cptnamr7

Since you didn't get an answer-

My dad has ALS about 8 years ago and passed thereabouts. Technology has improved, as has predictive text, since then. I got his eye tracker up and running but he hated it. It could never stay calibrated, though most of that was his head bobbing/dropping uncontrollably. Plus he sucked at technology anyway and it was a VERY used tablet running it. The charity (ALSintheheartland) did what they could, but judging by the profiles I wiped off that thing, he was around user #20, which was really sad.

Anyway, the standard way of typing was literally the hunt-and-peck method. Look at a letter, blink to click, look at another letter, blink .. it was exhausting even typing something simple. But they were starting to come out with better methods based of predictive text. One option I found you could actually type pretty fast with some practice. Like texting. In it, you start out with all the letters flying at you, at whatever speed you want. Stare at the letter 'S' and it sees you want to start there. So then the next set of letters are only those that logically come after an 's' at the start of a word. You see a 't' and focus on that. Ok, moving along. Eventually it starts to predict what word you're going for. See it, select it, if not, keep spelling. So in a way, a LOT like the predictive texting we all now enjoy on our phones.

There were a lot of different programs that all tried different methods but I personally found that one the most useful. As for how fast you could type, again back to the texting example. When we all first got keyboards on phones it took us awhile. Do it enough though and you get pretty fast. So I imagine with enough practice and the right predictive text program, you're really only limited by how fast you can spell, similar to a keyboard. And even if you can't spell, again autocorrect and predictive algorithms.

Hope that helps. And shamelessly going to take a moment to plug donating to your local assistance charity rather than the standard als.org. They're the ones directly interacting with those impacted and having seen the equipment they get, they need the help.

My wife and I both suffer from migraines induced by weather changes. It's not psychosomatic either as I don't ever watch the weather to know when a storm is coming, but I know 6-12 hours in advance thanks to mind-blowing pain in my left sinus. Came here hoping for advice on dealing with them. So far the best i have is painkullers and allergy pills that reduce the swelling in my sinuses.

wait- is he denying use now? I thought he was still in the 'whateva I do what I want' Cartman phase. Absolutely love that he's going to run for re-election. THAT takes balls. wait- crap I think you're right.

US has "order of the engineer". You wear a ring on your working hand pinky. The originals were made from the steel of the infamous Tacoma Narrows bridge (Galloping Gerty) though I assume they ran out long ago. The entire point is that every time you sign off on something with your hand, you see that ring.

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