Blog

My kingdon for blind people not starting a podcast that has something to do with tech. God I am tired of blind people and podcasts to do with tech. There are other subjects in the world FFS, and it would be nice to see educated blind people talking about something other than tech.

Wil and Denise have not seen “The Princess Bride”. I must fix this. It is imperative that I fix this.

People adding special characters to filenames and then wanting them linked on their websites? Wolves. People adding spaces to filenames and then wanting them linked on their websites? That’s right, wolves.

It’s not even 9AM and I already have far too many browser windows open.

It looks like the Android V. iOS wars are popping up in the blind community again, so here’s my take. I love free (libre) open source software. I truly do. But free is not automatically better than proprietary,and with regard to iOS V. Android, accessibility is not subjective. We have standards by which to measure the accessibility or lack thereof of software, and while Android has improved, it is not yet at the same level of accessibility as iOS is. While there are some details of accessibility which are subjective, accessibility as a whole as it pertains to the removal of barriers faced by people with disabilities when using software and websites is not subjective. It doesn’t mean different things to different people. As of right now, Android’s accessibility continues to lag behind the accessibility of iOS, and Android users who insist on saying otherwise are fooling themselves.

I’ve taken ownership of my RSS feed reading by installing PressForward on my personal site and importing all feeds from my WordPress.com reader. Next step: Taking control of bookmarking. Attempting to see if I can get a feed of my Pocket content. #indieweb

All right Spotify, let’s get something straight. If I choose one of my playlists that I’ve curated, and hit shuffle on it, you don’t get to insert your Goddamn music discovery algorithm into it. Leave my music alone.

Dear NFB: Using the government shutdown as a marketing opportunity for your Washington seminar is disgusting. People who work every day to serve this country, often without acknowledgement, have missed a day’s pay and have had to deal with the added stress of not knowing how they were going to keep their families fed or the lights on. And you choose this as a gimmick? You couldn’t possibly sink any lower.

Pocket’s implementation of ReCAPTCHA is downright hostile to people with disabilities.

Deer population is controlled by releasing wolves into an area. All problems should be solved that way. Jaws fans saying NVDA won’t survive because Jaws is professional? Wolves. Two guys in a garage arg.? Wolves. Blindness orgs with inaccessible websites? That’s right, wolves.

While composing the last business email of the day, I wrote “Attacked” instead of “Attached”. Clearly I’ve had enough internets for today. It’s quit-hundred hours bitches.

Dear people bitching about how their prefered stories don’t appear on the homepages of media outlets they love to hate, both right and left: We need to have a conversation about the difference between the front page of a newspaper and the homepage of a website. Apples to oranges.

“smart” speakers like the Amazon Echo are all the rage in the blindness community right now. But there are some significant privacy concerns with these devices, and I’d like to see some discussion about that coupled with all the hype and recommendations to blind consumers.

Writing a note on a site I have full control of, shoving that note to social media as a status post, and then collecting all the reactions and comments back on my own blog so that the entire conversation is in one place. These are all things that will never get old.

Dear blindness organizations: I know Google gives you tons of money and everything, but can you not hand them accessibility awards like sexual favors traded in a back alley? Can you at least pretend you have standards other than money? KTHXBye

Dear Microsoft, your shitty password reset process is the reason why people choose simple passwords. I can’t stand security theater, and this is a shining example of that.

I launched the Facebook app on my phone, and … why the hell would anyone want to use this thing? This is a pile of hot garbage.

PSA: If I help you with your WordPress site in any capacity this year, you can count on me bringing you on to the independent (indie) , web. By stealth if necessary. Inclusive. Open. That’s how we win back the internets from the corporate overlords.

I think I’m going to get myself a copy of “A Hero’s Call”. I still have Alter Aeon to play, but AHC looks incredibly awesome and I need to make a conscious decision to do more things this year that are fun.