We have a new boiler!

[conuly]

It is blue. I didn't even know they came in colors!

*********************

Braille technology firm builds 'Kindle for the blind'

One Man’s Quiet Quest to Collect Every Local Banana

Inside Life at a Self-Organized Homeless Community

This viral thread on what people can and can't say due to 'political correctness' is gold.

How HBO Is Changing Sex Scenes Forever

So You Automated Your Coworkers Out of a Job

Comments

[gingicat]

I wonder how this Braille reader differs from a BrailleNote? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BrailleNote

[kengr]

This is a 9-line Braille display, with a few controls.

The BrailleNote is a low end laptop with a keyboard (regular or Braille) and a *one line* Braille display.

That "18 or 32 column" description in the wiki article refers to the number of "columns" of pins. It takes two columns to display *one* Braille character.

So that's a 9 or 16 *character* display.

My friend Lin got a secondhand BrailleNote years ago, but hasn't been able to use it since the battery died (you have to send it back to the factory to get the battery replaced, and it's *expensive*)

[gingicat]

Oh, good to know! That means my friends will be delighted by rather than annoyed with the article. (One of them brings her BrailleNote *everywhere* and was devastated when her first one broke. Fortunately she was able to find a used one and her family helped pay for it.)