Barbie Movie Sparks Curiosity
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How to use Dragon NaturallySpeaking to control the mouse buttons
This article is now designated as extension article No.8 for my psychological memoir [ The Snowy Battlefield of Ohio ]. (202504) This article is meant for users of Dragon NaturallySpeaking (Pro Individual 15 or more advanced). If you have repetitive strain injury (RSI), the method introduced here can make your life less painful. Now let me show you how to use Dragon to utilize your mouse to the maximum. That being said, I still encourage you to use your hand to move the mouse, as long as that doesn’t give you too much pain. Forget “MouseGrid” unless you are unable to use your hand at all. You don’t even need Dragon to use MouseGrid. Windows has it already. Years ago I was looking for customized Dragon commands that allowed me to do such things as left-click, right-click, double-click, drag&release. I was able to dig out some commands in the forum of KnowBrainer.com, but they didn’t solve the elephant in the room, namely drag&release. Later, when I was looking for a download link for Dragon (I had purchased the digital version from Nuance directly), their admin recommended purchasing a permanent download link for $20. I did. Along with it, I got a free toolbox called “KnowBrainer public toolbox“. It’s basically a PDF file with a bunch of links. Among those resources, I noticed something called “command collections“. Because I don’t use KnowBrainer software, I only downloaded “Dragon sample commands” and “ergonomic command set“. The next step, I imported two .dat files into my Dragon ( just say “open command browser” then click “import”, choose .dat files). WOW! It turned out they have prepared a bunch of useful commands. Although you can change the command names to fit your personal needs, it didn’t seem necessary for me. Typical examples are as follows: … Please try these if you haven’t figured out how to control the mouse with Dragon. Dragon was built for dictation only. The rest relies on third-party applications or community wisdom. For those of you who have forearm tendon or muscle issues, there is no need for me to explain why you should avoid using your fingers to double-click and drag. I myself got RSI because of repetitive dragging when editing an excessive amount of videos with some cheap software. My former employer Mr. Osman, a modern-age Mr. Scrooge, secretly replaced Adobe Premiere with some so-called Amazon bestseller, just to save money. After I got injured, he tried the crappy software himself, and then bought Adobe Premiere again. I, his only employee back then, was his lab rat to sacrifice. Anyway, you should practice until you get used to them. For example, if you want to select some text, say “grab”, move your mouse to the destination, then say “release”. It may sound slow, but it’s better than a relapse of your symptoms. If you want to create a shortcut for a file, say “grab right”, move your mouse to the destination, then say “release right”. This method works in most scenarios, to my satisfaction. Demonstration This collection also provides some other useful commands, but they are out of the realm of this article. Please try them yourself. Let’s thank KnowBrainer.com for their generosity. I hope the information can solve the frustration of many RSI patients. Now that you have these commands, you don’t need to install Talon or something technical just for the mouse functions. In fact, you shouldn’t need coding software like Talon unless you do coding. This article is written with the assistance of Dragon, but I also type on the keyboard and click the buttons of my mice occasionally because Dragon isn’t omnipotent. And of course, I still have pain sometimes, but it’s under control. The download page for this free toolbox is here: KnowBrainer public toolbox I do hope you check out their website, and if interested, explore their forum. There are many experienced Dragon users there who can help with technical questions. Remember that if you purchase their products and run into technical questions, you can directly ask their customer support. If you need individual assistance for installing these files, please contact me. If you like this article, please share and subscribe to the newsletter ON THIS WEBSITE.
Texas school shooter, Indiana good Samaritan, and raid of the ants
The police force in Uvalde Texas failed to confront the shooter in time, leaving the kids and the teachers in the elementary school to the cruelty of the shooter. A civilian in the Indiana shopping mall killed the shooter before the police did, and was referred to as “Good Samaritan” as a result. This ironic contrast reminds me of my experience when I was working for my former employer, a public research university in California. One day, when I entered the office, I found lots of ants on the carpet and some climbing onto my desk, one after another. I initially suspected that some magical electromagnetic field in the office attracted them. This entire team of ants came through the office door. I traced the origin and found out they were from outside the side door of the building. Unable to get rid of them by myself, I reported this to the admin office. They immediately notified the university, and several hours later, a special task force arrived at our building. They sprayed some liquid outside the building, hoping to disrupt the ants. The next day, the ants were still here and even more rampant. I only had one coworker in the office, Dr. Shapiro. Seeing me fretting about the ants, he told the boss Mr. Osman calmly, “Slim has a very strong reaction to ants.” I didn’t respond, because I knew clearly that his indifference was based on the fact that the ants weren’t on his desk. I reported to the admin office again, and the special task force appeared again. They sprayed even more liquid this time, here and there. I truly hoped it could work. That was a Friday. The next Monday, when I arrived at the office, I saw the ants had migrated onto Dr. Shapiro’s desk. He had left his unfinished coffee on the desk and therefore the ants were attracted by the chemicals. I took a picture of his cup and emailed it to him as well as Mr. Osman, saying, “Everybody be careful! Don’t leave any liquid in your office overnight. We are raided by the ants!” Dr. Shapiro arrived and saw what was happening on his desk. “Oh my god. How can I work with all these ants here? The spray didn’t work?” I shrugged with no facial expression. Obviously, I couldn’t rely on the institution anymore. I texted my landlord and asked him what I should do about the ants, since he knew how to take care of everything in his house. He played the uncle image for me during my stay in his house, to some extent, and I could tell he was far more capable than my Y chromosome provider. Minutes later, the landlord texted me back and told me to buy a special drug (liquid form) from ACE. I bought it during the lunch break. There were 2 small cups in a box, so I placed one cup inside our office and the other cup in the corridor to the building’s side door. The next morning, we saw corpses of ants lying on the carpet, from the building’s side door all the way up to Dr. Shapiro’s desk. (Mr. Osman, a self-proclaimed environmentalist, shouldn’t be very excited about this scene…) This box of drug cost me 6 bucks plus tax. Problem solved for good. I brought the receipt to the admin office. Of course, I got reimbursed almost immediately. It was just 6 bucks plus tax. The department manager was there too, and she saw everything. I was treated with respect by her until the day I left that painful job under Mr. Osman. When you work for an institution, you get institutionalized. I once said this jokingly, and people laughed very hard. Where and when did I learn that word? From The Shawshank Redemption, in my sophomore year in college. The lecturer teaching the Creative Writing course required us to watch this movie. If you have any thoughts, please comment on the webpage directly, as I can be very slow in reading emails. If you like this article, please share and subscribe to the newsletter ON THIS WEBSITE.
My Favorite Timing App For Physical Therapy
In recent years, I’ve been getting intensive physical therapy (aka physiotherapy) for some complex musculoskeletal issues. When doing the exercises prescribed by the PTs, one thing that baffles me is which tool to use for the timing. For example, sometimes I need to stretch one leg for 30 sec, then switch to the other leg, and then alternate between legs. Other times I may need to do some isometric exercise for 2 sets, 5 reps within each set, 10 sec each rep. If your goal is to run for 3 minutes, you can use all kinds of tools, a physical timer, your smartphone, or your smartwatch such as Fitbit. But for repetitions of short-duration exercises, those tools are cumbersome for many reasons. The essential problem is that you need to stop and restart too frequently. Then people will naturally look for apps that allow them to program the training. We’ve seen fancy workout apps that are helpful for fitness routines, but do they work for rehab as well? Not for me. Sometimes I need to rest for an uncertain amount of time depending on the condition of my body. From the perspective of health care, it’s never a good idea to push yourself to finish the reps in a hurry. So I tried the indigenous Clock app on my phone. Its “timer” feature sends out 4 Hz clicks in the background; in other words, every 4th click indicates a second. It seems very convenient — no need to estimate how long a second is. The sound serves as the coordinate axis in the dimension of time. I can even play music or podcast on my phone as long as I pay attention to the clicks. But there is a problem: the sound stops when the screen locks itself automatically. As I’m not quite savvy in tweaking my Android phone’s settings, I decide to look for a different app. It turns out I have something wonderful on my phone already. It’s the Metronome Beats app. If you are a musician, you probably already have that installed. Go to its settings, and change the tempo to 60 beats per minute, i.e. 1 Hz. Optionally, change the “beats” variable to 5 if your duration is a multiple of 10 sec. Now you have the coordinate axis of time playing in the background. I have used this minimalistic approach ever since, in combination with the printed program of exercises —no, I don’t recommend relying on video apps for physical therapy (I may explain this in a different article). With the metronome on, this time you won’t be able to play Spotify or other audio apps. If you are eager for another stream of sound to be added to the boring clicks, you can use another device. Usually, I just focus on counting the seconds, since I realize both music and podcast disrupt my counting sometimes. For other exercises which do not specify exact durations, just pause the metronome and play what you want. Theoretically, multiple users can use this app to guide themselves in the same room. How? Go to “preferences” for “custom sounds”, and choose their preferred pitch and timbre for the sound. During the practice, each user needs to pay attention to their distinct sound patterns, which requires some level of aural skill. However, that won’t be necessary in most cases, because people in the room can share the same coordinate axis of time. One smartphone serves all. Here’s the link to their website, where you can download the app. Metronome beats Now, let me explain why I think this app works the best. When you are counting 30 seconds, you are combining two cognitive tasks. First, you need to estimate how long one second is. Your brain is unable to achieve that without external reference. Second, you need to count the integers, which forces you to be mindful of what you’re doing. With the help of the metronome, you only need to perform the 2nd cognitive task. Hence reduced load yet not autopilot. Be careful: if you lose track of the numbers, that’s probably because you fail to maintain the mind-body connection. I used to be very bad at it, because I listen to music and podcasts which require serious comprehension. Come on, now that you have paid for expensive PT sessions, please allocate more attention to the tasks when necessary. Yes, you are also responsible for counting the sets or loops, but it’s easy to do, either mentally or…mentally. Believe me, you can do it. I was trained in cognitive science, so unlike some IT professionals, I wouldn’t debug codes while running on the treadmill. I love automation, but not autopilot. I believe the brain needs to actively engage in physical activities. In short, I recommend using a metronome, be it physical or digital, for PT exercises. In that way, you get to control your pace. What do you think? Do you have another interesting tool to share? Please leave a comment down below. [Correction] I previously used the term “Cartesian coordinate” in this article, but later realized it refers to 2-D or 3-D systems in common language. If you’re interested in my content, please kindly subscribe to my newsletter. I will only post when I have something meaningful to share. 1~2 posts per week. This article is written with the assistance of Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a voice dictation desktop program. Bonus: I made this short music video about time: In whatever time we have – Children of Eden music written by Stephen Schwartz