Month: April 2025

A typed baseball scorecard for the Atlanta Braves vs. Los Angeles Dodgers game from 2025-03-31 which the Dodgers won 6-1

My first baseball scorecard in ages, but also my first typed scorecard with format courtesy of Lou Spirito of Thirty81 Press. Besides a few examples by Lou himself and one I saw from Tom Hanks on March 29th, I may be the third person doing this?! It pulls together two spectacular pastimes and creates a lot of fun!

Game: Name that naked typewriter

To be clear, I know what this is. (It’s a typewriter I’m most of the way through cleaning and restoring.)

Just for fun for the regulars and the collectors, let’s see who can come closest to a make, model and year for this lovely machine I recently acquired for restoration. Please, no more than two guesses per player.

Answer to be posted Saturday.

A typewriter with the hood and body panels removed making it appear "naked".

Acquired RIDGID 6 Gal. 150 PSI Portable Electric Pancake Air Compressor (The Home Depot)
Support small framing, roofing, blowing and other general inflation tasks.
Picked up for some work related to the Eaton Fire recovery, but it also means I’ve upped my game on tools for typewriter repair.
Acquired 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter ultraportable typewriter (Smith-Corona)
Serial Number: 3Y 2279770
Brown crinkle paint; white plastic keys; SCM Elite No. 66 typeface; US keyboard
Acquired for a song and a dance on 2025-04-14; Seems to be in relatively solid shape; nothing huge out of place; need a full COA, but seems fully restorable; the case is a bit dirty and has a light smell, but should be cleanable; came with the original manual and warranty card stub. The dried out 18 feet of black ribbon was replaced on 2025-04-30.

A brown crinkle painted 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter sitting at an angle on a wooden card catalog Close up angle on 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter with the front right corner facing us. Side view of a 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter. In the foreground we see a gleaming chromed return lever on the left. Angle onto the left rear corner of a 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter with a view into the typebasket An opened soft typewriter case with a manual for a 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter and the original warranty card sitting on them. View into the basket of a 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter from the back. We clearly see all the silver slugs featuring a standard elite typeface Angle on a brown leather soft case for a 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter. It's obviously dirty and grimy and sitting on a wooden table top. View down onto the right hand side of the carriage section of a 1960 Smith-Corona Skyriter typewriter. On the side of the chassis inside of it we see the serial number scratched into the frame. The left 1 5/8" diameter spool of a typewriter sitting next to a friction fit "C"-shaped clamp that is meant to hold the ribbon onto the spools hub. Side view of a 1 5/8 inch black metal typewriter spool. On the left side of the hub in the middle is a hinged curved piece of metal that when opened will allow one to lock the end of a 1/2 inch wide typewriter ribbon in

Card Indexes in Wedding Crashers

While watching Wedding Crashers (2005, New Line), I noticed that John Beckwith (portrayed by Owen Wilson) and Jeremy Grey (Vince Vaughn) both have multiple card indexes in their offices in the movie.

One can’t help but wondering if their work leverages one of the variety of card index filing systems? Were they commonplacers? Zettelkasten users? Were they maintaining them as basic databases? Monster rolodexes? There are definitely a lot of them around.

It’s obvious that Jeremy actively uses his as in the opening scenes, his card index is on the credenza behind him and later in the movie it has moved.

If you’re just starting out on your indexing journey, you can purchase the same boxes that Wilson and Vaughn are using: the Globe-Weis/Pendaflex Fiberboard Index card storage box in “Black Agate”. If you need something bigger or different than one of these, try out the Ultimate Guide to Zettelkasten Card Index Storage.

Vince Vaughn as Jeremy Gray sits at his office desk with his fingers tented together as he makes a point. On the credenza behind him is a card index, a bubblegum machine, and a small office bar.
Vince Vaughn obviously explaining the most important points of knowledge management in the office: a zettelkasten (or card index), bubblegum, and plenty of bourbon.
Owen Wilson addresses Vince Vaughn in Wedding Crashers in Vaughn's office. On the bookshelf behind Wilson are two different sized card indexes
On a side desk in his office Jeremy Gray has a 3×5″ and a 4×6″ card index near all of his most important reference volumes.
Vince Vaughn (as Jeremy Gray) walks into John Beckwith's office (portrayed by Owen Wilson). On the bookshelves behind them are a multiple card index files in 3x5", 4x6" and 5x8" form factors.
Along with shelves full of reference books, John Beckwith has a huge collection of card index boxes of various sizes including 3 3×5″ boxes, 3 4×6″ boxes, and even one 5×8″ box.

A Zettelkasten for Wedding Crashers

Of course, the real aficionado of Wedding Crashers will suspect that at least one of Jeremy’s card indexes is full of weddings they’ve crashed, related research, and maybe women he’s encountered. Maybe names and legends of the people they’re pretending to be (“We lost a lot of good men out there.” “Guess who’s a broken man?”) Naturally there would also be a huge section with the numbered rules of wedding crashing as handed down by pioneer Chazz Rheinhold.

Typed index card that reads: Wedding Crashers Rule #32: Don't commit to a relative unless you're absolutely positive that they have a pulse.