I have worked out how to get my browser to read people’s posts out to me. It speaks! I know, probably old hat to many of you, but it was never really something I looked for, so I’m late in the game.
Bottom line, it lets me read posts more quickly. However, I have also noticed that it doesn’t give me as much control. I can start it when I load the page, I can stop it, but I have no idea how to reposition it, if (say) I want to re-read a paragraph. The upshot is that I spent rather more time than usual, listening to the lyrics of Jim’s Deep Purple song.
Lots of mentions of Japan. To me, if I think of Japan in music terms, I think of Yoko Ono. Then the late, great John Lennon.
I was twelve when Lennon was killed. I heard the news on morning as I came down the stairs ready for breakfast before school. Impossible – one of the Beatles was no longer with us! Plus. this was Liverpool, where the Beatles were especially special.
There followed a wave of nostalgia for him in the UK. There were outpourings of grief, and his new album, Double Fantasy, his first new material in several years, went immediately to #1 pretty much everywhere. Plus, as well as rushing out releases of his new material, we had re-releases of Imagine and Happy Christmas.
One of the tracks on Double Fantasy just epitomised to me, the sound of Japan. As I got older myself, it also epitomised fatherhood, all those dreams and aspirations we have for our young children. This is Beautiful Boy (Darling Boy), about his son, Sean, who was just five when he lost his daddy.
Mister Bump 
That is so fun that your browser speaks to you! I wonder how I sound like 😂 You need to be very attentive when can’t really re-hear a paragraph. And you hear all of the lyrics of the songs, that can be some overkill there.
John Lennon, I don’t remember him being shot but I learned later. People are so strange, thinking they know someone from the tv or radio. Maybe Lennon wasn’t a perfect being but I remember feeling sad for Yoko (and I know that people maybe don’t like her) and their son.
My eye fell on this post: https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/111728400/posts/532212
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You sould like Microsoft’s Hazel (Great Britain). But I think Kacha’s pronounciation is probably better than Hazel’s 🙂. It is funnt because it stresses the wrong words quite a lot – it is very computerised but saves me actually looking at a page.
Cobain’s death passed me by but I grieved John and especially George. John was particularly sad because it was not his own doing. The one place I had to go visit when I first got to NYC was the Dakota Building. NYC is actually very like Liverpool used to be, just as the entrance to a new country.
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It’s weird how we get caught up in these things, as it still effects me when I read about Cobains’ death. I didn’t know him but sometimes the circumstances or the fact that we give those people a place in our lives, makes it difficult to deal with. I think Lennon was also maybe one of the first ones to die in strange circumstances. The fact that he signed Chapmans record a few hours before makes it utterly sad. I guess Chapman is still in jail?
Haha, I don’t think I really sound like Hazel and I try to pronounce words the best possible which doesn’t include stressing the wrong words. Maybe WP will come with a feature when you can record your posts and people can listen to them. Like a podcast but different. I follow a poet here who posted his poem written and with an audiotape, it was interesting to hear that.
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Actually one of the Indian guys I follow is like that. He posts short things in both English and Hindi, and sometimes posts YouTube videos which he has obviously made himself. When he speaks on them, I can tell that English is definitely lot his first language, but chapeau to him for attempting to post anything in a foreign language. I might write a comment in French, but to attempt anything as long as a post would scare me right off.
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That is so brave of him imo. I don’t want to be on YT except maybe if something outrageous would happen and I would feel the need to really vent about it.
Most of social media that I am on is in English so I feel that English speaking people are in a good position there. My Spanish would be not good enough to try to enter that market. And my Chinese is non-existent 😅
I’ve noticed some people on WP blog in two languages, that is really cool.
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Yes I have gone looking for French-language blogs on here and have found a few writers who sometimes post in French, sometimes in English.
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I find Hindi a beautiful language btw, just to look at the characters because I have no idea what they mean. If I wrote poetry I would learn to write in Hindi just because my work would not just sound aesthetic, but look aesthetic.
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That is a great way to start!
‘Aesthetic poetry’ next under your Christmas tree 🙂
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I have been sick for over a week and I have not been reading other peoples’ posts during this time, because it required too much effort and all I wanted to do was sleep. I wish I had a browser that read to me and then I would not have missed so much.
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This one is only Firefox on a PC. I must admit I hardly use my ‘droids, but I know I have versions of FF for them. I don’t know whether they read or not. But I know what you mean – sometimes I just see this wall of text in my reader, and think “no”. Especially when I’m tired.
I hope you’re feeling a bit better now, Jim.
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Thanks Pete, it has been a long road for my recovery, but I think that I am over the hump now.
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You went back huh! I wasn’t a Beattie fan. Good info though. Happy Friday brother!
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I’m from Liverpool, everybody there is a Beatle fan! It was, like, cradle music to me. I found other music into my teens. Hope Friday started good, sis.
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Good read
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