Blogs/Vlogs Help Deaf People's English

Reading the latest discussion among bloggers about "certified" pre-post-whatever deaf, I had one thought. All this blogging and vlogging has to be encouraging deaf people to read and write more! The vast majority of deaf bloggers/vloggers are deaf people with a good command of English. There must be many out there who do not have as good a command of English, who wish they were better so that they too could do blogs/vlogs. Thus, blogging/vlogging gives them an added incentive to improve.

I observed a similar effect with instant messaging. All the instant messaging actually encourages English improvement, because of the need to communicate clearly.

Uncaptioned Extras on DVD. What Can We Do?

One of the pet peeves of the deaf community is that often if not usually, the "extras" on a DVD are not captioned or subtitled. Yet we pay the full price. Of course this is not fair to us. What can we do about it?

Class action lawsuit? Maybe. It did work with the movie theaters. On what legal grounds could the deaf community file a class action lawsuit given that captions on DVD are voluntary? Are any business or trade laws being violated when DVD companies fail to caption or subtitle the "extras" or "special features?"

Write nasty letters or send e-mails to the DVD companies demanding partial refunds or just complaining every time that we buy a DVD and the extras or special features are not captioned or subtitled? This risks upsetting the DVD companies and causing them to decide not to bother to caption or subtitle at all, because unlike television, captions and subtitles on DVD are voluntary. At this point in time, I think the risk of a company being upset enough by our complaining to stop captioning/subtitling is small, but you never know. The smaller companies especially, could decide it is not worth it.

All I know is, I'm sick of not getting my money's worth when I buy a DVD. It feels like discrimination. To repeat my question above, what can we do about it?

Most Important Piece of Evidence?

If you have been following the Wright trial, do you have any "reasonable doubts?" So much of the evidence is circumstantial, with little directly tying Wright to the crime. That's why I feel that the note Wright wrote at the hotel is the most important piece of evidence.

Quoting directly from the Argus Leader blog:

"Nelson says after questioning, Wright spent several days at a local motel. Police later found a note that indicated she had been stalked by a rapist, who must have killed VanderGiesen.

The note also had information about blue paint, blood and a smell of gasoline in the basement of Wright’s home - something Nelson says only could be known by someone who had been in the basement after VanderGiesen’s murder. That was before a police search of the basement."

Wright's words from that note:
"Well when I am word so i decide to clean up in baswement paint. Always dream live in basement and how pretty many things. I saw little blood there by steps and smelled gas."

How could she have known about the paint, blood, and gas if she was not the one who killed Darlene? Reminds me of some old Batman stories in which the real killer was found when the real killer blurted something that only the real killer could have known.