A modest defense of the rodent
So, Emacs and the mouse. This is an unexpectedly contentious topic, with discussions that end, at best, with careless dismissal. More often they turn into arguments with folks talking past one another.
The advantages of using the mouse for common actions in Emacs are immediate and obvious. Window selection is a natural extension of basic mouse usage. Resizing windows is a snap. Context (right-click) menus See context-menu-mode.
Like the article mentions, gestures could be even more handy when used with a touch interface.
Such as the new Android port of Emacs, for example.