[inforoots] Ah, yes, how simple it all seemed back then ...

[Herbert Kanner]

I have been writing in italic since the early '60s. The drawback is: 
either you buy a cheap italic pen (I think Shaeffer still makes them) 
with a steel nib, a nib that doesn't last, or you buy a good pen and 
then pay an expert about $50 to regrind the nib into an italic one.

Herb


At 3:23 PM -0700 5/27/08, Richard Friedman wrote:
>=======================================
>
>Posts to inforoots at computerhistory.org is information known to or
>the opinions of the poster.  All posts to
>inforoots at computerhistory.org are archived.  By posting to this list
>you grant a license for use of this material to the Computer History
>Museum located in Mountain View, California, USA.
>
>=======================================
>
>I've always considered the introduction of the fax machine to be the
>critical point where life as we knew it began to change.
>
>Before faxes, we actually wrote letters. Okay, they were typed
>letters. Or maybe we even used a primitive desktop publishing system
>(troff?)  to write them on a printer (DECWriter, SpinWriter..?). But
>we did put them in envelopes and mail them.
>
>Then office life changed dramatically when they wheeled in a fax machine.
>
>Fax machines existed for many years before you could buy one at the
>corner electronics or office supply store. The first one I saw was
>in the print shop at college, around 1961. Two very large spinning
>drums in a floor-standing unit .. one for sending, the other for
>receiving. And it took a very long time to send or receive a page.
>
>But as soon as the desktop fax machine arrived, printed mail took
>second place. If something arrived by fax, it was deemed much more
>important than something arriving in the morning mail, and had to be
>acted upon instantly... usually generating a reply fax asap.
>
>Life seemed a bit more leisurely before then. You sent out a request
>for information in the mail, expected it would be received 3 or 4
>days later, and a response sent back in another few days. Round trip
>was maybe two or three weeks. Meantime, there were other things to
>do.
>
>But that fax machine meant that requests could be turned around in a
>number of hours, within a single day. Life became much more hectic
>for all of us that day.
>
>My wife has taken to hand writing letters to friends. And, she is
>amazed and pleased when she gets a hand written letter in return.
>Sitting down to take the extra time to write a letter by hand is a
>serious sign of high regard for a more meaningful kind of
>communication.
>
>But, how many of us, who now spend large numbers of hours using
>keyboard and mouse, have seen their handwriting skills deteriorate
>into the illegible?
>
>Hmm. Maybe it's time to take out that old fountain pen and practice italic.
>
>On Tue, May 27, 2008 at 2:27 PM, David Pinto
><<mailto:david_e_pinto at yahoo.ca>david_e_pinto at yahoo.ca> wrote:
>
>
>Somewhat off-topic, but still interesting.
>
>-0-
>
>Now that I have retired, I am beginning to wade through several
>hundred -- that is not an exaggeration -- back copies of Le Monde,
>the Paris newspaper, from a long way back.
>
>One of the many interesting aspects of doing something like this is
>that, occasionally, one comes across articles which now, in
>retrospect, seem to be absolutely incredible.
>
>Here is an example.
>
>On February 25, 1995, Le Monde carried a lengthy article pegged
>to the discovery that letters between individuals amounted to only
>7% of the postal traffic in France.
>
>The article is quite long so I will not attempt to translate it.
>Essentially, though, it talks about what could be done to increase
>that 7% figure.
>
>Here's a quote: In the coming years, letters are going to have deal
>with a competitor: the fax machine.
>
>If only they had known ...
>
>Soumds like a long-ago era, doesn't it? Yet it was only thirteen
>years ago -- and look how things have changed.
>
>David Pinto
>
>
>
>--
>Richard Friedman
>Oakland, California
><http://rchrd.com/blog/>http://rchrd.com/blog/
>
>_______________________________________________
>inforoots mailing list
>inforoots at computerhistory.org
>http://mail.computerhistory.org/mailman/listinfo/inforoots

-- 
Herbert Kanner
kanner at acm.org
650-326-8204

Do not meddle in the affairs of cats,
for they are subtle and will pee
on your computer!