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You’d think that with the title “freedom of speech” that this post would belong in the hot topics forum. Who knows? It may end up there but for now I say that I intentionally put this post in the members lounge. As usual, I’m coming at things from a direction that’s a little sideways for most people…
I like my XS1100 a lot. It is a big bike. But then I am a big guy. The geometry of the bike and my own physical geometry just feel right. I feel like a goldilocks that has tried bikes that were too large or too small. This one however, feels just right. I wouldn’t change a thing.
My hands and fingers are the right size for my 6ft. 2in. frame. My left hand fits inside a normal baseball glove and my right hand curls around a baseball quite nicely when I pitch a wicked curve ball. Getting the right grip on a football is no problem in order to throw a good spiral. I can’t quite palm a basketball upside down with one hand and I’ve learned to live with that. I am a man and I have “man sized” hands.
All right, now I would ask you to stop reading this text and divert your eyes to the keyboard below the screen or located somewhere in front of you. ( C’mon! I’ll wait. One Mississippi two Mississippi three Mississippi four Mississippi.) My “man hands" and fingers don’t fit well on any keyboard. The keys are too small and close together. It makes typing anything a real challenge. At this point I’d like to say I do hold a high regard for those members who are painfully afflicted with man hands like I have yet they still manage to use the keyboard regularly. My best….. my very best is less than 35 words per minute and with quite a few mistakes. That pesky keyboard is a painful bottleneck when it comes to getting my message across and saying what I need to say to the people that I want to say it to.
Or is it? Take another look at your keyboard. It looks like a typewriter, right? If you look again you’ll see that the keyboard is connected to a computer. It is in fact a computer keyboard. A computer is more than just a glorified typewriter which does word processing and puts what you typed on the Internet or on XS11.com. It is more and can do more than an ordinary typewriter if you tell it to.
If you have Windows XP along with MSWORD like I do, then you have access to a feature called “speech”. What this feature does is to type what you say just as fast as you say it. Ordinary conversation speech speeds are between 150 to 200 words per minute, sometimes even faster. Way better than the 35 words per minute that I could do at my very best by typing with my man hands on a keyboard. It isn’t like you have to go out and buy an additional software package and take the trouble to install it. This speech feature is already there. All that’s needed is to find it and turn it on. It has been there all along since 2003.
I have used this feature for a number of years now in my personal and professional life. I can type. I do type. (Just not nearly as much as most other folks…). But why should I type when I can click on a button and for all practical purposes my computer becomes my very own personal Secretary “Michelle”, who types what I say just as fast as I say it? There’s no need to use contractions, Abbreviations, or specialized acronyms: YMMV, DAMHIK, PMPL, etc. (LOL!!!) I speak just as if I were talking to any of you while we both sit on the patio or inside the garage. “ Michelle”, my Secretary, my computer, is a valuable member of my team.
In my humble opinion (IMHO…) there are wonderful people here on XS11.com: brilliant, entertaining, and knowledgeable people. I wonder how much more these people could contribute if they did not have to overcome the “bottleneck” presented by a typewriter keyboard. What would they do if they had the freedom of the “speech” feature on their computer?
Like I said, the “speech” feature is more than likely already present on the computer most of us are using. If anyone has any difficulty finding this feature, turning it on, or using it, I would be more than happy to provide assistance. I have used it for years and there are a few things I’ve picked up along the way.
BTW, The only line I typed myself is this very last one: Hunt and peck!!! LOL!!
I like my XS1100 a lot. It is a big bike. But then I am a big guy. The geometry of the bike and my own physical geometry just feel right. I feel like a goldilocks that has tried bikes that were too large or too small. This one however, feels just right. I wouldn’t change a thing.
My hands and fingers are the right size for my 6ft. 2in. frame. My left hand fits inside a normal baseball glove and my right hand curls around a baseball quite nicely when I pitch a wicked curve ball. Getting the right grip on a football is no problem in order to throw a good spiral. I can’t quite palm a basketball upside down with one hand and I’ve learned to live with that. I am a man and I have “man sized” hands.
All right, now I would ask you to stop reading this text and divert your eyes to the keyboard below the screen or located somewhere in front of you. ( C’mon! I’ll wait. One Mississippi two Mississippi three Mississippi four Mississippi.) My “man hands" and fingers don’t fit well on any keyboard. The keys are too small and close together. It makes typing anything a real challenge. At this point I’d like to say I do hold a high regard for those members who are painfully afflicted with man hands like I have yet they still manage to use the keyboard regularly. My best….. my very best is less than 35 words per minute and with quite a few mistakes. That pesky keyboard is a painful bottleneck when it comes to getting my message across and saying what I need to say to the people that I want to say it to.
Or is it? Take another look at your keyboard. It looks like a typewriter, right? If you look again you’ll see that the keyboard is connected to a computer. It is in fact a computer keyboard. A computer is more than just a glorified typewriter which does word processing and puts what you typed on the Internet or on XS11.com. It is more and can do more than an ordinary typewriter if you tell it to.
If you have Windows XP along with MSWORD like I do, then you have access to a feature called “speech”. What this feature does is to type what you say just as fast as you say it. Ordinary conversation speech speeds are between 150 to 200 words per minute, sometimes even faster. Way better than the 35 words per minute that I could do at my very best by typing with my man hands on a keyboard. It isn’t like you have to go out and buy an additional software package and take the trouble to install it. This speech feature is already there. All that’s needed is to find it and turn it on. It has been there all along since 2003.
I have used this feature for a number of years now in my personal and professional life. I can type. I do type. (Just not nearly as much as most other folks…). But why should I type when I can click on a button and for all practical purposes my computer becomes my very own personal Secretary “Michelle”, who types what I say just as fast as I say it? There’s no need to use contractions, Abbreviations, or specialized acronyms: YMMV, DAMHIK, PMPL, etc. (LOL!!!) I speak just as if I were talking to any of you while we both sit on the patio or inside the garage. “ Michelle”, my Secretary, my computer, is a valuable member of my team.
In my humble opinion (IMHO…) there are wonderful people here on XS11.com: brilliant, entertaining, and knowledgeable people. I wonder how much more these people could contribute if they did not have to overcome the “bottleneck” presented by a typewriter keyboard. What would they do if they had the freedom of the “speech” feature on their computer?
Like I said, the “speech” feature is more than likely already present on the computer most of us are using. If anyone has any difficulty finding this feature, turning it on, or using it, I would be more than happy to provide assistance. I have used it for years and there are a few things I’ve picked up along the way.
BTW, The only line I typed myself is this very last one: Hunt and peck!!! LOL!!
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