008, 07:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeoffC

we've got to be famous for something, other than cricket !

Well....

Jarvis Cocker, Ted Hughes, Alan Bennet, Tony Harrison, Diana Rigg, Patrick Stewart, the Brontes, Joseph Priestley, Captain Cook, the setting for Bram Stoker's, William Wilberforce, Fred Hoyle, Malcom Bradbury, A.S. Byatt, Dame Judi Dench, Charles Laughton, Artic Monkeys, ...

Yorkshire Puddings

Yorkshire dales and moors (God's Own Country)

Whitby Abbey, Castle Howard, York Minister, Wentworth Woodhouse, Fountain's Abbey, Bolton Abbey, Humber bridge....

Terry's Chocolate, Rowntree's chocolate...

(guess whose better half comes from Yorkshire, and should know better than to ask certain questions....)

zelda_pinwheel · 10-31-2008, 07:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LazyScot

(guess whose better half comes from Yorkshire, and should know better than to ask certain questions....)

tee hee !

well now we know, right ?

desertgrandma · 10-31-2008, 10:09 PM

Can I add "and whine" thread to the title?

Checked on Sue Grafton's availability for e-books. She does the mysteries, "A is for" "B is for", etc.

Of all the books she's written, only P, Q, R, S, and T are available.

Now I want those publishers and author, to sit right down, right here in front of me, and explain the logic in THAT. Have they never heard of character development?

Actually, I don't care who's responsible. Its just dumb.

I'm starting to see why people go to the dark side. Its your own stupid fault, people!

zelda_pinwheel · 10-31-2008, 10:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

I'm starting to see why people go to the dark side. Its your own stupid fault, people!

alas.

desertgrandma · 10-31-2008, 10:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

alas.

Easy, Madame Z............I'm not there.

I"m just understanding better why people do that in cases like this.
There is absolutely no excuse for a series of books in e-book format to not start at the beginning.

zelda_pinwheel · 10-31-2008, 10:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

Easy, Madame Z............I'm not there.

I"m just understanding better why people do that in cases like this.
There is absolutely no excuse for a series of books in e-book format to not start at the beginning.

no no, i was just lamenting the same stupidity as you were. "alas, those stupid publishers, they'll drive everyone to the dark side." you know.

desertgrandma · 10-31-2008, 10:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

no no, i was just lamenting the same stupidity as you were. "alas, those stupid publishers, they'll drive everyone to the dark side." you know.

Understood.

Darqref · 11-01-2008, 02:15 AM

Why does every electronic manufacturer believe "Digital" is equivalent to "miniature"?

Two sample cases. MP3 players and TV remote controls.

My mother is legally blind, although she can see well enough to do lots of things. With a large enough TV screen, she can sorta make out the image and can certainly listen. The remotes driver her batty. There is a line of large, lighted remote controls, advertised in stores for assisted living, etc. They also have LOTS of buttons, and while large, those buttons are close together. Mom can't distinguish between them. There's another line of remotes that almost works - they have only six buttons, power, mute, channel up/down, volume up/down. Works great (except on our *other* TV, for which the standard remote signals don't work), except that again, the buttons are TOO CLOSE TOGETHER. She has trouble hitting only one, frequently manages to change a channel while trying to put mute on or off.

Lets have a remote that is both large AND simple. She already needs to hold it in one hand and press buttons with the other, so something the size of a book isn't too large. Make the buttons FAR APART. If there's enough distance between them, I can stick velcro labels to identify the correct buttons. Leave off all the stuff that tries to talk to multiple components (she frequently hits the button that makes the remote start talking to the dvd player, and then can't find hot to set it back. It waits for me to rescue it.)

She also likes to listen to audio books. For mobile uses, (ie, anything other than her bedroom or elswhere in the house where she can just listen to it on the main stereo) this currently means a cassette tape. I have yet to find ANY mp3 player that has a control which she can actually use. The least expensive ipod (the shuffle) is impossible to listen to an audio book on, since it scrambles the order of the tracks.... On others, the screens are so small that it's difficult to make sure what book and/or track you are on (for someone with vision problems anyway.) The power up sequence doesn't bring you to the point you left off, so you must figure out how to navigate to the correct spot. Most of the time, I think she'd even pick it up upside down.

I want an mp3 player that is the size of a cassette player, such as an old Sony Walkman. I want the controls to be Seperate buttons that can be identified by feel, far enough apart to make sure you will only hit one. Enough with this standard rocker button that imitates an iPod! And hey, the size might make it so that you can use larger batteries too. And make the power on come up to the same place it left off, so that the sequence is power, play, not power, choose, choose, etc, then finally play.

And for frosting on the cake, it would be nice if the thing stopped playing any time she falls asleep in the middle of the book. Maybe a setting that requires hitting play to advance to the next track in the playlist?

radioflyertoo · 11-01-2008, 08:38 AM

Arrgghhh! I dropped an unopened bottle of Ceasar Salad dressing on the floor, directly on it's top. That would have been ok but the d*** thing popped it's bottom off and shot up to COAT THE CEILING and they are nine feet high. Cleaned the ceiling and the floor. NOW I HAVE TO PRIME AND REPAINT SAME CEILING.!!!!!! Arrggghhh!!!

Sparrow · 11-01-2008, 08:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Darqref

Why does every electronic manufacturer believe "Digital" is equivalent to "miniature"?

Two sample cases. MP3 players and TV remote controls....
Lets have a remote that is both large AND simple. She already needs to hold it in one hand and press buttons with the other, so something the size of a book isn't too large. Make the buttons FAR APART.

One of the products mentioned on the American Foundation for the Blind web site is the Jumbo Illuminated Remote Control; would that work?

Nate the great · 11-01-2008, 09:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by radioflyertoo

Arrgghhh! I dropped an unopened bottle of Ceasar Salad dressing on the floor, directly on it's top. That would have been ok but the d*** thing popped it's bottom off and shot up to COAT THE CEILING and they are nine feet high. Cleaned the ceiling and the floor. NOW I HAVE TO PRIME AND REPAINT SAME CEILING.!!!!!! Arrggghhh!!!

I once did that with a quart size jar of mustard. I managed to get all 4 walls, the ceiling, and myself covered in mustard.

pshrynk · 11-01-2008, 10:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

I once did that with a quart size jar of mustard. I managed to get all 4 walls, the ceiling, and myself covered in mustard.

Were you spiking it after a touchdown? that had to have a lot of force to get that sort of scatter!

zelda_pinwheel · 11-01-2008, 10:52 AM

i think the lesson here is : never trust a condiment.

Darqref · 11-03-2008, 02:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

One of the products mentioned on the American Foundation for the Blind web site is the Jumbo Illuminated Remote Control; would that work?

Probably not, Mom would still not be able to read the buttons, and therefore there are too many of 'em. It tries to do too much.

radioflyertoo · 11-03-2008, 06:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by zelda_pinwheel

i think the lesson here is : never trust a condiment.

Yes sometimes they break and you end up with unexpected results.

11-01-2008, 02:15 AM	#998
Darqref space cadet Posts: 334 Karma: 2999999 Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Seattle area Device: Rocket PRO, gen3, Pocketbook360	Make it BIG! Why does every electronic manufacturer believe "Digital" is equivalent to "miniature"? Two sample cases. MP3 players and TV remote controls. My mother is legally blind, although she can see well enough to do lots of things. With a large enough TV screen, she can sorta make out the image and can certainly listen. The remotes driver her batty. There is a line of large, lighted remote controls, advertised in stores for assisted living, etc. They also have LOTS of buttons, and while large, those buttons are close together. Mom can't distinguish between them. There's another line of remotes that almost works - they have only six buttons, power, mute, channel up/down, volume up/down. Works great (except on our other TV, for which the standard remote signals don't work), except that again, the buttons are TOO CLOSE TOGETHER. She has trouble hitting only one, frequently manages to change a channel while trying to put mute on or off. Lets have a remote that is both large AND simple. She already needs to hold it in one hand and press buttons with the other, so something the size of a book isn't too large. Make the buttons FAR APART. If there's enough distance between them, I can stick velcro labels to identify the correct buttons. Leave off all the stuff that tries to talk to multiple components (she frequently hits the button that makes the remote start talking to the dvd player, and then can't find hot to set it back. It waits for me to rescue it.) She also likes to listen to audio books. For mobile uses, (ie, anything other than her bedroom or elswhere in the house where she can just listen to it on the main stereo) this currently means a cassette tape. I have yet to find ANY mp3 player that has a control which she can actually use. The least expensive ipod (the shuffle) is impossible to listen to an audio book on, since it scrambles the order of the tracks.... On others, the screens are so small that it's difficult to make sure what book and/or track you are on (for someone with vision problems anyway.) The power up sequence doesn't bring you to the point you left off, so you must figure out how to navigate to the correct spot. Most of the time, I think she'd even pick it up upside down. I want an mp3 player that is the size of a cassette player, such as an old Sony Walkman. I want the controls to be Seperate buttons that can be identified by feel, far enough apart to make sure you will only hit one. Enough with this standard rocker button that imitates an iPod! And hey, the size might make it so that you can use larger batteries too. And make the power on come up to the same place it left off, so that the sequence is power, play, not power, choose, choose, etc, then finally play. And for frosting on the cake, it would be nice if the thing stopped playing any time she falls asleep in the middle of the book. Maybe a setting that requires hitting play to advance to the next track in the playlist?

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10-31-2008, 10:09 PM	#993
desertgrandma Enjoying the show.... Posts: 14,270 Karma: 10462843 Join Date: Jun 2008 Location: Arizona Device: A K1, Kindle Paperwhite, an Ipod, IPad2, Iphone, an Ipad Mini & macAir	Can I add "and whine" thread to the title? Checked on Sue Grafton's availability for e-books. She does the mysteries, "A is for" "B is for", etc. Of all the books she's written, only P, Q, R, S, and T are available. Now I want those publishers and author, to sit right down, right here in front of me, and explain the logic in THAT. Have they never heard of character development? Actually, I don't care who's responsible. Its just dumb. I'm starting to see why people go to the dark side. Its your own stupid fault, people!

11-01-2008, 08:38 AM	#999
radioflyertoo Hog Rider Posts: 266 Karma: 1581 Join Date: May 2008 Location: eastern PA. Device: HTC 7501	Arrgghhh! I dropped an unopened bottle of Ceasar Salad dressing on the floor, directly on it's top. That would have been ok but the d*** thing popped it's bottom off and shot up to COAT THE CEILING and they are nine feet high. Cleaned the ceiling and the floor. NOW I HAVE TO PRIME AND REPAINT SAME CEILING.!!!!!! Arrggghhh!!!

11-01-2008, 10:52 AM	#1003
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	i think the lesson here is : never trust a condiment.

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