Stoned

The venerable Rare Lesser Spotted asked in a comment "Whatever happened to the typewriter, a bookshelf and a 35mm camera?" 


Here's what happened to Typewriters  


There is a thriving used machine market, but the problem is finding ribbons, and when you do, they're expensive. But that's a matter of perspective I suppose. I paid £120 for my printer, but I pay £45 for black toner for 1000 pages at, and £58 each  per cartridge for the yellow, cyan and magenta. Digging out my abacus (I'm not joking) that's £217.


I like typewriters. Partly, as is illustrated in the article above, because of the romantic image of the author hunched over late into the night pounding away. And partly because I'm a big fan of so called 'trashy' 1930's sci-fi and detective novels (It was a cold night in the windy city. "She rolled her eyes, he rolled them back".)


35 mm film? For Kodak, you're stuffed. Otherwise, I don't think you can beat film. Yup, there's a lot of work involved. For good results, learning how to take the pictures hasn't changed, nor has the expense.  A half decent photographer is an artist who will do what it takes to get the result they want. It's like conducting an orchestra.


Developing is an art and a skill that can have glorious accidents, and no messing about worrying about resolution. And now? If you're so minded, you can have a foot in both analogue and digital worlds. The 35 mm film is alive and well.


Books. 


Have you noticed that many thousands of years of history is carved in stone, bone, clay, parchment and paper?  


Have you tried to read digital data into a modern computer from laser discs, 8 inch floppies, 5 1/4 inch floppies, 3 inch floppy's 3 1/4 inch floppies, punch card, punch tape, tape backups or cassette tape? 


From 5-40 years ago? I can read the cuneiform from a Babylonian clay tablet, and that's easier than reading a BBC laser disk from 1986.  Even century year old film crumbles to dust. 


Then there's the look, feel, smell of a book, the skill of the scribe, the artist, the binder, and heck the joiner.


We will not see the end of books any time soon. Digital is the continuation of a theme of record, not a replacement, and if we want those in the future to understand their past, today should be carved in stone.