🚀 go-pugleaf

                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 973

                          Wednesday, June 30, 1993

Today's Topics:


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                             ABOUT FLEA CONTROL
   Re: Speaking of upgrades on things...how about a basic Braille and Spea
                                 Re: Editing
                                 Re: New Dog
                            Re: Guide Dog Problem
                              Re: more dog poop
                          Re: Blind Filing System?
                          Re: Xerox Reading Edge ?
                            Nls magazine foul-ups
                            Re: GUIDE DOG PROBLEM


                                ******


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Subject: ABOUT FLEA CONTROL
From: Larry.Mcdonald@f9264.n203.z1.fidonet.org (Larry Mcdonald)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:203/9264 - *Your BBS*, Sacramento CA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hi all I am Larry McDonald I am writing for my wife Teresa McDonnal.
Who is blind and has used a giude dog for 11 years. She is now home
almost 2 years with her third guide dog, A yellow lab named Korda.
We do not have a flea problem. Here is some suggestions on flea control.
You Should groom and use flea spray weekley, you can put yeast in your
dogs food, you can use skin so soft from avon in between the flea
spraying when you groom your dog. When using skin so soft only use a
little bit on the dog's brush for it is oily. You can also use skin so sort
in a bucket of water as a cream rinse after the dogs bath. you can aslo
put salt in a bucket of water as well and use as a cream rince after a
bath. You can use a seader bead for your dog to sleep on for the seader
chips detour fleas. You should also use fea bombs in your home or have it
spraied by a company. you can put flea powder in your carpat like using
a carpte freshner as well as putting the flea powder in side your vaccum
cleaner bag each time you change the bag. For fleas will live in your
vaccume bag and you will just put them back into your carpet whien you
vaccume. So the flea powder should kill the fleas in the bag befor they
jump back to the carpet. There is a flea control service named FLEA
BUSTERS whitch will use a powder in you carpet and funiture once a yrar
as a free service to all service dog users. Such as guide dogs, c. c. i.
dogs, and signal dogs. The number is 1 800 765 3532 I hope this will be
of help for i know summer has come and flea season is here. best wishes
to all guide dog user and service dog users teresa and korda

                                        Larry mcdonald

... be king to your four legged friends they need your love
___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12

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Subject: Re: Speaking of upgrades on things...how about a basic Braille and Spea
From: Donald.Breda@p0.f460.n101.z1.fidonet.org (Donald Breda)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:101/460.0 - VI/BUG, Holbrook MA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 DT>     I think you hit the main reason on the head as to why a
 DT>     Grade 2 Braille translator for Braille 'N Speak. The
 DT>  biggest reason would be to allow you to change the file to
 DT>  Grade 2 Braille prior to printing ffrom the BNS. Another
 DT>  reason would be that a Braille contracted file would not take
 DT>  up as much valuable  file space. The Grade 2 file will be only
 DT> around 17 percent smaller at most not much.

I still find it hard to believe that a person would spend 1800 dollars
on a braille embosser  another thousand or more on a braille and speak
another $100 ormore on a brille translator for it when they could have a
computer in the first place that will do much more.
I am a bns lover and user it just didn't seem to make alot of sense to
write a translator for it.
Just curious cause if I can't think of a reason for one that seems good
that doesnt mean there isn't one.
Thanks for your comments.

Donald Breda

... Silver Xpress!...... Now 100% QWK Compatible! More bang for your bucks!

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Subject: Re: Editing
From: Richard.Webb@f8.n290.z1.fidonet.org (Richard Webb)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:290/8 - Iowa MIDI BBS, Des Moines IA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

HI again,

As Sam was telling you about Texture, the sequencer will not show you
music in the tradditional staves format, since midi uses not
names/numbers instead of the western notation method.

For printing music, you will need a music printing utility such as
showtune, which I'll be trying out with speech real soon here, (See my
message to Sam Troya re this subject.)
The easiest way I've found to use sequencers such as cakewalk whether a
hardware based unit or software, is to play the part I want in real-time
onto a track.  I know many people use step-time, but realtime gives me a
better feel, not so mechanical.  Other than those differences, you can
create fully orchestrated pieces using cakewalk and appropriate midi
gear, (read sound generators.)

Hope this helps you out.

RICHARD WEBB

... * Support your right to keep and arm bears!
___ Via Silver Xpress V3.02

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Subject: Re: New Dog
From: Carla.Campbell@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Carla Campbell)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 DT>     Listen, I've had my pooch almost three years and she still
 DT>  insists on surprises from time to time. At least she has
 DT>  finally gotten the idea that inside is a definate no no.

Heh!   I suppose the Metro is just waay too clean to be mistaken for
"outside."  Good thing.  If, however, we don't resolve this little
problem (and it *is* little, in the greater scheme of things), and
Maxwell continues to refuse to learn how to find trash cans in which to
dispose of the baggied evidence, I believe I shall take up selling
retriever-kabobs on the street corners to suppliment the cost of plastic
baggies!

Always nice to know one is not alone.  <grin>
                                                 --Carla

... Read what I mean, not what I write!

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Subject: Re: Guide Dog Problem
From: Carla.Campbell@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Carla Campbell)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hi, again.

 RW> A friend of mine that's an obedience trainer was telling me
 RW> that the lady's problem with her dog might be flea dermatitis,

Yup-- I believe Vixen mentioned that her dog might have a flea allergy.

alas, even getting rid of all fleas in one's house and yard will not
completely solve this problem if the dog is a working guide and
therefore goes out in public.  YOu just can't make everyone get rid of
*their* fleas, and it is pretty easy for a dog to pick them up and bring
them home.  A combination of premise treatment and flea repellent goes a
long way toward fixing that problem, however.  But a dog which has a
true flea allergy will get itchy skin if a single flea hops on board.

 RW> Glad to hear I'm not alone on the fat addition to the diet,
 RW> though. Most commercial dog foods are mainly grains, and don't
 RW> add some of the fats and complete proteins a dog would get in
 RW> its normal diet, so logic would dictate that one must add some,
 RW> especially if they don't feed the dog table scraps to augment
 RW> their regular feed.

Here's where we differ: I am *definitely*  against the addition of table
scraps to a working dog's diet.  That's what they make garbage disposals
for.  Regular animal fat, unprocessed, can cause more problems than it
solves; everything from adding unnecessary weight to a dog to giving it
diharea.  People rarely measure the table scraps they give a dog, and
the dog therefore gets significantly more food one day than the next.
Dogs are carnivors, and the random insertion of "omnivor" food and even
pure meat into their diets can make their relieving schedules just a tad
unpredictable, in my experience. If there is any food allergy, it's hard
to tell which ingredient caused it if you feed random scraps. I'm big on
finding the right diet and sticking with it-- to the letter.    I also
believe that feeding god guides "people food" allows them to develop a
taste for it.  I figure a dog which has never tasted mashed potatos
won't want them when it smells them in a restraunt.  Just a theory, but
I will do anything to keep my dog's "table manners" impecable!

So much for "campbell's feeding religion."

I do agree about the commercial foods-- even the best ones-- not having
enough lipids for some dogs, though.  I  have found the commercial coat
conditioners (mostly vegetable fats) to solve the problems that lack of
fat can cause in dogs with dry skins and coats.  I'm just ore
comfortable using a commercial conditioner designed for dogs' digestive
tracts.

Cheers!
                                             --Carla

... Read what I mean, not what I write!

--
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Internet: Carla.Campbell@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




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Subject: Re: more dog poop
From: Carla.Campbell@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Carla Campbell)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 HK> Howdy Clara,

Hiya, Hnery!

HK> For the most part, all of us were on a pretty tight
 HK> schedule while at dog school.  From what I understand, many
 HK> untimely poop problems were corrected by graduation.

Yup-- adjusting that schedule is all part and parcel of training.  Alas,
our problem does not seem to be exclusively one of scheduling and did
not surface during class at all, since we rarely had the 30-45 minute
walks which seem to instigate it, and we certainly never kept the pace
we now do while we were in training!  In fact, during class, Maxwell
largely refused to partake of park at all.  Well, ok, I exaggerate-- but
then, and still, he tended to have a 30-36 hour biological clock, rather
than the more normal and convenient 24-hour one.

He still does-- which is why, even when we do get switched around and
he's doing his thing first thing in the morning, he quickly breaks that
routine again, waiting 36 hours or more before doing anything more.  I
think the solution to the problem is to get him to consistantly go at
that morning time, thereby "flushing" his system for the rest of the
day.  This is proving easier said than done, however, as no matter what
or when I feed him and take him out, he seems to empty en route that
which he would otherwise have saved for a later time in the day.

HK> Have you
HK> tried consistent feeding and park times?  How much and how
HK> many times do you feed?  What did you do at school?  did it
HK> work?

Heh! um, yeah, believe it or not, I do feed and take him out to park on
a regular schedule!  The only difference between my schedule and the one
they have at school is that my first and last partk times are a little
later-- 8:30 and before I go to bed, rather than 6:15 and 8:00.  Since
he rarely does anything at either time, nor did he in class, I doubt
this difference is at the root of our problem.  (In fact, in class, I
pointed out that since my dog *never* did anything at all at morning
park, there was really no reason for me to get up and go out in the cold
before breakfast time... but, for some reason, the instructors  just
didn't buy this!  I tell you...)

We have 4-6 park times a day, four of them at routine times and the
other 1-2 before going out anywhere.  I am currently split-feeding,
morning and night.  I've found that this seems to get him to digest more
of the food he eats, and, thereby also reduces the amount (but not the
frequency) he poops.  At first, I fed once a day like we did in class,
but found the split-feeding helpful since he did not seem to be
digesting all of his food and he reallyneeded to gain a little weight
(an unusual problem, I know!)

HK> if all else fails you can always purchase doggie
HK> diapers or a cork!

Ah-ha! A *cork*.  Now there's a suggestion I can work with...!

HK> You said you give your pooch a lipid HK> supplement .  There is some
talk about stopped up arteries.
HK> Who knows.  Dogs do not produce Linoleic Acid.

Which is the reason I wouldn't feed a dog unprocessed animal fat or
table scraps.  But these commercial coat conditioners are mostly
vegetable oils and highly-processed stuff.  I don't *think* they've been
linked to artery problems.  I will definitely ask my vet when next I'm
there, though.

HK> An inexpensive brand you can find at pet and feed
HK> stores is called Linatone.  It may be an alternative to what
HK> you are using

Hmm... sounds like another brand of the same stuff I now use.  I will
check it out to see if the contents are, indeed, the same, though, next
time I'm down at the pet supply place.  the one I use (Lipiderm) was
recommended by my vet to resolve some of the itching problems, as you
mentioned.  It's a liquid and I just put a teaspoon onto his food every
morning.  It seems to have helped, without changing anything else about
his digestion, so we've stuck with it.

Thanks for the thoughts!  What I'm facing is not a life-threatening sort
of problem, and I'm far from the end of my rope on it, but anything I
can try to do to resolve it is much appreciated!

Cheers!
                                                 --Carla

... Read what I mean, not what I write!

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Subject: Re: Blind Filing System?
From: Noel.Romey@p0.f59.n114.z1.fidonet.org (Noel Romey)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:114/59.0 - Bob's Place BBS, Mesa AZ


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 -=> Quoting Pete Cresswell to all <=-

 PC> My dad can read pretty well with a CRT magnifier, but has a problem
 PC> locating what he needs to read.

Well, I think I have a sollution.
At a stationery story, you can get small dots,
usually used for pricing things.  These dots are a quarter of an inch
across, and they are round.
For me, this filing system would work, by making up a code, (I.E.) 1 dot
for electric bills, 2 dots for water bills, and so on.  Place the dots
on a specific corner of the page, where it doesn't cover up the print.
When he gets something important in the mail, and he wants to read it later,
put the dots or dot on the corner of the page.  Then, when your dad wants
to say, find an electrical bill, he can feel on the corner of the page,
by flipping through the pages, and just looking at the corners.  When he
finds the right amount of dots, he will know, and put the paper under the
magnifier.  That should work.
     Also, tell him that he doesn't have to be ashamed about his  blindness
and he sshould not hide it.  No one will come up to him in disgust in a
supermarket, just if he carries a white cane.  He just needs to know not
to be afraid of his blindness, and be outgoing about it.  For instance,
I am 13 years old.  I have spoken at some of the NFB (National Federation
of The Blind) conventions, and everyone is blind, and most or all of them
are carrying white canes.  I go to a public school, and am in the top of
my class.  I am outgoing about my blindness, and the children do not kid
me at all.
     Well, if this works, write back, and remember to tell your dad what
I have just said.  Always be outgoing about your blindness.  Don't hold
it back.

                    Sincerely,
                    Noel Romey

... [BRAILLE] . . PROMOTE LITERACY FOR THE BLIND

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Subject: Re: Xerox Reading Edge ?
From: Stephen.Baum@p0.f460.n101.z1.fidonet.org (Stephen Baum)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:101/460.0 - VI/BUG, Holbrook MA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Let me jump in here and add a few things about automatic
contrast/brightness. (Just to confuse it further, its also called
adaptive thresholding.)

Some scanners offer an automatic contrast setting. Usually these aren't
all that good. For the most part, they adjust the point at which an
image is called black vs. white based on the average brightness of
surrounding material. HP ScanJet Plus, HP IIP, and HP IIC offer settings
that do this. I did not choose to support this setting with the ScanJet
Plus, as it seriously degraded recognition on every document I tried.
Even with the IIP and IIC it tended to increase the number of errors
when compared with the same pages using the default brightness setting,
but it did help on a significant minority of the pages, so I kept it in,
though I did not make it the default. Oscar has it as the default
option, which astounds me, since I duplicated my results with Oscar.

As David suggests, what Open Book does is different. HP offers a package
of software free to any developer who makes a product that uses the HP
scanner family. The package is called AccuPage. It does NOT use the
automatic contrast setting built into the scanner, but rather acquires
four bit grayscale data from the scanner, and then thresholds it in
software to binary. Since the scanner is providing four times as much
information, it runs somewhat slower than the manual settings. However,
AccuPage is pretty good stuff - my tests indicated that it helped on
more documents than it hurt (though not by a dramatic margin).

The down side is that AccuPage is available only under Windows. I have
complained to Hewlett Packard about this, and they have told me that
they might just do a DOS version some day but that I shouldn't hold my
breath. I'm not.

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Subject: Nls magazine foul-ups
From: Peter.Scialli@f432.n109.z1.fidonet.org (Peter Scialli)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:109/432 - The Idea Link, Wheaton MD


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

Hi Will,
  I also have had some problems with the NLS magazines like you
  describe.  Right now, the only recorded magazines I get are Talking
  Book Topics which I finally managed to get on casette and Newsweek
  which I get on tape from APH.  I am no longer willing to use 8 RPM
  disks for casual reading!  Mainly what I have done since getting a
  current generation reading machine is subscribe to a couple of print
  magazines.  I can't remember if you have OCR capability or not, but
  with the current generation of products, magazines are not much of a
  problem.  Random access presents a little difficulty, but my wife is
  willing to go through the table of contents with me and place
  bookmarks at appropriate spots.  Another big advantage to using OCR,
  especially with something like a stereo magazine is that you can read
  most of the ads.

     Peter

 * JABBER v1.1 * ShrinkWrap Computer Products: 800-377-0774
===
 * KMail 2.94g - The Idea Link -

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Subject: Re: GUIDE DOG PROBLEM
From: Bill.Koppelmann@f899.n104.z1.fidonet.org (Bill Koppelmann)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:104/899 - The File Bank Inc., Denver CO


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 BS> In addition, I have heard folks talk about using Avon's Skin So Soft.
 BS> I don't have a vet's opinion on it and it may have just been a home
 BS> remedy but it might be worth discussing.

i use it on my pooch and while she's not crazy about it and sometimes
trembles whenI put it on, it doesn't seem to hurt her and even when we
were in Chicago about a month ago, I don't recall that she got any
fleas on her.

                        bill K.

___ Blue Wave/QWK v2.12

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                 End of Issue # 973 of the Blind News Digest

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