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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Hi everyone,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Snoopi recently wrote an article about Dectalk for a GoFundMe
campaign he created. With his permission I'm sharing his thoughts with this list.
Here's a link to Snoopi's GoFundMe campaign for anyone interested in checking that
out.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><a href="https://www.gofundme.com/28a7brqw">https://www.gofundme.com/28a7brqw</a>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>His Dectalk article is pasted below my name. I want to be someone
who helps carry the Dectalk torch.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Blake<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I really thank everyone for donating to, and sharing my
campaign. In this update, I want to share part of what I'm trying to keep going
and pass on.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>The software I program to sing is called Dectalk, and it was
invented by a group of people at MIT. The name most recognized for the project
is Dennis KLATT.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>For some reason, Dennis left everything in the software
unlocked, making it 100 percent programmable. You can create unlimited male and
female voices,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>program them to sing, act, or anything you want. Dectalk was
way ahead of it's time and was a real gift to the blind and the disabled
communities.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Dennis died in 1988. In 1989 I Prayed and asked God to make
me a singer. I then basically ended up with a device that had Dectalk in it. I
freaked because<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I knew Dectalk at the time was $2000.00. So I read the
manual and basically became excited when I read it could sing. I never put it
down and I spent 36<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>months trying to get it to sing just one sound. Finally I
got it to hold a pitch. BINGO! I suddenly had something that I could program to
sing, God had<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>made me a singer so to speak.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Over the years I've learned that Dennis wanted someone like
me to be able to sing by using Dectalk, which was why he made it 100 percent
programmable.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>However, the instructions were totally unclear. You had to
understand linguistics, be very good I'm math, know how to read sheet music,
convert music time<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>into milliseconds, and you had to know a lot. I didn't care
what it took, I was going to make it sing. 7 years later I became a singer.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>What I love about Dectalk is, there is no end to this thing,
you always find little things that you didn't know about. I practice 14 hours a
day because<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I want to sing that bad. I know I've pushed the software far
beyond what Dennis had in mind, but I just want to sing that bad. Dectalk truly
is my voice.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Dectalk was once very popular in communication devices and
many disabled people were using Dectalk to sing. Well, part of what happen was,
it became too<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>expensive for companies to put Dectalk into devices. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I feel Dectalk for the disabled is equal to a human voice,
and if any person can open their mouth and sing, why isn't it the same with
Dectalk? The human<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>brain sends signals to enable someone to sing. All I do is
write the signals to enable Dectalk to sing.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Companies are now backing away from including Dectalk in
devices. I have collected different Dectalk languages, Dectalk versions, and so
on. So even if<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>a device doesn't have Dectalk, I have many, many ways of
putting Dectalk onto a device. I even have a Dectalk SAPI 5, but my business
partner helps with<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>the instructions for installing because SAPI is over my
head.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Blake and I both program songs. We do it because we both
know this stuff is hard even though to us it's easy. If some song will help
someone find who they<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>are, or motivate them to use their device, it's all worth
it. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>In handing down the torch in 2017, maybe someone else will
keep Dectalk alive. That's why meeting my financial goal and doing this end of
life talk is<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>so important to me. My entire life people have doubted my
abilities. Dectalk has no choice, it has to do whatever I program it to do. So
at the end of<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>my life, if I can get enough people to understand that
people like me have a disabled body but a clear mind, it might create a better
path for the next<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>generation.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Please share my campaign and donate if you can.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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