Fucking Nerd Trash

TiL (click to go to the thread, which probably has more interesting tidbits I missed).

Bonus:

In addition to the print terminology stuff: the visual shorthand icons and ad graphics for something about writing are still often pen-nibs, fountain pens and typewriters…

…while graphics of a monitor, keyboard and mouse remain visual shorthand for computing…

…even though most writers now use monitor /  keyboard / mouse or even laptop / touchpad.

In addition, headers for “this blog / website is about writing” are often in one of the many imitation typewriter fonts complete with smudges, or just Courier.

The start and end call icons on most / all smartphones is still the handset of a classic desk telephone, and sometimes the open-app icon is a complete phone.

The term “hang up” for “end the call” refers to something even older - one of these…

And of course the Save icon is indeed a 3½ inch floppy disc.

Why it wasn’t a 5¼ floppy is a mystery. The icon version is just as distinctive.

Also, why various OP updates never changed “Save” to the graphic of a CD / DVD or flash drive is another mystery, and nowadays a Save icon should probably be a cartoon cloud.

When you press a key, the stamp punches forward, usually with a lowercase letter in the right position to hit the tape. To access the capital letters, you need to Shift the position of the metal stamps downwards, so the capital letter strikes the tape and the lowercase letter misses. Pressing the Shift key is like changing gears! Sometimes engaging the Shift even makes a mechanical CHUNK.

On some typewriters, Shifting shifts the whole mass of the typebars. On others you Shift the mass of the carriage. Either way, it involves juggling a piece of mass while typing with the other hand (which is why you have a Shift key on each side of the keyboard - on typewriters these are joined together by the same mechanism). Even though either hand can engage the Shift, it still takes that hand out of typing work, and it only works for a few capital letters at a time.

Big sniffs 

One weekend i spent with my dad and when I came back she had repainted my room. A beautiful deep blue on three walls (my favourite colour), lovely sky blue on the ceiling,and one wall was black. The black wall had been sanded smooth and painted with several coats of chalkboard paint. She gave me a couple boxes of chalk and told me to have at it. I LOVED that black wall and wrote on it every day. I drew on it, I doodled, I wrote out my favourite emo song lyrics, wrote reminders for myself, anything I wanted. It was my favourite part of my room and was something that it would have never occurred to me to ask for. It was something only my very creative and clever mom could have come up with and I’m still grateful to her for it.

AHAHHAHAAAH MY FRIEND SENT ME A PHOTO OF HIS CATS SUNBATHING TODAY AND