The Science of Breath

Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka

There are many copies of the famous text The Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka available on the Internet, either from Amazon or other book sellers but the copyright has expired on this text and so it is legal to distribute to anyone anywhere for free.

If you have ever had trouble Clearing the Mind during meditation, then you may be interested in the text Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka. The book helps the meditation student learn techniques which aid in their meditation experience.

In any case, if you have trouble meditating or not, please download, read, enjoy and benefit from the free version of The Science of Breath available below.

Excerpt from The Science of Breath

The Western student is apt to be somewhat confused in his ideas regarding the Yogis and their philosophy and practice.

Travelers to India have written great tales about the hordes of fakirs, mendicants and mountebanks who infest the great roads of India and the streets of its cities, and who impudently claim the title “Yogi.”

The Western student is scarcely to be blamed for thinking of the typical Yogi as an emaciated, fanatical, dirty, ignorant Hindu, who either sits in a fixed posture until his body becomes ossified, or else holds his arm up in the air until it becomes stiff and withered and for ever after remains in that position or perhaps clenches his fist and holds it tight until his fingernails grow through the palms of his hands. That these people exist is true, but their claim to the title ” Yogi ” seems as absurd to the true Yogi as does the claim to the title “Doctor” on the part of the man who pares one’s corns seem to the eminent surgeon, or as does the title of “Professor,” as assumed by the street corner vendor of worm medicine, seem to the President of Harvard or Yale.

There have been for ages past in India and other Oriental countries men who devoted their time and attention to the development of Man, physically, mentally and spiritually.

The experience of generations of earnest seekers has been handed down for centuries from teacher to pupil, and gradually a definite Yogi science was built up. To these investigations and teachings was finally applied the term “Yogi,” from the Sanscrit word ” Yug,” meaning “to join.” From the same source comes the English Word “yoke,” with a similar meaning. Its use in connection with these teachings is difficult to trace, different authorities giving different explanations, but probably the most ingenious is that which holds that it is intended as the Hindu equivalent for the idea conveyed by the English phrase, “getting into harness,” or “yoking up,” as the Yogi undoubtedly “gets into harness” in his work of controlling the body and mind by the Will.

Yoga is divided into several branches, ranging from that which teaches the control of the body, to that which teaches the attainment of the highest spiritual development. In the work we will not go into the higher phases of the subject, except when the “Science of Breath” touches upon the same.

The “Science of Breath” touches Yoga at many points, and although chiefly concerned with the development and control of the physical, has also its psychic side, and even enters the field of spiritual development.

By Yogi Ramacharaka

William Walker Atkinson

The Science of Breath by Yogi Ramacharaka

About Yogi Ramacharaka

Perhaps lesser know about Yogi Ramacharaka was that as the author, Yogi Ramacharaka, was actually a westerner, an American by the name of William Walker Atkinson (Born Dec 5, 1862 – Died Nov 22, 1932). Atkinson  was a lawyer, business man and author, not related to Yogi Ramacharaka at all.

Less well known about William Atkinson was that he was an oculist as well. Atkinson was a pioneer of a new strain of science called New Thought, now known as the New Age or Self Help movement.. He authored and published some of his works under the pseudonym or nom de plume (pen name) of Yogi Ramacharaka without bearing any relationship to the real Yogi Ramacharaka. The Science of Breath is by far his most famous work.

[From Wikipedia] In the 1890s, Atkinson had become interested in Hinduism and after 1900 he devoted a great deal of effort to the diffusion of yoga and Oriental occultism in the West. It is unclear at this late date whether he actually ever converted to any form of Hindu religion, or merely wished to write on the subject. If he did convert, he left no record of the event.

According to unverifiable sources, while Atkinson was in Chicago at the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893, he met one Baba Bharata, a pupil of the late Indian mystic Yogi Ramacharaka (1799 – c.1893). As the story goes, Bharata had become acquainted with Atkinson’s writings after arriving in America, the two men shared similar ideas, and so they decided to collaborate.

While editing New Thought magazine, it is claimed, Atkinson co-wrote with Bharata a series of books which they attributed to Bharata’s teacher, Yogi Ramacharaka. This story cannot be verified and—like the “official” biography that falsely claimed Atkinson was an “English author” — it may be a fabrication.

However no verifiable record exists in India of Yogi Ramacharaka, neither is there any evidence in America of Baba Bharata traveling to that country. It all appears to be New Age Occultist Gossip designed to promote New Age Thought in America at the time.

So, any case, Atkinson commenced writing a series of books under the nom de plume of Yogi Ramacharaka, totaling more than a dozen manuscripts under then pseudonym of Yogi Ramacharaka, mostly published through the Yogi Publication Society in Chicago. All of his titles on yoga and yogi thought are still available today.

William Walker Atkinson enjoyed writing as a Hindu to such a degree that he created two more Indian personas called Swami Bhakta Vishita and Swami Panchadasi, however, neither of these identities wrote on Hinduism.

The Science of Breath however, is by far his most famous and widely distributed book, reaching cult status amongst new age practitioners, not for its specific benefit to aspiring yogis, but more so because not many people know that Yogi Ramacharaka was actually a westerner trying to lend credence to his works with nom de plume or pseudonym rather than with his lesser known name of William Walker Atkinson.

Nameste

Have fun and enjoy.

Peter Hallam

Take off from Tullamarine International Airport Melbourne, flight to Brisbane on Virgin Australia flight DJ353 aboard Boeing 737-800, window seat 9F (just behind engine) .
Wet weather. Taken with Sony DSC-TX7 in 1080p MP4.
Sound is a bit distorted sorry but, hey, I film with what I got, no external mic. Melbourn suburbs visible off the wing tip.
Skip to 9:45 for actual takeoff, its just 9 odd minutes of taxi up till then.

General Electric CFM56 engines throttle up at 9:50…. (excellent GE whine – turn the sound up if you don’t mind the distortion through the mic.)

What is my Ninja Name?

You have to love this.

Translate your name into an honest to goodness Ninja

I  found it over at Fugly during some mindless surfing whilst avoiding doing some of the household chores I am committed to doing.

Scrambled eggs were not taken to with enthusiasm

Scrambled Eggs Soup

Picture this.

Two children and their father sitting down to lunch. A daughter aged four and half and a son aged two and a half, both of whom bounce off of each other like two of the Three Stooges.

I love them both dearly but sometime, well, they are two kids and they know how to pull your strings.

It’s lunch time. I want my children to eat, but they have dug their heels in and now I need leverage.

My daughter has been begging me for ABC 4 Kids TV for almost five hours.  It started at about eight am.   I drew the line.  “After lunch” I said. “You can have ABC kids after lunch.”

Then I changed the requirements to: “after you BOTH eat ALL your lunch.” There is no point leaving loopholes in your directives because, kids being kids will find that loophole and exploit it. Okay? Quite concrete that stipulation don’t you think.

Well, so I thought …

Miranda, the four and a half year old, well she is a champion. ABC 4 Kids TV was at stake. Them’s the big time as far as she’s concerned.  She’ll do almost anything for ABC 4 Kids TV.

Scrambled egg on toast it was. Not just any old scrambled eggs.  It had  cheese, capsicum and onion in it. Almost gourmet eggs you could say; but, like I said, she was a champion; a real player.

She ate the toast first. It went down a treat. All gone, in about a minute.  Then came the scrambled eggs with BBQ sauce on it. Well, now we are talking.

She scooped some up on her spoon, had a sniff, turned up her nose and tried to pull the “its too hot” routine.

I didn’t budge. Stand firm I thought; hold the course no matter what! “Blow on it.” I said. ABC Kids was on the line. She knew it. I wasn’t negotiating. So in it went, scrambled eggs with BBQ sauce.

Her face screwed up.

I thought she was in pain.

She struggled to smile, then she announced to the world in general: “I like it.”  It didn’t stop her trying the It’s hot line on the next mouth full but she took another bite, pulling another little face as she looked at me pleadingly, then surprisingly again announced through gritted teeth “I like it.”

Yes, she was a player.

She ate all her lunch, finished the bowl. I was expecting this of her.

Next it was Sir’s turn. His nickname is Sir. Elijah had to play his part in order for ABC Kids TV to come on.

He polished off the toast, no problem there; but baulked at scrambled eggs.

There was going to be resistance here. I knew it. The cards were on the table.  He wasn’t going down without a fight.

He tried to walk away from the table but I stood firm. Blackmail. 

“ABC Kids can only go on after every one has eaten all their lunch.”

Miranda begged him.  She was still sitting at the table waiting for Elijah to keep up his end of the deal.

I encouraged him in the sweetest voice I could muster to “just try it.” You would have thought he was Medusa with the eyes he cast on me.

Elijah picked up the spoon, scooped up a chunk of scrambled eggs and slipped it begrudgingly into his mouth.

He scrunched up his nose and clenched his lips shut. His eyes flashed from me to Miranda and back to me.  He chewed.  He chewed again.  He forced his jaw, with all the might in world, to move up and down.

His eyes began to water … Oh dear.

With spoon in hand he began a little trip hop walk around the room, bouncing slightly from step to step as he tried to come to terms with what was in his mouth.

I watched.

Miranda watched.

He chewed.

He chewed and chewed. I’m surprised there was still food in his mouth to chew on but he chewed some more.

His head began to bounce in time to his trip hop hop scotching.  His spoon waived up and down keeping time to his head. But he found a way to chew some more.

Then it happened.

He gagged.

He gagged some more.

He gagged and gagged then retched with a croak befitting someone ten times his size and years.

I held my breath.

Mirand watched, wide eyed, wite mouthed, not game to smile.

No way was I backing down. I’d drawn the line and I was holding in.   If he threw this up then there was more waiting for him in his bowl.  I saw to that.

He gagged, retched, but kept trying to swallow.  He trip hopped around the room some more.  I thought he was trying to sneak away to throw up out of sight.  Oh No. He was bigger than that. He knew what he was doing.

He turned back to us, his head and spoon bouncing around in time as he trip hopped his way back to the table.

He looked at me. He looked at his bowl.

He gagged.

He gagged again.

He retched. The sound was impressive.

And neatly, in one smooth motion, without any fuss or ado, vomited the whole sloppy mess back up into his bowl.

I didn’t blink. Miranda didn’t blink.  He didn’t blink; and he didn’t spill a drop.  The whole lot, every thing in his stomach, neatly filling his bowl.

He wiped his mouth deftly with the face washer, pressing his lips to his bottle and with his head arched back, took a long deep slug of water like a pro.

His lunch was now soup. Full to the top , his scrambled eggs sunk like a battle ship on the bottom.

Scrambled Eggs Vomit!  Jesus F Christ!

“Can we have ABC Kids now?” Miranda said.

Elijah smiled, all pain forgotten.

Sir pulled a fast one on me didn’t he.

They are watching ABC Kids.

I gave up. I can’t fight that any more.

Have fun.

Peter Hallam.

PS:  They have eaten this several times before, and quiet enjoyed it … or so I thought. 

Filco Majestouch TenKeyless Ninja Cherry MX Black keyswitch keyboard

I just acquired the Tenkeyless version of the Filco Majestouch 2 Ninja mechanical keyboard. Apparently it is “A whole new concept keyboard, [the] Majestouch NINJA, for middle class users or above!” That’s nice of them – For middle class users and above. Hope you are not lower class or you are not invited to have a go. I don’t get it.

First impressions of the Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless Ninja using Cherry Corp MX Black keyswitches.

Wow. I got a new toy, another keyboard to use cause three almost identical Tenkeless Majestouch Filcos aren’t enough. I ‘ve just lost my Limited Edition Filco Cherry Red back to my wife so this one turned up at just the right time.

 What is in the Box

Not much.

A plastic cover moulded to the shape of the keys can be used as a dust protector when the keyboard isn’t being used. Two front-printed Windows Keys are included so the top printed Windows keys, already installed, can be replaced. Why Diatec did that I have no idea because the distinguishing feature of the board, and the reason some people may buy it is because of it’s Ninja aspect.

A key puller is included although because I bought it second hand someone else had liberated it already.

A USB to PS/2 adapter for correct NKRO support.  As it is the USB standard limits Roll Over to only six keys. The Diatec website says “Completely dedicated electronic circuitry, a diode is soldered on the PCB for every key switch to prevent ‘counter currency’ and contributes to its NKRO via PS/2 which is supposedly a big deal or they wouldn’t go to the trouble of mentioning it.

All this stuff is standard with nearly all Filco Keyboards.

Appearance

The key difference, and the from whence the name Ninja is derived is the absence of printing on the top of the keycaps, where the finger pad contacts, but instead the legends are printed on the front of the keycaps. This gives the appearance from the top of a completely blank keyboard much like the Das Ultimate http://www.daskeyboard.com/model-s-ultimate-silent/ that comes without any legends what so ever printed on the keycaps

This version uses Cherry MX Black keyswitches in ASCII US layout. The Tenkeyless version, as it sounds, is missing the number pad on right hand side and is considered a compact keyboard.

There are three red LED’s indicating when Print Screen, Scroll Lock and Pause are enabled.

Physical Construction

The keys texture is smooth but not gloss. Matt is a good description although they lack any abrasive character that would distinguish them from after marked keycaps from WASD Keyboards  or Elite Keyboards . I have a set of WASD Keyboard caps with a slightly course texture however I attribute that partly to the printing on the keycaps. The Ninja’s caps, obviously, have the printing on the front face, not the top face so that alone may lend itself to a slightly smoother keycap. Keep in mind these are the generic keycaps that come bundled with the keyboard.

In the big scheme of things I prefer slightly courser caps. This is because I actually found my finger tips, in essence, sticking somewhat to the surface. The smoothness, not roughness, of the Ninja’s caps allowed my finger tips to grip the keycaps slightly, although I don’t believe this is desirable for touch typists.

Disclaimer: It’s at this point I need to advise that the Filco I purchased is second hand. The slightly smoother than expected surface texture is more than likely due to use, although there are no distinct areas of over use ie: I can’t really tell the traffic areas around rows three and four (the home row.) So it is possible, in fact likely, that the keycaps on a brand new keyboard will be in better condition than a keyboard that has seem some previous use. In saying that though, it is a Majestouch Two which haven’t been out for very long, so the wear that the keyboard in my possession would have experienced is still relatively little. It hasn’t been around as long as an IBM Model M.

The body of the Filco Ninja is much like all Filco Tenkeyless keyboard chassis. It is stiff, heavy and solid. More stiff and solid than than the full length version which is able to be twisted slightly due to the extra length the number pad ads to the chassis. However, I was able to elicit some slight creaking from the chassis when applying significant force. The metal bracing provides this toughness which is expect from a board in its price bracket.

Typing Feel and Resistance

This is the crux of any mechanical keyboard and the reason most, if not all peoples purchase decisions. For the record the author touch types approximately eighty words per minute on a Filco Cherry MX Brown and MX Red.

The Cherry MX Black switches feels very fluid and smooth except with a higher resistance than the other Cherry MX linear switch, the MX Red.

The Cherry MX Black keyswitch is absent of any tactile or audible click such as from the MX Blue keyswitch. The MX Black is a linear keyswitch that has a key stroke of 4mm whilst the actuation point (point of keystroke registration) is present at 2mm. The absence of physical and audible click resulted in constant ‘bottoming out’ on the chassis of the keyboard. The increasing spring resistance through the keystroke did little if anything to prevent or even register with the author that bottoming out would imminently occur.

The keys move like silk; smooth, responsive and satisfying to depress. They are much smoother than the Cherry MX Blues or Browns, because, obviously they have no tactile feedback. The difference in pressure required to depress a key is noticeable compared to the MX Blues, Browns and Reds. However if your coming from any of the Cherry MX keys (apart from Clears) you may notice the increased resistance messes with your typing proficiency. My typo rate went up significantly when initially switching to the board from the Filco Cherry MX Red Majestouch.

Bottoming out was a personal issue and resulted in WASD 40A-L sound dampening o-rings  being installed under the Alpha and Function keys. Sound dampening is a common keyboard modification. The 40A-L Red sound dampening rings reduce the bottoming out sound with a minimal change in feel. They reduce the key travel distance by approximately .2mm, which wasn’t noticeable to the author, and did reduce the volume of noise emitted from the board during hectic bouts of typing.

Keycap Printing

Initially I was concerned that the front printed keycaps would not be easily visible behind the keys in front of them, that the front keys will block out the printing of the keys behind. This is unfounded. Diatec have done some research into what is and isn’t visible from several viewing angles and it is safe to say that unless you are reclined horizontally that you will be able to see the fonts printed on the front face of the keycaps. If you are one of those people who like the Otaku (minimal) look but aren’t a touch typist then the Filco Ninja will be sympathetic to your typing needs.

Evaluation

Pros

The board is solid as a rock. It is also complies with what is expected of a compact keyboard. There are no unnecessary bits surrounding the keys giving a simple and clean look. The front printed keycaps are a nice change from top printed keycaps and touch typists will not have a problem with finger placement. Being a Tenkeyless it doesn’t take up a significant amount of of desk space meaning the mouse can sit much closer to the action near the home row (if you’re right handed that is).

Cons

The USB cable, whilst descent, isn’t as heavy duty as some of the older keyboards I’ve used. This isn’t a big deal, it works, but for a keyboard in this price range it wouldn’t have hurt to include a heavy duty cable. Most people when spending almost a hundred and fifty Australian dollars on a keyboard will expect to have it for more than a few years and a heavy duty cable would have been a nice inclusion by Diatec to demonstrate that you will in fact get at least half a decades worth of use out of it.

The red LED’s are reasonably bright but not blindingly so although I find them a little distracting. It would have been nice if Diatec could have used black LEDS (the purple UV LED’s) as this would have lent itself to the Cherry MX Black theme cosmetically.

This doesn’t have any gaming features or programmable keys. Much like Lingerie you get the bare essentials, obviously minus the right hand keypad because it is a Tenkeyless version. There are no media keys, volume control or hot keys. I use Linux and these are programmed into keyboard short cuts anyway, which I find infinitely faster and easier, but some people may miss the media keys.

Conclusion

I was surprised by the feel of the Filco Ninja MX Black Mechanical keyboard. I came directly from an MX Red (non-Ninja) version of the same keyboard, a Majestouch 2, and the difference was interesting. There is a 15g resistance difference between the two Filco’s and whilst this wasn’t apparent immediately, after extended periods of typing I noticed more typing fatigue on the MX Black than I did on the MX Red version.

Personal preference is the major guiding factor when purchasing a keyboard however I don’t believe this is a typists keyboard. Whilst there is some conjecture over which keycaps gamers prefer, as a typist, especially during bursts of frenetic inspiration, I think most typists would prefer something with a lighter feel and less resistance; either clicky or linear, with less resistance than the sixty grams of force offered by the Cherry MX Black keyswitches that came with this particular keyboard. I found the increased resistance inhibited my typing flow rather than contributing to it. Again thou, this is a matter of personal preference.

The Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless Ninja mechanical keyboard is a piece of quality kit. But, it isn’t exactly designed for typists and appears to lack some of the features required to make it a media or gaming keyboard.

For the price, some people may feel a little let down and should probably buy something else. You can buy a Leopold for almost forty dollars cheaper with almost identical features. The build of the Leopold isn’t quite as good, although it isn’t a shabby piece of kit either, but will represent better value with an almost identical feature set.

Buy this board if you already have several others and you are just itching to have ‘the last one to complete your Filco Tenkeyless collection, or you are a gamer who wants to hammer out keystrokes like a maniac during high FPS or, otherwise, get something else.

Have Fun

Peter

Word of God or Witch Trials?

I have the plugin Fortune Message installed on my Fedora 17 Computer System that gives a quote or Fortune Message prior to the prompt whenever I log into a Bash Terminal.

It is quite informative and interesting. I believe most of the information is drawn from Larry Wall’s Website www.Wall.org.  Unfortunately Larry Wall’s favourite colour is chartreuse. I have no idea why he would do that to peoples retinas but I can only guess it is to try and keep people away from his website.

The daily quotes and miscellaneous information it comes up with are the type of things I would not have considered worth trawling the Internet for.

Today I was provided with this little gem:

Inadmissible Evidence: Not competent to be considered. Said of certain kinds of testimony which juries are supposed to be unfit to be entrusted with, and which judges, therefore, rule out, even of proceedings before themselves alone.

Hearsay evidence is inadmissible because the person quoted was unsworn and is not before the court for examination; yet most momentous actions, military, political, commercial and of every other kind, are daily undertaken on hearsay evidence. There is no religion in the world that has any other basis than hearsay evidence. Revelation is hearsay evidence; that the Scriptures are the word of God we have only the testimony of men long dead whose identity is not clearly established and who are not known to have been sworn in any sense. Under the rules of evidence as they now exist in this country, no single assertion in the Bible has in its support any evidence admissible in a court of law…

Admissible Evidence:  is any evidence or testimony that may be introduced to establish or to bolster a point put forth by a party to the proceeding. In order for evidence to be admissible, it must be relevant, without being prejudicial, and it have some indicia of reliability.

Records of courts of justice are admissible, it can easily be proved that powerful and malevolent magicians once existed and were a scourge to mankind. The evidence (including confession) upon which certain women were convicted of witchcraft and executed was without a flaw; it is still unimpeachable. The judges’ decisions based on it were sound in logic and in law. Nothing in any existing court was ever more thoroughly proved than the charges of witchcraft and sorcery for which so many suffered death. If there were no witches, human testimony and human reason are alike destitute of value. –Ambrose Bierce

Wise hands consider the word of god … in context.

So, on the basis of what we understand about The Court of Law and what is Admissible and Inadmissible Evidence, the Witch Trials are considered to be admissible evidence according to a Court of Law but the Bible isn’t admissible evidence. The reasoning behind this is that the Witch Trials were documented, witnessed, verified according to the church of the day, and we have names, dates and verbatim records of the proceedings as they happened at the time. Albeit documented by the church of the day.

It’s interesting the conundrum that presents to those of us in the world who place more emphasis on the Faith of Religion than on the practicalities of empiricism; especially when you consider that the Priests who ruled over the Witch Trials, in which tens of thousands of people were burnt alive, were acting in the Word of God.

At least we can be certain that God is in fact a Woman, not a man as the Church would have us believe, otherwise we really are all up the creek with our beliefs.

Have Fun

Peter Hallam

a title=”Admissible Evidence is evidence that can be considered” href=”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Admissible_evidence”

I just talked a friend into starting her own blog.  Have a look.

I have to hand it to her, what a domain name www.booblemuppet.com

I love it. 

Have fun Carlin.

Peter

I’ve arrived back from an extended holiday overseas, I am now suffering jetlag, or so I’ve been told.

It’s been five days and my sleeping patterns are still nowhere close to normal. I wake at 2am and, it’s like “bing” my mind and eyes are ready to go. It’s game over and I just can’t get back to sleep.

Headaches in the country side

I have just arrived back in Australia after spending 2 months in country Wales. It was fantastic. I’d go back in an instant if I had the chance, except life commitments in Oz impact on my travel options; kids, school, work etc. Those sort of things do influence your travel options. It was great, I really enjoyed it but there was one thing about Wales, country Wales that is, that has emphasised itself on me. In country Wales I didn’t get any headaches.

The headaches I get in Brisbane, Australia; are moments of pressure inside your head, on one side or the other, sometimes from the back or the front, and, as fare as I’m concerned, seem to depend on what electronics are in the area at the time. Those pressure headaches are brief, not like migraines, which, thank god I am not afflicted by; and they come and go.

The pressure headaches I am referring to appear as your driving slowly past a cafe, with free wireless to entice the customers in; they pop up when your at an intersection with a wireless TV traffic monitoring camera; or they appear when your standing near a mobile phone tower.

However, those pressure headaches were absent nearly all the time we were in country Wales. 

Is this a figment of my imagination?

I use to think I was being silly and that it was just a figment of my imagination; that it was all, quite literally in my head. But, now, I know its not my imagination. All the wireless stuff is messing with my head; and my mind, literally.

To some people this probably sounds far fetched; some sort of conspiracy idea. If it was jetlag I was under the impression I should be over it by now. Interestingly, I didn’t get these headaches when I arrived in country Wales in the UK. And I didn’t get insomnia.  I slept like a log. “Insomnia, what’s that?”

“There is wireless stuff everywhere; and the Telco’s (telephone companies) wouldn’t do that to us. We’ve been living with this microwave radiation for years; everyone is exposed to it.”

 However, when you look closely at things, lots of questionable things, many things have been done in the pursuit of money.

Wireless Internet 

In Wales there was only a laptop with no hardwired internet connection. The only way to connect to the internet was via wireless.

However, the wireless on the laptop was switched off nearly all the time.  There was no need for the internet and infrequent checks of email. The laptop was just used to write.

I was staying with my wife and children at my father inlaws house in the country. It is a big old house, several hundred years old, made of stone, wattle and daub, with lead and slate roofing and anything else they used to build houses with two hundred years ago. The external walls are three quarters of a metre thick, and the internal walls not much less; all made of stone, and sodden with more than two hundred years of rising damp.

 My father inlaw has the internet, and wireless on his router. But that was it! Nothing else. What I mean is, there was noting else in the area. His was the only wireless connection my laptop could pick up. One wireless signal. Nothing else made it through those thick stone walls. Nothing else was even close enough to be detected. The mobile phone couldn’t even pick up signal where we were, so it was switched off 99% of the time. My father inlaw said his could receive a mobile signal; but for some reason it always went to message bank when someone called him, unless he was standing at the front door waiting for a call. The mobile phone tower could be seen from the front door (sort of) but was almost two and a half miles away (miles not kilometers). Anyway, my mobile was always switched off; I had no global roaming and wasn’t expecting any calls.

Wireless Internet in Brisbane

Arriving home to my unit in Brisbane, I switched the laptop. It was the first thing I did, more out of curiosity than any need to get online because I don’t have a personal wireless internet connection at home. Never the less , I switched on the wireless.

The unit is surrounded by other units and my laptop instantly picked up 18 wireless networks in range. And, just through the trees a few hundred metres away there are also mobile phone towers. And the insomnia has returned. 

I wonder if these headaches I’m getting, the insomnia are in fact jetlag or, is it really all just in my head? Or is it all the wireless internet? I wonder … ? 

I’ve had two months without mobile phones, wireless, or any other ultra modern electronics bar a photo camera, TV at night, and kitchen mod cons. But, now, back in Brisbane, I think I can feel the EMR (Electromagnetic Radiation), more commonly known as EMP (Electromagnetic Pollution) or EMS (Electromagnetic Smog). I think is termed as Electromagnetic Pollution or Electromagnetic Smog because health authorities have been trying not to use the word radiation when referring to the microwave radiation band of the electromagnetic spectrum.

It’s amazing how people react when you use the word radiation in a conversation. Their eyes go wider and they get fidgety. But use the word microwave instead and everyone is a-ok and fine with it all. Funny about that.

So, there are questions that need to be answered here. Questions about wireless radiation and why I am suddenly getting pressure headaches again now I’m in Brisbane and surrounded by wireless internet networks.

Take note if you get any headaches or have insomnia around wireless internet devices.   

Have Fun, 

Peter Hallam

Recently I decided to try this thing called a Wireless Network.  

I know, I know. Your thinking “Why are you still living in the dark ages.  This wireless stuff has been around for years… Get with the program and catch up with everyone else” you are probably thinking.

Well, I did just that.  I updated my network; installed a couple of wireless cards into the computers in my house; unplugged the laptop from the LAN and switched on the wireless setting on my router.

All good!  Up and running.   Then about 30 seconds later I get a sharp pain in the side of my head!  The right side to be exact, extending  in a line from the base of my right ear up over the top of my heard to half way down the other side almost to the top of my left ear.  Weird!  I felt wired, like I’d drunk 3 esspressos in 5 minutes.  Or was it the wireless radiation?

 I think it is the wireless radiation that is getting to me.   

There are three things that should not be separated; International Travel, Children, and Baby Panodol. It can be done, international travel with children that is; but I wouldn’t recommend it; not to anyone unless you have a bottle of Baby Panodol to drug them with.

Before you go crying foul, for the record I don’t mean drug them literally, but, that’s what Baby Panodol is, a drug of sorts, although the manufacturers would rather call it something else, whatever it is.

This all relates to Life BC. What is life before children you may be asking. Well, Life Before Children, as it relates to the less than enlightened, pertains to that blissful ignorance that all things a light and roses.

The reason being, recently whilst undertaking some international travel, the first since BC, Life Before Children (more on that soon), my youngest child literally went nuts about a half hour into the flight! I mean, he really went nut!  He cried, screamed, threw things across the plane cabin; you name it, from about a half hour into the flight and continued for the next three hours he just plain lost his marbles.

He really knew how to pull my strings, and there was nothing I could do about it. I still haven’t figured out what he was distressed about.  He wasn’t in pain.  But I was.

So, what I mean when I say something to drug your child with is that you need to have a child trauma backup treatment on hand; something to take the edge off a major tantrum.  I don’t recommend first time international travel with a young child to anyone; unless of course you have a bottle of Baby Panodol.

Back to the diatribe; So, what does all this mean to the uninitiated?

Life BC – Before Children

Well, it means that travel is no longer a pleasant experience; as it was with life BC (Life Before Children, ie BC rather, International Travel is an undertaking that should be considered long and hard; considered in the same manner that would accompany someone who is resigned to facing the firing squad. You will suffer at the hands of the toddler, and there isn’t anything one can do to address it.

Life Before Children was devoid of consideration for others to any significant degree.  But, Life After Children, is a whole different kettle of fish. You can’t escape that. You have to consider your kids.

Enjoy Your Trip, and consider Baby Panodol; just in case.

Peter Hallam

For the past few years I’ve been waking up at 3am, sometime 3:30am no matter what time I go to sleep at night.

It’s weird.  I don’t know why.  It’s pissing me off. For some reason my eyes snap open in the wee hours of the morning, my mind starts going, and it is basically game over. I’m awake for the day.

By 10am that morning, I’m exhausted.  This will sound funny to some, stupid to others, but I hope there is someone who doesn’t laugh; It’s almost as if someone is playing games with my Is it sleep.

Is this Insomnia?  Technically I get some sleep; but it’s only ever 3, 4 or 5 hours. Before moving to Brisbane, Australia, I was use to 7 or 8 hours solid sleep.  Then I’d wake and power through the day.  Now, it’s as if I’m always running on empty.  I’m am now officially sick of it.   But there is no way I’m going to take pills just to knock me out.

I can’t figure it out.

Sleep tight. 

Peter

SOPA is what the big media corporations have always wanted; and it is what they have been working towards for more than a decade.  SOPA makes someone else take responsiblity for enforcing copyright owners rights; and forces smaller organisations who do not have the resources to respond to accusations of copyright infringement; into a policing roll where they have no choice but to comply with the directives of the larger media orgainisations.  

It sounds like a hair brained computer geek conspiracy theory doesn’t it.  

But it isn’t …

It’s SOPA and Protect IP - the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Bills currently before US Parliamentary Congress; and it is due to be passed into legislation and become law very soon.

The main problem with SOPA and the Protect IP Bills is that they don’t actually stop online piracy.  The bills only server to make ISP’s liable for copyright infringements; or police the internet usage of their customers.  It is akin to using dynamite to dig holes to plant seeds. And the policy is 

If you are a US Citizen or living the US, tell US Congress not to censor the internet NOW! – http://www.fightforthefuture.org/pipa

“PROTECT-IP is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate and the House and is moving quickly through Congress. It gives the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting “creativity”. The law would let the government or corporations censor entire sites– they just have to convince a judge that the site is “dedicated to copyright infringement.”

The government has already wrongly shut down sites without any recourse to the site owner. Under this bill, sharing a video with anything copyrighted in it, or what sites like Youtube and Twitter do, would be considered illegal behavior according to this bill.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill would cost us $47 million tax dollars a year — that’s for a fix that won’t work, disrupts the internet, stifles innovation, shuts out diverse voices, and censors the internet. This bill is bad for creativity and does not protect your rights.“

PROTECT-IP is a bill that has been introduced in the Senate and the House and is moving quickly through Congress. It gives the government and corporations the ability to censor the net, in the name of protecting “creativity”. The law would let the government or corporations censor entire sites– they just have to convince a judge that the site is “dedicated to copyright infringement.”

The government has already wrongly shut down sites without any recourse to the site owner. Under this bill, sharing a video with anything copyrighted in it, or what sites like Youtube and Twitter do, would be considered illegal behavior according to this bill.

According to the Congressional Budget Office, this bill would cost us $47 million tax dollars a year — that’s for a fix that won’t work, disrupts the internet, stifles innovation, shuts out diverse voices, and censors the internet. This bill is bad for creativity and does not protect your rights.

The SOPA Bill is the Ultimate Internet Filter; designed to make Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) responsible for what Internet Consumers are able to view and access. It will put in place the tools required to implement internet filtering at the whim of Corporations and Governments; with little practical right of reply to accusations.   

The US SOPA and Protect IP Bill’s place the owneus of law enforcement on those people who do not have the resources to implement or defend themselves against it’s directives.  The SOPA and IP Bilss enable someone to simply make an accusation, in some cases an unfounded accusation, and compliance by the internet service providor is automatically required or they can be held financiall and legally liable for facilitating access to the content mentioned in the accusation.  It is extreemly expensive and difficult to police and   

The US SOPA and Protect IP Bill’s allow copyright owners to accuse others of infringement or facilitating infringement and make them liable prior to any valid claim being presented to substanciate the accusation. 

The United States Government wants to pass a bill that will enable US Media Corporations the power to shut down any internet site that is accused of hosting or copyrighted material. The Bill will provide powers to the Untied States Government and the United States Entertainment Industry that extend far far beyond the enforcement of simple copyright law. The bill will enable the shut down of ANY website that is ACCUSED of violations of the copyright act; regardless of whether the accusation is correct or not. The Bill places the ownus on internet service providers to police the material that internet uses can access, regardless of the actual content that is viewed.

Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and its sister bill in the Senate, the Protect IP Act, or PIPA. Both bills attempt to deal with online sites that traffic in illegally copied content, but at extreme cost of remaking the architecture of the internet itself. That’s a high price to pay, especially since neither bill will actually curb real piracy: SOPA and PIPA are the effective equivalent of blowing up every road, bridge, and tunnel in New York to keep people from getting to one bootleg stand in Union Square — but leaving the stand itself alone.

The below excert is from Yahoo Answeres and was voted the most correct. It states:

In October, the “Stop Online Piracy Act”, was introduce by House Judiciary Committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas). S.O.P.A. was submitted in addition to the Senate’s “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act”, (P.R.O.T.E.C.T. IP). The film industry , pharmaceutical industry are supporting the bill, among other groups. 

Opponents state that the bill would give the government too much authority over websites and the capacity to close them down simply by hosting copyrighted material. The restriction of free speech/expression is a concern for many which include Google, right wing political parties, Twitter, Facebook, Mozilla, Yahoo, AOL, E-bay, etc.. Opponents insist that legislation should specifically target foreign “rogue” websites that violate US copyright laws. 

Thus: 

The United States Government is about to pass a bill that will provide US Corporations and Government with the power to demand Internet Service Providers shut down or remove access to any internet site that is accused of hosting or providing access to copyrighted material.  

The concern over SOPA isn’t actually removing access to illegal copyrighted material.  United States companies apparently lose approximately 135 billion US annually to online piracy. It is an issue that needs to be addressed in some manner. The primary concern with SOPA is that the internet filtering put in place to prevent access to illegal media content will eventually be extended to include material that is deemed politically divergent from current Governmental objectives … ie: those people that don’t agree with a Governments political or economic policy.  

Why are the U.S. SOPA and Protect IP Bill’s relevant to Australia? 

Australia signed an agreement with the United States called the Australia / US Free Trade Agreement. It incorporates directives that require Internet Service Providers and Content and Web Hosts to automatic comply with Judgements passed by the U.S. Justice Department requires ISP’s and Australian Content Hosts to enforce those judgements automaticlly within Australian Jurisdictions.  

That means that the Australian Law Enforcement sector is bound by law to enforce US DMCA (Digital Mellinium Copyright Act) Legislation in Australia.  This, by extension of the IP Act, holds Internet Service Providers (ISP’s) liable to enforce the provisions of  the US SOPA and Protect IP Bills, or face prosocution by U.S. Media Corporations for not doing so.

Why are all these shenanigans important in Australia?

This is important to Australian Internet Users because we recently defeated an attempt to by Government to implement an Internet Filter in Australia. If the U.S. SOPA Bill is pass, then the Austrailian Govenrment will be required by law subject to the Australian / US Free Trade Agreement signed by the John Howard Liberal Government, to implement the very measures the Australian People voted AGAINST in the 2009 Federal Election.  That’s right.  It will be a requirement as a result of our international contractual obligations with the United States to implement the tools to filter internet sites according to U.S. Judicial directives and judgements.  Australia will recive an Internet Filter in accordance with directives from the U.S. Department of Justice via compliance with the U.S. DMCA. 

http://www.ilaw.com.au/public/ftaarticle.html

From WikiPedia: Although the United States White House is reported as stating On January 14, 2012: “Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small.” and “We must avoid creating new cyber-security risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the Internet”^[8][9][10] puts in place the tools required to moderate peoples access to certain online content and resources. 

SOPA is the beginning of the censorship of the internet on a global scale. The tools legislation required to implement SOPA will provide the means to censor any material published on the Internet.  Think Nazi Gemany in the Second World War, Iran, George Orwells novel 1984 and the current situation in North Korea.   That is what happens when public discussion is censored.  The Inernet is a communication medium.  SOPA will eventually result in censorship of everyone. 

UPDATE

The block IP internet filter provision of SOPA has been removed in order to facilitate its progress through the US Senate.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-31001_3-57358947-261/dns-provision-pulled-from-sopa-victory-for-opponents/?tag=txt;title

Resources 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PROTECT_IP_Act

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

This website was recently hacked  by chliZAceh.   Thanks mate; I appreciate that.

I’ve been trying rying to fix your work in between changing my kids dirty nappies, preparing dinner for my wife when she gets home from work, cleaning up the house and helping other people with their NerdBox issues … so your handiwork is very much appreciated.  Yeah, thanks mate, thanks very much! 

A seemingly nice chap, chliZAceh  at least had the decency to leave the files on the server intact and just inserted a dummy home page which got served up by the webserver instead of my material. Essentially his dummy webpage masked my content.

The articles on this website were still accessible by direct link or search engine.   That was nice of him if I must say and a pleasant surprise considering some hackers are nothing more than vandals who just want to hurt people and upset them for no other motive than self serving satisfaction.  

chliZAceh left my site in a recoverable state.  So thanks for that chliZAceh.  I wish I knew how to pronounce your name.  If I was familiar with Indonesian then I would probably have some idea but unfortunately I’m not fluent in Indonesian so I don’t understand what they were singing about. 

Actually, chliZAceh has a lot of good stuff, tips and tricks, and reviews on his website, but it does not change the fact he hacked mine for no apparent reason.

Hacked Why?

I have no idea why  I was hacked by chliZAceh or why he hacked my web host account at JustHost.com. My web host uses a Linux (or Nix) server so I thought it would be a little more secure that it was. Or, it could just be my lack of security adherence.

chliZAceh appears to be a hacker with a political chip on his shoulder and decided he wanted an innocent person to suffer; thus choosing as well as many others. I can appreciate the principals and the cause he claims to stand for, but there is no way he is going to promote that cause in a sympathetic manner by hacking a blog that has absolutely nothing to do with whatever it is he trying to stand up for.

If a hacker is serious about what whey stand for then they would go after the big worthwhile targets; entities like governments, military organisations or major law enforcement services.  I don’t know how hacking a website that talks about Colemak keyboard layout, typing, computer keyboard switches and meditation exercises will further his cause, but I can assure him, it doesn’t.

Being hacked by chliZAceh doesn’t really make any sense  because I’ve nothing on this site that he would want to protest against; other than some meditation articles. I’m not pro or anti Muslim, and in fact I am sympathetic to the plight of the Palastinians in the Middle East. So, I’m not sure why he singled me out. 

Hacked How? 

chliZAceh appears to have found a vulnerability in WordPress or JustHost webhosts and written a script to exploit that vulnerability (perhaps).  Really, I don’t know how, this is just a guess.  But, he gained access to my site at webhost level effectively bypassing WordPress security.

He has been very busy and by the volume of websites he has hacked it would appear to be automated.  I’m not sure how good he is but there doesn’t seem to be enough hours in the day to hack 95 or 100 websites; so he is obviously using an automated script. 

However, the hack its self is a simple html document called index.htm that gets served up to the web browser before any other requests are processed.   This serves to mask the website from the internet and only shows the html page uploaded by chliZAceh to the web server. 

How to Fix a site hacked by chliZAceh

To fix a website hacked by chliZAceh’s you need to have administrator privilages and log onto your webserver or webmaster admin panel.  The fix is as simple as removing chliZAceh’s index.htm file because this is what is served up to web visitors before your own content.  

You may notice that the file and folder permissions have been changed too.  If you are running on a Linux Apache webserver then these permissions should be 755 for folders and 644 for flies.  

This fix worked for me.  If you find yourself hacked by chliZAceh you should try this fix first.  Although, he may read this post and subsequently change his tactics.  In fact, he may read this post and come back and trash this site. 

In retrospect being hacked by chliZAceh wasn’t that bad.  I was a pain in the neck but it could have been much worse. 

Try to Have Fun

Try to have fun with this and consider it a learning curve. It was a pain in the neck fixing a site hacked by chliZAceh but it’s not impossible, and relatively easy once you understand how the hack was done.  But, I still can’t figure out why my site was chosen. 

Peter Hallam

Ever Killed a Computer?

Every computer geek has a story about the most stupid thing they have ever done to a computer; often making you wonder at the intelligence level of those people. However, some of the stories, usually the most entertaining, boarder on idiocy. You may even consider Electric Shock lunacy but some computer geeks think nothing of it.

This is a story about a The Graphics Card Genie and a Dead Nerdbox. It is the stupidest and most bewildering computer experiences I’ve ever encountered; and it happened to me a few days ago.

Setting up a computer the other day, I was came across a cheap 9800GT I had laying around and had never put to use. It was actually the most powerful graphics card I had at the time and I was itching to get my dollars worth out of it. 

It was a Galaxy 9800GT 512 megabyte and a bit of an oddity at that. It has two six pin power connectors which isn’t usual for a card of its type. It didn’t come with instructions when purchased so I didn’t know which power connector to use.

It can’t be that hard I thought; just try each one to see if it works. I was impatient and didn’t bother turning the computer off and on to unplug any of the cables. That, as you can guess (wipe the smile off your face, it gets better) is where I went wrong.

Electric Shock

Mostly it was the fan, audio and sata cables being unplugged, but a power cable ended up being one of them. I knew what is was, and knew I shouldn’t but just thought I could get away with it.

So, I had the power cable to the 9800GT in hand and gave it a short yank … and POP! There was a loud crack and everything shut off; dead.

It was quite a loud noise actually, accompanied by smoke escaping in several obvious white wisps; just as if the graphics card Genie was saying “I’m Free … I’m Free.”

I was a bit of a stunned mullet for a minute or so. I waited for the smoke and spark to turn into flames; for the burnt plastic smell to get stronger; and for the shock I just felt to subside. It was all rather emotional. My media PC and the most powerful graphics card I owned had now gone to the gods; back the great circuit chip maker in the sky.

I didn’t touch anything, didn’t move, just held the power cable in hand, stared, and waited, hoping beyond hope for some miracle; then got up walked away bewildered to make a cup of tea; abandoning the dead carcass of a puter sitting on the floor of the room. There was no hope for it. Not with that smoke, smell, spark and the jolt I got.

Half an hour later whilst trying to come to terms with the computer crisis my wife comes up behind me, patting me on the back saying ‘there there NerdBox … there there NerdBox’ (her pet name for me is NerdBox Pro) ‘… it will be okay.‘ She was grinning like a Cheshire cat whilst she says this. Then came out with ‘Have you tried turning it back on?‘

I’m like ‘What? …. What … do you think you are talking about. THERE WAS SMOKE! There was a spark … and a POP… and the smell of burning plastic. I just zapped myself! … Have I tried turning it back on!’

She smiles again. ‘You could try.‘ she says encouraging me, still rubbing small circles on my back. It was all a bit much to take at the time so, still a bit stunned I get up all set to try and spite her and show her what a stupid idea it was of hers to try and turn it back on. I wanted to show her in no uncertain terms that the reality of electronics, electricity and physics don’t play according to what she thinks.

I’ll Show Her!

Fortified with resolve to show her up I go back in to my dead nerdbox, plug in the cables and press the switch … theres a lone beep, and I’ll be damned - the thing starts up! It bloody well starts up – boots perfectly fact; my graphics card and the rest of the puter doing exactly what it’s supposed to. It’s called humble pie somehow. This is what makes a married computer geeks bite the bullet and go and apologise for a stern voice at his bunny of a wife. Unfortunately I was almost more pissed off that rotten computer was working and the shock of almost blowing it up was all for naught.

Anyway, smoke or not, that nearly dead nerdbox is working now. I’m not sure what blew up but there was a spark; don’t know where the smoke came from but smelt burnt plastic; and have know idea what made the tortured circuit noise, but what I thought would be a dead computer is playing music in my living room as I type these words.

My nerdbox came back from the dead. I can’t figure it out, and for that matter, I no longer care, its working now and that is all that matters.

Thank you graphics card Genie, for coming home; and sorry darling, for doubting the genius that was your sympathetic advice.

Be grateful for the advice you get, even if you don’t wan to hear it. Sometimes, it’s the best thing you can possibly hear.

Have fun.

Peter Hallam

Why are Mechanical Keyboards like Lingerie? Well, the more you pay the less you get, the smaller it is and the better it looks.

Also: Mechanical Keyboard follow the car rule. Car size in inversely proportional to crotch size. The bigger the keyboard you need in front, the less equipment you have down below.

Have Fun

Peter Hallam

This article is about one type of keyswitch found on Mechanical Keyboards; the Cherry MX Red keyswitch, and why you may like to use this particular mechanical keyswitch for typing. Are you confused about Mechanical Keyboards? Why you would want to spend ten times as much on a Mechanical Keyboard as you would on a bog standard one?

What’s next – Quick Links to Cherry MX Red impressions:

• Mechanical Keyboards and keyswitches: The Basics
• Personal Impression
• Typing Proficiency and Accuracy
• Video of Typing on Cherry MX Red keyswitches
• Will You Like Cherry MX Red Keyswitches
• Durability
• Pro’s and Con’s
• Technical Nerdbox Details
• Actuation Force
• Availability

This review is typed on a Filco Majestouch Mechanical Keyboard with Cherry MX Red keyswitches using the Colemak keyboard layout.

First things first; what the hell is a Mechanical Keyboard you’re probably thinking? The reason why you would want a mechanical keyboard is because they provide the best typing experience you can get.

What is a Mechanical Keyboard?

Most likely your current keyboard is a cheap rubber dome type from Logitech or Microsoft or a low profile scissor switch type found in laptops. Both are simple, cheap, and easy to make. Most people are aware of nothing other than those two varieties and will likely never have encountered a mechanical keyboard.

However, if you know a keyboard enthusiast, or are a budding keyboard enthusiast (from which there is no turning back) and you care about the typing experience as you write, then it may have been bought to your attention that there is a third much more appealing type of keyboard lurking out there; the Mechanical Keyboard; where each key has its own dedicated manual keyswitch.

Mechanical Keyboards and Keyswitches – The Basics

Cherry MX Brown Force Diagram

The typing experience from a Mechanical Keyboard is dictated by the type of keyswitch it utilises. Most mechanical keyboard manufacturers release several versions of the same model each with a different type of keyswitch in order to provide the user with a choice of tactile typing experiences.

Different keyswitches provide variations in feel, fluidity (of finger depression), resistance, key cap profile (shape) and overall general typing experience. Don’t be overwhelmed by all these nuances, it is what makes some keyboards a dream to type on whilst leaving others feeling like you are struggling in sticky mud. Sticky mud is a reference to rubber dome or rubber membrane keyboards. Read on.

Some typists claim to have increased the accuracy and speed when typing on a mechanical keyboard, but that is a personal experience and probably more closely related to the usage than attributing it to the presence of high quality components.

Personal Impression

The authors first experience with mechanical keyboards was using a Filco Majestouch TenKeyless with Cherry MX Brown Keyswitches. Cherry MX Brown’s are classed as Tactile Non-Clicky (silent-ish)switch that has a tactile bump half way down the shaft that actuates or registers a key stroke when the keyswitch is depressed.

Cherry MX Red Linear Keyswitch

Cherry MX Red Force Diagram

Cherry MX Red Keyswitches are classed as a Linear Non-Tactile Non-Clicky keyswitch with the actuation point absent of any tactile or audible actuation feedback during operation. This results in a very smooth action giving an almost silky or fluid typing experience.

The keys respond sharply and precisely with only slight effort required of the fingers. With only 45 grams of finger resistance Cherry MX Red Keyswitches have the least resistance of all Cherry Corp keyswitches.

It took a week to get used to the silky smooth feel of Cherry MX Red’s however over zealous typing often results in bottoming out on the base plate of the keyboard resulting in a louder thud than usual. This is a noticeable noise but becomes less distracting as you adapt to Cherry Mx Reds.

The lack of tactile feedback resulted in the keyboard feeling a little unforgiving for want of a better word. It registered keystrokes cleanly and efficiently every time; whether you accuracy was perfect or abysmal. This will be a good thing for touch typists because the light resistance allows your fingers to seemingly flow across the keyboard as you type as the Cherry MX Red’s yield well to a light touch.

Typing Proficiency and Accuracy

The use of Cherry MX Red Keyswitchs resulted in an initial deterioration in the authors typing accuracy; down from 97.5% accuracy by approximately 3-4%, last recorded at 94.5%. However this was an adaptation phase and as my hand and typing got use to the tangibly lighter feel, using the switch felt as if your fingers were gliding over the keys. Typing accuracy is at approximately 96.5%.

The lack of tactile feedback can also, apparently, result in a higher typographical error rate than with other switches which provide tactile (clicky) feedback upon key actuation (Cherry MX Brown and Cherry MX Blue keyswitch).

Many typist may not mind this because you will soon get used to the feel of the switch and learn to only depress the switch approximately 3mm of the full 4mm distance the shaft is capable of travelling. This may sound absurd but is quite common for typists to develop this level of familiarity and habit with a mechanical keyboard. This is the stage the author is just about at now; only depressing the switch enough to register a keystroke and not bottom out on the keyboards metal base plate.

YouTube Video: Typing with Cherry MX Red Keyswitches

This is a video of typing with an a mechanical Keyboard using Cherry MX Mechanical Keyswitches.  The sound of the MX Red Keyswitch is fluid, with most of the noise present evident from the typist bottoming out on the baseplate of the keyboard. Proficient typists will not have this problem as they should adapt to the travel distance of the shaft in the barrel. Note the ping sound of the key returning to its original position.

Cherry MX Red Keyswitch

Will You Like Cherry MX Red Keyswitches?

Will you like Cherry MX Red Keyswitches? In all honesty, I can’t tell you. Everyone’s’ preference and typing habits are different. Some people will find this keyswitch a dream to type on because it is so light and fluid whilst others will loath it for its lack of tactile feedback.

As a side note, my wife prefers this switch to the other types of keyswitches in use in the office; of which there are four: a Filco Majestouch Tenkeyless with Cherry MX Browns, another Filco Tenkeyless with Cherry MX Blues, and a Dell 104 key rubber membrane (dome) type keyboard.

So,in general, females do tend to prefer Cherry MX Red Keyswitches because they are light to the touch allowing your fingers to feel as if they are gliding over the keys. Males may prefer Cherry MX Browns or Cherry MX Blue’s because they are a little heavier to the touch and provide a satisfying acknowledgement that your key press has been received. MX Blues are the same as Browns, tactile, but MUCH noisier.

Cherry MX Reds do require some getting use to but provide a pleasant, even fun, typing experience with no fatigue noted during use. Most of the authors typing sessions were between 20 – 60 minutes between OH & S breaks and within those time frames finger exertion or fatigue were absent. The author use to suffer from mild RSI till abandoning the use of the mouse and focusing solely on keyboard shortcuts.

The aspects of mechanical keyswitches appraised in this article form the basis of a day to day typing experience. Typists adapt to the feel of a particular keyswitch and develop an affinity with the small nuances that differentiate one from another.

If you are a proficient typist with a high accuracy and speed then the lack of tactile feedback will be a minor, if not irrelevant concern. It will take a few days to a week to adapt to a new keyboard and how it responds to you personally, but over time I believe you will enjoy typing on Cherry MX Reds.

Durability

The advantages of a Mechanical Keyboard include more pleasurable typing experience, superior durability with many mechanical keyboards offering up to 50 million keystrokes, per key, before the typing experience is degraded. Cherry MX Keyswitches set this benchmark and are rated for a lifetime of 50 million keystrokes.

50 Million is a lot of keystrokes. It equates to a lifetime measured in decades. Most typists will only type a particular key up to 2 or 3 million times in a year. When compared to rubber dome switches which are rated at approximately 5 million keystrokes; scissor style keyswitches with approximately 8 – 10 million keystroke lifespan [  ] the durability and longevity of mechanical keyboards begins to justify the price premium.

Summary – Pro’s and Con’s

Pro’s

• Smooth and light feel.
• Reduced finger fatigue
• No tactile bump at actuation point.
• Quieter than than non-linear keyswitches
• My speed up touch typing speed once adapted tactile feel
• Some women prefer Cherry MX Red keyswitches

Con’s

• Rarer (harder to find) than Cherry MX Browns, Blues, or Blacks
• More expensive than other Cherry MX keyswitches due to lack of availability
• Tendency for typist to bottom out on mounting plate of keyboard due to absence of tactile feedback.
• Some typists my prefer more tactile feedback during typing.
• Men may prefer to try a heavier keyswitch
• Not suitable for gaming.

Technical NerdBox Details

The Cherry MX Red Switch is a linear type mechanical keyboard switch made by the German manufacturer Cherry Corp. It is distinguished by a Red Shaft as per its name, which travels 4mm down into the barrel of the switch; with actuation occurring precisely 2mm through the depression. Further information can be found here.

Actuation Force (measured in cN – CentiNewtons)

The actuation pressure of the Cherry MX Red Switch is 45cN, written as CentiNewtons, or cN, of downward force, and is equivalent to approximately 45 grams of resistance at the point of actuation, with resistance increasing marginally towards the bottom of the keystroke when the spring is under maximum compression. 45 grams (or 45cN CentiNewtons) is considered to be a light amount of force compared with other Cherry MX Keyswitches; and is in fact the least resistance of all Cherry MX Keyswitches.

Availability

The Cherry MX Red Switch was considered to be a Limited Edition switch because Cherry claimed to be no longer manufacturing them in 2010 according to Ducky a mechanical keyboard manufacturer. However Leopold,another mechanical keyboard manufacturer has recently released a line of keyboards with Cherry MX Red switches. So, it appears Cherry Corp have started manufacturer again some time in 2011.

The Filco Majestouch MX Red Limited Edition board was purchased because it was supposed to be Limited Edition. That appears to no longer be the case. There are now at least three manufactures offering mechanical keyboards with the Cherry MX Red Switch. Filco, Ducky, a Chinese based company, and Korean based Leopold  (try Google Translate if you can’t read Korean.

So much for Limited Edition! It looks like keyboards with the Cherry MX Red Switch are now becoming more popular and for good reason. They provide a wonderful typing experience for proficient touch typists.

Attribution

Many thanks to Lethal Squirrel @ Geekhack  who made the images. They are great images, although he doesn’t know they are being used on this website.

Have fun typing

Peter Hallam

Sources

GeekHack.org WiKi is one, if not the, premier Mechanical Keyboard website.

DeskThority is a Mechanical Keyboard website dedicated to the affectionardo of Mechanical Keyboards.

Tom Hardware review of some commercial gaming mechanical keyboards.

Writers Block – the authors nemesis

Is a Picture worth a Thousand Words?

Blink … Blink. Writers Block. Blink Blink, the flashing vertical line taunts like an elusive fly that won’t sit still long enough to swat it. That blasted blinking cursor … what an affliction. Evil, pure evil; an unforgiving virtual nemesis, trying and contemptuous with niggling.

Nar Nar na na Nar! It taunts me.  Just stop blinking at me you rotten sod! Or are you winking at me?  … Hmm.

What’s that all about? I never could figure you out. Sneaky silicon. You’re actually trying to make me think aren’t you?

Sound familiar? Just when you’re trying to make yourself do something; just when the pressure is on; just when you want the words to flow as smoothly as silk, that rotten cursor on the computer screen starts taunting and pressuring you to perform. Where are these words hiding you think to yourself? This, as if you hadn’t guessed, is Writers Block.

The problem here is that in the moment of need you’ve left yourself with nil, zero inspiration. It’s your own fault unfortunately. But there is an easy way around it.  Then answer is a picture.

Pictures overcome writers block, making your mind stay on topic by requiring it to answer a question in response to the picture shown to it.  So, is a picture worth a thousand words during writers block? …  Well, yes it is.

The solution to writers block is what will you find here:

• Find the Picture Before Writing Your Article
• Words Find You When You Look At A Picture
• The Disobedient Mind
• Images Stimulate The Mind

Pictures are what you require in your hour of need. A picture is worth a thousand words to your mind. Pictures are little metaphorical prompts for you mind to base ideas on. If you’re having trouble writing an article then one of the most effective writing aids is to find a picture to write about first.

The old saying ‘a picture is worth a thousand words‘ is quite literally true; especially when you’re writing. Judging from personal experience, it is easier to write when thoughts are prompted with an image on which to build ideas.

Pictures also assist you to stay on topic by requiring the mind to answer a question in response; without straying on to ambiguous or irrelevant material. I say straying on to not in to because when you use a picture, the material is already known. You can see it, sense it and respond to it. The term in to implies an unknown quantity or quality. Many writers immerse themselves IN their work not being fully aware of what they are going to try to create. They just let the words flow as they write.

Find the Picture Before Writing Your Article

Finding pictures to match your article can be difficult. Even though you may write one of the best pieces of prose of your life, it can risk remaining a draft it you don’t find a suitable image to accompany it. Many of the best pieces of prose have just the right imagery to accompany the content. It may take much longer than the time spent originally writing it.

I’ve been doing a lot of writing lately, personal stuff, work, family; it all seems to add up. One of the trickiest things I have found when sitting down to start a piece prose is that of actually starting; getting the first idea to solidify in the mind then capturing it on the screen in front of you. Many writers are familiar with this and, if your not already aware, I have just described what is classically known as writers block.

Writers Block affects every single writer at some stage; whether they admit to it or not. It may happen a little, or a lot but as surely as you will finish a sentence with a full stop, writers will, most likely have trouble starting one. You can sit and ponder, waiting for the words to come, but like an every urgent phone call, they are sometimes elusive little suckers.

Writers Block fixed with a picture

Words find you when you look at pictures

When writing an article, especially an on-line article that will have accompanying pictures, is easier to have the picture to work with first.

Take this picture found randomly from the net. What comes to mind? There are two ways of looking at it. Analytically and Emotionally. Usually, though not always, women and men will look at the picture and be prompted with different ideas depending on their background etc.

There are emotional and psychological differences between men and women just as much as physical. These differences will influence the way articles are written.

Men may begin an article analytically with: ‘Telegraph poles stretch forward escorting the driver down the highway.’ A female, without being too presumptuous about the topic matter, may begin such: ‘The conversation raced me to my destination; the words speeding along the telephone lines faster than I can drive.’

In the first example from a male perspective (without being too presumptuous) emotion is absent from the sentence; whilst in the second (female example) the inanimate objects of the telegraph poles are the carriers of hypothetical danger.

Now, whilst you may come up with differing examples should you pen a piece with the Telegraph poles, the examples serve the purpose.

In both instances; disregarding the upbringing that will have influenced what different sexes tend to focus on, the telegraph poles feature prominently. There are two lines of thought that have been initiated through a single picture; that of the telegraph poles running down the side of the road but the same picture has elicited two different responses and two different topics of prose. But for both a picture was worth a thousand words; or there abouts.  It isn’t difficult to build a story around either example just mentioned.

The Disobedient Mind

The mind is a rather disobedient thing. The Disobedient Mind will focus on whatever imagery it is given to work with so it is important to give it imagery that will contribute to your writing assignment.It will focus on what you would prefer it not to. And the more you try to control it the more obstreperous it becomes. It really is quite a tricky thing to manage if your not consumed with something you’d like to be thinking about.

The reason for this is due to the minds propensity to drift and or focus on specific topics. By having a picture to work with or focus on, topic matter relating to that picture will drift into the mind as a matter of course, by default in fact. Three, four or five seconds spent focusing on a picture of the topic matter is quite literally worth a thousand words of prose to your mind.

Images Stimulate the Mind

You can apply the same concept to computers, keyboards, exercise equipment, people, landscapes. Anything in fact. Once you have started stimulating the writing process with images related to your topic, it is just matter of extrapolating your ideas and story line out to follow the topic matter you are writing about. That’s why it’s important to have pictures to accompany your post or story first. Often it may be very difficult to find a picture that elicits the same thought response you have just written about.

The Clear Minded Creative talked about the issue of Writers Block; and the answer seems to be a pill. I would almost, quite certainly, maybe, if I had to, or maybe not, take that pill. The pill would be easier; but would it be as effective? [ ] Would you be actually writing or just regurgitating from some ethereal source. … If only we could find out.

Anyway, do your mind a favour, and give it something to focus on. A picture isn’t just worth a thousand words, it’s worth a page of prose from the keyboard, and that is, after all, what you’re trying to do.

Have fun, and keep writing.

Peter Hallam

Dell U2711 Image is Crap

Dell U2711 Image

The Dell U2711 monitor displays an image that is crap. When you buy computer components, you purchase them for a specific task; functionality being a primary concern.

Keyboards are purchased to type on and to deliver a fluid, responsive and accurate typing experience.

CPU’s are purchased to handle process intensive applications and multiple activities in an efficient manner.

Solid State Drive’s (SSD) are supposed to improve file access times. Extra RAM assists with having multiple applications running concurrently.

And lastly, a high end monitor is supposed to deliver a good viewing experience.

The Dell U2711 Monitor was purchased because it was supposed to deliver a nice viewing experience.  But, unfortunately, the image delivered by the Dell U2711, IS CRAP.  I have said it before and I’ll say it again; the Dell U2711 image is …

Utter Crap!

After using the Dell U2711 for almost 6 moths the Anti-Glare Coating over its surface still results in blurred vision and difficulty working in any application using a white background.   The speckling that results from the use of such an aggressive Anti Glare coating continues to make its presence felt throughout day to day usage.

…

Some relief is achieved when using application that display on a dark background.  FocusWriter is such an application and writing with FocusWriter on then Dell U2711 is, I’m glad to say, a pleasure.

EDIT: Don’t buy the Dell U2711

I was unable to tolerate the image of the Dell U2711.  I have sold it and purchased a Yamakasi Catleap Q270 LED.   It is a dream in comparison to the Dell U2711 hell I was suffering with.

Don’t buy a Dell U2711. Buy a Yamakasi Catleap Q270 for half the price and twice as good an image. You won’t be sorry. But you will be sorry if you purchase the Dell U2711.

Have Fun

Peter Hallam