Blind News Digest # 1189
Bill McGarry
Issue # 1189
Tuesday, December 19, 1995
Today's Topics:
******
GPO Access: really free at last (fwd)
!!!"Your Opinion Wanted"!!! Excluded from the FBI, the Military, and Little
League???
Mac Classic from George Kelk
Re: Action Alert: Social Security Earnings Limit
IRC channel for blind chat
Postal Service Government Kiosk Press Release
Retinitis Pigmentosa
Screen Magnification Software.
E-mail wanted
history note on tactile graphics
Re: HEWLETTPACKARD_NETSCAPE_MICROS.html (fwd)
******
To subscribe to the Blind News Digest mailing list or have your
thoughts in the next issue, please send electronic mail to
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(300 - 28,800 baud, 24 hours)
Bill McGarry (Moderator)
(203) 926-6187
------
Subject: GPO Access: really free at last (fwd)
From: mi...@pacifier.com (Mike Freeman)
Organization: Pacifier, public access Internet site. 360-693-0325
From: Darrell Shandrow <nu...@henge1.henge.com>
Subject: GPO Access: really free at last (fwd)
To: wacwi...@netcom.com
Date: Fri, 1 Dec 1995 12:05:55 -0700 (MST)
Forwarded message:
| From: Bill Moore <bill...@netcom.com>
|
| Thought a lot of you might be interested in this announcement... BtC
|
| ---------- Forwarded message ----------
| Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 16:09:06 -0500
| From: James Love <lo...@Essential.ORG>
| To: Multiple recipients of list <tap-...@essential.org>
| Subject: GPO Access: really free at last
|
| -----------------------------------------------------------------
| TAP-INFO - An Internet newsletter available from list...@tap.org
| -----------------------------------------------------------------
| INFORMATION POLICY NOTE
| November 30, 1995
|
| - GPO annouces that it is eliminating its fees for GPO Access service
| The service is an excellent one. Free access has been limited to
| parts of the product line, provided at some depository libraries.
| GPO's decision will allow more users to connect to the service, without
| congestion. jamie
|
|
| Date: Thu, 30 Nov 1995 13:16:35 -0500
| To: ace...@maat.reeusda.gov,
| Subject: Press Release: GPO Access Services Free as of December 1, 1995
| From: "Judith C. Russell" <jrus...@gpo.gov>
|
| The attached Press Release was just distributed by the GPO Office of
| Congressional, Legislative and Public Affairs. It announces free public
| access to the GPO Access services effective December 1, 1995.
|
| *********************************************************************
|
| NEWS RELEASE
| U.S. Government Printing Office
|
| For Release: IMMEDIATE
| December 1, 1995
|
| Release No. 95-33
| Contact: 202-512-1991
|
|
| GPO ACCESS NOW FREE!
| GOVERNMENT INFORMATION AVAILABLE TO INTERNET/DIAL-IN USERS
|
| The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) announces free use
| of its award-winning GPO Access online service beginning
| December 1, 1995. All Internet and dial-in users can now
| receive electronically, at no charge, the Congressional
| Record, Federal Register, congressional bills, and a growing
| list of important government documents on the same day of
| publication.
|
| "We believe the public should have timely access to vital
| information about the activities of their government without
| charge," says head of the GPO, Public Printer Michael F.
| DiMario. "This service is made possible through the
| congressional funding of the Federal Depository Library
| Program at a time when more and more citizens are receiving
| their information by computer."
|
| The GPO Access service was created by an Act of Congress in
| 1993 and went online in June 1994. The service earned the
| 1994 Federal Technology Leadership Award and a 1995 James
| Madison Award sponsored by the Coalition on Government
| Information.
|
| Until now, GPO Access has been free only to users on-site in
| some 600 of the Nation's nearly 1,400 Federal Depository
| Libraries and to remote users connecting through over 20
| depository library "gateways." It was available to others
| on a subscription basis for a low fee. Under the new
| program, the subscription fee has been dropped and refunds
| of unused portions will be sent to current subscribers.
|
| DiMario emphasizes that depository libraries will continue
| as an essential link between GPO Access and the public.
| "Citizens lacking either computers or computer skills can
| visit a local depository for assistance," he explains.
|
| The new system now gives equal and free access to those
| utilizing a depository library and to those who are linked
| already by dial-up or Internet connections to electronic
| information. As the Federal Depository Library Program
| becomes more electronic in nature, additional databases will
| be available through GPO Access. Since its creation in 1994,
| the number of databases offered online via GPO Access has
| increased from seven to more than two dozen.
|
| Government databases can be reached via the Internet or by
| dial-in through a modem.
|
| Internet users can access the databases with a
| World Wide Web browser through the Superintendent
| of Documents' home page at:
| http://www.access.gpo.gov/su_docs/ or with
| WAIS client software.
|
| Internet users can also telnet to
| swais.access.gpo.gov; then login as guest.
|
| Dial-in users should use a modem to call
| 202-512-1661; type swais and then login as guest.
|
| In more than 20 States, users with modems can connect to GPO
| Access through depository library "gateways" with a local
| phone call. Listings of depository libraries and "gateways"
| can be found on the Superintendent of Documents' home page.
|
| General information on accessing these databases is
| available by:
|
| e-mail - he...@eids05.eids.gpo.gov
|
| phone - 202-512-1530
|
| fax - 202-512-1262
|
| Questions about the GPO Access service can also be directed
| to a nearby Federal Depository Library. At least one such
| library is located in each congressional district.
|
| *********************************************************************
| Judy Russell (jrus...@gpo.gov)
| Electronic Information Dissemination Services (EIDS)
| Mail Stop SDE
| U.S. Government Printing Office
| Washington, DC 20401
| Phone: 202/512-1622; Fax: 202/512-1262
|
| For Orders & Assistance contact the GPO Access User Support Team:
| he...@eids05.eids.gpo.gov; fax 202/512-1262 or phone 202/512-1530
|
| he...@eids05.eids.gpo.gov; fax 202/512-1262 or phone 202/512-1530
|
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------
| TAP-INFO is an Internet Distribution List provided by the Taxpayer
| Assets Project (TAP). TAP was founded by Ralph Nader to monitor the
| management of government property, including information systems and
| data, government funded R&D, spectrum allocation and other government
| assets. TAP-INFO reports on TAP activities relating to federal
| information policy.
|
| TAP-INFO is archived at gopher.essential.org in the Taxpayer Assets
| Project directory, and at http://www.essential.org/tap/tap.html
|
| Subscription requests to tap-info to list...@tap.org with
| the message: subscribe tap-info your name
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------
| Taxpayer Assets Project; P.O. Box 19367, Washington, DC 20036
| v. 202/387-8030; f. 202/234-5176; internet: t...@tap.org
| ---------------------------------------------------------------------
|
|
| *** You received this message because you are on an RMIUG email list ***
| *** Send email to rm...@rmiug.org for RMIUG & subscription information ***
|
--
Mike Freeman | Internet: mi...@pacifier.com
GEnie: M.FREEMAN11 | Amateur Radio Callsign: K7UIJ
/* PGP2.6.2 PUBLIC KEY available via finger or PGP key server */
... Tact, n: The unsaid part of what you're thinking.
------
Subject: !!!"Your Opinion Wanted"!!! Excluded from the FBI, the Military, and
Little League???
From: pur...@shore1.intercom.net
Organization: ICNet, Salisbury, MD
Greetings
My name is William Purnell, and I have never really considered
myself to have a disability. However, I do wear glasses and my
vision is roughly 20/600, corrected to 20/20 with glasses and 25/25
with contacts. My vision has never been a physical limitation, but
it seems that every time I try to do something, I am not allowed
because of my eyesight.
I will attempt to keep this brief, but I do want you to get the
whole story. As most young boys do, I wanted very badly to play in
Little League. I tried out 4 years in a row and was never
selected. When my parents called to ask why, we were promptly
told for me to play in minor league. This answer, though not the
answer I wanted, was acceptable. When I attempted to join the
minor league team the coach promptly told my parents and I that I
would not be allowed to play because I wore glasses, and he was
"afraid I would get hurt." My parents threatened to sue, and I
was soon allowed on the team but told that I would never leave the
bench. I was never allowed to play in a single game. It is very
possible that I was not that good of a player, but not making
Little League each year made me all the more determined and I
practiced all the harder. I do not believe that any of the players
that were selected to play Little League in my town wore glasses.
Those years passed quickly and I soon put baseball behind me.
At the age of 17, again as most young men, I wanted to serve my
country, so I attempted to join the NAVY. I did very well on the
written tests, physical tests, and was almost through the entrance
process before being disqualified, due to my eyesight. To make a
long story short, I was permanently disqualified from all military
service. I have letters stating such from the NAVY, and ARMY. I
wrote to my senators, and congressmen, with no success. I was also
represented by a MARINES lawyer, which met with similar results.
Again, this was a great disappointment, but I got on with life and
made the best of what I had.
I am now 26, and have worked 8 years as a police officer with a
medium size agency. I have served in all capacities there,
including: Cadet, Patrol Officer, Road Supervisor, Administration,
Underwater Recovery Unit (SCUBA), and the Civil Disturbance Squad.
I have been in fights, high speed chases, foot chases, made
hundreds of arrests, been maced, teargassed, involved in car
accidents, and numerous other situations that currently escape me!
My firearms scores with contact lenses or glasses is always above
the 95% rating. I have handled every type of case from petty theft
to murder investigations. I have received many awards and
commendations. I am not trying to be facetious here, I am only
trying to show you that never in any of that time has my eyesight
been a factor. Recently, I applied at two other Law Enforcement
agencies: the FBI, and the Maryland State Police. Maybe I should
not say applied, because neither of them will so much as give me an
application.
My conversation with the Personnel Office for the FBI lasted all of
2 minutes. The conversation went as follows: They ask if you have
a 4 year degree, (yes I do), they ask if you have at least 3
years work experience, (yes I do), they ask if you are between the
ages of 23 and 35, (yes I am), they ask if your vision is 20/20
without correction, (Uhhhhhh....), well is your vision 20/200
without correction and correctable to 20/20, (no..), well then I'm
sorry we can not send you an application. The Maryland State
Police was a similar story. When I mentioned the ADA and asked how
they could disqualify me when the ADA makes that illegal, their
reply was: "unchallenged, unchanged!"
I am aware that the ADA does not apply to federal programs and that
the FBI and related agencies all have interesting loopholes that
allow them to discriminate against persons "who are not whole." My
question to anyone having read this letter is: Where do you stand?
Please e-mail me with your honest opinions (pros and cons). Has
anyone out there had a similar experience or know someone who has?
Does the FBI also still discriminate based on height and weight?
Does the ADA even apply in my case? What courses of action do you
recommend? Who should I write to: My Representatives? The
President? The Director of the FBI? I would imagine that many
people have had similar experiences, if not with vision, then
something else. Please, I beg of you to speak out, and share your
opinions, NOW!
E-mail or snail mail is preferred due to the large number of news
groups I have posted to. Thank you very much for your time,
consideration, and bandwidth.
Sincerely,
Pur...@Shore.Intercom.Net
William Purnell II
31657 Zion Road
Parsonsburg, MD 21849
410-219-5702
------
Subject: Mac Classic from George Kelk
From: ir...@boulder.earthnet.net (Sandy McAviney)
George Kelk wrote regarding 9 year old girl who needs computer:
If this girl wants a Mac, I have a Mac Classic available for her.
There is no magnifier or printer, however. Please let me know if this
would help. (I'm not blind.) George Kelk gkelk@gkc (George Kelk)
We've tried to use the address provided, but our notes were returned.
I think maybe this isn't a complete address. We would like to reach
Mr. Kelk to thank him and discuss his offer.
Can you pass our message on to Mr. Kelk for us?
Thanks.
Sandy McAviney
ir...@boulder.earthnet.net
------
Subject: Re: Action Alert: Social Security Earnings Limit
From: mm...@ix.netcom.com (Mary Fowler )
Organization: Netcom
In <38...@handicap.news> mi...@pacifier.com (Mike Freeman) writes:
|
|Index Number: 38537
|
| SOCIAL SECURITY EARNINGS LIMIT
| ACTION ALERT FROM: James Gashel, Director
of
|Governmental Affairs
| National Federation of the Blind DATE: November 28, 1995 RE:
|Next steps on linkage retention
| All members of the House Ways and Means Committee should now be
|contacted immediately concerning the Social Security earnings limit
|linkage issue. Each member should be asked to ensure that an increase in
|the exempt amount for senior citizens also includes blind people.
? Why specify including people who are blind, but not people with other
disabilities? Curious, Mary
--
On the Internet we do not speak for the commissions.
Mary Fowler Mayor's Commission on Disabled Persons
James Gonsalves Mayor's Commission on Human Relations
Terry Morgan JG's Assistant
330 19th Street, Suite 50, Oakland, CA 94612-3406
mm...@ix.netcom.com
------
Subject: IRC channel for blind chat
From: da...@ccantares.wcupa.edu (Dana Guthridge)
Hello everyone.
I just wanted to make an announcement. On IRC, which is the
internet relay chat, there is a channel for blind chat. The channel is
designed to discuss all topics ranging from general interests to computers.
To access this channel you need to type IRC at your main system prompt.
Following this type slash server space undernet.org.
Once on the server, type slash channel number sign blindtalk, or
write it this way "/channel #blindtalk"
If anyone has any questions feel free to privately e-mail me at
Da...@ccantares.wcupa.edu.
Thanks,
Dana
------
Subject: Postal Service Government Kiosk Press Release
From: sen...@ptbma.usbm.gov (Mark J. Senk WB3CAI)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 10 Dec 1995 17:03:49 -0600
From: Gregg Vanderheiden via Post Office <p...@trace.wisc.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <kio...@trace.wisc.edu>
Subject: Postal Service Government Kiosk Press Release
TITLE:
Postal Service Names 4 Firms To Develop Online Kiosks
PUBLICATION: The Journal of Commerce
DATE: 12-03-95
TEXT:
The Journal of Commerce via First!: The U.S. Postal Service awarded $1.2
million in contracts to four companies for the development of computerized
interactive information kiosks for postal customers.
Cordant Inc. of Reston, Va.; Digital Equipment Corp.'s Federal Government
Region, in Greenbelt, Md.; IBM Government Systems Inc. of North America, in
Houston; and North Communications, of Marina Del Ray, Calif., will earn
$300,000 each from the Postal Service to develop the electronic service
windows.
The firms are competing to develop integrated software and other multimedia
computer applications for the touch-screen kiosks. The Postal Service will
choose one or more of the companies later to create a network of as many as
10,000 free-standing stations that could be online in post offices,
libraries, shopping malls and military installations within the next few
years, Postal Service spokesmen said.
The Postal Service hopes the electronic service windows will give customers
the ability to interact with multiple federal, state and local government
agencies. The kiosks could be used to register children for school, access
Social Security benefit information, pay parking fines, or obtain loan
applications from the Small Business Administration, said Robert Reisner,
the Postal Service's vice president for technology applications. Retail
businesses, such as catalog companies, may also use the kiosks as a sales
channel for their goods, he said.
The Postal Service is expecting the contractors to demonstrate prototype
versions of the kiosk in early 1996. Initial test units will undergo a
pilot test in the Washington, D.C., area. The interactive kiosks will then
be market-tested in urban and rural areas throughout the country, Mr.
Reisner said.
By Lisa Burgess, The Journal of Commerce
TOPICS:
Government
Interactive Kiosks
Public Sector
PublicSectorNewsletter
PublicSector
-- -----------------------------------------------------
Gregg C. Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Trace R&D Center
Waisman Center and Dept of Industrial Engr.
University of Wisconsin - Madison 53705
g...@Trace.Wisc.Edu , FAX 608 262-8848
FTP,Gopher and WWW servers at trace.wisc.edu
For list of our listserve discussions send "LISTS" to list...@trace.wisc.edu
------
Subject: Retinitis Pigmentosa
From: hid...@server.indo.net.id (Ahmad Hidayat)
There are four people who suffer in Retinitis Pigmentosa. They are
family. If anyone has nay information regarding to treatmant of such
disease, please send me e-mail at hid...@indo.net.id
Thank you
Ahmad Hidayat
Jakarta - Indonesia
------
Subject: Screen Magnification Software.
From: drit...@nwrain.com
Organization: BrainTree Ltd.
We are looking for a screen magnification software. The V.I.
student must pay for it and therefore, we are looking for share
ware or something much less expensive than LP DOS etc. Please let
us know of any such program. Thanks, Margaret Ritchie
------
Subject: E-mail wanted
From: npl...@Direct.CA (Nicholas Plante)
Organization: Internet Direct Inc.
Hello every body, one of my friend is blind and will really appreciate
to receive E-mail from other blind persons.
Her name is Diane Dobson and her E-mail is : aa...@freenet.victoria.bc.ca
Thank you
------
Subject: history note on tactile graphics
From: chu...@idir.net (Chuck Hallenbeck)
Organization: Internet Direct Communications - Lawrence, Ks - (913) 841-2220
The following is a two page item that may interest people concerned with
tactile graphics. Some new things are actually quite old.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Tactile Graphics
Charles E. Hallenbeck, Ph.D.
KanSys, Inc.
chu...@idir.net
From 1967 to 1969 my title was "Senior Post Doctoral Fellow
in Applied Mathematics and Computer Science" at Washington
University in St. Louis. I spent the first year learning to
program and operate the IBM 1401 computer, with its 1403 printer,
which could easily be persuaded to print braille. The 1403 was an
impact printer, striking its hammers with some force against the
paper. If the paper were cushioned from behind with a length of
elastic and the printer printed only periods and blank spaces in
the right places, one got a reasonable facsimile of braille on
the back side of the page.
The periods could be printed in 132 positions per line, and
using an eight lines per inch setting, 88 lines fit on each page.
Printing "period period blank, period period blank, period period
blank, etcetera" across a line, then printing three such lines
and skipping a line, three more such lines and skipping another,
etcetera, gave you a page of full braille cells. To produce
braille text, the software had to format a line of 44 cells
(132/3), a page of 22 lines (88/4), and had to write from right
to left, just as one does with a slate and stylus.
Why print only periods? Why print only braille cells? What
if the page were regarded as a plane of 132 by 88 locations where
periods, hyphens, slashes, asterisks, or anything else might be
printed? How many such characters could be told apart by touch?
Did it help if they were printed in isolation or grouped together
to cover a solid area? Since my earlier training could not be
completely shaken off, I experimented with producing bar graphs
representing psychological test profiles (remember the WAIS and
the MMPI?). The bars were scaled to fill the page, outlined, then
completely filled in. Adjacent bars had to use different filler
characters, or had to be separated by a line of blanks or special
border characters. Tactile graphics were on their way.
Late in that first post-doc year, my mentor (Ted Sterling)
tried to drag me away from my wonderful 1401. He wanted me to
work with the more modern IBM 360 and its PL/I language. I was
miserable. One day while attending a lecture lightning struck.
The lecture was about the "Four Color Map" problem in
mathematics, which was then unsolved. The problem is to prove
that no more than four colors would ever be necessary to color
the various regions of a map in such a way that no two adjacent
regions share the same color. A checkerboard plainly needs only
two colors; more complex surfaces cannot get away with two, and
might need three or four. The lecturer claimed that no plane
surface could be devised that needed more than four, although no
one had been able to prove or disprove that claim. I am told it
has since been proved.
If the idea of colors could be applied to textures on a
tactile surface, then no more than four different textures would
be needed to distinguish adjacent regions on a tactile map. The
blank space and the period were obvious choices for two textures,
and if only two others were needed, then surely two easily
recognizable shapes could be found: probably the hyphen and the
slash, or maybe the digit one or the lower case l. With great
effort I waited until the lecture was over, and then rushed off
to spend the next year writing MAPSYS, a PL/I program with
braille display, designed to let the user generate a "picture"
which would automatically be "colored" with suitable tactile
qualities. MAPSYS took input from punch cards, as most programs
did in the 1960's, and produced braille pictures on a suitably
cushioned impact printer. I was thrilled, my mentor was happy,
and soon the second post-doc year was over and I had to go back
to work for a living.
I accepted a faculty position at the University of Kansas in
1969, from which I retired in 1994. I learned that while their
main computer was a General Electric 635, a major time-sharing
pioneer, they also had an IBM 1401 and would not mind my
occasional use of its 1403 printer. We worked out a way to
request a "special forms" when submitting a print job to the 635,
so that braille output could be obtained as a routine operations
procedure. Then I discovered that PL/I was not supported at K.U.
and MAPSYS was in deep trouble.
The solution was made possible by a research grant from the
Vocational Rehabilitation agency in Washington, to promote what
we then called "Computerized Tactography" as occupational aids
for the blind (at least for myself). We hired Noel Runyan, a
talented young electrical enginnering student from the University
of New Mexico, who happened to be blind, to translate our PL/I
code into Fortran for the Kansas GE system. Upgrading from PL/I
to Fortran? Progress is sometimes made by one step backward. The
results of this research were published in the Research Bulletin
of the American Foundation for the Blind.
Not all steps backward lead to progress however. The 1401
was soon abandoned, the 1403 printer gave way to higher speed
non-impact electrostatic printers, and braille quickly went out
of style at Kansas. Our attention during the 1970's turned to
speech access and culminated in our first talking desktop system
in 1977, with speech access to the campus time sharing computer
in 1978. However, the long term effect of those Camelot days were
hard to erase. The modern era of computerized tactography began
in 1982 when Tim Cranmer designed a graphics mode into the
Cranmer Modified Perkins Brailler, and other manufacturers soon
followed suit. Nowadays we have the Personal Data Systems PicTac
program by Noel Runyan, and our KanSys Inc. LowRez program, which
owe their inspiration, if not their algorithms, to those heady
days nearly 30 years ago.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Send all gifts and invitations to:
4301 Wimbledon Terr., #2B
Lawrence, KS 66047
------
Subject: Re: HEWLETTPACKARD_NETSCAPE_MICROS.html (fwd)
From: sen...@ptbma.usbm.gov (Mark J. Senk WB3CAI)
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 11 Dec 1995 11:01:27 -0600
From: Gregg Vanderheiden via Post Office <p...@trace.wisc.edu>
To: Multiple recipients of list <uacc...@trace.wisc.edu>
Subject: Re: HEWLETTPACKARD_NETSCAPE_MICROS.html (fwd)
>
>
>HEWLETT-PACKARD, NETSCAPE, MICROSOFT TEAM ON INTERNET PRINTING
>
>
> Today, when a document is printed from the Internet, it doesn't look
> like a regular page. The document is often garbled and contains extra
> letters and numbers because printers can't easily read the language
> used on the Web.
1) Is someone familiar with this problem? I have never had any problem
printing docs from the web.
2) Does someone see the disability problems here? I can see where this
might be an opportunity to try to add some hooks to the printing process to
make it easier to make a print file into something easier for a screen
reader or braille program to process.
Anyone got any specific ideas?
gregg
-- -----------------------------------------------------
Gregg C. Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Trace R&D Center
Waisman Center and Dept of Industrial Engr.
University of Wisconsin - Madison 53705
g...@Trace.Wisc.Edu , FAX 608 262-8848
FTP,Gopher and WWW servers at trace.wisc.edu
For list of our listserve discussions send "LISTS" to list...@trace.wisc.edu
------
******
End of Issue # 1189 of the Blind News Digest
******