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Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
07/15/09
Where the fuck are they going to buy a bunch of new typewriters from?
The only places they even sell typewriters at are Goodwill & Salvation Army.
07/15/09
Carriers have a little room under the deck that keeps track of ALL the planes/helicopters/etc on the ship. How do they do it? They have a big plexiglass multi-level scale model of the ship and little scaled cut outs of the planes. They move them all by hand. On a documentary I watched they asked why they didn't modernize/computerize to make this better and more efficient. The answer?
They tried. But when the power went down or they had a stutter, or the system froze/crashed, they would have to wait for it to re-boot and re-figure where all the planes where NOW, as they kept moving even when the computer was re-booting. Sometimes the simpilist solution is the best.
I mean, how much would it cost to buy all new systems and printers, license the software, pay a computer tech to repair down systems, process things when the power goes out, have it interface w/old dot matrix printers so you could do triplicate copies to preserve evidence chains when you need exact copies that can't be photo-copies, etc....
07/15/09
07/15/09
The police have computers. They use them for lots of other tasks. But for filling out these forms, it may just be that the typewriter works perfectly well, if not better.
07/15/09
07/15/09
A lot of these forms have been in use for years and many of them are part of the shorthand jargon that bureaucrats use. Often, they can't be changed without changing some arcane ordinance.
Does the NYPD use computers? Yes. But they also use forms. Lots of forms.
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
Sure! I'll just get the paperwork started! :D
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/15/09
The last thing we need is a loose cannon like you going off half-cocked on a hunch! I got the Deputy breathing down my neck about the number of complaints that come outta this squad.
Yer lucky that you get results, McGarnikle, because if you didn't, I woulda personally tossed you out of this precinct house years ago.
Now get your ass to your desk and type up a nice report that I can give to the Deputy explaining why you saw fit to drive a cement truck into a day care! And get comfortable, McGarnikle, because for the nest two weeks, you're on desk duty.
07/15/09
Hey! I'm trying to eat lunch here. You had a pretty good view from behind your desk. And the name is McGonigle!
07/15/09
07/15/09
--
Sheet work
Typewrite and wrong
Keystroke cops.
--
But really, I'm sure all this ribbon will be good for those guys, they need to be keyed in to how out of date that tech is!
07/15/09
07/15/09
07/14/09
07/14/09
On the other side of things, I credit a typewriter with really getting me into technology. I worked in an office when I was 16 and every month we would hook the office computer up to the typewriter that had a parallel port and print to the typewriter. I thought it was the coolest damned thing I had ever seen. A dork was born.
07/14/09
07/14/09
Making sure everything was lined up correctly. Photocopying the application and typing out sample drafts to make sure everything fit correctly.
When I left home, I left the typewriter behind.
Great piece.
07/14/09
07/14/09
Maybe it's a midlife crisis, but I purchased a very good condition IBM Selectric II last year. I bang out the occasional letter on it just for the joy of listening to the machinery hum and whirl and the clack of the ball striking the paper.
07/14/09
I was finishing up college in '79 and I had a then very modern Smith Corona electric with a cartridge-type ribbon/film and correction film feature. Aqua and cream paint job, nearly silent motor, but you could tell when it was switched "on".
My grandfather took me to the store/repair shop where "our" WWI vet worked and bought it for me.
Make a mistake, you swapped the cartridges, made the correction, and swapped them back. Not as easy as a Selectric, but miles ahead of the conventional competition. No dirty fingers, ever.
I also used "word processing software", namely a laminated 8.5x11 sheet of paper with a 6.5x9 black rectangle printed on it. You put that behind the sheet of paper you were typing on and your "one inch margins" would be clearly visible through your type sheet.
This thing got me through college and I kept using it when I went to work. It was way better than the portables issued by my company.
Haven't used it in quite a while, but I still have it to this day.
Because you never know...
07/14/09
My mom was a legal secretary before she became an attorney and she would get cast-offs from work. We had an IBM Selectric II, a Selectric III (it had cartridges), an IBM Quietwriter, and an IBM MC/ST (Magnetic-Card Selectric Typewriter).
I had to type a student-loan application on a Smith-Corona portable typewriter because an ice-storm knocked out the power in the DC metro area.
Parents, if you want to know that your kid is doing his/her homework, don't get him/her a computer. Use a typewriter.
07/14/09
God, I loved those Selectrics! The BALL typeset idea was brilliant! for changing fonts.
I leaned typing in school with the old, old, old... old typewriters. The pranks of the day was to remove the carriage return stop lever (usually done for cleaning the rubber drum) and wait for the next kid to press and push the return lever, only to find his entire cariage flying of 4 to 6 feet to the left! HA....! that was so hilarious!!!
Those where the analog days...
:D
07/14/09
07/14/09
07/14/09