Prose	Tech Bloomers
Theme	Empowering the disabled with technology

The science of today is the technology of tomorrow.

 Twenty-one-year-old David was born with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy. He says that technology is very important because it enables him to communicate and be independent. For verbal communication, he uses a Liberator Communication Device, which he controls with eye movements. He has an ACTIV controller also in the headrest of his chair in his bedroom, which means he can control his TV, Blu-Ray and music players. He now uses an ECO2 with ECO point. He is also a keen sportsman, regularly playing football, boccia, hockey and baseball. Besides, he is a sports leader who uses his ECO2 linked to an interactive white board to teach PE lessons. He has 144 icons on the screen, which he uses with ECO point Eye Gaze. He now uses ECO2 and ECO point to access the curriculum, study for his GCSE, order food and communicate. Also, he uses ECO2 to speak in complete sentences with correct syntax. He controls the PlayStation with a bespoke switch system, drives his electric wheelchair and uses ECO point Eye Gaze system to communicate, access the computer to check on how the Chelsea football is doing and send and receive text messages.

David also an advocate to other students who use AAC shows then how easy it is to communicate using AC method.

David was born with Athetoid Cerebral Palsy and attended a specialist school and college. He had been using a high tech communication aid, since he was eight-years old and has been interested in AAC and technology ever since. With lots of effort and navigation, he learnt to use the device. He then used an ECO2 with ECO point, making his selections with a foot switch. David is also a keen sportsman, regularly playing football, boccia, hockey and baseball. He is a sports leader and uses his ECO2 linked to an interactive white board to teach PE lessons. He also uses it to speak in complete sentences with correct syntax. He controls his play station and also plays MP3 on his ECO2 from morning till night. Thus Technology has changed his life.

Prose	The Night the Ghost Got In
Author	James Grover Thurber
Theme	Dramatic fuss about mysterious sounds

Confusion is a word we have invented for an order which is not yet understood

‘The Night the Ghost Got In’, is a short story written by James Thurber. It is a fictionalized account of a night in his childhood. The author was in the bathroom and around I in the morning he heard some steps. He and his brother searched here and there but no one was seen. So they closed their room doors with a bang. The sound of the bang woke up the mother. When she heard about the footsteps she thought there must be some burglars. Somehow with the help of the neighbour she called the police and they came in a short time. The police broke open the door and entered the house. They could not find anybody. They opened all the drawers and windows and searched everywhere. They pulled beds from the walls and they removed the clothes from the closets. They saw the zither which was used by guinea pig to sleep. The cops were reluctant to leave without getting their hand on somebody besides grandfather; the night had been distinctly a defeat for them. Finally they could not find anybody.

Confusion is the welcome mat at the door of creativity.

 Prose  The Night the Ghost Got In  Author  James Grover Thurber  Theme Dramatic fuss about mysterious sounds In the confusion we stay with each other, happy to be together, speaking without uttering a single word
‘The Night the Ghost Got In’, is a short story written by James Thurber. It is a fictionalized suddenly he heard some footsteps. It was around 1 in the morning. He thought that it must be his father and brother, Roy. They had gone to Indiana and were expected back at any time. When he put his head out the door, he did not see anyone. He wrapped a towel around his waist and walked out into the hallway. He heard footsteps again. He woke his brother, Herman, to help him find out what was going on. They did not see anyone and did not hear anything anymore, so they went back to their rooms and closed the doors. Their mother was awakened by the slamming of the doors and wanted to know what was going on. She believed there were burglars in the house. Somehow with the help of the neighbour she informed the police. The police arrived with a few reporters and things just went wild. The grandfather ended up shooting one of the policemen in the arm, thinking that he was a deserter. They found no evidence and left.
If you’re not confused, you’re not paying attention.

Eskimos

Once Machines are fed with fuel, they take a very long time to start.

(a) The family lives on Complaining Street.
(b) The street is named as Complaining Street because the people who live there always complain about everything.

Poem	The Secret of the Machines
Poet	Rudyard Kipling
Theme	Machines are the creation of human brain

We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine, We were melted in the furnace an the pit.

The poem “The secret of the machines” by Rudyard Kipling deals with the problem of modern technology and automation. If we set them to work, they will serve us twenty four hours a day. The Machines explain various types of tasks that different kinds of machines do in our life. They can pull, haul, push, lift, drive, print, plough, wave, heat, light, run, race, swim, fly, dive see, hear, count, read and write. These tasks are done by the machines in different workplaces faster and accurately in our life. But they remind us that they are not built to tell a lie. They neither love, nor pity nor forgive. They don’t have feelings. As they have been created, they work. If human beings make a mistake in handling them, they will be dangerous and we will die. But they confess that all their power, weight and size are nothing compared to human brain. It is the human brain which creates them. They are

Because, for all our power and weight and size We are nothing more than children of your brain!

We can rely upon machines in transport and communication, which are getting more complicated all the time. This is unavoidable as we move further into the technological age of computers and increasing automation. We must accept the fact that our life depends on machines more and more. But then, some simple apparatus fails. The ballpoint pen won't function; the computer will not be ready to execute your orders. It can be irritating. If the machine is faulty, the simple job of mowing the lawn, turns into a battle of you and the mower. It prevents your efforts and refuses to co-operate. The once efficient machine, your friend and servant, has become your enemy. It is very important not to cross the limits and rational about machinery.

Poem	The Grumble Family
Poet	L.M. Montgomery
Theme	Discontentment begets despair

If I were to live in the complaining street I may find it difficult to deal with such people. I am with a lot of positive ideas. Only those who have negative ideas will complain about people and situations. It is very clear that such people will never have a feeling of satisfaction. So I will be careful not to get involved in their way of life. If they come forward to grumble over something I will not accept it immediately. I will try to convince them that it is better to accept things as they come to us with a smile. We should avoid taking everything negatively. I will slowly tell them that life has ups and downs and we should be able to balance them carefully.

Attitude shows over altitude.

A family lives in the Street of Complaining. Nobody likes them, as they are always complaining. They find fault with everything. They are never satisfied with anything. They growl at everything whether they are in a good position or a low position, they find fault with it and complain about it. When the weather is too hot or cold, they complain about it. They scold alike if it is winter or summer. Everything goes wrong with the people living down on that sad complaining street. It is a fact that their growling never gets completed or stopped. And if everything pleased them, there is no doubt, that they would grumble that there is nothing to grumble about.

a) He went on into the reporter's room.
b) There were fifteen hundred reporters
c) They were passing on to the subscribers the news which had come in during the night from the four quarters of the earth.
d) Each reporter had a telephone and a series of commutators in front of him.
e) Francis questioned one of the astronomical reporters.

Zigzag is the most harmless, unusual and lovable bird.

Title	Zigzag
Poet	Asha Nehemiah
Theme	Comic Commotions of a pet

The short story ‘Zigzag’ was written by Asha Nehemiah. It is about a pet which made commotion at home. Dr. Ashok T. Krishnan was a child specialist. His clinic was always with the noise of children. One day he informed his wife that his friend Somu was going to Alaska and his pet bird Zigzag would be left with them for a few days. His daughter Maya and his son Arvind were interested to keep the bird. Dr. Krishnan explained to them that Zigzag was a lovely bird which was given to Somu strange bird with different coloured feathers. It was a foot and a half tall, its head had a crown of pink feathers and the rest of its plumage had different shades. Its curved beak was sunflower yellow. Visu talked high abut Zigzag. He also reiterated that the bird could talk well in more than twenty languages.

We were taken from the ore-bed and the mine,
We were melted in the furnace and the pit 
We were cast and wrought and hammered to design,
We were cut and filed and tooled and gauged to fit.
Some water, coal, and oil is all we ask,
And a thousandth of an inch to give us play:
And now, if you will set us to our task,
We will serve you four and twenty hours a day!
We can pull and haul and push and lift and drive,
We can print and plough and weave and heat and light,
We can run and race and swim and fly and dive,
We can see and hear and count and read and write!
But remember, please, the Law by which we live,
We are not built to comprehend a lie,
We can neither love nor pity nor forgive,
 If you make a slip in handling us you die!
Though our smoke may hide the Heavens from your eyes,
It will vanish and the stars will shine again,
Because, for all our power and weight and size,
We are nothing more than children of your brain!
                                                         -Rudyard Kipling