Hello and welcome to the Anthropocene Reviewed, a podcast where we review different facets

of the human-centered planet on a five-star scale.

I'm John Green, and today I'll be reviewing the Quarty Keyboard Layout and a bird species

called the Kauai O-O.

Or possibly the Kauai O-O.

I don't have great Hawaiian pronunciation.

But let's start with the Quarty Keyboard.

So on most English language keyboards, the three rows of letter keys are not arranged alphabetically

or by frequency of use.

Indeed, the two most common letters in English, E and T, aren't even on the so-called

home keys where your fingers rest while typing.

You've got to reach for them up on the top row, where the letters from left to right

begin Q-W-E-R-T-Y.

The reasons for this involve typewriter mechanics, a militant vegetarian, and a Wisconsin politician

who belonged to three different political parties in the space of eight years.

I love a straightforward story of inventors and their inventions.

In fact, in fifth grade, I wrote my first-ever work of nonfiction on the life of Thomas

Edison.

It begins.

Thomas Alpha Edison was a very interesting person who created many interesting inventions,

like the light bulb and the very interesting motion picture camera.

I liked the word interesting because my biography had to be written by hand in cursive, and

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