[gui-talk] A blind vendor's input on accessible money

Wed Dec 6 18:01:38 CST 2006

First of all, *(I* would prefer to have bills I can identify by touch, and I don't care whether this blind guy wants them or not.  Understood?
2.  what kind of remark is the car thing?  There ain't gonna be some car for blind drivers.  Behind this wisecrack, he's expressing a wish to have his sight back, if you ask me.  One just makes wisecracks like that when there's nothing more to say about the real problem.  Old men whose last erection is decades behind them like to make lusty-sounding remarks about how they'd like to get their hands on Julia roberts or whoever.  Now, if there were the chance of reviving their libido-- and this doesn't have anything to do with Viagra, please understand-- then they would stop with the remarks about Julia and look into that remedy for the lost hormonal life of earlier years.  I'm assuming that those reading this post understand that a drug like Viagra doesn't replace dead lust in a man, it just reenables the mechanism if the mind and body are inspired, otherwise.  Viagra is referred to in mass culture so crazily that one wonders if most of the country thinks it's an aphrodisiac, which it isn't.

But anyway, it just doesn't make much sense to me.  I'm happy that the blind vendor is okay with things as they are, he should live and be well, as my dear departed father would have said.  But regardless.  It's just bar talk, as I see it.  He may be fine with his life with money, but I'm not fine with mine.  And I don't want no high tech blind-adapted car.  I just want a regular car and a driver, available 24/7.  The Steve Wynn life.  that would be fine with me.

Just my take on this contribution, okay?  Okay.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Doug Lee 
To: NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List 
Sent: Wednesday, December 06, 2006 3:38 PM
Subject: [gui-talk] A blind vendor's input on accessible money

Ok, I finally got the chance to do what I always thought would make
the most sense with this money issue:  Ask a blind vendor for an
opinion, without first presenting any bias.  Here is my best
recollection of the conversation.

Me:  I have a question for you, if you have the time.

Vendor:  I'll see if I got an answer.

Me:  What is your opinion on this issue of changing the currency?

Vendor:  (pause) You really wanna know what I think?

me:  Yes.

Vendor:  (pause, perhaps for effect) I think I'd rather have a car I
can drive!

Me: (healthy burst of laughter)

We continued to discuss the issue a bit after that, amid the passing
of other customers through his line.  I genuinely expected him to go
on to at least defend the notion that changing the money would be
helpful to him, but to my surprise, he did the opposite, stating that
he had gotten along just fine with things as they are now.  I promise
you, until after this revelation, I was careful not to bias his
answers with any indication of my own opinion.  He has known me for
several months, but just from casual contact as I have passed through
his cafeteria while on this Texas contract from time to time.  I do
not believe he was aware of my views at all and either did not know or
did not remember my affiliation with the NFB.  I don't know if he is
affiliated with any group to this day.

After he clearly stated his thoughts, I put forth my view that it
would have been nice to consider this currency change as part of
something else, but not as a change unto itself.  He heartily agreed.

I then questioned his method of handling money identification.  In
summary, he has a talking money identifier which seems accurate but,
in my opinion, rather slow; and he uses it, he says, at random to
avoid singling anyone out, except that of course he also uses it when
he has reason to doubt what he is given.  To again quote him as near
as I can remember, he said at one point, "If you don't sound like you
know what you're givin me, I'm gonna check it out."  (That is not an
exact quote, but I think it is pretty close.)

My point in presenting this dialog is this:  It is surely a blind
vendor, who processes money from strangers every day and must
necessarily have means of avoiding misidentification, dishonest
customers, etc., who should have a say in this matter.  One vendor is
hardly a statistically valid sample to be sure, but it is the only
"sample" I could get myself.

-- 
Doug Lee                 dgl at dlee.org        
SSB + BART Group         doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com   http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
Freedom is not the ability to have what we want.  Freedom is merely the
ability to seek it.  To be free defines what we can do, not what we can get.
(03/28/05)
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gui-talk mailing list
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http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk

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-------------- next part --------------
First of all, *(I* would prefer to have bills I can identify by touch, and I don't care whether this blind guy wants them or not.  Understood?
2.  what kind of remark is the car thing?  There ain't gonna be some car for blind drivers.  Behind this wisecrack, he's expressing a wish to have his sight back, if you ask me.  One just makes wisecracks like that when there's nothing more to say about the real problem.  Old men whose last erection is decades behind them like to make lusty-sounding remarks about how they'd like to get their hands on Julia roberts or whoever.  Now, if there were the chance of reviving their libido-- and this doesn't have anything to do with Viagra, please understand-- then they would stop with the remarks about Julia and look into that remedy for the lost hormonal life of earlier years.  I'm assuming that those reading this post understand that a drug like Viagra doesn't replace dead lust in a man, it just reenables the mechanism if the mind and body are inspired, otherwise.  Viagra is referred to in mass culture so crazily that one wonders if most of the country thinks it's an aphrodisiac, which it isn't.

But anyway, it just doesn't make much sense to me.  I'm happy that the blind vendor is okay with things as they are, he should live and be well, as my dear departed father would have said.  But regardless.  It's just bar talk, as I see it.  He may be fine with his life with money, but I'm not fine with mine.  And I don't want no high tech blind-adapted car.  I just want a regular car and a driver, available 24/7.  The Steve Wynn life.  that would be fine with me.

Just my take on this contribution, okay?  Okay.

----- Original Message -----
From:
mailto:dgl at dlee.org Doug Lee
To:
mailto:gui-talk at nfbnet.org NFBnet GUI Talk Mailing List
Sent:
Wednesday, December 06, 2006 3:38 PM
Subject:
[gui-talk] A blind vendor's input on accessible money
Ok, I finally got the chance to do what I always thought would make
the most sense with this money issue:  Ask a blind vendor for an
opinion, without first presenting any bias.  Here is my best
recollection of the conversation.
Me:  I have a question for you, if you have the time.
Vendor:  I'll see if I got an answer.
Me:  What is your opinion on this issue of changing the currency?
Vendor:  (pause) You really wanna know what I think?
me:  Yes.
Vendor:  (pause, perhaps for effect) I think I'd rather have a car I
can drive!
Me: (healthy burst of laughter)
We continued to discuss the issue a bit after that, amid the passing
of other customers through his line.  I genuinely expected him to go
on to at least defend the notion that changing the money would be
helpful to him, but to my surprise, he did the opposite, stating that
he had gotten along just fine with things as they are now.  I promise
you, until after this revelation, I was careful not to bias his
answers with any indication of my own opinion.  He has known me for
several months, but just from casual contact as I have passed through
his cafeteria while on this Texas contract from time to time.  I do
not believe he was aware of my views at all and either did not know or
did not remember my affiliation with the NFB.  I don't know if he is
affiliated with any group to this day.
After he clearly stated his thoughts, I put forth my view that it
would have been nice to consider this currency change as part of
something else, but not as a change unto itself.  He heartily agreed.
I then questioned his method of handling money identification.  In
summary, he has a talking money identifier which seems accurate but,
in my opinion, rather slow; and he uses it, he says, at random to
avoid singling anyone out, except that of course he also uses it when
he has reason to doubt what he is given.  To again quote him as near
as I can remember, he said at one point, "If you don't sound like you
know what you're givin me, I'm gonna check it out."  (That is not an
exact quote, but I think it is pretty close.)
My point in presenting this dialog is this:  It is surely a blind
vendor, who processes money from strangers every day and must
necessarily have means of avoiding misidentification, dishonest
customers, etc., who should have a say in this matter.  One vendor is
hardly a statistically valid sample to be sure, but it is the only
"sample" I could get myself.
--
Doug Lee                 mailto:dgl at dlee.org dgl at dlee.org

SSB + BART Group         mailto:doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com doug.lee at ssbbartgroup.com
   http://www.ssbbartgroup.com http://www.ssbbartgroup.com
Freedom is not the ability to have what we want.  Freedom is merely the
ability to seek it.  To be free defines what we can do, not what we can get.
(03/28/05)
_______________________________________________
gui-talk mailing list
mailto:gui-talk at nfbnet.org gui-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/gui-talk
--
No virus found in this incoming message.
Checked by AVG Free Edition.
Version: 7.5.432 / Virus Database: 268.15.11/575 - Release Date: 12/6/2006 12:22 PM