Bird Site

I can neither support nor condone hate speech.

Ambience

When I got older, I realized that if I didn't feel down with clubbing, there were dwindling options where people actually congregated. Cafés, bookstores, even pool halls in my day, but those can be rather expensive hobbies.

Back to restaurants. I hate that they insist on dimming the lights after 5 PM. Being a lipreader, it's a disadvantage. When the trend for louder music happened, you could say I lost my appetite for eating out. Clubbing, that's different. There was no need to wear hearing aids because people were yelling to be heard anyway.

Guess it's the library for me. 

Ford Has Failed Ontario

Ford Has Failed Ontario

 

What's Next, Nintendo?

I've been enjoying my time with the #Nintendo Switch very much. I'm getting better at gaming, considering 30 years ago I was still using quarters. During breakfast, my partner & I discussed what could be next for them? My theory: look at #MarioKartLive. It'll be an AR visor.

Politics

I've worked as a TA. What Stephen Lecce is doing to Ontario education is enabling your children to fail.

 

Twitter

I have been able to cultivate some positive online relationships & discourse, thanks to Twitter. Like-minded folks, neatly sorted into some specific niches (with a bit of overlap). Nice, manageable & I can shut it off when I need a break. I can get breaking news, sports scores if I'm curious, the like.

I like Twitter, I enjoy using it. However, I'm indifferent if Musk buys Twitter & leaves well enough alone, but he won't. I'm thankful I still have a blog I can keep here, thanks to Google.

 

 

I Hate The Drive Through

I had a Burger King coupon for Whoppers, but their doors were locked & they're only taking drive through orders. This has happened before.

 

I think they've been operating with one cook, one cashier/drive thru operator. That's not sustainable. Start paying people a living wage.

ASCII & Unicode

Due to grandfathered, backward compatibility, the first 128 #Unicode characters point to the classic ASCII characters we all know & love.

That means my favourite method of ♪quoting song lyrics♫ should still work, since I've memorized a lot of those older ASCII codes. ;) 😁

Darren's Internet safety tips

👀@ email greeting, logo, sender. If there's false urgency, lottery wins, unsolicited job offers, ignore these.
👀 @ website URLs, numbers in place of letters (1 for l, 0 [zero] for O, etc).
🚫install software from unverified source.
Update your PCs/phones.

Calling Out Apple

Alright, I admit it. I'm nobody famous. But I've been around tech a LONG TIME. And it's time for me to call out Apple computer, Inc on their bullshit.

I've been "Pixel binning" & cropping into the photo since 2013 with this beast, the Nokia Lumia 1020 & it's not even Android, it's Windows Phone. Apple doesn't innovate anything when it comes to cameras, really. "The Steve Jobs Reality Distortion Field" is in full effect. I'm so tired of their BS.

"It contains Nokia's PureView technology, a pixel oversampling technique that reduces an image taken at full resolution into a lower resolution picture, thus achieving higher definition and light sensitivity, and enables lossless digital zoom." Wikipedia entry here.

As Per My Last Email

Please review the prose I chose

To articulate my imposition.

If you insist on obfuscation of the situation,

You risk the excitation of my disposition.

Morning Coffee

"Mornings are for coffee & contemplation." That's a line from the Netflix series Stranger Things. What you're looking at is a custom program I use on my hearing aids when sitting at the dinner table in the morning. Ambient sounds are muted so I can have a quiet conversation with the person sitting across from me.

Radio DJ

I've slowly started changing my workflow since the tablet arrived. I've set it up on the dining room table, the principal idea being easy access to & controlling of my YouTube playlists while we're having breakfast. Just click on "More" after the page opens to view the full menu of what I have made publicly available. Take a wild guess at what my dream job was growing up?

A radio DJ. At its most basic premise, this person would select their music program in a block of airtime and chat in between spinning tunes. I saw the effect these people, personalities and tunes had on people - it made them happy - what a cool job to have. These playlists are an opportunity for me to live out my dream of programming a radio station, or a block of airtime.

I'd love for that to happen, but it's not very likely. Regardless, enjoy, and thanks for listening. ♪ ♫

"Real" Gaming.

I get confused when people equate "Real" gaming with "PC" only. I've built & mod PCs, it's a skill.

Stop conflating "real" with marathon gaming, which can also be done on a #NintendoSwitch.
Plus, Competition gaming is a step above that.
What they're describing is elitist gaming. Just, stop. You've lost the point. Enjoy the games, enjoy your craft. But don't dump on your peers. That's just classless. We're here to have fun, damn it.

I'm holding my current favorite controller, the Nintendo Switch Pro. Only the black option was available at the time.

Producing Disablity Content

I am thinking about signing & producing videos.

I don't often get a chance to sign with people these days so I'm a bit hesitant about this idea; however I also don't want to lose my ability to sign by not using it at all.

 

I've been putting some thought into this. The EASIEST way for me to do this would be a "semi-casual" setting. I have some ideas from other bloggers I've seen on YouTube & elsewhere. A combination of scripted content and off-the-cuff "Shorts" might be utilized to achieve my goal of spreading positive news about technology & other subjects I think would be of interest to my fellow HoH & disabled community.

 

While I'll be speaking & signing it won't be American Sign Language (ASL), it will be something known as "contact signing" - ASL signs but rearranged in English word order. There's an older term that's frowned upon these days called "Pidgin Signed English" (or PSE). That mode is most natural for me, so that is what I'll be using.

 

This could potentially be a political landmine. I'm aware how the Deaf feel about their culture being appropriated & that is not my intention. I think I have a good grasp of technology & how it can be used to improve the quality of life. But I don't seem to stumble upon that kind of content when I go looking for it - where people are signing when discussing it. I will NOT be teaching people HOW to sign - there are other places they can go for that: Bill Vickers online, or even Marlee Matlin's iPhone app to name just 2 off the top of my head.

 

I've spoken with my partner about this idea off & on for the last year or so, & she's on board.

I've been purchasing equipment & other odds & ends over the last year in preparation. Foam tiles, ring lights. I'm looking at Blue Yeti microphones, etc. I'm also going to "recycle" my old Lumia 1020 as the initial camera for recording "studio" video. I've got my Pixel and other devices to generate b-roll footage as well if needed. I'm not sure how complicated it will be at first, but I am sure it will evolve.

Thank you for reading my ramble. Have a great day.

Facebook

This is a test to see if I am able to post links to my blog.

Bait & Switch

The Reform & Alliance party performed one of the greatest political bait-and-switch swindles in Canadian history, right in front of our eyes.

They gave us Stephen Harper & Preston Manning, put a blue ribbon on Republican politics & called it "Conservative". And we fell for it.

 

Just look at the public displays - the F*ck Trudeau flags, groups showing up to harass the public. This is all planned & paid for with funds from the USA. Republicans want to destroy Canada because they can't stand the fact that we have a functioning democracy.

Nokia N8

I've thought about getting into 'serious' photography with traditional camera & film etc. The prime reason I got into smartphones was because I didn't have to mess with all of that other stuff.

I used the same reasoning behind adopting mp3 & epubs - less physical stuff to own. Having said all of that, the editors at Mobile Syrup have a nice write-up on the current film photography trend.

 

The bottom photo is my first actual smartphone (since my cell carrier informed me that it qualified as one and thus I lost my grandfathered data plan), the Nokia N8. It had a 3.5 inch screen, a 12 MP camera & that was damn impressive back in 2010. The photo itself is a point & shoot - a Canon Powershot something-or-other. It was pretty much the extent of my photography knowledge at the time. This Nokia changed all of that. I began understanding the science of light & how it affects photography a little more. The Lumia 1020 which came along a few years later upped the ante again - but that's for a later post.

 

Multimedia

One of the things I've realized in the last while is a rejuvenation of the PC, a shift towards more mobile computing with 2 in 1 form factors rather than a static slab. I'll admit I wasn't too interested until I learned about Bluetooth LE.

I've always had to chain myself to a PC as far as multimedia was concerned because that was the only place I could have any sort of real control over the sound. Bass, treble, depth, equalizers, sound mixers, I've tried them all. I really cannot overstate how liberating a technology like BT LE is. Right in my remote control I have those settings for equalizers - I can even mute the live microphone & focus on just the movie I'm watching, rather than the low brow people gunning their engines outside.

This also presents a bit of a quandry. I enjoy watching the Simpsons but I haven't always had captioning in order to understand whatever scheme Homer has planned this week. Now that I have them, should I start over from the beginning with that series? It's been on the air for over 30 years! That's going to take forever!

Switch

I didn't REALLY know what to expect when I was suddenly handed a surprise Nintendo Switch. I knew it played games of course, but I was never really into video games because I didn't feel like I was any good at them? When I was growing up, my only access to video games required quarters. I didn't have an Atari, or an NES. I did have a Radio Shack Color Computer, but you were mostly expected to copy your games from magazines and save them on cassette.

Fast-forward to the moment I learned that the Switch supports Bluetooth audio & my hearing aids, my mind was blown.

I unpacked the unit & the first day was spent getting familiar with the thing. It's NICE, it seems well constructed. The first game I tried was Pinball. I think that was the right choice because it let me come to grips with that controller. 😁 I won't make any Pinball Wizard references, whoops - too late.

When I realized that this unit had HDMI I/O & could also be plugged into my 32" flat screen, I was impressed. Now I could play high quality games (not emulated) with a controller at my desktop. I plugged everything in & it just worked. I can appreciate a job well done, and Nintendo has done it IMO.

Memories of Morgentaler

 

Doctor Morgentaler fought for reproductive rights in Canada.

Today I heard that SCOTUS have struck down Roe vs. Wade. This is quite disturbing as abortion rights are essentially about bodily autonomy, something that many Women in the United States are sorely lacking. 

I'm pro-choice and I always have been, ever since I started thinking for myself and not what organized religions were preaching. I have always deferred to the woman - it's her body & her decision after all.

Maslow

I've been thinking a lot about Maslow's hierarchy of needs lately, and how it seems to be a constant struggle for those who are disabled to achieve basic needs, much less self-actualization.

I recall my naivety while reviewing this model in college & thinking that society was constantly learning and improving and we were striving to meet the needs of all of our people. It's 30 years later and I'm still trying to get the first 4 cylinders of this thing to fire in unison.

Facebook

These notices are Facebook's Gestapo informing me that linking to this blog violates their community standards for spam.

Alright. Where do I put my complaint about Facebook violating privacy standards?

Travel Kit

This item took a bit longer to arrive from Amazon, but I'm not really complaining. I need to organize the profusion of cables and accessories better so my solution is two-fold. I'll put like-with-like and keep the Samsung tablet & its peripherals together, and research another case for the stragglers. Up next, researching a power brick.

Reform & Alliance

The current Conservative party in Canada were a merger of the former Reform & Alliance party.

So if it doesn't feel like today's conservatives have a heart, they don't. The Federal PCs are dead. These are US styled Republicans they snuck in through the back door.

Why No Sort, Google?

I had a flat text file when I exported my Groceries list from Microsoft To-Do & in order to make it work efficiently in Google Keep as a checklist, I needed to do a lexicographic sort, which I neglected to do the first time. It takes too long to find a specific item in an unsorted jumble as you can imagine.

After fixing that I then had Keep add check boxes to each element in the list and voila, a cleaner shopping list. Much better. I wish Keep had a tool to sort alphabetically, however I managed to make it work for me. That enabled me to uninstall Microsoft To-Do & One Note - which saved me not insignificant storage on a Pixel phone that doesn't have expandable storage. I don't like that trend.

Pride Month

Time for some advocacy. If the thought of people with disabilities having sex makes you squeamish, go look at something else.

The label LGBTQIA++ & the month long #Pride corporate lip service doesn't matter if Persons With Disabilities aren't included. It's difficult to FEEL pride & camaraderie when nobody wants anything to do with them. #PWD need love & have needs, too. Cheers.

Focus

What makes a blog nowadays? I thought it was just words at one point, however you can also have video and comment sections. I don't know how far I want to go with this yet; it's currently a place I can talk about things that interest me, without polluting my social timelines with my carefully curated ramblings. Aren't you fortunate that you found this page?

Anyhow, this blog will have a niche focus on the joys and challenges of being hard of hearing (HoH). However, sometimes I diverge & I need an outlet - some place to put my thoughts! I'm investigating the idea of YouTube videos, but I do not know if I could sustain the demand of something like a YT channel. I haven't tried anything yet, though.

I need to teach my old school PS/2 trained hands where to go when typing on this Bluetooth keyboard that I am finally getting some use out of, and not rely on Gboard keyboard shortcuts. Another adjustment is a return to flow writing, where I let the errors fall where they may and I don't stress about wasting paper. And no, I'm not showing my age - vinyl records aren't the only things coming back, I see faux-leather bound journals, manual typewriters (like the ones I learned to type on back in the late 70s) while out in public, and social media posts about Calligraphy pens.

It is also commonplace to have a comments section. I was considering it but for once in my life, I'd like to say: "No, my thoughts are valid and I require a place to put them without the fear of push-back or censorship" - so no comments for now.

Look at that - that was a completely unhurried, uninterrupted train of thought that I successfully composed & posted. That felt nice.

Batman

I hated Christian Bale's 'Batman' because I could never understand anything he said. When College Humor released this bit I felt better about that: Batman chooses his voice.

2 Books

2 books I've read that changed my understanding of everything.

1. Joseph Campbell - The Power Of Myth. All religions are founded on myths. The sooner you get to grips with that, the better.

2. Stephen Hawking - A Brief History Of Time. Once you've got a grip, hold on.

Chargeless

Am I the only one who has to remove their Fitbit Charge 4 from their wrist, any time I need to sit down & do some serious typing?

Pixel Buds

Something about my sweat just destroys electronics. I've gone through many HAs & though my newest pair are IP rated I would prefer to baby them if I can. I have XBox wireless headphones but they're big & dorky. Looking @ these Pixel buds for the gym.

"Alternative Facts"

"The very powerful and the very stupid have one thing in common. Instead of altering their views to fit the facts, they alter the facts to fit their views...which can be very uncomfortable if you happen to be one of the facts that needs altering."
 

Doctor Who - The Face Of Evil

COVID Burnout?

I have been seeing recent reports in the news that many people are suffering from burnout. The increase was attributed to the pandemic & the continued extension of mask mandates.

I'm probably not alone in wondering: if we hadn't had those outright refusing to vaccinate, if it could have been over with sooner rather than later. I guess we'll never know now, because it's too late. The virus ran almost unabated even in progressive European nations - despite educating the public about transmission & the sure potentiality for mutation. This was attributed to Russian bot spam campaigns on Facebook & Twitter. Welcome to the mis-information age. I'm getting off topic however. 😤

My partner & I both got triple vaccinated & eventually got "breakthrough" sick. We suspect it was COVID-19 because many of the symptoms were there. We reported to the ER & patiently waited 4 1/2 hours for someone to see us. We described that it felt like we were trying to breathe through a straw. After getting chest X-RAYS, the Doctor told us to isolate for 10 days or until symptoms subsided. He also said that we were not the first he'd seen with similar respiratory problems in the recent weeks & we likely wouldn't be the last. He confirmed they would not administer a PCR test (due to Provincial restrictions private schools getting them all). I suppose we'll never know for sure what we were sick with either, because we couldn't get tested. Did we indeed have COVID-19? Was it Delta? Was it Omicron? I guess we'll never know the answer to those questions, either.

I will continue to mask up in busy areas despite the mask mandate being dropped for now. It's not over yet, "Folks."

Going Mobile

I recently purchased a Samsung Galaxy Tab A7 on a "trial run", to see just how mobile I could be. In fairness, my excursions have been limited to the dining room table, the living room couch, the outdoor balcony on a nice day & the bedroom. So far, it's been a champ. The TL;DR (since this isn't an actual product review) is that it has strong WiFi reception, a decent screen indoors, & very good battery life.

Yes, I'm aware of iPads but they've almost always been out of my range as a tech enthusiast on a budget. I was a PC user, not a Mac user. At the time I was already invested in 2 ecosystems (Microsoft Lumia/Windows & Google).

What made all of this possible was Bluetooth (BT) technology. The smaller speakers on smart phones and tablets are very difficult for me to make out clearly with my hearing, so I don't bother with the majority of them. The game changed when I paired my new hearing aids (HAs) with my mobile at the time, the LG G7 One. I now own the Pixel 5.

 

The next step was investigating if tablets would work as well as my smartphone. I found a Samsung Galaxy A7 in an open box sale and brought it home. The A7 has WiFi & BT. Pairing was a nearly seamless experience, whether it was my trusty old Microsoft folding keyboard, to my new BT HAs. I plan to delve into more detail later on those, if anyone's interested.

Low Voter Turnout

The results speak for themselves. Low voter turnout, I'm hearing that CBC stated something along the lines of less than 1 M voters bothered to show up. There was a boisterous and loud Twitter campaign to try and get parties to move the needle on disability progress, but it didn't move. Heck, it barely budged. Despite MAiD getting media attention! What's that you say? It's medically assisted suicide. There are people on disability pensions in Ontario who have it so bad, they'd rather die than continue living.

Am I disappointed? Yes. Am I surprised? No. Voter apathy, pandemic weary, whatever number of excuses you like. My spirits have been crushed. Because at the provincial level, nobody cares about persons with disabilities (PWD).

UPDATE: There may be a light at the end of the tunnel, however I am skeptical as to the time frame & how quickly it can be implemented. Carla Qualtrough, the current Employment Minister, has announced the Liberals re-tabled the previously suspended Parliament's C-35 (after a motion from the NDP politely reminding them of their election promise). You can read the CBC write-up here.

Racism

Lack of empathy & compassion for those who are "different" is the culmination of indoctrination (or even worse) an upbringing fostered on misdirected rage: "If I can't have the things that make me happy, I'm going to take your happiness from you."

As long as people believe that they are "different" from "other people", there's potential for racism. The trick is to realize that different doesn't always mean something is better or worse - sometimes they're just different. That's how racism works - thinking you're better.

The Music In My Head

I need to confess something. I really do enjoy music, and I have continued to do so as I've grown older. When I started making You Tube Music playlists, I initially thought I would just curate some 80s & 90s themes & it would be job done. With the pandemic happening, I also needed something constructive to do & in my opinion it was a worthwhile hobby. TSIMH is an acronym I came up with for "Today's Song In My Head" because I was tired of typing all of that out on Twitter, plus a hashtag saved valuable texting real estate. TMIMH (see blog title) became larger collections based around themes.

Also - I'm actually considering playing my keyboards again.

The separate volumes Milk Crates & Screen Jams was me attempting to catalog the music I had grown up with. Sometimes that proved very difficult. I hummed many themes for years with no lyrics or reference point but the melody in my head. Maddening. Film & Television scores ended up being at least searchable once Google came around. Forever grateful for that.

As far as my playlists, I have now settled into a monthly release cycle for #TMIMH. It will continue to be a digest of all of my #TSIMH social media posts. If you happen to discover a new artist, that's great! Thanks for listening & enjoy.

TMIMH Landing Page 🎧

iOS Live Captioning

#Apple is releasing an accessibility update to iOS - live captioning; this is excellent news as it means there are now 2 major OS platforms improving their captions for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. There's also Google with their "Live Transcribe" on Pixel phones, including the work they've done on Tensor AI and improving the UI.

Link to Mobilesyrup story.

 

Shopping For Smartphones

Until last year, I wouldn't even LOOK at a smartphone if the specs didn't state "3.5 mm headphone jack". This is because I've been hard of hearing my whole life and it's been a challenge finding a phone that I can even carry a conversation on. But I digress - Bluetooth Low Energy (BT LE) has been a game changer for me.

I understand why people want headphone jacks because of convenience - I wish my Pixel 5 actually had one - and folks like Juan Carlos Bagnell will tell you all about how LG phones had high quality DACs and my G7 One has GREAT sound on wired headphones.

I'll have to take your word for it as far as "lossless quality" etc, I miss out on all that. However with the BT HAs I can hear details I've never been able to make out before in songs, songs I've listened to my entire lifetime, so I've got that going for me, which is nice.

Bluetooth Hearing Aids + Pixel 5

I spent quite a bit of time researching between iPhone 12, a Samsung something or other & a Pixel 5. For reasons other than photography (Bluetooth & hearing aids) I was debating getting an iPhone.

I already had an Android (an LG) but having access to Bluetooth with a new hearing aid purchase and 'streaming' audio was really tempting. I learned it was possible with a modern Pixel & that influenced my decision for 2 reasons: 1) I'm already in the Google ecosystem (thanks to a gmail account invite) & have been for years. 2) Due to a compatibility layer being built into #Android10.

I have included a link for more info if you're interested:

Watch on YouTube:

The breakdown for hearing aid compatibility on various models at the time went like this:

PIXEL HEARING AID COMPATIBLE MODELS
PHONE MODEL	HAC RATING
PIXEL 5	M4, T3
PIXEL 4a5g	M3, T4
PIXEL 4a	M3, T4
PIXEL 4	M3, T4
PIXEL 4XL	M3, T4
PIXEL 3a	M3, T3

In a perfect world, you'd pick a phone and it would have a rating of M4, T4. That just means that when used with a hearing aid (either directly on-ear or through the tele-coil), the call should* be clear and free of radio interference.

 *However this is not a perfect world. The Pixel 5 comes close, though. 😉

ASL Online

I learned ASL rather late in life in my 20s (I'm in my 50s now). I'm glad I did, even though I currently live in an area where I do not have much opportunity to sign.

At least I used to believe that. 

So why haven't I bothered reaching out over webcam? At one point, webcams (specifically, bandwith and frame-rates) couldn't keep up with people's native signing speed, so I gave up.

I've been thinking about doing a couple of very specific videos on hearing aid technology and also Bluetooth connected devices. What would set my videos apart would be signing/speaking while documenting myself. It's not something I see very often - a multi-media capable person who advocates and documents the trials facing people with disabilities (PWD).

Dancing Around

I'm trying to educate people who condemn others, as best I can with a just a lousy online presence. #ASL is not English, nor is it any other spoken language. It has its own syntax & grammar rules. It is not "dancing around" (unless we need to). CC isn't perfect (especially when live).

Captioning Fail

I'm not sure if I'm going to start a collection of these things, but I totally could, couldn't I? PS All images copyright of their rightful owners. I merely point out the silliness of the captions, inadvertently recasting the former fearsome Daleks as the rogue nurses of the cosmos. #HardOfHearingProblems #HOHP #CaptioningFail #DoctorWho #NotThatKindOfDoctor #DrWho
 

My Lucky Wiener

A few years back in 2005 I was driving home one night after work & I had taken my hearing aids off (like I usually do). The radio was on & I heard this new song I was getting into when suddenly I thought I heard the singer going ♫My lucky wiener♪ ?!?

I couldn't make it out. I thought "that can't possibly be it", so I turned the volume up some more. Again, same thing. The DJ never said who the artist was & I almost forgot about it completely.

It was some time later I had the TV set on VH-1 & that song started playing, I had to chuckle, my HoH ears had done it to me again. The band was the Killers & it turns out the chorus & title of the song was actually "Smile Like You Mean It."

Netflix

I do have one small thing to point out that #Netflix does better than either #DisneyPlus, #CraveTV, or #AmazonPrime - but that one small thing makes such a big difference.

Subtitles.