Here's this week's "Ask a scienceblogger" question:
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
I don't know if you can handle the truth, but here it is…
It's easy to type fast with ten arms.
More like this
For those of you not in the biomedical sciences, you may not be aware of the coming crises. Right now aspiring postdocs and new independent investigators are involved in a war of attrition when it comes to funding.
How did this happen?
Over at the DrugMonkey blog, PhysioProf noted that a push to increase NIH postdoctoral fellowship stipend levels by 6% may have the effect of reducing the number of postdoctoral positions available.
So Friday I posted a photo of an ad that went up in our lunchroom. The feedback was very indicative of the current mood of postdocs within the life sciences: frustration.
If you haven’t already, you must check out Charles Darwin’s blog, if only for
Clearly the viewpoint of a squid...
Somehow, I think it is easier to type fast with ten 'fingers', half at the ends of only two arms, particularly when using a keyboard designed for exacty that, Dvorak notwithstanding. Also, my other appendages and body keep me situated before my keyboard with little conscious effort.
Ten arms, each with a single 'tip', is more or less funtionally equivalent, at least for typing, to five fingers on each of two arms.
Another point: if you are a squid typing with all ten arms, how do you keep from pushing yourself away from the keybard as you type? Yes, I know, you will say you use your jet to stay in place, but doing that has to take more of your attention than simply sitting in a chair takes of mine.
On a keyboard optimized for use with ten arms, the situation may be very different...
Some years ago there was a novelty product called the 'WriteHander' (designed for one-hand use by a human). There were four buttons to be pressed by the digits, and several buttons that could be actuated by the thumb. With these, the user could enter the (7-bit) ASCII codes as easily as with a conventional keyboard, and with much less total movement. (The other hand could be used for a mouse, or the 'WriteHander' itself could also be a mouse.)