[Nfbsf] Links and happenings from our September 2nd chapter meeting

[Jim Barbour]

Hello Chapter Members,

Here's a rundown of everything we discussed at last week's chapter meeting.  

If you have any questions, please feel free to reply to this message
or contact me at nfb at barcore.com

Attendees:
1.   Tim Elder is a fairly good tap dancer
2.   Jim Barbour is a skier and rock climber
3.   Bryan Bashin likes to work with wood
4.   Lily Liang is improving her Spanish
5.   David Chan is trained as a pilot
6.   Sara Hadsell was born in Germany
7.   Kate Williams owns a red 1956 T bird hard top
8.   Al Coreman is a really good cook
9.   Jeff Buckwalter just retired from teaching computer science from USF
10.  Josh Glatt does occasional voice acting for an online community that makes video games for free.
11.  Carlos Miyares was born on January 1st.

Topics Discussed in Brief, links included inline.

1.  We had 96 people at the just complete DiscoverYou seminar the NFB cosponsored with the San Francisco Lighthouse last weekend.

2.  The NFB of California college scholarship application is here, please pass it along to all blind college students living or studying in California.

    The scholarship form requires supporting documentation, so people should start filling it out soon.  The deadline for all documentation is September 19th.

    http://www.formstack.com/forms/?973942-RdalroecB2

3.  If you're interested in participating in the 2015 Washington Seminar, you can fill out the form before Friday, October 31st, 2014.  The seminar will take place January 26th - January 29th, 2015

    http://www.formstack.com/forms/?984710-4OifFY6TfK
    

4.  The NFB of California will hold its state convention Starting on the evening of Thursday, October 9th through noon on Sunday, October 12th.

    Step 1: Make your hotel reservation before September 19, 2014
    Step 2: Fill out the convention pre-registration form.
    Step 3: Sign up before September 12th, 2014 for the bus, aka "The Magic Carpet Ride", running from Sacramento and Bay Area to the hotel.

    The convention pre-registration form has information about the hotel and how to make a reservation.

    http://www.formstack.com/forms/?986187-OKrkn0JGXG

    To sign up for the bus, you must email Rick Watson at rickwatson1113 at comcast.net on or before September 12th.

5.  Every blind person in California should file a claim against Red Box.

    Blind people have been kept from independently using Red Box video kiosks because of their touch screen technology.  Recently, a lawsuit file against Red Box by the Lighthouse was won.  This is a large victory for blind folks.  It sends a strong message that all kiosks and vending machines need to be built with the blind in mind.  Red Box has been order to compensate all blind people who were unable to use the kiosks, or who were persuaded not to even try and use the kiosks because the technology was not usable by a blind person.

    The NFB strongly encourages everyone who feels they fall into this category to sign up to receive your money!

    Here's the link for making your claim

    https://eclaim.kccllc.net/caclaimforms/ral/Landing.aspx

    Here's the San Francisco Lighthouse's blog about this settlement

    http://lighthouse-sf.org/blog/attention-legally-blind-people-living-california/

6.  You can subscribe to the NFB Presidential release as a podcast. The presidential release is an audio newsletter from the NFB national office.  It's a short (less than 30 minute), monthly snapshot of what the NFB is up to.

    The direct RSS subscription link is

    https://nfb.org/images/nfb/audio/pr/pr-rss/rss.xml

    If you'd like to just download the latest release, you can go here...

    https://nfb.org/presidential-releases

7.  As an outreach effort, Al, Carlos, David, and Jim are going to be calling NFB members during the next few months.

8.  We are planning to do a community service event with the Lighthouse at the San Francisco food bank on Saturday, October 4th. Arrive at the lighthouse around noon and then walk over to the food bank. This will be in place of our standard October meeting.

Hope to see you all in October!

Jim Barbour