I will throw in a plug for English. I’ve heard it’s actually a fairly young and therefore simple language, compared to some. Simpler languages tend to rely even more on nonverbal context to resolve ambiguity. That’s bad for text.

if i read anything about people who may have switched it was only because of the difficulty they had in using it and a Qwerty layout in a multi-layout environment, which i have experienced that difficulty too.

but thankfully, those are rare situations.

this has been a very interesting thread/topic/conversation, and i thank all who have participated. i find it especially interesting that gregory gordon has: 1: been a Dvorak supporter since 7(?)th grade, 2: had a vision which persuaded him that he is the Creator, and 3: believes that a mandatory forcing of peope against their will is the *right* way to prove he’s God and the Messiah. i will mention that the same God that he claims to be, has never forced anyone against their will. not once. i will only point out that according to what i see, judged by the very same writings which teach that Jesus is the Messiah, gregory would be judged the opposite of what he claims. Please consider this, gregory: the Scriptures that teach Jesus is the Messiah, also teach that He is a *loving* Messiah who did not condemn the guilty (woman caught in adultery) but told her (commanded her) to “Go and sin no more.” i do not really write this for gordon’s benefit, altho it is my desire that this would enlighten him to the truth, but i write this excerpt to expose to others, gordon’s true motive: our “Simplfied Keyboard” as Mr. Dvorak called it, is truly superior, but gordon wants to force a good thing to show evidence that he is the Messiah. and it’s funny that no one agrees with him that it should be forced on anyone. just as Gordon chose to get an F in typing class because his teacher unfairly forced him to use the qwerty in his High School keyboarding class, i would choose to defy congress if they tried to take away my freedom of choice by forcing me to use this superior keyboard layout against my choice. but i am thankful for my free will, and free will is much more important than any keyboard layout.. even the most efficient and comfortable layout for the English language. i am a computer programmer, someone who so appreciates the advantage of 1/3rd as much work on my hands in a day, but i would rather kiss every computer goodbye than give up one freedom such as this.

free will is critical to the American way of life. only a dictator would try to take away our freedom. not even the God of the Scriptures which point to Jesus as King of Kings and Lord of Lords attempts to force people against their will. In Genesis, He commanded Adam and Eve. and He commands people thru-out those Scriptures, but not once has He forced a person against their will. just perhaps He also says, “I am bigger” than those who force their own puny wills upon others. now i understand there are times when rules must be made too, and followed and enforced. but all those are contingent upon real harm to others. forcing a keyboard layout would be bad. just like forcing everyone to speak English. but this has been done in the past, many times. but English is one of the worst languages for a global “International Language” due to it’s complexities beyond the most basic English. the same Bible that gordon seems to claim to believe in even states that the true God has even divided people’s tongues! now why would a great God of unity decide to cause people to be divided against themselves? perhaps He has a bigger plan that you/gordon does not see. perhaps this God is against world unity before the proper time. and perhaps, just perhaps, this same God has intentionally *also* cause people to use very complex archaic human languags *and* inefficient keyboard layouts too! but i don’t want to turn this into a philosophy discussion, altho i do find it interesting.

Dvorak was a genius! i stand amazed that he designed his layout without computers, and computer programs have later been developed to find the easiest keyboard layout, and they found the same key placements that he used. (i did not verify the validity of these reports, so this is only claims, but i do believe this is very likely.)

well, thanks to all who have helped me see this great tool! if you have a website for the Dvorak keyboard, you are doing people a great favor! and i thank you,
-Ed Kovac <

[MWB: Applied clarifying edits Ed posted in a follow-up.]

Darn. My glass won’t fit in the dishwasher.

If only them horses my pappy bet on had been able to stretch their legs as well as you can stretch a Latin root…

I agree that, depending the personality of the viewer is, the tone of “The American” could be characterized as ‘sad’. But, to my tastes, it was anything but, and it certainly was not ‘dreadfully’ so.

This is not to say that there isn’t a palpable thread of dread, like a black ribbon on a funeral cortège running through the film. There is, and it is perfectly logical. Nevertheless, I found a thread of Hope in every frame: from the cheerful scooterist who charmingly corrects his Italian grammar (slipping in a subtle reference to Sergio Leone, later echoed on a TV screen in a cafe, whose movies clearly set the pacing of the entire film), to his concentrated, meditational silence as he industriously assembles a sophisticated sniper rifle for a client, to the giggling Italian girls in the cafe, and even to the calm beauty of the hitwoman sent to hire him to help her… kill him.

Frankly, I think both the director and Clooney did a fine job of crafting a dark, brooding tone that probably mirrors in some real, palpable way the tense, morbid life of a professional hit-man who wants out. The silences are, for me, packed with deep meaning and a surprising degree of sympathy. And, perhaps because I’ve watched so many foreign films over the years and have conditioned myself to appreciate ambiguity, I would also point out that the “dread” evoked is definitely in the mind of the viewer because we never actually saw him die — it’s only suggested. Sure he’s been shot, but a professional former special forces Ranger might have dealt with similar predicaments many times, and he’s got someone there to help him, someone who really wants him to live. She’s highly motivated. Thus, as far as *I* know as a viewer, she drove him to a doctor and they lived happily ever after.

You can choose to project a sadder ending, in which she does nothing to help him and he bleeds out in a nice spot he’s chosen long before. But, in the fine tradition of European Art Films and French Film Noir (ala “Pepe Le Moko”, “Touchez Pas au Grisbi” or “Bob Le Flambeur”), you can also imagine a happy ending.

In such films, the sadness, or happiness, is left entirely up to you: happy people can see the possibilities. Depressed people will invariably see mainly sadness, but they *can* find the silver lining, if they look hard enough inside themselves.

Consider also that the main character “Jack” is a man filled with inner turmoil. This is understandable: for a long time before we meet him, he killed people — for a living! Talk about a conflicted person! You have to wonder how such people live with themselves: the luxuries they can buy with the money they earn must have a terrible hollowness to them… you might even call such a life, devoid of conscience and human compassion, “dreadful”. And that dread soon becomes tangible when someone he trusted puts a contract out on him. To make matters worse, he’s just had to murder the woman he’s been living with, trying hard to be happy with… that’s pretty conclusive proof that he wasn’t truly in “love” with her, and that he was living a hollow existence. But, if you put yourself inside the character’s mind, he might have been sparing her a worse fate. He knows he’s going to have to leave his cozy nest with her in rural Sweden: if he leaves her behind, she’ll probably be tortured and/or killed by someone coming after him. If he takes her with him, she’ll likely die in a hail of bullets meant for him. So, perhaps he’s being merciful, or, thinking more darkly, maybe he thinks it was she who betrayed him.

Either way, the fact that, after that experience, he still manages to develop romantic feelings, much less feelings of ANY kind, for another woman — that he somehow manages to find “love” again — even with an Italian prostitute — is a tremendously hopeful thing. But then, I’m a “hey, this glass is twice as big as I need!” kinda guy.

~Rex