May, 2024 | Chris Aldrich

Listened to The Informed Life: Episode 139 Chris Aldrich on Cybernetic Communications by

Jorge Arango from The Informed Life

Chris Aldrich has the most multi-disciplinary resume I’ve ever seen, with a background that includes biomedics, electrical engineering, entertainment, genetics, theoretical mathematics, and more. Chris describes himself as a modern-day cybernetician, and in this conversation we discuss cybernetics and communications, differences between oral and literary cultures, and indigenous traditions and mnemonics, among many other things.

Show notes and audio transcript available at The Informed Life: Episode 139

A while back, I recorded an episode of The Informed Life with Jorge Arango, and it’s just been released. We had hoped to cover a couple of specific topics, but just as we hit record, our topic agenda took a left turn into some of my recent interests in intellectual history.

Jorge has a great little show which he’s been doing for quite a while. If you’re not already subscribed, take a moment to see what he’s offering in the broad space of tools for thought. I’ve been a long time subscriber and was happy to chat with Jorge directly.

A warm and cozy mid-century office setting for reading and writing. Angle down on a 1960s 20 gauge steel double pedestal tanker desk in gray with blue drawers. On the center of the desk is an open book on a book rest behind which sits a desktop filing cabinet with 5 thin drawers for paper, a sock monkey, a line of papers and books in a row of Princeton files, a two drawer card index as well as three other smaller desktop card indexes. On top of the two drawer index is a gray 1957 Remington Quiet-Riter typewriter with green keys and on top of a writing drawer pulled out of the left side of the desk sits a gray 1949 Royal Quiet De Luxe with black glass keys. At the edge of the desk is a stainless steel anglepoise lamp. Behind the desk are some sheer curtains and two windows which flood the room with lots of light.

Today’s reading and writing desk. ^{[1][2][3][4][5]}

White index card with the following quote typed onto it in blue elite typeface:
If I had to keep only one typewriter, if I had to get rid of them all and only had one left... There is a version of this Smith-Corona which is the the Silent Smith-Corona. [...] Somewhere around whenever they started making this, the Smith Corona Silent and various other models that have the same silhouette. The rise on the keys is just almost perfect—going from an N to a Y requires almost nothing. The size of the type is not too big and not too small. But listen to the solidity of the action [types]. This is a solid, solid piece of machine. That's got beautiful highlights like the stripes here and there. The colors are good. I love the green keys. I would probably say that this with a good case would be the one typewriter I would take. And that's why it's kinda out [on my desk] right now. I rotate this one into use an awful lot. [He types: clack, clack] I confess. [clack, clack again as he types.]
—Tom Hanks, in California Typewriter, 2016

Typewriter Backing Sheets for Index Cards

If you’re doing a lot of typing on index cards for your zettelkasten, recipes, or other uses, this may be a useful typewriter hack:

Angle down on a mint blue Remington Streamliner typewriter with a large manilla sheet inserted into it. Inserted into small angled slits on the manilla sheet are two index cards one above the other so as to allow the index cards to be typed on sequentially. Light pencil lines on the manilla sheet provide an indication of potential margins for typing on the index cards.

Yellowed catalog page with photos of 5 portable typewriters labeled A-E with blocks of corresponding text below to describe them all and provide their list prices. The headline over the description reads: PORTABLE TYPEWRITERS.. NEW post-war models

Digging into some typewriter pricing history, I found a copy of the 1949 Sears Spring/Summer Catalog, which lists a version of my 1949 Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter (Sears SKU: 3 NM 4584T with Pica Type) for $95.08 on page 285.

Converting 1949 dollars to 2024 using an inflation calculator indicates this is now worth $1,247.75. Considering that I got it for less than the original sale price in 2024 (including shipping) and that it works as well now as it did then, I feel like I got a pretty solid deal.

For comparison the competing portable models in the catalog included:

Royal Arrow $84.48
Smith-Corona Clipper $84.27
Smith-Corona Sterling $89.57
Remington Portable $84.27
Remington Portable with Tabulator $89.57
Underwood Leader $63.40

They also listed the Tower, a standard size desk typewriter, for $99.00 saying it was just a few dollars more than the portables.

For further comparison, the prior year, the 1948 Smith-Corona Clipper, a model of which I also own, was listed for $76.85. Adjusted for inflation this would be $995.96.