Journal Entries
I've got a new way to type
Posted Apr 18, 2001
I've taken keyboarding classes before, and i've learned the home-row keys and all, but I never liked doing things with the screen blank and my hands covered. After i got out of those classes, though, i moved on to my own method of typing, the one that AOL's Instant messenger helped me come up with. When i first got AIM, i was a slow typist, and all the other people i was talking to could type 60+ words per minute. As time went on wiht AIM, i realized that i wouldn't be able to make rapid progress with the standard method of typing, using memorization of letters, and looking at words as groups of letters and spaces. I looked for patterns, common sequences of characters that repeated in written english, strings like "ing", "tion", and "comma+space". I also looked at the words i used most, like "the", "and", and "because". after typing those words and sequences time after time after time, i can rattle them off with nary an error at some respectable speed.
My current typing method is something like this: I look at words as groups of letter clusters, clusters that I have trained my hands to recognize and repeat. When i want to use a relatively uncommon word, it's easy to look for common patterns and similarities shared with more common ones. The result is a more word-based typing method, where i can keep up normal conversation with impressive speed in IRC and IM communication.
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Latest reply: Apr 18, 2001
An idea saved for posterity
Posted Mar 30, 2001
i came up with an idea to revolutionize the airlines. I call it nintendo air transit. it's based on a simple process.
In todays air travel, the airframe is all one structure: fuel, control, luggage and passenger compartments, engines, all blended and welded into one unit. What i propose is that airplane manufacturers seperate the passenger and luggage compartments from the rest of the plane, leaving fuel, cockpit, and engines in one frame and having the passenger an luggage compartments a seperate structure. The practical benefits of this lie in reduced turnaround time for flights: a module is sitting at the airport before the plane lands, and is getting filled with passengers, food, fresh flight attendants, and luggage while the plane is circling overhead. When the plane lands, all it has to do is be checked and refueled while the passenger/luggage modules are switched out. Since the most time-consuming part of the turnaround process is the unloading and reloading of passengers and luggage, if all this were accomplished at the airport ahead of time, it'd be much more efficient.
This idea wil be refined in the future, i just wanted it to be stored permanntly for safe keeping.
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Latest reply: Mar 30, 2001
For the Moderators
Posted Mar 23, 2001
Hello, all you intrepid folk at your desks. This is for the moderators, those fine people who pour through every entry looking for mean things. You people must have one of the most interesting jobs imaginable, something like combining an asylum nurse and a hidden camera. With everything you read, you must have gathered more useless trivia than anyone else imaginable. Plus, you see into everybody's minds with their writings. Y'all should be praised for your good work, and i'm going to do it. Moderators, I salute you!
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Latest reply: Mar 23, 2001
A theme i noticed
Posted Dec 18, 2000
This has nothing to do with anything in particular, but I noticed recently that "Mostly Harmless" has a running theme of loseing and finding things. Arthur has lost Fenchurch in the beginning, and is trying to find a place where he fits in. Ford has lost the Guide, after he finds that the entries he wrote are included in its latest revision. Trillian lost Zaphod and her home, and found a compatible DNA sample to give her a child, in hopes that such a child gould give her a sense of purpose. Zaphod has lost all mention in the book, and has found himself left in the lurch. Random has lost all sense of home, and has found a "friend" in the Guide Mk 2. Tricia McMillan lost a whole other life when she went back for her bag, and lost a job when she failed to do the same. She has found out that her suspicions of people watching her all the time are, in fact, true. The Grebulons have, quite literally, lost their minds, and have found solace in astrology.
This is just an observation, and I wanted to record it for posterity in some way.
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Latest reply: Dec 18, 2000
Even more towel uses
Posted Dec 15, 2000
Throughout the guide, I have seen quite a few entries titles "Uses for a towel" or similar. These have been very informative, as I am currently compiling a list of towel uses for my high school's Dead Poet's Society. What follows is the list I will present. Included are a few suggestions that have already been made, but a sizable chunk i have come up with on my own:
· You can wrap it around you for warmth
· You can sail a small raft with it
· You can lie on one on a beach
· You can fold it for a small pillow. (This is especially popular among high school students.)
· You can use one or several as blankets on cold nights (or boring classes)
· You can wrap it around your head to avoid noxious fumes
· You can wear any number of ways including: scarf, sash, cummerbund, headband, turban, sarong, and Super Hero cape
· You can wave it in emergencies as a distress signal
· You can tie multiple towels end to end to form a rope
· You can put designs on it to form a flag
· You can, with a few knots, turn it into a bag
· You can use it to trap small animals net-style
· You can beat out small fires with it
· You can tuck it into your clothing to insulate in cold weather
· You can spread it out to form a tablecloth
· You can use it as a cushion when sitting on hard surfaces
· You can wet it for use in hand-to-hand combat
· You can wrap it about your eyes for a blindfold
· You can use red ones for matador impersonations
· You can throw it at people to distract them
· You can hold it up so you don’t have to look at certain people or things
· You can wrap your hand in it to allow you to grasp hot objects
· You can rip one up to make bandages
· You can roll it up and place it in front of a door to make it difficult to force an entry
· You can tie a weight to one end and use it to smash things
· You can wrap it around your arm to break a glass window in safety
· You can soak it in vitamin-rich liquids for an source of nutrients in an emergency
· You can lay down red ones to welcome important people
· You can fold one upon your arm to give yourself that “Obnoxious Waiter” look
· You can tie it to a ledge that you want to ease yourself down from
· You can roll it up to “enhance” certain parts of the anatomy
· You can use it to polish things that need polishing
· You can cover up a hole in the ground with it, cover it with leaves, and use it for a trap
· You can use it for kindling (WARNING: This will most likely ruin your towel!)
· You can talk to it when you need a friend
· You can hang them to use as curtains
· You can use it as a gag for quieting people
· You can hang it on your wall and use it as a conversation topic
· You can wipe off any number of surfaces with it
· You can write messages such as “Don’t Panic!” on it for reassurance
· You can wrap it around the muzzle of a firearm for use as a silencer
· You can use it to launch things, sling-shot style
· You can use multiple, colored towels to signal over a long distance
· You can wrap it around a stick for use as a torch
· You can lay it down to wipe your feet with
· You can wave white ones as a sign of surrender
· You can put sticks under it and use it for a tent
· You can lay down some of the fluffier green ones to simulate a well-trimmed lawn
· And finally, if it’s still clean enough after all this, you can dry yourself off with it.
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Latest reply: Dec 15, 2000
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