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See what’s free to read on January 1 👇
standardebooks.org/blog/public…

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#StandardEbooks #PublicDomain #PublicDomainDay #Copyright #Ebooks #OpenSource #FreeSoftware #Python

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Happy 75th birthday to The Archers, the longest running radio drama in the world. Its famous theme tune is one of my earliest memories. When I was very young, it used to come on the radio every week day afternoon, and Mum would listen to it.
Then I got hooked, and started listening to the Omnibus edition on Radio New Zealand’s National Programme when I was five or six.
I did that without fail, every Thursday night, until 1982, when Radio New Zealand announced that due to the increased cost of the programme imposed on it by the BBC Transcription Service, Radio New Zealand wasn’t going to carry it anymore. This resulted in my first governmental advocacy effort. As a 13-year-old, I wrote for the first time to a Government Minister, pleading with him to do something about this travesty. It was pretty exciting in my working class family to come home one day and find a letter from the Minister of Broadcasting, Ian Shearer, waiting for me in the mailbox. But it was only to thank me for writing and to tell me that he didn’t have the power to interfere with Radio New Zealand’s operational matters. It was the first time, but far from the last time, that I witnessed governmental buck passing up close. My teenage self thought that he could surely just pass a law to stop this or something. I got to know him in my later work, and you can be sure I reminded him of this moment.
Finally the big day came, I still remember the date, 30 September, 1982. Rather than a typical cliffhanger, the episode ended with a special ending for New Zealand listeners, who were never to be invited to Ambridge again.
Eventually, I was let into a fanatical little club of blind people that were receiving The Archers on cassette from a very kind woman in the UK who recorded it every week. It was like being reunited with family I hadn’t seen for a while.
Finally, the Internet made it easy for me to visit Ambridge every day except Saturdays, and that’s still the case.
The Archers is a brilliant show. The fact that it has run so long allows stories to develop in real time, sometimes they can take decades to run their course.
Some people ask me how on earth you start listening to a show that has run so long, and I tell them that the best approach is to treat it like you are moving to Ambridge yourself, the village in which the characters live. When you move somewhere new, it takes a while to get to know everyone, but you eventually start to work out who’s who.
You can subscribe to The Archers via two podcasts. One gives you the 12 minute episode every day other than Saturdays, the other one gives it to you in one big weekly episode each Sunday, that’s called the Omnibus version.
If you would like to catch up, here’s a quick summary, somewhat tongue in cheek, of the story so far.
theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2…
#TheArchers

Obloha v roce 2026: výjimečné zatmění Slunce, polární záře i velký vánoční úplněk
magazin.aktualne.cz/obloha-v-r…

Člověk chvíli vyrazí u nás na kolo a hned tohle 🤷
Já to nebyl ☝️
denik.cz/regiony/cheb-chebsko-…

New Accessible Book and Document Reading app to try. This was posted by the developer on an email list I am on. Please pass it on... Hello everybody,

I’d like to share my new iPhone and iPad app I’ve just released: Vox Libri.

App Store link:
apps.apple.com/us/app/vox-libr…

Vox Libri is built to help people read books and documents in a flexible, personalized, and fully accessible way. It is designed to work well with VoiceOver and braille displays, and to support different reading preferences: on-screen reading, braille reading, or high-quality text-to-speech.

The interface is available in English and Spanish, and you can use any device-supported language for voices.

Key features include:
• High-quality text-to-speech for natural read-aloud.
• A braille reading mode compatible with braille displays.
• A highly customizable reading screen (font, size, colors, spacing, themes).
• Support for common formats: TXT, PDF, DOCX, RTF, HTML, Markdown, and EPUB.
• Accessible navigation through chapters, headings, pages, bookmarks, and sections.
• Hands-free reading using headphone controls.
• On-device AI translation, summarization, and simplification when supported by the device.

I am working in versions for MacOS and WatchOS…

If you try Vox Libri, I would sincerely appreciate any feedback from BlindApple users—especially around accessibility, braille workflows, navigation, and overall reading comfort.

Thank you and regards
Jonathan Chacón

#New #Accessible #Book #Document #Reader #Blind

Damit können wir aushelfen. Dabei sind. DJ Maulwurf und Marius, Fanny und Anja aus Deutschland, und Zuzia und Gregor aus Polen. mastodon.world/@Philsan/115819… mastodon.world/@Philsan/115819… @Ohrfunk troet.cafe/@Ohrfunk/1158191048…

The Domino Effect of Kindness
Sometimes called the "domino effect," the cascade initiated by a single act of kindness can inspire others to act similarly. For instance, holding the door for someone may compel them to pay it forward later in the day, and this melding of kindness can exponentially accelerate positive interactions within a community.

I'm still trying to get through more of the Wandering Inn. So when the author released a truly large chapter and said they were taking a month break, I rejoiced. Because maybe I can get closer to caught up. I'm still way ahead of the audio and want to read that at some point, but some day I hope I can catch the chapters as they are released. So my resolution is to read a chapter or two of this thing a day, and maybe in a few months or ten, I'll have caught up. I'm on 8.59 now, audio is probably about 80 chapters behind me. I sincely hope that the author doesn't switch to AI narration or something before she gets to book 60 of this thing. I estimate, if all audio were published now, it'd take 60 to 80 books, countless hours, and I'm all inn.
in reply to Noel Romey

Man, I am caught up on all the chapters, but I miss so much details, when looking at the subredit, for example, people talking about things I don't even remember reading.
I think it’s because it just registers in my brain differently, or something, like tts vs the actual human naration.
But yeah it’s crazy the end of year chapter is almost the same length as the first Harry Potter book lol.

It's the death day for MacUpdater. It was a great service, going to really miss it.

corecode.io/macupdater/

Going to have to switch to a terminal-based updater. Some combiantion of homebrew and topgrade, probably.

github.com/topgrade-rs/topgrad…

Happy New Year from HKC Radio!

A word about content today. The Digital Domain Online Radio Show will air its annual New Year's Day special tonight at 7 PM EST. It does feature some Christmas leftovers, which is why our Christmas replays are running still. For those who simply do not wish to Christmas anymore, @nick really sympathizes.

The replays will quietly end during the show and regular automation will resume.

This entry was edited (1 hour ago)

Them: Can you confirm you have no more than 15 personal electronic devices in your carry on?

Me: (excitedly infodumping) Well, it really depends what you consider to be a device. Many of these computers themselves contain multiple smaller computers. Consider these microSD cards (waves a small anti-static bag around), each of which has a tiny ARM processor - designed by a trans person from the BBC Micro team, if I might go off at a tangent for a moment. Or the battery controller chip on the LiPo pouch protection circuit, which significantly reduces the probability of a thermal excursion. And let's face it, nobody wants a spicy pillow in their lap at 30,000 feet-

Them: Just say yes. (Pleadingly) Just yes. That's all I'm asking. I'm begging you.

#39c3 #AuDHD

This entry was edited (1 day ago)