ZDNet UK has an article about one of the often unavoidable hazards of the computer age--having one's keyboard consume as much food as the computer user. The writer provides a list of foods that should not be eaten while computing, given their capacity for leaping keyboard-ward. Recommended reading, if only for the delightful Britishness of the writing.
I have even better, more American examples:
Bagels should not be eaten over one's computer (unless they do not have toppings). Sesame and poppy seeds and those hardened chunks of garlic have some kind of magnetic attraction to keyboards. Oh, and it's not easy to scrape dried cream cheese off the keys, so toasting bagels is to be avoided as it makes the cream cheese more gloopy.
A certain editorial director I once worked for destroyed not one but two keyboards thanks to love of first teriyaki sauce and then soy sauce. So Chinese/Japanese foods should not be eaten over one's keyboard. (Plus rice can cause trouble.)
Buffalo wings--nuff said.
Soups and chowdahs are bad juju.
A certain colleague of mine likes to have business meetings in Appleby's or similar restaurants. I've found that it saves a lot of time to avoid plates and just carry my laptop up to the salad bar and pile all the salad fixings on it.
This one is unavoidable, but just a couple days ago I accidentally sent the contents of a partially filled mug of coffee flying into my Powerbook. No damage, but it was tense for a while there.
While there are many reasons to not drink beer while at the computer (especially if one has a blog...), I have found that it poses no hazards to one's keyboard. After all, who spills beer?
In a nutshell (oh, and I'd avoid nutshells, too), I look for high-viscosity substances to eat while computing. Straight molasses is good. Maybe they should add viscometer measurements to the nutritional information on the backs of food packages.
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