secondary header









Thursday, February 28, 2013

Hemingway's Key West -- As Fraudulent as the Man







Visit our full site at:
The Johnstown Type Writer Conservatory








Photobucket Photobucket Photobucket
Photobucket

End of the rainbow -- Hemingway's type writer ... or is it?

Photobucket
So close and yet so far -- A college professor and Hemingway's type writer. How many frauds are present?

Photobucket
This cat is named "Fats." You can see a polydactyl foot. Sorry Fats, but you're a fraud.

Photobucket
Fats took a liking to me. Since picking up the cats is prohibited I had to brush him out of my lap--being allergic to handcuffs and law enforcement.

Photobucket
Bronze Star display in the main bedroom. I latter discovered someone named "Donald" was the recipient of the citation ... posthumously.

Photobucket
The citation, which comes with a tag saying, "from the JFK Library" is obviously computer generated. Can you see why?

Posted by

8 comments :

  1. Bill MFebruary 28, 2013 at 3:14 PM

    Maybe the reason for the iron gate is because it was not Hemingways typewriter or to keep visitors from typing on it.

    I often wondered about many of the museums as to how anyone knows what the place was like so many decades and sometimes a hundred or more years ago.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin A. Rice, Jr.February 28, 2013 at 8:31 PM

      I think it's obviously to keep visitors out of the room. The room is unguarded so too much opportunity for someone to filch something for a souvenir. I'd be surprised if no one has tried to bolt out the gate with a cat!

      Delete
  2. Richard PFebruary 28, 2013 at 4:31 PM

    Interesting, and very funny. I can hear Jack growling away in his inimitable voice!

    The citation does not seem obviously computer-generated to me. It could have been typed on an IBM Executive or a Varityper. Its right margin is justified, but notice that this is achieved by some irregular spacing and some spaced-out words (France, Germany, accurate). This technique would be typical of typewriter work and quite unusual on a computer.

    I hope we haven't gotten into another Bush-memos-style brouhaha here!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin A. Rice, Jr.February 28, 2013 at 8:26 PM

      It just struck me that the professional typist of old would justify by inserting spaces between words, never within words. I was also suspicious about the amount of space allotted to 'l' and 'i' thinking the spacing looked proportional around those letters, i.e., too compact. But you may well be right.

      Delete
    2. Richard PMarch 1, 2013 at 1:50 PM

      Yes, the spacing IS proportional -- as if typed on an Executive or a Varityper DSJ.

      The Varityper could justify text mechanically (DSJ = Differential Spacing and Justification), although you had to type each line twice. The Executive requires mental calculation to achieve justification but it has two spacebars, providing spaces of different widths, for use in tasks such as this.

      Delete
  3. Dwayne F.March 5, 2013 at 9:14 PM

    Man, my whole world view is disrupted by the cat/fraud thing. I just watched a Youtube story the other night and had set it aside for a future post. I have a sick fascination for polydactyl cats.

    Still, the facts needed to be free. Good work!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Martin A. Rice, Jr.March 5, 2013 at 9:33 PM

      ...and as you know, Jack Knarr upset my worldview, too!

      Delete
  4. btvarnerMay 2, 2014 at 12:19 PM

    Hi Marty,
    You still out there? I just obtained my first Oliver and have some questions about the machine. Hoping to get an email address from you so I could ask some of those questions if possible. Thanks!
    My email is: bthomasv@kc.surewest.net

    ReplyDelete

Subscribe to: Post Comments ( Atom )