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sick and tired of new scrap appliances.

Auld Edwardian

A-List Customer
Messages
336
Location
SW VA Blue Ridge Mountains
If I have the choice of fixing an old appliance, or getting a new one. I will only by a new one under duress. I have a wonderful 1930's Emerson fan that is quieter and moves more air than any new fan. It has three settings that go from "stiff breeze" to "gail force warning." We only ever use it on the lowest setting. The only thing it ever needs is a little grease now and again, and sometime in the distant future a set of brushes. I have my grandmothers waffle iron from the late 1920's that will never break. You plug it in to turn it on, and unplug to turn it off. It is the same for my antique toaster, and it is the best toaster I have ever owned.
 
Messages
10,883
Location
Portage, Wis.
And that would be a crime, it really would.

And 99% of us Loungers would never hear from you again. :(

If it were mine, I would do just that. I trust your word on subverting technology moreso than anybody here. I don't own the washer and dryer, so I'll let the landlord take care of it! If it were up to me, I'd still be using the faux-wood-vennered JC Penny pair my folks had when I was a kid. They were big, worked great, and lasted forever. They only got rid of them because they wanted something newer looking in the laundry room when they sold the house.

I just think it's ridiculous that the washer and dryer are right around 3 years old, give or take a couple months and already need repair.

The thing to do in a situation like that is to tear out the whole heat-setting-control system and replace it with a high-wattage wire-wound rheostat that you can set for any temperature along a range. And then tear out whatever it uses for a timer and replace it with the mechanism from a clockwork kitchen timer. It ought to be possible to do both of these things with a drill, a soldering iron, some mounting screws, and a little patience. Stick it to The Man! Subvert Techonology!
 

LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,752
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
We already know you have the typewriter and the typing skills, but do you own a mimeograph machine. I think AB Dick is now gone also.

I know where I can get one very cheap -- and you can still get the stencil masters and the ink!

I also know how to operate a Linotype machine -- I did hot-metal printing in high school -- so if things take off we can bump things up a bit.
 

Auld Edwardian

A-List Customer
Messages
336
Location
SW VA Blue Ridge Mountains
I know where I can get one very cheap -- and you can still get the stencil masters and the ink!

I also know how to operate a Linotype machine -- I did hot-metal printing in high school -- so if things take off we can bump things up a bit.

It sounds like perhaps we could set you up to publish a monthly at very least! I might perhaps be willing to donate a working candlestick phone for the office. Now where do we locate the office?
 
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Auld Edwardian

A-List Customer
Messages
336
Location
SW VA Blue Ridge Mountains
We could set it up in an abandoned newspaper printing plant, but we'd have to hurry before those are all bought up and turned into hipster art lofts. The Revolution Will Not Be You-Tubed.

I'd be willing to be your Mid-Atlantic pro bono corespondent. I already have the mid 1930's Imperial portable typewriter! Rats and I just got rid of my old Kodak Junior 6-16 camera!
DSC01588.jpg
 

Auld Edwardian

A-List Customer
Messages
336
Location
SW VA Blue Ridge Mountains
Hahaha. I can be the South Pacific correspondent :p

It sound like we are going to need to purchase some teletype machines to run what is rapidly becoming a world wide organization that will be centered out of our world headquarters in Maine USA! We also need to find a source for some green visors to wear when we are doing copy review work. It looks like LizzieMaine is about to be very busy indeed! :D
 

Shangas

I'll Lock Up
Messages
6,116
Location
Melbourne, Australia
Hahahahaha!!

Y'know, I never understood the point of typists and reporters who wore those green visors. What is the reason for doing that? Is it just to cut down on glare? To keep one's hair out of the way? What's the deal with them?
 

Auld Edwardian

A-List Customer
Messages
336
Location
SW VA Blue Ridge Mountains
Hahahahaha!!

Y'know, I never understood the point of typists and reporters who wore those green visors. What is the reason for doing that? Is it just to cut down on glare? To keep one's hair out of the way? What's the deal with them?

They got their start back in the days when accountants, copy review men, etc had to work in rooms with large windows prior to the use a the electric light bulb. And you hit the nail on the head, they were used to help cut down on glare that causes eye strain. Their use continued well into the 1950's (And most likely beyond with some older gentlemen until they retired.) as some copy rooms were very well illuminated, hence they were still practical. I'm not sure if it will help with computer eye strain though, but it can't hurt adding to the nostalgic vintage look.
 
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LizzieMaine

Bartender
Messages
33,752
Location
Where The Tourists Meet The Sea
The proper look was completed by sleeve protectors, black cambric cylinders with elastic at the ends, worn over the sleeves of one's shirt or blouse to keep them from dragging in wet ink. Put on those and a green celluloid visor and you're Henry Tremblechin himself, the stereotyped white-collar office worker of the early 20th Century.

And once the copy goes to the print shop, all the printers have to be wearing those little square hats folded out of scrap newspaper to keep the ink out of their hair.
 

Auld Edwardian

A-List Customer
Messages
336
Location
SW VA Blue Ridge Mountains
The proper look was completed by sleeve protectors, black cambric cylinders with elastic at the ends, worn over the sleeves of one's shirt or blouse to keep them from dragging in wet ink. Put on those and a green celluloid visor and you're Henry Tremblechin himself, the stereotyped white-collar office worker of the early 20th Century.

And once the copy goes to the print shop, all the printers have to be wearing those little square hats folded out of scrap newspaper to keep the ink out of their hair.

The sleeve protectors are easy to make, the green visors may be a bit of a problem to come by ones in celluloid. Perhaps we need to be on the look out for some new old stock stashed in the back of some old stationary stores, or have someone check the back room of an old accounting firm. I have been thinking about distribution. After everything has gone to press and is done. (How about that location and linotype machine, any leeds yet?) The latest addition should be rushed to the closest Boston and Maine railway station and loaded on an express train Railroad Post office car. From there connections in Boston will be made to the New York Central Line down to New York City. Editions heading west for Chicago will naturally be put on the 20th Century Limited for further connections out west. Other connections from New York will also be put on RRPO cars of the might Pennsylvania Rail Road, which has an extensive network. Also from New York copies would be loaded onto PamAm flying boat clippers to Europe, South America, and from their Oakland California offices the PanAm Clippers would also naturally handle copy to Hawaii and on to the orient and New Zealand. From New Zealand copies headed to Australia for Shangasw, who is running our Melbourne Australia office, would be naturally be loaded on an Imperial Airways flight. We have the proposed network set up! Now we just need LizzieMaine to come up with the printing facility and equipment. We will all be willing to work as hard as Henry Trenmblechin providing you don't run the office like his wife Cora, or be as impish as Iodine! What a great strip, I miss "They'll Do It Every Time.
 

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