Here’s this week’s “Ask a scienceblogger” question:
How is it that all the PIs (Tara, PZ, Orac et al.), various grad students, post-docs, etc. find time to fulfill their primary objectives (day jobs) and blog so prolifically?
I don’t know if you can handle the truth, but here it is…
It’s easy to type fast with ten arms.
Clearly the viewpoint of a squid…
Somehow, I think it is easier to type fast with ten ‘fingers’, half at the ends of only two arms, particularly when using a keyboard designed for exacty that, Dvorak notwithstanding. Also, my other appendages and body keep me situated before my keyboard with little conscious effort.
Ten arms, each with a single ‘tip’, is more or less funtionally equivalent, at least for typing, to five fingers on each of two arms.
Another point: if you are a squid typing with all ten arms, how do you keep from pushing yourself away from the keybard as you type? Yes, I know, you will say you use your jet to stay in place, but doing that has to take more of your attention than simply sitting in a chair takes of mine.
On a keyboard optimized for use with ten arms, the situation may be very different…
Some years ago there was a novelty product called the ‘WriteHander’ (designed for one-hand use by a human). There were four buttons to be pressed by the digits, and several buttons that could be actuated by the thumb. With these, the user could enter the (7-bit) ASCII codes as easily as with a conventional keyboard, and with much less total movement. (The other hand could be used for a mouse, or the ‘WriteHander’ itself could also be a mouse.)