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  1. Last 7 days
    1. If you want something super cheap, a Clarke Sweetone.  If you want something that's more of an intermediate instrument, I'd get a O’Briain Improved, Freeman Tweaked, Dixon Trad or DX005, or Hoover PVC. Those are just recommendations from experience, there are a few threads on here that have lots of recommendations. https://www.reddit.com/r/tinwhistle/comments/1fq77yf/pinned_whistle_maker_list/ https://www.reddit.com/r/tinwhistle/comments/179avhc/a_request_for_a_pinned_thread_of_all_whistle/

      Several people here recommend the Dixon DX005 (plastic) as a good mid-price starter whistle in the $50 range.

      https://reddit.com/r/tinwhistle/comments/1nsape6/thin_whistle_for_learning/

    1. List of active MAKERS unless noted RETIRED Abell $$$ premium wooden whistles https://www.abellflute.com/whistles/ Alba mezzo and low whistles https://www.albawhistles.com/ Alexander Karavaev $$ Russian Barterloch $$-$$$ *USA Handmade whistles in D * https://www.barterloch.com Becker RETIRED http://www.beckerwhistles.com/ Burke $$$ premium metal whistles https://www.burkewhistles.com/ Busman $$$ RETIRED USA handcrafted wood and polymer https://www.busmanwhistles.com/ Carbony $$$ USA, premium carbon fiber whistles with unique offerings https://carbony.com/product-category/whistles/ Clare $ Ireland, Generation/Feadog style whistles https://www.tin-whistle.com/buy.html Clarke $ England, the original tin whistle, conical https://www.clarketinwhistle.com/ Clover handmade https://www.facebook.com/CloverFlutes01 Dannan $ mass produced DeQuelery $$ Netherlands, handmade https://dequelery.nl/en/whistles/ Erik the Flutemaker $$—$$$ exotic wood and carbon-fiber whistles https://eriktheflutemaker.com Feadog $ mass produced metal whistles https://feadog.ie/ Flo-Ryan $$$ Austria, carbon fiber D whistles https://www.flo-ryan.com/ Fred Rose $$$ UK, premium wooden whistles https://www.fredrose.co.uk Galeón $$—$$$ aluminum and wood whistles https://www.galeonwhistles.com/ Gary Humphrey $$—$$$ metal whistles made to order https://humphreywhistles.github.io/ Generation $ England, the most common mass produced whistle https://generationmusic.co.uk/ Glenluce $$ Pakistani made wood and Sindt-style metal whistles Goldfinch $$ cpvc whistles https://goldfinch.eu/ Goldie $$$ https://www.colingoldie.de/ Harmony Flute $$—$$$ Russian, exotic wood whistles https://harmonyflute.com/product-category/catalogy/whistle/ Hermit Hill Folk Instruments $$ handmade metal or plastic whistles to order, offers engraving https://www.hhfi.biz Howard $$—$$$ low D and C whistles with interchangeable mouthpieces for different tone https://www.howardmusic.co.uk/ iVolga $$ wooden whistles including more chromatic models James Dominic $-$$ PVC low whistles https://james-dominic-whistles.myshopify.com Jerry Freeman $$ tweaked whistles https://www.ebay.com/usr/freemanwhistles John Laurence $$ pvc whistles https://drjohnlaurence.com/takahe-flutes Kerry Whistles $$—$$$ metal whistles https://www.kerrywhistles.com Killarney $$ Sindt-style https://killarneywhistle.com Labu Flutes $ Bangladesh, bamboo whistles, keyed according to XXX–OOO https://www.labuflutes.com/ Lark $ Susato-like whistles Lindstruments $$ Scotland, 3D-printed whistles https://lindstruments.com/ Lir $$ silver plated, Sindt-style https://www.lirwhistle.com 10% off STEPHANIETINWHISTLE MackBeth (formerly Hoover) $$$ USA, handmade one at a time, small batch https://www.mackbethwhistles.com MASC $$—$$$ aluminum whistles https://mascwhistles.wordpress.com Mazur $$ Poland, handmade by Michał Mazur https://www.facebook.com/mazurwhistles Roy McManus / McMaghnuis $$$ Belfast, wooden whistles, instructions on website not found https://preview.redd.it/534nq22mtrrd1.png?width=911&format=png&auto=webp&s=2bb6bb725443051265c29a972709af6a0033bbf2 http://www.roymcmanus.co.uk https://www.facebook.com/mcmanuswhistles/ McNeela $$ Sindt-style https://mcneelamusic.com/whistles.html Milligan $$$ USA, handmade exotic wood and delrin whistles https://milliganwhistles.com/whistles.html MK $$$ premium low whistles https://mkwhistles.com Musique Morneaux $$$ premium wood whistles https://musiquemorneaux.com/whistlesflageolets/ Naomi $ Chinese metal and carbon fiber whistles Nick Metcalf $$$ USA handmade whistles https://www.irishwhistle.com/ Oak $ mass produced metal whistls O'Briain Improved $$-$$$ modified whistles https://www.obriainimproved.com/ Ormiston $$$ Scotland, blackwood/silver whistles http://www.ormistonflutes.co.uk/index.html PA Music $$$$ Austria, wooden/aluminum whistles http://www.pa-music.com/en/instrument-maker/instrument/irish-whistles/detail Pablo Asturias $ México, PVC, aluminum by request http://www.asturiaswhistles.com/store Peter Worrell $$$$ UK, whistles fitted with keys for one-handed playing http://www.peterworrell.co.uk/onehandedwhistles.htm Reyburn $$$ USA, offering offset hole patterns https://reyburnwhistles.com River Whistles $ USA, 3-D printed whistles https://www.riverwhistles.com/ Rui Gomes $$—$$$ Portugal, handmade wood and metal whistles and flutes https://soprosrg.com/en-us https://www.etsy.com/shop/Sopro?ref=seller-platform-mcnav&section_id=39375902 Setanta $$—$$$ premium metal whistles http://www.setanta-whistles.com/ Shaw $$ traditional tin made, wood block, conical bore, non-tunable whistles https://www.daveshaw.co.uk/SHAW_Whistles/shaw_whistles.html Shearwater $—$$ https://www.shearwaterwhistles.com/ Sindt $$$ hard to find and copied by many [sindtwhistle@aol.com](mailto:sindtwhistle@aol.com) Siog $$ Sindt-style whistles Susato $—$$ USA, plastic whistles, recorders, pentacorders, dulce-duos, and more https://www.susato.com/ Syn Whistles and Oz whistles $$ RETIRED Australia https://www.ozwhistles.com/shop/synwhistles S.Z.B.E. $$ Japan https://www.szbe.net/index\_e.htm*the Japanese page is better maintained than the English* Thomann $ https://www.thomannmusic.com Thornton $$$ Ireland, tapered wooden whistles https://tommmymartin.wixsite.com/thorntonwhistles Tilbury $$ USA, aluminum whistles http://www.sprucetreemusic.com/instruments/other-instruments/tilbury-whistles Tony Dixon $—$$ a wide range of whistles https://www.tonydixonmusic.co.uk/ TWZ $-$$$ Germany https://www.tinwhistle.de/tin-whistles/twz-tin-whistles-aus-eigener-fertigung/index.php Waltons $ Ireland, books and mass produced metal whistles https://waltonsirishmusic.com/collections/tin-whistles West Coast Whistle $$-$$$ Canada, metal whistles with numerous color options https://www.angelfire.com/music2/WestCoastWhistleCo/OrderPage2.html Weston $$ handmade wooden whistles https://westonwhistles.co.uk/?page_id=12 Whistlesmith $—$$ USA, flute-like plastic whistles https://whistlesmith.com Woodi $ Susato-like whistles .................................................................................... List of retailers: https://bigwhistle.co.uk/ https://mcneelamusic.com/whistles.html https://larkinthemorning.com/collections/pennywhistles https://www.hobgoblin-usa.com/ https://hobgoblin.com/ https://www.thomannmusic.com https://www.justflutes.com/shop/browse/traditional-flutes-whistles https://www.gandharvaloka.ie/product-category/irish/whistles/ https://www.irishflutestore.com/ https://earlymusicshop.com/collections/tabor-pipes https://www.jimlaabsmusicstore.com/store/tin-whistles/ http://www.thewhistleshop.com https://www.scottshighland.com/product-category/bodhrans-whistles/ https://www.buckscountyfolkmusic.com/collections/wind-flutes-fifes-whistles-harmonicas-etc https://www.grothmusic.com/c-652-tin-whistles.aspx https://www.1to1music.co.uk/pages/whistles-and-flutes .................................................................................... Usefull Websites Forum https://forums.chiffandfipple.com/viewforum.php?f=1 All the whistle keys and other information https://learntinwhistle.com/resources/tin-whistle-fingering-charts/ Sheet music and forum https://thesession.org/ Sheet Music https://pdfminstrel.wordpress.com/4-sopranodescant-recorder-pdfs/ Transposing https://janmilosh.github.io/chord-transposer/# Find sheet music and books https://kupdf.net/ Christian whistler's website and forum https://praisewhistlers.org/mackhooverwhistles/MackHooverWhistles.html Sheet music and transcription app https://flat.io My Account with some songs transcribed https://flat.io/geoffrey_rox

      https://www.reddit.com/r/tinwhistle/comments/179avhc/a_request_for_a_pinned_thread_of_all_whistle/

    1. Wilhelmshaven: The Emperor's beloved city destroyed in the war<br /> by [[NDR.de]]<br /> accessed on 2025-09-30T15:02:51


      I found a video about Wilhelmshaven in 1965 in the vintage section of a German broadcast service. The video is all German. It was made in 1965 and shows how the city developed through the decades. It is 17 minutes long, and the time from 6:30 to 8:30 is dedicated to Olympia Typewriters. You'll see a breathtaking amount of SG1s, workers correcting the letter alignment, workers taking measures on machines, and workers assembling machines in a huge workshop with a deafening typewriter rattle going on. <br /> via r/typewriters u/andrebartels1977 at https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1nun0is/olympia_nerds/

    1. that in the offspring even of thoroughly pure-bred stocks, avery small number of individuals, say two or three in tens ofthousands, turn up with small but 'jump-like' changes, theexpression 'jump-like' not meaning that the change is so veryconsiderable, but that there is a discontinuity inasmuch asthere are no intermediate forms between the unchanged andthe few changed. De Vries called that a mutation.

      But about forty years ago the Dutchman de Vries discovered

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugo_de_Vries

    1. Nakajima Daisywheel Typewriter Part 2 - YouTube<br /> by [[Joe Van Cleave]]<br /> accessed on 2025-09-27T15:15:18

      The Nakamima WPT-150 is manufactured by Mitsunami Asia(S)Pte Ltd. in Indonesia and is sold in other countries as the model AX-150, which may help in finding supplies, print wheels, etc. for it.

      nadist.com has repair manuals and parts lists as well as specifications

      They sell six different models of which the WPT-150 is the least expensive.

      Joe is a little more cognizant of the typing delay time of the Brother and it's seemingly non-existent for the Nakajima.

      JVC tested the words per minute speed for the Nakajima using polar opposite characters on the daisy wheel.

    1. reply to u/GrandRevolutionary99 at https://reddit.com/r/stationery/comments/1nrkuqf/i_need_help_to_create_my_own_letterhead_for_my/

      Typewriter enthusiasts often use 100% cotton or high linen content papers with weights in the 32 pound range for 8.5x11. This gives you some nice tactile feel, but will also feed into most typewriters, even with a solid backing sheet. If you want to do thicker card stocks, then you might opt for a bigger standard typewriter which generally have larger diameter platens and more easily handle much thicker paper (they were meant for doing carbon packs up up to 10 sheets or more.)

      When it comes to the look of your letters, you can generally choose between silk (clean, crisp imprints), nylon (almost as clean as silk, but with more "grain"), and cotton typewriter ribbon (which leaves a very grainy/old timey and "typewriter-y" imprint). Comparisons here.

      I've got a small fleet of typewriters and prefer to use the pica sizes for personal correspondence. I also tend toward the cursive or Vogue typefaces for those as well.

      In the US, a lot of stationers have pre-cut paper and envelopes for 6-3/8" x 8-1/2" paper which is a good size sheet for quick notes. My typewriter pen pal Tom Hanks' most recent letter to me was on a custom page of 7.125 x 10.25" and had space for design at the top and bottom with some reasonable space in the middle. If you do custom designs, be sure to order a box or two of plain stock to use as second, third, etc. pages behind your first page if you tend to write over your first page.

      Naturally custom designing your own can be fun as well, but get a few samples of the size and weight you want and try them out before ordering in quantity.

      Lenore Fenton can give you tips on making carbon copies of your letters if you want to keep them for your own files while sending out the originals: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUJfCfqgsX0

      Searching r/typewriters for stationery, letterhead, paper, etc. might give you some ideas as well.

    1. The buyer pays, select USPS as the Shipping method, and then uses Pirateship to actually purchase the label from USPS or UPS. This provides a small upside on shipping, which helps cover the high packing costs. Shipping typewriters is just inherently expensive, and if you pay retail, you are going to take a bath every time. Also, you need to buy supplies in bulk from a commercial supplier. Had to learn this the hard way after eBay charged someone $40 for shipping, and when I got to FedEx it was 90+the like 25 I spent on retail shipping supplies. Now have shipping supplies down to about $12 a machine and never have a negative on shipping costs.
    2. reply to u/firefox2061 at https://reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1nqpvbk/i_ended_up_with_a_1957_olympia_sm3_trying_to_sell/

      Take a close look at the online shops that are selling restored machines to see how they're signaling cleaned and restored machines. Professional photos, videos, and type samples will help significantly. The market picks up closer to the holidays and will help you realize greater value.

      As you surely know, the bottom of the market for these in unknown condition and potentially shaky/iffy shipping is $120 and professionally cleaned, oiled, and adjusted is in the $550 range (without a new platen).

      Shops actively servicing machines and putting on new platens are going to quote in the range of $150-180 for the roughly $100 recovering + their labor. It's rare in the market that buyers truly appreciate the value of a new platen. (Most don't even appreciate the value of a serviced typewriter either.) You're much likelier to get someone paying better rates when they can see and test the machine in person to appreciate how clean and well aligned it is.

      You statement about the typeface is off (presuming I found the right listing) as this is very definitely not a Congress face. Try again using: https://typecast.munk.org/2011/04/23/1964-nomda-blue-book-olympia-font-styles/

      You should also specifically mention that you've replaced the rubber body gaskets that commonly have compression problems on these SM3s.

      Including a facsimile copy of the manual may also be helpful: https://site.xavier.edu/polt/typewriters/tw-manuals.html

      See also: https://boffosocko.com/2025/06/23/typewriter-repair-costs-and-valuation-professional-shops-versus-collectors-versus-first-time-buyers/

  2. Sep 2025
    1. RE: poor type quality on the "!" via u/TheGuyAtThePlace265 at https://reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1no1whe/poor_definition_on/

      Lots of things can cause this in rough order, check:

      Clean the slugs

      Ribbon can have an effect. Silk is generally crisper than nylon which is crisper than cotton.

      The paper can have an effect depending on the thickness and general grain.

      Typing technique can play a part. Often you'll see issues including ghosting and other problems, particularly if you bottom out a key while typing.

      Are you using a backing sheet?

      Is your platen rock hard or has it been re-covered?

      Is your ring and cylinder adjustment properly done?

      The most frequently abused slugs are often the ones at the the ends of the segment and 1/! definitely qualifies. Sometimes a small bit of forming can clear things up.

    1. In calling the structure of the chromosome fibres a code-script

      from where does he draw the idea "code-script"? Is it from the developing information theory of the time? Somewhere else?

      There is definitely the idea of a code running in the sense of programming, which was likely not a common conceptualization at the time.


      On p. 22 he uses the phrase "law-code" which is likely the closer meaning of code he's using and not the sense of genetic code as understood much later when DNA and the underlying protein coding sequences were unraveled.

      Morse code may also be a tangential underlying meaning of his sense of "code" as something unknown but potentially revealable.

    2. The reason for this is, that what we call thought (I) is itselfan orderly thing, and (2) can only be applied to material, i.e.to perceptions or experiences, which have a certain degree oforderliness.

      Jeremy.Olsen — 9/16/25, 8:21 AM Opening question for 9/16 - Regarding Schrödinger's description of thought on p.9 (Canto Classics edition):

      "...what we call thought (1) is itself an orderly thing, and (2) can only be applied to material, i.e. to perceptions or experiences, which have a certain degree of orderliness."

      My question is as follows: What exactly is the material of thought for Schrödinger, which he calls "perceptions or experiences"? What are examples of this material for him? What is excluded from this category?

    3. Some time ago we were told in thenewspapers that in his African campaign General Mont-gomery made a point of having every single soldier of his armymeticulously informed of all his designs. If that is true (as itconceivably might be, considering the high intelligence andreliability of his troops) it provides an excellent analogy to ourcase, in which the corresponding fact certainly is literally true.

      You have to love the analogy of General Montgomery to chromosomes here and the duplication of information.

      Everyone knows the general direction they're moving, though the information in soldiers is different in form and function versus chromosomes which aren't conscious.

      What happens when a soldier is captured and questioned though? How does that effect strategy and does it outweigh the effects of a commander dying and their next in command being able to quickly take over? or of the individual soldier presented by a difficulty, but able to make a decision because they know where the general might direct them for the outcome the general desired?

    4. I must begin with giving a brief summary of the situation inbiology, more especially in genetics - in other words, I haveto summarize the present state of knowledge in a subject ofwhich I am not a master. This cannot be helped and Iapologize, particularly to any biologist, for the dilettantecharacter of my summary.

      While an apology to professionals, it also stands as an apology to the reasonably well-educated and non specialist decades later as well.

    5. You have to multiplyobservations, in order to eliminate the effect of the Brownianmovement of your instrument. This example is, I think,particularly illuminating in our present investigation. For ourorgans of sense, after all, are a kind of instrument. We can seehow useless they would be if they became too sensi tive.
    6. Why shouldan organ like our brain, with the sensorial system attached toit, of necessity consist of an enormous number of atoms, inorder that its physically changing state should be in close andintimate correspondence with a highly developed thought?
    7. Even if I should be right in this, I do not know whether myway of approach is really the best and simplest. But, in short,it was mine. The 'naive physicist' was myself. And I could notfind any better or clearer way towards the goal than my owncrooked one.

      an attempt is better than nothing at all

      "If at first you don't suck seed, keep on sucking until you do succeed." - Curly of the Three Stooges while eating a peach

    8. The large and important and very much discussed question is:How can the events in space and time which take place withinthe spatial boundary of a living organism be accounted for byphysics and chemistry?

      the question on which he'll be focusing the book

      Come back when we're done to see how well he may have answered it.

    9. DelbruckJs Model Discussed and Tested

      n.b. Delbrück was Jim Watson’s postdoc advisor at Caltech

      see also:<br /> Golomb, Solomon W. Construction and Properties of Comma-Free Codes. With L. R. Welch and Max Delbrück, København, 1958. Biologiske Meddelelser Udg. Af Det Kongelige Danske Videnskabernes Selskab 23.

      Golomb, S. W., et al. “Comma-Free Codes.” Canadian Journal of Mathematics, vol. 10, Jan. 1958, pp. 202–09. Cambridge University Press, https://doi.org/10.4153/CJM-1958-023-9.

    10. Reading list: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1lCufgJO4WJJpO6EUpGggeWdz9UnAahGbwDL_IEKfYAU/edit?gid=0#gid=0

      Date Section <br /> 9/16/25 What is Life? Preface, Chapter 1<br /> 9/23 Chapter 2<br /> 9/30 Chapter 3<br /> 10/7 Chapter 4<br /> 10/14 Chapter 5<br /> 10/21 Chapter 6<br /> 10/28 Chapter 7<br /> 11/4 Epilogue<br /> 11/11 Mind and Matter Chapter 1<br /> 11/18 Chapter 2<br /> 11/25 BREAK<br /> 12/2 Chapter 3 + 4<br /> 12/9 Chapter 5<br /> 12/16 Chapter 6

    1. https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1no7d47/customizing_a_machine/

      Hot Rod Typewriter has done some lovely paint jobs on typewriters. Check out Gerren's YouTube, Insta, and other socials for examples. You'll see examples of his work float by on the typewriter database from time to time as well.

      Richard Polt's book Typewriter Revolution (2015) book has a whole chapter with photos on custom machines including a Twolympia which puts the internals of an SM9 into the body of an SM3.

      I've seen gold, nickel, and chrome plated typewriters which are always fun. I'd love to do a nickel plate of my own one day.

      Sadly, the most involved I've done so far is when my daughter loved my Clarion double gothic Royal FP, but wanted to have it in the pearlescent gray, so I swapped all the Sandstone (yellow) body panels from a another one I picked up just for the swap.

      u/BlindAssassin111 had some cool custom made leather handles he showed off the other day: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1nm8eit/made_my_own_leather_handle_for_a_carrying_case/

    1. The context is lost, and meaning is dependent on context.For instance, if you find a copy of a video with a politician intoningsome bizarre senseless snippet, you don’t know what the context was.Maybe the full version of the video would tell a different story. One ofthe reasons not to make copies is to avoid problems like that.
    2. This is what we mightcall the idea of the “mash-up” today, but it also was the firstappearance, so far as I can tell, of the realization that digital systemscould both gather and repackage media to enable new kinds ofcollaboration and new kinds of expression.

      this sort of remixing of information was NOT new with this group

    3. The lexicon of the New Age, or self-actualization, movement reserved a special place for the wordAbundance. Abundance could mean two things. At the rational, technocratic, Confucian end of the spectrum,it might mean that people ought to take responsibility for their failures and successes, but they ought tobelieve that great success is possible. This sensibility sprouted the motivational speaker industry. Its tracesare preserved in reality television and popular song.
    4. Perhaps we should expect to see more elections that are eitherextremely close or extremely lopsided from here on out. If opposingSiren Servers are well run, they might achieve parity, while if one isbetter than the other, its advantage ought to be dramatic. It’s too earlyto say, since big data and politics haven’t mixed long enough togenerate much data as yet. It’s like climate change was for a long time—not enough data yet to really say—though it does look like we’reseeing this pattern.

      are we seeing patterns? who/what are the big influencers?

    5. Democracies must be structured to resist winner-take-all politics ifthey are to endure. That principle applied in the network age leads toperiodic confrontations between competing mirror-image big datapolitical campaigns.
    6. There would only be the particles that make up things, in exactly the same positions they wouldotherwise occupy, but not the things. In other words, consciousness provides ontology for particles. If therewere no consciousness, the universe would be adequately described as being nothing but particles. Or, ifyou prefer a computational framework, only the bits would be left, but not the data structures. It would allmean nothing, because it wouldn’t be experienced
    7. In our digital revolution, we might depose an old sort ofdysfunctional center of power only to erect a new one that is equallydysfunctional. The reason is that online opposition to traditional powertends to promote new Siren Servers that in the long run are unlikely tobe any better.
    8. Belief in the specialness of people is a minority position in the tech world, and I would like that to change.The way we experience life—call it “consciousness”—doesn’t fit in a materialistic or informational worldview.Lately I prefer to call it “experience,” since the opposing philosophical team has colonized the termconsciousness. That term might be used these days to refer to the self-models that can be implementedinside a robot.
    9. While we have yet to see how Google’s book scanning will play out, amachine-centric vision of the project might encourage software that treats books as grist for the mill,decontextualized snippets in one big database, rather than separate expressions from individual writers. Inthis approach, the contents of books would be atomized into bits of information to be aggregated, and theauthors themselves, the feeling of their voices, their differing perspectives, would be lost. Needless to say,this approach would hide its tracks so that it would be hard to send a nanopayment to an author who hadbeen aggregated.

      Alternately, where is the value in a slip box?

    10. It’s not always necessary that the data be made absolutelyunavailable; sometimes data can just be decontextualized enough tobecome less valuable. Facebook provides a fine example. If a greatdeal of personal creativity and life experience has been added to thesite, it’s hard to give all that up. Even if you capture every little thingyou had uploaded, you can’t save it in the context of interactions withother people. You have to lose a part of yourself to leave Facebookonce you become an avid user. If you leave, it will become difficult forsome people to contact you at all.
    1. reply to u/todddiskin at https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1nlodr0/how_do_you_use_your_machines/

      Some various recent uses:

      • I've got writing projects sitting in two different machines.
      • I use one on my primary desk for typing up notes on index cards, recipes, my commonplace "book", letters, and other personal correspondence.
      • I use a few of my portables on the porch in the mornings/evenings for journaling.
      • One machine in the hallway is for impromptu ideas and poetry and an occasional bit of typewriter art.
      • One machine near the kitchen is always gamed up for adding to the ever-growing shopping list.
      • I'll often get one out for scoring baseball games.
      • Participating in One Typed Page and One Typed Quote
      • Typing up notes in zoom calls - I've got a camera mount over a Royal KMG that has its own Zoom account so people can watch the notes typed in real time.
      • Labels for folders, index card dividers, and sticky labels.
      • Addressing envelopes.
      • Writing out checks.
      • Typecasting
      • Hiding a flask or two of bourbon (the Fold-A-Matic Remingtons are great for this)
      • Supplementing the nose of my bourbon and whisky collection.

      At the end of the day though, unless you're Paul Sheldon, typewriters are unitaskers and are designed to do one thing well: put text on paper. All the rest are just variations on the theme. 😁🤪☠️

      see also: https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/search/?q=typewriter+uses

    1. reply to u/Educational-Big-7383 at https://old.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1nkb6ga/why_olympia/

      It probably doesn't hurt that Olympia was manufacturing some of the best machines at the height of typewriter manufacturing including the use of great materials (strength, durability), design, and general craftsmanship in the 20th century.

      Many of these also tended to be late models which were sold in cases, so they tend to be younger, cleaner, and in much nicer condition that the majority of other typewriters out there, and condition really matters a lot when attempting to compare models. As an extreme, but illustrative comparison, a 1930s Royal portable that was pounded out and left in a barn isn't going to hold a candle to an SM3 that was lightly used and lovingly kept in a closet.

    1. reply to u/BudgetSprinkles3689 at https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1nkbw85/serial_number_location/

      What is the purpose of a serial number? What does it do for you? There are serial numbers on things all around you; do you know where all of those are? The VIN number on your vehicle maybe?

      People now are only using them to approximate manufacturing dates for fun, but they were generally only used by the factory or repair people to identify specific machines and/or tie issues after manufacture back to production line problems. Do they need to be easily accessed or visible for these purposes? The people who really need them generally know exactly where they are and how to find them.

      Sometimes they're used to create inventories for owners or in cases of theft, but these generally aren't common uses that need high visibility. Because they can be removed or defaced, should they be put in easily findable and accessible places?

      Generally they're stamped in at the factory during production on integral parts of the machine during assembly. As a result, they can often be hidden or covered up by parts (especially exterior panels and body styling) added later. If it's on an exterior, easy-to-remove part, what good is it?

      If it helps, here's a diagram of some common locations:

      img

    1. reply to u/Mindless-Cow5458 at https://old.reddit.com/r/productivity/comments/1nk55qu/did_anyone_actually_read_deep_work_i_keep_seeing/

      Are you sure you're not a bot adding to the noise?!? Newport is a computer scientist who probably makes more from book sales than his day job, so wouldn't you expect he's controlling an AI bot or two that stirs the pot in Reddit and other online locations to garner interest in selling more books?

      And do you think these topics are really new and intriguing? Has Newport noticed something genuinely new about the human condition? Has he got some innovative new tonic, elixir, patent medicine, or magic bean that is going to solve all your problems?

      You'll probably get more out of reading the classics... the greats... the poets... For example try Geoffrey Chaucer in House of Flame (c. 1375)

      For when thy labour doon al ys, And hast mad alle thy rekenynges, In stede of reste and newe thynges Thou goost hom to thy hous anoon, And also domb as any stoon, Thou sittest at another book Tyl fully daswed ys thy look.

      Or translated into modern English:

      For when your labour’s all done And you’ve made all the accounts Instead of rest and other things You go straight home And as dumb as any stone Sit at another book Till your eyes are fully dazed

      Chaucer complains in the 14th century of "looking at screens all day" as if he were an office worker in 2025. "Making all the accounts" here is akin to staring at an accounting spreadsheet all day.

      But who can productively make money on Chaucer's poetry any more, so you write your own version and reinterpret the greats to make a buck. If only Chaucer had a bot...

    1. Confessions of an Office Supply Junky - Episode 5: The Hipster PDA - YouTube<br /> by [[Joe Van Cleave]] video circa 2016<br /> accessed on 2025-09-15T12:38:20

      Joe Van Cleave had a pencil box with index cards and a pen with which he used to keep a "Random Access Journaling System, using index cards and topical filing by subject" (dated March 2004). He was using 4 x 6" index cards.

      He had a 3 x 5" hipster PDA based on Merlin Mann's idea that had thin metal covers with index cards and a book ring to hold it all together. He used colored cards to create section dividers in his hipster PDA.

      He mentions the overlap of the hipster PDA with David Allen's Getting Things Done (GTD) movement.

      JVC started using a hipster PDA in February 2007

      He archived them in chronological order.

      Grass roots use of the hipster PDA nudged larger stationers like Oxford to make vertical lined index cards specifically for hipster PDAs.

      JVC also shows a storyboard done on index cards with two book rings as binding.

      Renaissance Art has a 3x5" index card holder made out of leather as a wallet.

      JVC was also using a bulldog clip to hold together his index cards.

    1. https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1ngt1u4/questions_about_going_into_the_typewriter_business/

      Based on your original post, I thought you might have been further along with resources, but this makes me wonder a bit, so I'll add some materials for you. Start here: https://boffosocko.com/2024/10/24/learning-typewriter-maintenance-and-repair

      Repair manuals:

      Other resources: https://boffosocko.com/research/typewriter-collection/

      Be sure to register for an account on the typewriterdatabase.com as that will give you access to more material and research than a non-logged in user.

      There are a few "young" folx out there who have recently done what you're considering, and knowing a few of them may help. Reach out if you feel comfortable doing so:

      Consider a trip to QWERTY Fest which is coming up soon.

      Good Luck

    1. (Notwithstanding accusations of stoking violence, prominent Democrats have consistently condemned Kirk’s assassination. That’s a vivid contrast to the mockery from many on the right—including Donald Trump Jr.—after a man attacked the husband of former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the muted reactions, disinformation, and silence that followed the assassination of the Democratic Minnesota legislator Melissa Hortman and her husband, this summer.)

      Hypocrisy of the American radical right with respect to violence.

      Compare with prior paragraphs at https://hypothes.is/a/ScM0RJDjEfC_cd_LJT1nRw

    2. But if Cox and Trump represent two rival impulses within the Republican coalition, Trump is undoubtedly winning. “Democrats own what happened today,” Representative Nancy Mace of South Carolina said on Wednesday. “Y’all caused this,” Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida told Democrats on the House floor. “It’s time for the Trump administration to shut down, defund, & prosecute every single Leftist organization,” the influential Trump adviser Laura Loomer posted on X. “We must shut these lunatic leftists down. Once and for all. The Left is a national security threat.”Other influential figures on the right have been equally or more strident. “The Left is the party of murder,” Elon Musk declared on X before a suspect had even been identified. Andrew Tate, the misogynist who has been charged with sex trafficking in two countries (which he denies); Alex Jones, the conspiracy-theorist broadcaster; and Libs of TikTok influencer Chaya Raichik all invoked “civil war.”

      people calling for retribution without any facts

    1. It took years to acquire a Model O at a price I could afford. It's my dream machine. The other 8 or 9 machines are now being donated to Goodwill, where most came from. I only need one machine and this is it.

      quote of u/RickBuxton at https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1nfg9tt/im_new_but_obssessed/

      Example of someone who likely should have gone to a typewriter shop and bought a well-adjusted and clean typewriter from the start and it would have saved them time, effort, and money.

      8 machines * $30 per machine = $240 plus time, energy, travel, shipping, etc.

    1. My own assessment is that the book, which reads like a thoroughly researched legal brief (more than 100 pages are devoted to notes, references and a very detailed index), makes the best possible case for the highly dubious proposition that the ideas of information theory influenced the substance, rather than merely the rhetoric, of research in molecular biology in the 1950s and 1960s.

      Information theorist Solomon Golomb, who directly participated in the applications of information theory to early genetics, doesn't feel that it influenced the substance of molecular biology in the 1950s and 1960s though it may have influenced the rhetoric.

    1. When you were under contract at MGM, were you writing longhand and then giving it to a transcriber?  Yeah. My secretary. It’s almost as though I swore once I got out of the newspaper business that I’d never look at another goddam typewriter. I like writing with a pen. As a matter of fact, I think the less distance there is between you and a piece of blank paper, the better it works out.

      https://www.todlippy.com/writing/interviews/bad-day-black-rock

    1. The term is rapidly becoming an empty signifier, though. Tesla’s new master plan boasts of “sustainable abundance.” The Silicon Valley variant of the abundance agenda is just warmed-over techno-optimism — less “let’s rebuild the administrative state and make government work again!” and more “the government should hand big sacks of money to tech startups and exempt them from taxes and regulations. Let our genius builders build!”