Great options for deaf folks at the movies

I’ve shied away from going to the movies for the most part for quite some time because I can’t hear well enough and hate to miss the dialogue in a movie. Action flicks aren’t so bad, but dramas? Without the dialogue it’s a horrible experience.

A few months ago Mike and I were going to the Regal Cinema theater in Chesapeake for freebie preview movie and it finally occurred to me to ask what accommodations they had for hearing impaired. They hooked me up with a pair of closed captioning glasses. Very cool technology indeed!

sonyaccess-closed-captioning-glasses

sony-_regal_cinema_closed_c

Pros of Closed Captioning Glasses

  • I could read the dialogue, just like closed captioning at home
  • Use of these is free!

Cons of Closed Captioning Glasses

  • Occasionally the image on the screen didn’t offer enough contrast so reading was hard.
  • Wearing these over my prescription glasses was quite awkward — and as I wear bi-focals I didn’t have much choice. I suppose I could have worn contacts, but whether I’d be able to also read the text on the glasses is questionable. That is not a failure of the glasses by any means, just my personal experience.

Earlier this week Mike and I went to another movie preview (“Hacksaw Ridge”, which was awesome), this time at AMC. They also had a closed captioning device, which was awkward to use, but much better than nothing.

amc-closed-captioning

Pros of Captiview Closed Captioning Device

  • Not hanging another device on my head (I already wear hearing aids AND glasses, which already battle it out for space at the top of my ears.

Cons of Captiview Closed Captioning Device

  • No good way to have the captioning in the same line of sight as the movie. Up and down. Good thing I had my bifocals on.
  • Mounted in the drink holder. Good thing I didn’t want a drink! I’d have had no where to put it.
  • Loose arm made it want to rotate into my face
  • Could not adjust the height and have it stick, had to hold it in place the hold movie.

Learn About Sendy

I’m exploring a new email processing system called Sendy. It uses the Amazon email servers via their SES service. Sendy costs $59, a one-time fee. It is self-hosted and the mail is processed by Amazon, so you pay based on usage.

If you’d like to get a link to the video walk-thru I’m doing about Sendy you can sign up to get the link below.

You can find out more about Sendy on your own by clicking here: Valerie’s Sendy Affiliate Link




How Tax Cuts Work

A simple lesson in How Tax Cuts Work

Sometimes politicians, journalists and others exclaim; “It’s just a tax cut for the rich!” and it is just accepted to be fact. But what does that really mean? Just in case you are not completely clear on this issue, I hope the following will help. Please read it carefully.

Let’s put tax cuts in terms everyone can understand. Suppose that every day, ten men go out for dinner and the bill for all ten comes to $100. If they paid their bill the way we pay our taxes, it would go something like this:

  • The first four men (the poorest) would pay nothing.
  • The fifth would pay $1.
  • The sixth would pay $3.
  • The seventh would pay $7.
  • The eighth would pay $12.
  • The ninth would pay $18.
  • The tenth man (the richest) would pay $59.

So, that’s what they decided to do.

The ten men ate dinner in the restaurant every day and seemed quite happy with the arrangement, until one day, the owner threw them a curve.   “Since you are all such good customers,” he said, “I’m going to reduce the cost of your daily meal by $20.” Dinner for the ten now cost just $80.

The group still wanted to pay their bill the way we pay our taxes so the first four men were unaffected. They would still eat for free. But what about the other six men — the paying customers? How could they divide the $20 windfall so that everyone would get his ‘fair share?’

They realized that $20 divided by six is $3.33. But if they subtracted that from everybody’s share, then the fifth man and the sixth man would each end up being paid to eat their meal. So, the restaurant owner suggested that it would be fair to reduce each man’s bill by roughly the same amount, and he proceeded to work out the amounts each should pay.   And so:

The fifth man, like the first four, now paid nothing (100% savings).

The sixth now paid $2 instead of $3 (33% savings).

The seventh now paid $5 instead of $7 (28% savings).

The eighth now paid $9 instead of $12 (25% savings).

The ninth now paid $14 instead of $18 (22% savings).

The tenth now paid $49 instead of $59 (16% savings).

Each of the six was better off than before. And the first four continued to eat for free. But once outside the restaurant, the men began to compare their savings.   “I only got a dollar out of the $20,” declared the sixth man. He  pointed to the tenth man,” but he got $10!”

“Yeah, that’s right,” exclaimed the fifth man. “I only saved a dollar, too. It’s unfair that he got ten times more than me!” “That’s true!!” shouted the seventh man. “Why should he get $10 back when I got only two? The wealthy get all the breaks!” “Wait a minute,” yelled the first four men in unison. “We didn’t get anything at all. The system exploits the poor!” The nine men surrounded the tenth and beat him up.

The next night the tenth man didn’t show up for dinner, so the nine sat down and ate without him. But when it came time to pay the bill, they discovered something important. They didn’t have enough money between all of them for even half of the bill!

And that, boys and girls, journalists and college professors, is how our tax system works. The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up anymore. In fact, they might start eating overseas where the atmosphere is somewhat friendlier.