h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's back! It's back!

Just in time for that article I've been commissioned to write! No more mucking about to erase all the `s and ~s surrounding my ps and Ps! Somehow the altitude or the shacking about in the boot of the car over 3000 kilometres of Canadian mountain roads has reversed the effect of that glass of bourbon on the keyboard!


Huzzah!









Oh b*last. I've spilled my b*loody b*eer.

'shacking about in the boot of the car'


'shaking'!

that was an unfortunate typo which could have been more uncomfortable.

and now it's sto`p`ped working again!

Could you plug in a USB keyboard?

I don't know if there's a connection but I can now only get a capital 'P' using caps lock .

Well, that's a real P's off, isn't it?

Yes, I could `plug in a USB keyboard. But the only one I have is at home. ~Plugged into my deskto`p.

I've been `putting u`p with this for a cou`ple of months now. When I do something mildly im`portant, I either use a different com`puter or ty`pe normally and fix things later with search and re`place.

It was just very strange that it started working `pro`perly for a few minutes.



and


Welcome back, Tal. Long time no see.

and

I have a ca`pital `problem on another com`puter: Left shift key doesn't work anymore because that's the 'run' button in Quake.

Sounds like a challenge for you- write a reasonably long series of sentences without using that letter. It seems to be quite easy until you get to something that is not easily described in a way that isn*t awkward. By some accounts, that letter is used 1.929 times out of a hundred in common English- that is the 16th most common letter, far behind *a* and *e*. It isn*t commonly linked with another letter but it is often doubled.

Insomnia makes for odd ideas.

I normally just go right on without thinking about it and then I go back and fix it all later. I don't bother making the effort to avoid the letter altogether.

I just noticed on my keyboard that the 'X' is the grubbiest one..which is quite strange.

I've got a very slimline, slightly pretentious Apple one.

That one of mine with the shift key `problem actually has no left shift key: it wore out and shattered from too much Quake. I don't play games any more.

You might be able to repair the non-functioning 'P' key, but you'd have to remove the keyboard to access the contact switch.

It's fairly easy on some lappies. Not so much on others

Or you could get one of those roll-up keyboards -- http://www.thinkgeek.com/computing/keyboards-mice/5a7f/

They feel weird, but are damn near unbreakable

This one's hard to get off -- at least it is with the dried bourbon in the catches.


I have a rolly keyboard somewhere -- but it's broken.

I'm sure I can manage. Oh, look -- the letter isn't anywhere in this `post. Until now.

You.... *broke* a rolly keyboard!!??

Musta hit it with a big hammer

I take my hat off to you, sir.

It was one of the early versions. I left it in the bottom of a drawer for a few years with extra hard drives on to`p of it.