Random Thoughts

Friends and Family:

Sara Cooper is the daughter of my oldest friend (a friend since before we were in kindergarten!) She's now a Real Estate agent working in Cambridge, Massachusetts. But as she told me, she's really quite connected, and if you need help finding a home anywhere in the US, or just want help finding a trusted agent somewhere else, you should contact her. And tell her I say hi. Here's Sara Cooper's web page at Keller Williams Realty.
Another of my oldest friends (in duration not age!) is David Roochnik. He's the Chair of the Philosophy Department at Boston University and a real whiz on Greek Philosophy. I recently listened to a series of lectures he gave called, naturally enough, An Introduction to Greek Philosophy. You can find that lecture series and many books he's written on Amazon. But, I just learned he's also written novels as well. One of his novels, called Sweet Dreams, is only available as a Kindle eBook. I thought his novel would naturally be set in Ancient Greece, but as it turns out, he's a homicide/detective fiction fan too. He told me how interesting it was that as a professor he always tries to explain things as clearly as possible, but as an author of a mystery, it was quite the challenge to not give away the ending by being too explicitly clear. It is a mystery after all! If you have a Kindle (or an app on another device that allows reading Kindle ebooks), I hope you'll try it out. It sells for just $2.99.
One of my newest friends, a Music Professor at Boston University, is Debbie Burton. I happened to meet Debbie at a lecture given by another old friend of mine John Platoff. John and Debbie are both music professors, pianists, and opera gurus. Having just met Debbie, I asked her if she happened to see the recent MET production (on TV) of Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West. Talk about asking the right question at the right time, she not only had seen it, but knows the opera like no one else, and even developed a web site about the 100th anniversary of the opera called Fanciulla100.org. A Puccini scholar, to be sure.
My nephew Jon (Jon Fishman) has been very busy. Recently, he purchased his own domain name (BrainOfAFish.com), and is looking to have some fun with it. He started a blog called Brain of a Fish and is also working on a new Brain of a Fish Tees and more store. He used to work at MTV in NYC, then moved to its sister company Comedy Central for a while, and has now moved yet again (still within the same family) to RateMyProfessors.com. I hope you'll visit his sites (and tell him I say hello!)
If you're interested in astronomy, and especially if you're interested in the computer-controllable Meade ETX telescopes, I hope you'll check out my friend Mike's excellent ETX site.
I've recently changed where my website is hosted, and so far, I'm just loving it. If you are also looking for a home for your own website, you should check out Lunarpages. My guess is you'll find it's both cheaper and better than the other web hosting services.
If you're a car fan, and especially a BMW fan, please visit Rod's Automobile Pages. Rod's a good friend of mine, and you just won't believe how absolutely immaculately he maintains his cars. The BMW is decades old, and looks brand new. He's quite literally an award-winning car enthusiast!
My cousin Emily just launched a new site. As I hope you'll see, she's a great photographer with a great eye. If you're curious, here's the link: Emily Gilbert Photography.
Koingo Software is the brainchild of a fellow programmer and a friend of mine. Josh has written some great software for OSX. I rely, in fact, on a daily basis, on his new Data Guardian program...a super program to store your passwords and virtually any other kind of data in encrypted form. Here's a tip: If you visit his site and place an order, mention my name ("WINOGRAD"), and he'll give you a 10% discount on your order. You must mention my name at the time you place your order or it won't work. Look for a comment area on the order form, enter my name, and get 10% off.
I've always been a big opera fan. In fact, for a few years, I was on the Board of the superb Opera New Hampshire. I also created their very first web site and remained as their webmaster for a little more than a decade. Now, though I've passed on this responsibility to new hands, Opera New Hampshire will always be close to my heart. Check it out: OperaNH.org

Privacy Policy:

This is my own personal non-legalese Privacy Policy. I hope it answers any questions you might have. If not, feel free to ask for clarification.

These days, many web sites include some kind of Privacy Policy. But, did you ever read them? It's actually a little bit disconcerting that many companies believe that a Privacy Policy is the place to tell you just how much information they record about you, and, in fact, how little privacy you actually have. Pretty sad.

Anyway, I thought it's about time that I tell you my own Privacy Policy for this site. I'm not a lawyer, but I think you'll get the gist of what I mean.

The only time I get any information about you is if you place an order to register one of my software products. Then, like any merchant, I need to have your name, address, email address, and other details (such as the software product you purchased, when you purchased it, etc.) That is the only information that I have...the information that you've given me in order to complete your online registration. I intend to keep your email address in case I want or need to contact you about a new program I've written, or a problem with an existing one.

I have never sold, or rented, or given away, any information about my customers. I have no intention of ever doing so. If this ever changes, I will most certainly ask for your permission before sharing any information. I would hope you would treat my personal information in the same manner, if the situation were reversed. And, that's basically it!

Ken Winograd

Strokes and Disabilities:

Brickles and Hangman were never designed to be anything but fun. But, I've actually received letters (a few are below) from people who have said that one or more of my games have helped them or their family members recover from strokes, and other medical problems. Some have mentioned how Brickles has helped eye-hand coordination that was diminished after a stroke. Others have mentioned how the synthesized speech or digitized sounds used in these games would help a family member get out the right word.

Who would have thought my games might actually be helpful to those with some kind of disability? I'm delighted and gratified that this might be the case. If these games have helped you, or a friend or family member, please send me an email, and share with me exactly what about the games helped. I'd love to hear about it, and maybe I can learn how to improve the games in areas that would be even more helpful. If you have an idea for a completely new game, I'd love to hear about that too.

Here are some of the comments I've received...

"It's lots of fun and I am especially appreciative as the game works well with some of my students. I am a music therapist and I work primarily on a private basis with handicapped students. On their behalf, thank you."
"My dad uses your software/game to help him recover from a stroke. In addition to the game's helping him with his concentration and reaction time, I thought it would be fun for my kids to play."
"My husband is a Stroke Survivor and it is amazing how this game has helped him in word retrieval as his speech was affected, and this is the first thing that he really enjoys doing."
"Actually we got the game for my daughter who has a learning disability and needs work on eye-hand coordination."
"My middle school kids LOVE your programs. Am excited to get your new ones. I just started teaching U.S. History AND Language Arts in my learning disabilities middle school 8th grade class. THANK YOU!"
"I use your program Brickles a lot in my occupational therapy programs. The students love it and it really helps improve their eye hand coordination and visual tracking skills."
"I found that it helped students who had trouble reading with hand/eye coordination, which in turn impacts the gaining of reading skills. It also gave them such a feeling of self-esteem that it made their entire school experience a better one."
"I think your game is really great for kids with autism, because it has the colors, the sounds, and the call for eye/hand coordination in a random setting that puzzles them (they are very good at finding patterns). They generally do not care about competing for higher scores but will be motivated by the ball hitting so many keys all of a sudden making a 'symphony'. Congratulations for your game!"
"I'm disabled, I live in the uk. I have Hang 3001, Presidents 3001 and States3001. I can manage these as they are not too fast for me to tap the keys."
"I'm nearly blind, but love games, and this is wonderful. I have CP, and working with hand-eye stuff is very good for me. Thank you for making it so I can have things SLOW and LARGE!"
"We finally got a new iMac and are very happy that we now have Hangman Pro v2. My wife especially likes playing it. She is disabled and not able to do much at all. This is her favorite game."
"I love it! The trial version got me through several nights of terrible pain in the darkness of a hospital after a hellacious, painful operation! It was only right to buy it as soon as I came home. Thank you. : )"
"...have advanced osteoarthritis in most of my joints. After spinal surgery and a hip replacement, my wrist and finger joints are now involved. I enjoy Brickles so much because I can go at a slower pace. I can vicariously be Venus Williams, a pingpong champ, or billiards player at the same time! I particularly enjoy being able to have a variety of backgrounds and colors -- it helps with those of us who no longer have good vision."
"I want to thank you for your terrific games...the Hangman varieties. Do you have others as well? I find them helpful as a person with disabilities because of m.s.The games seem to help me think clearly, and the required dexterity of my hands to play is not too much, as in other games."
"My husband has some kind of early dementia and this [Hangman Pro] was the first game I've found that he truly enjoys."

Last Modified: January 1, 2013