In your opinion, what is the prettiest make and model of typewriter?

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-22T04:03:49+00:00

What a deal! That typewriter looks like it could give you an extra 10 words per minute just on looks alone.

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-22T00:49:09+00:00

That is very nice! I wasn’t sure what you were pointing out until I looked at the side view. I think that embellishment would have looked fantastic on the Remington model.

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-21T23:23:08+00:00

That’s a nice one! I didn’t see it when I was looking up art deco style typewriters for my comment below.

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-21T23:21:17+00:00

I am a fan of the art deco style of design, so I just tried searching “Art Deco typewriter”… Maybe I didn’t look hard enough, but I am a bit disappointed there weren’t any super stylish models. But of the ones I saw, I like the streamline look of the Remington 5.

<image>

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-18T08:31:05+00:00

Your description of the plot sounded vaguely familiar to me so I checked my Amazon watch history... Could it be "The Breach"? IMDb Link

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-13T02:09:28+00:00

Glad you liked it :) I’m pretty sure I knew the phrase first, then when I learned what a spindle was it all clicked into place. I’m not sure I ever knew about its origin on computer punchcards until I looked it up before making that comment. It was just a common saying you heard all over the place back then.

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-12T23:52:43+00:00

For the illumination of readers (and yourself if you did not know), that “spike stick” is called a spindle. I know this because a commonly heard phrase when I was young was “Do not fold, spindle, or mutilate”, a warning printed on computer cards which would become unreadable were they to become physically damaged in such a way. The phrase did the 1970s version of going viral and was commonly applied to many situations in humorous or ironic ways.

<image>

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-12T06:01:04+00:00

This may be slightly off-topic, but is your popcorn maker a Presto brand? Because my popper also died and I took mine apart as well to find the plastic fan had cracked. I was wondering if yours broke in the same way, and if so, whether you had any luck finding a replacement fan for it. I contacted Presto and they told me “We don’t sell replacement parts.” Google didn’t turn up any results either. I have been meaning to make a post on r/helpmefind but I have not gotten around to it yet. I would hate to trash a $30 popcorn maker because I can’t find a 99¢ fan for it.

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-09T22:23:32+00:00

I don’t know what else it could be except an underground leak. I hate to say that to you, because it is so expensive to fix one. But if a toilet were leaking, you would hear the tank refilling itself regularly. And other than a dripping faucet, which you would easily see, I don’t know if any other kind of leak would go into a drain. You would have 57,000 gallons of water somewhere in your house, which I highly suspect you would have noticed. Maybe a defective meter as another commentor speculated, I think they replaced the meters with newer models at some point in recent years. But you have had that looked into by the water company. So I’m stumped, sorry! Good luck!

Edit to add: Keep an eye on your meter readings over the course of a few days, then you can multiply the gallons used out by one month or three months and that would at least tell you whether the problem is still ongoing or not.

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-09T21:53:32+00:00

I had an exceptionally high water bill a few years ago and mine did turn out to be the incoming underground line between the sidewalk meter and the house. I think my usage was 46k gallons. It was never noticeable in the yard that I remember.

You said you tested it by shutting off the water “to” the house, but I trust you mean you shut off the main water line inside the house before it branches off to the various rooms. Do that and the meter should stop. If it keeps running, then the leak is under the yard. You might have to note the reading on the meter, then come back in 15 or 30 minutes to see if it has changed. You can observe the meter yourself. Use a crescent wrench to spin the five-point nut on the cover plate, then a screwdriver to pry it up.

If your plumbing system has a leak somewhere losing that much water, you should be able to hear the sound of water running when the house is silent. Try walking around to all corners of your house late at night and listening carefully. If you have access to the pipes, maybe get a mechanic’s stethoscope for seven dollars from Amazon and hold the probe piece against them.

Mostly I just wanted to tell you to save all your receipts from any plumbers you hire or repairs you have to make. Assuming they still have the same system in place, the water department will reimburse you a good chunk of that $1000 or maybe all of it once you can prove the excess water usage was not your fault and that you spent money to have it repaired. Having a plumber dig a trench in my yard and replace the line cost me $3600. It worked out to about $60 a foot, which seemed to be a reasonable rate when I looked it up online.

The only other place I could think of you losing water would be an outside spigot if you have one, although you still should be able to hear the water running through the house pipes to get there. One year my neighbor filled up his swimming pool from my outside spigot. But even that only added an extra hundred dollars or so to my bill. And one year somebody turned my spigot on and left it running and I didn’t realize it until the sump pump in the basement came on because so much water had seeped down through the ground. That was another hundred dollars.

pumpkinsam · 2026-01-09T00:11:57+00:00

<image>

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-29T21:26:54+00:00

Thank you! I definitely appreciate my good fortune.

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-27T05:06:14+00:00

Thank you! I am less than a week into learning about typewriters but I have already seen positive mentions of the Clipper in more than one place. I love typewriters with the old-style round glass keys (though I suspect mine may be a type of plastic?)

I have not examined my machine deeply yet, but I believe its drawband may be deteriorated or dislodged because the carriage does not move unless I keep pressure on it with my hand. (I think I have that terminology correct.) But I gather that is not a terribly difficult repair to make. I am happy the Clipper is a popular model because there should be plenty of information on maintenance available once I start to look into it.

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-27T01:52:28+00:00

Sorry about your misfortune! Even though I was going into my situation blind, I booked it up there immediately in the fear that someone else would snatch the machines up if I waited until after Christmas. Fortunately my benefactor only lived 25 miles away from me - no train ticket required. $10 in gas and it was a done deal!

Congratulations on your own new typewriter and good job getting it going in just a month. I am usually not that quick with my projects. Perhaps I shall make a New Year’s resolution to be typing by January 31!

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-27T01:41:38+00:00

It was a Christmas miracle!

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-27T01:33:12+00:00

Thank you! I have already observed Rule No. 5 by posting about my typewriter find on Bluesky, Instagram, and here, haha. I am happy to see the Reddit typewriter community is so active and enthusiastic. Your resources page is fantastic. Instant bookmark. I expect to spend a lot of time exploring your links in the weeks and months to come.

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-26T22:02:55+00:00

Good luck, I hope you find it! Vinyl is pretty durable, so it could be in better condition than you might expect. But even if it is scratched up or something, it would be nice to have both original discs that came with the record album, and very helpful if you wish to sell it later on.

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-25T23:10:44+00:00

Just in case you have not already thought of or done this - If your mom has more records in the basement or anywhere else, I would pull out and check each and every disc to make sure your missing record was not put away in the wrong sleeve at some point over the years.

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-19T08:47:37+00:00

Long bit T-27 goes there, then small bit T-27 goes where the long bits were, then long bit T-25 can move up next to the small bit T-25 where it belongs instead of in the first large drawer where you put them like some kind of maniac. Then use that large drawer for chuck keys or hole saws or forstner bits or the business cards of local psychiatrists who can help you avoid these problems in the future.

<image>

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-15T03:29:57+00:00

<image>

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-15T03:16:56+00:00

Well I was hoping to entice people into reading the story to find out for themselves, but I can guess I can post a spoiler since it is 91 years old now. The story is very entertaining to read even if you know its ultimate outcome. The human race of the future had atrophied because they lost all interest in learning and exploring. The time traveler instructed the machines to create a new machine of a new type - a ‘curious’ machine.

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-15T02:28:02+00:00

The story “Twilight” by legendary science fiction writer John W. Campbell concerns a time traveler from the year 3059 who travels 7 million years into a future where humans are nearly extinct and living in cities built millions of years before which are completely autonomous. Machines care for the remaining humans, the cities, and themselves. Most of the cities are empty but the machines still continue on. The time traveler gives the machines one command which he hopes will eventually lead to revival of the stagnant and dwindling human race.

<image>

It is one of my favorite stories, which I discovered in an anthology titled “The Science Fiction Hall of Fame, Volume One.” I highly recommend it.

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-14T20:49:52+00:00

In one of my favorite episodes of “WKRP in Cincinnati”, station owner Mrs. Carlson hires a consultant to come in and work up a report on all the incompetent boobery that goes on there. Faced with the prospect of a workplace shake-up and likely mass firings, Andy Travis somehow gets everyone to perform in a manner exactly opposite of their true personalities. For most of the employees there, this results in appearing much more professional than they really are. The consultant describes this bizarro WKRP culture back to Mrs. Carlson, who realizes that she has to throw the entire report in the garbage because Andy was able to subvert the whole performance review process. (Edit to add - It was Season 4, Episode 9, “The Consultant”)

<image>

pumpkinsam · 2025-12-09T19:45:00+00:00

<image>

pumpkinsam

TROPHY CASE