Stress relief for word people

I am always more at home in printed English, be it in books or DVDs with the captions on, just because it’s more accessible and expressive and stable. Sometimes, though, it’s more than that. There are times I just need to see printed words in front of my eyes: a kind of silent-printed-English white noise. Spoken English is just so much babble when I’ve been awake for too long, or when I’m well worried about something, or I can’t take the level of screaming swear words going on in other rooms. Glancing over a few words on a page is the equivalent of wearing smooth a worry stone. To do that, I need an excuse — trying to concentrate on the plot of a novel won’t work, because I’m sacrificing the entertainment for the visual/sensory aspect and would need to return to the book later when I actually wanted to read it. Having half registered the story already, I’d feel like I’d already read it even though technically I hadn’t, I’d just run my eyes over it. So, that doesn’t work. What does work, however, is an etymological dictionary.

An etymological dictionary isn’t like your average Webster’s or American Heritage paperback. It doesn’t give you usage or regional notes or tell you what anything means — it tells you all the words that borrowed and branched and blurred to make up a single entry for an English word.Etymological dictionaries tend to be a little pricey since they tend also to be thick and usually hardcover, so about six years ago I bought the first dirt-cheap ex-library copy I could find for 10 bucks.

The one I have is out of print — the older hardcover edition of Origins by Eric Partridge. (The paperback is being reissued on January 4, but it’s expensive: about $60. Try Amazon or ABEBooks. Check your local library for older editions and keep renewing, if you have to.) I don’t know what its merits are compared to other dictionaries, because I haven’t read any other dictionaries like that. I don’t know if any of the entries are definitive; many are annotated with the abbreviation for “possibly.” But it’s pleasantly dizzying, just trying to follow chain after chain of words and to speculate on how it must have happened. Raw poetry, almost.

Even following, though, isn’t required. If you have synesthesia, attach facial expressions or gestures to words, or are adept at creating sound symbolism, just looking down the list is the comfort — something like caffeine, or soft clothes [insert comfort object here].

Dragon compatible utilities

Since Nuance doesn’t mention the maintenance aspect, I thought it would be a good idea to make a short list of other applications, such as antivirus or anti-spyware programs, that will work with Dragon using natural language. All are freeware.

Registry cleaner:

CCleaner is completely navigable by saying the words within the buttons or the listings on the side of the screen. To click any checkboxes, you can say the name of that checkbox to either check or uncheck it. You may have to do this more than once, depending on whether the computer thinks you’re trying to check or uncheck. It may uncheck the category altogether so that you can speak individual items you want checked. If you’re using the Startup configuration option, it’s better to use the Mouse Grid or mouse motion commands to highlight the entry you want to disable, followed by speaking the “Disable” button.

Antivirus:

AVG’s main functions are navigable by speaking the main menu item at the top of the screen, e.g. “Tools,” and then the subheading, e.g. “Scan computer.” Buttons such as “hide notification” cannot be spoken. However, buttons such as “Pause,” “Cancel,” “Apply,” or “OK” can be. The link saying “additional scan settings” can’t be spoken, but you can get there by saying “Tools,” then “Advanced settings.” You can speak to get to the list item that you want, and expand or collapse any trees by saying the appropriate arrow key.

Anti-spyware:

SUPER Anti-Spyware can be navigated by speaking the buttons: “Scan your computer,” etc. The radio buttons for choosing a scanning option, e.g. “Perform quick scan,” can also be spoken. To select individual drives to scan, you’ll have to vocally click near that frame and then press the corresponding letter of the drive, followed by the spacebar to check the box.

Machine interpreter for playing text adventure/interactive fiction games:

Filfre can be dictated into and commanded by speaking the main menu headings and then initial subheading letters.

Review of Dragon 10

I succumbed to the recent discounts and bought Dragon NaturallySpeaking 10 Preferred, mainly for the promise of “increased Flash and Firefox support.” So far, I’m pretty impressed with Dragon 10. As long as I’m using Microsoft products, it’s an improvement over 9.5 particularly in word processing. However, as always, these goodies don’t entirely apply to non-Microsoft products. Again, be aware that this does not mean programs like Jarte or Firefox are incompatible; you just have to tweak them until they are. Damn monopolies, though…

I’ll start with surfing the web, because Dragon has given us the closest thing to a macro as we’ll get in the Preferred version. If you have a website that you commonly shop or search on, such as eBay, Google, Wikipedia or Amazon, you don’t even have to open your browser first. All you have to do is say “search [website] for [whatever],” and Dragon will open your default browser, take it to that site, and return the top-ranked results. This works equally well in Firefox or Internet Explorer. (Keep in mind, though, that I don’t have Firefox 3 and so I don’t know if Dragon kept up with the new version.)

In certain cases, Dragon 10 now has the ability to recognize partially-spoken links in Firefox rather than making you say the full link. However, before you think you can uninstall Mouseless Browsing, there are many instances for which you will STILL NEED IT. Primarily, Dragon for some reason STILL does not have a “text field” command for Firefox. Therefore, unless you want to repeat “Tab” multiple times, speaking the field’s Mouseless ID is the only way to get into it. Also, many pages have links that cannot be read; here you also need the numerals in order to access them. This may be more a problem of non-compliant Web design than a Dragon problem, but this taken with the lack of a text field command renders the partial-link improvement almost moot.

Word processing, as long as you’re using Word, has gotten a bit faster. My dictation is as accurate as it always has been, and I do appreciate the new quick formatting commands. For example, if I dictated something and realize that it should have been in italics, I no longer have to select that phrase first in order to give the Italicize command. I can just say “italicize [whatever].” For introducing unknown words, Spell mode has gotten a little more convenient, in that before and after you spell a new word, Dragon includes the space now instead of running everything together as it did before.

However, I have grown very fond of dictating into Jarte as my main word processor lately, and these quick formatting innovations don’t apply. (Literally; I tried to say “italicize [some word]” and was helpfully informed that “formatting commands are not applicable here.” At least they’re admitting it now!) I’m not complaining too much, though, because Jarte is just about the only cheap-yet-functional word processor that will work reliably with Dragon, perhaps because its code is similar to WordPad. You can still dictate, correct, select, move the insertion point, and spell very quickly in Jarte, and access the first level of menus (File, Edit, etc.) by natural language. To pick a subheading, just speak its first letter and/or Enter. To format something, you simply select it and then say the corresponding keyboard shortcut, e.g. “press control I.” Save, “press control S.” Learning some keyboard shortcuts never killed anybody.

On a basic installation level, I do want to mention it’s a good idea to do the Custom install. The Custom install allows you to choose only the components you think you’ll need. For example, I don’t need the tutorial file, the text-to-speech, or any accent other than US English, so for the unnecessary options I check either “this feature will be installed when required” or “this feature will not be available.” The benefit of this is that it drastically reduces the amount of space the Dragon takes up on your hard drive. I’d say this is important particularly in this edition, because the Dragon has gotten fat. Even after installing only the necessary files, Dragon 10 takes a gigabyte (as opposed to between 515 and 530 MB for Dragon 9.5). If you have a roomy hard drive, this won’t be a problem, but if you have less free hard drive space, I would also suggest getting rid of bloatware, doing defrag and disk cleanup, and/or running CCleaner or a similar program before doing the Custom install. In addition, TURN OFF AUTOMATIC UPDATES. This may prevent the C++ runtime error that some people, including me, got on their first installation attempt. I rebooted my machine after having turned off the updates and it was fine.

After installation, unless you’re going to try to port your voice files from 9.5, I would recommend doing the “short” training option. It takes five minutes, and my accuracy, at least, is excellent. If you’re new to Dragon altogether, PLEASE do a short training, and select the first option titled “Talking to your computer.” Many people — not all, but many — who negatively review Dragon on Amazon clearly indicate that they don’t know how computers process sound, and expect them to act like hearing (or perhaps hard of hearing) human beings, which isn’t the case. If you talk to your computer as such, your accuracy is going to suck. That first tutorial will explain in great detail how to talk to your computer with a normal volume and tone.

I will close for now with a very important recommendation: if you haven’t already, get a USB soundcard and connect your microphone to that, rather than your computer’s front jacks. Integrated soundcards are often full of electrical noise/static, which makes it harder for your computer to “hear” you. A selection of Dragon-compatible soundcards and microphones is sold and compared by Nuance affiliate KnowBrainer. KnowBrainer uses sales to fund their free NaturallySpeaking support forum, an excellent alternative to paying Nuance for a phone call. Maybe we can start a petition for more non-Microsoft supported programs, already…

Book review: Inside Out Girl

Fiction, despite being just that, is still one of the most important vehicles for portraying the sheer range of human beings and emotions in the world. Fiction allows us to “meet” people we may never encounter otherwise — including people with various disabilities. By no means is fiction a substitute for actually getting to know somebody, but if it’s done well, it can provide a tentative reflection. Being fiction, however, does not absolve a book for having incredibly stereotyped characters just for the sake of a soap opera plot. This was my problem with Inside Out Girl by Tish Cohen, which purports to “deal with” NVLD (NLD) via a character named Olivia. But it doesn’t deal with it. That would require introducing the fact that NVLD can BE dealt with, which kills the sappy factor.

Now, granted, I haven’t read many love stories, which this also is in part. It may be the law that love stories must be nauseatingly cliched. The rough summary is this: Rachel Berman meets Len Bean and his daughter Olivia on the side of the road, and they decide to date on the spot. Rachel is haunted by Olivia’s fairy-child-like beauty, and the fact that she resembles the daughter with Down Syndrome she gave up. Rachel’s kids are mortified, because Olivia is the most mocked girl in school. But they have to get along, you see, because Len is dying and has granted guardianship of poor, annoying, clueless, helpless Olivia (sarcasm) to Rachel to assuage her guilt, which is apparently a better qualification than being a licensed foster parent devoted to accepting the quirks of kids like Olivia. Olivia’s quirks include talking solely about rats, hanging onto her decomposing gerbil, asking every day if it’s her birthday, wearing inside out clothes, and basically being nothing but her quirks.

Olivia fares much worse in this book than I expected her to, which I could swallow if only it weren’t so obvious that Cohen was tugging her harder than necessary as a token “heartstring.” I don’t mean to say there aren’t children who exhibit all the symptoms Olivia does — like anything else, NVLD varies widely, and that includes the extreme end. However, because the negatives were never balanced with any positives, Olivia seemed a caricature of every possible item on the NVLD checklists, a walking info-dump rather than a fully fleshed person. I believed the way the kids bully her; that was all too real. I wondered, however, if the author weren’t heaping it a little thick; Olivia exists, it seems, only for the bullying scenes. Certain omissions puzzled me.

For example, Olivia was fortunate enough to be diagnosed at 5, receiving a teacher’s aide and extensive role-playing treatment and counseling. She is 10 when we meet her, and 5 years of treatment haven’t made one dent. I’m sorry, but children do grow up and learn a little, even if by sheer trial and error. Plug in a rote action or phrase often enough, and you will eventually sift what works and what doesn’t. Especially with the benefit of private treatment, for god’s sake! And where was this teacher’s aide? I know too well that the worst bullying can be outside school, but there were scenes that this elusive aide could well have prevented. But that would cut the heartstring of lines like, “As she matured, she’d become more and more aware of the trap she was in. No matter how badly she wanted to escape, there was no real way out.” Oh, poor NVLDers! Aren’t we all just rats in a cage pining to be drowned in a bucket. Olivia, poor changeling child, whose eyes change color (I kid you not) must be protected all her days. AUGH. I’m not saying NVLD isn’t rough — I’ve admitted it, here — but jesus.

Also — who is Olivia? We know she likes rats and Lucky Charms, okay. But what does she do in school? Does she like word games? Is she good at reading or spelling bees, the way we’re shown that even Rachel’s son — a frigging minor character — likes to skateboard? We don’t know. Even her favorite band, Aly & AJ, is a pity prop — they sing about bullying, aww. Olivia is never given a frigging BRAIN. Even when she inadvertently saves the day, Rachel thinks, “Throwing her a party for being a hero was having no more impact than ironing her T-shirts.” So EXPLAIN it to her, then, and show her that one of her weaknesses turned out to be a strength. But no; Rachel just pats her head and pretends it’s her birthday (since apparently no one taught the child how a calendar works! Yes, Ms. Cohen, we do eventually remember our own birthdays.).

Because of sappy romances, we get book review comments like this — “The worst thing that can happen to a family is to be told a child has a learning disability. No, wait. It’s to lose one of the parents. No, wait. There is still one more disaster to hit the Bean family, but that comes later in the story.” Disaster, my arse. Difficult? Absolutely. Disastrous dumb rats? NO. For all Tish Cohen dedicated the book to a real girl with NVLD, Olivia the fairy child is unfairly doomed. The review in question can be found at http://www.bloggernews.net/116718. Cohen’s blog — better written than this book, which is kind of sad — can be found at http://blog.tishcohen.com

TextTwist: an accessible word game

I’ve always been good at word games. There’s something calming about the act of unscrambling a word, then correctly assembling it. It’s not rocket science, but it’s a great distraction. So, I thought I would check out the downloadable version of TextTwist — there’s a free 60 minute trial. The game itself is $20, though there are occasionally free offers for the full version too. The downloadable version is definitely an improvement over the web version as far as accessibility.

TextTwist is simply a word scrambling game, in which you have to assemble words ranging from three to six letters (or seven, in the full version). There is a “twist” button that will rearrange the letters for you, in case a different combination helps. If you get the six or seven letter word, you are permitted to go on to the next round even if you miss other words, but if you don’t get the big word, your game is over. The problem with the web version is that it is timed. You might be able to think of the words in two seconds, but if you can’t move the cursor or type fast enough to actually make the words, this will affect your game score.

The best part about the downloadable version is that you have the option of playing without a clock, giving you unlimited time to both find and input the words. Another useful feature is the “last word” button, particularly for entering plurals of words you already have. For example, if you’ve entered C-A-R, you don’t have to spell out “cars” for your next word — just click “last word,” and all you have to input is the S. There is also a dictionary feature, so that if a word turns up that you don’t know, you can get the definition. This could also be good for those with learning disabilities.

The best way to play this game is with a pointing device, dwell clicking if necessary. (Dwell clicking is another reason the downloadable version is a better idea. In the downloadable version, you don’t have to worry about accidentally clicking on pop-ups or ad links if you get a tremor or something.) I say that simply because it’s little faster, but Mouse Keys will also work. So will the mouse commands for Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Keyboard accessibility is mixed. You can use the letter keys and press Enter to input the words, and press Space to twist the letters. However, to click buttons such as “clear” or “last word,” you still need to move the cursor to the button and click it, which is a minor annoyance. All in all, though, TextTwist makes for a relaxing, if perhaps slower, distraction. You can download the game from http://get.games.yahoo.com/proddesc?gamekey=texttwist. If you don’t like toolbars, make sure you uncheck the box for the Yahoo toolbar during the installation if you don’t want it. Happy twisting.