Roberta Adams skipped the thick how-to guide on child-custody forms and sat down at a computer at the Lamoreaux Justice Center in Orange on Wednesday. The Garden Grove woman answered a series of questions to create and print a form to file with the court. "It's easy," said Adams, 25. "I thought I'd have all kinds of questions and have to take the forms home." A University of California, Irvine, study released Wednesday found an interactive computer system effectively helps people fill out paperwork for restraining orders, eviction defense, small-claims cases and requests for filing-fee waivers. Not only does the system make life easier for people who can't afford a lawyer, but it also might improve efficiency in the courts because the forms, which are printed out when completed, are easy to read and are being filled out correctly, the study found. Since the program started in 2000, more than 6,000 people have used the free system, located in public buildings throughout Orange County. The system was developed by the Legal Aid Society of Orange County with about $800,000 in grants. The program avoids legal jargon, offers a courthouse video tour and sticks to a fifth-grade vocabulary. Users can choose English, Spanish or Vietnamese. Kiosks are in courthouses in Fullerton and Orange, the district attorney's family-support office, the Legal Aid Society in Santa Ana, Irvine City Hall and the San Juan Capistrano Library. The program is also available online. Bob Cohen, executive director of Legal Aid, said the study should clear the way for expansion throughout California. Locally, a program for divorce petitions will be added this summer. Cohen said the system proves the benefit of technology tailored to those who aren't computer-savvy. He said much of the technology now available requires Internet skills and access. Low-income people, however, have less access to computers and less experience using them. "Our clients have to catch up, and they have to become a part of the mainstream," Cohen said.

How did the program come about?

Little is known of the earliest Stone Age inhabitants of Europe's southwestern extremity. The ancient Greeks called them the Cynetes (or Cunetes). Whatever their origins, their culture evolved under the pressure and influence of foreign forces. Among the many invading armies that settled here and contributed to nascent Portuguese culture were Phoenicians, who settled in the area around 1,000 b.c., followed by the Celts, Iberians, Greeks, and Carthaginians. But it was the Romans, who arrived late in the third century b.c., who most greatly influenced all of Iberia. They built towns, industries, roads, and bridges, developed agriculture, and bequeathed the Latin language, of which Portuguese is a direct descendant. The Romans named the southwestern province of the peninsula Lusitania, oddly enough for one of the Celtiberian tribes they defeated, and by the third century a.d. had introduced Christianity. By the beginning of the fourth century the Algarve had a bishop in place, based in Faro. But Rome had already fallen into decay, and soon hordes of northern tribesmen took over the empire. The Algarve fell to the Visigoths in the mid-fifth century. Under Moorish Rule In a.d. 711, the Moors brought powerful armies from North Africa and launched a devastating attack on the Iberian peninsula, conquering much of what would become Spain and Portugal. They imposed Islam and left an indelible influence on the countryside and the population of the Algarve. The Moorish legacy can still be seen in the form of wells and waterwheels, squat white houses, the dark complexions of the people, and in the very name given the regiontaken from Al-Gharb, which means "country of the west" (when the Moors conquered the territory, it was the most westerly in the known world). The Moors governed their Iberian kingdoms from across the border in Seville, but the Algarve had its own regional capital and huge, invulnerable fortress. The capital was Chelb (or Xelb), and it was bigger and better defended than Lisbon. Today the town, known as Silves, is a provincial outpost whose only besiegers are busloads of tourists who climb the narrow streets up to the old Moorish ramparts.

What did the Greeks call the early Stone Age inhabitants?

I've been thinking about the mindwipe, now two days away. Who said that those who forget the past are doomed to repeat it? I fear that may be true for me. Add this to the reasons I write now: to remember something, perhaps even to learn -- Emil Malaquez arrived after sundown, carrying a small package wrapped in what looked like real paper. His evening dress was formal, expensive, and slightly stained, as that of all forgetful artists should be. He was a jovial man with an easy laugh, and even uglier than Tasha had suggested. I liked him immediately. "Senor Malaquez?" "Please. Call me Emil. You must be Bernardo. Tasha's told me much about you." "All of it outrageous praise?" "All of it." "Ah, she is wonderfully perceptive." He raised an eyebrow, then guffawed. "Has she said as much about me?" "She thinks you are a genius. Do come in." "Thank you."
What does the writer fear may be true for them?