I'm hard of hearing. The speakers are worthless to me, but I wear Bose Hearphones (check them out) and put headphones right over them and I can hear fine. I also work in a facility that doesn't allow wireless technology, so the jack is necessary at work so I can attend Skype meetings.

We have chickens, too. They don't seem to like chocolate much, though. A discarded chocolate cake sat in the yard until I finally threw it into the compost. And to the folks who don't like the idea of eating bugs etc, don't worry too much about their diet--bugs and other stuff processed thru a chicken's digestive tract turn into chicken--meat and eggs. The more varied the diet, the more substantial the micro-nutrients.

I got a pair of digital hearing aids with really good specs for $900 each. Kit included a pile of accessories. Still not cheap, but I' satisfied. Company: America Hears, in PA. they do business on line. Ask for Susan, Tell them Rogers George sent you. They might remember who I am, and they'll appreciate the wom....

I ordered an edge. (I refuse to use their unconventional capitalization, though). I have a little extra cash from some consulting, and I shopped for a good six months. Far as I'm concerned, the price is reasonable (meaning I had enough) and the capabilities look good. I"ll let you all know what I think when mine arrives late March.

My grade school experience with math was not good. It became my least favorite subject. Just the same, I can remember several influences that drew me to the subject. I read _Men of Mathematics_ by E. T. Bell. I saw the movie about Jaime Escalante, who taught calc to kids in some poor area in California. Martin Gardner's Mathematical Games column in Scientific American had a strong influence. _One, Two, Three, Infinity_ and _How to Lie with Statistics_. The tone of a lot of the science fiction I read as a kid - Heinlein and Niven - was favorable toward math and I picked up on that. I liked my geometry teacher in HS. Those are the things that come immediately to mind.