Reading in the dark
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Below are the 10 most recent journal entries recorded in the "Kestrell" journal:[<< Previous 10 entries]
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11:42 am
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Request for photo description: anatomy of a thunderstorm
From the Earth and Sky June newsletter--I love thunderstorms! Also note: today is the first day of hurricane season for the Atlantic.
http://earthsky.org/earth/image-the-anatomy-of-a-thunderstorm
Tags: dark arts, description, elementals
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03:24 pm
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2 free Webinars: Usability at MIT +ebook accessibility
Kes: Love this MIT model which has usability and accessibility as part of the same service instead of creating an accessibility ghetto, but that's the good news, because the ebook accessibility Webinar seems to fail to mention that the only way to convert most proprietary format ebooks is to first crack the DRM, and that would count as a big intellectual property no-no, kiddies so, unless you are the Librarian of Congress, it would be wrong to promote such an act, which of course, I totally do not.
1. Free Webinar-Accessibility and Usability: Working Together at MIT
Tuesday, June 26, 11 Pacific, noon Mountain, 1 Central 2 PM Eastern
Presenters: Katherine Wahl and Stephani Roberts from MIT
The Usability and Accessibility teams in MIT's Information Services and
Technology Department (IS&T) always worked closely together, but were formally
merged during a department-wide reorganization in 2009. Our goal in
blending the
teams was to provide a comprehensive service to clients without diluting our
individual practices.
After two years, we have strengthened our ability advocate persuasively for
both
usability and accessibility with clients, have provided more comprehensive
services, and have observed standards applied more consistently.
This Webinar will share the MIT experience as a model for other
institutions to
emulate.
Register for this free June 26 Webinar: http://bit.ly/JiIYW8
2. EASI Free Webinar: The Cutting Edge of E-book Accessibility
Friday June 15: 11 PM Pacific, Noon Mountain, 1 PM Central and 2 PM Eastern
Presenter: Norm Coombs, Ph.D. CEO EASI, Professor Emeritus RIT
The explosion of e-books is changing the face of book publishing and changing
the role of book stores. Different vendors of e-books created their unique,
proprietary document formats which required their being read in e-readers
designed specifically for that format. Imagine having to use different glasses
to read print books depending on who was its publisher! Of course, the
document
format and the specialized e-readers were inaccessible to many people with
what
used to be called "print disabilities". The DAISY document format opened up a
wider and richer reading experience for people with disabilities, but DAISY
books were incompatible with commercial e-readers like the Kindle or Nook, and
commercial e-book formats were incompatible with DAISY.
All this is changing while we ponder these problems. Some software and
hardware
DAISY players have added the ability to read some books in the epub format,
and
the next version of that standard will include even more features that will
support accessibility for users with disabilities. This promises to open up a
new and larger collection of e-books for this population.
What will happen to the divergent proprietary e-book document formats? Either
all publishers will adopt a common e-document standard or, as is happening
already, tools to convert different formats will become common. This Webinar
will explore this complicated picture and try to simplify it for the audience.
Webinar participants will learn which formats are already accessible to them,
and they will be introduced to some tools for document format conversion.
Register for this June 15 Webinar
:https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dEFRVmhpOGFlTVN5T09ScWREeDdsVWc6MQ
Tags: accessibility, ebooks, mit, usability
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05:49 am
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This is what happens when you have a degree in media studies
Even my nightmares are kind of meta: this morning, right before I woke up, I had a triple feature horror anthology in the cinematic style of Hammer films, complete with elaborately-detailed pseudo-Victorian sets with lots of red and the slightly saturated film colors. It's the fact that I didn't get Christopher Lee in my film that kind of makes me feel cheated.
Tags: media studies
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06:34 pm
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Learn how to relax this weekend
In this year of learning to live with menopause/depression/the season of the ongoing migraine, I have to keep reminding myself that being relaxed requires attention, as I tend to slip back into stressful ways if I stop paying attention, so
this post from LifeHacker
http://lifehacker.com/5913394/do-some-serious-relaxing-this-weekend
is full of useful reminders
Tags: health
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07:41 am
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Marvel’s New Superhero “Blue Ear” Created for Deaf Boy
Kes: It would be great to find more stories like this, perhaps with people creating their own superheroes with disabilities.
From the Daily Bits Web site
http://www.dailybits.com/marvels-new-superhero-blue-ear-created-deaf-boy/#more-6625
block quote start
Anthony Smith is a four-year-old boy who has medical conditions, including total deafness in his right ear and some hearing loss in his left. He has been using a hearing aid, but as things go with little boys, he just suddenly didn’t want to wear the device anymore.
His reason?
Superheroes do not wear hearing aids.
Parenting perspectives aside, how do you argue with a little kid about superheroes not wearing hearing aids?
Fortunately, Anthony’s mom seems to be quick on the ball. After hearing her son reason his way out of wearing his hearing aid, she got in touch with the guys at Marvel Comics via e-mail. To be honest, I am actually surprised that they got back to her. Just imagine the volume of e-mails they must receive!
In any case, the Marvel’s response is brilliant. They sent back an image of Hawkeye, who suffers from 80% hearing loss. This was in reply to Anthony’s mom asking for an example of a superhero who uses a hearing aid.
It gets better. Marvel created a new superhero just for Anthony. They call him Blue Ear, and guess what? He is named after Anthony’s hearing aid, Blue Ear.
block quote end
Tags: comics, disability in media, media studies, prosthetics
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04:14 pm
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So, Bimbos of the Death Sun...
Am I supposed to find Dief quite so adorable? I keep hoping that the female science fiction professor will ditch the oblivious engineering prof/writer and sweep Dief off his tweedy feet.
Now I must google for fanfic...
Tags: books 2012, mysteries, science fiction
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05:58 am
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'Dear Howie': Lovecraft answers your relationship questions
I guess this is wy they call it an agony column. Oddly, it makes me sort of wish that there was a "Talk like a Lovecraft character" day.
http://bygonebureau.com/2012/04/04/h-p-lovecraft-answers-your-relationship-questions/
Tags: dark arts, lovecraft
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11:39 am
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You wouldn't think a burlesque troupe on the radio would work
but, osmehow, it does. wwoz.com is chatting with the Slow Burn Burlesque Show, which I guess is putting on a show which features the scandals of classic Hollywood. Plus, the emcee can actually sing.
Tags: new orleans
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10:02 am
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I love you, Dorothy Sayers
I am currently reading Dorothy Sayers's introductory essay to her classic anthology, _The Omnibus of Crime_. My favorite passage of the day is written in regard to the fiction of "That voluminous writer, Mrs. Henry Wood," of whom DLS says: "Whether her problem concerns a missing will, a vanished heir, a murder, or a family curse, the story spins along without flagging, and, though she is a little too fond of calling in Providence to cut the knot of intrigue with the sword of coincidence, the mystery is fully and properly unravelled, in a workmanlike manner and without any loose ends."
"...calling in Providence to cut the knot of intrigue with the sword of coincidence..."--that is high-quality literary snark.
If you are interested in acquiring the etext of _The Omnibus of Crime_, go to archive.org and type "Dorothy Sayers" in the edit field, then select "texts" from the combo box. You will find a Daisy format ebook, which you can either keep as a Daisy ebook or, after unzipping the files, extract the .xml file and then change the extension to /html and read it in whichever browser or device you wish.
Tags: books 2012, mysteries
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06:40 am
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For the history fangirls
Fuck Yeah History Crushes !!
http://fuckyeahhistorycrushes.tumblr.com/
Although I am very disappointed not to find my personal historical crush, Lord Monckton Milnes, whom Carlyle dubbed the "perpetual President of the Heaven and Hell Amalgamation Society."
Tags: fangirl, history
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