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  1. Jul 2025
    1. The Point of a College Education by [[C-SPAN]]

      Orson Welles quote about so many of him and so few of you at a lecture to 3-4 people in a snow storm.

      statistics about the drops in humanities (~42:00)

      consumerist spirit in higher education (45:00)

      student evaluations (47:00)

      education is a buyer's market now instead of a seller's as it had been in past generations

      grade inflation

      consumerism with respect to feminism and women's studies, gay and lesbian studies, multiculturalism in higher education

      radical education as "going to the root"

      in short, "let us entertain you" as consumerist education

      "The job o education is never finished."

      The hidden point of a University of Chicago education: Be an artist, be a scientist, be a statesman, be a teacher of artists, scientists, or statesmen.

    1. I'm totally prejudiced as I work at a local typewriter repair shop in Bremerton, Washington. We also have a space where we sell them. In general if the local shop has a bunch of machines that you can put on a table to try out, that is good. If they don't want you futzing with the typewriters, I'm not sure the value. Do they have a warranty? If not, then stick to the internet and local antique shops and buy as low as you can. At least that way when you need repair you have a cost buffer.
    2. We recommend people come to our shop and type. We charge $5 an hour or you can look into our rental programs. We have a lot of people come in just to hang out and type. No plans on actually owning one, and that's fine with us. Come in, play, leave without the 10-30 pounds of metal with you lol. We also sell and service machine. Prices vary some. But all our machine have a 60 day guarantee from date of purchase. We do ship machines as well if you find something on our website that you like. Assuming you aren't near the Dayton Ohio area.

      u/Dangerous-Ratio6448 is a typewriter repair person at TB Writers Plus

    1. This typewriter was quite grimy, so I removed the shell (fairly challenging) and gave it a bath in an ultrasonic cleaning tank. Mitch Hamm alerted me that such tanks, big enough to dip a portable while keeping its keys out of the water, are now available for a mere $150 or so. Here’s the Royal undergoing what sounds like electroshock therapy, but is really just a micro-agitated bath. Concentrated Simple Green Industrial Cleaner & Degreaser was added to hot water in a 1:20 ratio.

      https://typewriterrevolution.com/a-green-machine/

      Richard Polt's experience in cleaning a Royal Portable with an ultrasonic cleaning tank with Simple Green in a 1:20 ratio.

    1. We switched to Ultra 3 detergent after using Dawn detergent for years. A quantum leap in effectiveness. When we got the new Ultra 2100 cabinet ultrasonic unit it came with a gallon of detergent. We used it ONE TIME and the parts came out so much cleaner, almost brand new. The detergent is expensive, yet we've never gone back.

      via u/palump at Bremerton Typewriter

      Ultra 3 Detergent: https://shop.ultrasonicllc.com/collections/ultrasonic-cleaning-solutions/products/ultra-3-multi-purpose-ultrasonic-detergent

    1. We are often asked what ultrasonic cleaners we use in the shop. We have three. The large cabinet model that holds large typewriters such as Selectrics, a medium sized 12"X20", and a smaller cleaner 10"X12". The medium and smaller ones you can buy on eBay all day. The models change, and the sizes are all similar. The medium sized cleaner is used for small to medium sized typewriters and the small machine is mostly for nuts, screws and other tiny stuff.

      https://www.instagram.com/p/C2u5EkVrnq3/

      via Bremerton Typewriter<br /> - PS-100A Ultrasonic Cleaner<br /> - Ultra 2100 from Ultrasonic, LLC

    1. At our shop we know that we'll age out. Everyone does. To seed the typewriter field we have a 12 week apprentice training program. Hopefully a few get the repair mojo and open up their own shop. Or just become more adept at the hobby. I can only hope once the time comes we have someone willing.

      via u/palump at https://reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1i1ydyz/nobody_in_boston_big_enough_to_fill_these_shoes/m7e497l/

      Bremerton Typewriter has a 12 week apprentice training program as a means of helping to create the next generation of typewriter repair people.

    1. What appealed to you about the concept?I’ve always been attracted to the transgressive. I tried to bring as much transgression to “Seinfeld” and “Curb” as I could, but there were still rules. With “Borat,” I was encouraged to break rules, to offend, to not worry about the results. I found that to be liberating.Can you do great comedy without transgression?There are gentle comedians who can be very successful. But if you want to cut through, if you want people to lose it, to lose control, then I think you need to go to the forbidden places.
    1. Edward Derbes earned his B.A. in Rhetoric from UC Berkeley last year. He still resides in Berkeley, and can often be found on the front steps of his apartment building reading Kierkegaard and Nelson Algren.

      Fascinating to see that it sounds like a guy who would have his own typewriter possibly writing about a typewriter comeback.

    2. A fascination with vintage typewriters also accounts for the recent rise in sales, said Joe. In particular, people in Japan are buying typewriters built in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. The store will charge $250 to repair a classic Olivetti, but that machine can be resold for $1,000 in Japan, said Joe. “They buy them because they are antique. There’s a big demand because they are part of American history.”

      from 2011

  2. Jun 2025
    1. “I happen to be a person that knows how life works,” Trump remarked in 2017, explaining why he trusts his instincts. This is the fatalistic kernel within all instantiations of social Darwinism: everything you see around you—­all the irrationality, all the hierarchy, all the pain—­is just the way of the world. The only way we can debunk this claim is to create a world that works differently.

      This last seems like it could have been from the lips of David Graeber, though here it isn't stated as forcefully that we make choices about how to live.

    2. Now we can look back and see the festering presence of social Darwinism lurking throughout the whole postwar era, like a monstrous Forrest Gump. The United States’ enduring attachment to empire and racial domination helped ensure the survival of social Darwinist ideas, just as the imperialist expansion of the late nineteenth century gave the ideology its initial purchase. In turn, these ideas, repackaged and sanitized by popular psychologists and libertarian economists, eventually helped to sanctify inequality as the foundation of the neoliberal order—­to create a dog-­eat-­dog political economy that only strengthened the appeal of social Darwinism as an explanation of how society operates.
    3. In a 2013 lecture, the social psychologist and soi-­disant centrist Jonathan Haidt railed against the tendency of “both sides” to deny “inconvenient truths.”

      soi-disant as self-styled or so-called

    4. The neoliberal economist Gordon Tullock shared his admiration for Wilson’s “excellent” book. Tullock’s own foray into “bioeconomic theory,” The Economics of Non-­Human Societies, argued that economic modeling could help explain how nonhuman animals like ants managed complex social coordination without central planning. “Social insects and other social species normally only have an economy, but no government,” Tullock wrote. “Humans think that government is a necessary precondition for the function of the economy, thus this proposition may seem bizarre.” This was precisely the premise that the most radical neoliberals sought to use sociobiology to question.

      government as regulation of social trading/economies?

    5. In the Seventies, the evolutionary-­biological approach to the study of human behavior grew even more popular. Its leading exponents were Hamilton’s Oxford colleague Richard Dawkins—­who has called Hamilton “the greatest Darwinian of my lifetime”—­and the Harvard entomologist E. O. Wilson, who recalled his imagination being “captured” by Lorenz at a pivotal point in his graduate studies.

      Dawkins and Wilson both influenced by W. D. Hamilton

    6. W. D. Hamilton, one of the most influential evolutionary biologists of the second half of the twentieth century. Hamilton helped develop new theoretical tools that allowed scientists to postulate a genetic basis for a range of complex social behaviors. Among these behaviors, in Hamilton’s view, was genocide, which was a natural if morally regrettable response to population growth among a competing “tribe.”
    7. After World War II, when the United States’ embrace of the anti­fascist struggle raised the possibility that its own apartheid system would be the next target, a vanguard of white nationalists and Nazi sympathizers rallied around a private philanthropy called the Pioneer Fund, which had been established shortly before the war. The fund’s grants helped ensure that scientists who shared the founders’ enthusiasm for the Third Reich’s “selective breeding” policies could pursue their work under an all-­American aegis.
    8. I can’t help but suspect that Trump’s own explanation is closest to the mark: “I’m a very instinctual person,” he told Time magazine in 2017, “but my instinct turns out to be right.” One need not agree with the latter judgment to recognize that Trump’s account of himself rings true. He values the irrational quality of his decisions as an end in itself.
    9. Baker, Erik. “Trump’s Darwinian America.” Harper’s Magazine, July 2025. https://harpers.org/archive/2025/07/trumps-darwinian-america-erik-baker/.

  3. themechanicaltype.blogspot.com themechanicaltype.blogspot.com
    1. Event by Indy Type Shop, Siren Hand and 2 others2621 Shelby St, Indianapolis, IN, United States, Indiana 46203Duration: 9 hrPublic  · Anyone on or off Facebook14 MAY | 11a-8p | GRAND OPENING!2621 Shelby Street, Indianapolis 46203Indy Type Shop opens its doors for regular business hours, starting 11am May 14th.

      grand opening of Indy Type Shop in Indianapolis, IN on 2025-05-14<br /> https://www.facebook.com/events/9811716722250635/

  4. www.instagram.com www.instagram.com
    Marcus A. Turner on Instagram: "Chris Hedges presents a compelling argument that American democracy has deteriorated into a system heavily influenced by oligarchic and corporate interests. In his thought-provoking interview on *UpFront*, he boldly states, "American Democracy Doesn't Exist. It's a veneer," suggesting that while the U.S. may project an image of democratic governance, the reality is that true power resides predominantly with a select few, thereby undermining genuine representation. Hedges traces this alarming erosion of democratic principles back to the 1971 Powell Memo, a pivotal document that laid the foundation for the pervasive influence of corporate America over political processes. This shift has systematically weakened grassroots movements, particularly those advocating for labor rights and environmental protections. He points to a series of policies—such as deindustrialization, cuts to social welfare programs, and deregulation—that have been implemented across both Republican and Democratic administrations. These actions have concentrated immense wealth in the hands of a small, affluent class, effectively transforming the United States into a plutocracy where the interests of the many are overshadowed by the desires of the few. In his critique of the American political landscape, Hedges denounces both major parties for their complicity in serving corporate interests. He argues that they often use social issues as a smokescreen, diverting public attention from the deeper economic exploitation taking place. He characterizes this struggle as a "civil war within capitalism," wherein oligarchic elites and corporate heads compete for dominance, all the while leaving the working class marginalized and disenfranchised. This pervasive systemic corruption, he contends, has created a societal framework in which democracy is merely a performative act, devoid of any meaningful representation of the majority's needs and interests. #oligarchy #corporatist #investment #business #entrepreneurship #focus #trust #discipline #growth #belief #success #wealth"
    2
    1. Map: 5.1-Magnitude Earthquake Strikes Iran by [[William B. Davis]], [[Madison Dong]], [[Judson Jones]], [[John Keefe]], [[Joey K. Lee]], [[Bea Malsky]]

      Seeing this earthquake notification in proximity of Operation Midnight Hammer, I wonder if there are military contingencies for using large weaponry on geological faults in enemy territories as means of starting large scale earthquakes?

    1. But neither Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth nor Gen. Dan Caine, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, could immediately say whether Iran still retained the ability to make a nuclear weapon. Mr. Hegseth repeated President Trump’s assertion from the previous night that the nuclear sites had been “obliterated.” General Caine did not.

      Given their experience and records, General Dan Caine is the better source of potential truth here.

    1. Mr. Trump will doubtless claim that only he was willing to use America’s military reach to achieve a goal his last four predecessors deemed too risky.

      His predecessors didn't have the same geo-political benefits in play that he did, specifically the Israel situation mentioned earlier in the article:

      After Israel’s fierce retaliation for the Oct. 7, 2023 terror attacks that killed over a thousand Israeli civilians, Iran is suddenly bereft of its proxies, Hamas and Hezbollah. Its closest ally, Syria’s Bashar al-Assad, had to flee the country. And Russia and China, which formed a partnership of convenience with Iran, were nowhere to be seen after Israel attacked the country.

    2. Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Intelligence Committee, said Mr. Trump had acted “without consulting Congress, without a clear strategy, without regard to the consistent conclusions of the intelligence community” that Iran had made no decision to take the final steps to a bomb.

      Does anything Trump do have a "clear strategy". Generally it seems like a semi-directed, let's try this, let's try that, what gets attention? The results seem not to matter.

    1. Gerren HotRod TypewriterCoThey are tough to install. It's not the taking things apart that gets you, it's putting it back together. I recommend not pulling a Royal carriage unless it's broken to the point there is no other option. If you like the color you can buy another $25 QDL and put the body on the new one. There is almost no reason to remove the carriage on these unless you need to replace it with another or swap out the main escapement

      https://www.facebook.com/groups/705152958470148/posts/1010406587944782/

      Removing the carriage of the Royal Quiet De Luxe is generally not recommended.

    1. I saw one last week at Gary’s Typewriters in Long Beach, Ca. - someone just gave it to him as a joke or something - his review: “They ought to be ashamed of themselves!” I tried it, and he was being generous. It’s a piece of garbage. For the money you can get a nice restored machine. Or you could just light your money on fire. Either way it’d be a better experience.

      u/georgeisamonkey is in the LA area https://www.reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1lenfgq/why_does_every_new_typewriter_look_like_garbage/

    1. $600 for refurbishing a machine that only cost $250 is not a great investment. I think your prices are a bit unrealistic. As far as the posts go: there are always two sides to every story🤷‍♀️

      reply to u/SisterGoldenHair70 at https://reddit.com/r/typewriters/comments/1lbjr5f/sorry_to_say/mxz1ag2/

      I'm honestly curious about your definition of a "machine that only cost $250" is? Make/Model? Where was it bought? What is the actual condition (both cosmetic exterior and mechanical interior as well as cleanliness)? Also, what is your definition of investment with respect to how you're going to use it? Is it a display machine? Is it for display and the occasional addressed envelope or grocery store list? Or is it something you're planning on giving moderate to heavy use on a daily or weekly basis as a professional writer?

      Most typewriter repair shops won't spend more than $20 on purchasing a machine and typically they're getting machines donated for free (or for the cost of coming to pick them up); then they spend hours to clean, oil, adjust, repair and restore them for sale in the $400-600 range unless they've got rarer colors or typefaces. (At this level, you're probably not getting any new rubber at all.) The level of restoration is definitely a choice as there are restorers out there who can easlily charge in the $1,500+ range depending on how much work you want done and to what level.

      As an example, if someone chooses to spend $120-200 pus shipping on something like an old/dirty Olympia SM3 with old gaskets from an outlet like ShopGoodwill.com (the current going rate for one in unknown condition and only using photos) that is going to need several hundred dollars of repair work, that's their choice. If they don't have the expertise, it's far better to buy one outright in the $500 range from a shop. Usually people are just keeping that $120 machine and limping along with what it offers instead of cleaning it up or they attempt to do the clean up work themselves. This work may seem "free", but it's time, effort, and expense of one sort or another. Economists call this opportunity cost.

      There is a massive information imbalance in the typewriter market between buyers and sellers, because incredibly few people really have any idea of what they've got and what sort of condition it is in. This imbalance means that most professional shops are an absolute steal if you're looking for something in excellent condition that's going to be a work-a-day typewriter or be in good shape for another 50-75 years.

      As a small example, an indiviual could call JJ Short and get a platen recovered for around $100 plus two way shipping, but you take it to a shop and you're probably looking at $180 because they're going to charge you for the time, effort, and cost of knowing what to do, where to ship it, taking it off, putting it back on, and doing the appropriate ring & cylinder, on-feet, and motion adjustments on