Friday, March 23, 2012

QWERTY

A   L   O   H   A  !

Click on the photos, Yo
Sand replenishment in Waikiki doesn't stop the surfers (or stand-up paddlers)


" Long lives aren't natural.
 We forget that senior citizens 
are as much an invention 
as toasters 
or penicillin.  "

Doug Coupland












 " No amount of skillful invention
 can replace the essential element 
of imagination.  "

Edward Hopper










An invention has to make sense
 in the world it finishes in, 
not in the world
 it started.  "

Tim O'Reilly



 >< } } ( ° >



  "QWERTY?"
Doesn't ring the bell?

Look down-

It's the first six letters
 in the top alphabet row
 of your keyboard!
[ just below the numbers ]

This so-called
 "Universal" Keyboard
  was invented by C. L. Sholes,
 who developed prototypes 
of the first commercial typewriter
 in a Milwaukee machine shop 
all the way back 
in the 1860's.

  A study of letter-pair frequency
 was conducted by educator
 Amos Densmore,
 [who just happened to be brother 
of James Densmore,
  Sholes' chief financial backer.]

So QWERTY it was!


The intention of the layout
was speed-
based on the frequency 
with which each letter is used-
and preventing problems
in the mechanical action
of those early machines.


The QWERTY keyboard arrangement
 was considered important enough
 to be included on Sholes' patent 
granted in 1878.


Sholes and Densmore
 took their machine to
 arms manufacturer
REMINGTON,
 and the first
 Type-Writer
 was sold to the public
 in 1874.


 The Remington No. 2
 of 1878
 included a major modification
 producing the keyboard
  we know today:


 The familiar upper
 and lower case
 letters!

Enter the shift key.

 Originally, it was called a "shift"
 because the machine physically
"shifted" 


Yes,
other keyboard layouts 
have come
and gone,
but  a U.S. government study
 published in 1953 
 found that keyboard layout
 really didn't matter;

If you are a quick typist,
you will type fast.

Thus QWERTY lives on!


We know
that challenging your brain
by learning new competencies
builds new mental capabilities.


Suddenly,
just over 100 years ago,
many, many of us
learned to "type"
or as we call it today:
"keyboarding."

All that time spent
 in that dextrous activity
may have prepared us
for the detail-work,
partnership
 with personal machines,
and mechanical-interface
that led to the developments
of the 20th Century.

Today we use QWERTY
to create
Bits & Bites
of information.

Lead Type
is consigned to the past,
[and special
limited editions.]


What are we using today
that will be common
-but used a whole new way-
a hundred years from now?
Join us in Comments!



Thanks for hanging out here with us!

                                   Warmly, cloudia