Presignify

Recent versions of Microsoft Windows come with the rather basic Narrator. The open source GNOME desktop environment long included Gnopernicus and now includes Orca. Nevertheless, using a screen reader is, according to some users, considerably more difficult than using a GUI and many applications have specific problems resulting from the nature of the application. While Apple Mac OS X includes VoiceOver, a more feature-rich screen reader. The primary audience for such applications is those who have difficulty reading because of learning disabilities or language barriers. Screen reader choice is contentious: differing priorities and strong preferences are common. A persons choice of screen reader is dictated by many factors, including platform and the role of organizations like charities, schools, and employers.

Screen readers are a form of assistive technology potentially useful to people who are blind, visually impaired, or learning disabled, often in combination with other AT such as screen magnifiers. However functionality remains limited compared to equivalent desktop applications, the major benefit is to increase the accessibility of said websites. The console-based Oralux Linux distribution ships with three screen-reading environments: Emacspeak, Yasr and Speakup. Linux distributions for the blind include Oralux and Adriane Knoppix.

This season Anthony Loeff nonprofit worker is reporting digital tools for visually impaired Later versions of Microsoft Windows include an Accessibility Wizard and Magnifier for those with partial vision, and Microsoft Narrator, a simple screen reader. The rest have some vision, from light perception alone to relatively good acuity. A screen reader is a software application that attempts to identify and interpret what is being displayed on the screen.

Screen readers can be assumed to be able to access all display content that is not intrinsically inaccessible.

The latter developed in part by Knopper who has a visual impairment. Web browsers, word processors, icons and windows and email programs are just some of the applications used successfully by screen reader users. More and more, screen readers are being bundled with operating system distributions. Almost 20 percent of those deemed legally blind, by any measure, have no vision. There are also open source screen readers, such as the Linux Screen Reader for GNOME and NonVisual Desktop Access for Windows.

Only a small fraction of this population, when compared to the sighted community, have Internet access.

Access technology such as screen readers and Screen magnifiers enable the blind to use mainstream computer applications. Most legally blind people 61 percent do not use computers. The Macintosh OS also comes with a built-in screen reader, called VoiceOver. Experimental approaches in sensory substitution are beginning to provide access to arbitrary live views from a camera.

The movement towards greater web accessibility is opening a far wider number of websites to adaptive technology, making the web a more inviting place for visually impaired surfers. This interpretation is then represented to the user with text-to-speech, sound icons, or a braille output.

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A few months ago, I set out to lose 22.6 pounds, then to put back on at least half of it.

Huh? Anybody who’s ever found herself stuck on a yo-yo diet is probably thinking that I am either crazy or planning way too hard for the inevitable yo-yo heartaches. However, my plan is more sneaky than that.

First, I want to lose this rubber tire I’ve been carrying around my waist. Have you ever gotten stuck inside a rubber tire? It’s not a pretty site.

Then, I want to put back some of that weight in the form of muscle. It’s my grand master plan to change my shape from looking like a silly pear to looking like an upside down silly pear.

Will it work?

I think I have the “silly” part figured out. And so far, I have lost14.6 pounds, but I think I really lost a few more, because I have been getting ahead of schedule on adding those muscle pounds.

I would love to tell you what my weight is now, but that’s very private information. Why should it be so private? I am not 100% certain, but I believe it is so that people can easily move between Earth and the Moon without being detected by hidden scales. (Why people keep their age private is the subject of my column on aging gracefully at http://www.thehappyguy.com/aging-gracefully.html .)

While there is more to healthy dieting than a few tips, these ten dieting tips should help you laugh away a few pounds (What a great way to lose!). Hint: the tips are serious; the explanations are not.

Tip #1: Never eat before bed. This is just common sense. It is so much more fun to eat IN bed.

Tip #2: Bake, don’t fry. This is also common sense. Baking allows you to retain more friendships. When you bake in the sun, you get a nice tan and go for a dip in the pool to cool off with your friends. But when you fry, you get a sunburn and don’t dare go in the shower for a week…which scares your friends away.

Tip #3: Drink plenty of water before meals. This will help you eat less during the meal. After all, few people can over-eat consistently while rushing off to the bathroom.

Tip #4: Don’t taste-test while you cook. Many cooks taste their dishes several times while cooking to make sure the flavor is just right. Over a lifetime, the typical cook who takes such measures will put on 13.4 pounds. Worse still, tasting your cooking in advance deprives you of entertaining facial scrunches when your family tastes your untested recipes. (Remember that laughter is a great way to burn calories?)

Tip #5: Don’t eat what your kids leave behind. Admit it, after your kids leave the table, you gather up the food they leave behind. You just can’t bear to throw it away because you know that it’s enough to feed a small, famished African country. So you eat a “second supper” out of guilt. How can you be so heartless?! Send the leftover food to that small, famished African country.

Tip #6: Peanut butter and jelly sandwiches are not all that bad for you, if you eat them in moderation. But stay away from those dreaded peanut butter and jellyfish sandwiches.

Tip #7: Blot your pizza to remove 17% of the saturate fats. If you blot it really well, you can remove 100%. Of course, an empty plate might require a spicier sauce…

Tip #8: No snacking in front of the TV. Get up. Right now. No snacking in front of my TV. I don’t want crumbs on my living room carpet.

Tip #9: Schedule your exercise. It’s true, if you don’t schedule it, your exercise will get pushed aside by things you do schedule. I suggest scheduling it during office meetings, dental appointments and reality TV shows. You wouldn’t want to miss anything important, would you?

Tip #10: This is a good one. Why, because #10 on any top-ten list is always a good one. Ten is a great number. So tip #10 is to celebrate every ten pounds lost by preparing a triple chocolate double-dip cheesecake supreme ice cream parfait deluxe. Go ahead and drool. You deserve it. And if you think preparing it is fun, just wait until you lose another 50 pounds … and have permission to actually eat it.

I hope these tips help you. On a serious note, most people will lose a significant amount of weight if they follow these ten tips along with watching their calories according to any popular healthy dieting plan. Well…almost. You might not want to follow tip #6. You will probably lose fewer pounds eating jelly than you would eating jellyfish.

About The Author

David Leonhardt writes about happy thoughts at http://www.TheHappyGuy.com , positive thinking at http://www.TheHappyGuy.com/positive-thinking-free-ezine.html and tearing down your house at http://www.thehappyguy.com/home-improvement-project.html … so why not write about dieting?

Info@thehappyguy.com

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I gotta confess: I’m completely addicted to crisps. Any kind is fine. Don’t mind the flavor - they all taste fine. My resolve weakens every time I think about chomping into one. Feeling the crunch, hearing the crackle, and getting that first taste of its tangy flavor. Bliss - and if you are into crisps then you probably wish you had a packet right now - probably a big one.

But maybe crisps aren’t your thing. Probably there’s another food that lures you into the refrigerator or the pantry cabinet. I can think of a few more that do it for me. Milk chocolate, do-nuts, crispy pies….and the list goes on. I have no doubt that you probably have a list of your own - right. According to one study, 97% of women (compared to 68% of men) experience cravings on food.

So how do you control these urges that pull you away from your
diet plan and down the temporary joy of self-indulgence?
I researched on the topic to give you what some experts advise
on how to enjoy that art called eating without it turning into a
feeding frenzy. Read on - and never again feel guilty about
eating a chocolate chip cookie.

This is what they say:

Take Charge of Your Eating Habits.

Try to control the number of food cravings you experience. It
appears to be impossible for humans like us, but if you psyche
yourself and develop fewer cravings, then slowly you’ll submit
to fewer cravings.(I’m not sure how to do this - maybe imagine that hamburger as a large lump on your butt or that chocolate as a shiny red bulge on your forehead)

According to one study of nearly 500 women, researchers found
that women who received a daily 1, 200 milligram calcium
supplement reduced their number of premenstrual food cravings
by 54%. To reach the same result by getting the needed calcium
intake from food, rely on skim milk and yogurt. Sounds a bit
difficult for all lactose intolerant? Try some calcium-fortified
foods or juices like cheese and calcium-filled orange juices.
If you don’t feel you can get sufficient calcium from food, make
up the difference using a supplement of calcium carbonate or
calcium citrate.

How about something relaxing? When you’re anxious, the body
produces more of the hormone cortisol, which may increase the
amount of carbohydrates you want to eat. Sweets or carbohydrates
temporarily increase our levels of serotonin, making us feel
calm and relaxed.

Thus, one way of helping curb your sweet tooth, rent some videos, text your funniest friends, or schedule a spa weekend. Why not have a bit of chocolate once in a while? When you begin including small amounts of these forbidden foods into your diet, a funny thing happens: You don’t crave them anymore.

Distinguish specific cravings from hunger. Suppose you drive by a fast food outlet and all of a sudden, you develop a deep craving for French fries. Rather than rushing down the drive thru section, reassess your urge. Turn on your favorite music and switch your attention away from the fries idea. Suppose, on the other hand, you feel the need to satisfy not the urge but your hunger, select an apple pie or salad as a substitute.

Cut Hundreds of Calories.

Sure you can cut on hundreds of calories on what you eat every
day! How? By making the appropriate choices on replacing
high-calorie to low-calorie foods, such as cheese, creams, whole
milk, butter, etc. Here are easy tricks to keep you cooking and
eating minus the calories.

• When cooking, use nonstick pan to eliminate the use of butter
and/or oil.

• Remove the fat from the meat.

• Remove the skin of chicken before serving.

• Use butter-flavored seasoning on vegetables instead of
sprinkling butter.

• For casseroles, desserts and sauces, use evaporated skim milk
(12 cal./tbsp.) instead of heavy cream (51 cal./tbsp.)

• Cook stews and other casseroles ahead of time. Refrigerate.
Remove congealed fat before serving.

• Choose real orange (71 cal.) over an orange juice (90 cal./6 oz).

• For snacks, low-calorie fruits (cucumbers, asparagus, carrots,
apples, pickles) are good replacements for crackers and breads.

• Use bottled chocolate extract for milk shakes instead of
sweetened cocoa.

• Use two egg whites (34 cal.) for cakes instead of one egg
(82 cal.).

• Choose diet margarine (50 cal.) instead of the regular
margarine (100 cal.).

• Choose cereals with the least calories then add fresh fruits
to be more nutritious.

• In parties, good substitutes for snacks are carrot strips,
pickle slices, and raw mushroom caps.

• Drip away fats by cooking hamburgers on the rack.

• Avoid chips with dips.

Staying in healthy shape depends on the right behaviors. So how
strong is your will power to control the urge?

Prepared by Kevin Bauer
http://www.lose-weight-quickly.info

You may reprint this article on your website or in your ezine provided the resource box is included and the link to my website remains live

The http://www.lose-weight-quickly.info is dedicated to all those who are frustrated because they are overweight or obese and want to take back their life. This dynamic website will provide ongoing
information to all those with the courage to change their life.
Published by Kevin Bauer

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Confused? Frustrated? Fed up? Do you feel bewildered after trying diet after diet and never being able to keep the weight off? In fact, if you’re like most people, you eventually ended up gaining all your weight back plus a few extra instead of losing.

Do you notice that there are no diet fads currently sweeping the market? There’s a simple reason. After over 100 years of dieting, it’s finally clear that all that effort, deprivation, planning, and starvation has only made the American public fatter. In fact, 95% of dieters gain back all their weight within 1-5 years. Diets don’t work.

What does work is honoring and listening to your body.

Before you go on yet another diet consider looking to the natural wisdom of your body. The irony is that we each have the perfect, free, built-in diet available to us right here and now. It’s called listening to your body and it’s simple.

There are just a few simple things to learn:

1) What you resist persists. The most essential step is to love and accept your body as it is right now. If you’re reading this article, you are probably carrying a some extra pounds. That’s a common result of dieting. But most people were born to be of normal weight. You, too! Treat your body well and meet its needs and you will find you return to your own ideal weight easily and naturally.

2) Listen to your body. Treat your body with gentleness and tender, loving care by eating when you feel physically hungry and stopping when you are full. Overeating is usually a form of diet backlash that results from starvation and deprivation. It’s the body’s survival mechanism in action to save your life from the famine it experienced. Try eating small, frequent amounts with the intention of feeling light and refreshed from eating rather than heavy and stuffed.

3) Choose to eat what you really want in each moment, not what you think you should have or what would make you “good.” As you make choices based on your body’s desires, you will find yourself eating better foods in smaller quantities. Sensually enjoy the food you eat. Taste the delicious flavors, enjoy the various textures. And if it isn’t tasting great, get something better right then.

4) Play more, suffer less. Find some kind of movement that makes you feel like a kid again. Or take walks that feed your soul. Make exercise something you love and look forward to instead of yet another chore to feel guilty about skipping.

Accept your body, meet its needs, enjoy your food, and play. Sounds better than dieting doesn’t it? And it works better, too. If you’re looking for a real, long-term solution to ending the battle with your weight, intuitive eating may just be the answer you’ve been seeking.

©2006 Nancy Hill has helped thousands break free from the nightmare of dieting with her ebook, “Undieting - 11 Simple Steps to Reclaim Your Body and Your Life.” Sign up now to get the free Undieting Newsletter and discover how intuitive eating makes it easy to live at your ideal weight without ever dieting again.

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Nowadays, the interest in alternative medicine is growing rapidly. Among the vast number of healing modalities available, we find that Reiki has become increasingly popular around the world, especially since science has verified the existence of the universal life energy that Reiki is based on. Reiki is a powerful holistic healing system; it heals on all levels, physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

So what is Reiki? The term Reiki is the Japanese word for Universal Life Force Energy. It is a very simple and easily acquired healing method that uses universal life energy, the energy which permeates our entire universe and all living things. This universal life energy is called qi or chi in China, prana in India, and ki in Japan and this is where the Reiki name derives. It circulates throughout the body and in an energy field surrounding the body. This energy field, long been known to healers and mystics, is now verified by scientists. Recent scientific experiments have verified the existence of this life force energy. Scientists have proven that everything in the universe, at a sub-atomic level, is made up of energy. Health is the harmonious flow of life energy, while imbalances in this flow, due to unhealthy habits or negative emotions lead to illness. So this subtle energy is responsible for the processes in our body on all levels: physical, emotional and mental. Reiki channels universal life energy through the hands of the practitioner into the body of the receiver and balances the energy flow in the body.

Reiki is a holistic healing system, meaning that it addresses the whole person: the physical, mental, emotional and the spiritual levels. The body is not made up of isolated parts to be fixed, like a machine; there are no separate parts, but an amazing web of energy, and in order to truly return to health, all the levels of our being must be addressed.

Reiki works on four different levels:

The physical level: Reiki strengthens the immune system. It helps in relieving pain. It balances and harmonizes the function of glands and organs. It heals by opening the blocked energy channels, the meridians, and balances the chakras. When performed regularly, toxins are removed from the body and good health and well-being is maintained.

The emotional level: One of the greatest healing benefits of Reiki is stress reduction and relaxation, which strengthens the immune system and maintains health. People who are depressed or do not feel emotionally balanced begin to feel more stable and relaxed because Reiki clears energy blockages and suppressed emotions.

The mental level: Through giving yourself Reiki, you obtain more clarity and find it easier to overcome obstacles and achieve goals. You become more positive and reach a different outlook on life. You feel more empowered.

The spiritual level: Reiki enables you to go deeper within and feel more connected to your higher self. It aids meditation, increases intuition and provides limitless benefits of spiritual growth.

Reiki is so simple yet so powerful, and this is what makes it a unique healing system that anyone can learn, because it does not require any previous experience or special ability. The Benefits of Reiki are infinite. It allows you to take an active part in your own wellness, and accelerates your growth on all levels.

Mona Khalaf is a Reiki master teacher. She is certified in Vibrational medicine, certified NLP Master Practitioner, and Life coach.
Find out how you can improve your life on all levels by visiting her website at: http://reikihealingpower.com

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Stuttering is a problem that affects approximately one in every hundred people. It is mainly men who stutter, seven out of ten people who stutter are male.

There are many types of stutter. Family and friends may not even be aware that a person they know has a stutter. That is because the person is able to hide the stutter, by using word avoidance or word substitution.

Other people are unable to ddo this and have what they would consider an openely more severe stutter.

Stuttering would normally occur more when a person is:

under pressure
when tired
meeting new people
speaking in an uncomfortable situation
asking questions, for example asking for directions
introducing people

Stuttering can also be known in some areas as stammering.

Stuttering therapy:

People who have a stutter have different options when seeking therapy. They can go to a speech therapist or speech pathologist.
Alternatively they can attend a speech course. These courses can be on a group basis or on a one to one basis.

Stephen Hill is somebody who has overcome a stutter and who now helps other people to achieve fluency.
He has a website at http://www.stammering-stuttering.co.uk

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