Discouraging to send an editor specific documents saying why there is no book like this one, and comparing it to all the existing books about typewriters… only to hear her say “I took a look at Amazon, there are a million books that try to do the same thing.” *A million books.*
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I am often amazed and often overwhelmed by the range and scope of tasks necessary to write this book, particularly since I’m also aiming to typeset and design it.
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This is an example of just one to-do branch I had to traverse today. There are so many more – and I’d lie if I said I fully understand the shape of the entire giant tree.pic.twitter.com/hVOcgSheKv
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Going back and forth between “the writing part” (strategy) and some, incredibly tactical nuance can be a real challenge.
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Small tasks provide respite and a sense of accomplishment, but there come in infinite amounts and for a detail-oriented person can easily completely take over. Dealing with larger questions is necessary, but it often feels vague and comes without a progress bar.
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Today, in the process of getting someone to help me figure out big strategic editing questions, I had to build a Python typesetter *inside a font creating program* to help me create a key font. Otherwise, making 517 necessary glyphs would take an infinite amount of time.pic.twitter.com/IfQaUgAQDd
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It’s a very complicated and large to-do tree, and I keep jumping from one faraway branch to another. I’m not saying it’s bad or even that I know how to do it any other way – but sometimes it’s hard to even wrap my head around what’s going on.
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My newsletter has become an unexpected forcing function he: every ~50 days I need to step back and give a succinct update. (Also! many thanks and kudos to
@djrrb for allowing me to play with the pre-release variable font version of his excellent typeface Output!)pic.twitter.com/dZY9TNQJO3
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I was at the Computer History Museum today and my keyboard research allowed me to give some advice and background to the IBM 1620 restoration team (which seems awesome), and now I really feel like a historian!
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If I never had much nostalgia for analogue photography, this might be why: with digital, I can get from farm to table within 10 minutes. It’s almost too much fun. (This is just a test spread. I don’t imagine this particular keyboard making it into the book.)pic.twitter.com/8Nz2laCGqY
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My lord, I have enough photos of keyboard diagrams that my iPhone thinks a keyboard is a *person in my life*. And when I tap Show Faces, it just creepily zooms in on one random key.pic.twitter.com/qCVMvsatqK
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Even grocery store Q-tips are trolling me. Goddamn Q-TIPS.pic.twitter.com/xGCJ9Sh0zd
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Unexpectedly giddy about completely randomly stumbling online upon three pages typewritten in 1880s on the first (popular) typewriter, the famed Sholes & Glidden. It has been incredibly rare to see anything coming from that typewriter, particularly in actual casual use.pic.twitter.com/RdkooYhKU6
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It’s a good night for research. Jumped through many journals (Boston Medical and Surgical Journal » The Lancet » The Birmingham Medical Review) to finally find the detailed description of the first recorded case of RSI, then named “type-writer’s cramp,” from 1898. Thrilling.pic.twitter.com/iC7Cs68C44
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At the public library: “So you’re the guy who orders all those typewriter books.”
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Amazed (and a bit frightened) that I’m still learning of new keyboards and so on pretty much every week.pic.twitter.com/7C3V49HmeL
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Genuinely so thrilling to find some really amazing books on the subject, long after I thought I’ve seen them all.pic.twitter.com/1b5HEdRlcP
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(I mean, two hundred plus pages on Japanese keyboards, some of the most fascinating keyboards ever!
)pic.twitter.com/any0Z1S2pI
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This book is SO GOOD. It’s like traveling to Japan again, except now with a time machine. (cc
@craigmod)pic.twitter.com/XNqRMjok74
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PS in my latest newsletter, another amazing keyboard-related trip that I was lucky to have accidentally instigated:https://www.getrevue.co/profile/shift-happens/issues/a-time-machine-behind-the-cypress-trees-133223 …
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(In the middle of reading a book about Japanese word processors and their keyboards, a Japanese word processor and its keyboard materialized themselves on my desk.)pic.twitter.com/XYS3AvwOby
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I suspect when you dig deep enough, you will always find something at even the most unusual intersection of a bunch of your interests. Here it is for me: a 1990 ad I just discovered that’s ⅓ keyboards, ⅓ typography, and ⅓ education.pic.twitter.com/NYpo9PgcPT
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1483.00 ELECTRONIC DESIGN V. 30, 1-12 Jan. 7-June 10, 1982 (May Career Extra, Index) Reel 1 of 3 University Microfilms International Duplicate Negativepic.twitter.com/rZHMSU4pp1
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(If you’re curious what I’m researching, it’s the early days of mechanical keyboards. If this looks interesting, DM me and I’ll send you ~200 of these.)pic.twitter.com/NYNKQG7xWf
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I learned today there’s a difference between microfiche and microfilm.pic.twitter.com/povzY0BUeE
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Took a 90-year-old thesis that spent last 60 years on a shelf somewhere in Cincinnati for a ferry ride in California – and it rewarded me with gorgeous vulgar fractions that used to be on every keyboard, but disappeared long ago.pic.twitter.com/RohTa4ZM2l
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