Had some Cuzcatlan brand Cola Champagne (aka kola shanpan) at a Salvadoran restaurant the other day. Is it me, or is this the same formulation as Scottish Irn-Bru?
Notes
Short content: a microblog of status updates or short notes
I watched the fascinating documentary Best of Enemies: Buckley vs. Vidal (Magnolia Pictures, 2015) last night. An hour and thirteen into the picture, William F. Buckley Jr., who is known to have used a Royal HH and an Olivetti Lettera 32, can be seen abusing what appears to be a Hermes 3000 portable typewriter.
#TIL Smith-Corona Marchant (aka SCM) not only made typewriters, but they also manufactured index cards! They apparently had an office supplies group in Marion, Indiana.
I can’t wait to take some of these for a spin in my Sears Cutlass.
From 1957, the year the Dodgers announced their move to Los Angeles, I’ve got my Dodger Blue Royal FPP typewriter ready to go to score the home opener! Blue ink at the ready, I can already hear a military bomber circling my neighborhood on the way to a flyover of the stadium. ⚾🏟️
My typewritten baseball scorecard for Tampa Bay Rays at Atlanta Braves on 2026-03-24. I’m trying to work out the cobwebs of my scoring technique before opening day Thursday.
I also filled in a card from my #22 Numbers Game scorebook as well. It’s been ages since I tracked pitches. I’m thinking that this would be a good reason to pull out the old 0.3mm multipen for the next game.
I’m really hoping this book Index to Murder is a gift of thoughtfulness and not some perverse, veiled threat.
Opening day of baseball is coming. ⚾ I’m finishing the adjustments and final coats of polish to my 1957 Royal FP standard typewriter in Dodger Blue. It was manufactured the same year that the Brooklyn Dodgers announced their move to Los Angeles, so it will be a fantastic machine to score the 68th Los Angeles home opener on March 26th.
Naturally, it’s got blue ribbon.
Replaced the old, crushed rubber body panel grommets on my 1956 Remington Standard typewriter with new ones.
My website has been hobbling along for about two weeks now. Sadly I’ve either been away or too under the weather to clean things up. Hopefully a bit of work this morning has improved things. We’ll see how stable things are going forward.
After my note earlier about progress on restoring my 1936 Royal KHM typewriter, a colleague reminded me that a KHM makes an appearance in the Taylor Swift song Fortnight. Then they asked if I was just collecting machines from her videos? While I fully expect to pick up a Royal Ten one day, it’s a total coincidence. She’s obviously got great taste in vintage typing machines.
Wiped off the worst of dust and grime on the exterior of my 1936 Royal KHM standard typewriter. Cleaned up the carriage a bit and did a light oiling. Cleaned out the paper tray and platen area. Spooled up some new ribbon. After a few quick tweaks, this typewriter is now at least minimally usable. This has one of the cleanest and crisp typing actions of any of my machines despite being one of the dirtiest and worst conditioned machines in my fleet. It has a reasonable carriage return speed, but may be one of the fastest typers I’ve got. I can’t wait to see how well it does once it’s had a full COA. The tabulator is going to require some heavy work.
