I've just witnessed a completely civil and righteous rage against the machine by an elderly man (80s+) at supermarket self-service checkout here in small city Aotearoa #NewZealand and it was a little bit wonderful.

He'd just finished paying for his groceries when the machine started saying "Please take your items" every 15 seconds or so. At first he just says "I'll do it in my own time thank you," while bagging things up.

The machine keeps telling him to take his items. After around the 5th time, he starts really arguing back:
"I don't have to do what you tell me to do."
"I'll take as long as I need thank you."
"I'll thank you to stop harassing me."

On around the seventh or eighth request that he take his items, he stands back, crosses his arms and says loudly snaps, "No! Not until you be quiet!"

The machine keeps going. The man just stands there, crossed arms, chin stuck out. A standoff is on. Staff come over and ask if they can help and he tells them that if they switch the voice off, he will continue bagging his things and go. If they don't, he's retired and can wait all day.

Machine is turned off/down with sympathy from supermarket staff. Moments later the man leaves the supermarket with the air of someone who's just won a war, expression completely stoic.

NVDA 2024.3, the free screen reader for Microsoft Windows, is now available for download. We encourage all users to upgrade to this version. Full information & download links available from: nvaccess.org/post/nvda-2024-3/

Highlights:
- Notification of add-on updates
- Unicode normalisation options
- Help Tech Activator Pro braille display support
- Mouse wheel scrolling commands
- Many bug fixes & updates for Windows 11, browsers, LibLouis, eSpeak-NG, Unicode CLDR
#NVDA #NVDAsr #ScreenReader #A11y

NASA still hasn't decided on how Boeing Starliner astronauts will return.

But recent developments, and NASA's mention of an "unsuited return" have led to a lot of questions about why the launch and entry suits aren't compatible between Boeing and SpaceX. Let's dive into what that unsuited return means, how launch and entry suits are used, and why NASA didn't mandate compatibility here.

#space #starliner #boeing #spacex #nasa #iss

youtu.be/pFjOIf8Kd5I

Why didn't NASA make Boeing and SpaceX's spacesuits compatible?

NASA still hasn't decided whether Boeing Starliner astronauts will return on their original spacecraft or a SpaceX Crew Dragon. But recent developments, and ...

^YouTube

Monal 6.4.4 (Build 978, PR #1211) released.

- Fix xmpp: uri handling
- Fix spurious PLAIN warning again

#Monal #ios #macos #xmpp #im #chat #messaging

From our President: Hello BITS Family:

BITS Microsoft Office Fall 2024 Training Course

For JAWS or NVDA BITS members who are interested in enhancing their skills with Microsoft Office. The BITS Education team is excited to announce a new weekly class beginning September 9. This Class meets every Monday via Zoom from 7:30 to 9:30 PM EST. We plan the course until November 25, 2024. We may extend class dates into December if we feel the pace needs to be adjusted.

The course provides in-depth instruction on using Windows, Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint with screen readers. The course textbook is the third edition of David Kingsbury’s book, “The Windows Screen Reader Primer: All the Basics and More,” which can be downloaded from:
The Carroll Center. This book is also available on Bookshare. David Kingsbury, who is an experienced assistive technology instructor at the Carroll Center for the Blind in Massachusetts, serves as the primary instructor.
The first session on September 9, 2024 covers class logistics, provides an overview of The Windows Screen Reader Primer’s content, teaches students to navigate it and answers student questions about the course.

Subsequent sessions cover:

• File management with Windows 10 and 11,
• Edit, format and proof Word documents,
• Use the Outlook desktop client to manage messages,
• Excel basic and intermediate tools to create spreadsheets, and
• Create visually appealing PowerPoint presentations.

Regular class assignments and office hours are integral parts of the course. All class sessions are recorded and shared with students, so you have these as additional reference materials.

Whether you are a beginner or looking to enhance your skills, this class is for you.

To reserve your place, please sign up using this form. The URL for this form is:

bits-acb.org/office

Note: You must be a current BITS member to attend the course.
To join Bits visit: joinbits.org

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Hi. Person with 20 years experience in information security, IT and networking here.

Just wanted to let you know I just spent 3 minutes digging through the settings on my computer to figure out why my mouse was being weird.

I was holding it upside down.

I maintain an Android app that doesn't get any new features. I still have to keep upgrading it once in a while. The amount of deprecations I have to deal with is crazy. It takes a day each time I touch the app to just get it working with the latest Android Studio. I am not even fixing any bugs or adding features. All this running just to stay in the same place.

Now ask me if I will consider using cloud platform services from the same company that's responsible for Android.

Pixel 3 up and running (again again again), huge props to @drakulix for getting things rebased and fixing all the regressions and weird new issues.

#postmarketOS #LinuxMobile #gnomemobile

Level crossing in the GB operated by a human operator, looking carefully if the crossing is clear using CCTV, closing the barriers, double checking that it is still clear and then finally signalling proceed to the train. 🙄

And I always thought it is the train which has priority on a level crossing, not the other way around.

youtu.be/UCXav-ptPeA?si=0L_LYr… (time 09:55)

Why Do We Still Have Semaphore Signals?

Network Rail invited me to take a tour of signalling through the decades, starting with the Littlehampton Signal Box - still operating semaphore signals - th...

^YouTube

How 12,000 Tonnes of Dumped Orange Peel Grew Into a Landscape Nobody Expected to Find

‘"This is one of the only instances I've ever heard of where you can have cost-negative carbon sequestration," says ecologist Timothy Treuer from Princeton University.’

sciencealert.com/how-12-000-to…

How 12,000 Tonnes of Dumped Orange Peel Grew Into a Landscape Nobody Expected to Find : ScienceAlert

An experimental conservation project that was abandoned and almost forgotten about, has ended up producing an amazing ecological win nearly two decades after it was dreamt up.

^{Peter Dockrill (ScienceAlert)}

A Sunday morning article on COVID in New Zealand

rnz.co.nz/news/covid-19/525469…

Reading it the key messages seem to be:

* Only those who are vulnerable really feel the effects of it.

* No mention of long COVID and the health complications we know can come from infection.

* It’s just sniffles we have to get used to

It’s minimising, and an ableist + eugenicist take on it all.