FeedCity: Chris Aldrich

Chris Aldrich
00:18 • Chris Aldrich

Thinking about the current storage capacity of my card index collection, I made a back-of-the-index-card calculation: 172,000 index cards * 150 words / card [average maximum, using front only] * 1,200 bytes / 150 words [rough average with Unicode encoding] * 1 kb / 1024 bytes * 1MB/1024 kb = approximately 200 MB of text … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
00:03 • Chris Aldrich

Two pillar brown crinkle painted fluorescent desk lamp with art deco design touches sits on an executive tanker desk next to an oak card index tray and a Big Ben clock.

On September 21st, I picked up this vintage lamp for my desk. It was a steal at $14.99 from the local thrift shop which doesn’t often have lamps at all. The brown crinkle paint is a near perfect match for my 1955 Royal HH standard typewriter. While a bit dusty and covered in decades of … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
02:50 • Chris Aldrich

A bright room with a green steel table on top of which sits a 1950 gray Royal KMG typewriter, a two drawer Shaw-Walker oak card index and some papers and mathematics textbooks. Behind the table is a barrister's bookcase full of books, and two card index filing cabinets.

Today’s reading and writing space.

Chris Aldrich
05:11 • Chris Aldrich

Office set up showing a gray executive tanker desk with blue drawers and writing drawers. In the front is a brown Royal HH standard typewriter with a visually similar vintage brown metal desk lamp with art deco styling behind it. Off to the side is a box for and bottle of Isle of Sky 18 year old whisky with a double old fashioned glass nearby.

Tonight it’s a double pairing: first it’s the 1955 Royal HHE typewriter and an Isle of Skye 18 year old Scotch whisky and an almost perfect pairing of the Royal HH with my new (to me) brown vintage (1940s?) desk lamp with art deco styling.

Chris Aldrich
06:00 • Chris Aldrich

Close up of a LEGO version of Wednesday Addams dorm room at Nevermore featuring a tiny black LEGO brick typewriter

For fans of the Juwel 3 typewriter that appears in the Netflix series Wednesday, there’s a tiny little simulacra in LEGO set 76781 Wednesday & Enid’s Dorm Room. With the recent drop of the second season and Halloween around the corner, I was surprised to see the set on clearance at Target for about $30.

Chris Aldrich
16 Sep 05:15 • Chris Aldrich

Fletch and his Royal HH Standard Typewriters

Fletch rolls a sheet of paper into the platen of a Royal HH standard typewriter at his office desk.

I noticed that just like Dustin Hoffman as Carl Bernstein in All the President’s Men, Chevy Chase portraying the titular Fletch (Universal Pictures, 1985) has a Royal HH typewriter not only at his Santa Monica apartment, but he also has a matching one at his office at the Los Angeles Globe. Fletch’s Apartment Office Fletch’s … Continue reading Fletch and his Royal HH Standard Typewriters

Chris Aldrich
16 Sep 00:03 • Chris Aldrich

A blue textbook with three crowns on the cover and a faded spine that reads Introduction to Hilbert Spaces sits on an oak library card catalog between a Royal KMG typewriter and a blue vase.

My textbook for Dr. Miller’s class Introduction to Hilbert Spaces: An Adventure In Infinite Dimensions has arrived.

Chris Aldrich
14 Sep 05:38 • Chris Aldrich

Typewritten index card which reads: Axxuy, Replying to your "post via email", while tempting, seemed absurdist given your topic at hand. So here I am typing up a response on my 1950 Royal KMG which I'll typecast via webmention on wy own website. Perhaps a bit of the old mixed in with the new? I've been enjoying your #blaugust series, particularly your #typewriter specific posts. Looks like you've got a nice little collection going over there. Keep up the good work! Best, Chris Aldrich / www.boffosocko.com

Chris Aldrich
14 Sep 05:15 • Chris Aldrich

I’m glad to see that I’m not the only IndieWeb person with webmentions on their site who’s writing about typewriters and typecasting.

Chris Aldrich
09 Sep 00:24 • Chris Aldrich

I feel like I can call myself a real typewriter afficionado now. My new pen typewrwiter-pal Tom Hanks has written me a letter on some fascinating letterhead.

Chris Aldrich
08 Sep 00:06 • Chris Aldrich

Typewriter Walking and Singing: Improving Typewriter Performance with Mats, Pads, Rubber Feet, Felt, Recovered Platens, and More

A gray felted wool mat underneath a gray friezed bodied Royal KMG typewriter all sitting on a library card catalog.

The Walking Typewriter It’s a very common complaint/worry/issue when people new to the typewriter world get their first machine and realize that as they’re typing, their typewriter slowly moves or “walks” across the work surface upon which they’re typing. It’s often easy enough to just move it back to center and continue on, but when … Continue reading Typewriter Walking and Singing: Improving Typewriter Performance with Mats, Pads, Rubber Feet, Felt, Recovered Platens, and More

Chris Aldrich
06 Sep 05:51 • Chris Aldrich

Dr. Miller has tipped me off that the suggested text for his upcoming course An Introduction to Hilbert Spaces will be: Berberian, Sterling Khazag. Introduction To Hilbert Space. Oxford University Press, 1961. Reprint Literary Licensing, 2012. He’s not happy that it ignores measure theory as a means to introduce the Lebesque integral, so he’ll be … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
31 Aug 13:45 • Chris Aldrich

It’s been a dog’s age, but I spent a few minutes this afternoon updating my Now Page. One of these days I might actually automate it…

Chris Aldrich
20 Aug 17:27 • Chris Aldrich

Introduction to Hilbert Spaces: An Adventure In Infinite Dimensions

Majestic green tree in front of the 3 story brick building that is part of the Math Sciences Building at UCLA

Looking for some serious entertainment with an intellectual bent on Tuesday nights this fall? Professor Michael Miller has got you covered in multiple dimensions. Dr. Miller has now listed his mathematics offering for Fall 2025 at UCLA Extension. It’s Introduction to Hilbert Spaces: An Adventure In Infinite Dimensions (MATH 900). As always, it will be … Continue reading Introduction to Hilbert Spaces: An Adventure In Infinite Dimensions

Chris Aldrich
18 Aug 06:18 • Chris Aldrich

The Uses and Subtleties of the Line Indicator on a Typewriter

Close up of the typing point and line indicator of a Remington Standard typewriter. This line is fairly wide and shows at least 14 hash marks on each side.

The Useful Line Indicator The metal bar often with either grooves or embossed with white lines or in later century models the clear plastic Perspex card guides often with pre-printed white or red lines and/or hash marks on either side of the a typing point are called the line indicator. The “line” it suggests is … Continue reading The Uses and Subtleties of the Line Indicator on a Typewriter

Chris Aldrich
10 Aug 09:00 • Chris Aldrich

A black Corona flat top typewriter in the foreground with an index card reading "Wednesday Core" in it. In the background is a television playing season 2 of Wednesday on Netflix featuring Jenna Ortega as Wednesday Addams. It almost looks as if she's staring over to the Corona typewriter jealously.

True Wednesdaycore: Even Wednesday Addams is checking out my Corona flat top! Hey Thing! Wanna come over and type with me?

Chris Aldrich
08 Aug 18:45 • Chris Aldrich

Close up of the front of a cleaned vintage 1971 Olympia SG-3 standard typewriter

On Wednesday the 6th, I finished up most of the rest of the clean/oil/adjust of my new (to me) 1971 Olympia SG-3 standard typewriter. The carriage was probably more involved than the main body, though the main body seems to have made the most difference to have been cleaned out. Surely there will be a … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
06 Aug 12:30 • Chris Aldrich

Partially disassembled 1971 Olympia SG-3 typewriter on a wooden table with tools around it. In front of the naked typewriter is the removeable carriage

Tonight I spent about three hours disassembling and cleaning the carriage portion of my 1971 Olympia SG-3. I really love the fact that flipping two levers inside the shell allows the entire carriage to lift up and off for easier servicing. The grinding/sticking I was originally getting mid-carriage was due to a piece of the … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
03 Aug 00:27 • Chris Aldrich

Restoration of another 1950 Royal KMG standard typewriter

Hero view of a 1950 Royal KMG standard typewriter sitting on a library card catalog next to a bottle of gin and a penguin-shaped cocktail shaker

On Thursday, I broke down my recent Royal KMG typewriter for a full clean/oil/adjust. I spent some time cleaning most of the removed body panels and auxiliary parts. Yesterday, in the cool of the morning I blew it out and flushed it with mineral spirits. Then re-assembled it all. I oiled and adjusted most of … Continue reading Restoration of another 1950 Royal KMG standard typewriter

Chris Aldrich
02 Aug 00:21 • Chris Aldrich

A 1950 Royal KMG typewriter stripped down for servicing and cleaning. Parts and tools are arranged all over a large wooden table.

The hardest part about typewriter restoration is that you’ve got the machine taken apart and in pieces and you’re three-quarters of the way through cleaning it when you’re instantaneously struck with the irresistible desire to quit cleaning so you can rush it back together so you can type on it right now.

Chris Aldrich
29 Jul 03:25 • Chris Aldrich

A 1945 Royal KMM barn machine opened up on a dining room table surrounded by bubble wrap and boxes.

I’d purchased this in 2024 as a late Christmas present for myself, but it took several weeks to be delivered due to our neighborhood being closed off by the National Guard for the Eaton Fire. It finally arrived on January 23 in true “barn” condition. The carriage took a hit and is off about 1/2″ … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
29 Jul 00:15 • Chris Aldrich

1950 Royal KMG standard typewriter viewed from the front

Back on March 7, 2025, I picked up my second Royal KMG for the pittance of $21. The first was in pica, but this one has my preferred elite/12 pitch size. Today I pulled it out of the office closet where it’s been waiting patiently since the Eaton Fire for some restoration attention. I acquired … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
28 Jul 00:03 • Chris Aldrich

For those looking to delve in deeper to gutting books, Mortimer J. Adler and Charles Van Doren go into greater depth in How to Read a Book (Touchstone, 1972, 2011) in which they discuss various levels of reading books with which many students are less familiar. They break reading down into various modes including inspectional … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
27 Jul 00:06 • Chris Aldrich

A double old fashioned with a redish looking Boulevardier cocktail in it surrounded by the bottles of the constituents and a Royal FP typewriter in pink all sitting on a library card catalog

A lovely, well-balanced cocktail as I finish up this week’s reading and notes on The Notebook for this week’s book club meeting tomorrow morning. (The lemon twist really makes this.)

Chris Aldrich
25 Jul 21:49 • Chris Aldrich

The real question that typewriter enthusiasts want to know is: will the Royal KMM typewriter be making an appearance too?!!! Or will the new Jessica be using some sort of crappy computer laptop? If she does use a typewriter, should it be a similar KMM or should she change it to something else, and if … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
24 Jul 00:03 • Chris Aldrich

White index card with blue ink in a Royal KMG that reads: "Geoffrey Chaucer in The House of Flame on staring at "screens" all day: For when your labour's all done / And you've made all the accounts / Instead of rest and other things / You go straight home / And as dumb as any stone / Sit at another book / Till your eyes are fully dazed

Chris Aldrich
17 Jul 20:34 • Chris Aldrich

Index card in brown Royal Quiet De Luxe typewriter with Vogue typeface we read: Despite the recent catastrophic fires, I feel like the gods are smiling on me as three independent bookstores have opened within three and a half miles of my home in the past year.

Chris Aldrich
17 Jul 04:54 • Chris Aldrich

A copy of The Notebook sits on a desk in front of a Royal KMG typewriter, a drawer from a card catalog full of index cards, some blank index cards, a fountain pen and a Negroni cocktail off to one side.

The next book for the Dan Allosso Book Club is Roland Allen‘s The Notebook: A History of Thinking on Paper (United Kingdom: Profile Books, 2023). For those interested in intellectual history, here’s a chance to join a long standing book club full of inveterate note takers/zettelkasten-ers, educators, and lifelong learners. Those interested in the topic are … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich
14 Jul 17:11 • Chris Aldrich

Once upon a time…

Chris Aldrich
14 Jul 01:41 • Chris Aldrich

Front view of a wide carriage white bodied 1971 Olympia SG-3 standard typewriter with gray keys sitting on a library card catalog

An observant friend knew I was looking for either an Olympia SG-1 or an SG-3 typewriter and got an SG-3 for me for my birthday on July 8th. It arrived on Friday the 11th. Naturally I was excited to open it up, but I was even more surprised to discover that it was hiding a … Continue reading