Posted on 09/04/2022 5:15:11 PM PDT by delta7
Whitehall appears to have considered the traditional technique as a preparation for winter blackouts
Copier carbon paper has been used “stress-tested”Whitehall staffers prepare to face potential blackouts during winter, according to the Financial Times, which cited three sources familiar with the matter.
You can use the old-fashioned copying method for internal correspondence within government. This was proven during emergency drills.
“The idea is you’d have people running up and down Whitehall handing out carbon copies of documents to colleagues at other departments or agencies, to keep people in touch,”One of the officials spoke to the newspaper.
According to the newspaper, carbon paper was one of the components of drills conducted in various departments to test the ability of government employees to function during major crises like a massive energy blackout or nuclear conflict.
These emergency drills were part of a cross-government program, Yarrow. It was established in 2021. “to improve planning and resilience by central and local government and industry for dealing with a national power outage,”Officials claimed that it had nothing to do with the current conflict between Russia, Ukraine.
“This program predates those events,”One of the officials said so.
According to the reports, it was unclear whether Whitehall had rediscovered mechanical typewriters and switched to using carbon paper. Invented in the 19th century and used for more than 100 years, carbon paper was still the most popular way to multiply documents before the advent of photocopying technology.
The British leadership has not yet sent out mixed signals regarding the possibility of energy rationing and blackouts this winter. Boris Johnson (outgoing British PM) urged Britons to buy new kettles this week in an effort to cut down on energy consumption.
“If you have an old kettle that takes ages to boil, it may cost you £20 to replace it, but if you get a new one, you’ll save £10 a year every year on your electricity bill,”Johnson made these remarks in Thursday’s final speech about policy.
Liz Truss has been the Tory leader, and the PM. Rishi, on the other hand, is less positive. “Many European countries are looking at how we can all optimize our energy usage, that is a sensible thing for us to be doing as a country,”He said it this week.
Carry on War cheerleaders.
Carbon paper with handwritten forms, or will the typewriter return? Long live the IBM Selectric!!
You hijacked your own thread, too bad, this could have been fun.
I loved my Selectric II!
From time to time I consider purchasing one from ebay. That was such a wonderful machine.
When I was in college, I had an old “portable” manual typewriter. I made money typing people’s last-minute papers when the power was out in the dorms.
Mimeograph
That purple ink copy system sure had a smell, smelled like school....
Using written forms for governance requires an intricate document flow path and properly indexed storage cabinets. I seriously doubt that any of that is in place. Few understand the information flow in a company or government entity.
Sounds like they should be investing in hand warmers and heated socks instead of carbon paper but they’re way too smart for that
I still have some carbon paper.
I also have a manual Royal portable typewriter that I still use to prepare year end forms for accounting. Got it in 1969.
What I do NOT have is ‘onion skin paper’ for the carbon copies.
AND-—IF necessary-—I can do HAND WRITTEN LEDGERS for bookkeeping if necessary-—in ink.
I doubt that 1 in 10 in the USA today knows what I am talking about.
Make sure you keep the canary copy for your records.
You will stare at it during a blackout?
So much for zero carbon levels lol.
I loved the smell of the ditto fluid...
The purple duplication is called “Ditto”. It uses alcohol to dissolve ink in the master copy. The Mimeograph machine used regular printer’s ink, and the master was similar to a silk screen. The Ditto master would run out of ink and the copies would fade away. The Mimeograph master would work as long as ink was supplied.
“That said, who can with a straight face say that Vlad is losing?”
Agree, my handler in Moscow tells me that they’ve had electronic copiers for over 30 years now. Blows my mind that the West cannot even afford to run them.
Memiograph machine paper.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.