Saturdays News - One Handed Typing

One Handed Typing Options.
There are a lot of options out there for typing with one hand. I suggest trying them all and seeing what works best for you.   Here are my recommendations in order of usefulness:

1.  Try out the Dvorak with one-handed layout either "regular" or "mini".
2.  Teach yourself to type on a standard keyboard with one hand.
3.   Get a good voice recognition program like "Dragon Naturally Speaking".
4.   Buy a specific one handed keyboard (expensive - not covered in this article).




Specialized Keyboard Using the Mini Left-hand Dvorak

• I love the Frogpad-Dvorak when I used the desktop.
• When I use a laptop I will re-configured to regular keyboard to Left-hand Dvorak.
• Ask SSTattler to re-configured your regular keyboard - it is very simple.

Dvorak

Demonstrate to the US Navy the benefits speed and accuracy of the DVORAK keyboard layout. Today the layout is in every computer which uses Microsoft Windows, Apple, and Linux, It is standardized as ANSI X3.207 and endorsed in the standard by US defense departments and many other Government Organizations. Tips using the Dvorak keyboard.

One Hand Typing and Keyboard, Type With One Hand, One Handed Keyboards
A demo of how to type and use a computer with one hand. I use the normal keyboard, and as you see, I do very well. I do not feel one handed keyboards are a good option for the one hand typist.



Dragon Naturally Speaking
We rely on our computers more and more every day, whether we’re creating documents and reports, surfing the Web or catching up on email. But it’s not always easy to complete everything you need to do on your PC. Now there’s a faster and easier way to interact with your PC. Just say words and watch them appear on your computer screen. Tell Dragon what you want your computer to do, and Dragon will execute the task: "Open Microsoft Word," "Set font size to 18," or "Minimize all windows." You can even use voice commands to edit and format your text, search the web or send email.

See Dragon Naturally Speaking.

Comments by SSTattler:

• +'ve: I use Dragon to dictate a long article or a long e-mail (approximately 1/2 page or more).  It is much faster than typing i.e. my typing rate about 80wpm (before my stroke) but Dragon today I can dictate about 120wpm to 200wpm  - normal talking-rate is about 220wpm.
• -'ve: I talk to the computer -- weird at least!  
• Nice definition Words per minute by Wikipedia.

  TypeRacer
The award-winning online typing competition, TypeRacer, allows people to race each-other by typing quotes from books, movies, and songs. It is the first multiplayer typing game on the web. Free for the individual person.  It is used by lots of high-schools and it can be used one-hand typing as well.

Saturday Comics - April 21st / 2012

For Better and For Worse by Lynn Johnston / 2006-11-08 "...do our little exercise at home"	Dilbert by Scott Adams / 2012-04-20 "Can you hack into our..."
Garfield by Jim Davis / 2012-04-18 "Watch my horse."	Pickles by Brian Crane / 2012-04-15 "That was mine!"

* For Better and For Worse" is a serious topic of stroke but with a very nice cartoons. It is all about Grandpa Jim had a stroke and 88 further cartoon "strips" that happened to Grandpa Jim. (See as well  the author Lynn Johnston).

** I tried to get low or free price at the people http://www.UniversalUclick.com/ for the images for the cartoons. It was too high for Stroke Survivors Tattler i.e. we are not a regular newspaper and our budget is very low. Fortunately, you will have to do only 1-click more to see the cartoon image, it is legit and it is free using GoComics.com and Dilbert.com.

Eclectic Stuff - April 21st / 2012

Definition: Eclectic (noun) a person who derives ideas, style, or taste from a broad and diverse range of sources.

Eclectic: Jackie - Five Riddles

Eclectic - Jackie

These Are Some Of The Best  Riddles I Have Seen...

They sharpen those genes in your brain and stall Alzheimer's for years!!  They get progressively more difficult.

Five Riddles is amazing and the answers are at the bottom.

1. A murderer is condemned to death. He has to choose between three rooms. The first is full of raging fires, the second is full of assassins with loaded guns, and the third is full of lions that haven't eaten in 3 years. Which room is safest for him?

2. A woman shoots her husband. Then she holds him under water for over 5 minutes. Finally, she hangs him. But 5 minutes later they both go out together and enjoy a wonderful dinner together. How can this be?

3. What is black when you buy it, red when you use it, and gray when you throw it away ?

4. Can you name three consecutive days without using the words Wednesday, Friday, or Sunday?

5. This is an unusual paragraph.  I'm curious as to just how quickly you can find out what is so unusual about it.  It looks so ordinary and plain that you would think nothing was wrong with it.  In fact, nothing is wrong with it! It is highly unusual though.  Study it and think about it, but you still may not find anything odd.  But if you work at it a bit, you might find out. Try to do so without any coaching!

The Answers To All Five The Riddles Are Below:

Eclectic: Randy - Abbott and Costello goes Hi-Tech

Eclectic - Randy

You have to be old enough to remember Abbott and Costello,  and not too old to REALLY understand computers, to fully appreciate this.  For those of us who sometimes get flustered by our computers, please read on ...

If Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were alive today, their famous sketch, "Who's on First?" might have turned out  something like this:



Abbott: Super Duper Computer Store.  Can I  help you?
Costello: Thanks, I'm setting up an office in my den and I'm thinking about buying a computer.

Eclectic: Shari Bookstaff - Teaching Again

Eclectic - Shari Bookstaff Blog

This semester, my focus shifted dramatically from marine mammal science to brain science. My Dean had asked me if I thought this topic would be too personal. Too personal? I walked funny, I talked funny and I smiled funny. My abnormalities and weaknesses were already exposed. My most intimate problems were plastered across my face. I liked the notion that I could use my experiences to better prepare my students for their future. Even though I had lived through it, I had to study brain anatomy quite a bit to be able to teach this course. Since I couldn’t even name the four lobes of the brain, I had to study the basics.

Read the full article Teaching Again…

See as well:
     http://sharibookstaff.com/
     http://bookstaff.blogspot.com/
     http://lemonsandcranberries.wordpress.com/

Eclectic: The Education of Stephanie Spooner

Early on the evening of her 21st birthday, Stephanie Spooner decided to squeeze in a workout before meeting friends at a pub.

The Ottawa-born Spooner was a dedicated athlete: a competitive ringette player who also enjoyed volleyball, hockey, curling and rugby. Sports were a central part of her life. Her dream was to become a sports medicine doctor and to work with the Ottawa Senators.

By 2005, she was well on her way to that goal, earning top marks as a second-year kinesiology student at the University of Waterloo. She loved the hubbub of university life. Her idea of a problem then was an assignment that didn’t return an ‘A.’

Spooner’s 21st birthday, however, would prove a sharp demarcation point.

Read the full article: The Education of Stephanie Spooner.

(From the Ottawa Citizen)

In June, when Stephanie Spooner accepts her master’s degree from the University of Ottawa, it will mark a major milestone in her recovery from a near-fatal stroke.

Photograph by: photo courtesy of family

Saturday News Articles - April 21st / 2012

A Stroke Survivor’s Story Of Struggle And Success!

Hello, my name is Cathy Jenkins.  I am 59 yrs old and I live near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the U. S.  When I was 50 yrs and 10 months old, I suffered a massive ischemic stroke.  I was a special education teacher and I worked with mostly autistic and developmentally delayed students in grades kindergarten through 4th grade.  It was an extremely stressful job.  On Tuesday afternoon, March 23, 2004, I came home from work.  I was starving and had just scarfed down a donut on my drive home from work.  As I walked in the back door of my house, I grabbed the mail.  I read an invitation to a wedding coming up in June, so I immediately attempted to write the date in our datebook on the kitchen counter.  As I did this, I began to speak to my husband who was in the adjoining family room.  I leaned on the counter and raised my left leg to rest it on a stool.  As I spoke to him, David said he couldn’t understand what I was saying.  So I turned to face him and realized I couldn’t move my left leg back down to the floor.  As I stuttered and stumbled, I remember thinking, “must be a blood sugar fluctuation from that darn donut.”  I crashed to the floor, still talking (gibberish)our family dog, scurried away from me frightened by something about my strange behavior.

Group Support - Cathy’s Story.

Cathy’s story speaks to the value of peer support and gaining knowledge from peers. There are many face-to-face and online support groups.

The group that Cathy belongs to is Yahoo Groups (http://groups.yahoo.com): Stroke Survivors International. Family members or care partners may want to consider strokecaregiverssupport also at Yahoo Groups.

Is Online Support and Information You Receive Online Credible?

Great Walks, Runs Or Bikes

Randy points out that there are some other great walks, runs or bikes that we can support.

What about supporting (click for more info):

1.  Monty’s cause — Edmonton Spring Sprint 2012 and the distances would work for all
     Date: Saturday, June 2, 2012
     Location: Hawrelak Park, Picnic Shelter
                     9930 Groat Road,
                     Edmonton, AB
     Registration: 9am
     Start: 10:45am Distances: 2.5km or 5km walk / fun run

2. The Moose is Loose - 10k run & walk, Half Marathon
    Sunday July 22nd, 7:00am.
    Location: Emily Murphy Park
                    11094 Emily Murphy Park Road
                     Edmonton

3.  Team Diabetes —Run or Walk

   5Km, 10 Km, half marathon, full marathon

   August 18th and 19th

   Location: Edmonton EXPO Centre

                   Hall H

                  7515 - 118 Avenue

                  Edmonton, AB

4. Veterans — Run for the Brave
    1, 5, and 10 km,
    Date: Saturday August 25, 2012
    Location: Namao Centre Running Room
                    9610 165 Avenue
                    Edmonton, AB

Dean's (Reinke) Stroke Musings - Statins

(SSTattler: Copying Dean's Reinke comments in  Saturdays News - April 14th / 2012. 
I added a bit of relevant text.  Look at Dean's Stroke Musing - great site).

Dean's Stroke Musing

The risks: All these should be told you by your doctor.

Do Statins Make It Tough to Exercise?
For years, physicians and scientists have been aware that statins, the most widely prescribed drugs in the world, can cause muscle aches and fatigue in some patients. What many people don’t know is that these side effects are especially pronounced in people who exercise.

To learn more about the effect statins have on exercising muscles, scientists in Strasbourg, France, recently gave the cholesterol-lowering drug Lipitor to a group of rats for two weeks, while a separate control group was not medicated. Some of the rats from both groups ran on little treadmills until they were exhausted.

Read the full article Do Statins Make It Tough to Exercise?

Cholesterol meds raise diabetes risk in women: US study.
Post-menopausal women who take medication to lower their cholesterol face a higher risk of getting diabetes than women who do not take the popular drugs, known as statins, said a US study on Monday.

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