Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind

It’s that wonderful time of year again where we all gather around a feast of snacks, chili, and hot wings and yell at our TVs in an effort to sway the outcome of the biggest football game of the year.  The best part is that this year’s game looks like it will be a fantastic one to watch. 

Around week five or six, everybody was relatively convinced that the Indianapolis Colts and the New Orleans Saints would meet in the championship game.  By around week ten, it was almost a sure thing as long as something unexpected didn’t occur during the playoffs.  Now that everyone’s expectations have been met, it’s time to dive into Sunday’s matchup.

The Indianapolis Colts are best described as the Mercedes Benz of the National Football League.  Their machine-like precision during the game is an incredible thing to watch.  Peyton Manning completes passes as if he’s threading a needle.  The ball will either be caught, or it will be intercepted, and he’s proven that he is a good enough quarterback to make the completion nearly every time.  Manning was intercepted only 16 times in 571 pass attempts this season.  His offensive line is fantastic, giving him ample time to choose his best receiver and launch the ball down the field.  His two favorite guys are wide receiver Reggie Wayne and tight end Dallas Clark.  Between the two, they represent over 2,300 yards of offense and 20 touchdowns.  Pierre Garcon had a big game during the AFC championship, so keep a lookout for him as well.

The Colts running game isn’t stellar, as their main running back, Joseph Addai has rushed for a little over 800 yards.  However, that’s not to say that he isn’t able to get out and run.  If his offensive line works with him and he can get some good blocks down field, Addai can be a very explosive player who should not be underestimated. 

The Colts defense is middle of the road as far as numbers go.  They tend to allow a decent amount of rushing yards and are ranked 18th in the league for total yards allowed per game.  It must be said, though, that they have clearly gotten the job done this season and the Colts are not just an offense team.  The Colts may also be without their star defensive end, Dwight Freeney, due to a lower ankle injury that could keep him out of the game.  As of now, his appearance is questionable.  If he isn’t able to play, the Colts’ defense will need to be extra vigilant to make up for his absence.  They’ll need to stay very focused this week to battle against the Saints’ powerful offense.

If the Colts are like a Mercedes, the Saints are like a brand new pickup truck filled with wolves.  They’re powerful, durable, and very, very hungry.  The team is led on offense by quarterback Drew Brees, who has had an amazing season.  Speaking strictly numbers, Brees is almost identical to Peyton Manning.  He’s reliable, with only 11 interceptions occurring in 514 pass attempts this season.  He’s also got some great receivers in Colston, Henderson, Meachem, Shockey, and the multi-talented Reggie Bush.  Brees has come up against some tough teams in the post season and has proved that he can keep his composure and bring his team out on top.

On the ground, the Saints are ranked 6th in the league and have Mike Bell, Pierre Thomas, and Reggie Bush to thank for that.  The three of them represent a solid running force that the Colts are going to have to pay close attention to if they hope to make them ineffective.  They all have the ability to get to the side and bolt down the field. 

Defensively, the Saints are similar to the Colts and fall mostly middle of the road in terms of numbers.  That aside, they’ve gone up against the Arizona Cardinals, who they dominated, and the Minnesota Vikings, who they also ended up beating in the NFC Championship, in their last two games.  Both teams have huge offenses and the Saints’ defense was able to contain them effectively. 

Bottom line: the key to this game is defense.  For the Saints to win, they will need to put the same amount of pressure on Manning that they did on Favre two weeks ago.  If they can shut down Manning, the Colts offensive machine falls apart and the wolves will be free to dine.  If they’re unable to do that, Peyton and his crew will run right over them without thinking twice.  The Colts also need to be strong on defense as well.  With Dwight Freeney’s involvement in question, Drew Brees will be able to look forward to reduced pressure after the snap.  If he’s given room, Brees will make them regret it.

Either way, I have a feeling that this game should be a fight to the finish between two teams who specialize in acquiring endzone real estate.

SCORE UPDATE:

After the dust settled on Sunday’s match up, the New Orleans Saints pulled off their first Superbowl win in franchise history.  They beat the Colts 31 to 17. 

The game started off in favor of the Colts as they led the game 10 to 6 going into halftime.  The Saints didn’t play terribly in the first half, but they desperately needed to start scoring touchdowns.  The second half started with a surprise for the Colts.  The Saints lined up for a regular kick off, but caught the Colts unaware when they executed an onside kick instead.  The ball bounced off a Colts player and was recovered by the Saints, giving them possession of the ball at mid field.  Shortly after that, they scored their first touchdown and had momentum on their side.  Shortly after, the Colts managed to get Joseph Addai into the end zone to give them back the lead 17 to 16. 

That Saints’ next big scoring drive was finished with a touchdown and a 2 point conversion that just barely happened, giving them a 7 point lead.  As the Colts attempted to bring the game back even, Peyton Manning threw an interception.  Tracy Porter jumped in front of the intended receiver and ran the ball back 74 yards for a Saints touchdown and the nail in the coffin for the Colts.  The Colts’ next drive stalled near the goal line and the Saints took a knee to run out the clock and claim their victory.

February 2 is officially Groundhog Day in America and like most every year, the furry little forecaster, Punxsutawney Phil, popped out of his burrow only to see his shadow and scurry back inside, indicating 6 more weeks of winter. While this mostly frivolous frost forewarning isn’t exactly scientific, there are many old tales of animals predicting future weather patterns.

For instance, the English believe that when a woodpecker laughs, rain is on the way. Frost is also coming when cats sit with their back to the fire. Even the trees supposedly know what’s in store for them, as it is believed that the frost is done when mulberry trees put out shoots. In Canada and New England, it is said that woolly caterpillars will have a wider brown section on their backs if the coming winter will be more mild. While these may seem funny, animals have been used to predict the weather as far back as pagan times.

Groundhog Day itself first began as part of the Christian Candlemas, a holiday celebrated on February 2 in recognition of Jesus being taken into a temple in Jerusalem after he was born. Eventually, a weather forecasting rhyme was born out of this holiday. It went, “If Candlemas Day is clear and bright, winter will have another bite. If Candlemas Day brings clouds and rain, winter is gone and will not come again.” When German settlers came to Pennsylvania, they brought groundhogs into the mix to blend the Candlemas rhyme with the Celtic holiday of Imbolic. During Imbolic, people would watch for animals that would normally burrow and hibernate to emerge as a gauge of weather to come.

So now, if February 2 is clear and bright, the groundhog will see his shadow and go back into his hole, telling us there’s more winter to come. If the day is cloudy, he’ll come out and winter will be gone soon. While that’s all well and good, all of the media coverage of poor Punxsutawney almost guarantees that even if it is a cloudy day, the camera lights will ensure that we’ll have more winter anyway as the little frightened groundhog shies away.

To read the original article, please go to http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Global-News/2010/0202/Groundhog-Day-Top-five-animal-forecasters

So what is BrowseAloud? 

BrowseAloud is free software that reads web pages out loud. It can help anyone who has difficulty reading on-line, including people with mild visual impairments, low literacy, English as a second language, or learning disabilities, such as dyslexia.  Once you have BrowseAloud installed on your computer, all you need to do is hover your cursor over a selection of text. BrowseAloud will highlight the words and read them out loud.  BrowseAloud also has features like a translator, the option to change the reading voice, and a dictionary if you’re unsure of the meaning of a word.  It’s a very nice tool, and it’s completely free for you to use.

You can download BrowseAloud from the BrowseAloud web site: Browsealoud Downloads  Follow the instructions on the download page to install BrowseAloud on your computer.

For more information on how to use BrowseAloud, please go to

Frequently Asked Questions

Video Tours

PC User Guide

Mac User Guide

System Requirements

If you need more help with installing the program or have questions about how to use it, you can email or call:

Support@BrowseAloud.com

1-877-778-6977 (toll free)

Hello again everyone.  This has been a very busy week here at the magazine and I’ve got a lot to fill you all in on.  So, onto the good stuff.

Earlier this week we sat down for a product demonstration over the web for software called Browse Aloud.  Created by a company called Text Help, Browse Aloud is a great tool for people who have a mild visual disability but can still see a computer screen with the aid of magnifiers.  More information on the BrowseAloud software is in a following article.  We are also going to change the color scheme of the website to make it easier on the eyes than the current black and orange color combination is.

For our readers who are entirely blind, I have been looking into free screen reading software that you would be able to utilize as an alternative to the more expensive programs.  The problem that I’ve routinely run into is that these types of programs are governed by the “you get what you pay for” principle, and while the most popular programs are expensive, they’re costly for a reason.  However, that said, we have found a promising company that develops a screen reader that seems both reliable and very user friendly.  I am testing it with the help of a technology consultant and a company that specializes in accessible software for the blind.  If we find that it will suit the needs of our readers, then I will absolutely come back with good news.  While I desperately want to offer more cost effective software to all of you, I want to be sure that it will be valuable and not just some tool that does some things well, but comes up short most of the time.  So please bear with us as we explore these options.

I’ve also signed us up to be a part of Inclusive Planet, an international web source for accessible information for the blind.  The site is filled with a massive amount of topics, most of which I haven’t had the time to explore yet.  All of the content that is on our site is available there under our the Matilda Ziegler Publishing Company for the Blind channel.  I’m hoping that by becoming a member of this large and far reaching utility for the blind, we can bring in more members from across the globe.  You can visit Inclusive Planet by going to www.inclusiveplanet.com.  To go to our channel, visit http://www.inclusiveplanet.com/en/group/452702.

Many of you have also been asking about when we would sign up for Newsline.  I spoke with representatives for Newsline this week and we should have everything squared away within the next two weeks.  I will give you all an update once it is up and running. 

Well, I think that just about covers everything.  This has been an exciting week for us and I’m looking forward to bringing more value to this magazine and making all of your lives better at the same time as we push into the future.

Take care, and as always, thanks for reading.

Sincerely,

Ross Hammond, Editor

Mount Everest, the highest peak in the world, has had its fair share of explorers try and conquer it. The first pair to successfully do so were Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay when they made the climb in 1953. However, 30 years prior to that, another pair named George Mallory and Andrew Irvine attempted to make the summit but disappeared and died on the mountain. The big question surrounding them is whether or not one or both of them made it to the summit. Perhaps they did and died on their way back down. Until now, there were no clues to solve this 86 year old mystery.

While expeditions were made to find the two, and Mallory’s body was actually recovered in 1999 by one of them, the real key to solving this mystery lies with Irvine. More specifically, it lies with the vest pocket kodak camera he was supposedly carrying on him during their climb.

By using high resolution photos and maps of the mountain’s north side, Everest historian Tom Holzel believes that he may have found where Irvine’s body is. The most recent picture that he was given reveals an oblong anomaly roughly 1.8 meters long that lies in a spot where a Chinese climber reportedly saw the body of an Englishman during a climb in 1960. Comparing photos and computer enhancement confirm that the shape Holzel has seen is actually there and not just an illusion created by shadows or other causes. The discovery of an ice ax that supposedly belonged to Irvine near that area further fuels the hopes of the anxious historian.

Holzel plans on mounting an expedition to that spot sometime around spring of 2011 to see if he can find Irvine’s body in hopes of recovering his camera. Who knows, if he does find the camera and the film isn’t destroyed, there may be pictures from the summit that change the history of the most unforgiving mountain on our planet.

To read the original article, please go to http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=mount-everest-mystery

Bill Gates and his wife Melinda plan to donate 10 billion dollars over the next decade to develop and deliver vaccinations to developing nations worldwide. Over the past 10 years, they have already given 4.5 billion to the same cause, but plan to double that due to the increased need.

Their goal is to increase the amount of vaccination coverage to 90 percent within that 10 year time frame. By accomplishing this, they hope to save nearly 7.6 million children under the age of five who would’ve otherwise perished from highly curable diseases.

The GAVI alliance, an organization that the Gates family has been largely responsible for creating, has seen much success so far. Portions of the world that seemingly had no hope are now in a much better position to protect themselves from disease. Some cities in Malawi are now supplied with enough vaccinations to put them on par with some western cities.

Bill Gates hopes that the money he has promised to fund vaccines will help greatly reduce or entirely eliminate diseases like rotavirus, pneumonia, and even the mosquito-born killer, malaria.

It’s comforting to see someone in such a high financial position focusing on problems that affect those far less fortunate. It’s one thing to be the richest man in the world. It’s a completely different thing when you use that to become one of the world’s greatest philanthropists as well.

To read the original article, please go to http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60S3K420100129

J.D. Salinger, the author of The Catcher in the Rye, has died at 91 years old. Thought to be one of the most important American authors since World War Two, Salinger became famous for not wanting to be famous at all and had been living in seclusion for nearly 50 years at his home in New Hampshire. Ironically enough, the more he sought privacy, the less he received and the more famous he became. 

While Salinger was responsible for other works, The Catcher in the Rye was by far his most well known. It was published in 1951 and has become one of the all time best selling books. It gained its popularity among young readers due to its sympathetic attitude towards adolescence and reading it became almost a rite of passage for America’s youth. Even today, though some of the material is a bit dated, young readers can still relate to its timeless ideals that are present in every young life. 

Salinger’s works were famous for the amount of literary irony contained within them. His characters would often prove a point by saying the exact opposite of what they intended to say. This literary strategy is what drew critics to his works and is why they are still discussed so frequently to this day. 

Though most of his life is shrouded in mystery, he is responsible for shaping the minds of many of America’s youth as well as lighting a fire under many critics who have spent years trying to understand the meaning behind his multi layered writings. Though he was never partial to being a large part of it, the literary world has just lost one of its greatest minds. 

To read the original article, please go to http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/books/29salinger.html?pagewanted=3

The Spirit Rover, which has been motoring all over the surface of our neighboring red planet has been stuck in loose sand since May and NASA officials are saying that it won’t be able to pull itself out.

At this point, two of the rover’s wheels are broken, making it even harder to free itself from its current predicament. NASA is attempting to tilt the rover in the direction of the weak solar rays in an effort to keep its batteries charged up enough that it can still conduct soil experiments where it is. If they are unable to accomplish this, the rover will enter a hibernation mode that it will not come out of until the end of this summer when the sun’s rays are strong enough to juice up the onboard batteries again.

Not becoming discouraged, scientists now believe that they can use the disabled rover to investigate different aspects of the planet that they hadn’t thought of before. Since the rover is now stationary, they can use its instruments to determine how much the planet wobbles. Once that data is gathered, they will be able to figure out whether the interior of the planet is liquid or solid, which will in turn allow them to better understand the planet’s magnetic history.

Even though the little rover is stuck far away from the scientists who devoted themselves to this project, there are still many things that it can reveal about Mars that we would’ve otherwise never known for sure.

To read the original article, please go to http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/8481798.stm

The Secretary of Transportation has just enacted a new law banning truckers and other commercial drivers from being able to text message while driving.

Texting while driving represents a huge safety hazard, which is greatly increased when the driver is behind the wheel of something as large as a tractor trailer. It has already been found that drivers are twenty times more likely to get into an accident if they’re distracted. With this new law in place, violators may be fined upwards of 2800 dollars and may face civil or criminal charges. While the law lays down a stiff penalty if someone is caught, the problem is catching them in the first place. Many times, it is difficult for police to see inside of the cab of a truck because they are so high off the ground.

Many trucking companies already prohibit any of their drivers from texting while driving due to the serious safety risk. Hopefully the addition of a firm legal penalty will dissuade those who told choose to listen to their employer.

To read the original article, please go to http://www.mercurynews.com/breaking-news/ci_14270680?nclick_check=1

On the surface, a lighting industry transition from incandescent to LED bulbs isn’t exactly the most exciting news in the world. However, something this simple may have far reaching impacts on global energy consumption.

Viewed as being similar to the film industry’s transition from conventional film to digital cameras, the lighting industry is getting ready for its next big revolution since Thomas Edison came on the scene. LED lights represent a large step forward in terms of efficiency and longevity. A LED bulb producing 60 watts will use 80 percent less energy than a conventional bulb. Even on a small scale, like a house, replacing every normal light bulb with an LED would represent significant savings over time. Now, multiply that by every light bulb in, say, New York City. Or every bulb in New England. Or how about the roughly 1 billion conventional incandescent light bulbs in the United States. The potential energy savings is immense.

Since LED bulbs operate entirely different from their incandescent counterpart, their longevity is significantly increased. The average LED light bulb will be able to last almost 20 years. Imagine screwing one of them in and not having to replace it for the first time until your child has almost graduated college.

So what’s the hold up, right? Why haven’t we been given this money and energy saving wonder yet? The main reason is money. Up until recently, the technology was too expensive to realistically offer anything to the general public. Even now, with the technology as evolved as it is, Philips will debut its LED bulb sometime in 2010 at 20 dollars a piece.

Currently there are a number of government programs and companies who are trying to increase awareness of these new bulbs so that we can all begin to incorporate them in our homes and businesses. Hopefully, with technologies constantly improving, that awareness will spread and LED light bulbs will become a very practical and environmentally friendly part of our lives in the near future.

To read the original article, please go to http://brainstormtech.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2010/01/26/the-light-bulb-goes-digital/?section=magazines_fortune