Sign up

Chris Aldrich

Not verified Updates instantly via WebSub Supports Webmention Valid

Musings of a Modern Day Cyberneticist

Generator
https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0.6
Public lists
IndieWeb
Fetched

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

A standard-sized Royal FP typewriter in light pearl/gray paint with a red Royal badge on the front. The platen is a honking 16 inches wide. The machine sits on a wooden dining room table almost as if is ready to taxi the runway and fly off.
I’ve been wanting to score an FP for a long time. Well shipped and in generally functional shape. My first typewriter of 2025 and the first since the Eaton Fire.   

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Entrance sign at Eaton Canyon. Behind it is a partially burned tree next to a fence with a variety of red signs indicating the area is closed.
I’m not sure if it was a general sale or a geofenced one, but I was able to replace many of my Darn Tough socks today. I should have my warm, winter hiking socks well before Eaton Canyon reopens. #AltadenaTough

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Map of the burn area of the Eaton Fire in Altadena, CA in January 2025
As a 50 year old with a 13 year old daughter living in Octavia Butler’s neighborhood of Altadena, CA, it was eerie when I re-read The Parable of the Sower last summer. Today following the devastating Eaton Fire, the opening of chapter four just doubles down on the dystopia in which we’re living.

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Tonight, for the first time since January 7th, I made the depressing choice to drive from a friend’s on Lincoln across town on Altadena Drive. The utter devastation of the Eaton Fire is truly ghastly. So much of my town just doesn’t exist anymore. As I got to Altadena Drive and Washington, it began to … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

A positively dry and brittle Christmas Tree in late January deddfiad by simple lights.
This is officially the latest I’ve ever taken down a Christmas tree in my life.

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

When a clown moves into a palace, he doesn’t become a king; the palace becomes a circus. —Turkish proverb    

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Typed index card that reads: 2025-01-07 Crazy winds kicked up this morning around 5:30AM and woke up both Sonia and I early. I went out briefly around 6:00 A to batten down the hatches and move the car out from under the tree. Evie was already up and working on her math homework. I'm really proud of her for this as well as going to bed at a reasonable time last night. The trip to school wasn't too bad this morning, though I did have to navigate around a Christmas thee that had blown into the middle of the street. Winds are supposed to be bad all day long. I'm sort of worried about going to class tonight at UCLA, but I suspect that winds there probably aren't as bad based on what Sonia has said about her drive into the office earlier
We were allowed back into our neighborhood over the weekend and were excited to find our poor wind battered and smoke damaged house still standing. Naturally I brought back a daily typewriter, but it was eerie to see what I’d last typed on it two weeks ago just before we had to evacuate.

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

A small ranch home on the waning light of the day.
Against all odds the house is still standing!!!

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Crystal glass with bourbon on the rocks in front of a bowl full of oranges on a dining room table.
Circumstances have totally dictated that I chose the wrong year to try “Dry January.” In fact, it was the dry Southern California January that got us into this mess…

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

I often find things inside typewriters… LEGO (multiple), a chicken leg from a Calico Critters playset, a tiny 70s photo of a child, the stub of a pencil, glitter, a pocket knife, a mini clothespin… And naturally lots and lots of eraser bits, loose screws, loose springs, dust rhinoceroses, dried white out, dirt, cobwebs, even … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

1954 Smith-Corona Silent typewriter in brown with green keys and a gray spacebar sitting on a wooden table next to a green coffee mug and a small winter skating scene built of LEGO.
Fifteen minutes of tinkering and this machine is imminently usable. It’ll take about a half day to clean up properly, but this is well on its way to its former glory. I should be able to turn this $25 find into a proper $350 work-a-day typewriter.

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

A black crinkle painted Remington Rand Deluxe Model 5 typewriter sitting on a black wood cabinet. Four shimmery gold mini decorative Christmas trees sit on the table behind it.
A belated Christmas present arrived today!

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

A Solari erasing shield sitting vertically on a typed index card to count the number of typed lines of text on it. Each numbered mark on the side of the ruler counts the corresponding number of lines of text on the page.
Amidst all the typewriter paraphernalia I come across, the curved typing shield doesn’t get enough of its due. While it has some useful measurement functions, its primary functionality is as an eraser shield for erasing errors in carbon copy packs. You would move the carriage to the far right or left (to keep eraser crumbs … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

A 1941 Corona Standard typewriter with the body panels, platen, paper tray, rollers, and paper table removed.
The restoration work on my 1941 Corona Standard is coming along nicely so far.

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Grey typewriter carriage with a typed index card that reads: Hackday.io Typewriter Projects | Folks are often asking about doing curious hacks on typewriters (along the lines of the USB typewriter https://www.usbtypewriter.com/), so I thought I'd pass along this index of some prior projects and attempts to do interesting hacks using them: https://hackday.io/search?term=typewriter

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Black wooden typewriter case covered in black material. It's split into two parts and sitting on a wooden table in front of a 1941 Corona Standard "Flat top" in the background.
Spent an hour today cleaning up the case of my Corona Standard and removing some rust from the metal fittings. Some of the material is peeling away from the case and I’m debating whether or not I ought to recover the entire thing—a restoration project I’ve not yet done on any of my machines. Took … Continue reading

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Substack and Social News Platforms - My problem with Substack is that I can't use yesterdays version to wrap up my fish. —Chris Aldrich, DABC, 2024-12-14

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Hero image of dirty 1939 Royal Aristocrat typewriter
Definitely needs a cleaning, but this may be the second or third most solid typewriter I’ve ever received right out of the box. It will be the third oldest exemplar of an Aristocrat on the Typewriter Database. This will clean up exceptionally well.

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Typewriter art composed of typewritten text in the silhouette of a shooter wearing a backpack and holding a gun. As if ejected bullet casings, the words deny, defend, and depose have flown out of the gun and are falling to the ground.

Chris Aldrich Supports Webmention Valid
Text • Chris Aldrich

Oblique angle down on a dirty black flat top 1941 Smith-Corona Standard typewriter
This looks to be the latest of the 1C series Corona Standard flattops in the Typewriter Database. Dirty and needs restoration, but looks imminently salvageable. Can’t wait to polish this beauty!