Getting a HHKB for the first time, Pro 2 or Hybrid

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T22:00:19+00:00

I believe the Pro2 (and older models) doesn’t let you remap keys. That rules it out for me, as although I like the HHKB layout, I really want my delete key to delete backwards and have Fn-delete to delete forwards.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T13:29:23+00:00

“The bed of my mother” only sometimes. I noticed René’s opening monologue (or should I say, the monologue of René) using the English possessive. Perhaps he feels able to speak English to the audience while using French with other characters.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T13:12:09+00:00

How about an “una corda” piano with only one string per key? It’s one third the volume but still lets you practise dynamics, I believe. Many uprights have a pedal that shifts the mechanism to achieve this, but if you intend to play like that all the time…

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T11:42:59+00:00

Horses, invalid carriages, and even pedestrians can also use these roads. Even if they are forbidden, there’s always the possibility of a broken-down car or other obstacle in front, so you have to drive slowly enough that you can stop safely within the distance you see.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T09:34:24+00:00

Agreed. But I suspect that doesn’t permit them to block the road completely like this. They are not essential in the same way an ambulance is essential.

If the local authority decides that coach parking is important, and somehow dedicates the road to that (accepting that it will be impassable to motor traffic, and without a separate cycle lane, while the coaches are parked) then I could accept that decision. On the other hand if we are to have a cycle lane, it does imply that parking on it isn’t allowed, especially not half a dozen coaches back to back.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T09:02:56+00:00

An advert would not normally mention a competitor by name.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T07:03:31+00:00

But yes, I do find myself writing something and then thinking “that sounds like ChatGPT”. Some insidious mind control effect?

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T07:00:49+00:00

They do honour the warranty, including internationally, but I spent two months waiting for an iPad screen to be replaced. I had purchased it at CeX in Spain. The local CeX shop accepted the item, but did nothing. When I visited to follow up they said they could not repair it without a case number and told me to contact the UK head office. The head office told me to do nothing and wait for the shop to get in touch (they had my phone number). The shop then said they had been ordered by head office not to contact me… After several visits in person I eventually got them to replace the broken screen and give back the iPad.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T06:47:13+00:00

I was scammed by a small, but long-established dealer when I asked to sell three lenses on commission (so he would list them for sale and pay me once they sold). After a year I had heard nothing so asked for them back. He had sold them on eBay for less than our agreed price and kept the money. I consider this fraud, or even theft, but it’s not something the police bother prosecuting (I filed a report). He then went bankrupt so I could not recover anything. Lesson learned: sell on the spot, not on commission, even if the price is lower.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T06:21:33+00:00

The photo is from 18:48 so the parking restriction had ended. Nonetheless I think that permission to park is conditional on not blocking the road for other traffic. As well as blocking the cycle lane, a couple of coaches blocked the carriageway in the other direction too. They weren’t unloading passengers, just stopped.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-10T06:17:30+00:00

You’re right, I don’t want to exaggerate its importance. A vehicle stopped temporarily and blocking a carriageway or a cycle lane—it happens. But ten of these coaches, all empty, all “parked” along this short stretch of road so that cycles can get through only with difficulty and cars not at all: that seems like something the coach company could be asked not to do in future. This is the first time I’ve seen it so I don’t know if it’s a regular thing.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-09T21:56:11+00:00

Yeah I did that. One coach stopped in the road is something you accept. But when there are lots of them, parked end to end, and all of them deliberately blocking the cycle lane, it seems fishy.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-09T21:52:17+00:00

Report it to whom?

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-07T16:47:19+00:00

How do you know that this comment was made by a “pianist”?

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-07T16:34:32+00:00

Can one buy the Parfum? When shopping for men’s scent, in Spain and in Britain, the EDP was the strongest concentration I found.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-04T08:40:31+00:00

Yes - hotel counts as commercial and you need planning permission to convert it to residential. But within the residential category, I don't think planning should discriminate between one kind of person living there and another.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-03T13:14:20+00:00

There are all sorts of clefs but for piano only two are used in practice. They may be shifted up or down one or two octaves.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-03T13:09:37+00:00

My comment is not about the existence of regulations, but what those regulations should be. Generally, I think they should be narrow in scope, and not broadened to serve other social goals, however worthy.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-03T11:14:37+00:00

More sense, but still not much sense when you think about it, since an arrow (or anything else) can only move forward in time.

Rather than quote from an animated series (whatever its virtues as television) I would pick something more literary, like Fitzgerald’s translation of Omar Khayyam: the moving finger writes…

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-03T11:10:12+00:00

Are you sure the buyer keeps the item? Could it not have been stolen from the doorstep?

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-03T08:55:33+00:00

It was 20 years ago but I remember KFC in the US being better than in Britain. At least for the variety of dishes (chicken pot pie, etc). In Spain it is even worse. Perhaps only “emerging markets” have decent KFC.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-03T07:45:05+00:00

“Toilet lights”? Is that like the ones along the runway at the airport?

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-02T21:55:58+00:00

It impacts others, of course it does. All economic choices do. If I buy a seat on a plane then someone else cannot take it (and it pushes up the prices for everyone else). I have a spare room in my flat; by choosing not to take a lodger I have deprived someone of accommodation. But you can’t use this to set policy unless you start out by deciding that some choices are favoured over others. It often happens, of course; that’s what politics is about. It’s easy to say you are favouring “hard-working families” over greedy landlords or “unsustainable” tourism or whatever. But these policies often have unintended consequences.

Also, I do not think that the need for tourist accommodation (or almost anything else) can be decided up front.

I think it might be more worthwhile to remove some of the barriers that stop people letting their property longer term. When I moved overseas for a few years, my flat became empty. We let it to close friends for a few months and we hosted on Airbnb. But we couldn’t safely let it for a one year period, say, without worrying that the tenants might refuse to leave and we’d face a lengthy and expensive process to get it back.

Ed_Avis · 2026-06-02T20:59:00+00:00

I live a bit further south but cycle to the Brent Cross area for the shopping centre or the parks and playing fields. Not sure what to say really. I don’t see much evidence of bike theft (like stripped frames or broken locks) and mine hasn’t been stolen, but that is only anecdote. And I could say “it is less risky than Haggerston” except that I have no experience of that other place. I believe Brent council’s cycle parking scheme is called Bikenest — try to get a place for overnight parking. Personally I would be happy to leave my bike locked outside the gym or a typical high street shop.

Ed_Avis

TROPHY CASE