Bar of Expectation - Lower It Now?

This is nothing new but a few days ago I blogposted "A fancy, schmancy blogpost" where I discussed the audacity of the few who actually took the time to complain about a blogger's use of "fancy words." One blogger tried to dissect my blogpost but her biggest complaint was this:

"But what offended me about McConnell’s post was that he *deliberately* put in words that very few people knew, then told them to look it up! That doesn’t strike me as being very respectful of your readers."

Now, there seem to be a bit of a misunderstanding on this blogger's part on why I put certain "fancy words" into my blogpost deliberately so that day. And that was to drive home a point. This is the era of the internet where words can be easily looked up.

I have used the word "discombobulate" a couple of times in my blogposts. Words like "confounded" is, to me, a commonly used word. And for "vulgarized," it was specifically chosen solely for the look and sound of the word where readers (those who do not bother to look it up) will assume it has to do with "vulgar" words, which it is not. Just like when many readers assumed on what "incestuous" meant despite how it was placed context-wise in a sentence.

I have in the past, on rare occasssions, added dictionary links to certain "unfamiliar words." But I pretty much stopped doing that since I figured readers are smart enough to do that on their own and look them up. Should I expect otherwise? This has always been my expectatation, as should be for everybody else, that it's the reader's responsibility to look up a word. Should I instead expect readers not be able to do this and they're a bunch of helpless creatures? Of course not! This is, after all, the era of the internet. I err on the side that my readers here are smart enough to know how to use the internet.

There is this seeming habit by certain people who have the uncanny ability to twist everything out of context in some of my blogposts thinking the subject is aimed at the whole Deaf community. It is not if one actually take the time to see where I'm driving at in my blogposts. It's clear in my blogposts that the subject is about certain individuals who do these certain things such as, for example, taking the time to actually complain to me about the use of "fancy words." Instead, a time would've been better spent looking up unfamiliar words in the first place, and not complain like a 2 year old. My blogsite is aimed at both hearing and deaf people. See?

Now, I don't turn down requests for explainations of certain words or clarifications when asked. That's a different approach and completely acceptable. But if one chooses to complain instead, well, then that person must be the laziest person on the planet who cannot even look it up or have the decency to ask for an explanation. Why complain? Is the person insecure or what? Or perhaps, instead, have serious issues with me and start throwing unfounded charges of "audism" because of the person's personality conflict with me? What gives? Seriously.

This is all intuitive here and I shouldn't even have to explain it all here in the first place. The subject is about a certain group of people who act in a certain way and not about the whole community.

Do you see the thrust of my argument here? It's the same one in my recent blogpost "A fancy, schmancy blogspot." Many Deaf people understood my blogpost right away and agreed and knew that I was talking about certain individuals who act a certain way rather than at the whole Deaf community. It's rather incredible to see these types of knee jerk responses. All this is what I could be described as "distressingly funny."

I make it abundantly clear to those who do complain about the use of "fancy words" and that is they need to grow up. I have no qualms in saying that. There are people who do not like what I say and get offended for basically telling them that they are smart enough to do these things on their own. My bar of expectation is higher for the readers who come here to read my blogposts. No reason to expect otherwise. We're not doing the limbo here.

What is your bar of expectation for your readers?

Do Deaf Stalkers Exist?

Apparently, they do exist. This isn't the first time I talked about stalkers. I blogposted this subject earlier about hearing stalkers going after hearing people like crazed fans stalking movie stars. All this made me realize that there are very little discussions about Deaf stalkers. I believe now is a good time to address this reality about Deaf stalkers who go after Deaf people, and perhaps in rare cases go after hearing people though I've not heard of such a thing though the possibility does exist.

There are two kinds of stalkers.

1) Stalkers who actual stalk people in the flesh like following a person closely outside. A common occurrence precluding a physical attack or rape.

2) Stalkers who follow and/or harrass certain individuals via electronically such as the phone or internet.

Why do some Deaf people stalk another Deaf person? The reasons are many, of course. Some do it because of their utter hatred of the person for whatever reason. Some do it because they are obsessed and in love. Some do it to make money many like in a money making scam. The level and type of stalking varies as well as the reason for doing so.

Now, some people might protest or complain that hearing people do same thing and what I'm posting is unfair to Deaf people or may make a ridiculous accustion of "audism." It's true that hearing people do stalk as well but the differences lies in the size of a community. In this case, we have a Deaf community where the effects of a Deaf person stalking another Deaf person becomes much more magnified due to the more closed-knit community. A community where everybody basically knows everybody else. Especially in the Deaf blogosphere and Deaf forums on the internet.

In this day and age, the use of the internet gives special advantages for Deaf stalkers. A stalker would be able to harrass his/her victim anonymously or not. Or, perhaps more commonly, the stalker may "ask" his/her friends to sic on a particular person. Attacks could come in the form of name callings, damaging lies or outright lies, threats of bodily harm, libel, defamation, and so on. By making the complaints known to his/her friends or over the internet in a public format, the friends of a stalker will do the bidding instead. A stalker typically respond in a knee jerk fashion. It is usually a defense mechanism whenever one feels threatened and go about calling names and make wild accusations and claims. And in the process makes a fool of him/herself in public over the internet. This kind of action simply makes a stalker that much more transparent to the public. Just remember, a stalker's typical response over the internet usually come in the form of being overly defensive along with name calling and making wild claims.

Here are some Deaf stalkers stories I've found using Google to do my research on deaf stalking stories. It was no suprise to find very little Deaf stalkers stories or articles on the subject. The limited information on these things points to a serious problem.

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Example #1.

I have to use paper for persons who can't read lips. MY ASL sucks, but its all one-sided. You see I'm almost completely blind so when comicuating with the deafits very frustrating. I had a deaf stalker in fact and to be honest I didn't know what to think if I could even think. I couldn't seem to get it across to him to leave me alone. and talk about serious stalker issues. He kept trying to make out with me no matter how many times and ways I said no.

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Example #2.

grunter
07-19-02, 04:43 PM

Trust me Giles - sometimes the talkers are better than the deaf-mutes who won't and can't take "NO" for an answer. Why do I say this? Because I have a deaf stalker at one of the baths I frequent. All he ever wants to do is take you back to his room and *yeeuck* "cuddle."How do you sign "eff NO - I ain't here to play smoochie-smoochie?"

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Example #3.

When Anita left her abusive husband Ed, she found that escaping his violence would not be easy. She moved her two children into an apartment and sought expert advice on how to start a new life. She obtained an order of protection, a divorce, and full custody of her children. As she struggled to free herself from Ed, he began stalking her. Anita finally moved to a new city and even changed her name. Yet one afternoon when she picked up her children, Ed was waiting outside the school. Alarmed and frustrated, she prepared to flee again.

Anita's plight is hardly unique. Abusers often become stalkers. And stalkers tenaciously pursue their victims. Yet Anita's story is somewhat unusual. In her case, the stalker had little trouble finding his ex-wife because she has a disability: she is deaf. To locate Anita, Ed (who is also deaf) simply contacted the Social Security Administration to "inquire" whether the Security Disability Insurance (SSDI) checks his children receive as his dependents were reaching them. In answering Ed's question, the agency gave him Anita's new address.

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As you can see there are few stories or discussions about Deaf stalkers who stalk other Deaf/deaf/hh people. Or even articles on the subject. People may talk about a "Deaf stalker" as a tongue-in-cheek response in order to get the point across in a figurative and not literal manner. In other cases, it's very real and it does happen. The actual stalking in of itself is serious thing. Especially considering, for example, in the light of the rapes that have occurred on the campus of Gallaudet University for many years. I did a 3-part series covering this rape issue on the campus of Gallaudet University last year. In many cases, the stalking usually occurs prior to a rape event whether it's done physically or through electronic means such as the internet.

I'm sure many people may have noticed the times when people made anonymous comments in blogsites or even in forums as way to attack and harass continuously the people they don't like. Repeatedly coming over to post anonymous comments is merely a design to harass. This could, in fact, be a potential sign of a stalking taking place. It could also be a sign of insecurity and/or low self-esteem.

So, what can the victims do when it comes to electronic stalking?

First and foremost, keep a record of every incident whether it's emails, videos, a screen capture of the harrasser's websites that shows the offending materials, use of the Google or Yahoo cache to capture dead and live links, and so on. Note the time and date. Nothing is ever too small because all those information help draw a picture of the stalker should you have to take the case to a judge. Documentiation is very important.

In fact, there was a story about how a next door neighbor in the United Kingdom was harrassed and threated by an old 82 year old lady. . The neighbor was forced to document every incident, no matter how small, to the point where it gave enough proof for a judge to jail the woman. It may sound funny but it is not once you read the story. It's not funny for people who become victims of a stalker.

If you are a Deaf person who is stalked by another Deaf person, it's time that you share your stories here (or elsewhere if you have a blogsite or in a discussion forum). Have you ever experienced a stalker who have harassed you, made up lies about you, physically attacked you, or used websites or forums to defame you?'

Share your stories here. Also, don't be surprised on what you might find in my Haloscan comments by people who have nothing better than to go after me.

For more information on stalking, go to the Anti-stalker website.

A Fancy, Schmancy Blogpost

Now, this isn’t the first time when a deaf person actually took the time to basically complain to me about a blogpost accusing me of using “fancy” words whenever I write. In fact, I’ve had several of these “complaints” over the past two years plus when people actually took the time to complain. Most of these “complaints” came from the Haloscan comments. Only one or two from the top of my head came to me via email.

Now, do I get discombobulated over these things? No. Am I confounded over this? No. Should I use vulgarized words so everybody can understand? No. Must I change my writing style for the sake of accommodation? Why should I? And before you assume on what I wrote better look up the words first. Wouldn’t want another “incestuous” misunderstanding again.

Now, I don’t see any “fancy” words that I’ve been using in my blogposts. Not from my own perspective because I don’t consider them “fancy words” in the first place. Oh, sure the above paragraph was a tongue-in-cheek response and shouldn’t be taken seriously of the words I used. Just making a point here that’ll be explained further below.

You know. My mother told me a very important story when I was a young boy attending school that had an oral program. She was very vocal on telling teachers that deaf kids needed to be taught alternative words that have the same meaning or that they take the time to explain the meaning of "bigger" words to these deaf kids. Many teachers ignored my mother’s suggestion and continued to teach deaf kids using very simple words rather than to try and explain what many of the "bigger" words meant. Luckily, my mother was proactive in her approach with me and taught me alternative words and took the time to actually explain what these “fancy” words meant. It was never the “No, it’s too complicated to explain.” There was always a dictionary book close by in our house and it was one of those huge 7 or 8 inch thick dictionary books.

Now, this is the era of the internet. You have Google. You have online dictionary websites. You have online thesaurus websites. And whenever I come across a word I’m not familiar with, I look it up. This is an amazingly but extremely easy process. I can guarantee you that. Never have I ever complained to anyone's blogpost about his or her use of "fancy" words. If that is how a person writes, then that is how a person writes. Who are these people to complain about a person’s writing based on “fancy” words? Common sense dictates that if you don’t know what it means, you can actually use your own 10 little fingers and look up these words with a few keystrokes over the internet.

By now you may be saying, “Well, there are deaf people out there who have trouble understanding certain words or sentences when such words are used.” I certainly do sympathize with that. However, my goal has never been to “dumb down” what I write. And why should I? This is my writing style and my flow of thought reflects that. I have always written in that fashion. So, why change? Over because a few people who are unable to understand the meanings of certain words used or understand the construct of what I have written that reflects my blogposts? I write because who I am. I choose certain words in order to add the needed flavor that will express exactly what I want to write.

So, what is the bottom line? If you don’t know what the words mean, look it up. It’s better to do so than to complain about it. The English language is your friend.

Here’s a new word for you to look up.

chutzpanik

Yeah. That's right for those who have the gall to actually complain.

An Inconvenient Truth – Gallaudet University

Yesterday a team of students, faculty and staff held a global warming presentation at Gallaudet University as part of the Earth Day celebration event. One of Al Gore’s team members made a special visit to the campus to make a presentation as well as Al Gore’s film “An Inconvenient Truth.”

Again, this is another example of the global warming screamer crowd pandering to a political agenda whose objective is to prey on human's irrational fear. Now, since people have seen the presentation at Gallaudet, we will now have to deal with some of the students, staff and faculty who may likely have very little understanding on the knowledge of earth science and will now take face value of what was presented yesterday. The question is, will these students, staff or faculty members have the necessary critical thinking skill to discern truth from fiction, and not rely on emotional knee jerk reaction? Or will they run amok to everybody else that we must change or Earth will turn into a cooking oven? Will they question the validity of what was presented at Gallaudet University?

Let's hope so but then again I had to actually educate one Gallaudet University alumnus about his misconception of where oil came from. This fellow being an extremely bright and intelligent one actually believed oil came from dinosaurs. Now, my professional background is in the earth sciences covering hydrology, geophysics, geology, hydrogeology and some atmospheric work that I do on my job. But this guy has none of the earth science background. Yet believed oil came from decomposing dinosaurs.

Here is the fact. The source of oil does not come from dinosaurs. The source of oil comes from long past decayed biological materials but not from dinosaurs but from marine algae!

A primary source of organic material is marine ALGAE. These minute, one-celled organisms form the bulk of plant life in the world's oceans. They are ideally situated for preservation in deep oceans because of their planktonic (ie, free-floating) existence. When they die, algae sink to the seafloor where they are buried within silts and clays. Since burrowing organisms are not present, the algal material builds up to form an appreciable part (1-2%) of the total sediment. Bacterial action releases oxygen from this material, further concentrating the hydrogen and carbon molecules required to produce petroleum.

Now, if an intelligent person believed oil came from dinosaurs, and with no environmental science background, what do you think these students and staff will think about Al Gore’s movie and the Earth Day presentation at Gallaudet University who will now think that human population is responsible for global warming? You see, the global-warming-caused-by-human-population is in fact….a myth!

This is really all about politics and power here. Nothing more. People are being duped left and right on this.

Still, it is stupefying to watch people scream and hyperventilate about "Global Warming" claiming that it is caused by the human population and call this whole thing a "crisis." A crisis? Oh, please! Crisis is when you're facing a rogue country who want to lob nuclear missiles our way.

It is also equally dismaying to watch a few deaf/hh people like the ones in Gallynet-L or other forums run the gamut in a near state of panic to try and get people to help solve this "Global Warming" by sending a message to Congress on Al Gore's website. A last minute knee jerk panic button for the environmentally guilty. Once they send their message out they'll automatically feel better about themselves thinking they did something great.

Hardly.

Again, pure politics at play here that's entirely misplaced and abused by those who insist earth will collapse into a heaping pile of doo.

What is equally ridiculous is when people try and set up an acceptable “average global temperature” in order to have a baseline data to draw from. You cannot. Temperature changes over the hundreds and thousands of years from extremely warm periods to extremely cold periods such as the ice age. All you have are temperature trends. In fact, 900 years ago (“medieval period” - click to see timeline) temperature was much warmer back then than today’s. But the warming didn't start then. It began about 10,000 years ago which was when the last ice age ended. That was when glaciers and ice sheets that covered the mid-portion of the United States (geographically speaking) began retreating when world wide climate began to warm up! This would be the start of the warming period over the next 10,000 years to the present.

The premise behind Al Gore's alarm is to get people to feel guilty about using coal, oil, and gas. Or the amount of carbon we use. And by getting them to feel guilty he does the Chicken Little act and repeatedly says that the sky is falling because we drive too many SUVs like John Kerry. Or fly too many planes like Al Gore. Or build too big of a house of 28,000 square feet like John Edwards. After all, many forget that Earth is a carbon based system in the first place which has expelled/released carbon dioxide (CO2) for eons. And much of the carbon excess is recycled back into to the land, plants and ocean that act as “carbon sinks.” Trees require CO2 to survive, and in return it expels oxygen, the stuff that we need to breath and live!

But… but… you say that over the years CO2 has risen, so has the temperature! So what? In the field of science you have to be extremely careful when using trends in the attempt to correlate it with something else. Correlation does not always equate 100% causation. Especially as complex as the earth system and how it works.

This scare tactic is a design by the Al Gore's team along with the rest of the so-called scientists who say that Carbon Dioxide or CO2 that is being spewed out is caused mostly by the human population and sole reason for the global warming. This isn’t true. In fact, it is an outright lie.

The amount of CO2 expelled by man whether it’s from factories, cars, burning of petroleum or our own exhaled breath is extremely small compared to the actual amount of the earth's CO2 it puts out into the atmosphere annually.

In terms of total C02, volume-wise, in the atmosphere compared to the rest of the gas makes up only .03% (or .0003) of the atmosphere. Nitrogen makes up 78% of the atmosphere while Oxygen at 21%, Argon at 0.9% and water vapor at 0.5% (Troposphere only). See the interactive flash player on atmospheric content of these gases.

What people don’t know is that water vapor such as the amount of humidity we feel around us and in the clouds we see above us have the ability to hold and release heat. Carbon Dioxide or CO2 does not act as heat exchangers. Carbon Dioxide is not known to be a climate driver. It has never been a climate driver. Water vapor helps create clouds. Clouds form and help produce precipitation such as rain. Rain helps keep the earth cool. The cycle continues. Without precipitation earth would simply become too hot for human habitation.

The total human CO2 emissions, primarily from the use of coal, oil, and natural gas and the production of cement, are currently about 5.5 GT C (Gigaton carbon) per year. But lets put these figures in perspective.

It is estimated that the atmosphere contains 750 Gt C; the surface ocean contains 1,000 Gt C; vegetation, soils, and detritus contain 2,200 Gt C; and the intermediate and deep oceans contain 38,000 Gt C. Each year, the surface ocean and atmosphere exchange an estimated 90 Gt C; vegetation and the atmosphere, 60 Gt C; marine biota and the surface ocean, 50 Gt C; and the surface ocean and the intermediate and deep oceans, 100 Gt C ( Schimel, D. S. (1995) Global Change Biology 1, 77-91).

So, what does the total CO2 emission by man means? It means that the human population produces only 6% of the carbon emission than what the ocean puts into the atmosphere annually. It means that the human population produces only 9% of the carbon emission plants put out into the atmosphere annually. But the amount of CO2 in the atmosphere constitutes only 0.03% (or 0.0003) of the total gases in the atmosphere. Very small indeed. Again, CO2 has never been known to be the major climate driver. Water vapor, yes. CO2? No.

Now, what many people do not know is that the earth climate system is an extremely complex one with many feedback loops. Scientists have tried to use computer modeling to try and predict what the climate would be like in the future. The problem is when validating such a computer model it must be able to mimic the past and they weren't able to.

Ask yourself this. How many of you trust the weather man’s prediction of your weather a week later? Two weeks? How about a month later? Would you put your life on the line to say that the weatherman’s prediction will be true? Even though the weather person uses powerful computer modeling to figure out what next's week weather may be like. This is what many people are saying about our own long term climate prediction and that it will eventually, in our life time, wreak untold havoc.

How do you know for sure?

You don’t. It’s a prediction computer model. Not a fact. Though we do and continue to have climate disasters. We may by next year have several volcanos pop its cork and release the ash and gases into the atmosphere and cause a worldwide cooling that could last a decade.

Next we hear claims that the snows of Mt. Kilimanjaro are disappearing because of global warming. Hardly. What Global Warming alarmists WON’T tell you is that trees around the mountain have been disappearing through aggressive deforestation practices and the lack of trees is the culprit and reason for ice and snow disappearing on Mt. Kilimanjaro.

“Although it’s tempting to blame the (Kilimanjaro) ice loss on global warming, researchers think that deforestation of the mountain’s foothills is the more likely culprit.”

Forests at the base of Kilimanjaro have been steadily disappearing for decades. “Without the forests’ humidity,” Mason reports, “previously moisture-laden winds blew dry. No longer replenished with water, the ice is evaporating in the strong equatorial sunshine.”

Ah, there it is again. Water vapor helps keep the surrounding local climate of Kilimanjaro cool! Trees expel moisture everyday and helps keep the surrounding air cooler! Of course! Without water vapor that helps make clouds and produce precipitation, the earth surface would simple get warm…too warm for habitable life such as us mere human beings.

The Tanzanian president has now banned deforestation practices in order to try and save Kilimanjaro which is aimed at halting rapid environmental degradation, including the melting of ice on Mount Kilimanjaro. There is no mention that global warming is sole culprit. This is another scare tactic by global warming screamers.

But then you hear screams of panic about glaciers retreating all over the world like the ones in the Alps as proof that it’s global warming (as caused by man, again) to be the culprit. But never mind the fact that glaciers take thousand of years to grow. The recent warming essentially began after the Little Ice Age from 1400s to 1800s when, of course, human population was much lower than today. In short, over the last several hundred years’ earth at the mid-latitude has warmed up with occasional brief periods of cold climate conditions did glaciers and ice respond to the temperature change. Humans were never the culprit. How could they? About 900 years ago the Aletsch and Grindelwald glaciers in Switzerland were much smaller than today! How can that be!! Well, just observe the timeline here where you will notice references of glaciers retreating starting as early as the 1600s!

A study published in Progress in Physical Geography (Braithwaite, R.J., 26: 76-95 (2002)), analyzed mass balance measurements of 246 glaciers from around the world between 1946 and 1995. According to the study’s author, “there are several regions with highly negative mass balances in agreement with a public perception of ‘the glaciers are melting,’ but there are also regions with positive balances.”

Within Europe, for example, “Alpine glaciers are generally shrinking, Scandinavian glaciers are growing, and glaciers in the Caucasus are close to equilibrium for 1980-95,” according to Braithwaite. Significantly, regarding this most recent 15-year period of time, Braithwaite noted “there is no obvious common or global trend of increasing glacier melt in recent years.”

Again, the earth system is in a constant state of flux. Earth’s complex climatic system is always changing within the normal parameters of human and animal’s range of habitability. Let's knock off scaring little kiddies about polar bears saying they get stranded on ice floes because of global warming. Another myth to be busted. Polar bears won’t drown for the lack of ice. Nature designed polar bear for swimming in the icy cold waters in the first place. They can swim up to 100 miles at a stretch. Please, none of this stranded polar bear on an ice floe baloney.

All in all, we will still have snow, rain, heat, cold, hurricanes, tornados, winds and water. Instead of becoming a lemming for the global warming screamer crowd will you jump off the cliff with them, it’s better send a message on good environmental stewardship than to scream like a banshee that earth is going to boil over blaming humans for it.

Nonsense.

Use your common sense. Let's hope some of the guys at Gallaudet University will do the same.

The Great Hearing Aid Search

Right now, I am looking around for a new digital hearing aid My old digital hearing aid is about 9 or 10 years old. With the technology today I suspect digital hearing aids are much more superior than the ones 10 years ago when it first came out. Sure, a digital hearing aid is expensive but it’s about investing in a hearing aid that will assuredly give back many times more. My old one cost about $2300 about 10 years ago. That’s $230 a year (and dropping as I continue to use it) or about $20 a month. This doesn’t include the two or three earmolds that were made over the 10 years, batteries bought or the one time repair a few years back costing me about $260.00. My hearing aid is a still bargain since it has allowed me to interact with hearing people whether in person or over the phone without much problems in terms of doing business and arranging things. The idea is the same if you think about buying a UbiDuo communication device will it, over time, pay you back in terms of time, resources and better job performances in your line of work if you deal with hearing people on a constant basis. The spells out greater opportunities for advancement and improved career performances.

"Sticker shock" is a problem for a lot of people when all they see is the price tag of a hearing aid, a car, the cost of college education or even the cost of the UbiDuo communication device. What people need to factor in is the potential return of their investment, so to speak. They need to learn to look past the cost and consider over time how such a device, a transportation system or an education can help your recoup your cost over time.

Getting my graduate degree at Univ. of Idaho set me back about $35,000 through two loans just for a two year’s worth of education and housing for a family of three and then four. The loans were paid off within 5 years after getting my graduate degree. But my graduate education took me three years with an additional 2 more years with the USFS paying the last two years of my education as part of the Student Career Experience Program (SCEP) where I had to continue school as a fulltime student in order to be eligible in the program. Thereby earning enough credits for two degrees! So, what's the point here? Well, I saw graduate education as an investment opportunity. For who you may ask? Well, myself. I invested in myself. Who better to invest than yourself? Think about that.

Still, we see the narrow thinking from those who balk or even complain about the price tag for attending Gallaudet University. Many see it being as “too expensive” rather than an “investment opportunity” instead. The cost of attending Gallaudet University is approximately $12,000 a year (or about $15,000 if you include summer semester) for a total of about $50,000 to get a bachelor degree in four years. Although a good majority of the students take 5 to 6 years to complete a 4 years college program at Gallaudet University, increasing their educational cost already. People who balk or complain about the price tag usually do not see it as an investment opportunity for themselves and rather than a stepping stone that could potentially lead to a better paying job/career afterwards or higher learning on getting their masters or doctorate degrees that could spell even better job opportunities.

Now, let’s go back to my hearing aid search. I have heard about digital hearing aids that have built in “artificial intelligence” software allowing it the ability to help discriminate certain sounds and screen out unwanted ones. This type of feature would be extremely important for me whenever I attend meetings with several people or in large crowds dealing with loud background noises. The ability to understand speech in virtually any situation is my top priority for me as a working professional in the field of science. Currently I am looking at Oticon “Syncro” hearing aid for hearing loss in the moderate to severe range. I’m especially interested in one where I can control the volume. My old one controls the volume automatically by detecting surrounding loudness that goes up and down. Not really that good in meeting situations if loudness of speech goes up and down, especially when people make jokes do they laugh loud and then start talking normally, I’d have to wait until my hearing aid’s volume go up again so I can hear them talking in a normal voice. Also, not really that great listening to music whenever a music piece gets loud does my hearing aid turns down the volume. It is also maddening when that happens if I play the piano, too.

Looks like I’ll have to do some more shopping around and ask my audiologist about which hearing aids would best fit me using today’s artificial intelligence software. It’s time to invest in another digital hearing aid.

When the Deaf Community Eats One of Their Own

Ok. My blog title is a bit misleading but it comes pretty close on what we have been witnessing over the last few days ever since a well known Deaf blogger made the faux-pas blog post of the year that angered so many deaf and hearing readers. A move that prompted blog readers to contact companies in protest to get their banner ads removed from this particular Deaf person's blogsite. And why? It turns out that it was a blog post that essentially insulted, according to many who have complained in disgust, or made light of the Virginia Tech massacre. And as a result, numerous banner ads were removed en masse.

This is an unprecedented reaction when you get so many deaf/Deaf/hh/hearing readers contacting companies to get them to remove their banner ads from a popular blogsite. Although this reaction would not be entirely unprecedented in its own right for a Deaf community to basically go after a Deaf person. Or "eating one of their own" as you could say. That honor of such an unprecedented reaction of "eating one of their own" belongs to the recent protest at Gallaudet University. A feast that lasted for months. But that's another story for another time.

This isn't about "pushing buttons" which this Deaf person is famously known for but about the complete failure to present the proper frame of mind by being a bit more sensitive and cordial when it comes to such a horrible event like the Virginia Tech massacre. Failure to be that much more "cordial" in light of certain events would eventually lead to the continued painting of a negative picture of what a Deaf community would look like to outsiders. Thinking it would be about a bunch of whiny, selfish and entirely insensitive group of Deaf people. A stereotype that would be hard to get rid of. But ironically it was the Deaf community who put this particular Deaf person on a pedestal and paid homage to this guy with accolades, praises and wonderment. Right now it seems that many blog readers are facing a realization. Either expose the hypocrisy and remove the mask of that person or hope that the person will start that long list of apologies on the road to recovery. Shouldn't this be a time of healing and recovery?

All in all, there are consequences to one's own actions. Especially so when it comes to writing in a public setting over the internet about people or events. Even I am keenly aware of this and I know better whenever I blog my own posts.

Bottom line? It pays to be cordial and forthright.

Cash Prizes Announced for First Ever NADS Games!

Cash Prizes Announced for First Ever North America Deaf Strongman Games in 2008!

Sometime in 2008 there will be the first ever North America Deaf Strongman games (NADS). Cash prizes are now available on the NADS Games official website. This is planned to be an open event for men (maybe women later on) with 1st place for $500.00, 2nd place for $350.00, and 3rd place for $150.00. Check it out! You have about a year or so to prepare yourselves for this unique and only deaf strongman sporting event in the United States! So, start early if you haven't been exercising lately. And if you are already exercising, do you think you can win this competition?

All cash prizes will be presented by the official host, sComm, Inc, a wholly deaf-owned company and maker of the widely popular and successful UbiDuo communication device.

Do you have enough balls to do this? Are you strong enough? Check out the website to see what objects you may end up pulling, pushing and lifting to win that cash prize! If have questions, contact the NADS team for more information on how to compete.

Go NADS Games!

Only those with enough balls can compete!

RIT Student Arrested for Possession of Rifles on Campus

This is a bit surreal here. A student was arrested for possession of assault rifles on the campus of RIT which is also home of NTID for deaf and hard of hearing students. What's more, police found more than 300 ammunition rounds for the rifles.

A student at a Rochester college faces charges after police found two assault rifles inside his room at one of the school's suburban residence buildings. Authorities say they also found more than 300 rounds of ammunition in Jonathan Hackenburg's car.

The 22-year-old from Hackettstown, New Jersey was arrested yesterday after an employee at the Rochester Institute of Technology's Inn and Conference Center told police he heard a sound like someone racking a gun.

The Monroe County Sheriff's Department says deputies found a Stag-15 rifle and a Romanian made A-R-15 rifle.

Supposed the employee was deaf? And this turned out deadly? Suppose a similar event happened at Gallaudet or NTID where a gunman would be shooting at people on campus and students unable to hear the bang and richochet of bullets to run and take cover? But instead see the confusion of people dropping like flies not knowing, at first, what is going on until too late? Indeed, this is heavy food to chew on. Let's hope nothing like this ever occurs.

The Virginia Tech Massacre is nothing about “Reap what you sow”

The senseless killings at Virginia Tech a few days ago shook the entire nation when a lone, foreign student with a student visa shot and murdered, some in execution style, 32 people on campus. My thoughts and prayers are to the victims, their families and friends who are now hurting and suffering right now.

This isn’t a tragedy. A tragedy is when a tornado or hurricane wipes out a town killing people. This killing was an act of pure evil. An evil person who carried a Glock pistol, guns and a vest full of ammos for the express purpose to kill and injure as many innocent people as possible on the campus of Virginia Tech. This was a total disregard for human decency and respect.

Now, some people, believe it or not, would find this whole thing “amusing.” I certainly don’t. This was an unwanted but horrible and vicious crime that took place. I won’t mention who found this whole thing “amusing” just because Virginia Tech has a few known rivalries with other universities and doesn't have any soft spots for them Hokies.

The "amused" comment was blogged by somebody within the Deaf community. The same person who believes also that this is all about “reaping what you sow” which is a totally ludicrous comment. Purely on the sick side of things. Virginia Tech students who were lined up against the wall of their classroom and shot execution style had nothing to do with “you reap what you sow.” None of the students did anything to that deranged killer to deserve this but were in fact innocent victims caught at the wrong place at the wrong time. Just like the Beslan massacre in Russia where hundreds of children and adults were murdered by Islamic terrorists wielding guns and explosives.

An armed group took over 1000 children and teachers hostage on 1 September 2004. On 3 September, following explosions and gunfire and an assault by state security forces, more than 330 people were dead, including at least 176 children. Many hundreds of people were injured.

Amusing, huh? Absolutely not. Hokies or not, these victimes deserve our utmost respect in times of mourning.

Anybody who says in the context of “reap what you sow” about killings at Virginia Tech or elsewhere is clearly not thinking because none of the victims did anything bad to deserve any of this. For the Virginia Tech students they were sowing a good education for a good life. I'm sure the people at other universities who are rivals against Virginia Tech will surely stand shoulder to shoulder with the families and friends of the victims at Virginia Tech in full solidarity and respect. There is nothing to be "amused" by all this in any context.

This isn’t about deaf people who occassionally may write down the wrong words when trying to express a thought or feeling. I understand that and that’s entirely forgivable. However, the “reap what you sow” comment was made after the “amused” comment in one deaf person’s blog is indicative of not writing it in error context wise but did so with a conscious effort. Just like the conscious effort on wishing the death of a deaf father’s son in the hope he’d trip over his son so he'd feel guilty for the rest of his life. Or wishing that one deaf person would die in flames just so that the Deaf community would be "better off" without him. Or wishing another deaf person brain damage. Or laugh at a dead U.S. soldier (who was the cousin of a hard of hearing person) who was murdered prior to the start of the Iraq war in Kuwait in the well publicized grenade tent attack.

I am generally appalled at how some members of the Deaf community continue to turn a blind eye toward certain Deaf people who have the audacity to be heartless, thoughtless and above all violate just about every rules of internet courtesy when it comes to blogging or making comments. And at the same time put that same person on a pedestal. This makes no sense at all. And when people continue to hold certain deaf people on a pedestal who do these things then they are no better off themselves and are equally guilty.

I am just hoping and praying that this person will have enough sense to acknowledge what was written did indeed show certain insensitivity towards the families and friends of victims murdered at Virginia Tech. And acknowledge that it was done in error. A public apology to the victims out there in the blogosphere would be nice as well.


UPDATE: The Virginia Cavalier Athletic Director expresses condolences to their rival team, Virginia Tech Hokies.

Statement from Athletics Director Craig Littlepage on Monday's Tragic Events at Virginia Tech

Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone at Virginia Tech.

April 17, 2007

The following is a statement by Virginia Athletics Director Craig Littlepage concerning the events at Virginia Tech on Monday.

"Our thoughts and prayers are with everyone touched by the devastating events at Virginia Tech. We join our colleagues around the Commonwealth and nationally in expressing our sorrow to the students, faculty, staff and alumni of Virginia Tech. Many of us know individuals who work or study at Virginia Tech or have family members and friends who do, and our hearts are with all of them. This is a time when we all must be available to provide support, assistance and understanding to those affected by what has happened in Blacksburg."

Even though they are fierce team rivals they, too, recognize the importance of expressing condelences and prayers for the victims and families. I suppose the VA Cavalier also does not find this whole thing "amusing" just because they are rivals to begin with? None of that "soft spot for Hokies" stuff, I tell ya.

Thank you, Craig. You're the smart and honest person here.


UPDATE II: The deaf person in question has since removed the blog post. I can imagine why this was done. However, doing so would probably make things a bit worse because an apology hasn't been issued to the victims of families and friends for making that remark, no acknowledgement mentioned of the faux pas blog of the year, and the fact that Google still has the cache version of that blogpost that is now forever archived.

Michael Bisping Howls about Matt Hamill

Either Michael Bisping is feeling a bit insecure or he’s sure of himself about Matt Hamill (and in MySpace) who had some dem fightin words for Matt.

THE MATT FINISH
You may have heard that a certain TUF 3 dropout was calling me out last week.

To be honest, I really didn’t want to respond because that plays right into his hands by whipping up interest in a fight that I believe is a big step backwards for me.

However, at the same time I don’t want anyone thinking I was afraid of this guy, either.

The fighter in question - I forget his name - is a good wrestler but has no BJJ and couldn’t strike a match. He’s the one who produced the most embarrassingly amateurish performance of the entire season, where even though he won he couldn’t continue in the competition as he was so bashed up.

Do you know who I’m on about? I can picture his face but still can’t remember his name but I remember personally sending this novice to the hospital with a busted arm and my mate Kendall Grove - a middleweight - knocked him silly with a high kick in sparring.

I also recall that he went to the hospital three times during TUF 3 and each time came back to the TUF house with his tail between his legs. He spent more time in bandages than King Tut.

But, now, he’s shouting my name in an obvious attempt to leap frog from his preliminary bout status to genuine PPV level.

Sorry, pal, I won the TUF 3 three-year contract, thank you very much, so I don’t need a part time job running your PR office on the side.

I’ve got a long way to go and a lot to prove in the UFC but - in terms of what I did during my TUF 3 run - I don’t think I’m being big-headed when I say my run to the TUF 3 title was pretty damn conclusive.

I scored three consecutive knockouts without a scratch on me while this guy calling me out had one fight that looked like two drunks scrapping outside a kebab shop on a Friday night.

For him to claim I’ve yet to prove I’m the real TUF 3 winner is pathetic.

Until next week - the Count.

While Michael Bisping trying to accentuate the negative Matt Hamill are doing positive things in his life.

In fact, he hopes to use his newly found popularity to train as many potential fighters as possible.

That's why he has been helping out with Whitesboro High School's wrestling team. It's also why he's opening his own school, and plans to have a fighting cage, a wrestling mat, and some weights in it. He says it will be a school of mixed martial arts. He's in the process of remodeling a building across from the Uptown Theatre on Genesee St. into the Matt Hamill Training Center, but says the vision is clear.

"I'm tired of driving to Syracuse and flying to California," Hamill said. "We need something here."

Hamill said he's happy with the treatment he gets when walks around and estimates that 100 people have stopped by his house in New York Mills seeking autographs and pictures.

"They go crazy," Hamill said of his fans. "I like it, it's not bad. I'm new to it, I still have to get used to it."

When kids who are interested in wrestling or martial arts see Hamill, they ask when he's holding a camp or clinic. Now, he hopes to work with those people full time, in between traveling the country to pummel his competitors.

Maybe it’s time for Michael Bisping to address his insecurity and demand a UFC fight against Matt Hamill? There is a difference between having heart and being a complete noob. And, in case you're wondering, Matt's the one with heart.


Hat Tip: MaxUFC

See all of Kokonut Pundits blogs on Matt Hamill.

Will Certain Deafness Be Cured in Our Lifetime?

More progress is being made in the hope that hearing loss will be restored someday soon. Except this news isn't about stem cells but about using actual inner ear cells and coax them into regrowing mature hearing nerve fibers.

Australian researchers say they have developed an alternative to stem cell technology for growing human inner ear cells.

The Ear Science Institute Australia said it has successfully grown inner ear cells taken from an adult patient at Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital in Western Australia.

Researcher Marcus Atlas said the cells have the potential to restore hearing and balance in those who are born deaf or have degenerative hearing diseases, though human trials are still a long way off.

Atlas said growing adult organ cells in a laboratory has presented problems for researchers in the past. "It is extremely difficult for us to grow these cells .... We have to give them the right environment, we need the right nutrients, the right blood supply, the right environment for these [inner ear] hair cells to grow in."

"I think one of our biggest challenges will be in fact getting these hair cells to actually attach to the existing nerve fibres and create a functional hearing system. That is a significant move for us and that is where we're going to now," he said.

The researchers are asking for millions in government funding to advance trials of the procedure.

This area of research will simply heat up over time as more and more researchers get into the game to come up with the first patented process of growing ear hair cells in the laboratory for each deaf/hh patient using their own ear hair cells. Successful application will spell out a very lucrative market in the medicine field. Just as curing Type 1 diabetes using stem cells will it soon become a lucrative field to be in.

I'm all for research on finding cures for various conditions and ailments, including hearing loss. At least people can have a choice to keep with their hearing loss or not.

Incestuous Relationships in the Deaf community?

And so I sat and observed, mostly, what people have said about the recent article "Deaf Identity Gone Wild" in various blogs and noted with amusement and some amount of wincing involved on how people continually misunderstood the word "incestuous" and "oxymoronic" in Charlotte Allen's article.

The role of bloodlines and pedigree in defining Deafness, along with the relatively small number of deaf people in the United States to begin with, helps explain the unusually active and even incestuous part that Gallaudet alumni, deaf parents, and even supposedly neutral organizations such as the National Association of the Deaf played in the battle against Fernandes.

Now, the word "incestuous" isn't used in the same context as "incest" like many people have complained rather wrongly recently about Allen's article. Even some well known blogs got this context horribly wrong. What Charlotte Allen wrote had nothing to do with incest. Rather she wrote it in the context of "improperly interconnected" like nepotism, cronyism (ie, Favoritism shown to old friends without regard for their qualifications) or a group that is more "clannish" than not. Only a few people were able to address this correctly in the context that Allen was presenting.

Even if people do complain, perhaps correctly so in some aspects, by saying that the Deaf community is not at all like that but have, ironically, instead slammed Gallaudet University (e.g. BoTs. et al) as being the "politically incestuous" university as it is/was/still ongoing.

By an accident of history, the Board is allowed to choose their own members (for now) and thus they have morphed over time into this mutant, politically incestuous, illegitimate entity.
Posted 10/1/2006 6:00 AM by brianriley1987gallygrad

So, it was ok for all to agree about the "politically incestuous" slander comment heaped at the BoTs but not so for Charlotte Allen's observation about the Deaf community which may or may not be true in parts or whole? Who is being intellectually honest here?

One deaf blogger in Belfast, Ireland sees cronyism in the Deaf community as a problem in Ireland. If it's a problem over there, then is it also a problem here in the United States and Canada, too?

Perhaps Charlotte Allen wasn't far off when she said that incestuous relationship is a work seen in many places in the Deaf community? In other words, the "good ole' boys" network type of thing?

So we ask this question.

How much is true about the Deaf community? Are they indeed clannish or, hence, overly protective? Are there nepotism involved? And that cronyism is also a part of their standard fare when it comes to hiring friends over qualifications instead in the Deaf community? How prevalent are these things anyways? And will we see some intellectually honest debates in all this after I'm done with this blog article?