I was passed down my mom’s old portable* (weighed more than a pound or two) Underwood that she’d bought second hand some time in the 40s. I used it high school, and since I was an English Lit major it came in very handy in college. You had to use some force to get a good impression, but even then I could touch type pretty quickly. Does anyone else remember the frustration of jammed typewriter keys. Argh!
I think it was portable as much because it came with a case with a handle as opposed to just a cover.
By definition, anything that has a handle is portable. It doesn’t matter if it only a forklift or Chewbacca can lift it. In the mid-1960s, when any DIY home entertainment center might have a reel-to-reel tape recorder (remember those?), a good quality one could be quite heavy. But they came with a handle, so they were marketed as being portable.
The Bell Labs Technical Journal issue with the article giving the frequencies used to control the system was the #1 checked out journal in the MIT Engineering Library. When I was in a logic lab some of my friends borrowed my scope to check out their blue box (not removing it from the lab, though.) We used other means to make free calls, very hand since my girlfriend at the time was far away.
We had something similar when I was growing up, only we called it the living room. It was the first room you saw on entering the house, it contained the best furniture, etc., but was never used except on holidays. I suppose our living room did serve a purpose after all, in that it provided distance between the bedrooms and the everyday living areas of the house. This allowed one to use the kitchen, watch TV, or even run the washer and dryer without disturbing anyone in the bedrooms.
That was a great tune, for popalicious values of “great”.
I’ve told the story before, but that song was released in my last year in college. A few months later I’m leafing through a cheapo girlie mag at the barbershop and the centerfold was a girl from my high school class. I remembered her as too hot & too social for the likes of nerdly me. But I did remember her.
So of course that song was stuck in my head for days. As were her pics.
Well, I do hope some softcore porn sites have wide jpegs with the model sideways, so you have to turn your monitor and unfold it… with fold lines and a staple in Miss February’s navel.
My local Barnes and Noble is still selling Penthouse on its magazine rack. Playboy is gone as a print magazine, but Penthouse seems to live on. Wikipedia says nothing about its demise. It’s changed hands several times, but it’s still there
When I Googled I saw several references to Penthouse ending its printed edition in 2016. But I guess they continued, since you can apparently order the print edition on Amazon.
To sell traditional house coal (also known as bituminous coal) from 1 May 2021 you must be registered as a member of the Approved Coal Merchants scheme.
All sales of traditional house coal will be banned in England from 1 May 2023.
Now that’s really in the dustbin of our social history.
More like in the coal scuttle of our social history.
But despite my silly quibbles your point is spot on. From the ubiquitous and mighty Fuel Powering Our Glorious Future to the literal ash heap in barely 250 years.
I worked at a couple of places that had those rules. One was a newspaper. The reporters went nuts trying to bribe the editor’s account number out of his secretary.
Years ago, I was cleaning out my great-aunt’s house outside Boston, and in the desk was a promotional ruler from the local coal company, which cited “Clean Coal - Careful Teamsters - Prompt Delivery” as their promises to customers.
The company’s motto: “Our coal is black, but we treat you white.”
I would love to know of a museum of racism that I could donate it to.