QWERTY

If you're still in the camp that thinks the Internets [sic] is like a truck, as opposed to the correct analogy (a series of tubes), this post is going to blow your mind.

What if I were to suggest that the current layout of your keyboard's keys was arrived at in an effort to be inefficient? Prepare yourself, because that's exactly what I'm proposing. I know.

Today's keyboards are modeled using a QWERTY formation (type the word Qwerty and you'll quickly discover why). The popular story for why keys are arranged in this formation is that the most commonly-used letters were spaced out all over in an attempt to slow typists down and thus prevent typewriters from jamming. Common sequences of letters were also separated so that the majority of words required switching back and forth between hands to reach certain keys, which in the world of typewriters meant the hammers would be less likely to interfere with one another.

These days we continue to use QWERTY even though a potentially more efficient layout is now available. Dvorak is the last name of a dude who realized we weren't using typewriters anymore, so why not put all the most commonly-used keys in the most easily-accessed places on the keyboard (the home/middle row). Lots of nerds [or people like my brother who are just smart and adapt well, and who are also nerds] use this layout now or toggle between the two.

I'm hesitant to change because I fear change, and also because all my shortcuts [cut, paste, undo, do whatever I just did again (Ctrl-Y), bold, italicize, underline, etc.] would be worthless.

An analogy to this entire debate regarding long-term efficiencies gained through change vs. the economic and social costs of change can be seen in the whole Go Green revolution: it's not just fashionable to use energy-saving stuff anymore, it's also cheaper. And still the actual amount of people converting is tiny. We're used to paying electric and water bills and we know how much things will cost each month. To incur a large one-time expense would disrupt all of that, even if longer term the benefits were clear, both to our pocketbooks and our world.

Some other interesting keyboard notes to wow your co-workers with:

1. You can type the word Typewriter using keys in only the top row in QWERTY format. Supposedly this was done to make life easier for hunt-and-peck typerwriter salesmen.

2. Thousands of English words can be typed using only the left hand, while only a few hundred can be typed using the right hand. So left handed people can all stop complaining now. Forever.

3. The first email ever sent said QWERTYUIOP, which is the top row of the keyboard. The second email was spam for male enhancement/free college degrees. The third was a 419 scam. The fourth was probably a hilarious email chain sent between me and my friends that started at roughly 9am and wrapped up at approximately 6pm.