Ancient Arts

Saturday evening I attended an event at the Olympia Library about typewriters.  Jim Hair of Blue Moon Camera (they also deal in vintage typewriters) in Portland came up to talk about typewriters, their history and their (somewhat) renaissance.  I have a fondness for typewriters since it was the typing class I took in high school that landed me the company clerk job after five months humping the boonies as a rifleman in Vietnam.  Never mind my college degree--it didn't do diddly for me--but knowing how to type was literally a life saver.

People brought in their manual typewriters to show.  There were some pretty bizarre antique machines as well as more "modern" ones.  There was also a typing contest where contestants typed copy for three minutes.  The sound that was loosed in the building when 10 or so people all began to type was amazing.  I can't recall the last time I heard the clatter of keys like that.  I typed in the second round.  I managed 70 words with 21 errors.  The winner typed 108 words with fewer errors.

Since then I've been playing around with my 1941 Royal Quiet Deluxe.  The keys have a presence that you just don't get from a keyboard.

The event reminded me that I'd heard an orchestral piece that mimicked the sound of a typewriter at some point.  This being the internet age, I quickly found a few videos of  Leroy Anderson's "The Typewriter" only it was not a mimic--the piece features a real typewriter. 

The Tunnel Experiment

A major financial and transportation project in western Washington is replacing the earthquake damaged and still vulnerable Aslaskan Way Viaduct along the waterfront in downtown Seattle. The State's preferred solution, which it seems intent on ramming into reality, is a deep bore tunnel at a cost of about $2 billion. The tunnel will be a marvel of engineering, incorporating the latest of technologies, according to the plans.

The tunnel alternative is controversial. The existing viaduct is a remnant of mid 20th century urban design that cut cities off from their waterfronts with concrete walls and constant traffic. Replacing viaduct will affect not only Seattle's physical environment, it will define the nature of transportation in Seattle in the 21st century. Even if the tunnel weren't so very expensive, it is problematic for many reasons.

But it IS massively expensive--$1.96 billion. Project managers assure the public that likely overruns fit within the $415 risk and inflation factor built into the estimate. But even if the project is within budget, it still consumes hundreds of millions of dollars that would build a lot of transportation infrastructure in Washington at a time when money is very tight.

Where the project finally goes south for me is the high investment in technology as the solution. I'm skeptical of technology in the short run (except maybe for computers and communications). In the short run technology is experiment and hypothesis. Technology is more effective in the long run, where that experimentation and resulting experience build a strong and reliable knowledge base. Experimenting is essential but as a Washington taxpayer, do I want to invest in a $2 billion experiment?

Technology is further suspect in my opinion. BP's Deepwater Horizon well is another technological gamble. Think missile defense. Think especially about America's perpetual wars. In all of these endeavors, technology is supposed to give us the advantage. In effect, all it gives us is the ability to be massively destructive and wasteful. We usually pay dearly in the process.


BONUS VIDEO!!

Just because I didn't work this into the commentary is no reason not to celebrate the fact that I figured out how to post a video on my blog. Think of it as a reminder that Nature Bats Last.



(I see that I need to work on formatting but for now I don't care.)