So, if someone sounds like Dan Bern but looks like Vincent Price, who is he really? Could he be Gary Chardonnay perhaps?
“Lisa Go Stick It, I Got My Bonnaroo Ticket” by Gary Chardonnay from Bonnaroo on Vimeo.
Here’s Gary Chardonnay’s Twitter profile.
What do you think?
[Note: I don’t work for Bonnaroo and didn’t receive anything from them to post this. No free tickets or anything. Honest FCC]
Thanks to Matthew Orenstein from the Dan Bern email list for alerting me to this video.
Sometimes I think I should be in a field that doesn’t change so rapidly. I used to be able to keep up with the changes in technology, but lately I’ve become overwhelmed and frustrated and sad.
I really believe in what I do — in making web sites accessible. A few years ago it was easier in some ways and harder in others. It was easy in that the main language of the web was simple html and I instructed the coders of the sites I managed to make sure all information was presented in html as well as — or instead of — other formats.
One of the biggest problems then was Portable Document Format or, as it is more commonly known — PDF. Back in 2001 when Section 508 was first enforced PDFs were considered pretty much inaccessible. I even wrote an online and print article on how inaccessible they were in a magazine called First Gov or Fed Web something like that (you’d think I’d remember who published my only published article). I went to seminars to see if I could learn how to make them accessible and learned that the best way at the time was to re-create them as html.
Now it is 2009. Adobe released Acrobat 9 — the premier PDF author. A PDF file created, and often fixed, with Acrobat 9 can be read with a screen reader. I was eventually assigned to to help make the existing as well as new content presented in PDF on a portion of the Head Start Web site accessible. I began a blog about the process and am going to give a talk on this subject in January. Things seemed to be working out with PDF files — and even I believed they could be accessible.
However, as I found out by reading a thread on an accessibility email list, while screen readers can read PDF files ok (if tagged correctly) they might not be able to be easily read by someone with low vision who does not use a screen reader. That the ability to fix problems for these folks with low vision is not even built into PDF files. So, no matter how hard I work to make the files accessible, they will not be accessible to everyone and at some time in the future, when Adobe figures out how to make the fixes, someone — maybe me or maybe someone else — will have to go back and correct all of the PDFs that I’ve already fixed.
This may not seem important or even an issue at all, but perhaps I am a bit of a perfectionist and now I know that what I’m doing cannot be perfect. I’ve slowed down in my work since I read that email — I just can’t bring myself to face these files and these tens of thousands of tags.
I have to keep on reading these emails because this is where I learn. I’m just a little disillusioned at the moment. But I’d better get moving — there is college tuition to pay.
[Disclaimer: I do not work for Logitech and Logitech has no idea I’m writing this. No free stuff for me.]
My line of work doesn’t extensively use a keyboard. I do use it to type in the occasional tag, but I mostly use a mouse for work, so I’ve not really gotten a chance to use my new keyboard for writing anything longer than a couple of sentences in an email until now when I can actually type.
I have a lot of keyboards in my tech closet. I’d snap a photo of the contents of the closet, but you’d all look away in disgust and never read me again. I don’t like the keyboards that come with computers. I wasn’t always like this. I used to think a keyboard was a keyboard, but when I first discovered wireless keyboards I decided that all my keyboards must be wireless.
Earlier last year I realized that since my work area had no close-by lighting (I don’t like overhead lights and the closest lamp was across the room from me) I thought an illuminated keyboard would be a welcome addition to my work area. I looked online and saw that several keyboards that lit up were considered “gaming” keyboards. I knew I didn’t need a gaming keyboards. I don’t game. I found one that looked promising, but it cost nearly $80 and I could not justify spending that money when I had at least 5 other keyboards at my disposal. So what if I had to squint to see the number keys? So what if the shift key stuck on the keyboard I preferred? I was not about to spend that kind of money for a little convenience.
Last Friday I’d vowed to not participate in the spending spree that is named Black Friday. I had a lot of work to keep me busy and I didn’t need anything anyway. However, during one break from tagging PDF files I scanned my Google reader list and saw that Staples had the keyboard I wanted for $30. I researched it and saw that most people that owned it loved it, so I ordered it (from Amazon who had the same price but free shipping — I’m disloyal like that) and it arrived on Monday.
Let me tell you — not only does it light up, it also has the most wonderful feel. It is nearly silent and typing on it is a pure pleasure. No sticking. No noise. No force involved — and the keys are not too sensitive. It is perfect. It would have been worth the $80 price tag.
Oh, did I tell you how thin it is? It is as thin as a dinner plate — a bone china dinner plate, not one of those thick things.
Ah, I’m in love. I could write forever.
(IB — it works with a Mac)
Clutch Cargo Lips 