Luddite Laptop

I have developed a renewed interest in manual typewriters recently.  Although I have always enjoyed using them, it just seemed that the time was right to explore this aspect of the 'luddite world'.  Maybe that makes me a 'retro-techie' as one blogger calls herself.

I was passing a thrift store the other day after picking up my mail at the post office.  Sensing an urge to pull in, I asked the manager if they ever carried old typewriters.  (Many thrift stores no longer accept them for lack of potential buyers.)  She told me that they has just received one and asked if I would I like to take a look at it.  There it was - the Olivetti Lettera 32 that I had been looking for!  For only $4.99!  This was my day!

I have been interested in this model because it had a history of use by many writers and reporters, many of whom covered the Viet Nam conflict.  The Pulitzer Prize winning author, Cormac McCarthy had used one to tap out nearly every one of his novels.  In fact, when it began showing the inevitable signs of wear he agreed to auction his trusty Lettera 32 off to benefit a charity, the Santa Fe Institute.  To everyone's amazement it sold for over $254,000!  He bought another one for under $20.

I don't think my 'Luddite Laptop' will ever bring that kind of money but it sure looks good on my desk.  That is my story and I'm sticking to it.

Is 'Information' the problem?

I keep hearing people say we live in an 'Information Age' and we have an 'Information Economy'. My question is this - for how long does information have value and to what extent does it create 'worth'? Information is a tool and like my lawnmower is useful in creating a finished product. In the case of my lawn, the mower creates a temporary illusion of attractiveness. In the case of information, I am guided somewhat by the data in making a decision. Both the well-cut lawn and my decision are temporal. My questions are these: what does our economy produce that has somewhat of a lasting value and can one build an economic system out of things like information which may have a very short-lived value?

A friend of my says 'unless you dig something out of the ground and make something out of it you don't have an economy'. Could he be right?

Life Notes

For some time I have carried a small Moleskine notebook for recording thoughts, things I have read, ideas and other assorted 'stuff'. This morning I opened one of these little tomes and found myself enjoying jottings from several years ago while enjoying a hot cup of tea. I seemed to remember where I was when I recorded many of them. Others I seemed to be reading for the first time. Some even elicited the desire to write about and explore more deeply. Is that how the literary greats began?

I have been fascinated by books and writers since I was very young. The art of writing has a certain glamor in which I longed to participate. While having dreamt of writing the next best-seller maybe I now realize that simply affixing words to paper is sufficient joy. I wonder if Hemingway and Steinbeck ever felt than way?

Typewriters and .....

Over the last few years I have picked up a few old manual typewriters. I find that the slowed pace of applying words to paper causes me to think I am choosing my words more carefully; after all, it's a lot of work to go back and correct them. Maybe that is true of life also. Listen well and speak slowly because it's even more difficult to redo your ramblings. You can't go back, throw out the page and re-type them. Old manual typewriters do not come with spellcheck, a delete key or correction tape. Come to think of it, neither does life.

Economic indicators on course

This morning while doing my weekday golf regimin, I noticed that the quality of golf balls I generally find has been diminishing in quality this year. The number of high end white spheres is dropping off. Maybe this points to a weakened economy. Maybe we are listening to all the wrong voices and their assorted monetary opinions. I can see it now; 'Wall Street Anxiously Awaiting Luddite Shaw's latest used golf ball report.'

Learning

I have been thinking a lot about the process of learning lately. Looking back on my educational experience, 'I think I think' many of the frustrations I experienced (and caused for my parents and teachers) was due to the fact that my desire to learn seemed to outweigh my desire to study. Somehow it seemed that studying in order to pass exams simply reduced education to a system that rewarded retrieval over thinking and intellectual exploration.

In today's world we hear much about the failure of schools to graduate students with good work skills. Maybe we need to concentrate more on graduating students with greater thinking skills. What do you think?