June 18, 2001– Newsletter #135

Greetings, Weekend Silicon Warriors,

OK! OK! I give up! If I buy an ” X10 tiny wireless
video” camera will you stop popping up those
windows?!?! Have you seen this? Every other pop-up
window advertisement lately is for this camera. It seems
like the company bought out the Web. Geeze.

Did you hear…

Scientists in Australia are now stating that so-called
“mimic” birds have begun duplicating the sound of
cellular phones. Birds sing to attract a female. Teen boys
have cellular phones to impress teen girls. OK, I can see
that.

My hometown of Cleveland, Ohio has set up a 24-hour
system that allows people in the city’s main counties to
contact a reference librarian. The Cleveland Public
Library debuted the system this past Monday. The only
downfall is that after nine PM, the system is actually
answered by a company in Maryland. Too bad. It’s fun
to talk to people in Cleveland after dark.

You MAC users who giggle every time we PC types get
nailed by a new virus might want to suppress the next
round of smirks. A new virus aimed right at the MAC
system is making the rounds. The virus has been
nicknamed “Simpsons”. It spreads much like the PC
Melissa-style viruses. Watch out for subject lines that
read “Secret Simpsons Episodes”. The body of the email
then suggests the attachment is one of the secret episodes.
Open it and the worm proliferates. D’oh!

Now onto today’s topic…

A couple of newsletters back I wrote how e-books
weren’t quite taking off like sellers thought they should.
The newsletter prompted a run of email from people that
told me that they didn’t enjoy reading an e-book because
the light-emitting display tired their eyes.

I responded that I knew what they were talking about. I
keep eye drops right there next to my monitor. I hardly
ever put the dropper into the desk drawer because I use it
a good deal.

I had forgotten about the emails until I was reading over
the USA Today tech section today. The page had a story
about how the Mayo Clinic will soon release the results
of a study that states that “heavy” computer use is NOT a
big factor as to why a person has Carpal Tunnel
Syndrome (CTS).

That’s right… is NOT a big factor.

CTS is associated with repetitive motion. It would only
make sense that heavy computer use would cause the
stress that would lead to CTS. Nope. Only slightly more
than 10% of those noted as a heavy computer user had
signs of CTS. Furthermore, two-thirds of that ten percent
showed only “very mild” signs of the syndrome.

The full results of the survey will be published in the
journal Neurology. You can read more about it right now
at: http://www.usatoday.com/life/cyber/nb/nb3.htm. The
Mayo Clinic page regarding CTS itself is at:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/home?id=DS00326.

But…but…but…after finishing up a newsletter and
tutorial, I’m in pain.

Does this happen to you? I have this odd ability to
simply zone out when I get on the computer. My wife
calls it “going savant”. I’ll sit down with a blank page
and just “go away”. The next thing I know it’s seven
hours later and I have ten written pages. I haven’t eaten,
bathed, or dressed for the day. And I am in pain!

If you are anything like the people that wrote to me about
their hurting eyes, you have gotten up from the computer
in pain. I have.

The funny thing is, I hurt most in my right wrist. That’s
why the Mayo Clinic study caught my eye. No, I never
thought I had CTS. I know the reason. It’s my mouse
placement. I like my mouse pad right up against the edge
of the desk. Thus, my wrist sits right on the sharp edge.
After a few hours of that, there’s some real pain. Don’t
bother telling me about wrist pads. I can’t stand them.

I bought a big, comfy, leather chair for my home office.
It was one of my few over-indulgences. I’m sure it’s
made for sitting up straight, but I never do it. I sink into
that puppy to the point where I’m almost bent into a Z.
My computer armoire has a great slide-out platform for
the keyboard so no matter what position I roll myself into
the keyboard comes right to me.

I dislike light when I’m on the computer. I am writing
this newsletter at 1:15 PM and I’ve got every drape in the
room drawn. The only light is coming from my computer
screen. I do the same thing at work. I can’t tell you how
many times my department head has come in and turned
on my light before sitting down to hold a conference.
She leaves and I turn the light right back off. Many of
my students have simply stopped asking to turn on the
light and sit in the dark if they want to talk to me.

Put all of those variables together and let them run for
five hours and you get up pretty stiff and sore. Too many
times I’ve gotten up and walked right to the Tylenol.

I’m not looking for sympathy. On the contrary, I am
simply displaying my red badges of courage.

The emails from the readers regarding my e-book
newsletter were fun because I started going back and
forth with a few people talking about the little aches and
pains that come with using a computer a great deal. It
was as if we were athletes attempting to out-pain one
another.

Have you ever gotten into these types of discussions?
The emails from readers convinced me that it’s not just
something only a few people do either. The amount of
computer work and the level of computer work are
measured in pain.

It’s the nerd’s equal to the scar comparison scene in Jaws.
I was in more pain than you were thus I worked harder. I
lost more sleep then you thus I did more. I drank an
entire pot of coffee whereas you only had a cup. I am
more awake than you.

Now don’t tell me that this is just silly man-stuff. I get
into just as many of these pain fights with women.

Oh, it may sound like complaining to the uninitiated, but
it’s not. We of the Internet measure our labor not only in
the volumes of work we produce but also the toll we take
on our bodies.

Now before you attempt to out-pain me in an email
remember this; no one has yet beaten my record of
having had to replace my keyboard three times. I simply
typed em’ to death.

Ooooo. That hurt.

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

That’s that. Thanks for reading. I have to stop now. It
hurts.

Joe Burns, Ph.D.

And Remember: People got a kick out of last week’s
multiple definitions of “Ps and Qs” so let’s do another
just like it. Where did the term “Jazz” come from? Here
are a few theories I’ve found. Many say it came from a
mispronunciation of “Mr. Razz,” a conductor in New
Orleans in the early 1900s. The same theory of the term
coming from a person’s name has also been applied to the
late 1890s drummer Charles Washington whom everyone
called “Chaz”. Then there’s Charles Alexander, of
Alexander’s Rag Time Band fame, whose name was also
abbreviated as “Chas” on music programs. A few far-out
theories have “Jazz” coming from the Arabic word for
dance, “chasse” or an African dialect word for “distant
drums,” “jaiza”. I live just north of New Orleans and
from what I’ve found around here, no one really cares
where the term came from. They just want to know
where they can hear it.