Saturday, January 24, 2009
Well, Federer is in the Australian final! I'm so pulling for him. I just love the way that guy plays the game.
And on with my typing with the Dvorak layout. I like it more and more the longer I stick with it. It is quite a transition, I'll give it that, but so many words really fly off the fingers when you get acclimated. Many more than with the QWERTY layout. Overall, it's much less stressful and more comfortable on the hands, and I say that being someone that didn't even have issues in that realm.
I can't wait for the TypeMatrix keyboard I ordered at work.
My two younger children have really gotten into Lego's Power Miners. To me, it's simply remarkable the way Lego keeps coming up with such fun creative sets. My hat's off to those guys. In my humble opinion, no home should be without a whole pile of Lego. It's just too cool!
And on with my typing with the Dvorak layout. I like it more and more the longer I stick with it. It is quite a transition, I'll give it that, but so many words really fly off the fingers when you get acclimated. Many more than with the QWERTY layout. Overall, it's much less stressful and more comfortable on the hands, and I say that being someone that didn't even have issues in that realm.
I can't wait for the TypeMatrix keyboard I ordered at work.
My two younger children have really gotten into Lego's Power Miners. To me, it's simply remarkable the way Lego keeps coming up with such fun creative sets. My hat's off to those guys. In my humble opinion, no home should be without a whole pile of Lego. It's just too cool!
Wednesday, January 21, 2009
Just watched the inauguration address on youtube.com. The man is an excellent speaker, for sure. My heart wants to hope for the best while my head is concerned about the reality of his presidency.
I discovered TypeMatrix keyboards while surfing the other day and I'm going to get one at work. It's a little bit of a story. Switching to the Dvorak layout recently forced me into real touch-typing because the labeling on a regular keyboard is, of course, for QWERTY, and therefore useless once the keys are remapped. It's coming along just fine and I find that there are many more words that roll off the fingers nicely. I find a single thing that is a minor irritation: The location of "f" on what is the "y" key on a QWERTY layout. It's a long reach as reaches go on a keyboard and "f'" seems more common than "y". TypeMatrix keyboards have the keys vertically aligned rather than staggered, making the reach to "f" the same as the reach to "b". For the other hand, the reach to "x" and "y" ("b" and "t" on a QWERTY layout) will be the same. At any rate, it will be interesting to see how it feels. Better, I hope.
As an aside, the usual staggering of the keys has its roots in mechanical keyboard design. There is no reason at all for it on a computer except that "it's always been that way", in other words, there's no reason at all.
I discovered TypeMatrix keyboards while surfing the other day and I'm going to get one at work. It's a little bit of a story. Switching to the Dvorak layout recently forced me into real touch-typing because the labeling on a regular keyboard is, of course, for QWERTY, and therefore useless once the keys are remapped. It's coming along just fine and I find that there are many more words that roll off the fingers nicely. I find a single thing that is a minor irritation: The location of "f" on what is the "y" key on a QWERTY layout. It's a long reach as reaches go on a keyboard and "f'" seems more common than "y". TypeMatrix keyboards have the keys vertically aligned rather than staggered, making the reach to "f" the same as the reach to "b". For the other hand, the reach to "x" and "y" ("b" and "t" on a QWERTY layout) will be the same. At any rate, it will be interesting to see how it feels. Better, I hope.
As an aside, the usual staggering of the keys has its roots in mechanical keyboard design. There is no reason at all for it on a computer except that "it's always been that way", in other words, there's no reason at all.
Monday, January 12, 2009
I've started to write a post a half dozen times in the last week and got distracted every time and never got anything up here. Now I can't remember what I had on my mind. Sheesh!
I'll ramble a while, then:
Here's a great quote from president-elect Obama that refers to closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay: "It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize." The irony is that he himself was "a lot of people" until a short time ago and very likely should say that "it is more difficult than I think I realized". My guess is that every single incoming first-term president could say that about a lot of things. The question is are they big enough to admit it? Or would that be viewed as a confidence-in-the-president killer? Certainly, saying it too often would not be good, but still.
Zelda: Twilight Princess is turning out to be a fabulous game as expected. I'm beginning the third dungeon and have something like 18 hours into the game. Great stuff!
A personal time marker: My upper body workouts had gotten long enough that I had all but quit doing them, so I've changed to grabbing a short set of pullups or lever exercises most times I walk past the pullup bar. This is getting me probably half a dozen sets a day. When I feel a little sore, I back off for a day. I don't know how this will go in the long term, but it seems good for now.
I'll ramble a while, then:
Here's a great quote from president-elect Obama that refers to closing the U.S. prison at Guantanamo Bay: "It is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize." The irony is that he himself was "a lot of people" until a short time ago and very likely should say that "it is more difficult than I think I realized". My guess is that every single incoming first-term president could say that about a lot of things. The question is are they big enough to admit it? Or would that be viewed as a confidence-in-the-president killer? Certainly, saying it too often would not be good, but still.
Zelda: Twilight Princess is turning out to be a fabulous game as expected. I'm beginning the third dungeon and have something like 18 hours into the game. Great stuff!
A personal time marker: My upper body workouts had gotten long enough that I had all but quit doing them, so I've changed to grabbing a short set of pullups or lever exercises most times I walk past the pullup bar. This is getting me probably half a dozen sets a day. When I feel a little sore, I back off for a day. I don't know how this will go in the long term, but it seems good for now.
Sunday, January 04, 2009
Chess has always fascinated me, not enough to make me a very good player, mind you, but the elegance and sophistication of the game itself combined with the artistic rendering of the pieces I much admire. (For that matter, I hold a similar affection for a standard pack of 52 playing cards, but that's another blog entry.)
House of Staunton's web site shows some extraordinary pieces and boards, spanning a range from $13,000 down to under $50 and they all look lovely. They include some beautiful pre-Staunton designs (an example here) and as well as themed sets, and perhaps most interesting, they make the two additional Seirawan pieces, with when added to a regular set, form a Seirawan chess set.
Seirawan chess, much like Fischerandom chess, is an attempt to remove opening memorization as a major element of success and return the game to one of skill and reason. I'm not good enough to have actually experienced a need for that, but I know enough to understand how, at a high enough level, the need would arise. I like the idea of new twist on an old game that maintains—and maybe even restores—the spirit of the game.
Moving from a game of logic to the spiritual realm . . .
Fr. Anthony de Mello has some wonderful thoughts about awareness and love, blending Buddhist and Christian ideas and likely others I'm not aware of. My affection for Buddhist spirituality is quite connected to its empiricism, that is, they don't ask that you believe anything, only that you try their way and see for yourself. I did and I did. As well, I find that Buddhism enlightens my understanding of Christ's teaching wonderfully. For this reason alone, de Mello's work is well worth a look.
House of Staunton's web site shows some extraordinary pieces and boards, spanning a range from $13,000 down to under $50 and they all look lovely. They include some beautiful pre-Staunton designs (an example here) and as well as themed sets, and perhaps most interesting, they make the two additional Seirawan pieces, with when added to a regular set, form a Seirawan chess set.
Seirawan chess, much like Fischerandom chess, is an attempt to remove opening memorization as a major element of success and return the game to one of skill and reason. I'm not good enough to have actually experienced a need for that, but I know enough to understand how, at a high enough level, the need would arise. I like the idea of new twist on an old game that maintains—and maybe even restores—the spirit of the game.
Moving from a game of logic to the spiritual realm . . .
Fr. Anthony de Mello has some wonderful thoughts about awareness and love, blending Buddhist and Christian ideas and likely others I'm not aware of. My affection for Buddhist spirituality is quite connected to its empiricism, that is, they don't ask that you believe anything, only that you try their way and see for yourself. I did and I did. As well, I find that Buddhism enlightens my understanding of Christ's teaching wonderfully. For this reason alone, de Mello's work is well worth a look.
