For those of you MAC enthusiasts, this may not make a lot of sense but for the 90% of you that use PCs, you probably know what I mean. The PC mouse has two buttons. Assuming you are right handed, the left button says “do it.” You point the cursor at something and ‘click’. The right hand button is sort of a mystery.
If you click on it and you are typing a word document, you get a selective list of commands many of which you can see on the ‘ribbon’ across the top or side of your screen. However, if you are at a website, different things can happen.
For instance, I found that if you are on ‘you tube’ right click allows you to:
Copy Video URL
Copy Video URL in Current time
Copy Embed Code
Loop
Troubleshoot Playback issue
Copy debug info
And my personal favorite
Stats for Nerds
The ‘right click’ button gives you some ‘inside baseball’ commands and information that you might want but don’t know how to find. It brings data to a place where its convenient to see and lets you select what you want, or not. It also appears to change the information that it brings up from time to time. I’m sure the six of you who really understand how your PC works understand all this, but the luddites like me find it fascinating.
What if you had a ‘right click’ button that displayed hidden information about the world around you. Let’s say you are at the airport and the loading time for your flight has passed and the airline has said nothing. The right click button could give you the truth – it’s a few minutes late, the pilot will arrive in half an hour, the engine fell off at the flight will be cancelled. Good information to know.
You are in a business meeting and negotiating a big deal. Right click could tell you what your competitor’s real number is, or whether or not your customer is telling the truth.
You just met the perfect man in a bar. He’s attractive, well spoken, and there is definitely chemistry. It would save a lot of time and heartbreak if ‘right click’ could tell you the facts – Married? Psycho? Liar? Hates Puppies?
The mechanic just told you that the noise you heard was worth $2000. This is a perfect ‘right click’ moment. Click and you may find out that he is really lowballing the number and the final bill will be $3500 or he’s a crook and a $15 part and half an hour will fix it.
You are going in for ‘routine’ surgery. The Doctor tells you it’s a slam dunk. A right click will tell you if you will walk or be carried out of the hospital.
You get the idea.
As I read back through these ‘right click’ moments and consider others, I wonder if I really want to know. Maybe he doesn’t like puppies, but he is fascinating and knows all about single malt whisky. While I’m waiting for the plane, I may meet some great people (remember, “Don’t sleep on Planes”), the $3500 to fix my car makes it run like brand new, and do I really want to know how the surgery will turn out?
The ‘right click’ on my PC saves a lot of time and pain, but the ‘right click’ on life may ruin a perfectly wonderful adventure. Remember, its not the destination, it’s the journey.
JVH
