{"id":8681,"date":"2005-09-08T13:34:45","date_gmt":"2005-09-08T20:34:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2005\/09\/08\/back-when-a-carriage-return-meant-a-carriage-return-dagnabbit.html"},"modified":"2005-09-08T13:34:45","modified_gmt":"2005-09-08T20:34:45","slug":"back_when_a_car","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2005\/09\/08\/back_when_a_car.html","title":{"rendered":"Back when a carriage return meant a carriage return, dagnabbit!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Interesting (but anecdotal) article about how manual typewriters are making a comeback<\/a> amongst the younger generations.<\/p>\n

Popular wisdom would hold that typewriters are a dying breed, replaced by ever-faster personal computers that do far more than type text. Retailers that once specialized in typewriters have dropped the word from their names, and only one company – Italy’s Olivetti – still makes manuals. Some shop owners lamented that the relics are all but gone.<\/p>\n

Not so, said Peggy Tidwell, whose family has owned Los Altos Typewriter since 1967. While she hasn’t seen sales grow in the past five years, recent college graduates and others younger than 30 have bought most of the store’s refurbished typewriters.<\/p>\n

“They have no feeling about their computer, but they like their charming little typewriter,” Tidwell said. “It’s got character, and it’s more alive than a computer is.”<\/p>\n

For a generation raised with technologies that can be outdated within months, there’s something impressively permanent about a typewriter. And for those used to computers that operate often mysteriously and practically in silence, it’s refreshing to use a machine with visible working parts. It’s similar to teens and 20-somethings choosing the hiss and pop of vinyl records over the clarity of mp3s, said Robert Thompson, a Syracuse University professor and popular-culture expert.<\/p>\n

“A lot of young people who only experienced in their early youth these types of digital, totally electronic experiences find the tactile, analog stuff very appealing,” said Thompson, noting that a couple of his students have submitted typed papers. Young people who choose typewriters “are very careful about what they do” when they write, he said. “It doesn’t seem as disposable and casual.”<\/p>\n

There’s certainly something very “tactile” about a real typewriter, something permanent about it. On the other hand, having grown up with them (I didn’t use a computer to type a paper until, I believe, my senior year in college, and that was an exception), I have no plans on letting the romance of “click, clack, brrrrrrr-ching!” outweigh the ability to cut, paste, edit, spell-check, revise, format, print, e-mail, etc. the documents I work with today, any more than I want to exchange my cell phone for a quarter to use a pay phone on the corner.<\/p>\n

(via GeekPress<\/a>)<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Interesting (but anecdotal) article about how manual typewriters are making a comeback amongst the younger generations. Popular wisdom would hold that typewriters are a dying breed, replaced by ever-faster personal…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8681","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hi-tech"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":44202,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/08\/06\/tappity-tappity-tappity-tappity-ding.html","url_meta":{"origin":8681,"position":0},"title":"Tappity-tappity-tappity-tappity-DING!","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 6-Aug-14 5:16pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Okay, this is just pure comedy gold. Even moreso if, having gotten used to working on a computer, you've gone back and used a typewriter for anything more complex than an envelope.I started my typing career in high school, using of the portables my parents still had from their college\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":17531,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/06\/03\/unblogged-bits-thu-3-jun-10-2000.html","url_meta":{"origin":8681,"position":1},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Thu. 3-Jun-10 2000)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 3-Jun-10 6:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Typewriter repairmen in photos - Typewriters are really an amazing bit of machinery. On that basis, I'm sorry to see them go. As a past user ... I'm just as glad to be using\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":137953,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2019\/02\/25\/where-do-they-get-those-wonderful-toys.html","url_meta":{"origin":8681,"position":2},"title":"Where do they get those wonderful toys?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 25-Feb-19 7:07pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Cool article about an e-waste recycling firm in Brooklyn that culls out classic tech items for use as props in TV shows and movies. In addition to passing older electronics on to new users, the Lower East Side Ecology Center also repurposes some of the rarer finds for a museum-like\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Hi-Tech"","block_context":{"text":"Hi-Tech","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/hi-tech"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/old-tech.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/old-tech.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/old-tech.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/old-tech.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/old-tech.jpg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/old-tech.jpg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":13604,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/11\/05\/meanwhile_behind_the_cele.html","url_meta":{"origin":8681,"position":3},"title":"Meanwhile, behind the celebration …","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 5-Nov-08 11:26am","format":false,"excerpt":"... the Bush Administration is doing its darnedest to do everything it can to advance its agenda in the remaining days left to it. We won't talk -- yet --...","rel":"","context":"In "Politics & Law"","block_context":{"text":"Politics & Law","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":19181,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2010\/11\/11\/unblogged-bits-thu-11-nov-10-1630.html","url_meta":{"origin":8681,"position":4},"title":"Unblogged Bits (Thu. 11-Nov-10 1630)","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 11-Nov-10 4:30pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Hansen's Writing Ball & Other Unusual Typewriters - A demonstration that there's more than one technical path to a desired outcome, and something to make you wonder how our \"everyday\" technology could have ended\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Potpourri"","block_context":{"text":"Potpourri","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/potpourri"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":15224,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2009\/07\/16\/unblogged-bits-for-thursday-16-july-2009.html","url_meta":{"origin":8681,"position":5},"title":"Unblogged Bits for Thursday, 16 July 2009","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 16-Jul-09 6:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Links (most recent first) that caught my eye, but did not warrant full-blown blog entries .... Tracking the influence of Frank Luntz\u2019 obstructionist health care memo.: Matt Corley NYPD is spending $1 million in typewriters: David Pescovitz News Round-Up: Jewel v. NSA Hearing: hugh On Bombs and BandAids - Here's\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Harry Potter"","block_context":{"text":"Harry Potter","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/harry-potter"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8681","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8681"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8681\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8681"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8681"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8681"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}