It was reported yesterday that the MTA will soon start sending text messages to commuters to alert them to problems on the subway so that they might take an alternate route. Luckily, I am one of the few who are part of the beta testing of the system. So here you can see the results of their latest multi-million dollar initiative:
The first chapter of Darren Wershler-Henry’s book The Iron Whim tells the story of a “performance art” (and I use that term with all the editorial comment that quotes around the phrase can confer) piece in which a writer dropped a Royal typewriter out of a car window as it sped through the desert at 90mph. The piece was called Royal Road Trip.
I feel as though I have been experiencing this same road trip while sitting right at home receiving packages from the USPS sent by ebay sellers.
Yes, I’ve bought typewriters at auction on ebay, and in fact for the most part it has been a positive experience. But then there’s that other part…
First there was the Blickensderfer 7 that came with the wooden case literally ripped apart and the carriage return lever cracked off. There was the Royal X, which came with the platen knob cracked into so many pieces. And yesterday an L.C. Smith Premier 2 arrived with the carriage completely ripped from the body of the machine, with twisted metal, screws, springs and ball bearings rattling in the box before I even opened it. Heartbreaking to see what was clearly a fine old machine severely damaged and certainly beyond my ability to repair it.
Now of course, I have emailed every seller before shipping, including the excellent packing instructions provided so thoughtfully by Mike Campbell on his website. But I am starting to be really angry that these old machines — most not so rare but still part of a rapidly diminishing mechanical legacy — are being destroyed by careless packing. And what must surely be a concerted effort on the part of the Post Office to take a hammer to any large box marked FRAGILE.
For those who might be wondering about the monetary questions around such purchases I can say that the seller of the Blickensderfer was quite upset by the damage and took care of everything needed in order to get me a speedy refund — a sad but positive experience. I don’t care about the Royal because it’s the machine I intend to take apart for practice in my rather insane desire to learn how to take apart a machine and put it back together -- madness given my rather non-mechanical nature. So here a cracked knob is just part of the deal, and I have no attachment to success. The Smith Premier arrived in its awful condition yesterday, and in communications with the seller, he says he has started the process to claim the insurance to get me a refund.
I would have dearly preferred to have the machines as advertised. But since that is no longer an option in this reality frame, I want the money back. I wonder how many people have similar experiences.
There are lots of myths around the reason we ended up with the Qwerty keyboard. One thing is certain — it was there from the very beginning on the very first patent for a commercial typewriter in the United States by Christopher Latham Sholes. The most plausible claim (never verified) is that the more “logical” arrangement of letters according to the alphabet led to jamming keys and type bars. Today of course there are no type bars or anything mechanical to jam. Nevertheless, the Qwerty keyboard, a relic of the mechanical age, continues on all our keyboards. The New Standard Keyboards company would like to replace the traditional layout with something more instantly recognizable.
They’ve developed an alphabetic keyboard which they claim enables people to learn and type (there’s a word that somehow no longer seems appropriate) faster. Of course, they aren’t the first to claim that another keyboard arrangement would be easier and faster.
Claims were made that the Dvorak keyboard, patented in 1936, enabled typists to learn to type in one third
the time and reach typing speeds up to 20% faster — with 50% fewer errors — than Qwerty. By this time, Qwerty had long been the industry standard. Not always so however — in the early days different typewriter
companies offered completely different keyboards (and trained the typists who worked on them). One well-known competitor is the DHIATENSOR keyboard found on old Blickensderfer typewriters (see right). The oldest Hammonds had another layout entirely, though by the teens even Hammond had succumbed to Qwerty domination. But back to the claims of Dvorak.
Darren Wershler-Henry points out in his delightfully quirky cultural history of the typewriter, The Iron Whim, that while Dvorak’s creator did “studies” to prove his keyboard layout superior, independent studies in the 1950s proved otherwise — that all things being equal, good typists could learn on any arrangement of letters. Wershler-Henry then quotes a damning statement from the independent study that artfully eviscerates the claims of Dvorak against the dominance of Qwerty: “What credence can possibly be given to a keyboard that has nothing to accredit it but the trials of a group of mechanics and its adoption by millions of typists?”
Yes, one could bring up the Beta/VHS argument. Millions went with VHS despite its clear inferiority. And ultimately newer technologies trumped tape entirely (though continuing the marketplace war between Blu-ray and HD DVDs). And new technology has brought back the old debate of letter layout at a keyboard free of mechanical constraints — the computer keyboard introduced by New Standard Keyboards that follows the ABCD layout.
There is no question in my mind that a more ergonomically correct keyboard is necessary. With so many hand injuries due to carpal tunnel syndrome, anything that helps ease this as an issue is welcome. And New Standard Keyboard’s products address that issue. But I find the claims that someone who is a hunt and peck typist will find it easy to become expert on their keyboard rather disingenuous.
Anyone who wants to learn to type does keyboard exercises in ways that are not very different from someone learning scales on a piano. Sesesdrdrdknknk — one types the meaningless sequences again and again until the body knows without looking at the keys what one is writing. This will be true with any layout.
It’s true, there is certainly no mechanical reason for Qwerty’s continued existence. But so far, I remain unconvinced that another keyboard layout will be either easier to learn or faster for writers/typists. I’d be happy to buy an ergonomic keyboard any day, but an ABCD keyboard? N.O.
There used a series of books that helped nostalgia buffs find out "What Ever Became of...," Ruth Etting, Billy Gilbert, Edna Mae Oliver and the like. The author was Richard Lamparski, and I knew about this witty little series filled with stories about these faded stars of yesteryear — celebrities who would be considered D-list today only appearing in a cable channel reality show) because the first friend I made in Gay Youth was Michael Knowles, who did legwork, research and photography for Richard and receives credits in a number of the volumes.
Today of course, new books would be redundant. Just the other day I was curious about an 80s alternative rock group I loved called Human Sexual Response
. I went directly to Wikipedia. Lo and behold, there was a complete
entry on them along with follow ups of what became of members of the band after they broke up. For that matter, there is a website devoted to photographs of the graves of the famous, the infamous and the almost forgotten celebrities of the past. Pere Lachaise comes to the web.
And then there’s Google. We all know the guilty pleasure of Googling oneself. Or the disappointment. But what is really interesting is the way we find each other. Last year found a man I hadn’t seen since 1981 when I moved to Japan. He had returned to live in the town in Tennessee where he grew up, and by Googling his name, eventually I came across an entry that had to be him. And just yesterday I received an email out of the blue from a woman I hadn’t seen or heard of since 1981. Of course, there is also the weird experience of finding other people with your name on Google and their very different lives. While my old colleague did reach me by email, she also thought she had heard me on a podcast she downloaded from another site created by a man with the same name as me, another Mark Horn who also happens to write about advertising and business among other things!
At the moment, I am looking for a lot of people I've lost touch with because Gay & Lesbian Youth New York, or Gay Youth when I was a member, is holding a reunion on November 3rd for all the people who were ever in the group, from its inception in 1969. Sad to say, the first place I check for a name that I don’t have a contact for is the Social Security Death Index. Last night though, I was speaking on the phone to someone who had been in the group with me and who I hadn’t spoken to since 1994. He told me that one person I was looking for was listed in the Manhattan phone book. I laughed, because I’d gotten out of the habit of looking in it. And in fact when I went to check I realized that I didn’t have a phone book anymore. Except there really is no replacement online for the local white pages.
By the way, if you’re wondering whatever became of Richard Lamparski, today he lives in Montecito and recently published two new books of memoir material: Manhattan Diary and Hollywood Diary.
And if you know anyone who was either in GY or GLYNY, send them to the GLYNY board for information on the reunion.
Wandered out of The Web bar, and over to Apple, where there are no lines outside anymore. But the crowds around the iPhone table are still intense and it feels just as much like as disco/club in here as it did on the dance floor just down the street. Sorry I didn't bring my now out of date LG phone to take a photo of it all here right now. It's 1am and this place is jamming! And criusy for that metter.
But will I buy an iPhone. I have to admit, looking at it up close its about as seductive a bit of technology as I have ever seen.
Many years ago the main advertising in the Advocate came from personal ads. The only way they were going to get mainstream corporate advertising was if they ditched the personal ads, but if they ditched them, and did't attract the corporate sponsors, where would they be?
Well, we know they made that transition successfully. However, now they are in trouble again along with their parent company, PlanetOut (which has become the Rupert Murdoch of gay media - not in opinion, but in cross ownership verging on monopoly). The San Francisco Chronicle is reporting that declining revenue from personal ads (we're talking about gay.com and planetout.com now) along with declining ad sales across all media as well as the inability to see their gay cruises (yes they have fingers in lots of pies) means they are going to run out of money by the end of the year.
They get lots of competition from other web sites for membership and personals nowadays, whether explicity sexual sites, dating sites and the totally free social networking sites. Magazine sales in all categories are down, as print as a medium is suffering. And their RSVP travel agency seems to be a bust.
The article does mention that one analyst suggests that the company is still the leader in terms of "reaching the gay demograpic." Of course, I have always taken issue with what people mean by that phrase. I expect that this phrase means that they are mostly interesting in reaching what I call the "demographically correct homosexual," a creature of high disposable income who spends a lot on travel, entertainment, fashion and home. It certainly doesn't include lesbians, since many, as women, even when successful, earn less simply because of the ongoing income disparity between men and women.
There is also the question of how relevant the Advocate is anymore. I get my queer news online on a daily basis. News from around the world. Of course, the Advocate had features that you can't find online. But I have to admit I find that I subscribe more out of a sense of loyalty to gay media than because I read it (which I barely do). But I do feel it is important that we have a voice, and a company that is strong enough and reaches enough people that it is powerful in the marketplace. Because in a capitalist democracy, the marketplace is part of what catalyzes social change.
Quite frankly, I think whoever has been running the business hasn't been paying attention to business. And that's sad, because for our community, a magazine is more than just 64 pages of articles and ads. And a website should be more than a place for a casual hookup. We deserve more. And that is perhaps one reason PNO is finding itself in this situation. Queer folk put their money where they are being served. Just like everyone else.
Life Magazine will once again stop publishing. In a week where Adweek declared that traditional advertising was dead it should be no surprise that the living dead magazine Life is about to go. And why? Because the publisher would only run brand advertising. But since Life has been running as a Sunday supplement, and these magazines are supported overwhelmingly by direct response advertising — and because the NY Times reported that Life's publishers had an issue with that — Life is dead again, this time most likely with a stake through its heart.
I don't mean to sound flip about this. I am horrified at what is happening to print as a medium today. And I am sad to see Life go. Or more accurately, I was sad when it first died in 1972. I still have my Woodstock commemorative issue from 1969 (along with my Woodstock ticket and program book, a rarity because it was barely distributed) and The Year In Pictures 1971, in which I appear in a photo essay on Gay Activism.
It was a summer night, and Merle Miller was speaking at the Gay Activist Alliance firehouse. Life came to take photos, and the leadership asked those who wanted to appear in the photos to sit in a certain area. I was 19 years old, and I went right for the front row. Ancient history now. But history I was part of.
Today, well, this is the medium. YouTube and who knows what's next.
As if in answer to the quesiton "Would the Buddha Wear a Walkman?" Beijing-based electronica band FM3 has created an pretty little device they are calling the Buddha Machine. Inspired by another Chinese gadget that plays Buddhist chants endlessly, the Buddha Machine plays the band's ambient electronic trance music over and over (only one track over and over unless you change it) until the batteries run out.
I don't really have an issue with using technology to explore altered states of consciousness. After all, Bio-feedback machines have helped people for decades. And I'm a big fan of "sensory-deprivation tanks," despite the fact that Huxley eventually considered using drugs or technnology for transcendental expreriences amounted to spiritual breaking and entry. However, none of this "dharma tech" is branded with the name of someone who is revered by millions. There is no Jesus Machine — many Christians would be offended at the thought and there would be media outrage. A Mohammed Machine? That would be inviting a bit more than verbal attack. But Buddhists?
How do we resist commercialism and not fall prey to what Chogyam Trungpa Rinpoche called spiritual materialism?
