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geekhack Community => Off Topic => Topic started by: exousia on Thu, 12 November 2009, 13:03:46

Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: exousia on Thu, 12 November 2009, 13:03:46: Too bad I probably wouldn't stand a chance, even though I do live in Austin ^_^

Last years SWSW with Explosion's In The Sky down at Arboretum Shore's was awesomeness.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: AndrewZorn on Thu, 12 November 2009, 13:05:11: HAHAHAHAHA

so, what happens as an 'error' penalty for those contestants?

Das's secret will be revealed to the WORLD!
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: itlnstln on Fri, 13 November 2009, 07:46:34: I love SXSW. I wish I were in college again; I used to go every year (for free, it was nice being "media").
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Sun, 29 November 2009, 18:50:04: Quote:
During the final UTC event at the South by Southwest Conference, each finalist will be required to type on a Das Keyboard Model S Professional keyboard.

Completely disregarding any problems the keyboard may have(or may not now since they appear to be making an effort to fix it) that will completely mess up every single person in the competition.

What if someone practices on a model m and then has to type on blue cherries for the finals? That's garbage.

Going from different switches quickly can be a problem for me, let a lone going from one end of the force spectrum to the other.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 18:53:42: Top place right now is 200wpm, which is faster than most people speak. Average speaking is 150wpm. I could probably get up to about 100wpm on a good day, but 200wpm? I think that's impossible. It definitely isn't done with a qwerty. Time to build an alps dvorak. lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Sun, 29 November 2009, 18:55:54: Quote from: chimera15;137312
Top place right now is 200wpm, which is faster than most people speak. Average speaking is 150wpm. I could probably get up to about 100wpm on a good day, but 200wpm? I think that's impossible. It definitely isn't done with a qwerty. Time to build an alps dvorak. lol

I noticed that...kinda scary.

Hit me up when you're done, I'll buy it off you lolololol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: watduzhkstand4 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 18:56:20: well I guess it's worth a shot? lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 19:03:58: Looks like I'm averaging about 70-80wpm with my white complicated alps siig. Some pretty complicated stuff they make you type. Going to try my blues alps hhk2. hehehe Should increase at least 10wpm.

Looks like most people are averaging about 35-50 wpm on the site so far.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 19:09:36: Quote from: webwit;137316
That will be fun, a final with cheats competing live without their macros for the limited text data.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking, but I could macro faster than 200wpm I think?

lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 19:14:31: My speed actually dropped with my hhk. I guess I'm just too used to siigs. lol

Up to 80 with my cream siig.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Sun, 29 November 2009, 19:14:47: Quote from: webwit;137316
That will be fun, a final with cheats competing live without their macros for the limited text data.

I would pay to see that
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Sun, 29 November 2009, 19:24:01: Quote from: chimera15;137317
Going to try my blues alps hhk2. hehehe

How did you manage that?

NVM found the mod lol, should have looked first.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 19:46:03: Looks like I'm about an 80wpm typer. I got 80wpm on my fake alps siigs too... I don't think I can be any more used to a keyboard that that. I wonder what it will take for me to boost up to 100wpm....let alone 200 hmm.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Sun, 29 November 2009, 19:56:17: I generally find that the switch type doesn't affect me too much on short tests. I'm sure if we're doing longer tests, the mental and physical fatigue factor will creep in more noticeably. I thought my speed would take a complete dive on a test using my new ASUS EeePC Netbook with the keys sized 20% down, but it barely suffered... if I didn't make many errors. If I made errors, it was hard to find the damn backspace button and that slowed me down a lot... but that had nothing to do with the switch type.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Sun, 29 November 2009, 19:56:57: Biggest help for me(same area you're at going from 80 to 100) was to go back and get absolute certainty on all my keystrokes. Do a bunch of those crappy boring fjfjfjfjfj lessons on some of those online teachers really slowly until you literally get 100% on every lesson, even if it's slowly. Then increase your speed. Then when you go back to normal typing, you will type a LOT faster.

Worked for me anyway.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: majestouch on Sun, 29 November 2009, 20:12:51: Free FILCO to the first person who registers a username with some variant of "elitekeyboards.com" in it for this contest AND makes it into the TOP 5 on the leaderboard of http://www.ultimatetypingchampionship.com.

Special conditions: Your score must remain in the top 5 and not be removed, for any reason including eclipse by faster typists or disqualification, for at least 72 hours. E-mail me when you achieve this feat, I will require your password in order to verify the account after 72 hours. I cover only domestic US shipping charges. Offer valid until I say so.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: msiegel on Sun, 29 November 2009, 20:18:22: good marketing idea :D
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 20:22:48: Quote from: majestouch;137334
Free FILCO to the first person who registers a username with some variant of "elitekeyboards.com" in it for this contest AND makes it into the TOP 5 on the leaderboard of http://www.ultimatetypingchampionship.com.

Special conditions: Your score must remain in the top 5 and not be removed, for any reason including eclipse by faster typists or disqualification, for at least 72 hours. E-mail me when you achieve this feat, I will require your password in order to verify the account after 72 hours. I cover only domestic US shipping charges. Offer valid until I say so.

Do you think someone will get 170 wpm with a filco? lol

I think what's slowing me down the most is that I don't know how to spell a lot of the words they use, and words that I almost never type. lol

Even so, if I practiced every word, and knew what I was typing I wouldn't expect to be able to reach more than about 110....170 seems rediculous... Top score right now is about 90wpm on the easiest ones.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: msiegel on Sun, 29 November 2009, 20:26:58: Quote from: chimera15;137336
Do you think someone will get 170 wpm with a filco?

you get a filco if you *reach* 170wpm
XD
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 20:31:43: I would guess they are only using about 20-30 examples. It would be fairly easy to cheat and get those scores. I think they're going to have to input more examples or find another way to weed out the cheaters.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 20:53:48: Alright, time to break out the big boy. AT F time! lol.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: msiegel on Sun, 29 November 2009, 20:59:07: yeah, that's the ticket :D
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 21:25:27: lol Averaging about the same with it, 80wpm, but my fingers are getting a little tired now, so maybe I'll be better with it after some rest.

100wpm+ must be flying on these things. Like they must take about 5 seconds to complete a whole passage.

I think I might have to make a dvorak just for this test.... when's the final date? lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Sun, 29 November 2009, 22:08:39: Damn! My hands are all trashed from a week long programming and email binge. Hmmm... well 170 is a lot to ask anyway...

Besides... everyone repeat after me... I really don't need another keyboard.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 22:11:03: I just want to reach 100 wpm average.. at 80 wpm now. lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 22:18:41: I guess those guys can give her a run for her money.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_is_the_fastest_typist_in_the_world

I think dvorak is the key.

I gotta read the threads of how to turn a hhk into a dvorak at least.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Sun, 29 November 2009, 22:56:39: Quote from: chimera15;137354
I guess those guys can give her a run for her money.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Who_is_the_fastest_typist_in_the_world

I think dvorak is the key.

I gotta read the threads of how to turn a hhk into a dvorak at least.

Remember that is sustained for 50 min, these guys only have to do like 10 min or something, and what you're seeing is from less than 30 seconds(only 1 passage). But yeah, I'm sure there have been some fast typist since her, I can't believe she has been the only one...
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 29 November 2009, 23:06:07: They said her top speed was 212 wpm. That was on an old typewriter though.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Mon, 30 November 2009, 00:22:26: Quote from: chimera15;137359
They said her top speed was 212 wpm. That was on an old typewriter though.

I'm more impressed by the 150wpm over 50 minutes than the 212wpm top speed.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Mon, 30 November 2009, 06:37:59: Trying to learn Dvorak and comparing it with my speed with qwerty really shows how ingrained a layout becomes on your head and how much of just a reflex using a keyboard becomes. I can't get above 6wpm using dvorak with many hours of practicing at this point.

I no longer have to look at a cheat sheet, but the speed just isn't there. My typing just isn't natural. I've been typing with qwerty almost everyday for 20+ years now, and half that time I was playing gs3 at least 8 hours a day, so my typing has probably fallen from when I was doing that. I might have to start playing gsiv again just to learn dvorak with the same speed. lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 02 December 2009, 00:50:53: I finally broke 100 wpm using qwerty on the easiest passages. Still a long way to go to get up to 170..that's like insanely flying. They said they had a lot of problems with hackers breaking the program, and they're taking measures against them. I wonder if those 170+ times are going to stand.

I'm improving using dvorak. I'm probably up to about 10 wpm, but still a long way from even being usable to write a normal sentence this long. I started practicing with it in gs4. Great tool to learn basics of typing. lol

I notice one thing I do when I type in qwerty is that I take my hands completely off the board, so it makes for a lot of mistakes. In dvorak I'm able to keep my hands on the board completely, so that might account for a lot of speed when I get it more ingrained in my muscle memory.

I've posted several results around 102wpm now using elitekeyboards.com which should put me around 40th place. I wonder if the results are for single races or overall averages?

You know I've considered this. 150 wpm is faster than the average person speaks. So 200 must be approaching the speed that most people might be able to even think! Reading speed comes in there as well. At 100wpm I'm close to surpassing my reading speed. To reach 200wpm you have to have the passages memorized, there's no way you could transcribe it that fast.

Technique probably only really plays at most a 20-30 wpm difference. If you have the passages memorized it couples that you've got the passages memorized typing them as well, so it's only a matter of replaying the muscle memory at that kind of speed.

71. elitekeyboards.com 102.5 wpm

Who's this? lol

4. smirking_elitekeybo... 101.7 wpm

lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Wed, 02 December 2009, 12:46:46: Smirking is me. I was having a bad typing day and gave up after a couple of tries. That's a bad score for me. :(

I only do QWERTY, but I rarely have any problem finding the home row again after taking my hands off. Either I've just gotten so used to it or maybe there's something else in play that we're not considering. We like to talk about the role that a layout plays in your typing speed and accuracy, but genetics may be just as big or an even bigger factor. My hands are larger than most people's hands, but they're not so large that they're too big for a keyboard. When I have to hit a number or symbol, my hands sort of climb up a row on the keyboard to reach it and they climb back down. they don't need to necessarily come off the keyboard completely except to hit backspace and to a lesser extent, the return key.

I hear what you're saying about thinking speed. Once I go past 100 wpm, I have to stop thinking or I'll screw up because I can't spell that fast. If the words aren't ingrained my reflexes once I exceed 100wpm, my speed suffers greatly because I start typing faster than I can spell and once doubt creeps in, you really start making big errors.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: elbowglue on Wed, 02 December 2009, 12:48:53: Darn high scores disabled.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 02 December 2009, 16:12:58: So far my fastest typing is on my steampunk modded board. It's at least 10 wpm faster than what I would consider my average boards. Of all my boards, I'm really surprised it's that one. I might guess it has something to do with the weight of the old keys on the alps simplified switches and the space in between the keys that the rounded caps allow.

My slowest keyboard by at least 10 wpm below what I would consider my average boards, is my hhk2 hack. Probably because of the small Japanese layout spacebar, and very stiff keys. The spacebar is also non rounded, so I have to do something about that. As I used a shift key it bites into my thumb every time I press it.

It got me to thinking though, that the keyboard really does matter. Overall layout more than anything.

For instance my cream dampened siig is much easier to type on over the long haul and I would put in the average category as far as speed, the keys become a little sluggish at high speed, and it feels a bit like they're not returning fast enough vrs the clicky versions.

It got me to thinking. Maybe it's possible to design a keyboard specifically for speed, as opposed to comfort or anything. I was wondering maybe linear alps would be a better choice actually when it comes to super ultra high speed because you don't have the extra mechanisms to add friction that would slow the return of the key down.

You also end up really coming down hard on keys at that speed, and complicated whites really bottom out hard and wear on your fingers after a while.

Alps caps aren't great because they're right next to each other, so modifying the caps I think would be a big help. You'd have to cut them down so there's more separation between them.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Wed, 02 December 2009, 16:23:07: They have some pretty hard quotes on that site. I have to strain to do 100wpm on a lot of them and 100wpm is usually fairly routine. Either that or I lost half of my brain over Thanksgiving.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 02 December 2009, 16:24:58: Quote from: hyperlinked;138122
They have some pretty hard quotes on that site. I have to strain to do 100wpm on a lot of them and 100wpm is usually fairly routine. Either that or I lost half of my brain over Thanksgiving.

No, they do have some really hard quotes.

The ones with all the - 's and ; 's and impossibly long words are the worst.

I finally realized, and I'll give something away since I don't think I'll make it to 170 anyway, but maybe someone else can. The leaderboard for the competition is just single instances, not averages. So all you have to do is get super good at one passage, and wait till it comes up. This is most likely what they did to get those speeds. Just ingrain the simplest passage there into yourself. Type it a thousands of times, so you can riddle it off like a machine gun.

Most likely all those speeds were set with a single passage.

Even knowing that, I'm not sure with the boards I have now I can get up to even 120 which is what the middle leaderboard is at now.

I'm at about 110 on one of the passages right now, but that's like really pushing it for me.

I need to make a speedboard. lol

Ah I saw you broke 120! Wow Congrats! Maybe you'll make it. ;)

I may try to learn just one passage with dvorak. I think that might be a key.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Thu, 03 December 2009, 14:23:33: Quote from: chimera15;138123
No, they do have some really hard quotes.

The ones with all the - 's and ; 's and impossibly long words are the worst.

I'm beginning to suspect that the app is also buggy too. I've had problems staying logged in and I'm missing an awful lot of keystrokes on easy words and I notice that there's sometimes significant lag in the registering of keystrokes. Now, I haven't been practicing at typing tests in a while so a loss of accuracy is something I expected, but I still think it's missing or transposing some keystrokes.

Maybe they're simulating what your typing experience would be like if you were using a Das.

Quote from: chimera15;138123
Just ingrain the simplest passage there into yourself. Type it a thousands of times, so you can riddle it off like a machine gun.

Most likely all those speeds were set with a single passage.

Ah I saw you broke 120! Wow Congrats! Maybe you'll make it. ;)

Yeah, those speeds are for your one time best, but I don't think I'll be getting anywhere near 170. I've never hit 150 on any typing test, but I think with some practice and an easy quote, I could make it to 150, but that'd be the ceiling for me. Unfortunately, my hands can't afford that kind of abuse it'd take in practicing for a real speed run so I'll have to be happy with 120 or whatever I end up managing in the occasional run.

Quote from: chimera15;138123
I may try to learn just one passage with dvorak. I think that might be a key.

They're starting to add a lot more quotes... many of them tricky in some way or another. The contest would be more fair if the high scores were based on an average of 10 required passages that everyone had to type.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 03 December 2009, 15:08:31: Quote from: hyperlinked;138394
I'm beginning to suspect that the app is also buggy too. I've had problems staying logged in and I'm missing an awful lot of keystrokes on easy words and I notice that there's sometimes significant lag in the registering of keystrokes. Now, I haven't been practicing at typing tests in a while so a loss of accuracy is something I expected, but I still think it's missing or transposing some keystrokes.

Maybe they're simulating what your typing experience would be like if you were using a Das.

Yeah, those speeds are for your one time best, but I don't think I'll be getting anywhere near 170. I've never hit 150 on any typing test, but I think with some practice and an easy quote, I could make it to 150, but that'd be the ceiling for me. Unfortunately, my hands can't afford that kind of abuse it'd take in practicing for a real speed run so I'll have to be happy with 120 or whatever I end up managing in the occasional run.

They're starting to add a lot more quotes... many of them tricky in some way or another. The contest would be more fair if the high scores were based on an average of 10 required passages that everyone had to type.

Yes I agree, it should be based on high score averages. The possibility to learn just one passage ultra fast and wait for it is really unfair, and not going to make for much of a championship. I would be surprised if you actually saw someone type over 200 wpm irl there unless they give them the passages they've been practicing.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: negidaku on Fri, 04 December 2009, 23:21:39: I wish their passages were a bit longer. It takes me a while to react to the start signal and get up to speed, and it would be nice to have more material over which to amortize these fixed startup costs.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: PRISONER 24601 on Sat, 05 December 2009, 05:16:34: wow, i wish i could type 200wpm. imagine what i could get done...
i could transcribe faster
write down exactly what people are saying
copy movie dialogue as i watch
the possibilities are endless.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 05 December 2009, 20:24:40: Who's this???

25. elitekeyboards dot com 131.7 wpm

lol

What kind of keyboard are you using???

Are you using qwerty?

It's cool majetouch did that we can see who's a member of these boards. lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: negidaku on Sat, 05 December 2009, 21:00:06: elitekeyboards dot com is me. I'm using an old rubber-dome QWERTY keyboard (NMB RT6875T), because I haven't yet acquired anything better.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: msiegel on Sat, 05 December 2009, 21:44:04: Quote from: negidaku;139279
elitekeyboards dot com is me. I'm using an old rubber-dome QWERTY keyboard (NMB RT6875T), because I haven't yet acquired anything better.

:D impressive speed for using a rubber-dome!
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 05 December 2009, 22:55:47: Awesome. I told a friend of mine from my gs days who's like an elite typer about this contest, and he's using a rubber dome too. He's posted a 137 (21. elite keyboards dot... 137.1 wpm) and he just started trying. lol He can possibly get up to 200 he's hit those speeds before.. ;)

Rubber domes have some advantages at high speeds I guess. lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Sat, 05 December 2009, 22:58:16: I love how no one here actually cares about the DAS contest, we're just trying for the free Filco :)
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 05 December 2009, 23:02:52: Quote from: erricrice;139298
I love how no one here actually cares about the DAS contest, we're just trying for the free Filco :)

I wonder if das will disqualify the typer if they actually get into the top 6 cause they're using it to promote a competitor website? Is there an agreement with Majetouch to do this, or is he trying to usurp the contest? lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Sat, 05 December 2009, 23:04:48: Quote from: majestouch;137334
Free FILCO to the first person who registers a username with some variant of "elitekeyboards.com" in it for this contest AND makes it into the TOP 5 on the leaderboard of http://www.ultimatetypingchampionship.com.

Special conditions: Your score must remain in the top 5 and not be removed, for any reason including eclipse by faster typists or disqualification, for at least 72 hours. E-mail me when you achieve this feat, I will require your password in order to verify the account after 72 hours. I cover only domestic US shipping charges. Offer valid until I say so.

Well there's that....

Who knows what they might do, it would be really funny to see how they react. We should get a bunch of fast typists up there and get all top five on elitekeyboards.com lol that would be awesome.

They would probably freak.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: SparkErosion on Sun, 06 December 2009, 00:35:16: Quote from: chimera15;139297
Awesome. I told a friend of mine from my gs days who's like an elite typer about this contest, and he's using a rubber dome too. He's posted a 137 (21. elite keyboards dot... 137.1 wpm) and he just started trying. lol He can possibly get up to 200 he's hit those speeds before.. ;)

Rubber domes have some advantages at high speeds I guess. lol

Hey Lord Cemb :biggrin:

My best so far is 142. I hope I can keep practicing and get 150, or better yet 170. We'll see. I'm gonna try!
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 06 December 2009, 00:45:31: Quote from: SparkErosion;139313
Hey Lord Cemb :biggrin:

My best so far is 142. I hope I can keep practicing and get 150, or better yet 170. We'll see. I'm gonna try!

Hehe. Awesome, if anyone can do it I know you can. Hope you win. Maybe give me and Ripster a small percentage as a finders fee if you do. roflol

That 142 you posted put you on the main webpage leaderboard with the elitekeyboards.com name. lol

14th place!! lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: SparkErosion on Sun, 06 December 2009, 01:17:31: Quote from: chimera15;139316
Hehe. Awesome, if anyone can do it I know you can. Hope you win. Maybe give me and Ripster a small percentage as a finders fee if you do. roflol

That 142 you posted put you on the main webpage leaderboard with the elitekeyboards.com name. lol

14th place!! lol

awesome, lol...I hope I can win that keyboard
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: SparkErosion on Sun, 06 December 2009, 22:11:55: I managed to break 160 WPM

Awesome...wonder where I'm at now
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 06 December 2009, 22:23:55: Quote from: SparkErosion;139612
I managed to break 160 WPM

Awesome...wonder where I'm at now

Hehehe Go go go!! I hope Majestouch is watching... Is his name ok? It trails off a little cause the field wasn't large enough, and everyone else had already taken good names...

Can you clarify if you're trying to usurp the contest or not too? Cause it would suck for him to be disqualified for the username since he's so close now....
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 06 December 2009, 22:44:21: Just so everyone knows. This is pretty amazing, SparkErosion's been using the same compaq cheap rubber dome for like 10 years. Which might account for his speed since he's definitely used to his board. I'm really curious to see what he'd be able to do with good quality mechanical. Anyway he's an amazing typist, and an awesome magician who's practiced all sorts of manual dexterity tricks. I'm going to be really happy to see him win!! ;)
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Sun, 06 December 2009, 23:02:17: Quote from: chimera15;139620
Just so everyone knows. This is pretty amazing, SparkErosion's been using the same compaq cheap rubber dome for like 10 years. Which might account for his speed since he's definitely used to his board. I'm really curious to see what he'd be able to do with good quality mechanical. Anyway he's an amazing typist, and an awesome magician who's practiced all sorts of manual dexterity tricks. I'm going to be really happy to see him win!! ;)

Spark, how the hell did you get a rubber dome to last ten years typing the way you type?

I'm actually not surprised that he can fly on a rubber dome. I don't believe the switch matters much on short tests. Anyway... Go Speed Racer Go!

If you end up getting invited to SBSW, we'll all chip in to give you a Geekhack tattoo. You know how some people have "LOVE" and "HATE" tattooed on their knuckles? We'll see to it that you have "GEEK" and "HACK" on yours.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: SparkErosion on Sun, 06 December 2009, 23:14:38: Quote from: hyperlinked;139624
Spark, how the hell did you get a rubber dome to last ten years typing the way you type?

I'm actually not surprised that he can fly on a rubber dome. I don't believe the switch matters much on short tests. Anyway... Go Speed Racer Go!

If you end up getting invited to SBSW, we'll all chip in to give you a Geekhack tattoo. You know how some people have "LOVE" and "HATE" tattooed on their knuckles? We'll see to it that you have "GEEK" and "HACK" on yours.

I don't know what a rubber dome is, lol. And I've only had it about 5 years.

I'll have to respectfully decline on the tattoo :), I don't have any and don't plan to get one.

Now that you mention it Cemb, my flourishes (a fancy magician name for a trick that shows skill) may have improved my dexterity. I don't know, but you were addicted to GS too for a long time I'd think you could type just as fast as me.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sun, 06 December 2009, 23:56:04: Quote from: hyperlinked;139624
Spark, how the hell did you get a rubber dome to last ten years typing the way you type?

I'm actually not surprised that he can fly on a rubber dome. I don't believe the switch matters much on short tests. Anyway... Go Speed Racer Go!

If you end up getting invited to SBSW, we'll all chip in to give you a Geekhack tattoo. You know how some people have "LOVE" and "HATE" tattooed on their knuckles? We'll see to it that you have "GEEK" and "HACK" on yours.

I'm actually not sure it's a rubber dome, but I strongly suspect it is. I couldn't find much out about the keyboard, and noones posted about them here. I'm actually really curious. Surprisingly he doesn't know much about keyboards and I've been trying to teach him. Maybe someone knows what it is exactly. It's a rarer older compaq it appears. None that I could find on ebay currenty

He said it's a:
compaq KB-0311

http://we.pcinlife.com/thread-1299798-1-1.html (http://we.pcinlife.com/thread-1299798-1-1.html)

He showed me pictures of it. It's an american version of this iso format board above, with a single home row enter key. I couldn't find any American version photos or any for sale of this board, pretty interesting.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Mon, 07 December 2009, 00:28:33: Looking at his board twice, I noticed it has half format function keys like the siig.... Makes me think it might actually be some sort of mechanical... Although looking a third time at the back of the board makes me think yet again...odd board.. lol

Found one from an ebay listing in september :
http://cgi.express.ebay.com/Compaq-Keyboard-KB-0311-BTC-M871-Optical-Mouse-PS2_W0QQitemZ300344683826QQihZ020QQcategoryZ47779QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.express.ebay.com/Compaq-Keyboard-KB-0311-BTC-M871-Optical-Mouse-PS2_W0QQitemZ300344683826QQihZ020QQcategoryZ47779QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Aha! lol

http://cgi.ebay.com/Box-12-New-Compaq-PS-2-Mult-Keyboard-RT7H00-5187-5023_W0QQitemZ250527530147QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item3a549abca3 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Box-12-New-Compaq-PS-2-Mult-Keyboard-RT7H00-5187-5023_W0QQitemZ250527530147QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item3a549abca3)

Surely not mechanical. roflol

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250484130257&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250484130257&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)

I bought one, I'm going to try it. $15 lol

For sure Spark proved the board doesn't make the typist, in entirety, at least cost wise. lol This makes me doubly curious to see what he'll be able to do with a real DAS or Filco board. Will it perhaps even slow him down???
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 12 December 2009, 08:46:33: I noticed the ranking list is gone this morning... Maybe they finally noticed....
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 12 December 2009, 08:55:47: Quote from: chimera15;139645
Looking at his board twice, I noticed it has half format function keys like the siig.... Makes me think it might actually be some sort of mechanical... Although looking a third time at the back of the board makes me think yet again...odd board.. lol

Found one from an ebay listing in september :
http://cgi.express.ebay.com/Compaq-Keyboard-KB-0311-BTC-M871-Optical-Mouse-PS2_W0QQitemZ300344683826QQihZ020QQcategoryZ47779QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem (http://cgi.express.ebay.com/Compaq-Keyboard-KB-0311-BTC-M871-Optical-Mouse-PS2_W0QQitemZ300344683826QQihZ020QQcategoryZ47779QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem)

Aha! lol

http://cgi.ebay.com/Box-12-New-Compaq-PS-2-Mult-Keyboard-RT7H00-5187-5023_W0QQitemZ250527530147QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item3a549abca3 (http://cgi.ebay.com/Box-12-New-Compaq-PS-2-Mult-Keyboard-RT7H00-5187-5023_W0QQitemZ250527530147QQcmdZViewItemQQptZPCA_Mice_Trackballs?hash=item3a549abca3)

Surely not mechanical. roflol

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250484130257&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT (http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=250484130257&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT)

I bought one, I'm going to try it. $15 lol

For sure Spark proved the board doesn't make the typist, in entirety, at least cost wise. lol This makes me doubly curious to see what he'll be able to do with a real DAS or Filco board. Will it perhaps even slow him down???

I got that board. it's pretty good for it's price. It's a lot like hhk lite keys, which aren't the worst membrane keyboards in the world, although close. New, they're pretty good, and nicely tactile. They also have a very soft bottoming out which probably helps.

I would really love to see what Spark could do with a real board after seeing this. I bet he'd top 200 easy.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 12 December 2009, 11:48:15: Quote from: chimera15;141683
I noticed the ranking list is gone this morning... Maybe they finally noticed....

The list is back, and someone broke 195 in second place. All still 172's in 3-7th place.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 12 December 2009, 13:41:45: Quote from: ripster;141735
And she was oooooollllllldddddddd! Told you - they just don't make typists like they used to.

It was on a Dvorak IBM Selectric BTW.

Yeah, but I was reading that the fastest typist now is over 300, broken in just the last few years.

Found this:

http://www.owled.com/typing.html (http://www.owled.com/typing.html)

If this is true I bet spark could break one of those records. lol

Dang, no wonder I'm having so much trouble breaking 120. lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Sat, 12 December 2009, 13:56:35: Quote from: ripster;141767
200 to 300? I think it just means hackers are getting better.

I'm still betting that the winners will show up at SXSW and type half as fast.

This is Akill. (http://www.theage.com.au/news/security/kiwi-teen-named-as-cyber-gang-mastermind/2007/11/30/1196037116019.html) Now a security consultant.
Show Image
(http://images.smh.com.au/ftsmh/ffximage/2009/03/24/akill2_wideweb__470x405,0.jpg)

That's possible, it would be a simple thing I bet to set up a passage or two in a nostromo and win it. lol But then you autolose at the competition. If Spark can make it into the top 6 I think He'll win, especially once he gets on a das.

If they don't let the typists use their own keyboards you're talking about at least a 10-20wpm drop right off I would guess.

Blackburn died in 2008.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Mon, 14 December 2009, 13:44:10: Alright. I discovered something really f*d up with the app. I discovered that if I forced myself to type at about half my normmal speed I got about the same wpm as if I was going my fastest, which is like insane. If I force myself to type slower I get about 90wpm average on even the hardest quotes. I made about the same errors using both speeds. So my guess is that the app isn't registering my speed or something.... how infuriating.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Mon, 14 December 2009, 16:45:36: That app is indeed messed up at least part of the time. The lag was pretty bad a few races that I played.

It also never registered my wpm on one race. I finished first, but it kept acting like I was still racing so my wpm kept going down and down and down because the clock was still running.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Mon, 14 December 2009, 17:30:14: Wow, wtf.

You would think that for a real contest like this they would at least be able to get someone from typeracer or something to help them with the code and stuff lol.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: erricrice on Mon, 14 December 2009, 21:23:46: Quote from: ripster;142380
They're all busy rewriting the firmware on the Das S.

Which by the way STILL isn't shipping. 10 days until Xmas!

Funny they probably didn't expect the problem when they organized this contest...

Wonder if they're going to give out the old ones to the winners or the updated hopefully-working ones
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Tue, 15 December 2009, 00:50:56: The app is in javascript right? I wonder if the version of javascript you have, and processing power effects it...

Maybe it's just more about connection speed though.

Spark interestingly enough has like a super fast internet connection. Might actually be a main factor....
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Tue, 15 December 2009, 03:32:01: Quote from: chimera15;142493
The app is in javascript right? I wonder if the version of javascript you have, and processing power effects it...

Maybe it's just more about connection speed though.

Yeah, possibilities, but Typeracer seems to perform ok even against major cross traffic. I've played on Typeracer while doing a file synch against a server in the background and while it did have a few hiccups, it didn't totally flake out for extended stretches the way the Das contest does under no load.

I have a pretty fast connection too... well, fast for a US residential connection. 10Mbps downstream / 1.5Mbps upstream.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: cheater1034 on Tue, 15 December 2009, 22:07:06: 1. Jelani Nelson (Mini... 202.7 wpm

Is this really possible? come on.

I can go at 120 MAX when i'm on an absolute roll, but when going that fast i'll usually make a mistake not long after - I consider myself a fast typist, but 200+ isn't human, i couldnt get that fast just mashing on the keys :P
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 16 December 2009, 01:43:03: Quote from: cheater1034;142802
1. Jelani Nelson (Mini... 202.7 wpm

Is this really possible? come on.

I can go at 120 MAX when i'm on an absolute roll, but when going that fast i'll usually make a mistake not long after - I consider myself a fast typist, but 200+ isn't human, i couldnt get that fast just mashing on the keys :P

I'm in about the same bracket as you, but there are people that are incredible typers, SparkErosian proved that. He's using qwerty too, if he was using dvorak for the past 10-15 years the chances are that he could reach 200 speeds.

Spark said he raced that Jelani guy, and it appeared that he was cheating to him. He said something about there being two race cars with his same name, with like around 80-100 wpm each, that added up to 160-200wpm speeds.

Spark I'm sure can get 170 if he really tried. He had to go to work though, so he hasn't had much time to practice since the first couple of days he tried where he got 160.
World record for computer input seems to be around 180 for qwerty.

I need to buy a guiness book of world records. There are apparently many different classes of typing world records, not just one. I think Spark would be capable of breaking at least several of them.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: Buckling_Summer on Wed, 16 December 2009, 11:22:13: These flying fingers of yours seem incredible.
Reminds me of "fast fingers" in other areas of life/art/culture like shred-guitar playing for example. I like the idea of using the computer keyboard as a musical (click-clack) instrument and excelling in it.

BTW I am crawling at 40-50 WPM :-(
Do you suggest any good software for offline education?
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 16 December 2009, 11:37:21: Quote from: Buckling_Summer;142962
These flying fingers of yours seem incredible.
Reminds me of "fast fingers" in other areas of life/art/culture like shred-guitar playing for example. I like the idea of using the computer keyboard as a musical (click-clack) instrument and excelling in it.

BTW I am crawling at 40-50 WPM :-(
Do you suggest any good software for offline education?

Not offline, there's lots of great online stuff though. GS4 being one of them. I increased my dvorak speed from about 5 to 15 wpm just by typing in it for a few days. I had to take off cause of finals for school though so I'm not making much progress there.

As far as typing tests/utilities this is another one I like cause it just gives random words:
It's also a set 1 minute, so you know exactly how many words you can type in that time.
http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/ (http://speedtest.10-fast-fingers.com/)
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: Buckling_Summer on Wed, 16 December 2009, 11:46:02: Quote
Not offline, there's lots of great online stuff though. GS4 being one of them.

Thanks for the advice.Any link?
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: Buckling_Summer on Wed, 16 December 2009, 12:00:28: It seems I found one to begin with
http://www.typing-lessons.org

We (the non English speaking) face double difficulty, we have to shove in our brains 2 different layout of keyboards each for every language. ;-)
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Wed, 16 December 2009, 12:15:15: Quote from: Buckling_Summer;142994
It seems I found one to begin with
http://www.typing-lessons.org

We (the non English speaking) face double difficulty, we have to shove in our brains 2 different layout of keyboards each for every language. ;-)

http://www.play.net/gs4/ (http://www.play.net/gs4/)
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 17 December 2009, 03:31:24: They pulled a few people off the leaderboard!!! Spark is in 6th place!!!!
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: Minilek on Thu, 17 December 2009, 04:36:43: They pulled a few people off the leaderboard!!!

Sadness.

-Jelani
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 17 December 2009, 08:06:14: Quote from: Minilek;143181
They pulled a few people off the leaderboard!!!

Sadness.

-Jelani

Why is it sadness? If you can really type that fast, just do it again. Your top speed was 40 wpm faster than the lowest qualifying score right now. I doubt they would have pulled your name without good cause.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: Buckling_Summer on Thu, 17 December 2009, 08:21:06: http://www.typing-lessons.org is good for starters.

I will be looking for Typing Tutor software or Mavis Beacon lessons on cd.

And who knows, maybe one day I will be a hall-famer too !

PS. I have forgotten to say that touch typing is a demanding brain training and IQ increasing exercise because it demands action and synchronization of both the cerebral hemispheres.
Maybe I must prepare an article called "The effects of proficient touch typing training on the parameters of cerebral neuromotor activity and on the intelligent quotient"
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: Minilek on Thu, 17 December 2009, 10:16:05: Quote from: chimera15;143213
... I doubt they would have pulled your name without good cause.

I was pulled out because I informed them that I'm ineligible. I'm a resident of the US Virgin Islands, and their terms & conditions (http://www.ultimatetypingchampionship.com/terms_conditions/) explicitly ban US territory residents, and require you to be a resident of the 50 United States or D.C.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 17 December 2009, 10:23:03: Quote from: Minilek;143262
I was pulled out because I informed them that I'm ineligible. I'm a resident of the US Virgin Islands, and their terms & conditions (http://www.ultimatetypingchampionship.com/terms_conditions/) explicitly ban US territory residents, and require you to be a resident of the 50 United States or D.C.

Ah well that sucks man, your typing must be amazing to see. What kind of keyboard do you use? I'm glad you weren't hacking and it was just a misunderstanding.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: Buckling_Summer on Thu, 17 December 2009, 11:58:13: Quote from: Minilek;143262
I was pulled out because I informed them that I'm ineligible. I'm a resident of the US Virgin Islands, and their terms & conditions (http://www.ultimatetypingchampionship.com/terms_conditions/) explicitly ban US territory residents, and require you to be a resident of the 50 United States or D.C.

Yeah! Give us some hints.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: itlnstln on Thu, 17 December 2009, 12:03:32: I wonder why they would not allow contestants from the US Territories? I guess it's like everything else, though, no representation in Congress (at least voting-wise) and they can't vote in elections. At least they don't have to pay Federal Taxes. I think I am going to move to Puerto Rico; my vote already doesn't count in Texas, anyway, and we're seceeding next year, too.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: Minilek on Thu, 17 December 2009, 16:36:10: I use a Unicomp SpaceSaver now, though I used to use whatever crap keyboard came with my computer. I type in QWERTY.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 17 December 2009, 17:37:22: Quote from: Minilek;143361
I use a Unicomp SpaceSaver now, though I used to use whatever crap keyboard came with my computer. I type in QWERTY.

Wow, awesome. Have you ever thought about trying to break a Guiness record? lol People that can type that fast are amazing. I mean think about it, 200 wpm is almost 3.3 words per second!!
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Fri, 18 December 2009, 11:20:36: Well, looks like someone in the Ultimate Typing Championship finally noticed that there are all these "elitekeyboards.com" people in the leaderboard and we're getting nastygrams to let us know that they want to delete our accounts. It took them HOW LONG to review their users and realize that a bunch of people in the top 100 have elitekeyboards.com in their username?

This app sure does seem like a Das product: release now and test later.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Fri, 18 December 2009, 13:28:52: Quote from: hyperlinked;143483
Well, looks like someone in the Ultimate Typing Championship finally noticed that there are all these "elitekeyboards.com" people in the leaderboard and we're getting nastygrams to let us know that they want to delete our accounts. It took them HOW LONG to review their users and realize that a bunch of people in the top 100 have elitekeyboards.com in their username?

This app sure does seem like a Das product: release now and test later.

Oop, yep, got one too. Guess so much for the filco offer, and an answer if Majestouch was trying to usurp the contest or not. lol
I think Majestouch should give one to Spark though, he was 6th and was in the main leaderboard webpage for at least a week, which should have fulfilled what he was after. It's cool they emailed us instead of just banning us though. lol
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: SparkErosion on Sun, 20 December 2009, 21:56:21: Damn it.

Got my speed up to 168.9 WPM on one quote but that still puts me in 7th.

:(
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Mon, 21 December 2009, 03:38:46: Quote from: SparkErosion;144079
Damn it.

Got my speed up to 168.9 WPM on one quote but that still puts me in 7th.

:(

Dang man! So close! Keep trying! :)
Yeah there are a lot of new fast typers on the site it seems. It'll probably get a lot worse as we get near the end of the contest.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: SparkErosion on Thu, 14 January 2010, 03:02:43: Just so you guys know.....

Last I Checked the leaderboard I was around #9, there was a bunch of new people who joined. Well, I go and check my email today (I made the mistake of not using my primary email address when registering), and I see an email from 1/5 that I was put into the waiting list of the semi finals. I made it to the semi finals! If only I had knew! God I am so pissed and mad at myself.

"Again ... congratulations! Your typing skills have set you apart as
one of the fastest typists in the country, and now you have an
opportunity to continue your quest to be crowned the first-ever
Ultimate Typing Champion!
"
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: arenasnow on Mon, 08 March 2010, 12:08:02: Hey. I'm Sean Wrona, finalist in the Ultimate Typing Championship. I found this several times while searching for info on the contest, and finally decided to post, although the thread is very old. I led the UTC standings after Jelani got booted (and I didn't really feel that was right myself...if it was Jelani and I, there could have been an argument made that it was the two fastest typists in the US, but my current opponent Nate Bowen is almost certainly not one of the two fastest typists in the US, and frankly I doubt I am, as I'm sure there are faster people who just didn't find any of these sites).

If Kevin/SparkErosion is still following the thread, a few people were removed from consideration for the semifinals because they weren't Americans (such as Kukkain, JosGritter, and jcoimbra), and quite a few of the Americans did not choose to participate either, so the 6th place semifinalist was actually 17th on the list. Dan Chen, the second place finisher to me, also is clearly one of the fastest typists in the US as evidenced by winning the Intersteno international typing competition (which I am entered in this year, where you type in fourteen different languages or something) the past two years. He dropped out though, and Nate in a bit of an upset beat Noah Horn, one of the fastest on typeracer.com and several other sites for the third position (and was elevated to second), so Kevin probably could have made the finals, since I suspect he is faster than Nate.

There is lots of discussion (WAY too much) about this contest starting here: http://www.typingzone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4105&sid=cf928366552912590cc7fbd992030179

(That page has actually been linked off the UTC page on Wikipedia, although I'm personally not sure the UTC is notable enough to have a Wikipedia entry.)

If you were involved in this and like this contest, I also recommend typeracer.com, typingzone.com, and urikor.net. I'm on a bunch of other sites in addition to those, but those three in particular are all great, although you don't win prizes on any of those.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: arenasnow on Mon, 08 March 2010, 12:18:59: Actually, I'm unemployed and not very well-off financially, which is a large part of why I'm doing this. I was using a dinky $5 or $10 keyboard I bought at Staples before (early on in the contest). I did win a Das because I made the semifinals though, and it is faster (and louder). My typeracer average used to be about 160 wpm on the old keyboard, now I think is 175 wpm on this...

Although I'm friends with lots of these people, I don't pay attention to which keyboards they say are the fastest. There's lots about this on the TypeRacer forum though...
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: arenasnow on Sun, 14 March 2010, 19:02:48: I won the competition which ended a few hours ago. It was a best-of-three competition.

I beat Nate Bowen 163 wpm-110 wpm on the following text:

That all our knowledge begins with experience there can be no doubt. For how is it possible that the faculty of cognition should be awakened into exercise otherwise than by means of objects which affect our senses, and partly of themselves produce representations, partly rouse our powers of understanding into activity, to compare, to connect, or to separate these, and so to convert the raw material of our sensuous impressions into a knowledge of objects, which is called experience? In respect of time, therefore, no knowledge of ours is antecedent to experience, but begins with it. But, though all our knowledge begins with experience, it by no means follows that all arises out of experience. For, on the contrary, it is quite possible that our empirical knowledge is a compound of that which we receive through impressions, and that which the faculty of cognition supplies from itself (sensuous impressions giving merely the occasion), an addition which we cannot distinguish from the original element given by sense, till long practice has made us attentive to, and skillful in separating it. It is, therefore, a question which requires close investigation, and is not to be answered at first sight whether there exists a knowledge altogether independent of experience, and even of all sensuous impressions? Knowledge of this kind is called a priori, in contradistinction to empirical knowledge, which has its sources a posteriori, that is, in experience. But the expression, "a priori," is not as yet definite enough, adequately to indicate the whole meaning of the question above started. For, in speaking of knowledge which has its sources in experience, we are wont to say that this or that may be known a priori, because we do not derive this knowledge immediately from experience, but from a general rule, which, however, we have itself borrowed from experience. Thus, if a man undermined his house, we say, "he might know a priori that it would have fallen;" that is, he needed not to have waited for the experience that it did actually fall. But still, a priori, he could not know even this much. For, that bodies are heavy, and, consequently, that they fall when their supports are taken away, must have been known to him previously, by means of experience. By the term "knowledge a priori," therefore, we shall in the sequel understand, not such as is independent of this or that kind of experience, but such as is absolutely so of all experience. Opposed to this is empirical knowledge, or that which is possible only a posteriori, that is, through experience. Knowledge a priori is either pure or impure. Pure knowledge a priori is that with which no empirical element is mixed up. For example, the proposition, "Every change has a cause," is a proposition a priori, but impure, because change is a conception which can only be derived from experience.

The second text was a million times more challenging because they added tons of special characters. They said they included in this text every key that appears on the keyboard, but I don't really remember there being any tildes there.

I beat Nate 124 wpm-79 wpm on this text to win $2000 and the Ultimate Typing Championship.

1.a) [MAN] A man ordered 2,000 drums of pink ping pong balls in Paris, France. Each drum contained 100 pink ping pong balls. He paid $120 (80 Euros!) per drum, which means he spent $240,000 on 200,000 pink ping pong balls. 1.b) {BALL} These pink ping pong balls measured 40mm (how many inches?) and were given a 1 star rating [1 star?]. [FRIEND] His friends all asked him, "why did you order so many pink ping pong balls, how can you afford to spend that much, and what are you going to do with them?" His answer: "I'll tell you tomorrow." [MAN] Every day his friends asked the same question, and every day he gave the same answer: "I'll tell you tomorrow." {BALL} The pink ping pong balls started decreasing in quantity: only 189,000 left, and then only 172,000, and then 163,000, and then 147,000, etc. {BALL} One day 90% of the pink ping pong balls were gone (100% - 10% = 90% right?). His friends were really feeling frustrated with him now and demanded an explanation, "Tell us what the &^%$ [blip] you're doing with all of these @#^& pink ping pong balls!" [MAN] The man's response: "I spent $240,000 on 200,000 pink ping pong balls for a project. I have now used 90% of those, as you have observed. I promise to tell you tomorrow." [FRIEND] His friends decided to wait one more day and pronounce the alphabet to kill some time: ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ then wrote a code word with strange signs: /a/&B#R{+1}>>[Bb] = X0 - 3 + @a rooftop ^ 32 + 12443678923458789 && 1 2 3 < 4. . The next day they were gathered in the man's house for the big revelation. The man stated, "Of the 200,000 pink ping pong balls I ordered I have 137 left. Would anyone like them?" His friends all groaned and said, "[---] no! Give us an answer!" The man began again, "Friends, I am about to unveil a great invention." He took a deep breath...and died. His 7 friends would never know why the man spent $240,000 on 200,000 pink ping pong balls, and neither will you.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: ch_123 on Sun, 14 March 2010, 19:31:27: Nice work!
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Sun, 14 March 2010, 21:56:20: Quote from: arenasnow;164034
ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ then wrote a code word with strange signs: /a/&B#R{+1}>>[Bb] = X0 - 3 + @a rooftop ^ 32 + 12443678923458789 && 1 2 3 < 4. .

I was thinking "man, I could do better than 79 wpm" until I saw this!

Strangely enough, the alphabet and numbers would have been the hardest. I'm a programmer so all the other keys are routine keys I use constantly. I've seen videos of people typing the alphabet in under a few seconds. Those demos just floor me. I could never do anything close to that to save my life.

I'm also surprised that you blew away the runner up by so much. I guess it goes to show that winning a typing game online has only modest indication of real world performance when there's pressure and unpredictable conditions.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: DreymaR on Mon, 15 March 2010, 04:30:19: Congratulations! Awesome win, that.

Do you have any nice pro tips for the laymen who want to get their speed up from, say, 70-80 WPM? Or would you say it's entirely individual?

I'm using the Colemak layout myself and with an ergonomic remapping too, so I know I need even more practice to make sure it's absolutely entrenched in my "muscle memory". But I suspect that a big part of improving would be getting accuracy way better than the current ~98%...
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: arenasnow on Mon, 15 March 2010, 21:32:27: Nate was not ranked second. He was actually ranked (I believe) sixteenth in the preliminary round that ended December 31. Several of the fastest typists online were removed because they were from foreign countries (such as Minilek/Jelani Nelson from the Virgin Islands, which I wouldn't call a foreign country, but whatever, Kukkain from Brazil, and JosGritter from Dutch.) One other was an American but was generally regarded as a cheater on TypeRacer. Then there was Kevin/SparkErosion who missed his invite. Nate finished third in the semifinals, and did upset Noah Horn who is a lot more successful generally on online typing tests. Nate was elevated to second after second place Dan Chen couldn't get the Monday off due to his high-pressure finance job. Yes, there are definitely quite a few people that I know of who could have come closer than him. But the margin of victory still surprised me given times we had raced before. It would not at all surprise me if someone else on this forum not affiliated with this game could have beaten 79 wpm...

I couldn't really give advice on improving on a Colemak keyboard since I have only used QWERTY. I couldn't really give advice on QWERTY either, probably because I've just been typing in it since I was three and raised my game using some old DOS typing app to the point where I typed 100 wpm by the time I was ten. I had made most of my gains before I was conscious of it. I don't really think there's much practical reason to exceed 80 wpm anyway, since it's hard to come up with coherent thoughts faster than that.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: DreymaR on Tue, 16 March 2010, 04:00:53: I don't think the technique is fundamentally different on Colemak; most of the progress I've had has transferred easily between QWERTY and Colemak(/Dvorak). It's interesting to hear how you progressed - thanks for that story.

And thanks for the closing comment. Now I can feel okay about 80 WPM (when I get that more stable which I have vowed to achieve anyway). I think the main improvement for me and my likes would be to eradicate errors as far as possible: Not only for the speed boost it'll give, but for increased typing comfort through lower stress levels, and a better chance at keeping those thoughts coherent! :D
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: didjamatic on Fri, 26 March 2010, 00:37:18: That is incredible.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: hyperlinked on Fri, 26 March 2010, 00:48:22: Quote from: ripster;166968
Whoah, that IS impressive!

Indeed! You are the master, Sean! If you can come up with a good soundtrack, Ripster might let you see his Ron Mingo tattoo.

While I find having fast fingers to be of limited value for most everyday situations, having good burst speed is really useful when I have one hour to put the finishing touches on a website or if I have to troubleshoot something on a live server that's going down in flames.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: itlnstln on Fri, 26 March 2010, 07:35:15: M-M-My Sean Wrona.

Sorry, I don't know where that came from. Congrats! You need to get some rings now.
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: clickclack on Wed, 16 June 2010, 18:52:33: Quote from: ripster;166968
Whoah, that IS impressive!

> type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="640" height="385">[/youtube]

This thread was very interesting and that vid is insane. And that is not nearly as fast as some can go.

Congrats to arenasnow!!!

I guess the das keyboards were working that day? LoLz
Perhaps they were the newest versions?

I thought that whole elitekeyboards post thing was a hoot!
Title: Win A Trip To SXSW By Typing Fast
Post by: chimera15 on Thu, 17 June 2010, 02:27:43: Ah, congrats. I was looking for this thread and couldn't find it. I wasn't reading the forum when you posted originally. Amazing stuff. Interesting it got down the list so far, I might have had a real chance to get in the competition. lol

They have a final leaderboard here:

http://www.typingzone.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=4105&sid=cf928366552912590cc7fbd992030179

1. arenasnow - 195.7 wpm
2. LaughDonor - 187.2 wpm
3. benjamin****man - 176.0 wpm
4. Itypefast - 174.5 wpm
5. noah - 174.5 wpm
6. JosGritter - 174.4 wpm
7. Kukkain - 172.8 wpm
8. Felice - 172.4 wpm
9. donvu4u - 171.3 wpm
10. danchen88 - 169.7 wpm
11. KevinT - 168.6 wpm
12. Jweb_Guru - 166.0 wpm
13. lollercopter - 164.2 wpm
14. bubchi89 - 162.6 wpm
15. JCoimbra - 159.7 wpm
16. nbowen - 158.6 wpm
17. Jack - 154.9 wpm
18. david - 149.9 wpm
19. jkealey - 149.3 wpm
20. xuancongwen - 148.7 wpm

Not full though, I think I got to about 130. lol