When your life is a romantic comedy...

I was poking around trying to find a version of one of my favorite songs and found this live version of Cheryl Wheeler's "Ghandi/Buddha"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6j5HOuIpeo
in which Cheryl talks about getting married to her partner when gay marriage was legalized.

A great story, and, unlike Vienna Teng's "City Hall," it doesn't make me tear up every time I hear it.

In case you think I am a big squishy romantic though, the version of the song I really wanted is the counterversion, in which Cheryl expresses the point of view of her partner, and this always makes me wonder if Alexx has similar thoughts. Here is the counterversion
Cheryl Wheeler "Gandhi/Buddha " counter version
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADS8Rf-7Yns

To anyone working on developing ebook technologies for universities

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CRT

WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2010 (202) 514-2007

WWW.JUSTICE.GOV TDD (202) 514-1888

JUSTICE DEPARTMENT REACHES THREE SETTLEMENTS UNDER THE AMERICANS WITH DISABILITIES ACT REGARDING THE USE OF ELECTRONIC BOOK READERS

WASHINGTON – The Justice Department today announced separate agreements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) with Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Pace University in New York City and Reed College in Portland, Ore., regarding the use in a classroom setting of the electronic book reader, the Kindle DX, a hand-held technological device that simulates the experience of reading a book.

Under the agreements reached today, the universities generally will not purchase, recommend or promote use of the Kindle DX, or any other dedicated electronic book reader, unless the devices are fully accessible to students who are blind and have low vision. The universities agree that if they use dedicated electronic book readers, they will ensure that students with vision disabilities are able to access and acquire the same materials and information, engage in the same interactions, and enjoy the same services as sighted students with substantially equivalent ease of use. The agreements that the Justice Department reached with these universities extend beyond the Kindle DX to any dedicated electronic reading device.



These agreements follow the Jan. 11, 2010 agreement between the Justice Department, Arizona State University, the National Federation of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind concerning the use of electronic book readers.
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I haven't seen that bookcase since 2009

Today was the first day in the New Year that I felt I had the energy to clean, so the aerye got a good sweeping/dustbusting, and various piles of CDs and books got shelved. A small pile of Amazon boxes leftover from the holidays were disposed of, and this opened up the path to the bookcase in the corner that I hadn't actually been able to get to since about, uh, Halloween.

There are still piles of books about, but most of those can't be moved along to the permanent shelves until my new braille labeler shows up. I ordered it two weeks ago, but products for the disabled are the only consumer goods which basically take your order and then don't allow for any Web interface method to check on your order until hey presto, it just shows up one day.
It's not like us blind people have anything to do other than sit in the dark listening to our Bibles on tape because we're totally not evil.

I think I'll start signing my name like that, you know, like some people show off their affiliation to the Royal Society or the Jesuits: Kestrell, T.N.E.

And speaking of T.N.E., Edgar's raven has flown the coop again. You wouldn't think a plastic bird could get very far, what with having those nonmoving plastic wings and all, but I suppose that there's a reason ravens are trickster figures.

Oh, yeah, and I hung up my Slytherin dress robes which had been living at E.'s apartment since May. It must be that --and the slight singey smell of snark in the air --which makes the aerye feel all homey again.