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Hello everyone. Once again I am slightly behind on posting, but this time I have a legit excuse. I downloaded and installed the latest version of Mozilla Firefox so that I could try out Webvisum. Well, I was able to obtain the latest version of Firefox without any problems, but the same cannot be said for Webvisum. I found the download link okay and followed the instructions, but for whatever reason the confirmation code in the email I was sent didn't work. So I filled out the form on www.webvisum.com and submitted it and a representative did email me back, but he basically told me what I already knew, i.e., to install the add-on and then wait for a confirmation email and follow the steps from there. Needless to say I'm a bit befuddled by this and I'm going to follow up in due course. Other than that things have been going pretty well on my end. I'm getting another new neighbor next week. Actually CIF has done sort of a cool thing. The young man who had been living across the hall from me has moved into his own condo in one of the other CIF facilities, and someone from another one is going to move into his apartment. Actually she's not new to me. I've known her for a little while and she's great. We here at Center for Independent Futures really roll out the red carpet when it comes to new staff or new clients or whatever, and this is no exception. I think I speak for all of us when I say she'll be welcomed with arms wide open--if that hasn't happened already. The third recent event of significance was my cousin's wedding and it was a lot of fun. My dad had a birthday the next day and we threw a big brunch party. That was great fun and I think he thoroughly enjoyed himself. That's it from yours truly for this entry. Like I mentioned at the beginning I had a problem with Webvisum--the Firefox extension which boasts some great features--but my goal for the next entry is to have it successfully running on my system. I do believe the next version of Non-Visual Desktop Access was just released so I'm hoping to try that out as well. Stay tuned!

Hello everyone. I'd like to start off this entry by giving an update on the salmonella outbreak which appeared at first to only be linked to certain types of raw tomatoes. Sources now report that this outbreak has greatly expanded, and now we're being told tomatoes aren't the only likely culprit. This is beginning to get rather interesting. At least 100 residents of Illinois have been sickened, and the outbreak has expanded its territory. What I find interesting here is the number of ill people seems to be increasing by leaps and bounds, yet to this day nobody seems to have a clear-cut answer as to where this outbreak originated. That's right, not even the "experts" know much. The lawyers working on behalf of all the victims of this mass outbreak must really have their hands full! I'm no food-safety expert nor will I ever claim to be one, but I think something as large as this clearly demonstrates the need for better management within the food supply system. The other veggies implicated here are serrano and jalapeno peppers, cilantro and bulb onions and scallions. I personally don't care for any of these, so I don't think the likelihood of me falling ill is very good. But our government needs to step up their efforts in tracking down these kinds of things! Other than this mass outbreak I haven't been doing much. A cousin of mine is due to get married next weekend and I'm going to Indianapolis for the wedding. I've only been to Indy a couple of times, and both were for the Indy500. Those of you into NASCAR racing but haven't been there, this is a must-see event. At one point I even got my hands on one of the racecars. I attended the Indy500 both times with people from a previous job at a nonprofit organization. One of our board members was actually the driver of one of the racecars. In addition, I got to attend a few drag races where another of our board members was a team owner.

Hello everyone. I hope you all had a wonderful Fourth of July weekend. In this entry I'd like to talk about a very exciting technological development which I just recently found out about. This only applies to the Mozilla Firefox web browser. There is now an extension to that browser that purports to solve those pesky CAPTCHA schemes, among other things. The extension is appropriately named Webvisum. I've not tried out Webvisum yet, and I don't even have Firefox. But I'm quite curious about the "CAPTCHA-solver" and hope I can get my hands on a copy of this extension very soon. I had Firefox on a previous computer and it worked great, and I hear support for Windows Vista is excellent. The website for this new Firefox extension is http://www.webvisum.com. For those of you language buffs out there, "visum" is Latin for "vision." This truly does appear to be a "web vision" for the future.

Hi everyone. I have a death to report today. I read this afternoon on http://www.serotek.com about the death a few weeks ago of Clarence Whaley. Clarence worked at GW Micro, makers of the Window-Eyes screen reader. Although I never got to meet Mr. Whaley, I have heard a few of his training sessions and he always did a wonderful job. There is an obituary for him, and it can be accessed over on GW Micro's blog by going to http://www.gwmicro.com and choosing the link that says "Blog." As of this writing I am unsure of the cause of Clarence Whaley's death. Speaking of GW Micro's blog and on a more positive note, they have a great alternative to CAPTCHA. I've seen it on a couple other websites, though there is a slight difference which I will get to momentarily. When posting a comment on GW Micro's blog, a rather simple question is asked and only those very familiar with GW Micro and their products will know the answer. Once this question is answered correctly, posters may click on the Submit button and their comments will be allowed onto the blog. I actually wrote a comment and got the answer wrong on purpose just to see what would happen, and I was taken to the correct answer. So I hit my browser's back button and was able to correct my answer and submit my comment. The difference between this text-based CAPTCHA and others I've seen is that this one asks the same question for every visit and for every visitor. There is also a link which posters may click on to find out why that question is there. I'm not technically savvy enough to know all the ins and outs of CAPTCHA, but these text-based solutions seem to work quite well and I think the spammers are kept out too. I look forward to a day when other website owners who lock us out due to our visual and hearing impairments will implement this kind of an alternative. Yes Blog Carnival--this includes you too!

Hey everyone. I would like to take this opportunity to wish all those to whom it applies, a very happy summer. I don't know about anyone else, but I have already started gearing up for the summertime. In fact more than that. I've already been to several cookouts, one of my favorite pastimes. There are more to come. I've also got both my window air-conditioners in. They're currently off but both work just fine. My tutor and I brought up the unit I had downstairs, and the previous tenant who lived up here was kind enough to leave behind her unit. That one does not have Braille on it or any accessible way to set the temperature, but I don't mind because the unit is rather small anyway and I don't think it has that many settings. I do have an additional ceiling fan in my bedroom too. However, my tutor and I made Braille labels for the bigger unit and I use them when I set the temperature. Another of my hobbies as of late has been travel, as I'm sure it is with many of you. There are two travel-related websites which I only recently found out about and they both come highly recommended. The first of these websites is http://www.EmergingHorizons.com. Emerging Horizons is a company which specializes in "barrier-free" travel, i.e., travel with accessibility in mind. This site discusses things such as finding an accessible hotel room while on vacation and what specifically to ask for when inquiring about these rooms. I did email the website author to ask about people with a visual impairment sitting in exit rows on airplanes and she wrote me back within about half an hour. Apparently exit-row seating was a hot topic at one time with the National Federation of the Blind. I kid you not, these lunatics actually were and no doubt still are in favor of blind people sitting in exit rows. That's not what the website author told me though and I wasn't at all surprised by her response to my inquiry. The FAA prohibits this and I think they have very good reasoning for doing so. I wouldn't want to sit in an exit row, simply because I would be unable to see the proper lighting in order to assist in the evacuation process during an aircraft emergency. But if those in the Federation really feel the need to try and help out then that's all cool with me. The problem in all this, as with most "NFB logic," is that it just simply is unsafe. That's all there is too it--it would be unsafe for someone who can't make out the proper lighting to assist in an emergency situation. But if some people want to endanger their own lives I guess that's okay with me. Or maybe it isn't. Anyway on with my post. The other website is http://www.SleepingInAirports.com. I've not done this myself and I haven't really heard of any friends or family doing it, but the reviews presented on this website are a must-read. They highlight the good, the bad, and the ugly of airport sleeping. The site also contains photos and other cool stuff. I obviously cannot see the photos, but a lot of them appear to have good descriptions. I must warn readers though, there is a lot of adult language throughout www.SleepingInAirports.com, so if you're easily offended by that type of thing be careful. Another piece of advice from yours truly: There are a few descriptions of violent acts, so please use caution if and when visiting this site with young children. All in all though I think you will enjoy your visit.