Touch type is definitely a must today.

Learned it after school before beginning to study. Helped me immensely getting my papers done on time. Learned it on typewriters, continued using it with my first PC.

I still write as fast as I think, do not have to look at the keyboard, can use a ergonomic keyboard and I can follow anything on a screen, a meeting and everything else without looking down all the time.

My kids use PCs regularly and netbooks are a required tool at school now. My daughter almost types as fast as I do with only a minimal training at touch typing. She taught it herself and is proabably the fastest writer in her class.

I cannot recommend enough to have anyone learn touch typing. The world has changed and any form of keyboard will be a constant companion for anyone for the foreseeable future.

As for the Backspace-Question: The faster I tape the more I use the pinky. If I take my time I use the index finger.

Hello all,

we usually get tv shows later in Germany, so one of my favorites is LIFE (already cancelled), NCIS (alltime favorite), Torchwood from GB. I love Medium, as they show a household and life with children as it is and not as sterile and clean as everywhere else. Still not enough stuff in the hallway.
Criminal Minds is great, so is Bones and Mentalist is nice to see.
CI5 - The Professionals was a great show from the 70ies, so I very much enjoy (british) Life on Mars. Brings back memories.
Best ever - and regularly re-seen: Buffy, Firefly, Angel. Joss can't do anything wrong except choosing the wrong networks.
If you wonder: I have three children. Any show with more than 45 minutes would be interrupted way to often to enjoy it. So it's tv shows for me.

Thomas from Berlin, Germany

1. In Love with SF & F since my 13th birthday. Am 47 now.
2. Blade Runner is still my favorite movie - and a great book. And yes, I know the real title.
3. Rita Hayworth is still the most beautiful woman on screen.
4. Married a girl from my high school 8 years after finishing it. Still in love, 3 great kids, still in lust.
5. I watch out for license plate combinations. In Germany it goes x-xx nnn, meaning city code (1-3 letters) - 1-3 letters 1-3 digits. I live in Berlin, so my city code is B
Whenever I look around, I'll find a plate with B-Cxx xxx. There are more plates with a C as the first letter after the city code than any other combination. Sometimes I count them when driving or walking.

But apart from that I am quite sane.