Pointer pain

Last night I did a bit more with caspian, (updated the Ultima Linux install from the latest CD, got Opera installed and mostly configured, told xchat how to open URLs with Opera. Still need to install joe and tell Opera to use NEdit to view source) and a fair amount of that time I was using the laptop's built-in pointer. The built-in pointer is an eraser-head thing. Despite the other colloquial names for that style of pointer, it's not fun to use, at least for me. I've found it's painful. Not right away, but I notice it eventually and today my wrist is sore. As much as I dislike trackpads, at least they don't make my wrist sore that I've noticed.

Fortunately I have a good spare trackball that I can plug into the laptop. It's not as convenient as the built-in pointer, but it's won't give me a sore wrist. It will, however, fit into the laptop along with various cables and such. I don't expect to be setting up the laptop in every little space or using it on aircraft, so it's not a big deal.

A good trackball is one with a fairly large ball. Those micro-marble things tend to be painful to use for any length of time. Also, a good trackball is one that can be used by the left hand. While I am right-handed, I prefer the pointer to be on the left. There are, or were, many allegedly ergonomic mouse and trackball designs that are right hand only and therefore useless to me. The Logitech "Marble Mouse" is mis-named twice, it's actually a good trackball. It's the one I now prefer. There are also too many trackballs that seem to be designed by people who never use them, and it shows. They're annoying to use left or right handed.

Evolve a better mousetrap (sorry Masem)

Looking at early examples of machines and such, the early designs seem rather primitive and crude. Sometime it's amazing that the first examples that actually worked did work at all. But the early designs were refined over and over until the current design often barely resembles the original.

There are folks who don't seem to realize this and assume that the current design is the only one and it could be no other way. The argument goes that no part can be removed and still have it be the thing it is. If that is indeed that case, then it's an example of good design or engineering. Good design or engineering has been said to be finished not when the last needed thing is added but when the last unneeded thing is removed.

But that doesn't mean that the current thing is the only way it could be. One of the arguments for so-called Intelligent Design is that life is irreducibly complex: you can't remove anything without breaking the thing it's a part of. One example, of something actually designed, is the snap mousetrap which it is claimed is irreducible: nothing can be removed and have it still function. But that assumes that it was always in its finished form.

What if it wasn't?

Another question, another answer...

Q: What is the square root of negative three and why is it irrelevant?

A: The square root of -3 is...
0 + 1.73205080757i if you are a mathematician
0 + 1.73205080757j if you are an engineer

And this is only as irrelevant as you care to consider it. The square root of -3 by itself is pretty meaningless. Were it a description of something (a reactance, perhaps) then it would have meaning.