How to ride a fixie

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dan said:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907

Pretty cool video. Note the short wheelbase, steep headtube and no
rake fork.

Without fork offset, it doesn't matter to the rider whether the wheel is
"forwards" or "backwards." For trick riding that's a handy thing. The
steep headtube keeps the trail in a reasonable range, otherwise on a
standard road bike geometry with no fork offset, trail is larger than
100 mm and the bike handles really funny.

All that being said, though, the tricks that rider does are remarkable.
The wheelie maneuvers were quite impressive.

Tim McNamara said:

Dan said:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907

Pretty cool video. Note the short wheelbase, steep headtube and no
rake fork.

Without fork offset, it doesn't matter to the rider whether the wheel is
"forwards" or "backwards." For trick riding that's a handy thing. The
steep headtube keeps the trail in a reasonable range, otherwise on a
standard road bike geometry with no fork offset, trail is larger than
100 mm and the bike handles really funny.

All that being said, though, the tricks that rider does are remarkable.
The wheelie maneuvers were quite impressive.

That's "artistic cycling," which is a trick sport (as opposed to say a
speed sport) that has some popularity in Germany, I think, and maybe
other places like Japan. It is basically unknown in the US although
some of the early trick riders were late 19thC Americans. It is
actually a discipline sanctioned by the very same UCI that we know
and love from bike racing. They always use bikes like that, including
the upturned handlebars. It is quite remarkable what they can do.
You should be able to find more videos online; I've never seen it live.

email hidden said:

Tim McNamara said:

Dan said:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907

Pretty cool video. Note the short wheelbase, steep headtube and no
rake fork.

Without fork offset, it doesn't matter to the rider whether the wheel is
"forwards" or "backwards." For trick riding that's a handy thing. The
steep headtube keeps the trail in a reasonable range, otherwise on a
standard road bike geometry with no fork offset, trail is larger than
100 mm and the bike handles really funny.

All that being said, though, the tricks that rider does are remarkable.
The wheelie maneuvers were quite impressive.

That's "artistic cycling," which is a trick sport (as opposed to say a
speed sport) that has some popularity in Germany, I think, and maybe
other places like Japan. It is basically unknown in the US although
some of the early trick riders were late 19thC Americans. It is
actually a discipline sanctioned by the very same UCI that we know
and love from bike racing. They always use bikes like that, including
the upturned handlebars. It is quite remarkable what they can do.
You should be able to find more videos online; I've never seen it live.

Dear B.,

Such antics are wretchedly popular with hateful female Chinese
acrobats, who think nothing of juggling colored balls and doing
handstands on each other's shoulders while doing even worse things on
their bicycles in front of innocent U.S. audiences that include
extremely bitter male trials riders who mistakenly thought that they
had a sense of balance.

The vile young wenches wear ever blander smiles as they perform
increasingly absurd and impossible feats--

Er, at least that's what I've heard.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

email hidden said:

Tim McNamara said:

Dan <[email hidden]> wrote:

> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907
>
> Pretty cool video. Note the short wheelbase, steep headtube and no
> rake fork.

Without fork offset, it doesn't matter to the rider whether the
wheel is "forwards" or "backwards." For trick riding that's a
handy thing. The steep headtube keeps the trail in a reasonable
range, otherwise on a standard road bike geometry with no fork
offset, trail is larger than 100 mm and the bike handles really
funny.

All that being said, though, the tricks that rider does are
remarkable. The wheelie maneuvers were quite impressive.

That's "artistic cycling," which is a trick sport (as opposed to say
a speed sport) that has some popularity in Germany, I think, and
maybe other places like Japan. It is basically unknown in the US
although some of the early trick riders were late 19thC Americans.
It is actually a discipline sanctioned by the very same UCI that we
know
and love from bike racing. They always use bikes like that,
including the upturned handlebars. It is quite remarkable what they
can do.
You should be able to find more videos online; I've never seen it
live.

Dear B.,

Such antics are wretchedly popular with hateful female Chinese
acrobats, who think nothing of juggling colored balls and doing
handstands on each other's shoulders while doing even worse things on
their bicycles in front of innocent U.S. audiences that include
extremely bitter male trials riders who mistakenly thought that they
had a sense of balance.

The vile young wenches wear ever blander smiles as they perform
increasingly absurd and impossible feats--

Er, at least that's what I've heard.

Yeah... Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to learn how to ride
backwards (rear wheel first in direction of travel)???

--
Phil Lee, Squid

Squid said:

Quoted message said:

email hidden said:

Tim McNamara wrote:
> Dan <[email hidden]> wrote:
>
>> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907
>>
>> Pretty cool video. Note the short wheelbase, steep headtube and no
>> rake fork.
>
> Without fork offset, it doesn't matter to the rider whether the
> wheel is "forwards" or "backwards." For trick riding that's a
> handy thing. The steep headtube keeps the trail in a reasonable
> range, otherwise on a standard road bike geometry with no fork
> offset, trail is larger than 100 mm and the bike handles really
> funny.
>
> All that being said, though, the tricks that rider does are
> remarkable. The wheelie maneuvers were quite impressive.

That's "artistic cycling," which is a trick sport (as opposed to say
a speed sport) that has some popularity in Germany, I think, and
maybe other places like Japan. It is basically unknown in the US
although some of the early trick riders were late 19thC Americans.
It is actually a discipline sanctioned by the very same UCI that we
know
and love from bike racing. They always use bikes like that,
including the upturned handlebars. It is quite remarkable what they
can do.
You should be able to find more videos online; I've never seen it
live.

Dear B.,

Such antics are wretchedly popular with hateful female Chinese
acrobats, who think nothing of juggling colored balls and doing
handstands on each other's shoulders while doing even worse things on
their bicycles in front of innocent U.S. audiences that include
extremely bitter male trials riders who mistakenly thought that they
had a sense of balance.

The vile young wenches wear ever blander smiles as they perform
increasingly absurd and impossible feats--

Er, at least that's what I've heard.

Yeah... Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to learn how to ride
backwards (rear wheel first in direction of travel)???

Dear Phil,

Alas, you need to start training for that kind of stuff while your
brain is young enough to make the necessary connections.

This is why few people master musical instruments, major league curve
balls, or foreign languages if they begin training after puberty. (And
why those horrible little children can play violins so well with the
Suzuki method and why Vivaldi's all-orphan girl orchestras were so
skillful.)

See "Why Michael Couldn't Hit" by the late Harold Klawans, a
neurologist who often wrote clearly enough to make readers think that
they understood neurology. Michael Jordan was unquestionably an
enormously gifted athlete, but he was a miserable failure as a hitter
compared to no-name players when he tried to switch as an adult from
basketball to baseball.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Quoted message said:

Squid said:

Quoted message said:

On 25 Jul 2006 16:22:14 -0700, "[email hidden]"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

> Tim McNamara wrote:
>> Dan <[email hidden]> wrote:
>>
>>> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907
>>>
>>> Pretty cool video. Note the short wheelbase, steep headtube and
>>> no rake fork.
>>
>> Without fork offset, it doesn't matter to the rider whether the
>> wheel is "forwards" or "backwards." For trick riding that's a
>> handy thing. The steep headtube keeps the trail in a reasonable
>> range, otherwise on a standard road bike geometry with no fork
>> offset, trail is larger than 100 mm and the bike handles really
>> funny.
>>
>> All that being said, though, the tricks that rider does are
>> remarkable. The wheelie maneuvers were quite impressive.
>
> That's "artistic cycling," which is a trick sport (as opposed to
> say a speed sport) that has some popularity in Germany, I think,
> and maybe other places like Japan. It is basically unknown in the
> US although some of the early trick riders were late 19thC
> Americans. It is actually a discipline sanctioned by the very same
> UCI that we know
> and love from bike racing. They always use bikes like that,
> including the upturned handlebars. It is quite remarkable what
> they can do.
> You should be able to find more videos online; I've never seen it
> live.

Dear B.,

Such antics are wretchedly popular with hateful female Chinese
acrobats, who think nothing of juggling colored balls and doing
handstands on each other's shoulders while doing even worse things
on their bicycles in front of innocent U.S. audiences that include
extremely bitter male trials riders who mistakenly thought that they
had a sense of balance.

The vile young wenches wear ever blander smiles as they perform
increasingly absurd and impossible feats--

Er, at least that's what I've heard.

Yeah... Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to learn how
to ride backwards (rear wheel first in direction of travel)???

Dear Phil,

Alas, you need to start training for that kind of stuff while your
brain is young enough to make the necessary connections.

What? You callin' me old? 😉

Quoted message said:

This is why few people master musical instruments, major league curve
balls, or foreign languages if they begin training after puberty. (And
why those horrible little children can play violins so well with the
Suzuki method and why Vivaldi's all-orphan girl orchestras were so
skillful.)

I type like a psycho; I played the piano as a kid, like all other
second-generation Asian children. Yes, that's an umbrella statement.

Quoted message said:

See "Why Michael Couldn't Hit" by the late Harold Klawans, a
neurologist who often wrote clearly enough to make readers think that
they understood neurology. Michael Jordan was unquestionably an
enormously gifted athlete, but he was a miserable failure as a hitter
compared to no-name players when he tried to switch as an adult from
basketball to baseball.

I'll be playing softball with other Disney interns in the next few weeks...
I doubt I can make the switch either. Maybe I can somehow ride a bike in
the field to get around faster... 😉

--
Phil Lee, Squid

Squid said:

Quoted message said:

Squid said:

[email hidden] wrote:
> On 25 Jul 2006 16:22:14 -0700, "[email hidden]"
> <[email hidden]> wrote:
>
>> Tim McNamara wrote:
>>> Dan <[email hidden]> wrote:
>>>
>>>> http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907
>>>>
>>>> Pretty cool video. Note the short wheelbase, steep headtube and
>>>> no rake fork.
>>>
>>> Without fork offset, it doesn't matter to the rider whether the
>>> wheel is "forwards" or "backwards." For trick riding that's a
>>> handy thing. The steep headtube keeps the trail in a reasonable
>>> range, otherwise on a standard road bike geometry with no fork
>>> offset, trail is larger than 100 mm and the bike handles really
>>> funny.
>>>
>>> All that being said, though, the tricks that rider does are
>>> remarkable. The wheelie maneuvers were quite impressive.
>>
>> That's "artistic cycling," which is a trick sport (as opposed to
>> say a speed sport) that has some popularity in Germany, I think,
>> and maybe other places like Japan. It is basically unknown in the
>> US although some of the early trick riders were late 19thC
>> Americans. It is actually a discipline sanctioned by the very same
>> UCI that we know
>> and love from bike racing. They always use bikes like that,
>> including the upturned handlebars. It is quite remarkable what
>> they can do.
>> You should be able to find more videos online; I've never seen it
>> live.
>
> Dear B.,
>
> Such antics are wretchedly popular with hateful female Chinese
> acrobats, who think nothing of juggling colored balls and doing
> handstands on each other's shoulders while doing even worse things
> on their bicycles in front of innocent U.S. audiences that include
> extremely bitter male trials riders who mistakenly thought that they
> had a sense of balance.
>
> The vile young wenches wear ever blander smiles as they perform
> increasingly absurd and impossible feats--
>
> Er, at least that's what I've heard.

Yeah... Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to learn how
to ride backwards (rear wheel first in direction of travel)???

Dear Phil,

Alas, you need to start training for that kind of stuff while your
brain is young enough to make the necessary connections.

What? You callin' me old? 😉

Quoted message said:

This is why few people master musical instruments, major league curve
balls, or foreign languages if they begin training after puberty. (And
why those horrible little children can play violins so well with the
Suzuki method and why Vivaldi's all-orphan girl orchestras were so
skillful.)

I type like a psycho; I played the piano as a kid, like all other
second-generation Asian children. Yes, that's an umbrella statement.

Quoted message said:

See "Why Michael Couldn't Hit" by the late Harold Klawans, a
neurologist who often wrote clearly enough to make readers think that
they understood neurology. Michael Jordan was unquestionably an
enormously gifted athlete, but he was a miserable failure as a hitter
compared to no-name players when he tried to switch as an adult from
basketball to baseball.

I'll be playing softball with other Disney interns in the next few weeks...
I doubt I can make the switch either. Maybe I can somehow ride a bike in
the field to get around faster... 😉

Dear Phil,

Well, yes, I'm afraid that I'm calling you old.

At 22, you mustn't take it personally--it's just that anyone posting
on RBT who hasn't been playing advanced music for years is a no-hoper
as far as any serious music school is concerned.

As for typing, the earlier you learn to type, the better, but it's a
surprisingly easy skill to master.

The woods are full of excellent typists, but excellent musicians,
batters, and multi-linguists are rare.

Yes, many people who start training after puberty can scrape out a
tune, hit a softball, or speak another language--but no one would
mistake them for a professional musician, a major league hitter, or a
native speaker.

(And actually, excellent typists are rarer than most people think. We
slop along with word processors, cutting and pasting and pausing for
thought, and tend to think that we're typing demons. But don't bet
money on yourself against a professional medical dictationist, unless
you like her and are crafty enough to bet her a dinner-date on the
outcome of a typing duel.)

(If you want a truly humbling experience, try to fill out a long form
on a manual typewriter--even those of us who spent years on old
typewriters are as spoiled now by word processors and computer
keyboards as a retired major league hitter who's been playing slow
pitch softball for years with an aluminum bat.)

As for the acrobat on the bicycle, the difference is even more
annoying. Most riders on RBT would pride themselves on a mere
trackstand or a straightforward wheelie.

The fact is that 99.999% of us couldn't even begin to do any of the
tricks that she does so well for several minutes in casual, improvised
variations. Yet for her, those astonishing feats are about as hard as
doing a figure-eight in a parking lot would be for you or me. (Notice
that she never fell or even bobbled, any more than we would stumble or
fall while walking around the same floor.)

My dog has the right attitude. He could never learn to walk on his
hind legs as skillfully I do, but he does not appear to envy my
achievement.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Such antics are wretchedly popular with hateful female Chinese
acrobats, who think nothing of juggling colored balls and doing
handstands on each other's shoulders while doing even worse things on
their bicycles in front of innocent U.S. audiences that include
extremely bitter male trials riders who mistakenly thought that they
had a sense of balance.

The vile young wenches wear ever blander smiles as they perform
increasingly absurd and impossible feats--

Ever see Penn and Teller visit China? They visited various
circuses and the like in China and recorded acts. Watched
a woman juggle from horse back. Penn Gillette then juggled
broken whisky bottles and invited her to do the same. She
declined. (Neither did Penn Gillette juggle from horse
back)

--
Michael Press

Michael Press said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

Such antics are wretchedly popular with hateful female Chinese
acrobats, who think nothing of juggling colored balls and doing
handstands on each other's shoulders while doing even worse things on
their bicycles in front of innocent U.S. audiences that include
extremely bitter male trials riders who mistakenly thought that they
had a sense of balance.

The vile young wenches wear ever blander smiles as they perform
increasingly absurd and impossible feats--

Ever see Penn and Teller visit China? They visited various
circuses and the like in China and recorded acts. Watched
a woman juggle from horse back. Penn Gillette then juggled
broken whisky bottles and invited her to do the same. She
declined. (Neither did Penn Gillette juggle from horse
back)

Dear Michael,

Like most such folk, Gillette started early:

Moschen [famous juggler], who now resides in western Connecticut, grew
up in a small town in western Massachusetts. He was athletic and did
physical things all the time. One day when he was about 12 years old,
Moschen, his brother and his neighbor decided to try juggling.

"It was odd, cool, difficult, and we wanted to try it," he said.

His neighbor was Penn Gillette of the magic act Penn and Teller. "Penn
and I performed together for a year and a half or so," Moschen said.

http://www.recordonline.com/archive/2002/05/03/bz3g.htm

W.C. Fields was much the same:

"He [Fields] claims to have first worked professionally as a juggler
at the age of 15, in Pottsville, PA, and elsewhere at the age of 11 in
Norristown, PA."

http://www.juggling.org/fame/fields/

"Practice" may be the way to get to Carnegie Hall, but "early" is even
more important.

Houdini was even more annoying. He's often quoted about how anyone
interested in his line of work needs to be able to bend over backward
and pick a pin up off the floor with their teeth--before moving on to
harder tricks, such as the same trick with eye-lids. Note the age of
the contortionist:

"'I will pick it up for you, lady,' said the gentle voice, and a
blue-eyed body with curly black hair stepped from the awestruck
throng. He stood with is back to the pin and being over until his
little body described a gothic arch, aimed one eye for the pinhead,
closed his lids with decision over the jeweled setting and plucked the
pin from the pavement. Thus did our hero, Harry Houdini, for it was no
other than he, make a hit with the circus lady and get a job in the
show."

It would be needless for me to vouch for the truth of that chapter,
for Harry Houdini told me himself that he had begun life as a boy
contortionist and that his first famous trick was picking up pins from
the floor through the ingenious prehensibility of his eyelids.

http://www.sfgenealogy.com/sf/history/hghou.htm

To drift back to the vile young children who perform outrageous feats
on bicycles, browse through some of these links and videos:

http://www.hk-icycling.net/eng/photo.html

They're basically summer camp for the horrible little wretches.

Here are two particularly offensive girls:
http://www.hk-icycling.net/photo/wm2004/imagepages/image37.htm

This one is no better than she should be:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/112102883/1112104013050834915NtFxst

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Tim McNamara said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

Dan said:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-8867862777896510907

Pretty cool video. Note the short wheelbase, steep headtube and no
rake fork.

And the *really* low gear.

Quoted message said:

Without fork offset, it doesn't matter to the rider whether the wheel is
"forwards" or "backwards." For trick riding that's a handy thing. The
steep headtube keeps the trail in a reasonable range, otherwise on a
standard road bike geometry with no fork offset, trail is larger than
100 mm and the bike handles really funny.

If you watch the video again, I think you'll see that the rider switches
the direction of the front wheel depending on which way she wants to
ride. That is, when she goes backwards, the front wheel is always turned
one way. When going forward, she flips the wheel around. I suspect there
is some rake to that fork, or she wouldn't bother to flip the wheel around.

Quoted message said:

All that being said, though, the tricks that rider does are remarkable.
The wheelie maneuvers were quite impressive.

Yup.

--
Dave
dvt at psu dot edu

Everyone confesses that exertion which brings out all the powers of body
and mind is the best thing for us; but most people do all they can to
get rid of it, and as a general rule nobody does much more than
circumstances drive them to do. -Harriet Beecher Stowe, abolitionist and
novelist (1811-1896)

Quoted message said:

To drift back to the vile young children who perform outrageous feats
on bicycles, browse through some of these links and videos:

http://www.hk-icycling.net/eng/photo.html

They're basically summer camp for the horrible little wretches.

Here are two particularly offensive girls:
http://www.hk-icycling.net/photo/wm2004/imagepages/image37.htm

This one is no better than she should be:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/112102883/1112104013050834915NtFxst

You might further fuel your dudgeon by examining the antics of these little
mutants.

Apparently the pedals are sewn onto their feet at birth.

Enjoy.

Ron

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Yeah... Do you have any idea how long I've been trying to learn how to ride
backwards (rear wheel first in direction of travel)???

Totally. Every time I try to pedal backwards my bike stops.

--Jon-

RonSonic said:

Quoted message said:

To drift back to the vile young children who perform outrageous feats
on bicycles, browse through some of these links and videos:

http://www.hk-icycling.net/eng/photo.html

They're basically summer camp for the horrible little wretches.

Here are two particularly offensive girls:
http://www.hk-icycling.net/photo/wm2004/imagepages/image37.htm

This one is no better than she should be:
http://community.webshots.com/photo/112102883/1112104013050834915NtFxst

You might further fuel your dudgeon by examining the antics of these little
mutants.

Apparently the pedals are sewn onto their feet at birth.

Enjoy.

Ron

Dear Ron,

Yes, they do seem to be deaf to arguments that we must connect our
feet to the bike with clipless pedals. I suspect that they're related
to flies:

http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/master.html?http://www.naturalhistorymag.com/0206/0206_biomechanics.html

After all, they hop about and obviously need swatting.

The age and size of the riders make their antics even more annoying.

I remember listening to a tall master-class RMTA rider who was a
physician in his spare time. Watching a 13-year-old Bernie Schreiber
clean a difficult section while riding a full-size Bultaco 326, the
doctor bitterly commented that "the little son of a [censored] just tried
to put his foot down, but he isn't even tall enough to reach the
ground!"

Schreiber soon grew tall enough to touch the ground whenever he
pleased, but rarely bothered.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

In article <[email hidden]>,

Quoted message said:

"He [Fields] claims to have first worked professionally as a juggler
at the age of 15, in Pottsville, PA, and elsewhere at the age of 11 in
Norristown, PA."

Fields was a superb juggler. He was also a superb
comedian. He combined these abilities. The pool table
routine is boggling. He spends the whole scene preparing,
and never strikes the cue ball. Funny, funny guy.

--
Michael Press

On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 23:11:44 -0400, "Phil Lee, Squid"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

I type like a psycho; I played the piano as a kid, like all other
second-generation Asian children. Yes, that's an umbrella statement.

[snip]

Dear Phil,

Here's your typing competition.

Print the phrase out for easy reference, replace the grease in your
keyboard with oil, check your vowels for excessive wear, and see how
fast you can blaze through the standard piranhas with your favorite
word processor.

Cell-phone, XT, AT, Selectric, or manual are all acceptable.

I'm curious how cell phones stack up against normal computer
keyboards--they might be the equivalent of fully-faired recumbents.

Cheers,

Carl Fogel

Utah Teen Sets Text Messaging Record
Jul 29th - 8:25am

DENVER (AP) - A Utah teen with fingers of fury is once again the speed
text-messaging king of the world. Ben Cook, 18, of Provo, Utah,
returned to the top of the cell-phone text-messaging heap Friday at a
Denver text-off at a water park, blazing through a 160-character
standardized message in 42.22 seconds.

The phrase used for purposes of professional, competition texting is:
"The razor-toothed piranhas of the genera Serrasalmus and Pygocentrus
are the most ferocious freshwater fish in the world. In reality they
seldom attack a human."

The feat was recorded on video and scored by an official timekeeper,
validating it for Guinness World Records purposes, said Sara
Spaulding, spokeswoman for event sponsor Jump Mobile.

Text messaging, already popular with teenagers, is becoming
increasingly popular in the U.S., jumping from 2.9 billion a month in
2004 to about 7.3 billion a month in December 2005, according to a
survey by the CTIA, the wireless industry's trade group.

Cook in 2004 snagged the world record by texting the official phrase
in 57.75 seconds, a record that soon fell. Before Cook's feat Friday,
the record was held by a 23-year-old woman from Singapore at 43.24
seconds set on June 27, 2004.

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=456&sid=864507

Quoted message said:

On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 23:11:44 -0400, "Phil Lee, Squid"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

I type like a psycho; I played the piano as a kid, like all other
second-generation Asian children. Yes, that's an umbrella statement.

[snip]

Dear Phil,

Here's your typing competition.

Print the phrase out for easy reference, replace the grease in your
keyboard with oil, check your vowels for excessive wear, and see how
fast you can blaze through the standard piranhas with your favorite
word processor.

Cell-phone, XT, AT, Selectric, or manual are all acceptable.

I'm curious how cell phones stack up against normal computer
keyboards--they might be the equivalent of fully-faired recumbents.

Attempt 1: 23 sec
Attempt 2: 23 sec
Attempt 3: 23 sec
Attempt 4: 20 sec
Attempt 5: 19 sec
Attempt 6: 19 sec

That's about as good as I can get it. Interestingly, the two species names
are easy. I have the most problem with "piranhas," "fish," "world," and
"human."
--
Phil Lee, Squid

Squid said:

Quoted message said:

On Tue, 25 Jul 2006 23:11:44 -0400, "Phil Lee, Squid"
<[email hidden]> wrote:

[snip]

Quoted message said:

I type like a psycho; I played the piano as a kid, like all other
second-generation Asian children. Yes, that's an umbrella statement.

[snip]

Dear Phil,

Here's your typing competition.

Print the phrase out for easy reference, replace the grease in your
keyboard with oil, check your vowels for excessive wear, and see how
fast you can blaze through the standard piranhas with your favorite
word processor.

Cell-phone, XT, AT, Selectric, or manual are all acceptable.

I'm curious how cell phones stack up against normal computer
keyboards--they might be the equivalent of fully-faired recumbents.

Attempt 1: 23 sec
Attempt 2: 23 sec
Attempt 3: 23 sec
Attempt 4: 20 sec
Attempt 5: 19 sec
Attempt 6: 19 sec

That's about as good as I can get it. Interestingly, the two species names
are easy. I have the most problem with "piranhas," "fish," "world," and
"human."

Dear Phil,

I assume that you used a computer keyboard, so that gives me another
excuse for not having a cell phone like the one used to set the
42-second record--much too slow!

Cheers,

Carl Fogel