June 23, 1868

[JAB]

This day on June 23, 1868 - Christopher Latham Sholes received a
patent for an invention he called the "Type-Writer."

<https://twitter.com/engineers_feed/status/1407624468881629186>

I wonder if younger generation knows what a type-writer is?

[Eli the Bearded]

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hipster+typewriter

Elijah
------
TL;DR: typewriters have a certain retro cool, unlike steno machines

[Michael Trew]

I'm glad to see other people using duckduckgo.com! I started about 4
years ago, and I haven't looked back to google since.

[Michael Trew]

I sell things at my booth in an antique mall in town, the definition of
"antique" typically being fairly loose. I can pick up a used
typewriter, electric or manual, good ribbon or not, typically at any
sale, etc for a few bucks... maybe $10 if it's really clean. I sell
them for $25 - 40. If it's stage nicely on a desk, it sells quickly.
If sitting on a shelf, even in original case, it might take a couple of
months.

I'm talking mid century type writers, newer models, not even true
antiques. If I could get my hands on an early 1900's model, those black
tall clickey models like you see in offices in old buildings, I bet I'd
make good money on it. Even younger folks are buying these.

For the record, me being in my mid-20's, I played with my
parents/grandparents old type writers as a child, both manual and
electric ones. Other kids my age and younger, I can't say for sure, but
I recall having a blast with them.

[Eli the Bearded]

In misc.news.internet.discuss, Michael Trew <mt99...@ymail.com> wrote:
> On 6/23/2021 2:53 PM, Eli the Bearded wrote:

>> https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hipster+typewriter

> I'm glad to see other people using duckduckgo.com! I started about 4
> years ago, and I haven't looked back to google since.

My records show that I started to use it in February 2011. Overtime I
switched to using it by default, but I can't really say when that was.
Certainly more than four years ago.

By the way, if you are a text browser user or on a thin pipe, they have
a special lighter weight version: https://duckduckgo.com/lite/

Here's a simple script I have to do searches from the command line:

$ cat ~/scripts/ddg
#!/usr/bin/perl
# Mon Dec 18 19:56:20 EST 2017
# quickly search duck duck go from command line

use strict;
use warnings;

my $browser = 'lynx';

# Use a specific useragent because the standard Lynx one includes
# "libwww" which triggers some sites to block access.
# Accept and discard cookies, like a private window in GUI.
my @browser_args = qw(
-useragent=Lynx/2.8.8rel.2
-image_links
-noreferer
-accept_all_cookies
-cookie_save_file=/dev/null
);
my $query = join('+',@ARGV);
my $base = 'https://duckduckgo.com/lite/';

if(defined($query) and $query ne '') {
$base .= "?q=$query";
}

push(@browser_args, $base);

exec($browser, @browser_args);
__END__
$

I use it several times a day.

Elijah
------
unfortunately lynx won't let you override user agent in config files

[Michael Trew]

Thanks! I wish they had a non HTTPS version... I can still render
www.google.com in IE 5 via Windows 3.11 on actual hardware, and it works
well on most sites - but no HTTPS.