screen position

This is a fun little thing I wanted to know. Why is it that almost all RPGs have the health and status bar on the left side or bottom of the screen. So I typed in everything I could think of to find a reason why this was true and I found out that there really is no historic reason clearly stated however my theory is that its set on the left and along the bottom for two reasons. One those spots are out of the way and allow the player to see what’s going on in the playing field. Reason number two is that player in most cases is trained too those spots by habit. So its most likely going to stay the same just because of tradition instead of any real reason.

Don't jam that keyboard

This is just an annoyance sometimes no not the blogging the keyboard I have to type it on. Even though I’ve gotten used to the design of it I still don’t think it makes much since. Why aren’t the keys in order I ask. Then it hits me Google duh so I did. I found out this the keyboard is just a reincarnation of the typewriter keyboard. So I now I have to ask why in the world would someone set the type writer keyboard up the way they did and there is actually an interesting answer to that one. The typewriter key setup that we see today on our keyboards is actually called the Qwerty Design. Why it was used has many theories but the most widely accepted is that it was set up too actually slow down the person typing. Now you ask what why would you want too slow them down. Simple really they needed to slow down the one typing so they didn’t jam the type writer. So you have antiquated type writers too thank for your horrible keyboard design.

Its a compass no its a sundial no its a watch you fool

You ever wonder why your watch looks like it does. Did you ever wonder where the design of the humble clock came from? Well I thought it would be good to look at something that very few people do. So I went too Google and began my search I found that the visual design of a clock is a detractive of ancient sundials of which 12 o’clock always faced north. This is why the compasses that sometimes come with watches always have the N above the 12 o’clock or where the 12 would be in the case of digital clocks. O’clock is also used to describe directions relative to a person for example if someone is coming up behind you they would be coming up on your 6 O’clock. So first reason for your watch being round is its relation to old sundials the second reason is relating to cardinal directions which would make since to have on a round surface since they are based of degrees in a circle. And the last reason it would seem different for a watch to be square. Now there are square watches and clocks but round is still the most common.

wined and canned XD

Now have you ever wondered why a can looks well like a can? Well I did I thought it would be easier if they were a shape that wasn’t capable of rolling off your countertop. So too find out why cans are round and not blockish I went to the old reliable Google. I found a lot of things. First the can was originally invented by the French during the Napoleonic era. The short man needed a way too feed his armies so he had wine makers try to find a way too store food in a way so that the troops can carry them. So being wine makers their first cans were just modified wine bottles however they tended to break in the men’s pack so the wine makers looked to a different material. This lead to the use of tin and thus the can was born. The can remained round because of the bottles it was born of and its just stuck. Then again the round can is kind of useful I guess it does make it easier to roll down the filling line. So for now I’ll just make sure I don’t leave the can on its side next time

Sit on it

This time it’s about the design of the humble chair. I was watching the news the other day and heard a story about how Japanese employers are measuring the waists of their employees and if they failed they were sent to counseling. So those good old Japanese found a solution to the office gut they made a chair that has the bottom cushion rotate in circles that work your lower abs or so they say. This made me think I thought that a chair was supposed to be a place to sit and relax not exercises. Then that led to something else was the chair actually invented to be a place to sit or was it invented to do something else. I wasn’t able to find much however I did find a small article that talked about how a chair was seen as a symbol of power in ages long past. This most likely is referencing the thrones of ancient times when chairs weren’t as common place as they were today and thus only the richer had them.

Manual Design gone wrong?

I’ve been in and out of many cars and one thing about their design that bugs me too death is the design of the clutch pedal. I do not like that the clutch pedal is so close to the brake and gas. So it makes for an uncomfortable drive. I did some research and found out that there is a sensible reason for having the pedals so close together though. The pedals are close together for emergency because the human instincts dictate that both feet go down straight in an emergency crash situation and thus by having the pedals close together it allows the person too put all their weight on the pedals. So there was a reason for it and it comes down to this. Safety surpasses comfort.

Blue life purity and health bars

Today is the color blue, have you ever noticed blue is used over and over again in some of those old religious paintings especially on Mary. Well after I got done watching too much history channel I decided to go and look up exactly why the artists did that. What I found out is that Blue represents water, like we all didn’t already know that, but the fact that it represents water also makes it represent purity and life. So now this is starting to make more sense since Mary is supposed to be a symbol of purity she’s frequently dressed in blue. I also took the liberty to find out if anyone who wasn’t a renaissance painter also used blue for its representation of purity and life. Well go figure game designers have used this several times. An example of this is look at some games “Life Bars” they’re either green or BLUE. So next times you decide to acutely use that neglected blue ink pen of yours remember your writing purity… well I guess it depends on what you’re writing but hey it’s the thought that counts.