Happy New Year!

Clover Club Cocktail

I'm going to have a busy day tomorrow so I'm doing a quick post without the typewriter.  This being the drinking holiday, I'll mention a little about the Mr. Boston guide.  The drink above was originally going to be a Pink Lady (also good) but I had lemon on hand and decided to try this.  It was good!
I've also had a number of Manhattans, and now what I call a "Toronto" - being a Manhattan made with cheaper Canadian whiskey.
I've also been going through the hot toddy section.  Hot Buttered Rum has been added to lately, probably to raise the price they can charge.
Biggest surprise - Gin Milk Punch.

So drink responsibly and post your favorites below so I can look them up.

There's something you don't see every day

Interesting surprise on shopgoodwill today.  Shipping to me is $75, so I'm out.  But I hope a friend reading this gets it!

Here's the page, while it lasts.

whew!

Many typos - a combination of fatigue and reaching over my cat to type.

Tinkertopia can be found here.  I think I paid about $2.50 for a big roll that's 11" wide, so I am slicing it into 8.5" strips since the carriage isn't that wide.

so close!

Nano prep

I love the look of the Noiseless portable.

The large shaker on the right I recall from my childhood - never in use, always in some cabinet or other.  It may have been a wedding gift in the 1950's.  The small one at left was found at a yard sale for a buck, and is just my size.  I'm considering the fad of in-flight cocktail making for my next trip.  But that cap on top leaks, I may try a rubber ring of some kind.  Above it is the 1946 Old Mr. Boston Bartender's Guide from shopgoodwill. 

Clover Club Cocktail

By reading these, perhaps I can develop a typewriter bone!

Found in the bins.  Today the Nostradamus turned up. The other is from 1920, found last Summer.

mid-century potions tool

As I await the 1946 edition of the Mr. Boston Baratender's Guide, today the mail brought this jigger measure.  I have no clear idea of how old this is.  Some etsy seller claimed 1940's, but from the documentation it could go two decades either way.

"I feel like I need to get a typewriter right now."

That's what the girl said as she walked away with her group.  She was the one who typed about going to a baptism.
We were supposed to work registration, but the lead or whatever had us go to the driveway of a hotel nearby and keep the participants from getting creamed.  I had brought the underwood 319 to load up with a registration paper.  With the change in assignment I just put it out on a sturdy post for people to type whatever they felt like.  It was mildly popular.  Some pics may turn up, which I'll post if I can.  My phone was acting up so I didn't get any myself until we got home.

bikecast

f
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Close enough.  I do need to address that scanner driver/Win10 issue. 

Sorry, I didn't test it.  I did take home a nice shirt and a new belt.

Here's a manual - oh wait...

In addition to these, there were also an SCM and a Royal.

left behind, but still cool.

I still don't' buy every typewriter that shows up in the bins, but if I can, I get a photo for you.  It's been a while, (I think I bought the last one, a brother) but today I saw a familiar case and guessed correctly what it would look like, but not the model name.  I'd never seen a "Super 12" before.

It looks just like the Silent-Super that was my very first bin find.  It also had a very musty smell, and I've dealt with that too often to do it again.

Trigger warning

Before I get to the horrifying photo, here's some other news in the tyewriter community.  

First, shopgoodwill has a special item - an elusive Burnett!

 Since that link will rot fairly soon, here's where it stands as of this writing:

Winning bid was $7,251.00.  Let me know in the comments if you learn where it ended up.

 I'm starting to look at the collection for the workhorses for this year.  I need to commit to a full typescript since I keep losing files on pc.  I still can't find half of my 2010 novel and have had to revert to messy scans on most others.  I'm hoping the noiseless will be in shape for write-ins.

Now to the bad news.  I was excited to see a sweet-looking Corona Standard flat top at a yard sale, until I got close enough to see the keys were all chopped.  I couldn't even stay and berate her for it.


to spare the more sensative readers,  here's some space to leave the offending pic off the page unless you scroll to it.
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I've found a new nickname. And I bought another slide rule.

The Pickett N902-T is a starter rule for the beginning student.  I already have one (in box) in the collection, but I like to keep a spare around to give away when someone shows interest, because this model has instructions for use on the reverse.  It's the model I learned on in '77.

About the nickname, I listen to a lot of Old Time Radio, and many shows feature writers as protagonists.  In one I heard recently a friend of the writer was teasing him, saying, "I didn't say anything about the corn that comes out of your tripewriter."
I can't use it on nanaowrimo without losing all my past info, sadly.  But I'll find ways to work it in!

Lastly, in the local nano group (Sock Monkey Writers) has another typewriter user, who bought an SCM electric.  That will be fun to see.

Back to slide rules

I still collect slide rules, though as Ted can attest, they don't come up at the thrifts as often as typewriters.  I only find them on shopgoodwill or ebay, and since I lowball, I don't often win. But this time, the other collectors ignored or already had this N803ES speed rule.

It's been a while since I last worked through one of my manuals.  This one is transcribed (by Mike Markowski) from the manual that would have been in the box with this 803 rule.

Perhaps I'll compare it with other log/log and speed rules I have.  You know, for the thrills.

more stuff

I received an old Mercury from my cousin, which had belonged to her father.  Its only problem is the ribbon vibrator. When I pull up on it, the space bar jiggles so I don't know where it's failing.  I've got it open, ready to try ideas.

Also got this strange old coffee pot - the Super Maid.  The filter basket is more of an infuser.  I finally measured the capacity and it holds nearly ten cups, rather than the 4 or 6 I'd been estimating.  So today's batch was better - by which I mean approaching strong enough.

Oh Brother?

As you can see, my scanner problem persists.  I found a working flatbed scanner in the bins, new enough to have a usb connector, but somehow still too old to have a current driver.  It's maddening.


So if that's not legible to you, I just say that I found that typewriter in the bins, and picked it up because they get abused in there.  Works fine, and it's an elite typeface.

But wait - there are more!

So I realized I had left out a couple of pots from my coffee post.  Specifically, these three.

From left: Kwik-drip, Bialetti, and Turkish (cezve?)

and another just arrived.  Behold the Porcelier!

In keeping with my trend toward inert materials, this is made of vitrified porcelain.

Double-entry or, "When is a cup not a cup?"

Since I have a lot to say, a series of scans on the balky machine would delay this post.  So I'm going to keyboard it.  But this is no ordinary keyboard.

Some time ago, I found in the bins a virtually unused Model M with a 5-pin DIN connector.  Only when I got it home did I realize it wasn't the 180-degree type I was used to, but a 240-degree pin arrangement.  Further differences became apparent, like the key labels, lack of LEDs &c.

Well, I asked on the facebook page of clicky keyboards if they had adapters, and they directed me to an ebay seller.  The cost was rather high for something I was uncertain would work, so I dithered about it for months.  Finally, when I felt flush enough to take a flyer, I placed the order.

Well, the adapter works like a champ, and frankly, it cost less than the price of another model M found online.  So I've done a bit more research on the keyboard itself.  It was made for the 3161 ASCII display station back in 1985 (June 11, to be exact).  If I've read the sources correctly, it was a lower-cost replacement for the Model F.  I doubt I'll have any other computer equipment still in use after 30 years.


But this post was supposed to be about coffee.

This is the first percolator I found to try.  It makes good coffee on the stovetop.  However, too many "solids" get through the large sieve in the filter basket.  This is easily ameliorated with a small piece of filter paper, but that defeats the secondary purpose of reducing paper waste.  I'm going to give it away, and if it fits in a flat-rate box I'll even ship it.
In an effort to find a finer filter basket I found this one:
Considerably smaller, it takes a quart of water to make about five "cups" (6-ounce servings).  The way I understand the percolation process, it's not supposed to reach the boiling point.  I don't think I've finessed it perfectly yet, but the results have been worth drinking anyway, and you can keep perking for stronger brew.  Cora coffee is a small roaster here in Tacoma.  She brews with a chemex at the market on Saturdays.

This is a Universal from before WW2, possibly the 20's.

teaser

 So a year or two back, I found a cheapo knockoff of a stovetop espresso pot at GW, but never liked the results.  It left a lot of water and yet the coffee wasn't that great.  It felt wasteful.  I got this, together with another that makes a full pint (!) on shopgoodwill and am quite happy with them.

Bialetti Kitty

I've been seeing various old vaccuum pots on shopgoodwill for some time but recently found one with only one bid, so I went for it and won!

My best guess, based on the filter rod and its packaging, is that this is from the late forties.  The package says (c)1946-47, and a "new" style of rod came out later that enthusiasts seem to prefer.  This is working just fime for me - it filters well.  My video clip didn't upload, but there is an excellent writeup on the whole process of this machine at Culinary Alchemist.

Secretaries' Week?

My mother was a professional secretary, so I have a bit more understanding of the job as it used to be.  She often spoke of being an editor of the correspondence rather than a mere transcriber.
I also took high school courses in typing and shorthand.
fun fact:  The line down the middle of a steno pad was because the hand could pivot on the wrist to reach that far.  Moving the hand side to side was wasted time and effort.