Category Archives: Technology and Society

New Pond Problem

After all the rain in December, the pond got very murky. It eventually cleared up, but the stream flow had slowed to a trickle from when I first installed it. I figured the filter box must be clogged up with the sludge, and when I took it apart, I was right. But I cleaned it all out, and put it back in. But now the problem seems worse. Is there a failure mode for a submersible pond pump that would result in not zero, but low flow?

My New Keyboard

So I bought a mechanical keyboard. It was reviewed as a good value for someone who wanted it for typing (though it’s also a gaming keyboard). I like the action on it, but it has a big problem. See the key to the left of the right Ctrl key? It seems to have the same function as a right click, but I have no use for it.

Unfortunately, where it’s placed means that I’m often accidentally hitting it with my palm just below my right pinkie, at which point it screws up whatever I’m typing, by inserting text or something else, which I have to then undo with ctrl-z. It would be nice if it could be reprogrammed but even if it was a Windows key (as it was on my previous keyboard, that would screw thing up in Linux by going to the workspace menu. I didn’t have the problem on my previous keyboard because the key profile was lower. I guess I’ll just try removing the key and see if the problem goes away.

[Update a while later]

In the process of trying to figure out how to delete the mapping on the problem key, I discovered this amusing document. “Before you read this, please understand that I never wanted to write this document, being grossly under-qualified, but I always wanted to read it, and this was the only way.”