Norman L. De Forest is a member of .

Graphical Protest.

To show Netscape and Internet Explorer users what the blind (who use text browsers and screen-reading software that speaks the text through a speech synthesizer) and other graphically impaired lynx users have to cope with when viewing pages "enhanced" for Netscape or Internet explorer, I have "dehanced" this page for graphical browsers for this one day. (I may do it again if the point seems to be made.) What you see is what text-browser users have to put up with at poorly-designed web sites. If you feel you must see my regular page, it is at http://www.chebucto.ns.ca/~af380/regular.Profile.html for this one day only. (Lynx users will see no change and may wonder what the fuss is about. What I have done for the day is to replace the text links on the page with images and used the original text as ALT text. To see what this looks like with a graphical browser, you can have a look at where I have replaced the ALT text with a text representation of the images.)

Last site update: September 15, 1999.

Special Announcement for Disabled Americans!

but people rallied in protest against it.
Read about the results in

(Note: I found out that, due to a stupid error on my part,
the file access permissions for this file were misset.
If you got an error trying to access this in the past, try again.)

Contents:

• Contents. You are there.
• Those wondering what my other protest page looks like with Netscape or Internet Explorer can visit it at
  • (January 6 and 7). Those without frames-capable browsers can view the frames displayed by Netscape or Internet Explorer separately at:
    • 
    • 
  • is an "improved" version (even more graphically-hostile) of my first protest page, December3.protest.html. Lynx uses can see a simulation of what graphical users see at .
  • protests against sites that use JavaScript URLs such as
    href="javascript: showDisclaimer();"
    or
    href="javascript:gotoNewsItem(931,22,'')"
    that are inaccessible to text browsers such as lynx.
  • protest6.html protests against sites that encode hyperlinks as:
    <a href="#" onClick='window.location.href="some.url.here">
    some label here"</a>
    so the hyperlinks do nothing when you select them with lynx.
  • protests against sites that redirect any browser other than Netscape or Internet Explorer (and sometimes even Netscape is redirected) to an "Unsupported Browser" page that more or less tells you to [CENSORED] off until you want to come back with their approved browser(s).
• Don't Know Where to Go? Here's .
• .
• .
• -- a bit about me and some of the things I like. This is where you will find the most bizarre items on my web site (not to say you won't find some elsewhere on my site).
• 
• The Family Section:
  • in your family. Protect your children. Included are links to Internet access restriction software to help keep your kids away from undesirable Internet sites and warnings of dangerous products that pose a threat to your children's health or safety.
  • in your family. (There is NO link back to my home page from my "Kids" page so parents can include it in any list of "safe" sites for their children without giving them full access to the Internet.
• -- a couple of tips and some resources including links to "Speech Friendly Search Forms".
• Includes un-advertised limited time offer -- download PRN2FILE.
• 
• ... in which I sound off editorially.
• Links to Other Places:
  • .
    • Computers.
    • Science Fiction.
    • On-Line Dictionaries and Other References.
    • "Speech Friendly" Search Engines.
  • .
  • Our tax dollars at work! Some people say that these should be on my "Crime, ..." page but that's their opinion.
    • .
    • .
  • Collecting our tax dollars in the first place! No, this doesn't belong on my "Crime, ..." page either. Find out about the lastest in tax dodges ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H loopholes ^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H^H regulations at the web site. If you want to skip the initial entry page, you can go directly to the language of your choice, as long as it's one of:
    • .
    • .
  • .
  • 
  • .
  • , including wheelchair sports.
  • (but all mine ever says is "Goodbye!"). Canadian banks and other boring financial institutions plus the Ferengi Rules of Acquisition.
  • -- including Art Hill, Michael Smith on Windows 95, Marilyn E. Burford on pets and Celtic tradition, and ^o^ CountB ^o^, the world's only quadruplegic vampire.
• 
• 
• 

How to contact me

By E-mail to [see note below]

NOTE: No un-solicited commercial E-mail is tolerated. I am not connected with ANY commercial enterprise so do NOT need any commercial promotion schemes. I am NOT balding or overweight so do not need any information on Minoxydol (however you spell it) or weight-loss programmes. I have no interest in looking at dirty pictures on the Internet. Since most pyramid schemes include at least one participant from the United States, the "Cc:" field of my replies to them usually include initials such as "IRS", "USPIS", "NFIC", and "FTC". I don't like spam (I am not referring to Spam, the lunch meat in this context, which I like) and have no need to purchase any bulk e-mail software and use it to piss off the Internet community and lose my Internet account. If I want to piss off somebody, I'll do it on a one-to-one basis. I refuse to purchase ANYTHING that is advertised by means of Unsolicited Commercial E-mail. Do not consider the existance of an e-mail address on my site and a request for comments on my site as any justification for sending me any commercial promotion whatsoever.

Also, I reserve the right to retransmit, repost, or otherwise communicate the contents of any and all Unsolicited Bulk E-mail (UBE, Commercial, Religious, or Political) to wherever or whoever I deem appropriate regardless of any copyright notice attached to the offending E-mail. Sending me the UBE indicates your acceptance of those terms.

By "snail-mail":

 
    Norman  L.  De Forest, 
    General Delivery, 
    Halifax Central Postal Station, 
    Halifax, Nova Scotia, 
    Canada   B3J 2L3 

The Chebucto Community Net Home Page.

For other people or services, you can browse the

Allright Then, Just One Picture If You Insist!

 
Pardon my artistic ineptitude... but you get the idea anyway:

                        A  DYSLEXIC  VULCAN:


                               / \ / \
                               |  |  |
                       /\      |  |  |     _
                       \  \    |  |  |    / |
                         \  \  |  |  |  /  /
                           \  \|  |  |/  /
         "LIVE  LONG         \         /     __
         AND  PROSPER"       |         |    /  \
                             |      ___|___/  /
                             |     /         /
                             |              /
                             |         ___/
                              \       /

A Final Parting Thought:

Terri R. Stonecipher had these in her signature block. She was gracious enough to give me permission to quote them here:

"The best friend of the deaf is not the fellow who gives them advice and assistance. It is the man who asks them for it."
-- George Propp in 'The Nebraska Journal.'

"There are people who think deafness is a handicap purely because they are under the illusion that they are saying something worth hearing."
-- unknown.

"The problem is not that the [deaf] students do not hear. The problem is that the hearing world does not listen."
-- Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, 1988 (at Gallaudet)

Popularity Figures.

... or How Many People Stumbled Onto My Web Page by Accident?

Allright, everybody and his dog seems to have an access counter on his web site these days, even though some people don't like them. (See item number 8 in " " in the Chebucto Newsletter) So why should I be different? Have a look at the for my web site, and each page in it.

Webmaster: Norman De Forest, <>

This page pessimized for Netscape and Internet Explorer.