Why Would I Write

Author: goodnewsgeorge

  • Pertinent Layers

    Pertinent Layers

    After using my 40% keyboard for two-and-a-half months, I’ve managed to map out a layer that works for me. While most of you are probably wondering, why did I bother with such a small keyboard in the first place? I already have a standard sized keyboard on my laptop.

    Well, when you’re spending so much time in front of the computer, wouldn’t you want to type on something that feels good? I know I do. The laptop keyboards if definitely sufficient, but it’s not great. Lack of travel, feedback and programmability. And of course, most importantly, a e s t h e t i c s.

    The 40% board is great for traveling – I can’t leave my keyboard at work, so having something light and portable is important for me. It may not seem that much smaller than a 60% keyboard but when you have a tiny backpack like me, every cubic centimeter saved is important (gotta pack more bags of drugs in there).

    For non-mechanical keyboard enthusiasts out there, you’re probably wondering how on earth someone could possibly use such a tiny input device. Well, after experimenting with many different layouts on the Vortex Core, I’ve come up with something that works for me and the work I do. It’s nothing fancy, but with it I can easily type characters like ‘ and / which weren’t mapped to the non-function layer by default. I’ve also mapped control, alt and windows to the HHKB layout (I’ve gotten so used to it) and moved escape to a function layer so tab is next to Q. I’d love to do a lot more, but I’m limited by the current functionality of the board.

    I still miss the number row when entering passwords, but I’m dealing with it. I even put the number row key caps on my keyboard to help me out in that department. Eventually I will have them all memorized. After using this layout for a while, I’ve come to realize that I could even do away with 3 of the keys on the keyboard, which would make something like the Pearl usable for me (damn, those sexy blockers) – something I would have never dreamed of before using a 40% keyboard.

    Anyway, here is a diagram of the layout that I currently use. Feel free to use it or offer any suggestions if you think that you can make it better! I didn’t put down the Shift + Fn1 layers since those can’t be changed (they symbols are mapped from !@#$%^&*() on Ctrl to L respectively).

    I can’t wait for Vortex to make the Core completely customizable, I already have plans for how I want to tweak this board even more in the future.

  • Touch Typing

    Over the weekend, I was looking up for some tips to improve my touch typing skills and I learned something I can’t believe I had never thought of before: keep your index fingers on the home keys (F and J on a QWERTY keyboard) if you’re using your pinkies to hit keys like escape, backspace, control, tab or shift – this will allow you to quickly return to the home row and reset your fingers in the correct typing position. It was something so simple yet effective. This prompted me to scour the net for more tips that I could use. Turns out, there aren’t many tips available online that I didn’t already know. Unless there’s a hidden cache of advice hidden available somewhere on the internet, the only other thing I’ve managed to takeaway is that practice is everything.

    Like playing the guitar or a video game, typing is very much all about muscle memory. Think about words you type very often: your own name, words like you, me, them, they, the – I’m pretty sure most of you can touch type them without any effort. However, if I were to give you a word like adscititious, it would probably take you a moment to type it out. But if you keep typing the word over and over again, you’ll be able to type it quickly. Basically, you have to practice typing until you are at the stage where you’re typing words instead of letters. It’s like being so familiar with a guitar chord that you can press it without having to look at the fretboard, or pulling off key combinations to execute a special move for your video game character.

    While I don’t think I’ll consistently surpass 100 wpm anytime soon (I type fast enough for my current job anyway), it’s something I hope to achieve naturally in the long run – once I’ve typed the most common English words enough times to make them all muscle memory. But for those of you who are interested in learning how to touch type, here are some helpful sites.

    Keybr– a site that helps you memorize where each letter is on your keyboard and analyzes which keys you’re struggling with.
    10fastfingers – a great site for practicing the most common English words
    Type Racer – a popular online typing game where you race against other people by typing out a passage of text quickly and accurately

  • Mini Movie Reviews

    Remember when this blog was all about Movie Reviews? I remember.

    Anyway, watched a few movies recently and thought I’d say my piece about them. There will probably be spoilers, so just skip this post if you haven’t seen A Quiet Place, Ready Player One, Pacific Rim: Uprising and Peter Rabbit.

    A Quiet Place

    It’s been a while since my last horror movie (I tend to avoid them like the plague) but this one was pretty good. The movie made great use of sound. It reminded me a lot of Dead Silence – the scenes which were the scariest were the quietest ones. Overall, it was an enjoyable movie even though there were moments I had to watch with fingers covering my ears (horror movies are so much more tolerable when they’re muted).

    I didn’t like the young girl as a character. She felt too obnoxious to me. Like Joffrey in Game of Thrones. It was hard to root for her. However, she wasn’t annoying enough to ruin the movie for me.

    The story was interesting, though I was constantly reminded of the Walking Dead during a lot of the shots. Also, it wouldn’t be too far-fetched if the monsters were replaced with zombies instead. I thought the movie ended well, and it was a good self-contained story (though I wouldn’t be bothered if it had an over-the-top exaggerated sequel – maybe something that bridged it with Edge of Tomorrow lol).

    Rating: 3/3 echolocating aliens

    Ready Player One

    As someone who was a big fan of the book and looking forward to the movie, it was kind of a let down. I mean, I understood why they had to cut out certain aspects of the book and change some challenges in order to make it fit into one movie – but that didn’t make it any less disappointing. The people I watched the film with didn’t read the book and enjoyed it way more than me, so I’d advise to skip the book until you’ve seen it. It’s definitely not a bad movie, the visuals were top-notch and pretty much how I imagined the world would look like but the were way too much for my liking. Would rewatch if I had a memory wipe and forgot how the book played out. Check out these articles if you’d like to know some of the changes that were made for the film.

    Rating: 3/6 challenges that were removed and replaced

    Pacific Rim: Uprising

    I went in the cinema expecting to be let down because of how much I disliked the first movie. It ended up being a lot better than I ever thought it could be. While my friends, who were fans of the first one, weren’t happy with this film, I thought it was one of the better sci-fi films I’ve seen recently (not sure because it was good or other movies have been terrible). The pacing of the movie was great – there were barely any lulls in the action and I enjoyed the acting of the characters (minus the chemistry between Boyega and Eastwood – that felt a little forced). They definitely could have picked a better character to be the villain in this movie, but I’m happy how the movie sets up for a Jaeger invasion if they ever make a sequel. Maybe it was my low expectations for the movie, but I’d easily recommend it over the original. Fun, brainless, robot vs. aliens action, with a crew that could fit in an Alien(R) High School sitcom (why isn’t this a thing yet?).

    Rating: 3/5 friends disappointed in the film

    Peter Rabbit

    This movie was a marketing dream come true: perfect release date around school holidays and Easter, its target audience, and tie-in with Harrod’s set it up to be one of the most successful movies this year. While the movie itself isn’t anything to shout about, I thought it was interesting that they aged up the main character to make it slightly edgier than the story books it was based on. The live-action and CGI mix was done pretty well though I’m pretty sure when we look back on the film in 10 years it’ll probably look outdated. I’m not anticipating a sequel but wouldn’t be opposed to it if there was another one in the future.

    Rating: 3/5 blackberries thrown onto the faces of offended critics