When my daughter Anna IM'd from her office in Manhattan, as she does most afternoons (I think she has me on a checklist), I typed that I'd just applied for a couple of captioned telephones. They're free -- delivery, installation and the service -- some government program. Like hearing aids, they don't work as well as -- say -- reading glasses, but they do help.
A few minutes later, Dov skyped from his office in Vancouver. It seems he and his sister bought captioned telephones when they were here at Thanksgiving, hid them in his old bedroom, planned to install them as a surprise.
I told him the audiologist recently said my hearing aids have a telephone setting, and I thought I'd phone some recording -- maybe a weather channel -- to try that out. "Why don't I just phone you?" he asked. Marveling as always that long-distance doesn't cost extra these days -- not even before 5 p m -- I watched on Skype as he dialed my number.
Meanwhile, Anna, no longer getting responses on Instant Messaging, fired off an email to tell me she had informed her brother that I had gone ahead and ordered ...
and at that point I'm afraid I lost it -- suffered a severe attack of Communications Overload.
Four Ways !! I was in touch with people on both oceans, Atlantic and Pacific, free (sort of)
FOUR DIFFERENT WAYS at the SAME TIME. In REAL TIME.
In 1931 I saw my first full-length movie, -- Charlie Chaplin's The Kid. It was in black and white.
Silent.
Too bad I couldn't read yet, because it told the story in what were called titles,slides that were
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| captions. |
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