Arfink Gets Random Part Two!

[TheresaThoma]

Looks like fun!

[arfink]

I went out to dinner with my family tonight. And as anyone who knows me can tell you, going out with the family almost always entails drawing on the backside of placemats and such. Which I did.

 

[arfink]

And all good sketches turn into finalized vectors around here. So I did this with my dinnertime sketch from last night:

 

 

This will for making a t-shirt out of. :)

[AnneLine]

"This will for making a t-shirt out of. :)"

 

Non verba, but me wanta...

[BG45]

Is that a pink llama? o.o

[arfink]

Is that a pink llama? o.o

 

Why yes, it is. Do you dislike pink or something bro?

[BG45]

No.  Just, LLAMAS!!!

[arfink]

I am pondering getting shirts made, but I'll need to know how many people for sure want one, and then get ideas of sizes. Ideally nobody wants one S or M because then we can use a bigger screen for all of us big-sized folks. :)

[AnneLine]

Big, Beautiful T-Shirts!  

(We can always offer to hand tailor / alter for smaller sizes if necessary... much easier than altering small ones larger!)

[BG45]

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2013/07/11/us_spying_government_leaks_send_russian_security_back_to_pre_digital_age

 

Looks like the Luddites at Russia's Federal Guard Service are headed back to the pre-digital age. The agency, which guards Russian officials -- the Russian equivalent of the U.S. Secret Service -- is placing an order for typewriters, according to Russian newspapers Izvestia and the Moscow Times. The reason? Information security.

 

"After the scandal with the circulation of classified documents by Wikileaks, the revelations made by Edward Snowden and reports that [Prime Minister] Dmitry Medvedev's phone was tapped during his visit to the G-20 summit in London, it has been decided to expand the use of paper documents," a Russian official reportedly told Izvestia.

 

The Russian government has approved $15,000 for the purchase of new typewriters for the Federal Guard Service, along with new ink ribbons for older-model machines. (It seems like a lot of money for antiquated word processors, but it's not unheard of. A quick search shows this top-of-the-line Swintec still costs nearly a grand, and the new Triumph-Adler T 180s, for which Russia is ordering replacement ink, sell for over $260.)

 

Izvestia cites experts who say that typewriters are still used by several Russian ministries and security services, and, Radio Free Europe notes, "the typewriters in question are designed for printing classified documents, in that each machine has unique 'handwriting' that can be traced back to the source."

 

But there are reasons Russia entered the digital age in the first place -- hard copies can be lost and are still difficult to transport quickly and securely. And 20 typewriters doesn't mean Russia's diplomatic security is getting offline entirely. Still, it's a serious step, and a sign of how leakers and espionage in the digital age are making governments wary all over again.

 

 

Well that's one way to keep information more secure.

[arfink]

That won't keep anything secure at all. Paper documents are super easy to steal and leak. Also, typewriters can have key-readers installed on them too. Just like on PCs, it would be completely undetectable unless they're fully manual, and I doubt the Russians are going to switch to those.

[AnneLine]

Ah, but you can get that info off a manual, too.....   You can snatch the carbon paper, film ribbons and of course the Dictaphone tapes.  All those posed security risks even before key readers.  Because as any good spy/mystery thriller reader from the 50's and 60's can tell you, you can lift the content of the typist's work off those things, too.....   And, of course, you can abduct the poor typist...  :eek:

 

And where and how do you store all the tons of paperwork?  Brother.   or should I say, Comrade!

 

 

On a brighter note,  many a Russian touch-typist may be thinking... "At last,... my skills will once again be called into service!!!!" 

 

Because... a keyboard is NOT a typewriter, my friends.... it's a different set of skills.   It is NOT going to be easy for anyone trained exclusively on a computer and/or keyboard to go back to a typewriter after using a word processor.  REALLY tough,  II know, because I had to do it at one point.  Had to do that when I went into a convent and all we had to use was a 1940's manual.  Nearly drove me nuts!  Ah Holy Poverty!

 

If they are really going to do it, I hope they invest in a good machine.  Swintec is a great machine.   IBM Selectric II, same comment.... the rest, oh boy are they gonna be miserable...

 

Edited July 12, 2013 by AnneLine

[AnneLine]

Further thoughts re the same....

 

 

Point of history: 

 

One of the plots in a Perry Mason novel revolved around a really accurate, touch-typing receptionist.  I bet most people reading the book thought, oh, that Is really silly....

 

Not true!!!!

 

When I was a young kid, my mother worked as a legal secretary.  They hired receptionists NOT for looks, NOT for telephone or reception skills... but for TYPING skills.  (You needed the rest, of course, but it was the typing that was a key).  Why?  Because the receptionist was the DUPLICATING department.  She sat there with carbons and reams of paper and made 5 or 6 copies of every page of every document with her TYPEWRITER.   So the ability to type fast and accurate was a KEY skill (no pun intended) in that job.  Because every time you made a mistake with that danged carbon paper, EVERY copy had to be fixed while stll in the machine.  It was a nightmare.  So... you wanted someone who was accurate.... and fast... and could do that while answering phones and doors and making coffee.

 

And if you were a temp, you learned really early to bring your own stuff:  Dictionary, eraser pencils WITH brush, white out (later in the game), sponge Dictaphone ear-plug covers (because they were SO painful to wear if you didn't have those... and a lot of the secretaries had worn out totally uncomfortable ones...)   And a few other items that made ones' life a little nicer....

 

Yup.

 

And that was in the 1960's and early 1970's....   Learned & used those skills myself.

 

Ah the good old days......

 

[arfink]

One does wonder if the Russians even preserved their paper-records security very well. I can just see some hapless secretary throwing out an old carbon or tape without thinking about it.

[arfink]

Also, I do think it's rather absurd of them to do this. Computer security certainly isn't any worse than paper, and with far less hassle.