April 7, 2025: Reader Tips

Reader Tips 84 Comments

Dear Kidz,

Before there were computers and printers, there was something called a “typewriter”. For many years, pressing a lettered key on a typewriter caused a metal arm to swing forward and “type” the designated letter on the paper via a ribbon of ink. If each key on the typewriter was pressed slowly enough, this worked well, but when keys were pressed too fast in succession, these metal arms tended to hit each other and lock up. In 1961, IBM released a new kind of electric typewriter called an IBM Selectric. It replaced the metal arms with a chrome-plated plastic ball that rotated and pivoted as each lettered key was pressed.

The IBM Selectric came to my attention [again] because of a recent stay at The Domain in North Austin, Texas. Turns out, this typewriter was manufactured there.

Your best tips, starting and ending with any letter in the alphabet, are much appreciated!

84 Replies to “April 7, 2025: Reader Tips”

  3. When the Dr. my ex worked for moved his clinic to a new office building, he gave away his office equipment including one of these ball type IBM typewriters, I thought, “it’s electric so it’ll never be worth anything” and I tossed it in the bin.
    Eventually I came round to typewriters though, and have an Olivetti Lettera 33 with the red case, it’s beside the 2nd gen. iMac in Bondi blue, a couple of locals have these colored iMac’s in the Failbook Marketplace @ $200 and another @ $850 with the matching tangerine HD. Just starting to pick up in the vintage markets, buy at $50 and sell at +$200 tax free. Not easy making 3-4x in today’s market outside of crypto. The all red Olivetti Valentine is sometimes sold at +$500 and it’s just the thing for a vintage office room. There’s a guy who brings his to the local vintage mid-century show and sale every year and then he takes it home as he wanted $800 last time I asked him. It’s very 1968.

    Next Saturday in Calgary, 12 April 10am – 4pm at the Hillhurst Sunnyside Community Association. Parking is usually not a problem, and you’ll “have something” instead of spending $50 for 2 breakfasts locally on a Saturday morning. (I’m not a vendor there but do know a few of them…)
    Go to a garage sale, let “Google Images” be your friend… pick up something for $30 from 1970 and sell it next weekend for 2-4x tax free on kijiji / marketplace. Then go buy some red meat, or wait a few months to buy that used Zeiss lens… “never pay retail”

    1. My first jobs were as a stenographer. While I could type 85 wpm on a manual typewriter even having long, natural nails, with a Selectric I could type 125+. A co-worker was tested at 135 wpm. Really incredible technology. At the time, we thought they were forever. A few years later, we’re on computers using WordPerfect. Believe me, I didn’t type even 85 wpm on those keyboards.

  6. “Daniel Tate is facing up to 2 yrs in prison for writing “Free John” on a piece of plywood. The plywood in question has been covering a statue of Canada’s first Prime Minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, for 5 years, due to recurring vandalism of the statue by radicals.”

    “Court is tomorrow! Please show up and lend this patriot your support.
    Where? 10 Armoury Street, Room 202. Toronto
    When? Monday, April 7th at 2 PM.”

    https://x.com/NatashaMontreal/status/1909030679993807028

  7. We had some 30lb royal in a fold out vinyl case that jammed up if you typed with more than two fingers. It had a few letters different from modern keyboards. I remember being confused using a computer the first time.

    1. As I understand the origin of QWERTY, it was to keep the keys from jamming for the more commonly used letters.

  11. Ah. , the good old days, when reviewing your message history meant stealing your typewriter ribbon.

  14. A Minecraft Movie.

    What the critics say (2 stars out of 5). Teaser: “Jack Black is like a desperate clown at an underattended children’s party”.

    https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/minecraft-movie-review-jack-black-cast-release-date-b2726057.html

    What the audience says.

    https://www.pcgamer.com/movies-tv/a-minecraft-movie-has-earned-usd157-million-the-most-successful-domestic-opening-weekend-for-a-videogame-adaptation-ever/

    Teaser: “A Minecraft Movie has earned $157 million, the most successful domestic opening weekend for a videogame adaptation ever”.

  15. My first printer was a re-purposed Selectric which I outfitted with an 8080 processor and parallel port. Worked great.

  18. The daisy wheel was a competitor to the selectric ball. I preferred the ball as it was easier to change for different fonts.

    1. The daisy wheel came out about 10 years after the selectric, and it was faster. I’m not sure if the selectric ball was licensed for use by other manufacturers, but the daisy wheel was, lots of outfits used them.
      There was also the thimble head. I remember seeing them when I was a kid on old teletypes.

      1. Ah, yes. The old “teletype machines”. One of the jobs as midnight wire chief was to retransmit Western Union messages via my company’s teletype machines. We were forwarding them on. Spongy. Definitely not a Selectric.

    2. You’re a font of knowledge! Or perhaps you’re just using one. But yes, that was a delightful feature of the Selectric.

  20. Invisidon
    @QuantumAlteredX
    “That is exactly what he is doing.”

    https://x.com/QuantumAlteredX/status/1909219459035709696

    Yup. Almost everything is a massive fraud, especially the really important stuff.

    Start with something simple: there is no such thing as cancer. It’s mostly parasites. Parasites can be easily cured usually in a matter of days. There is no need for endless ‘cancer’ ‘treatments’. I strongly encourage everyone to research this for themselves.

    There is little to no profit in simple cures. The human experimentation sector has claimed far, far too many victims over many many generations. This must stop.

  22. CTV obediently doing herd management for the Liberals.

    “Have you recently travelled to the U.S. and been refused service? We want to hear from you”

    How about asking for stories from people who had a wonderful time?
    “Have you travelled to the USA recently and discovered that the Canadian Liberal media is full of shit? We want to hear from you.”

    https://x.com/CTVNews/status/1909282603309428913

    1. Anyone using Firefox after their latest TOS update is retarded.
      Go with Mullvad or a well-hardened Floorp if you want a good Gecko browser.

      1. That’s an awfully broad definition of “retarded”.

        I usually reserve that for describing unme or Matt.

        Anything specific about their Terms of Service?

        1. Basically that if you use the Firefox binary, you grant Mozilla license to use any data you entered into the browser in any way they like.

  31. ALERT TEXAS
    Sound familiar? It should.
    https://x.com/AmyMek/status/1908787836960350719

    Islamic developers are no longer hiding their intentions.
    They’re bragging — on camera — about using American laws to build Sharia enclaves on U.S. soil.

    In a jaw-dropping 2024 episode of the Righteous & Rich podcast, Bengali Muslim developer Sam Amin openly celebrated his efforts to construct a “Muslim village” in America — not just a mosque, not just a neighborhood, but a Sharia-controlled compound featuring:

    Streets named after Islamic conquerors
    HOA contracts funneling money directly to a mosque
    Legal tricks to deter non-Muslims from moving in
    American front-men used to hide the Islamic purpose

    “We’re making the laws… we’re putting those laws,” he bragged.

    “Seventy-five percent of the fees go to the mosque.”…

  37. Texas Islamic Scholar Yasir Qadhi, Driving Force Behind Planned Islamic City In Texas: There Is An Agenda To Criminalize, Demonize Our Faith; They Want To Make Us Look Bad To Justify What Is Happening In Palestine – They Tried And Failed Before; We Are Taking Advantage Of Our Constitutional Rights And Demand To Be Treated Like Any Other Faith Community; We Are The True Followers Of Jesus, Not Them
    https://www.memri.org/tv/texas-epic-city-yasir-qadhi-not-cower-down-true-followers-jesus-god

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation