Sunday, March 17, 2013

Where's.......?


What evil lurks beneath the keys of a Graphic Artist’s Keyboard?

I get computers donated from  an Australia-wide printing company and the condition of the keyboards is an indication of the work the graphic artists do when stuck in front of  a computer for a full day.  I imagine they snack, pluck nose hairs and drink coffee whilst on the job and a goodly amount of those waste products end up in the keyboard hiding under the keys.  
Click the pics to embiggen them.

This is a closeup of part of the board.  See if you can see a staple, some eyebrow hairs, odd bits of coloured paper and some aluminium foil resting in a soft bed of fluff.

When I get keyboards I remove all the keys and wash them in hot soapy water. The boards themselves need a solid brushing and a blast with compressed air.  Then finally, the glue (coffee/hair/crumbs), is wiped out with warm water and cotton wool buds.  The keyboard is reassembled using another board to remind me where most of the keys go.
At one school at which I did relief teaching after my retirement, miscreant youths would rearrange the keys in preparation for the next class.  I had to come down heavy on that practice.

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