Day: September 6, 2006

Life - Technology

Mr. QWERTY

September 6, 2006 by 2 Comments

I encountered another computing myth at the weekend where a distant relation (who shall remain nameless) was adamant that the inventor of the modern QWERTY keyboard actually named it after himeself. Could there be a family of Qwerty’s living out there somewhere, lavishing in the success of their famous ancestor, as each family reunion rolls by? Is Frankie Qwerty the mayor of some small town in USA? Did Johnny Qwerty have to endure the wrath of boys school nicknames like Squirty Qwerty and so on? Was my silent laughter unfounded?

Well, frankly, no. The QWERTY keyboard was actually patented by a man called Christopher Scholes in 1868. He later sold it to Remington in 1873 when it first appeared in typewriters.

Interesting all the same that it was invented such a long time ago…

Life

Finding Paddy

September 6, 2006 by 2 Comments

Last night I watched a very touching documentary about the life of a New York City firefighter who died in the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. The documentary aired on Irish Television (RTE1) and told the story of Captain Patrick ‘Paddy’ Brown, the New York Fire Department’s most decorated firefighter.

Paddy had a varied life, serving two tours of duty in Vietnam, recovering from a drug addiction and finally saving the lives of countless New Yorkers during his time as a fire fighter. The documentary told many stories about Paddy’s time as a fire fighter, some of them funny, some of them sad and some of them very honourable. It closed with a description of what it was to be a hero in the classic sense of the word, and Paddy was certainly that.

If you get the opportunity to see this documentary over the coming days and week, do so.