The Other Olympia SM3 - In Italic!

A painfully boring looking machine made better with gentle cleaning.

Glittery paint - I recommend deep cleaning to bring out the best in otherwise dull Olympia grey.

Clean, informal italic.

When seen in macro, the keys have some glittery stuff imbedded in the plastic.  Was it inert or intentional?

Greetings from the Noisy Ghost

Dead Blogs Are No Fun

This sheet was cut from a blank book for documenting awesome dinner parties.

We've all been through it:   the Eureka moment when we have chosen to blog, know what we want to blog about and have an awesome name in mind.

Excited, we jump on Google and look up Blogspot names.  Perhaps we already have a blog and just want to add another to fit a different theme.

Then we find out that all the good names are taken.  That's not so bad unless they are taken by name squatters.

That is precisely what happened to me.  I wanted a place to put my odd stuff that did not match the vintage technology theme.  I started looking up names and found roughly 8 in 10 of the good ones (even obscure second choices) being squatted on and filled with blank page, one post, no posts or even a couple of months worth of posts many years ago - as in 2002 or 2004 in a couple I looked at.

And then I had a Eureka moment and discovered that deadblogsarenofun.blogspot.com had not been claimed.

It is now and I would love to have some help in identifying blogger names that are being used to no good end.  Send them to me and visit the new blog and let's have some fun!

http://deadblogsarenofun.blogspot.com/

As  side note, I have to say that I had a really good run up until looking for photo related blog names.  I've been surprised at snaring good names in the last few months for me and the family including:  nerdtopics (Claire), thoughtsatfullspeed (Hannah), housefullofnerds (my Spousal Unit) and my new junk pile called digitalmemoryhole.

The latter is currently an empty shell, but I promise to populate it, really.

An Olympia SF with a New Skin

I spotted this great looking Olympia SF on Etsy.  I think the machine looks really nice like this.  Certainly a script SF is rarer than a standard version, but this seems a great way to keep a machine relevant.  I know either of my girls would jam on this new skin.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/86270765/revitalized-olympia-typewriter-shelf

What do you think?  Art or sacrilege?

I have at least one typewriter that is destined for a nice pearl metallic rattle can repaint.  However, I don't expect that to be the norm in our house.  It certainly would not happen to the pre-1940s machines.

A Tuner's Demise - End of an Interesting Week

And here is the tuner in question.  Nope, not gonna terrorize our neighborhood with this car, again.

Any guesses as to what they will have found in that backpack?

The Torpedo 18 just came out of a box the other day and will need a proper introduction at some time in the future.  Except for the normal typeface, it is officially my favorite typing machine.  I haven't cleaned or lubed it - totally awesome after coming out of someone's closet after several decades.

A windy day with leaves blowing everywhere.  A part of the photo they are.

This actually started as a single post through Tuesday typed with the assistance of Olympia! during a power outage.  I gave up on marking errors as there were simply too many due to typing in the dark.

If you have read this far, you have seen a teaser for my wife's blog.  She is just getting into the routine and most likely will not type her blog (thus not on the Typosphere), so give her some love if you get a chance at:
http://housefullofnerds.blogspot.com/

11/11/11 Typecast - A Binary Evening with DJ Spooky

That was yet another great evening at the Nelson-Atkins.  This year we got to experience the opening of the special exhibit of Monet's Water Lillies, several great artist talks, TED X Kansas City, and now this.  If you live in the area and love art and being surprised, do yourself a favor and get a membership to the Nelson.

Claire with someone who looks just like the Six Fingered Man from "The Princess Bride".

DJ Spooky mixing with his Apple App.  Looks cool for Claire.  I do not need a sound hobby.

It's all about the sound.

Mixing videos.

Hitler did not like this print art and reportedly hated jazz as well.

From a DJ Spooky tribute created for the 100th anniversary of the NAACP.

Yeah, he has a subtle but wicked sense of humor.

Quartet playing to a Spooky mix on screen.  He wrote their music on a recent trip to near the North Pole.

DJ Spooky signed Claire's Nelson bookstore sketchbook.  She looks happy but needs a good nights sleep prior to hanging out with her friend Cyborg tomorrow.

As a side note, the Torpedo 18 arrived yesterday.  It has not been cleaned or lubed most likely in decades, but it is unbelievably smooth.  The key action is light and crisp and agrees with my style.  So far it is less jam prone than the Olympia SM3s.  I enjoy it so much that I will even use it without any kind of special type face.  I will need to adjust capital letter registration at some point.

A Night at the Symphony - Typecast

The Kauffman Center really is a stunning addition to downtown Kansas City.  We'll see if the the exterior architecture stands the test of time.  The primary public spaces inside have a lot of energy.  The view is wonderful both inside and through the windows out on the skyline.

But the performance space is the main attraction.  Hannah's violin teacher is a sub for the Kansas City Symphony and had the chance to play in the Helzberg Hall while it was in final construction.  The musicians love the space.  Even in the nose bleed seats all the way at the top you can hear someone on stage talking in a normal voice.

We had seats in the choral riser right behind the stage and under the organ.  Other than padding sacrificed to the acoustics gods in these bench seats, the experience is wonderful.  We went to the grand opening open house and sampled multiple sections - really, there are no bad seats.

Another Killer Robot

This is a member of the Tube Bot army Claire and I put together earlier this year.  Components include:  two types of Jello molds, friction locking devices from unknown electrical parts, pieces of space heater element, various transistor era bits and a genuine vacuum tube which may or may not work.  Two part epoxy is our friend, but building season (the cold, dark months) doesn't allow enough ventilation.

At some point we will go back and add LEDs to make the tube glow.