Population Vs. Environment

The following is what I submitted for my final writing assignment for my Sociology 1000 class. We were challenged to write a 1 page, double spaced paper on our thoughts regarding How population effects the environment in both wealthy and poor areas. We were also to provide our thoughts on how to best protect the environment.

Enjoy!

In the battle of humanity versus the environment, one thing is clear: the World will win. That being said, we seem to be doing our best to cause as much damage as possible. We can clearly see this when we look at environmental issues in wealthy countries such as the U.S. and other developed nations. A prime example is our inability to eat most of the fish that we can catch in the wilds of our fair country. Every state has at least some limitations to the amount of wild fish that can be safely consumed due to mercury contamination. In the poorer, less developed countries of the world this is less prevalent as industry and population centers have not caused as much environmental contamination.

I believe the best thing we, as a society, can do to limit the degradation of our environmental quality is to be more conscious of the effect we are having on our environment. We need to closely monitor both the rate at which we are consuming fossil fuels as well as better understanding and managing the effect the processing and use of these fuels have on our environment. The search for better alternatives to these energy sources is also a vital endeavor. This is true for two reasons. We can not ignore the ramifications of the use of current fossil fuels. We must also be prepared that these natural resources will not last forever. In the end however, I do believe that the final score will be World 1, Humanity 0.

12 Things To Do In A Wal-Mart While Your Significant Other Is Shopping

The following list is courtesy of  @aThumper on Twitter.

12. Go into a fitting room and yell loudly, "Hey! We're out of toilet paper in here!"


11.  Go the Service Desk and ask to put a bag of M&M's on lay away.


10. Move a 'CAUTION - WET FLOOR' sign to a carpeted area.


9. Set up a tent in the camping department & tell other shoppers you'll invite them in if they'll bring pillows from the bedding department.


8. Look right into the security camera; use it as a mirror, & and pick your nose.


7. Get 24 boxes of condoms & randomly put them in people's carts when they aren't looking.


6. Set all the alarm clocks in housewares to go off at 5 minute intervals.


5. When a clerk asks if they can help you, begin to cry and ask, "Why can't you people just leave me alone?"


4. While handling guns in the hunting department ask the clerk if he knows where the antidepressants are.


3. Dart around the store suspiciously while loudly humming the theme from "Mission Impossible."


2. In the auto department, practice your Madonna look using different size funnels.


And…..


1. Hide in the clothing rack and when people browse through say, "PICK ME! PICK ME!"

Hey, I figure if you're gonna shop at Wal-Mart, you may as well find ways to enjoy it! Feel free to add your own in the comments and share the link to this post.

Cheers!

Greatest Customer Service eMail EVER! #woot

I got this email today and laughed so hard I had to share it!


Dear rwnutjob, 

Welcome to the warm embrace of Woot, the first, best, and most hygienic daily deal site! Sit still a 
minute because you need to know this stuff:

• You're now a registered member of all four of our sites: woot.com, shirt.woot.com,
  wine.woot.com and sellout.woot.com. Don't be alarmed. We'll explain more
  later.
• Typical orders take up to 5 business days to ship from our warehouse (except for overnight
  t-shirt orders, which go out sooner, and wine orders, which take longer). If you order an item
  during peak times like a Woot-Off, it can take a little longer. Once we ship it, delivery time to
  your door depends on FedEx or SmartPost.
• Once the item ships out, you can access your tracking data by going to Your Account and
  clicking on the order number. If you have a problem receiving your order, or you receive the
  wrong item, contact service@woot.com.
• If you receive your item and it doesn't work, contact the manufacturer first. They made the junk.
  Let them deal with it. If they turn out to be total tools, contact service@woot.com and we'll
  grudgingly provide some further assistance.
• If you receive your item and decide you don't like it, take it to eBay or pawn it off on one of
  your so-called friends. We don't want it, either.

That goes for Woot.com and all of the sites in the Woot.com family. There's some specific stuff 
you might want to know about each of the others. And here it comes now. 

Shirt.woot - Check the size chart, check the size chart, check the size chart. It's at the bottom of the 
product description for each sale. If you order the wrong size, we won't take it back - your only option 
is to gain or lose weight so it fits, possibly including painful, costly cosmetic surgery. If you want your 
overnight order the next day, place it by noon Central time. International orders generally take about 3-
4 weeks to arrive. Looking for an old shirt design? If you're lucky, it'll still be for sale via our
Reckoning page. If you're somewhat less lucky, it might turn up as one of our weekly Shirt.Woot 
Classics. If you think your one-year-old can design a better shirt, encourage your 
one-year-old to enter the Derby, our weekly design competition. That $1,000 prize can buy a lot of 
Binkies.
http://shirt.woot.com/derby/
http://shirt.woot.com/Blog/?cat=reckoning
http://shirt.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx


Wine.woot - First, don't get your hopes up: wine orders can only be shipped to certain states, so read 
the entire list of eligible states before you print up the invitations to your wine party and place your 
order. Ineligible orders will be cancelled and refunded. If you do complete your order and receive the 
tracking data, make sure you give it some time to update. It won't be uncommon for it to take a little 
while for real, actual data to show up. You might call the data "late" - we prefer to think of it as "aged".
http://wine.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx 

Sellout.woot - Don't be confused or disoriented by the redirect when you visit the site - we just have to 
run you through Yahoo! Shopping before you come back to Woot turf. It's perfectly normal. You should 
know that we actually sell things here at times that could partner nicely with items from the regular 
Woot website, giving you a chance to have your cake and eat it, and then take a bite of another guy's 
cake when he's not looking, and mmmm...cake...is this email almost over? We're getting hungry.
http://sellout.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx 

Kids.woot - Keep in mind that Kids.Woot is a site that sells childrens' products, not necessarily a place 
you'd want your kids hanging out. We make every effort to monitor the content and activity in our 
message boards, but you should approach Kids.Woot with the same circumspection you'd bring to any 
other adult-oriented site. Well, not "adult-oriented" in the nasty sense. We just mean it's for mature 
audiences only. But not "mature" as in- ah, forget it, you know what we mean.
http://kids.woot.com/WhatIsWoot.aspx 

Bear with us a moment more and we can all get on with our lives. If you email service@woot.com, 
make sure you include your order number and/or username. We'd hate to have to track you down 
through other, less savory means. And this last bit of information is critical: when you look at your 
order history and panic because you don't see an order you placed, make sure you are logged into the 
Woot site you purchased it from. Your Wine.Woot orders won't show up in your order history if you're 
looking at it on Shirt.Woot, and so on. And you'll be upset, and we'll be upset, and we'll each say things 
we don't mean, and even though we'll eventually work it all out, things will never be the same between 
us again. 

Last but certainly not least, happy Wooting! 

Woot Member Services

Cultural and Religious Implications for Healthcare

While I realize this is a bit off topic for me, it is something that we've been discussing in my Assistive Technology curriculum and I wanted to share a bit. So indulge me! :P

The acceptance of refusal of an individual to follow a healthcare or treatment regimen has been an issue as long as there has been organized healthcare. When someone who has been duly informed of the possible repercussions and consequences of their informed choice to accept or reject treatment, then I believe they have the right to make that decision. However, when the patient is a child and the decision must be made for them, my feelings take a sharp turn. For a child to be made to suffer or be faced with even more dangerous consequences due to a belief they may not even understand is simply wrong. I understand the parents need to make informed consent decisions for their children, but when those decisions are clearly not in the best interest of the child's general health and welfare, it is necessary for an outside agency to step in and advocate for them.

Many factors, including cultural and religious beliefs or teachings can play a role in determining whether or not someone may accept a prescribed course of treatment. Some examples that come to mind are certain Native American beliefs regarding the use of some types of radiological imaging and exploratory procedures. A major controversy that is currently ongoing is the discussions over the use of Stem Cell Research by various religious groups. These are some drastic examples, but the issue can also be as simple as a (in my opinion) misguided parent refusing to vaccinate a child against possibly horrific, life threatening diseases such as Polio or SmallPox. Many of these parents dilusionally believe that they are protecting their children against a greater evil, such as those that believe the MMR vaccination causes Autism.

I, as a general rule, refuse to take prescribed narcotics unless the pain or discomfort I am experiencing is simply too much to bear. I do not like the side effects these drugs have on me and I would rather avoid them if at all possible.

The statements I have made here do have to be taken in the context of an individual patients case however. There can be any number of extenuating circumstances that can influence the decision to accept or reject treatment. An example that comes to mind is a child who has been unsuccessfully battling crippling cancer for years and is being prescribed yet another excruciatingly painful series of treatments that only have a 5% chance of having any benefit. In this case, I can see the family questioning the wisdom of what they see as a torturous existence. While this is an extreme example, it demonstrates the need for health care professionals to treat individual patients, not just a condition on a chart.

Cheers til next time!

The #BlindDIYPC, It Can Be Done!

Ok, as promised, I am posting the specs and a brief rundown of my 1st attempt at designing and building a Windows desktop as a blind dude.

The first crucial step in system design is deciding what you want to do with the new machine, and tailoring your hardware choices to that task. Going to be editing lots of audio, images, or video? Go for a snappy, multi-core CPU and a boatload of RAM. Planning on playing the latest 3D brain splattering video game? Again, I'd say a multi-core CPU, loads of RAM, and add a robust discreet video card such as a Radeon HD 6950 or something like it.

The next step is deciding where to get your parts. If you are lucky enough to have a local shop you trust, by all means, give them your business. Whatever you do, DO NOT buy your components at a huge mass retailer like Best Buy. Usually, the employees at these stores barely have the intellect required to tie their own shoes, let alone what is required to intelligently discourse on the appropriate amount and type of RAM to load up your new ASUS Crosshair IV mobo.

For the #BlindDIYPC (and yes, I realize I put the hashtag in there, it kinda became the name), I purchased all of my components at http://www.newegg.com with the exception of the hard drive and optical drive, which came out of the old system. And, no, I am not getting paid by Newegg for pimping their site. I have shopped there since my favorite supplier (PC Club) closed their doors a few years ago.

So, without further gilding the lily, and without any ado whatsoever, I present the #BlindDIYPC:

CPU (Processor): - AMD AthlonII X4 640 3.0GHz Quad Core ($99)
Motherboard: - ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3 ($139)
RAM: - 16GB (4x4GB) G-Skill DDR3 1333 PC310666 Memory
Video:- Onboard Radeon HD 4290 (part of the AMD 890GX chipset) ($0)
Hard Drive: - Samsung 320GB SATA2 3.0GB/sec 16MB cache HDD ($0)
Optical Drive: - Lite-On 18x DVD Burner ($0)
Miscellaneous: - Rosewill 14-in-1 Card Reader ($15)
Power Supply: - Rosewill Stream Series 850Watt °C cool rated Crossfire/SLI ready PSU ($99)
Case: - Thermaltake V9 Armor series with 3 120mm fans, 1 200mm fan, tool-less design and 2 "hot-swap" SATA 6GB/sec HDD docks ($59)
Operating system: - Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium x64 Edition ($0)
Screen Reader: NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access) ($0)

I wanted to post the pics that I took as part of the build process here, but it turned out to be more of a pain than I thought. So to see the pics, just do a twitter search for the #BlindDIYPC hashtag and you will find all of them.

All of the design and assembly was done by me. The only assistance I received was visual identification of labels that I could obviously not read. The one snag I hit was in installing the ASUS motherboard drivers. Some chucklehead at ASUS decided it would be a good idea to make the installer for the driver packages a graphical based installer, thereby rendering screen readers useless. My workaround was to install each driver set individually from their respective folders.

I have put the rig through its initial benchmark, the Windows Experience Score. The overall score is based on the lowest individual score of the main tested components, so this rig scored a 4.7. The individual scores were:

CPU: 6.8
RAM: 7.2
Video: 4.7
Gaming Graphics: 4.7
HDD: 5.8

So in conclusion, the system is super snappy. Future upgrades may include:

A SSD (Solid State Drive) to handle the OS and Programs and a 1 to 2TB drive for file storage.
A discreet video card such as a Radeon HD 6750 to use in Hybrid CrossFireX with the onboard Radeon HD 4290.
And possibly a Blu-Ray drive/burner for ripping our Blu-Ray collection to H.264 files and burning archive discs.

I hope you've enjoyed following my adventure as much as I've enjoyed its undertaking. Furthermore, I hope it has shown how blindness does not need to be an insurmountable roadblock to doing the things you love!

Until next time!

-------------

Keep up with The Blind Geek:

Twitter:
http://www.twitter.com/rwnutjob

Web:
http://blind-geeks.blogspot.com
http://www.geeksonaleash.com

So, More Than A Little About Me

I figured that since I'm being kind of personal here, I should post a little (or more than a little) about myself her as well. The following is the entire text of an assignment in my college Sociology class to write a one page autobiography. Enjoy!

The year was 1976, and our country's bicentennial. A future Casper College student was brought into this world by Norma Joanne Reed, a single mother not unlike many others during the mid-70's. The backdrop for my childhood was the happy yet bustling town of Tucson, AZ. During the mid to early 80's, Tucson was coming into its own as a melting pot of families and cultures from around the country. 

As I sprouted and blossomed in this cultural garden, I developed the ideals and beliefs that prepared me for the next stages of my life. Upon graduating High School in 1995, I, like many fellows reaching their majority, swerved away from the standard collegiate bound path and joined the military. Following "Boot", I spent a tumultuous but educational 8 years protecting our freedom in the United States Navy as a Fire Controlman. This time was educational and dangerous due to my time in service having been during both the bombing of the U.S.S. Cole, and the terrorist attacks of 9/11/01.

following my service to our country, during which I met and married my wife Heather, we moved to her home state of Oregon and began our family. In August of 2002, our daughter, and one of the most precious things in my life, Aeryn was born. I began working as a technical support manager and started my own freelance IT business. In October of 2005, our second daughter Caitlyn was born. The girls grew like weeds as children do. It was during 2007, when the recession was starting to hit the Portlan area hard, that I was laid off like so many others in the tech fields.

It was due to these regional and indeed national issues that we moved to wonderful windy Wyoming to seek work and a brighter future. I quickly found work here in Casper repairing and maintaining ATMs and security systems. However, like most other states, the recession bug reared its ugly head here in 2009, and I was laid off again.

It was this event that lead me to my current studitious undertaking and the pursuit of my degree. During my first semester back at school, I had some major health issues with Diabetes, which lead to an amputation, and my going blind within a year and a half. Now, like many other blind students around the country in this high tech era, I find myself trying to both adapt to living in an increasingly visual world, but also attempting to mold that world into a more aware and accessible place to work and live.

Rick Reed currently lives in Casper, WY with his wife Heather, and daughters Aeryn and Caitlyn.

The Victor Reader Stream, do you use it and why?

I was recently privileged to borrow a new Victor Reader Stream by HumanWare (http://www.humanware.com) from my Disability Services Coordinator. (Brent: Sorry if I butcher your new title. LOL)

I agreed to evaluate the device and provide training on it's use after being able to put the device through it's paces.

My intention here is two-fold:

1. A brief review of the device and it's pros/cons.

For those not familiar with the Victor Reader Stream, it is an E-book/audiobook playback device that supports a plethora of formats. The device will play recorded audiobooks in a multitude of formats, including mp3, ogg, m4a, and others. It will also play Daisy books and read almost any text format including txt, rtf, doc, and others. The Victor Reader will also play protected MLS (National Library Service) talking books, as well as play podcasts, mp3 music, and a few things I've forgotten.

The Victor Reader Stream also has the ability to record and store voice notes, making it a versatile little device.

I say "little", as it is about twice as thick as an iPhone4 and almost the same in other dimensions.

The device sports a rechargeable internal battery that delivers about 15hrs of use between chartings.

Storage is handled via SD card, and the device comes bundled with a 2GB card, which I recommend upgrading if you want to carry more than a few files around.

The Victor Reader Stream is surprisingly easy to learn and use. This was initially a concern when I first felt the configuration of buttons on the device, but the layout is very ergonomic and easy to master.

Overall, the Victor Reader Stream is a great little device, and, in this geeks opinion, worth every penny of its approx. $300 price tag. :)

2. My other reason for this post is to ask you, my readers what your thoughts are.

Do you own a Victor Reader Stream ?

If so, what do you like about it?

What could be improved?

What is your favorite feature?

If you did not like it, why not?

Are you considering getting one?

Please let me know if I can answer any questions about the device.

As always, you can comment here, or reach me on twitter (@rwnutjob, @TheBlindGeek)

Thanks!

The @Square app: good in theory, but not #accessible.

I was excited about this service until I downloaded the app and realized it was totally inaccessible for blind users like me who use VoiceOver on our iOS devices. Unfortunately, I had to give the app a 1 star rating until Square decides to join the 21st century and make their product accessible. I also sent a tweet to @Square and @jack regarding this issue. I will be glad to reevaluate the product and adjust my rating if this issue is corrected.

Until the glaring accessibility issues with this app are fixed, I do NOT recommend the app or the Square service for blind users.

- Posted by The Blind Geek using BlogPress from his iPhone4 with Apple Voice Over!

ZoomReader not for the blind... Yet.

The latest combatant in the iOS OCR wars entered the fray as ZoomReader hit the App Store.

This app boasts a host of OCR features comparable to those offered by others, but it's accessibility is seriously lacking. The app functions well for low vision users as a digital magnifier, and passing well for them in the OCR department. (being totally blind myself, I have not tested this) My overall feeling with ZoomReader is that it appears to be a very useful tool for those with low vision, especially comparing it's $20 price tag to that of the CCTV units it can replace. The apps usefulness for the blind, however, is less than thrilling.

For now, the Geek's advice is to stick with other options such as Doc Scanner for it's plethora of output options, or SayText for it's accessibility and border/orientation detection. Whatever your choice, blind users should give ZoomReader a pass for now, but keep an eye out for future updates.


- Posted by The Blind Geek using BlogPress from his iPhone4 with Apple Voice Over!

Just When You Think You're Getting Ahead...

Where to begin...

Let's go back to 12/18/2010, the day I became totally blind. I went ahead and registered for my classes for Spring term 2011 after being told there was a plethora of assistive technology options that would allow me to continue my studies.

Flash forward 1 month to 1/18/2011, the 1st day of classes. No assistive tech in place. We haven't even figured out where it's coming from, or how it's being funded.

Flash forward again 5 weeks into the term. I have discovered Apple Voice Over, and am teaching myself to use it. Now the issue is that I am now 4-5 weeks behind in all of my classes (online classes). My professors agreed my best option was to withdraw to prevent a major hit to my GPA (3.78), and go at it again in the Fall.

Flash forward once more to this past Thursday (3/24/2011). I get a letter from my financial aid office saying that I will need to repay my unsubsidized federal student loan before I can even register for Fall term. Having paid bills for the term, this isn't exactly a viable option for me at this point.

I am supposed to be receiving my certification in Assistive Technology this Fall, and continuing on with the rest of my degree.

But it now appears with these developments, that these plans have been derailed indefinitely.

Any constructive comments or suggestions are welcome...

- Posted by The Blind Geek using BlogPress from his iPhone4 with Atpple Voice Over!

Location:Casper College; Casper, WY

Technical Difficulties

I have been experiencing issues with Blogspot and Safari. The browser decided to crash and take all of my work with it.

I will be retyping it and getting it posted today. Sorry for the delay!

- Posted by @TheBlindGeek using BlogPress from his iPhone4!

Initial test phase complete.

For all of you who emailed and tweeted, yes, my testing with Verizon's iPhone4 is complete., and will be posted this weekend

I ran the little beauty through lots of intense usage both at home and on the road.

I also ran it through the ringer with a few accessibility apps for the blind and visually impaired, and will touch on these as well.

Stay tuned to The Blind Geek and be sure to follow us on Twitter: @TheBlindGeek, and the "Geek-in-Chief" himself: @rwnutjob!

- Posted by The Blind Geek using BlogPress from his iPhone4 using Apple's Voice Over!

Welcome to Blind Geek News and Reviews!

Welcome to the Blind Geek blog!

I'm not posting any reviews today, just a quick note to introduce the blog and let you know what's coming up here at BlindGeek.

I am 4 days into my iPhone4 on Verizon, and will be posting a full review here soon so stay tuned...

Be sure to follow us on Twitter, posts are by @rwnutjob for now but should be changing soon as soon as I get an appropriate Twitter username.

The Blind Geek has arrived, follow us and tell a friend!

- Posted by The Blind Geek using BlogPress from his iPhone4!