belgianwaffle

QWERTY


Posted in: Reading etc.

“Unbelievable as it may now sound, that keyboard layout [QWERTY] was designed in 1873 as a
feat of anti-engineering.  It employs a whole series of perverse tricks designed to force typists to type as slowly as possible, such as scattering the commonest letters over all keyboard rows and concentrating them on the left side (where right-handed people have to use
their weaker hand).  The reason behind all of those seemingly counterproductive features is that the typewriters of 1873 jammed if adjacent keys were struck in quick succession, so that manufacturers had to slow down typists.  When improvement in typewriters eliminated the problem of jamming, trials in 1932 with an efficiently laid-out keyboard showed that it would let us double our typing speed and reduce our typing effort by 95 percent. But QWERTY keyboards were solidly entrenched by then. The vested interests of hundreds of millions of QWERTY typists, typing teachers, typewriter and computer salespeople, and manufacturers have crushed all moves toward keyboard efficiency for over 60 years.”

Comments

Friar Tuck

on 16 December 2005 at 18:36

At one time, you could buy Dvorak computer keyboards, which arranged the keys in the (supposedly) most efficient layout. I have not seen them advertised in ages, however.

beachhutman

on 16 December 2005 at 19:49

Of such absurdities are our worlds constructed. Of course the French decided to use the AZERTY layout, which is actually no better at all for typing French, but makes the point that at least it is NOT ENGLISH, which is the main thing for the Anglophobe French. “Ordinateur Individuelle” forsooth!
Sweetie(s) given ???

Maitresse

(Homepage)

on 03 January 2006 at 18:54

Ha! I remember hearing something like that once. In my world, I have typed so much that I’ve rubbed all the letters off the keyboard of my iBook G4 since I got it in February 2004, so I no longer can tell where the letters actually are… I have to rely on the memory in my fingertips. One day I’ll get around to fixing it but for now it looks kind of cool to have a computer with a mostly blank keyboard!

on 09 January 2006 at 10:24

Very cool!

Any News from the Ould Sod?


Posted in: Ireland

I only ask because this appeared in the Irish Independent on December 8:

“IARNROD Eireann could soon have some competition on the railways, from cross-border
trains, or until a proposed tunnel to Wales opens up.”

I think that I may have been away for too long.

Dehli!


Posted in: Siblings

My sister has been working for the same American multinational since leaving college.  She started in the UK, then she was sent to Germany, then China, then the US.  Each move was accompanied by a promotion and a hefty salary increase. I bask in her reflected glory and only experience very mild envy, no really.   Guess where she’s off to in the new year with promotion and hefty salary increase? Just as well, another Chicago winter would have killed her.

Comments

poggle

on 16 December 2005 at 11:41

Is there a clue in the title at all? It’s Brockley, isn’t it? That’s the name of my local Indian restaurant …

kristin

(Homepage)

on 16 December 2005 at 15:02

My wanderlust heart is green with envy. How’s that for a mixed metaphor?

Friar Tuck

on 17 December 2005 at 16:23

Ahh, I have fond memories of the case of “Ghandi’s revenge” I experienced in Delhi. Well, maybe not exactly fond.

belgianwaffle

on 09 January 2006 at 10:18

You should contact my sister and tell her all about the attractions..

School


Posted in: Princess

The school boasts a big advantage for us – it’s round the corner from where we live. The Head, however, describes it as “socially mixed” and my middle class soul was a little nervous about this. Of course, I felt bad about feeling nervous and Mr. Waffle, who seems to suffer from none of the usual middle class hang-ups despite having attended fee paying private schools, said bracingly,  “What would happen if everyone refused to send their children to socially mixed schools?”   Today, I discovered that one of the consequences of being “socially mixed” is that a lot of the children don’t speak French.  The teacher was delighted to discover that madam a) spoke French and b) was toilet trained.   I must say, all of this unnerved me a bit but a lot of the children who don’t speak French are Polish and I found this comforting because I sort of see the Poles as like the Irish; catholic, committed to education etc., no NOT feckless.

Anyway, she’s only 2 and a half, how much of a problem can it be that half of her classmates can’t speak French? But my heart sank as we were leaving and I saw the teacher put on
“Finding Nemo”.   Somehow it seems wrong, but, you know, good for crowd control.

Comments

kristin

(Homepage)

on 15 December 2005 at 16:51

I completely sympathize with your m-c soul and the fear of Finding Nemo. Remember, at this age it’s all socialization (btw, was nemo in french or english?) and even if it’s learning to hang out with poles and watch movies, that’s not such a bad thing to know at 2.5. and she’ll be trilingual in no time. and can i say wow about the potty training? lucy is just 3, and so ready to move on to the next class at preschool, except that she’s got to be potty trained, and she’s resisting peeing at school. sigh.
clever princess, starting school. kisses to her.

Peggy

(Homepage)

on 16 December 2005 at 10:00

You don’t mention anywhere: what was the Princess’ reaction ? Is she thrilled she will soon be going to school? Did she want to stay and watch the film with the others?

belgianwaffle

on 16 December 2005 at 11:07

FT, indeed.
Kristin, thank you, that makes me feel a lot better. Am sure your toilet training blues will pass shortly though I realise it is a pain at the moment. Nemo was in French, by the way.
Peggy, that was the worst bit, she loathed it and was like a briar for the rest of the day. I think she was slightly overwhelmed by the numbers and she said to me afterwards “That’s not my school Mummy, my school is different”. I’m not sure what she was expecting but it’s fair to say that her expectations weren’t met.


Posted in: Mr. Waffle, Princess, Twins, Youngest Child

For example, last night the Princess sought vainly for my attention as I tried to simultaneously cook dinner and express 200mls of breastmilk (I know 200 mls, amazing eh?). ? Standing under a hot shower in the morning can lead to me spraying the walls with milk in a sort of sub-Psycho fashion (a little too much information?).

Last night, having fed the boys all evening at about 1.00 in the morning, I prodded my poor spouse awake and said “give Michael a bottle, I can’t stand it any more”. 

At 5.00, I woke up and having fed the babies, trotted out to the kitchen to take meat out of the freezer for dinner (which I had forgotten to do last night, no, this is not a regular feature of my
nights).   On opening the fridge, I found that the expressed bottle of breast milk was still there, which meant that Mr. Waffle had, all gasp please, given Michael formula earlier in the evening.

Since my husband had disappeared from the marital bed, I had a look round the house for him to discuss this serious matter. Found him on the couch looking up the phone book for the number of a local bookshop. He wanted to order a Princess Waffle memorial book for the creche. I had to have out the matter of expressed milk v formula so I was only momentarily distracted by the weirdness of his timing.

Me: You gave Michael FORMULA.
Him: Eh?
Me: When you gave him the bottle.
Him: Oh right.
Me: But there was expressed milk in the fridge.
Him: Sorry, missed it.
Me (purple in the face with indignation): What?
Him: Are we really arguing about this at 5.00 in the morning?
Both collapse in mildly hysterical giggles as oddness of my behaviour becomes apparent.

A little tired today…

Comments

Bobble

on 14 December 2005 at 09:59

“Standing under a hot shower in the morning can lead to me spraying the walls with milk in a sort of sub-Psycho fashion”

Minkleberry

on 14 December 2005 at 12:19

I’m still overwhelmed with admiration at your ability to feed two new(ish) and hungry babies.
At 5am I was ignoring my big child as he whimpered for attention in his bedroom, whilst simultaneously avoiding eye-contact with the cot that is now sharing our bedroom.
Incidentally, me and Jimi have some of our best rows in the wee hours.

Peggy

(Homepage)

on 14 December 2005 at 13:14

I’m very impressed by the happy ending of your story.
I think I would have poured the expressed milk in the bottle of coffee that Jim takes to work everyday.

geepeemum

on 14 December 2005 at 16:51

Ummm – sleeping?

beachhutman

on 14 December 2005 at 21:59

Formula is very GOOD you know…….

belgianwaffle

on 15 December 2005 at 12:27

BhM, formula is the root of all evil, don’t quibble.
GPM, very dull..
Peggy, how imaginative you are.
Minks, am awaiting your new arrival with bated breath. Unlike Ez, I suspect.
Bobble, we aim to please.
HJB, 2 sweeties, you are too kind. For this, I can confirm that there are no mad axe men in Switzerland.

Friar Tuck

on 15 December 2005 at 16:28

I can remember a day in the not-so-distant past when a certain someone smugly smirked at me because I must arise at 5.30 every morning. So for the record I would just like to say that at 5.00 this morning I was snug in my bed. {smirk}

belgianwaffle

on 16 December 2005 at 11:08

My agony will end. Smirk.

https://www.belgianwaffle.net/2005/12/488/

Blog anniversary


Posted in: Reading etc.

Two years yesterday.  Who would have thought that I would have the stamina?  To celebrate I had intended to change my decor, update my favourites and do a post explaining why my favourites are all fabulous with lots of links.  But it’s hard to do that with a baby in one or both hands.  Maybe not so much stamina after all.

Comments

jackdalton

on 11 December 2005 at 21:58

Happy blogerty, ‘waf 🙂
Oh and greetings from the other side of town where the Winterpret is winding down for the night and the last of the crepes sucre from a stall just down Rue de la Bourse from St Nicolas have been Daltoned
😉 ]

kristinon 12 December 2005 at 02:09

Happy Blog-versary! ���

poggle

on 12 December 2005 at 11:48

AHA! So you’ve got jd, ay? I’m sure he’ll pop in to babysit so you can redecorate the blog – if you ask him nicely.
Jack? Where are you going?
(Happy Blirthday, waffley …)

Angela(Homepage)

on 12 December 2005 at 13:32

Happy Anniversary! I’m hoping you have many many more (babies and) anniversaries!
A few weeks back, I caught a televised travel special (Globe Trekkers?) on Belgium. They showed a bunch of very old women making lace by throwing around little thimble things. It was absolutely amazing. Is that what Belgium is like?! If so, I’m moving immediately. And I’m hoping you’ll meet me some time for tea.

Bobble

on 12 December 2005 at 14:20

I second getting Jack to do all the work.

beachhutman

on 12 December 2005 at 18:19

We could all write our own puffs…….

jackdalton

on 12 December 2005 at 22:16

Hey!! This is work, I’ve been in the a conference since 9 this morning!!
Anyway, I don’t have the a current license to drive a twin buggy…. 😉

Lilo

on 12 December 2005 at 22:22

Happy Blogday Ms Waffle. You define the word ‘stamina’, so I shouldn’t worry.

belgianwaffle

on 14 December 2005 at 09:09

Thank you for good wishes and sweeties. Glad to see that you are still about JD. And conferences aren’t work.
Angela, yes thimble throwing is central to who we are in Belgium. Please come and visit.

jackdalton

on 14 December 2005 at 22:50

Oh yes they are! YOU try and sit through two days of rapid-fire stuff on FP7, foresight, cross-cutting thematics and ERA /ERC mechanisms and see just how much work it can be!!!!

poggle

on 15 December 2005 at 09:06

What language is that, jd?

jackdalton

on 15 December 2005 at 11:20

Euroish.

belgianwaffle

on 15 December 2005 at 12:21

I find it more depressing than I can say that I know what these acronyms stand for. Anyway at the rate things are going, there’ll be no budget for FP7.