My dad was an engineer for Underwood; held several patents for them. Underwoods were made in Hartford; not far from Twain's Nook Farm; a few blocks from Royal Typewriter. Then, Olivetti bought out Underwood; the plant closed soon after that.
Posted on 04/12/2020 6:18:27 AM PDT by sodpoodle
In the 1400's a law was set forth in England that a man was allowed to beat his wife with a stick no thicker than his thumb. Hence we have 'the rule Of thumb'
Many years ago in Scotland , a new game was invented. It was ruled 'Gentlemen Only...Ladies Forbidden'.. .and thus, the word GOLF entered Into the English language.
The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime time TV was Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
Every day more money is printed for Monopoly than the U.S. Treasury.
Men can read smaller print than women can; women can hear better.
Coca-Cola was Originally green.
It is impossible to lick Your elbow.
The State with the Highest percentage of people who walk to work:
Alaska
The percentage of Africa that is wilderness: 28%
(now get This...)
The percentage of North America that is wilderness: 38%
The cost of raising A medium-size dog to the age of eleven:
$ 16,400
The average number Of people airborne over the U.S. In any given Hour:
61,000
Intelligent people Have more zinc and copper in their hair
The first novel ever Written on a typewriter, Tom Sawyer.
The San Francisco Cable cars are the only mobile National Monuments.
Each king in a deck Of playing cards represents a great king from history:
Spades - King David
Hearts - Charlemagne
Clubs -Alexander, The Great
Diamonds - Julius Caesar
Math:
111,111,111 x 111,111,111 = 12,345,678,987, 654,321
If a statue in the Park of a person on a horse has both front legs in the air, The person died in battle. If the horse has one front leg in The air, the person died because of wounds received in battle. If the horse has all four legs on the ground, the person died Of natural causes.
Only two people Signed the Declaration of Independence on July 4, John Hancock And Charles Thomson. Most of the rest signed on August 2, but The last signature wasn't added until 5 years later.
Q. Half of all Americans live within 50 miles of what?
A. Their birthplace
Q. Most boat owners Name their boats. What is the most popular boat name Requested? A. Obsession
Q.. If you were to Spell out numbers, how far would you have to go until you Would find the letter 'A'?
A. One Thousand
Q. What do Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser Printers have in common?
A. All were invented By women.
Q. What is the only Food that doesn't spoil?
A. Honey
Q. Which day are There more collect calls than any other day of the Year?
A. Father's Day.
In Shakespeare's time, mattresses were secured on bed frames by ropes. When you pulled on the ropes, the mattress tightened, making the bed firmer to sleep on. Hence the phrase...'Goodnight , sleep tight'
It was the accepted practice in Babylon 4,000 years ago that for a month after the wedding, the bride's father would supply his son-in-law with all the mead he could drink. Mead is a honey beer and because their calendar was lunar based, this period was called the honey month, which we know today as the honeymoon.
In English pubs, ale is ordered by pints and quarts.. So in old England , when customers got unruly, the bartender would yell at them 'Mind your pints and quarts, and settle down.'
It's where we get the phrase 'mind your P's and Q's'
Many years ago in England , pub frequenters had a whistle baked into the rim, or handle, of their ceramic cups. When they needed a refill , they used the whistle to get some service. 'Wet your whistle' is the phrase inspired by this practice.
At least 75% of people who read this will try to lick their elbow!
Don't delete this just because it looks weird. Believe it or not, you can read it.
I cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid Aoccdrnig to rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the first and last ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can still raed it wouthit a porbelm. This is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe. Amzanig huh?
------------
YOU KNOW YOU ARE LIVING IN 2020 when...
1. You accidentally enter your PIN on the microwave.
2. You haven't played solitaire with real cards in years.
3. You have a list of 15 phone numbers to reach your family of three.
4. You e-mail the person who works at the desk next to you.
5. Your reason for not staying in touch with friends and family is that they don't have e-mail addresses.
6. You pull up in your own driveway and use your cell phone to see if anyone is home to help you carry in the groceries.
7. Every commercial on television has a web site at the bottom of the screen
8. Leaving the house without your cell phone, which you didn't even have the first 20 or 30 (or 60) years of your life, is now a cause for panic and you turn around to go and get it.
10. You get up in the morning and go on line before getting your coffee
11. You start tilting your head sideways to smile. : )
12 You're reading this and nodding and laughing.
13. Even worse, you know exactly to whom you are going to forward this message.
14. You are too busy to notice there was no #9 on this list.
15. You actually scrolled back up to check that there wasn't a #9 on this list
~~~~~~~~~~~AND FINALLY~~~~~ ~~~~~~~
NOW U R LAUGHING at yourself.
You know you want to! Go lick your elbow.
I thought islam allowed that.
“What do Bulletproof vests, fire escapes, windshield wipers and laser Printers have in common?
A. All were invented By women.”
From Wikipedia...
“In the 1960s, the Xerox Corporation held a dominant position in the photocopier market.[2] In 1969, Gary Starkweather, who worked in Xerox’s product development department, had the idea of using a laser beam to “draw” an image of what was to be copied directly onto the copier drum. After transferring to the recently formed Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC) in 1971, Starkweather adapted a Xerox 7000 copier to create SLOT (Scanned Laser Output Terminal). In 1972, Starkweather worked with Butler Lampson and Ronald Rider to add a control system and character generator, resulting in a printer called EARS (Ethernet, Alto Research character generator, Scanned laser output terminal)—which later became the Xerox 9700 laser printer.[3][4][5]”
thank have read a few things about Xerox the PARC system, the visit by Jobs and corporate not wanting to sell the computer/office system, Jobs would later model the Mac after, because “WE ARE NOT A COMPUTER COMPANY.”
Rule of thumb...
“A modern folk etymology holds that the phrase is derived from the maximum width of a stick allowed for wife-beating under English law, but no such law ever existed. This belief might have originated in a rumored statement by eighteenth-century judge Sir Francis Buller that a man may beat his wife with a stick no wider than his thumb. The rumor produced numerous jokes and satirical cartoons at Buller’s expense, but there is no record that he made such a statement.”
Interesting... But mostly false.
Well, yeah.
That's why they gave Steve Austin the bionic eye and Jamie Sommers the ear.
Women have a better memory, they can remember everything you’ve ever said for the past twenty years, right down to the date and time.
My dad was an engineer for Underwood; held several patents for them. Underwoods were made in Hartford; not far from Twain's Nook Farm; a few blocks from Royal Typewriter. Then, Olivetti bought out Underwood; the plant closed soon after that.
And why do they still sell their eggs in dozens? They don't have a duodecimal system!
And why do they still sell their socks in pairs? They don't have a binary system!
Regards,
I could never understand how the mechanical part of the ASR-33 teletype worked.
So a quart is a quarter of what?
I used to use reading upside down as part of the interview process in hiring software engineers. It shows one has good spatial relations and language skills. I’d write on a piece of paper, “If you can read this, you still have a chance in getting hired.” I’d have it facing me, so it was upside down to the interviewee. He would get bonus points for asking about it. I like people that have the guts to say what’s on their minds, and if they could read it, it most certainly would be on their minds.
Yes it was Xerox Parc that invented the wysiwyg interface and Jobs, ahem, “copied” it.
Great story and great lost opportunity that would have changed the course of computing. Maybe after a few more years of MSDOS others would have invented an icon based system.
BKMK
The alaska numbers must be from the summer months.
It was a case of Jobs recognizing how important ease of use and an intuitive interface were to make the PC ubiquitous.
His vision was always to make the PC as easy to use as an appliance. and though he did not invent it, he immediately saw the value of wysiwyg and jumped on it, whereas Xerox did not.
My mom was a secretary and we had Underwoods and Royals around the house, so, as a kid I started out just banging the keys and eventually learned how to type, somewhat, at least enough to help greatly with my keyboarding skills when computers came around.
Interestingly enough, mom could never get the hang of electrics, so accustomed was she with smashing the keys on the manual typewriters she used during her career.
Still have a few stashed away in the basement.
They’ve been drinking beer longer than that.
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