Augury and reading chicken bones for profit...(was Pun-dirty...)

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> 
> call it light perception (although that's what the docs call it), it's more
> like "dark perception". I would have been very valuable on Babylon 5.

*chuckle*  We're rewatching the whole thing start-to-finish for the second
time now, having gone through it the first time at break-neck pace (5
seasons in 3 weeks--it was a "page turner" of the first degree).

Noticing several nods to Tolkien, now that I've bought and seen the LoTR
trilogy.  Interesting.

> By the way, it is not only a great screen reader that helps blind people use
> computers... it is keystrokes. Mark is especially adept at these... I am

Well on a bed or other non-desk surface (or just a cramped desk), a mouse
is a PITA.  So I use mousekeys when I -must- use the mouse.  For those that
don't know, XFree86 actually has mousekeys support as well, and it's vastly
improved in 4.x compared to 3.x.  The acceleration has been greatly
improved.

> getting to know them better. I know a girl who knows every single keystroke
> for every single major app there is, including Windows itself on every

I still like Start-M.  Saves me the effort of Start, Escape, Tab, Tab.
Much better.

> Should any of you want to try something really cool that I'm sure 99% of you
> don't know... Try this. Open Explorer and navigate to some directory with
> lots of stuff in it. Assuming your cursor (the highlight bar in this case)
> has focus in one of the panes, rapidly press the first few letters of a file
> or folder you see below you. The highlight will jump directly to it. Cool,
> huh?  Not knowing this tiny piece of info caused me months of painful
> navigation in Windows. This functionality is true in almost all well written
> trees and listboxes. Combine this with the keyboard functionality of being

Also works in the start menu.  I didn't know it worked in explorer though.
Thanks!  Handy.

The thing that ticks me off about w2k as opposed to win9x is that in
exporer's little bar that shows you what directory you're in...the one that
drops down...if I'm on win95, I can tab to it, hit right arrow and then
back up one level.  That doesn't work on w2k.  Ahhhh...but I just did find
out that Alt-left arrow does indeed back you up quickly, just as it does in
IE.  However, that shortcut only works in IE on win95, and you have to use
my previous method on the older systems.  Well, it'll save me time when I
VNC to the w2k box, or use it directly.  In IE I'm always making use of
alt-home, alt-left, alt-right, etc.

> synth built in now called Eloquence. Some feel hardware synths are better,
> though... but it's all what you get used to hearing.) Keyboard navigation

I don't think I'd want anything but hardware anything.  Modems, synth,
whatever.  We spent -years- getting to the point where we had separate 3D
graphics cards to specifically UNLOAD the burden from the main CPU and even
the main GPU.  Then they turn around and come up with winprinters and
winmodems, placing more burden back on the CPU.  Totally an evolutionary
regression in that regard.

> unless you _had_ to... but thank God, it's not impossible to get around the
> computer without a mouse.

Amen, and I'm not even disabled to the point I can't use a mouse.  It's
simply not convenient to do so.  And running screen(1) in putty is nice,
because I can copy and paste between multiplexed screens using screen and
vi key bindings.  The only time I have to dink with mousekeys is when I
want to paste between putty and IE, for instance, because some utterly
brainless moron devised a site that -requires- Flash to use it.
*cough*SciFi Channel, Vivendi-Universal, etc.*cough*.  I absolutely deplore
those kinds of web site designers.  They need to be fired and blacklisted
from the industry.

I -do- wish Media Player had a left/right arrow scan functionality like
winamp does.  That's the other time I have to dink with it lately.  That,
and I'd love a keyboard shortcut in VNC that would bring up the VNC system
menu, rather than pass alt-space along to the remote window you're focused
on.  Those are my only real gripes in that arena right now.

mark->
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