Old-school news, just in time
by Kevin Burton The Wal-Mart closest to our house is almost finished with a major remodel, including all shelves and bins and even its drive-through pharmacy. I am guessing this is not about being tidy, but about making a tidy profit. I think this is about surge pricing. Apps such as Uber …
Continue reading “Surge Pricing Coming To A Wal-Mart Near You”
by Kevin Burton If you’re looking for something to drink, or somewhere to work, choose Coke, not Pepsi. According to multiple published reports, PepsiCo hired a blind man for a call center, then fired him rather than get him a screen reader – even after a state vocational rehabilitation counselor offered to buy …
Continue reading “Feds: Pepsi Discriminated Against The Blind”
by Kevin Burton “There’s something magical about train travel for just about everybody,” writes the Interesting Facts website, “whether you’re an engineering nerd, a hopeless romantic, a world traveler, or an easily excitable 8-year-old.” The longest train ride I have taken so far was (round-trip) from Wasilla, Alaska up to Denali National Park. …
Continue reading “Of Long, Long Trains And Trains Under Water”
by Kevin Burton My dream vacation is to accompany my bride on a long, interrupted train ride along the Mississippi River. The plan is to ride the City of New Orleans train on Amtrak – the one that Arlo Guthrie sang about – from Chicago to Memphis, get off and explore that town …
Continue reading “All Aboard For Interesting Facts About Trains”
by Tracy Conly (Tracy Conly is a longtime friend from our days at the Ohio State School for the Blind, a great Braille reader and advocate for the blind. This is her reaction to our March 15 story “A New Tool In The Fight For Braille Literacy.”) “Braille changes lives. It gives thousands …
Continue reading “Far From Being Obsolete, Braille Is Essential”
by Kevin Burton Shigeichi Negishi, the inventor of the world’s first commercially-available karaoke machine, has died in Japan at age 100, according to National Public Radio. Never knew the man, but boy has he filled up my Saturday nights. You take a character from Billy Joel’s Piano Man who is“sure that I …
by Kevin Burton Last week we ran a story about subjects that are either gone from classrooms or close to it (“Subjects No Longer Taught (Much) In Schools,” March 6.) That got me thinking about Braille. While growing up at the Ohio State School for the Blind, I just assumed that all …
Continue reading “A New Tool In The Fight For Braille Literacy”
by interestingfacts.com Think back to your school days: Are you nostalgic for flipping through a dusty library card catalog or clacking away on a typewriter? Some subjects you remember from those days are probably things of the past, although the finer points of how schools have changed might surprise you. These six subjects …
Continue reading “Subjects No Longer Taught (Much) In Schools”
by Kevin Burton In response to one of my Valentine’s Day posts, a reader let me know that Feb. 14 is also National Ferris Wheel Day in the United States. Now that’s news I can use! What an apt metaphor for the “love” of love songs that is wrapped in feelings, or perhaps …
Continue reading “Ferris Wheels Also Make The World Go Round”
From todayonline.com LAS VEGAS —Roberta Wilson-Garrett looked at the glove keeping her right hand steady and smiled. At bay for the moment were tremors caused by Parkinson’s disease affecting her muscle control. She could do things others take for granted, such as write crisply with a pen or hold a cup of coffee without spilling. …
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