Ok, I'm just going to throw this out there, as it is somewhat related to the thread topic, but mostly as I just discovered it: You can use a qwerty keyboard to type steno. For those of you that didn't immediately do a double take and reread that last sentence, or those of you are convinced that it must have been a typo, let me repeat that: You can use a QWERTY keyboard, to type STENO.

I just posted this link in another thread, but here it is again.

Plover! Also, a browser demo. Hint: backspace will foul up the demo. If it goes odd, reload.

Of course the caveats are that steno is a vaguely phonetic shorthand system, and it doesn't do letter by letter. Shorthand should vary person to person, dependent on their needs and usage. While there is a built in translations of the top 3000 words (or something), rote memorization is discouraged, and adding your own entries is encouraged. Also, the steno layout on a qwerty keyboard makes the thumb buttons massively awkward.

Still, the world's record for a steno typist is something like 374 WPM... not really sure how useful that skill would actually be, but I'll be damned if it doesn't sound nice.