Decided to try a little automatic dictation using the mechanism built into Windows 10. Basically by pressing windows dash H, you get a mechanism that is designed for speech to text transcription, what they call dictation, that should allow large scale recording of input. It isn't ideal, but if one is one of those folks that could speak off the cuff and produce quality output, I can see it being very useful indeed.
Having a bit of fun tonight with some old tech that I used to use heavily (and may I say brilliantly) back in the 1990s. WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS.
I have an ancient copy of WP from way back when, and used a setup with a DOS... emulator? Anyway, a DOS box running inside Windows 10 called vDOS, which is pre-configured to work specifically with WP. Nice thing about WP DOS (not so much the Windows versions) was its focus initially on inputting content -- creating correspondence or news articles first, long before one gets to the point of worrying about formats and layouts. I prefer this way of working. Create good content, and formatting is a matter of not screwing it up. Format first, and to me the content is weaker and less valuable. Maybe "The medium is the message," or part of it. But it isn't all of the message, and after a certain point the medium gets in the way of effective messaging.
WP DOS lets me write the way I write this blog, content first. But it also does fully-justified text by default. Software that can import from WP DOS produces output that may be simpler, but has a better shot at high quality content. Hard to explain, I suppose. If you know what I mean, it's obvious, and if you don't, you might never get the point.
I'm not a brilliant writer. But WP DOS, I think, allows me to be a better writer than I might otherwise have been.
Another thing I suspect from my experience. I was an early adopter of what was called "desktop publishing." I'd create newsletters and flyers, taking advantage of the fairly new graphic tools available in the 90s. But the impact of Microsoft Word and other software with similar design philosophy has created so much "pretty" junkmail that I don't think people even look at a lot of the content. It's a blur and discarded before reading more than the apparent headlines and glancing at the pictures.
Even DTP based on work from WP DOS tended to be better, because the first task was saying what needed to be said. Layout and art and such was all secondary. You got more meaningful material, and people expected that -- back when news was news and not just clickbait and top 10 lists (said the old guy).
Had an inquiry for some voicework, narrating a poem by GK Chesterton. So possibly back in the saddle, albeit in a small way. Or a more suitable title might be "40 Days in the Saddle, by Major Assburns." :-)
We'll see how it turns out, okay?
Griz
My longform content has, well, been mostly nonexistent for a long time. Last time I posted a new podcast was 2023, obvious when you look. And I said at the time I was going to record John Stuart Mill's "Subjection of Women." And then, well, I didn't. And haven't.
Not even sure I spelled Mill's name right, it's been so long.
I am trying to get my butt back in gear. With the chaos of the last few months (since being diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma), it's a big step forward to be wearing pants. Okay, maybe a little exaggeration there.
I will likely have to do podcasts in quick and dirty mode for a while. I'm way out of practice, and the quality tricks I used habitually Back Then are simply forgotten now. I have to sand off the rust and recreate such skills as I used to have, or more likely new techniques entirely.
Bear with me. Turns out cancer is kinda stressful, and moreso when one adds in PTSD. (Read about the symptoms of PTSD for yourself from your own search. Even my apparently casual tone may derive from PTSD itself.) I definitely have the former, and appear to have the latter according to what I've gotten from the local County Veterans Service Agency or CVSA. Though I had inquired about it on the off chance, I was surprised when they came back with "we think based on our records that you actually do have PTSD." I ended up putting myself in-patient in the Psych areas of Essentia Health - Duluth to find out what exactly that means, what to watch for and so on. Learned little -- and found that some folks close to me aren't entirely convinced I have PTSD. As usual, I'm baffled and confused, but it does make sense of some recent behavioral changes on my part.
Anyway... I'm dusting off some old hardware and software and seeing if I can regain some old skills I used to have. For example, there was a time when I was very effective with WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS. Yes, I mean DOS from Way Back in the Last Millenium. There was a time when I was very employable, not really for skill with that software, but for skill writing correspondence and articles, which derived from using that tool, much better for Actual Writing than Microsoft Word. Tricky to get WP-DOS working under Win10, but doable. Still figuring out how.
I might also look at whatever is current for WP under Windows -- not an ideal solution, but likely easier to implement. If the newer versions don't allow for creating the content before creating the format of the content, then they are simply a step backward. WP-DOS was best for typing what I wanted to say, and then figuring out how to format it, selecting fonts and such. If I can make it work, I may even regain some of my old abilities as a writer. This blog seems better than it was, simply because I'm just writing without first formatting. Maybe my need to do that is rare?
So please be patient with me, and I'll try to become once again that fella I used to be. Who would not have used "fella" in the above sentence. Baby steps, okay?
-- Griz
As it turns out, (a) although my service was during peacetime (I was stationed in New Mexico, and we aren't at war with Mexico ... yet) I am considered a fully-fledged Veteran with all the whatchamacallits and doohickeys thereunto appertaining, etc. Whatever those are. (b) I have been told by fellow veterans at Essentia "well of course you're eligible," which is nice. Eligible for what, I don't exactly know.
I've had several moments of "flying off the handle," as the saying used to go When I Was A Boy. It was at best extremely unpleasant to those impacted by my behavior, including me. Likely this was due to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder or PTSD. The VA appears to have concluded that I actually suffer from PTSD. I'm not particularly shy about it. Four years with the 148th Tac Recon Group, which I gather now is the 148th Fighter Wing, last I looked. A little Inactive Reserve time and most of another two years active USAF, making up my 6 year obligation. If I hadn't been discharged (don't get me started ... no, really, DON'T), I'd likely have retired more than 20 years ago.
I spent the last several days in the Essentia Psych wards trying to find out what the term actually means, what I should watch for and what I should expect. As to who else was there, those are not my stories to tell. In older terms, none of your damn business, and for that matter, none of my damn business either.
I'm going to do what I might have done before I sent myself to the Psych wards and do a bit of Googling to learn some more. I knew (from movies and TV) that combat veterans could be subject to PTSD, and it looks damn serious there. I do keep getting asked whether the VA is covering my care -- but of course their coverage of my PTSD only applies to that, not the cancer, glaucoma or other conditions that did not arise from my service. I am not entirely baffled by it -- only mostly baffled. Oh, well, once more into the breach dear friends, once more...
Griz
PS. Mike McLaughlin from the St Louis County CVSA... call me if you can. Not sure if my one remaining VOIP line can get inbound calls. (sigh)
I don't even know how to explain this. Mike McLaughlin from the CVSA said I needed to talk to a Social Worker. Fine, Social Workers are caring people. So she calls me, and I miss the call because I had to wait on hold for AT&T. My sister, who's my care giver, wouldn't stay there and handle the 15-some minutes of "your call is important to us," when I was calling to get my phone, deactivated by Tracfone after I was a customer since 2002, reactivated, because she thought AT&T wouldn't want my business. I wanted to save my cellphone number, which I'm losing because Tracfone found the phone I'd been using with them since I got it, a perfectly fine Samsung Galaxy S7, won't work with the sim Verizon sent me. Because it needs AT&Ts towers. Locked? What do I care, I need to save my cellphone number so people can verify my identity -- insecurely, but what can I do?
"Your call is important to us." So why was I on hold for 15 minutes? How long does a _very_ important call wait? Was I too important, or not important enough? I'm Autistic. Autistic people get confused sometimes. But I missed this call from this caring Social Worker I was looking forward to.
Finally got back and called the Social Worker back. I asked if I was eligible for VA health coverage. She thought I was, but had to send a form off to get me on her docket or whatever so she would be allowed to call me. But she was already on the phone with me...
So I asked if she needed the form. "Yes, so I can call you on my whatchamacallit." But she was already on the phone with me, just before 5 pm this was. "I have another meeting to get to," the Social Worker said. "I have to call you back tomorrow to do a 30-minute survey to make sure you're eligible." ????
"Do you need the form?" "Well, I need to get you on my docket so I can call you tomorrow." "We can't get this done tonight?" I wondered if she was protecting me from something. "No, I have to call you back tomorrow to..." "But Microsoft is shutting off the Skype Number service, so I dunno if you'll even be able to." I don't know if she understood me, because she was talking while I was talking. I asked if I was being rude: no. I asked if she was being rude by talking over me: also no... wait...
I told her I was Rev Dr David "Grizzly" Smith, DDHC, Honorus causa that last bit is, an honorary degree I got from ULC, that church you don't think is a real church. I asked her once again if I was being rude, asking her to get the 30 minute call done now so I could be eligible for my VA benefits now, which Mike McLaughlin, a fellow USAF veteran, says I should be.
"I have another meeting." Apparently after 5 pm. But she couldn't do her 30 minute call for tomorrow, because she has to send this form off to another department, because Policy. I called her back, she's on the phone with me, she's not being rude talking over me... And she confirmed repeatedly I'm not being rude to her...
But she wouldn't complete the 30-minute call she was already on so I could be eligible right away and say so to Essentia Health Duluth. She said she didn't need the form, but "I have another meeting" when I was requesting to get the call done with in case I lost the use of my Skype Number...
But she wasn't being rude? I'm sorry, I'm autistic, I miss things, why wouldn't it be rude for her to talk over me? Why isn't it rude to tell me she won't finish giving me my benefits because "I have another meeting," and "policy..."
Can someone explain this to me?
Rev Dr David "Grizzly" Smith, DDHC
ULC considers me a minister (one who ministers to others, cares for them) and a Doctor of Divinity Honorus Causa, "Caused by Honor." The USAF considers me an honorably discharged veteran who is eligible for VA benefits. I'm also Autistic, have osteoarthritis, maccular degeneration in my left eye due to glaucoma, and Multiple Myeloma. But she has "another meeting," and has to send a form elsewhere so she can call me back tomorrow to say so. But she's already on the phone with me. But "I have another meeting." I want to complete the 30 minute call while we're on the phone right now, but...
Can someone explain this to me in a way that makes sense? Mike, fellow USAF veteran, can you explain why her "another meeting" was more important than finishing with me?
Griz
Shakespeare, remember him? Dead what, a few centuries anyway. Do your own research, google it and find out, you brilliant people who elected a half-wit thug and a bully to be your President because he promised to stop bugging you about taking responsibility for your own actions.
I'd say this on my podcast, but Libsyn who have my podcast won't let me go from this blog to Libsyn because they say I don't have an account... after podcasting there since 02/04/2007 or so. They still have my content, but they're not sure who I am. But I'm rude, ain't I? Just some old guy, ten years younger than President Beavis, who hates military veterans like me, and disabled people like me. He's my President, this guy who hates me?
He wants America to be great, like it was when my Dad fought the Nazis in World War II, and came back home a wounded veteran with a Purple Heart... this fella who hates my late father, who was a wounded veteran? My brother, a Disabled American Veteran? Me, a peacetime veteran and not a DAV because I didn't go into combat?
Let's Make America Great Again, and ignore the so-called Greatest Generation, because President Beavis' dad didn't go get wounded in Africa. First American shell was fired at the Germans in Africa, fired by the 175 Field Artillery Division, my Dad's unit. Who came back a wounded veteran. Embarrassed to talk about the purple heart he hid in is dresser drawer, because it was a small thing. He was in Africa, and Sicily, and Italy, and was there when the D-Day invasion took place. And he was too proud to let people see his Purple Heart... No, I'm not crying, you are. He's my President? Go back and find the time when he asked to be my leader, this guy who hates people like me...
Just got off the phone with Mike McLaughlin the rep from the county's CVSA. Like an asshole -- though that's only a part of me -- I sent a nastygram to the County's communication manager about Mike not taking my call. You'd think a peacetime vet with an IQ of 141 would be smarter than that, hell, people keep calling me a genius... I cheated on the IQ test, I'm probably not that smart at all! Genius is 160, I'm only 141 after cheating?
Besides, and I mean this in a nice way, Geniuses seem to be rather annoying and arrogant because they're by-God Geniuses. And you think I'm annoying and arrogant? Geee... thanks...
Website thought I wanted an emoji because my fingers slipped off and hit the wrong key. I can't even see emojis on those teensy phone screens, why am I being asked to use them? I'm half blind from Glaucoma, maccular degeneration in my left eye, and I should use this stupid little picture I can't really see? Seriously?
Where was I? Oh, Mike, wonderful guy, called me on my Skype Number, my last remaining phone number, and apologized for not taking my call because he was already with a veteran, and his female sidekick -- maybe a Secretary, I was one for nine years and respect the job -- thought she should say "we have what we need..." And I got angry about that. What an asshole, huh? Still think I'm a genius?
But Microsoft is eliminating Skype Numbers because "nobody" uses them. So now I'm nobody, according to Microsoft. I talked to them on the phone, and they were very apologetic, but are still shutting it down. I don't get why. I suppose it costs them money, and it's just for me. I'm fine, it's not even one of the bad cancers. Still got too much hair and everything. Dave Crosby said,
Almost cut my hair, just the other day,
It was gettin' kinda long, I coulda said it just wasn't my way,
But I didn't, and I wonder why, I keep lettin' my freak flag fly,
Cause I feel like I owe it to someone...
That's from "Almost Cut My Hair" by Crosby Stills and Nash as I recall. Among other baffling aspects is talking to the young folks (even as I consider myself not that old) who don't recognize the song. (Kids these days...) They also don't know what I mean by "my freak flag," for that matter. I'm a lot younger than Dave Crosby was when he passed, let's leave it at that.
I think he'd not mind, sad he's gone now, we had some nice chats on Twitter back before the DOGE guy ruined it. Why Department of Government Efficiency and not Department of Presidential Efficiency? Some reason they didn't want to use DOPE? Why do you think they didn't call it DOPE?
Griz
PS. I hate political rants (like this one) and gratuitous cussing, which is why I didn't try doing this with speech-to-text...
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