台北双干杯！

在2009年台北听障奥运会是有了一个很好的开始。开幕仪式开始时，爆炸。对拉的听障奥运会历史上这一壮观的时刻荣誉委员会的主机。

据报道，台湾政府，在广告上花了10亿美元，二亿千万美元的运作及对开幕式的830万美元。

不幸的是美国，他们没有很好的票价…只有收集到7枚奖牌至今。

我只希望在美国媒体重提2009年台北听障奥运会的报告。

我要祝贺上作出自己的努力台北听障奥运会在对听障奥运会历史上最难忘的时刻之一。

谢谢您！

干杯，显然，台北要胜过北京2008年夏季奥运会。它成功了。

至于奖牌的地位，在台北时报报道，中国台北将赢得至少14枚奖牌。他们已经超过了赢得在过去数天20枚奖牌的期望！

R-

(Yes, I translated this into Chinese to honor and congratulate the folks in Taipei for pulling the magic!  Thank you!)

For What Is Worth

I have produced a couple of entries on another blogsite.

Here are the links:

So It Really Happened

Perez Deserves It?  Wrong.

I’ll phase this out in favor of this new blogsite.  And you should.

Oh, by the way, you can find me on twitter.com/ridor9th.  I’m always there.  I’m still nasty as usual.

Plus, there is always vlogging on my youtube.com profile.

Cheers,

R-

Double Jeers on DeafPundit

I’m appalled that Jeanette Johnson of The Deaf Edge, also known as DeafPundit recorded and saved the video clip of a certian individual whom showed her friends mooning at Barry Sewell.

Here is my vlog response to Jeanette Johnson’s antics.

Cheers,

R-

House, Nick Jonas & DVTV Crap

Golly, I saw House MD on Fox TV last Monday.  God, it was awful show.  The one-hour long program was such a torture!  Heck, the Army can use it as a tool to torture Talibans out in Pakistan these days!

The actor that acted as the Deaf wrestler — what is his name?!  He reminded me of Matt Damon and he’s fucking cute!  I know, I know he’s probably straight but who cares?  I just wanted to know his name!

As for the doctor who ordered his staff to borgize the deaf wrestler when the deaf wrestler made it clear that he does not want the implants in the first place was appalling and terrifying.

And god!  The fucking writers used the deaf patient’s mother to interpret!  What the fuck were the fucking writers thinking about?!

These writers should be exterminated at once!

And in the end, the mother literally forced her son to accept the implants.

After all, the tale ends with him being assimilated.  Just like the Borg Queen insisted all along.

Oh, guess what?  Last night, I had a bizarre dream but it was pretty good one, though — ever heard of Jonas Brothers?  I frequently see them on PerezHilton.com and Disney Channel — I’m not a fan of Jonas Brothers mainly because I don’t give a shit about music, really.  But I admitted that I have an eye candy — I do enjoy looking at people — especially if they’re attractive.

I cringe at the boys below 21 — mainly because they have so much to learn to reach the level where I am right now.  So often I’d dismiss the ones below 21 — they literally waste my time.

But I always thought Nick Jonas is attractive.

Then for the first time in a long time, I had Nick Jonas in my dream.  He and I had a date where we went out to dine at a local pizzeria just to chat.  And in my dream, I was surprised to see Nick conversing in ASL.   We talked about things in life and bullshit like that.

Then someone woke me up at that point.  I started to wonder about Nick Jonas’ age so I googled it — he’s 16!  Ack!  Get out of here!

But the best part?  I wondered why Nick signed to me in my dream.  After reading Nick Jonas’ background — I was stunned to learn that his mother was a former sign language teacher in Dallas.

Oy!

Oh, yeah, I have twitter account.  Find me over there if you dare.

On other hand, the drama continues on DVTV — Tayler Mayer must be proud of himself for allowing the pea-brained fool in Barry Sewell to attack, bash and twist people’s comments on DVTV.  But at least there is something good out of this — more and more people are starting to see the true colors of Barry Sewell and his cohorts.

Oh, gawd.  Don’t get me started on this about HarleyLady or whatever her name is.  She is practically ordering others to submit to her whims.  HarleyLady, here’s a quick fact:  You’re hideous thing to look at on DVTV!

Cheers,

R-

I’ll Scream Later

I went to a local bookstore to skim the latest book by Marlee matlin.  No, I did not buy the book but yes, I finished reading it in 2 hours at the bookstore.

Boy, Matlin is one big drama queen.  I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Among some interesting information:

She was molested by a neighborhood female babysitter.  Female! She was taken advantage by a teacher at a local high school who also cheated on his wife as well.

William Hurt and she frequently engaged in physical confrontations — that was one lame-assed and tiresome tale throughout the book.  I’m like, “Just.  Fucking.  Dump.  Him.  Already!”

Just like Deaf people needs to dump the fucktard Barry Sewell.

I’m surprised that Marlee Matlin chose not to mention the birthday fiasco caused by Terrylene whom barged in Matlin’s surprise party to blast her for not inviting her in the first place.  Actually, it was Ken Elks who organized the party but he neglected to include Terrylene who in the process blamed Matlin.  This is one of several infamous rumors in Los Angeles that I heard of.

I thought Marlee was an outstanding actress from day one.  So when William Hurt took a swipe at her that she needs to go to NYU to study in acting few hours after she won the Oscars.  Ouch!  That was pathetic of Hurt to do that.

Yes, it is true that I absolutely hated Matlin’s selection of a dress which she wore to pick up the Best Actress Award — it was hideous and she eventually landed on the Worst Dressed List.  Next time, dump the glasses, Marlee!

It was quite touching to read about Marlee’s relationship with Henry Winkler.  It appears that Henry kinda became Marlee’s surrogate father when she lived in Los Angeles.  The sight of him tumbling down the stairs in his underwear must be something else to see!  Lucky her.

Did you know that when Marlee and Richard Dean Anderson chatted, he asked her to sit with him under the dining table, just to chat with her?!  That’s pretty unique and cool, is it?!

The book is truly charming.  But there is always buts, right?

For years, I always felt that Marlee’s so-called best friend, manager and interpreter, Jack Jason, himself CODA has manipulated, controlled and steered Marlee’s life around the world.  There was something about Jack Jason that my guts was warning me from day one.  For years, my guts said that Jack Jason is not exactly the professional interpreter — he’s in to control her life completely.

After reading the book, I’m convinced that yes, Jack Jason is controlling Marlee from day one.  My guts said that Jack Jason has supplied Marlee with one-sided view of things within Hollywood and Deaf Community.  And after reading the book, it was confirmed.

You know how it goes with the CODAs, they tend to take over and control the situations out of their bad habits with their parents and it was evident that Marlee gathered the majority of information about Deaf people through Jack Jason.

What Marlee needs to do is to phase Jack Jason out of her life or minimize Jack’s manipulations, at least.

Oh, when Marlee was interviewed on CBS’ Early Morning or whatever — did you see this African-American anchorwoman telling Jack Jason that Marlee does not need to know about what she said to the viewers regarding the next topic when they shall cover after returning from the commercials?  Robin Roberts, the African-American anchorwoman, was telling Jack Jason that Marlee does not need to know what she was going to speak to the viewers about the next segment!  Don’t you get it, folks?

I’m surprised that Marlee did not get offend by that and there was no uproar from Deaf people all over the country about what this anchorwoman said to Marlee.

I guess, we were too busy watching Barry Sewell attacking Ella Mae Lentz repeatedly, eh?

Shameful.

Cheers,

R-

What of Luke Adams?

I’m not a fan of The Amazing Race. Once in a while, whenever I get bored, I watch it.  But since it comes at the same time with The Family Guy — I tend to watch the Griffiths over The Amazing Race.

Since Gay Boy Ritchie has disappeared off the map from BRAVO’s Janice Dickinson’s Modelling Agency and Marlee Matlin is promoting her book, I’ll Scream Later — having Deaf people on tube is still scarce these days.  So it was refreshing to see Luke Adams and Margaret Adams competing on a reality-based TV show, The Amazing Race.

Luke is Deaf and graduated from Colorado School for the Deaf and the Blind in Colorado Springs, Colorado — Colorado Springs is the hotbed of religious fanaticism, just take a good look at Ted Haggard and James Dobson, really but I digress.

Luke’s mother, Margaret Adams, is hearing.  She really cannot sign very well.  But she basically signs and voice at the same time which made me cringe to no end.

Luke expresses his desire to be a “role model” for others which I disagreed.  He is not even a good role model to start with, really.  He’s one incredibly spoiled brat on the show but he’s one of the most entertaining and competitive person on the show.

The Amazing Race has challenges and obstacles which each group gets to complete the tasks — sometimes, there are options where you use it to your advantages by derailing other contestants.  I was informed that in the last four seasons, no groups has used the blind u-turn trick on others.  No one did until Luke did.  Luke-Margie (Some coined them as Lu-gie, though, on some message boards!) was the first group that used the blind u-turn trick which derailed another group into being eliminated.

My reaction?  Good for Luke and Margie — they are not in to make friends.  They are in to win $1,000,000.00!  Use your fucking common sense!!  There is no time to befriend and pant like a dog — it is dog eat dog world!

However, there are scenes where Luke tricked others by saying that a gorilla was signing — prompted the hearing contestants trying to figure out what the gorilla was trying to say.  It was so funny.  Not only that, there was a scene in Episode 9 which Luke and an African-American contestant, Jen collided at the clue box.  Jen attempted to push her hands over Luke’s left shoulder which prompted Luke to elbow her to give him space.

Jen backed off but she signed, “Bitch!” at Luke which surprised me completely.

That bitch is appalling, is it?  Luke apparently did not see what Jen said but Margie told Luke in the car that Jen was signing the word.  Needless to say, Luke was incensed.

Lakisha & Jen conspired to piss Luke off and to make him look bad in front of everyone else on CBS and they managed to do that nicely as there was another clue box which Luke crashed into Jen’s back and it was so dramatic.

Later, the Host of The Amazing Race, Phil tried to sort the physical confrontation between Lakisha/Jen & Luke/Margie — When Jen spoke her side of the story, Luke listened.  When Luke started to sign, Jen snickered — it was obvious that this bitch was sneering at Luke all along which prompted Luke to walk away and signed, “You bitch!” at Jen/Lakisha.

Luke is right — Jen and Lakisha are bitches.

The preview of the Episode 10 appears to show that Jen & Lakisha may be eliminated because there is an obstacle that requires them to swim — and one of these bitches are deathly terrified of water.

I hope they get eliminated in the next episode — or better yet, I hope they drown!

However, it is distressing to note that there are many threads on CBS.com’s The Amazing Race message boards which was created against Luke Adams.  They called him spoiled, immature, childish, evil, sinister, slut to name few.  It is quite amazing.

And Luke still wants to be a role model?  Nah, I don’t think so, honey!

But the positive thing about Lu-gie is that I wanted them to win $1 million.  I still wanted them to win.  There are only 4 groups left and Lu-gie are still in it.

What do you think of Luke, Margie and the whole fiasco on The Amazing Race?  I hate to say that this show is much better than CBS’ Survivor which one Deaf contestant, Christy Smith, appeared briefly.

R-

Oops! Sorry About It!

I know.  I know.  I basically lost the interest in doing blogging these days.  One has to look at how Deaf people deals with each other … I simply had no desire to deal with crap like that.

But first things first.

I’m back.  And I shall blog … on my own accord.  I’m not going to appease anyone else in particular.

Let it be told:  I also blog on twitter and blogspot as well.  Why?  Because I want to diversify my thoughts.  I don’t want to limit myself like many Deaf bloggers/vloggers out there.  One has to look at Deafread and Deafvideo.tv to get the gist of what I am trying to convey.

Cheers,

R-

Interlude: Cavaliers 83, Lady Volunteers 82

Finally, the monkey is off my back!

No. 16 Virginia Cavaliers has exorcised the demons by beating No. 5 Tennessee Lady Volunteers on its home court in Knoxville, Tennessee, 83-82.

Never mind the fact that the Lady Volunteers are inexperienced with six freshmen and 4 sophomores.  The Cavaliers also missed 3 experienced players whom did not suit up for various reasons.  Not only that, the Cavaliers relied heavily on 4 freshmen as well.

In the last 5 trips to Knoxville, the Cavaliers were 0-5.  But not this time, Virginia’s Monica Wright had 35 points and was virtually unstoppable as she willed the team to shock the Lady Volunteers in front of more than 11,000 spectators.  It was Tennessee’s 19th home loss since 1987 and Virginia officially joined the elite club whom has beaten Tennessee in Knoxville:  Auburn, Stanford, Connecticut, Texas, Florida, Duke, Louisiana State and Louisiana Tech.

Way to go, Cavaliers!

Now I can sleep in peace, folks!

Cheers,

R-

5: What’s Up With HOVRS’ MVP?

After GoAmerica swallowed HOVRS and Verizon TRS, they did not stop as they went on their way to purchase two major interpreting agencies in Washington, DC area in an attempt to control the interpreters from working for other VRS companies.

Yes, HOVRS bought Sign Language Associates (SLA) and Visual Language Interpreting (VLI).  To me, it is a brilliant strategic move on GoAmerica’s part in an attempt to control and suffocate the competitors from getting more interpreters to work for their companies.  For your information, SLA has offices in Denver, Tampa, Richmond (Va) and Frederick (Md) as well.

However, HOVRS has been drumming up the beat about its so-called Mobile Video Phone also known as MVP at many functions including DeafNation Expos and ASLExpo for the last couple of years.

I think the lingering question on everyone’s mind is:  When?

HOVRS has claimed that its MVP is better than Viable’s VPAD and VPAD Plus, CSDVRS’ The Z and so on.  But none of us has yet to *see* the equipment out in full force.

HOVRS has dispatched the employees to woo Deaf customers all over the place — cyberspace and in person to talk about MVP.  They went on to trash Viable of their VPADs repeatedly.

Yes, Viable VPAD is not perfect.  But that is why they named the Viable VPAD as Beta version — the original purpose of Beta version is to give the VPADs to the customers so that Viable could hear the feedbacks to weed and fix the glitches that may come with the VPAD itself.

Listen carefully — Viable VPAD was designed and funded by whom?  Deaf people.  Then they gave it to the customers to test and play around and throw feedbacks to Viable in order to enhance the 2nd part:  Viable VPAD Plus.

Makes sense, right?

HOVRS has yet to release MVP in the last couple of years.  They already talked about how good it is — how better it is than VPAD — how it will trumpets VPAD and The Z — and they had NOT gotten around to release the damned piece in the first place!

Don’t you think it is audacity of HOVRS to trash Viable repeatedly at events about its product when they had not released its own god-damned MVP in the first place?

It was supposed to release about two years ago, then it got delayed.  Then delayed.  The last time I heard was that they planned to release it in 2009.

Perhaps, they found many glitches in this particular product that they had to delay the release of MVP all along?

But that does not stop them from traashing VRS companies’ products repeatedly — especially with Viable VPAD and Viable VPAD Plus.  HOVRS may deny the allegations that they trash-talked about Viable VPAD but one can view this particular video where HOVRS’ Jonathan Hughes has talked about how MVP is better than VPAD starting at 5:34.

Frankly, let’s face the reality here:  Viable 2, HOVRS 0.

Viable, is small VRS company run of, by and for Deaf people, has already released not one but two products:  VPAD and VPAD Plus.  VPAD, as expected, went through the trial period where they received enormous feedbacks from the customers and in the process, they have upgraded the VPAD.  So far, it has improved and satisfied the customers in the process.

VPAD Plus is the 2nd product that includes the wifi service and browser as well.

Again, both products were designed and funded by whom?  Deaf individuals.

As for HOVRS’ MVP, which is owned by GoAmerica with millions of dollars in profits?  The MVP was not designed by Deaf people.  In fact, they collected the feedbacks and turned to a contractor to design and manufacture — I heard it was LeadTek Corporation — which, as of today, is still fixing the glitches which has been delaying the product from day one.

What alarmed me the most lately is the antics that HOVRS has been doing to the customers — they are telling the customers that if they wanted free MVP, they need to register for HOVRS on its website and to make sure that they use HOVRS in to be ranked on some list in order to get the MVP.

This is shrewd move on HOVRS’ part in an attempt to rack the minutes to make money off from FCC.  I received several emails and VP calls from Deaf friends who said that they were contacted by HOVRS employees telling them that they need to register and start calling HOVRS in order to be “ranked” on the HOVRS’ list in order to get MVP!

I personally suspected the main reason why the HOVRS is doing this is to rack up the minutes in order to get the funds from FCC in order to compensate the company that is correcting the glitches with MVP which they are dealing with so far.

But there is no proof as of now.  It is all about speculations.  The whole thing is that people who lives in glass houses should not throw stones.  You see, HOVRS trashed Viable’s products and they had no product to start with.

Get this picture?  Tsk, tsk!

Cheers,

R-

NEXT:  No, You Cannot Use This Sign Because I Own It!

6: HOVRS — What Is So Special About ‘Em?

Videophones.

Like it or not, the videophones are vital to millions of Deaf individuals across not in this country but across the globe.  Like it or not, the videophones are replacing TTYs these days.  More and more Deaf people are tossing the TTYs in the closets and attics.  The videophones, of course, spawned the need for video relay services.  Needless to say, there are dozens of for-profit VRS companies out there to serve the Deaf people.

SorensonVRS.  CACVRS.  HandsOnVRS.  CSDVRS.  ViableVRS.  SprintRelay.  LifelinksVRS.  HawkRelay.  HamiltonVRS.  SnapVRS to name few.  If I miss anyone else in particular, so sue me.  These companies were created to meet the demands — heck, it’s all about economics:  Supply and demand.

Few people wondered why there are too many VRS companies.  I had to explain about how it works from time to time.  Basically, in this country, the demand will spawn the supply which will spawn the companies.  Then when the profits decline, that’s when the companies will merge or eat each other up in the process.  It happened with banking, retail, internet companies and so on.  It shall happen with VRS companies, sooner or later.

I’m all for VRS companies to make money off from us as long as they involve Deaf people in the process.  As long as they do not exploit us.  As long as they do not manipulate the needs of Deaf people in general.

I’m not a fan of SorensonVRS.  I already made it clear a long time ago that I find them to a major nuisance mainly because they attempted to subjugate the interpreters from switching to other VRS companies — in fact, they created a contract binding them that should they quit, dismiss or terminate at SorensonVRS, they cannot work for another VRS company for a year.  SorensonVRS repeatedly claimed that it is about the code of ethics.

My response?  Bullshit.

Not only that, SorensonVRS also waged a lengthy battle with other VRS companies in preventing the FCC from requiring the interpreters to be certified.  SorensonVRS only wanted “qualified” interpreters because it is cheaper than to hire “certified” interpreters.   SorensonVRS does not give a crap about the quality and ability of interpreters’ ASL as long as it is cheap.   Meanwhile, SorensonVRS also claimed that the main reason why they did this is because there were not enough interpreters out there that are certified.

Yeah, right, like I really believe.

Truth be told, I don’t use SorensonVRS for a long time.

Sorenson has its VP-100 and VP-200.  Some has Ojo.  CSDVRS has D-Link and is currently distributing The Z.  Viable already launched the VPAD and VPAD Plus.  What of HOVRS?  The so-called MVP has been stagnant in delays for the last couple of years!

Unlike others, HOVRS has caught my attention with the way it runs itself in our communities.  Which is what I will cover in 3-part entries on this particular blogsite.

The founder and the CEO of HOVRS was none other than Ronald Obray.  Obray is CODA.  That was kinda cool and nice to know that someone within our community was to run the company that may make money off from our people.  Not only that, Kelby Brick also worked for HOVRS as the Director of Legal and Regulatory Affairs.  Kelby Brick is Deaf attorney that has worked with National Association of the Deaf.  Not bad, right?

Last year, I was surprised to learn that Ronald Obray sold HOVRS to GoAmerica for $35 million in cash.  GoAmerica already swallowed Verizon’s Telecommunication Relay Services a bit earlier before merging with HOVRS.

I was piqued with curiosity about the folks that runs the HOVRS.  The very top officers of HOVRS/GoAmerica — the CEO, President, the Vice-President and all that positions — none of them are Deaf.   Dig it?

One source inside from HOVRS told me that since GoAmerica swallowed HOVRS, there has been an activity of pushing Deaf people aside from climbing up the corporate ladder.  Which is why we do not see any Deaf individual working as an Executive of some sorts at GoAmerica/HOVRS.

That particular source said that the main reason why Deaf individuals were pushed aside is that these current executives claimed and felt that Deaf individuals lack the experience and means to qualify for any top-level positions within GoAmerica/HOVRS.  That is bullshit, folks.  The claims are the same ones that all Deaf individuals had heard from many hearing-oriented corporations.

But this excuse coming from GoAmerica/HOVRS whom garnered millions of dollars from the FCC related to video relay service business is deplorable, simply put!

Look at Viable.  The top-level positions — All of them are Deaf!  CSDVRS?  They have several Deaf individuals running at the top.  So does SprintRelay and SorensonVRS.  It appears to me that this particular company, HOVRS, is systemically preventing the qualified or interested Deaf individuals from getting their positions.

For a company that makes money off from Deaf Communities and yet, scheming to prevent Deaf individuals from attaining the top-level positions is simply despicable.

What says you?

Cheers,

R-

NEXT: What’s Up With HOVRS’ MVP?