But who ever uses those?
Check-marks? Really? I don't think I've ever typed one until comment 1 there.
One thing I've recently noticed is that older/successful people don't give a crap what autocorrect does to their iPad and iPhone emails, so they send emails that read like they were written by illiterate third graders.
"sif.u that wall b Okay. Seoul tod ay,.
=bos"
Also, my good friend who is an otherwise extremely competent professor, only types with one hand. It cracks me up.
I type one handed, due to disability shit: my left hand is good for shift and ctrl, but that's about it. Point is, it does slow me down, but less than you'd think.
I type with two fingers as well. But know how to use the shift key, and watch the stupid autocorrect. Not all of us oldsters are dopes helpless in the face of simple technology.
I need to remember the next time I choose a password so that it can be typed with one hand. Useful.
option-v on a mac.
ALT+0252 in Windows.
In MSOffice you can set the keystrokes for Symbols to whatever you want.
I think my dad types with two fingers. Maybe 4. And he has spent most of his life attached to a computer.
Point is, it does slow me down, but less than you'd think.
She is much faster than I would have expected! But I think she adopted the habit so that she could drink coffee, or something.
5 is, however, what? You are kidding.
I would understand having to look at the keyboard when you type. That seems like the type of thing that might be harder to internalize past a certain point. But hunt and peck?! Our very own CC?
But I think she adopted the habit so that she could drink coffee, or something.
Sure, that's what she says.
My typing technique, like my chopsticks technique, is fluid and perfectly fast but totally nonstandard; I never learned the home-row, and I almost never use my pinkies except for hitting shift. I should stop thinking explicitly about this lest I lose the ability to type.
I'm swell at using chopsticks, I just hold them differently from everybody else in the world.
like my chopsticks technique, is fluid and perfectly fast but totally nonstandard
Mrs y, whose chopstick technique is likewise, being self taught, was told by a Chinese guy that she used chopsticks like a Korean. I think this was intended to be insulting.
9: "I know you can reprogram your useless keys to be whatever symbol you want, but I'm just not that kind of gal."
I bet Chris Y holds his chopsticks with one hand.
I wouldn't say 'hunt and peck' really -- I'm pretty fast and have a fair intuitive knowledge of where the keys are (although I absolutely watch, all the time). Just no idea what to do with all those other fingers. Going to college before the era of the PC is a big factor here, I think, and then not having a job with a keyboard on my desk until I was older than 30 you are now.
3 gets it exactly right. Maybe it's a Sifu U. thing.
I only use my left shift key (with my left hand). I've been told I'm supposed to use whichever shift key is for the oppsite hand of the letter I'm trying to capitalize (with the corresponding opposite hand), but I only use the left one.
Apparently Koreans eat rice with a spoon, not chopsticks. I discovered this a few days ago when the old woman serving dinner decided to show me this by surprise-forcefeeding me spoonfuls of rice.
I type with chopsticks. And catch flies in the air too.
My Korean manservant does all my typing for me.
One aspect of my basically self-taught typing is that the same fingers don't always hit the same letters; the middle of the top row especially are up for grabs depending on word context.
Also, I only press the spacebar with my right thumb. I think you're supposed to press it with the thumb of whichever hand didn't just type the previous character, but I only use my right one.
15 is basically me. I can touchtype, ish, using the proper technique but it's slow. If I do it using my random technique, which is basically all fingers on left hand but more two/three fingers and thumb on the right (I more or less never use the right pinky) with the fingers not quite hitting the textbook correct keys, I type really fast.
||
You know what would be neat? "Zamboni Hot Dogs" -- hot dogs shaped like a hockey stick, with a 120 degree (or so) bend about 4/5 of the way down the length. Obviously, they would stick up out of a regular bun, so you could either sell special buns, or just have the sticking up part be part of the fun of eating them. Wouldn't that be neat? I think kids would really like something like that, especially in towns where hockey is a big deal.
||>
I touch type alright, but not as fast as I would prefer. Shoulda taken another trimester of typing class in HS. I'm trying to memorize all the special vowel codes for Spanish, since they come up fairly often for me nowadays. And I've had the em-dash code memorized for a long time from newspaper editing. Stupid little netbook I'm on now doesn't have a 10 key though, so that's just when I'm at work.
Sifu is my brother in nonstandard but fluent typing. (I can't use chopsticks for shit, though.)
I never hit the space bar with any finger but my left thumb, and I only use my right pinky for ' and the return keys (but to type a ", I use my middle finger and ring finger). I'm sure I could discover more oddities but thinking about what my fingers are doing as I type interferes with the typing, obvi.
Huh, I guess I'm more closely related to ttaM than I am to Sifu.
I'd guess slightly non-standard but fast typing is common in people who do a lot of writing/coding. I can type fast enough to work as a secretary [and I've done some temping in the past] but the technique would horrify a proper touch-typist.
I also only use the left shift. The number/symbol row used to be up for grabs, but I think I've settled down.
ttaM pretty much describes me as well, actually. I only use my left thumb for space, as far as I can tell. I do use my right pinky for shift occasionally, I think (hasn't happened while I've been paying attention just now, but I think it happens sometimes).
I bet nonstandard typing styles are far more common than the standard style, which may not even exist.
I know one of the proposals for identifying students in online testing situations is to keep track of their typing style. The theory is that typing style is unique enough to count as ID.
Okay, so who holds the top chopstick with their middle and ring fingers and the bottom chopstick with their thumb, index and pinky fingers?
I found the incredulity and implied judgment in 13 to be a bit something.
I think I use both thumbs for space, but favor using the right one in 95% of cases. Also, I think I use the left pinky for shift way more often than the right pinkie, regardless of the letter being capitalized. Maybe exclusively.
My chopstick technique has been complemented by actual Chinese people in the PRC.
Completely non-standard here. Increasingly do not look at the keys (only taken 40+ years). Was mocked on this by my children.
My chopstick technique has been complemented by actual Chinese people in the PRC.
How do you keep them from slipping out of your hand when you're already holding two chopsticks?
They sit on my lap and I rest my forearm on their shoulders.
Now I'm going to have to try the technique in 40. I expect I will end up stabbing myself in the face while I drop food in my lap.
I've tried a technique that involves wedging the lower chopstick between the pinky and ring finger and using a standard pencil grip for the top one. It isn't as good as the standard technique. Also not as good: One stick in each hand.
I just opened a pair of chopsticks and gave 40 a try, and I think it's physically impossible, unless your fingers bend in ways that mine can only imagine. It would probably work quite well if you pierced a hole in the middle of your palm, through which you could insert the back end of the bottom chopstick, but that seems like an fairly extreme measure to take just to be able to use this nonstandard chopstick technique.
I'm a fairly slow but ten finger typist (like, maybe 40 wpm?). Only really a touch-typist for letters: once I get into numbers or symbols, I'm looking at the keyboard.
An illustration of the technique in 40.
51.last: This.
15: I should stop thinking explicitly about this lest I lose the ability to type.
And this. I just tried to write out the keyboard on a piece of paper, and the only way I could get close--or even get started (beyond QWERTY)--was to mimic typing "quick brown fox etc.".
Also, my good friend who is an otherwise extremely competent professor, only types with one hand.
Somebody should compose great literature for him to type that only requires the one hand, like Ravel and everyone for Paul Wittgenstein.
25: Koreans catch flies in the air with a spoon. It's very tricky. You have to either be extremely gentle or extremely forceful or the fly gets away.
40 seems whacked; I agree with urple. Where does the back of the bottom chopstick go? Are they parallel at all?
I just tried to write out the keyboard on a piece of paper, and the only way I could get close--or even get started (beyond QWERTY)--was to mimic typing "quick brown fox etc.".
I'm a touch typist, but it's definitely one-way knowlege.
61: In Soviet Russia, keyloggerboard knows you.
59 -- My typing style doesn't make the top 100 things about which I can be mocked to embarrassment.
(Judging from the earlier version of this comment, it's way outranked by ending a sentence with a preposition.)
40: No, but the way I hold my pencil (in my right hand, on account of being right handed) causes everyone who ever watches me write to say "you hold your pen/cil like a left-handed person."
I always have this hilarious semi-conscious hope that when I'm at a Chinese restaurant the Actual Asian People will be all "damn, check out his technique." This would be especially stupid if it weren't for the more general fact that I occasionally daydream that I will be congratulated or perhaps carried through the streets on people's shoulders for accomplishing all manner of things people do every day. A very funny friend of mine said he has the same thing only he expects a freeze-frame high five like at the end of an episode of Silver Spoons.
In a similar vein, I sing that song "My body tells me no-ooo. But I won't quit, because I'm [X]!" to myself, where X= whatever I think I deserve compliments for, like that I'm cleaning my desk, or grading papers.
This is sort of related to being excited about buying groceries like a motherfucking adult!
A proud moment for me was when a fast food server remarked, "Well-ordered!" after I rattled off the idiosyncracies for me and my three kids (probably aged 2, 4 & 6). And I must say, I did nail it with flawless rhythm and panache.
No Dvorak users? If they actually exist in the wild one place I would expect to find them is ATM.
My kids use the American chopstick method- hold one chopstick in one fist and stab the food, then bring it to your mouth.
My dad drives with two feet on an automatic- one for gas, one for brake. I don't know how he would drive a manual- I've never seen him do it so maybe he can't.
I don't use a Dvorak keyboard but I do use keyboards with blank keycaps, which is at least part of the way to Dvorak-ness on the "dorky typing" continuum, I assume.
the standard style, which may not even exist
My typing remains pretty much the old-school standard style I was taught in HS, on a typewriter (last class not to use computers), by the same woman who taught my parents' HS typing classes. When I'm on a roll, I type well upwards of 90 wpm. I was typing at work the other day on one of those extremely clackity keyboards, and someone came by and said that it sounded like I was just mashing all the keys at once.
Further to 39, are there personality evaluators based on your typing style, similar to how there are evaluators based on your writing? Is one of the outputs "you are three years old"?
And what happened to HAAH? That depression post has been on the front page a disconcertingly long time.
Hey, has anyone ever replaced the brake cable on an old Shimano brake lever? I can't figure out how to undo the plastic cover that guards the stay for the cable. It seems like it should unsnap, or the stay should have a slot for removing the cable. But no. I guess I need a replacement lever, but sonce newer levers are different, I have come up dry at two shops so far.
Also, I am trying this repair wearing vintage Soviet three-finger shooting mittens.
5 and 10 describe my typing style. Luckily (?) I'm a slow thinker, so when I compose at a keyboard my typing does not slow me up. I've never ever thought of typing a check mark.
What's wrong with an X standing in for a check mark?
Huh, I just took an online typing test here and came out a bit higher than I expected (but with three mistakes, which doesn't surprise me, as I was looking at the text to copy, not the text I was typing).
I know we've done this here before, but that's okay. I like it.
With the technique in 40, are you still holding the bottom chopstick fixed and using the top one to clamp down on the food, or has the top chopstick become the fixed one? (Or is nothing fixed at all?!)
If the bottom stick is still fixed, I don't see why you need to bring the thumb in there to hold it in place. It seems like a waste of a fairly dexterous digit.
(Or is nothing fixed at all?!)
Mostly the top one moves. It doesn't seem like the pinky is strictly necessary (although it makes things a little more stable), but how could I not use the thumb?
The way I was taught, you hold the top one in the index finger, middle finger, and thumb, like you were holding a pencil, which gives you maximum control. The bottom one rests in the crook of the thumb and on the ring finger.
I am terrible with chopsticks, though, so it could be I am doing it all wrong.
81: see the picture in 52. I do something totally different. Something, arguably (undeniably), entirely incorrect, but it works well enough for me.
81 is what I do. I don't know how elegant my technique is, but it works fine for shoveling food into my face.
78: I was going to do two (one forced pure touch and the other my completely bastardized method), but the freaking second one was an excerpt Paradise freaking Lost--non-standard spelling and capitalization for the typing test loss.
Anyway, I have important time-critical work to be done in the next 30 minutes. Do I actually need to Leechblock myself? At long last, have I left no sense of reponsibility?
73: Pittsburgh screwdriver - Position cold chisel. Hit with work boot.
Huh, 90wpm on Sifu's typing test. I would not have expected that.
79: Jeez, I think in hs I was at 100 wpm but now I'm down to 73 wpm. But only one mistake so maybe my accuracy has improved over the years.
Anyone know if when vi was designed the escape key was somewhere else by default?
It's weird that the one the keybinding that you have to use constantly in editing would be the one you have to travel farthest with the least dexterous finger to hit.
[wikipedia. . .ing]
And the answer is that it's where tab is today.
I want to learn to use a chorded keyboard, because that would make me a true typing badass.
64 wpm. I said I was a touch typist, not a fast one. In my defense, I seem to be having a bad typing day, and that was with a lot of backtracking to fix mistakes (and I still missed three).
vi was designed? I always assumed it emerged by trial and error over a drunken weekend.
I made that joke, then I launched ed in my term, then I had to look at the manpage to figure out how to quit ed. I, dumbass.
I just use ed.
The fact that people actually wrote large, complicated systems using line-oriented editors blows my mind almost as much as the fact that people actually wrote large, complicated books by hand.
I had to look at the manpage to figure out how to quit ed
Let's look at a typical novice's session with the mighty ed:
golem$ ed
?
help
?
?
?
quit
?
exit
?
bye
?
hello?
?
eat flaming death
?
^C
?
^C
?
^D
?
---
Note the consistent user interface and error reportage. Ed is generous enough to flag errors, yet prudent enough not to overwhelm the novice with verbosity.
Hmm, I thought I was decently fast but I was at 69 wpm. Accurate, though. I think this should be a new Crossfit event -- TYPING WOD (amrap words in 5 minutes -- go!).
85 wpm, no mistakes.
I just had to prove to myself that I could actually create a text file in ed. Thank god that didn't take too long.
Don't lawyers have to type a lot?
Smearcase wins! So far. He wins... something.
There was a point in my since abandoned 'cello career when I realized my fingers were just too damned slow, and no amount of practice would change that.
Yes, I type all day. But I bill by the hour, so typing faster would be a big disadvantage.
102: Fast typists have fewer billable hours.
Ctrl-C Ctrl-V = 4845 words per minute. 110 mistakes, though, it inserted commas after every word I think to stop cheaters like me.
88 wpm, no mistakes. By which I mean about eight mistakes, all backspaced and fixed.
He wins... something.
An inability to do things that don't involve typing, retroactive to age 18ish.
108 is cracking my shit up.
Last monday someone complimented me for typing fast and I was like "I don't type fast." The test confirms what I said: 57 wpm with 4 mistakes. I don't type fast.
WTF, I tried it again and only got to 70 WPM. How is Smearcase so goddamn speedy? What is the technique?
I am actually ashamed of my typing speed. I'm the slowest person on the blog. (I think I may be faster if I'm composing rather than copying.)
The technique is having taken typing in 10th grade and then obsessively emailing and blogging and IMing and everything-elsing for 20+ years. I have to concentrate to get 100, FWIW.
Maybe there really is something in lawyering that slows down typing speed? Or are we a non-representative sample of procrastinating lawyers? Carp does hunt and peck so he's off the scale slow.
But I think she adopted the habit so that she could drink coffee, or something.
Sure, that's what she says.
And you think it's really so she can snort cocaine off her creepily long pinkie fingernail?
42 wpm. Did you beat that, LB? But, no errors! Of course that just means I spent about half my time correcting my errors.
Also I'm legendarily bad at using chopsticks. I wonder if the waiters at a certain restaurant in Hong Kong still think of me and laugh from time to time.
Tried again, 70 with 2 mistakes. Lots of Random capitalized Words slows me down a lot.
I want to learn to use a chorded keyboard, because that would make me a true typing badass.
That thing is weird.
Jammies uses one of those split keyboards, each half sloping downward from a high point in the middle. I think it's impossible to type on.
83 and 3 mistakes on a third text (two were missing commas). So it's totally the random capitals that slowed me down.
That test sucks! The first time, they gave me some passage from a play that was full of random capital letters and words I'd never seen before, and things like "to-morrow" and "no-body" and I got like 25 wpm. The second time I got around 70 wpm.
I used to type 90 or so words a minute, having taken proper typing (or keyboarding, as they now call it) in high school. I've gotten lazy with my technique, though, and I do things like move my hands rather than my fingers too much. (The sort of thing that might be part of Smearcase's secret.)
When I took typing, there was a formula for counting your mistakes against your speed, though I don't remember what it was. 70 wpm is more than 1 wpm than 69 wpm, if you see what I mean.
124: That's the anti-American bias. The text is English English, so you should add 10-15 wpm depending on how many dropp'd letters were replac'd with apostrophes.
Interesting, I tried a totally different site that's random words mostly uncapitalized and with no punctuation, and am getting roughly the same speed. So random capitals are bad, but real paragraphs cancels out having punctuation and weird long words.
the standard style, which may not even exist.
Are you trying to give Mavis Beacon a heart attack?
103 with 2 mistakes after 88 with 0 mistakes. The variance seems fairly high.
I got 88 with no mistakes, 86 with no mistakes, 83 with no mistakes, and 82 with no mistakes. Better stop now.
Tried again, 50 wpm, 2 mistakes.
To LB's point, I'm definitely faster composing (which is what I do) than transcribing (which I almost never do). Honestly, I probably type faster than I can intelligently compose; I don't even feel like my typing is usually holding back my work speed.
Does anybody really ever transcribe anymore? That seems so retro.
95 wpm, no mistakes. I'm pretty consistently in the 90-100 range on any test like that I ever take. A couple of years ago my mom had to take a test for a job that required her to type 50 wpm and she stressed and practiced for weeks and barely squeaked through. That really surprised me, since she does the proper touch-typing thing and my typing is all idiosyncratic and weird. But then, I do type pretty much constantly for one reason or another.
Isn't that what this is called? Looking at one block of text and retyping it?
Medical transcriptionists work from home and never have to wear clothes if they don't want to. People still want a hard copy record.
134: yes. I just don't think it's something that anybody does much at all outside of typing tests these days.
136: You're wrong about that, actually. In my office, there's plenty of re-typing of documents for which no one can find the original file or the original is on a disk or in a format that's either no longer convertible or not worth the trouble when we've got secretaries who type 100+ wpm. I don't think we're super unusual.
40 wpm 1 mistake.
That's faster than composition speed, which is what I really do.
Laptop shopping bleg: What review sites should I look at? I generally use CNet and PCMag for tech stuff. (Macs are off the table.) Any others you mostly trust?
138: huh. I can't decide if that's sort of wack or not.
(Macs are off the table.)
I thought the phrase was "off the hook"?
138: You don't have a scanner? I'd think OCR and editing for formatting would be faster than retyping for all but ninja typists.
140: Meta-review site The Wirecutter, although you may not like his ultimate advice.
Sometimes I take the official notes at our public meetings, which means typing up everything I hear. That'd be transcribing, right?
Macs are off the table
I thought that was common to all laptops.
143: Nah, usually the secretaries would rather retype than scan and pick through for errors.
145: yeah, I guess so. I think what I meant was "typing an exact copy of another document", and specifically "typing an exact copy of another documnt when time is a factor".
144: Doesn't matter how perfect a Macbook Air is; I need to go back and forth with my work computer.
149: There's a page of budget PC laptop recommendations and a particular model of high-end ThinkPad on the power user page. It's not a very comprehensive review site; the idea is to quickly answer "what would you recommend, Mr. Review Site Reading Guy?"
I can't decide if that's sort of wack or not.
What's wack about it?
I go back and forth between a Dell at work and a Mac at home without any problem, but I pretty much am only using Office and Acrobat.
150: I have zero interest in learning a new operating system.
rememberpersonalinfo rememberpersonalinfo rememberpersonalinfo rememberpersonalinfo rememberpersonalinfo rememberpersonalinfo
Macbooks can run windows natively (which is to say, just like a windows laptop) if you want them to, Kraab.
Being able to forget some would actually be very nice. In fiction, a desire to forget motivates some drinkers. Though none of the heavy drinkers I have known seem to be tuned in to that channel.
Oh, I guess that's what essear said. But with so much jargon!
152: I can't decide if anything is.
155: Yes, and the fancy programmable thermostat isn't particularly intuitive.
Why do you all want me to buy a Mac if I'm going to be running Windows anyway? WHY ARE YOU PRESSURING ME?!!?
163: well, because they're the best made, most economical laptops for what you get, basically, even if you reject the operating system outright. See the thing about the macbook air on wirecutter; nobody can effectively compete with Apple on price in that category.
163: If a Mac was good enough for our lord and savior Jesus Christ, it's good enough for the likes of you, missy.
That's funny, because I got an iPad to replace my stolen laptop and find that I actively dislike the way it bosses me around. I'm sure Windows bosses me around, but I've been trained not to notice it.
Oh, fine. I'll consider it. Do you get a kickback for recruiting another member of the cult?
An iPad is very different from a Macbook.
168 to 166.
167: I would be a very rich man if that were so.
166: Apple bosses you more than Windows. Windows just behaves absurdly from time to time and makes it needlessly difficult to perform some tasks, but Apple clearly has ideas about the One True Path.
If this is the Apple thread, can I ask a question about my I Pad -- what is it for? I got it out of a sense that I should, but I have to say it is kinda not that useful. I can't do work on it except for email; it's pretty good for Unfogged commenting in bed. Otherwise that's about it; if I want to watch movies I'll use my bigass TV; I can play music through the stereo and laptop, etc.
My IPhone, which I bough with some skepticism, was a life-changing revelation, but the IPad has not been like that at all. What am I missing?
170: oh. Well, that's true. If you want eight different stupid ways of doing the same thing, Windows is definitely a better option.
170: Is it bossy when you're running Windows on a Mac? Or is it just like being on a PC but cooler?
I use my iPad for: (1) taking notes in meetings when I don't need to take many notes. (2) reading academic pdfs. (2a) following along with the reading in class. (3) following along with the slides in class. (4) reading ebooks in the dark. (5) watching movies and crap on planes. (6) web browsing in meetings when I'm bored. (7) web browsing when I'm not at a desk. (8) games. (9) midi stuff. Some of those things more occasionally than others (I don't really have the midi apps set up the way I want them, for one.) I would like to also use it for: (10) giving presentations, but I have as yet procured no dongle for this.
Oh, also important: (11) bringing with me when I'm going somewhere and want more internet than my phone but less than my laptop, which is pretty much any trip where I won't be doing (much) work.
(11) and (2) are probably the killer apps for me.
173: when you're running Windows on a Macbook you're just running Windows. The only mac part is the hardware.
Oh good, a laptop-buying thread. My MacBook is dying. They stopped making the glossy white MacBook! So I'm thinking...I'ma buy a Dell. I know this is supposed to be sacrilege or something, but I got so tired of not having MS Word and Excel and Outlook and everything on my computer. And yes, I could install Windows on a Mac, but I could also get a Dell for less than half the price. I'm sure you'll all explain to me why I'm totally wrong.
171: For us it's a combination of TV in bed and internet for quick reference in the living room. And the kids watch video stuff on it in a more social way that on a computer -- the two of them will be passing it back and forth and talking about stuff.
I agree that it's less of an awesome toy than my iPhone, which I have an unhealthy relationship with.
140: The Verge is a new site with pretty good technology review. They reviewed Windows on a MacBook Air, which was novel.
I was getting a laptop, I'd go for an "ultrabook", like this Toshiba.
176: Why don't you just run Word and Excel and Outlook on your Mac? They exist. I'm looking at my calendar in Outlook on a MacBook right now. Is that you have access to free Windows versions of those?
180:
The Mac version of Word looks different. I know this sounds stupid, but it bothers me. Also, non-Mac laptops are so much cheaper! Everyone tells me that Macs are "better" computers, but I don't get it. My Mac is fine, but so is the Toshiba that my work gave me, and a new Toshiba would be way cheaper than a new Mac.
I suspect that my needs are simple enough that I don't utilize the full value of my Mac. In which case, it makes sense for me to get a cheaper, non-Mac computer.
I guess it is pretty useful to look up recipes on the Ipad but I'm always worried about getting meat grease on it.
I know this sounds stupid, but it bothers me.
Not stupid at all. We're switching over to Windows 7 at work and I'm trying to keep myself on the bottom of the list because I dread change.
Yeah, the iPad is neat and fun. The iPhone is a life changing device.
a new Toshiba would be way cheaper than a new Mac
Is that really true? The Toshiba that Spike linked is only $99 cheaper than the base Macbook Air, and even per that review isn't as good in a lot of ways.
181: It's not so much that Macs are more expensive when you're doing apples-to-apples (har har) comparisons, but Apple doesn't make cheap computers. Apple is generally relatively price competitive at the mid-range and up, but if you just want a burner, you should stay away from Macs (the Wirecutter guy recommends some HP Pavilion model).
171 can I ask a question about my I Pad -- what is it for? I got it out of a sense that I should
Hee. Ever since it came out I've been saying that I can't really imagine what I would use it for; I have my laptop with me almost all the time and my phone at other times, and it's not clear that I need an intermediate device.
But now it seems like everyone I know has one (even my parents, who have been way behind the cell phone curve, got Kindle Fires), so I've been starting to also have this "sense that I should". Maybe I would find them much easier to read PDFs on or something. Though I've been reading PDFs on Macbook screens for years without ever feeling like it was suboptimal in any significant way.
185. What I mean is that a Toshiba that fulfills my needs is cheaper than a Mac that does the same, because I only need a very basic model, and the most basic Mac model is a thousand dollars.
What snarkout says makes sense to me -- my needs are just too simple to warrant getting a fancy computer, and Apple really only makes fancy(-ish) computers.
Maybe I would find them much easier to read PDFs on or something. Though I've been reading PDFs on Macbook screens for years without ever feeling like it was suboptimal in any significant way.
I really love reading PDFs on it. The form factor just makes much more sense. When I read papers onscreen -- even on a big monitor -- it just isn't as satisfying, and I find it harder to be attentive.
As I've mentioned before, the main thing I can see myself using a tablet for is reading academic PDFs, so I'm interested to hear that Sifu likes his for that.
can I ask a question about my I Pad -- what is it for? I got it out of a sense that I should
Hee. I spent a weekend talking through this question with my sister and BiL, who have them, and the conclusion was, get a netbook and upgrade my phone (They have Sammy androids and wouldn't trade them for the world).
Maybe I should just buy one and try it out. I probably wouldn't have to spend my own money on it.
Though someone at the conference I was at last week was telling us that we should prefer to get some kind of Wacom-tablet-running-Linux thing so we can use the fancy notetaking app he wrote in Haskell. The level of enthusiastic dorkiness was pretty endearing.
Two of my cow-orkers have government-issue iPads (in addition to their government laptops). They seem to use them mainly to take notes in meetings.
Wait, so can I ask a moron question about my computer? So, all my photos and music are on iPhoto and iTunes on my MacBook. Let's say I were to get an HP laptop -- would I be able to transfer all my files over and would they work the same?
195: yes on one. Sorta in the case of music, not really in the case of photos on two.
I probably wouldn't have to spend my own money on it.
Oh, well then, sure. Get a Lexus as well while you're about it.
195: You could definitely copy the files over, but if you wanted to browse and organize them in the same way it might take some time to import them into the right programs.
196. Wait, is question one the question about whether I can ask a moron question, or the first half of the second question?
I don't see how I could justify a Lexus as useful for research. But maybe we can all ask Megan's parents to buy us things like that.
I would happily accept an air conditioner as part of the package.
199: the latter. The answer to the former suffuses the archives.
One advantage of iPads: when you give a talk at a conference, it's a little depressing to look around the room and see that everyone is staring at their laptop screens instead of paying attention. If they're using iPads, it looks more like traditional note-taking and you can pretend they're interested instead of playing Angry Birds or whatever.
Wait, what is the functionality point where you need a fancier laptop? I definitely do more than email and Word and web browsing, but not more than email, word, photos, music, remote access to work computer, occasional Hulu. Can I roll with a $500 HP?
203: Every five minutes or so you should just stop talking and play Angry Birds yourself. See if anyone notices.
The iPad is a very good game platform. It's perfect for plants vs zombies and angry birds, and is also very good for board games (carcasonne, scrabble, etc.)
My current setup for class is immensely dorky but really satisfying: I bring the iPad with the slides and assigned reading on it, and then I bring my usb pen and notebook. So I take physical notes, I'm not looking at a screen the whole time, and essentially all I have in front of me is my notes and the reading/slides, but it's all searchable and digital later (and I have an audio recording of the class!) and if I really need to google something or look at papers other than those assigned I can do that quickly and easily. It's dreeeaaamy.
You would have to make a good case that it contributes substantially to your school or work. And that you were one of their children.
The iPad is also the best remote available for the AppleTV.
The reason for a nice laptop is the same as for a nice car. If you can afford why wouldn't you put a little extra money into a more pleasant experience with the main piece of machinery that you interact with every day? It won't do more, but it'll do it more pleasantly.
With laptops the issues are size, weight, battery life, screen quality, not having moving parts, and just general feel of being well-made.
And that you were one of their children.
Guess you should go ahead and propose to Megan, essear.
The reason for a nice laptop is the same as for a nice car.
Hott chicks? A sense of overpowering awesomeness?
It might not be worth giving up air conditioning, essear. But the house'll be heated next winter!
OT update: She has started leaving clothes here.
As an aside, I don't know what sort of magical battery technology they put in the iPad, but it plays a ridiculous amount of HD video before getting low.
Guess you should go ahead and propose to Megan, essear.
Better do it quick before that other guy beats you to it.
That other guy is ambivalent about air con, which is a good head start.
215: isn't she cold on the way home?
213: yes and yes.
215: Or clothes belonging to unnamed third parties?
(Um, semiseriously? You're making a remarkably quick transition from wafting through the blog in a cloud of hearts and flowers to making what sound like cracks about her moving into your space uncomfortably fast for you. I may be misreading, but maybe you actually want to slow things down? Or possibly you remain delighted by the whole thing and are still bragging, in which case more power to you.)
(For the record, my parents would never pay for a fancy car for themselves or their kids. That would be frivolous.)
215. Bless you both. We'll keep an eye on TFA and demand a good party at 25 years.
Dammit, started a comment with "Um". Ned's making me selfconscious.
She has started leaving clothes here.
Flippanter lives under the loading dock at Goodwill.
Oh, he's bragging. He just doesn't want to seem too into the idea of having a giiiiiiiirlfriiiiieeeend lest he get noogies.
My typing style is similar to those described above - no-technique no-look, though I did a fair amount of Mavis Beacon as a kid. But why tell when I can show?
112 with 2 mistakes and, on a second test, 108 with 0 mistakes. But that's the top of my range; it's more like 60-80 on texts with more jargon, numbers, and acronyms.
223: No, I am sincerely delighted and revoltingly happy, but still find some of the practicalities of togetherness to require amusing departures from what a politic observer might call a history of lazy, self-indulgent turpitude.
For the record, my parents would never pay for a fancy car for themselves or their kids. That would be frivolous.
And AC wouldn't? Amazing priorities. My parents would be, "too hot? Sit in your underwear; too cold? Put another sweater on."
I thought that was spelled with a k. (and that it was kind of the goal of the whole thing.)
Way to stomp on the punchline, LB.
228: Girls have cooties. Self-evidently, noogies are the only remedy.
It would be so great if this was all a delusional fantasy worked up by Flippanter over his RealDoll (tm).
chris y, I'm not asking for AC. Even the heat is part of a package of energy efficiency improvements, which would pay themselves back eventually, and certainly on the re-sale of the house. (And, they're leveraged by getting matched by our local utility, but that's a small part of the story.) And, they improve the capital stock in the family collective. I'm not making the case on those grounds, but they do fall in the general family practice of making shit better in lasting ways. Which is probably how 8 adults collected moderate (moderate!) wealth over seventy years.
I thought that was a different thread.
230: Oh, good. I think back in my dating days I was perhaps overly paranoid about being seen to intrude on a partner's space beyond the terms of my invitation -- Buck got a terrible case of bronchitis when I'd been dating him a couple of months, and I still feel guilty in retrospect about not moving in for the week to take care, because I didn't want to presume. Instead, I spent the week harassing his upstairs neighbor (a mutual friend) by phone to check up on him.
Any comments along the lines of having to take the vintage jeans out of the fridge would have had me moving to a different state, and figuring that if the guy was interested in continuing the relationship, he'd hire private detectives to track me down.
There's a reason I didn't date much.
It should be a different thread. Sorry, y'all.
Let's get this back on track. My new iPad is a fine portal for the internet, but I'm not so in love with Apple anyway and I don't find it all that intuitive. Mostly, I just surrender to it because I don't see (or know) the ways to make it obey me, and it isn't all that fun.
It's like a mortified variant of the humblebrag.
244.2: huh. Can you give a specific example? I realize maybe no, but I'm having trouble conceptualizing the problem.
243: I think I might bridle a bit if I liked her less, but she's so lovely, sweet and smart there's no chance of that.
245: it is definitely in the humblebrag family.
Flip's happily coupled and I'm contemplating buying something from Apple. It's a world gone mad, I tell you!
Sure. If I have a YouTube video playing in a tab, it'll automatically shut itself off if I switch to another tab. (With a smooove fade-out.) Because it is smarter than I am, and I obviously don't want to hear the rest of the song if I click back to what I was reading.
Maybe there's a fix, but why do I have to fix that? Why is it the boss of me? Shit like that seems to come along daily, and it isn't the way I'm used to using the internet.
I think the humble brag peaked when I mentioned her cleaning my kitchen sink.
Aaand, I'm out for the afternoon. Sorry to ditch a conversation after starting shit.
244. Thanks for that. I wasn't going to buy one because I don't buy Apple stuff on principle; if Sis had said I needed a tablet I'd have got a Galaxy or a Xoom. But if somebody I trust says they're not all that fun, that's good. I'll get the netbook and the phone.
Really leaving now, but I also don't like how it flips into aps when I'd rather be working in a browser. Sometimes the browser has better controls, or at least ones I'm used to. I would totally believe that this is a function of my inexperience with Apple. But as the inexperienced person, fuck that shit. It is annoying.
250: ah, I see. I don't really use YouTube that way so it's never come up for me.
The sort of enforced one-at-a-timeness of it is something I like a lot, actually; it helps me focus on what I am specifically looking at.
But if somebody I trust says they're not all that fun, that's good. I'll get the netbook and the phone.
Six months ago I had the thought that I would like to get a tablet so that I could sit on the couch and watch NBA games -- I don't have a TV and the only thing that I miss it for is the NBA. It still seems like a reasonable idea, I still haven't done it, but I did at least get League pass this season so I've been watching (some) games on my computer.
Maybe next season.
I see that we're talking about laptops now. I haven't read any of the comments yet, but holy shit do I love my new Macbook Air. It makes me even more frustrated at how much I just waste time online, because now I feel like I'm profaning what should be a sacred experience of communing with this gorgeous device.
191: it is awesome for that.
My typing skillz indicate that I shoulda been a lawyer.
132: Does anybody really ever transcribe anymore?
I sometimes transcribe material (relatively small amounts from things like Google books, Amazon look inside or .pdfs set to not allow cut & paste). Thread prompted me to do the obvious and look for an easy image file OCR, and sure enough if you have Office there is Microsoft Office Document Imaging in which you can paste an image (only files it takes are TIFFs), OCR it and export text to Word. Of course there are others, but that was fairly simple path with a broadly available tool.
Also: having to take the vintage jeans out of the fridge
Was this a joke, LB? Or is there a reason someone would put vintage jeans in a refrigerator? ... oh, nevermind, I googled it. But I'm going to post this anyway.
Oh, I'll actually add something (I think is) helpful: first, I completely agree with UFPETGI that
With laptops the issues are size, weight, battery life, screen quality, not having moving parts, and just general feel of being well-made.
So I recommend avoiding the cheap ones that feel cheap. That said, if you feel like you don't really need anything fancy, and hence can't justify spending $1000-1300, one strategy is to go for used but high-quality, or refurbished, laptops. The X series of Thinkpads are a good choice--the times I've been to the local hackerspace, everyone was either using a Macbook or a Thinkpad--but if you don't want to pay $900-1300 for an x220, you can probably find a used x200 or x300 or x61 for ~$500.
I think I already left an essentially identical comment in the archives a month ago, but oh well.
Weird basketball fact of the day. In Indiana you only need to pay $10 for the cheapest Heat tickets (which are usually the most expensive games anywhere else) but a whopping $50 for the cheapest Knicks tickets. I'd have thought that since it's been what 15 years since there was a rivalry there they'd be over it, but apparently not. I guess maybe they're hoping to get to boo spike lee?
210: It's also the best remote for AT&T U-verse service.
263 -- Lakers/Celtics are generally the most expensive tickets at Staples, even when the Celtics aren't very good.
But that's an actual rivalry. Lakers tickets are spendy in Boston too. I didn't realize pacers fans still thought the had a rivalry with the Knicks.
More ex-NYers in Indy than ex-Miamians?
I'm a pretty slow typist. I may reach LB's 40 words a minute. I think it's more like 35 wpm. I get very bored doing things like Mavis Beacon and am not sure that I want to learn old-school touch typing from scratch, especially since I've got a split ergonomic keyboard now. Thoughts?
I'm surprised to see so many good things said about the MacBook Air. I had heard that they broke down a lot and went with the low-end MacBook Pro instead.
They can't break, they have no moving parts!
Except the fan if you use flash. There's a reason apple hates flash.
I have to confess that I programmed a few keys on my keyboard to insert matched pairs of brackets, like () and {}, and then move the cursor in between. It's actually pretty useful.
Also, is there some way we can introduce ourselves to Lunchy?
My Windows laptop at work hates Flash too.
272.2: I think it's a little early to introduce her to my Internet friends. I'm hoping to introduce her to one of my oldest (college-vintage) pals and his wife when they're in town later this month; that seems an appropriate start.
Also, you people are perverts and degenerates.* I think I want to keep this one, not scare her off.
* No judgments!
All things and people hate Flash, because it's a horribly inefficient, memory-leaking resource hog. At least they finally abandoned the effort to try and get it to run on mobile devices.
274: the thing to do is keep unfogged absolutely secret. When you go to a meetup or whatever, lie rather than telling her what you're doing. That way she'll never, ever know, and it'll be totally fine.
perverts and degenerates
I have a note from my doctor.
Go one further: bring her to a meetup, but refuse to tell her what's going on, or how you know these people.
This installation of Ubuntu isn't such a fan of youtube. I guess I should get around to installing the stuff it needs for that.
Also, I eventually did end up getting a discounted, "open item" desktop machine a while back when I was considering getting another laptop and I've been pretty happy with it.
I think it's a little early to introduce her to my Internet friends.
Actually you've done that already. What you haven't done is introduce us to her.
||
I apologize in advance for sullying the blog with this, but I am truly puzzled about something.
Amidst Rush Limbaugh's odious comments about the college student who was supposed to testify in Congress on birth control, he made repeated reference to the *amount* of sex she was supposedly having.
What is this about? He obviously must know that the pill is not like condoms -- you don't need MORE of it because you're having more frequent sex. And his listeners must know that too.
So why harp on it?
(Not linking, but you can find the transcript at Coates's place)
||>
So why harp on it?
Because he's slut-shaming.
OK, so it really is that simple. I kept thinking it was kind of undercutting his own "argument," such as it was, to present empirically nonsensical information. I guess I was being overly literal.
God, can I have one of these, please? To go with the 12-core mac pro I asked you for? And maybe a copy of Maya? No, no, I don't really need them. Not need need.
I think there's also an implication that by talking publicly about the pill, she's boasting about having sex. So she must be having lots of slutty nymphopants sex, because she's boasting in front of congress.
If you could get a digital pen for the touchpad and a pdf app that supported markup-by-pen, that would be fantastic. As it is, HP did another update to webOS that makes pdf reading a bit better - mostly because it unbreaks a problem that came with the last update - so it seems like they haven't completely abandoned the platform. I'd been planning to switch to android if it becomes easy to do so, but I don't know if I will. I assume HP is spying on me as much as Google or Apple would.
I think I've said this before, but I like the webOS touchpad interface more than the iPad (which I've used less, admittedly) for basic things like app-switching. But the touchpad apparently does not have the hardware to support motion games, which is too bad. If I had wifi in this apartment, I'd use the tablet a lot. Right now it's mainly serving as an e-reader.
My impression was that Limbaugh was latching onto a theme introduced by other conservative commentators' references to *how much sex* these young ladies were obviously having -- like the nutty post described here.
It's certainly slut-shaming, but the nutty post seems really to think that birth control costs more the more sex you have, because you must be using condoms.
288 to 282.
Also 282: He obviously must know that the pill is not like condoms -- you don't need MORE of it because you're having more frequent sex. And his listeners must know that too.
I'm not completely sure his listeners do know that.
Internally coherent arguments do not matter to Limbaugh's audience. They just like calling people names and feeling aggrieved. Go to his website and read a transcript of one of his shows some time. It's babble.
It's odd, though -- I don't think I've heard (read) any commentary on the Limbaugh hullabaloo that mentions that, you know, you don't necessarily need any more or less birth control if you have more or less sex. Maybe some commentators are pointing this out, and I just haven't seen/heard it.
I think the argument is that all forms of birth control are indistinguishable, and the only reason you'd be using the pill is if it would be cheaper than using condoms. So she must be having enough sex to have hit the "pill is cheaper than condoms" point.
It's a mistake to expect more coherence from rush than from Colbert, they just have different listeners.
292 is clever! It doesn't really work, but still, clever!
People who take the boneheadedly stupid position that oral contraceptives are abortifacients probably bind themselves to the "the more sex, the more pills" conclusion, though I doubt they've all thought that through. I suppose the alternative is that for Republicans/Limbaugh any sex is a whole hell of a lot of sex.
295 -- look who's getting all cocky about getting laid.
So have people been asking if the Viagra Limbaugh took with him for sex tourism in the DR was paid for by his insurance? Because if so, wow, what a grody prostitute he is, eh?
Rush is a noted user of pills where the amount you need *does* scale up with the amount of sex you're having, though, so if you think of him as being stupid rather than merely opportunistic, he might be thinking of that.
296: Damned low-hanging fruit.
Not again! Damn it!
On laptops: If you want to go cheap-and-essentially-disposable, get a Chromebook. All web, all the time. And you'd better like that, because it's nothing but web.
(Also, I get paid to make them work).
298: Oh, man, that would be so great. Please, please let the feds turn over every rock and stone to see what Penn State knew institutionally and when they knew it.
It's too late to save Sandusky's victims, but a through federal investigation with solid indictments and convictions might scare a few other large institutions into not repeating Penn State's sins.
297: So have people been asking if the Viagra Limbaugh took with him for sex tourism in the DR was paid for by his insurance?
They have! But you realize that as long as he was paying a co-pay, it was fine. It's the "free" (no co-pay) stuff that's a problem.
√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√√
I'm at home on my mac now.
∫˜µ∆˙ƒ∂´†¨˚¬¬˚∆©∂√ç≈∂ß©∂ß©∂¥®´∑´´Ωå∂Ω∂ßååß∑œœ∞£™∞£øˆ¨πø¨πºª•"º"πøæ...¬...¬≤÷≤µ˚∫∆∫µ≥≤÷÷˚∆¨©¨˙√©˙ç∂≈ß´ΩΩœŒœ whole worlds are opening up to me now.
The best Mac thing for law students is §. I use Windows half the time and have no idea how to make that symbol easily without my option-6.
Apparently under X it's compose+o+s: §.
It's apparently Alt+0167, but it's probably easier to just copy-and-paste it from Character Map.
306: When I was in grad school, I used the ASCII code for that.
Hrm, let's see. In html it's §
which is & # 167 ;
without the space in between each of the four items in the string. If that makes sense.
||
This Multi-Gym thing is amazing. Highly recommended.
|>
Ha ha, now that I'm home, I re-took the typing test from way upthread: 105 wpm, no mistakes, and it was a text with lots of weird capitals.
I attribute this to the increased clickiness of my home keyboard. Clicks = power.
301: So how is that different from the little Samsung netbook I have now? Does it really have nothing but a web browser?
311: I just did the same, and got 76 wpm, 1 mistake. Not all that different from my earlier result. Maybe I need a clickier keyboard.
Keyboard clickiness is why I don't really love laptops, which seem to have a feeble attack, keys-wise.
My laptop (a Sony Vaio) actually has a pretty clicky keyboard, as laptops go.
Huh. I'm considering moving to a laptop when I ditch this old thing -- I'll make a note of this thread for reference and ideas when the time comes. I can, of course, just plug my keyboard into the laptop all the time, but that might become a drag, so I don't know ...
215
OT update: She has started leaving clothes here
They will do that. Next she will be wanting a key.
251
I think the humble brag peaked when I mentioned her cleaning my kitchen sink.
Speaking of which my gf didn't like the color of the walls in the townhouse I just bought and has been repainting them to her taste.
This place is supposed to have dating threads, not dating itself.
Dating threads? Like from the early '90s*?
*If we're to believe heebie.
This installation of Ubuntu isn't such a fan of youtube. I guess I should get around to installing the stuff it needs for that.
Which are you using, 11.10?
It's weird because Youtube was about the only streaming video that rendered smoothly when I was using Firefox and the default plugins (I am using pretty low-end netbook hardware, though).
In any case, using Chrome and installing some proprietary drivers has helped a bit.
my gf didn't like the color of the walls in the townhouse I just bought and has been repainting them to her taste.
Your gf is repainting your house? This sounds serious. Go James!
I'm curious, actually, why condoms don't seem to be included in the required-coverage birth control means. I looked at the IoM report whose recommendations HHS adopted, and found a chart suggesting condoms were less effective against pregnancy, as used in practice, than the pill, IUDs, etc., but those don't prevent disease.
condoms were less effective
I'll say. It's totes possible to knock someone up while holding a condom between your knees.
why condoms don't seem to be included in the required-coverage birth control
They don't require prescriptions.
I just went through the laptop buying process, my gift for getting a real job, yay!
To answer 140's original question, notebookreview.com "owners lounge" forums is pretty good. I'd advise that once you narrow down which ones you want, take a look there. As with many internet forums, it has got a lot of complainers on it, but that can be good when your making such a big investment. Especially when you are just comparing a few.
Because my search has showed me that each laptop has at least one terrible flaw, and you have to decide which you can live with/don't care about.
Yesterday I received my Samsung 7 Chronos 15, and I'm still running it through its paces, and have to decide if I want to keep it. The trackpad is driving me a little crazy. The weight and keyboard are great.
Feel free to email me if you have any more questions about that computer or what to look for in the current crop, as I just went through the process. Or we could talk about it here, of course.
I was super-good and I didn't look at the internet or any lighted words today until now and my head still hurts worser than ever so I am watching a dumbass show. fuckit. fuck all this shit. I type with six fingers. it suffices. hope you feel better, natilo.
Observation from Mobile World Congress.
People too senior or too obviously there for the junket: iPad.
People actually working: MacBook Air or perhaps X-series ThinkPad. MacBook Pro if you're a designer (in which case, probably not working).
People who work for Google: Asus's new Android 4/NVIDIA Tegra don't-call-it-a-netbook thingy. Very shiny, but I had the impression they have some sort of deal.
Nobody, not even their manufacturers: Android tablet or RIM PlayBook. (Although the Samsung Galaxy Note was pretty sweet.)
326: I know insurance rarely covers anything OTC, but if even copay amounts are considered worth getting rid of, surely OTC preventive products are worth an exception - copays are in the same ballpark as OTC prices generally. Is Plan B included in the mandate?
Looking at the report in more detail, it looks like they identified screening and counseling (rather than prophylaxis) as the most effective intervention, and then under pregnancy prevention they mention offhand that "condoms, spermicides, and emergency contraceptives are available without a prescription," possibly meaning that is indeed the reason they aren't concerned so much with them. But it still seems like a possible policy mistake to me. At the end, their official recommendation is to categorize as preventive "the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive methods," which may or may not include condoms, but may well include Plan B.
That is to say, screening and counseling as the most effective intervention for STIs.
Back when OTC drugs could be paid for with FSA money, condoms were included in that. Not that FSAs really make sense as a matter of public policy, but given that they were there, it was consistent to include them.
Another topic I think had its own thread previously,but god do I hate fucking FSAs.
Limbaugh has apologized. Apparently he actually lost advertisers.
Unfortunately, the AP article fails to explain what the student's testimony was about.
Don't understand the obsession with thinkpads. I had a thinkpad X series at work and it was the biggest pile of shit I've ever had to contend with. That could just be bad luck with the individual box, but the guy sitting next to me had the same experience with his.
What's meant to be good about them?
I really, really like the Thinkpad keyboards. For awhile, too, the x60/1 was the only thing offering a somewhat ridiculous 12.1" resolution of 1400x1050; in fact, I don't think anyone equals that even now. (My 13" Macbook Air is a big step down with 1440x900, though the quality of the screen is leaps and bounds beyond the 2007-era x61).
I love my FSA, because it gives me a little credit card so that I don't need to submit claims. (Probably wrong as a matter of public policy, of course).
Some of the managed care companies for Mass Health (Medicaid) and Commonwealth Care (our state-run subsidized insurance) will pay for OTC medications if there's a doctor's prescription. So, for example, a woman might see a doctor for a yeast infection (never having had one), and if diflucan is contraindicated, they can fill a monistat prescription for the co-pay amount. It's cheaper for them than paying for whatever the fancy new cream treatments are.
Used to have an FSA debit card but starting last year they still required receipts for everything. Short of a major medical expense they're not worth the paperwork and risk of losing excess funds.
I've never seen a Thinkpad that I liked as an object and I especially hate their keyboards. Though with keyboards, I'm usually good at adjusting. But I associate them with work-issued crap that starts up slow. A friend of mine who really knows and cares quite a bit about the computers he owns and runs has a mac and a thinkpad (running linux).
Late to this thread, but I got a little Asus netbook last year and I've been very happy with it. Great battery life, and the slower CPU and relative lack of RAM has been much less of a problem than I expect. Also, bonus, the keyboard is good.* Probably underpowered to act as a desktop replacement, but since I have a fairly high spec'd PC at home, and an insanely high spec'd Mac at work, that's not a problem.
* which it ought to be, I went and auditioned a dozen or so, with the feel of the keyboard (and battery life) the main criteria.
342. Which model is that? I'm on the verge of buying something.
Asus 1015PX. I have the one with the biggest 6-cell battery: claimed 11hr life, but I expect that's absolute best-case/marketing. I swapped out the RAM for the maximum 2GB.
Reviews are decent:
http://uk.asus.com/Eee/Eee_PC/Eee_PC_1015PX/#Awards
I use it on the train, and when away for work, so it tends to only get three or four hours solid use between charges, or intermittent use for a whole day, but I've never had the battery get close to low charge. Keyboards are personal taste, but I like it.
340: When I had a crappy health insurance with a $550 deductible for medications, it really helped to have the pre-tax money upfront so that I was able to spread the expense out over the course of the year. I think that the negotiated rate was something like $200/month and then, I had 20% co-insurance.
One thing, i found the default hard drive settings too aggressive. Parking too often and clicking. So I used one of the 3rd party tools to change then. Ymmv, etc
340: Used to have an FSA debit card but starting last year they still required receipts for everything. Short of a major medical expense they're not worth the paperwork and risk of losing excess funds.
I have yet to suss any of this out. I got an HSA (health savings account, same as FSA? not quite?) this year and am told repeatedly and at great length by the manager at my primary care physician's office that the receipt-requirement business is a complete pain in the ass. What, I am to include a cluster of receipts with my tax return?
I have no idea what this will involve, and if it's a headache, I may ditch it in future; yet my health insurance broker guy says I can build up funds in the thing over a few years, and so it's a smart thing to do. Call me bewildered so far about it all.
I think the deal with receipts is like with contribution receipts- you don't have to attach them but have to keep them a certain period during which the plan admin can demand any or all and if you fail to produce them you have to reimburse the account. It would be easier if you just had to send them in so they're no longer your responsibility. I swear the people who make the rules for these things are trying to make them hard to use- in the case of FSAs they get to keep money you don't use so they want to make reimbursement hard. Don't know about HSAs.
349: Ah. Well, that's a relief (that I don't have to attach them all). I misspoke slightly -- I started the HSA last year, so I'll be discovering how it all works tax-wise shortly, when I do my taxes. And no, with an HSA, you don't lose it if you don't use it by the end of the year, but there are annual limits on how much excess you can build up. What's entirely unclear to me is how building up excess is any kind of benefit, since I've been assuming that you can't claim the entirety that's in the account as a tax deduction, but only the amount you've actually used (spent). I dunno.
350: Any returns on the investment are tax exempt, I should think. So it's (yet) another kind of tax-advantaged savings account.
But then, I also would have thought that all contributions were tax-deductible. (So you'd only put less in than you can, if you've already got all you can spend in there.)
350: all HSA contributions are made pre-tax. There is no tax consequence to spending the money.