The horror of the hashtag
This week, I went to see the new Hollywood movie “Olympus Has Fallen” [my review here], an action film about a terrorist attack on the White House. At the end of the movie, the hero – played by Gerard Butler – is struggling to insert a code at the very last minute which will stop a count down leading to the end of the United States as we know it.
I won’t tell you if he succedes – after all, that would spoil the film for you, wouldn’t it? Anyway our hero is doing fine inserting letters and numbers in the code but falters when he’s instructed to enter a hashtag.
I know the problem. I still use HTML for my web site and a lot of HTML codes use a hashtag. When I converted to a Mac computer, I found that the keyboard had no hashtag on it. You have to use ALT+3.
Does the hero in “Olympus Has Fallen” know this? If not, will somebody tell him in time? See the film and find out.
I liked the joke in the movie at a time of tension. Clearly the scriptwriter used a Mac.
April 20th, 2013 at 2:51 am
Hi Roger
That’s odd, [Alt] [3] on my Mac gives £
Whereas [Shift] [3] gives #
Is a hashtag the same as a hash? I thought the “tag” bit was to do with Twitter?
Cheers,
Nadine
April 20th, 2013 at 10:46 am
Sorry, Nadine, I should have said the hash key not the hashtag (which, as you say, is a Twitter thing).
As for which keys give you the hash sign on a Mac, see this advice:
http://machash.com/mac-hash-key/
Good job it worked in the movie. Otherwise, no USA.
April 21st, 2013 at 10:54 pm
It sounds like Mac keyboards are different across the world. Does yours have a pound sign above the number 3? Mine has the hash above the number 3 (hence is Shift 3).
April 21st, 2013 at 11:02 pm
Yes, I have a £ sign above the 3.
This is a reminder that not everything is the same around the world even with IT.