Tag Archives: Manual Typewriters

“… We can say with certainty, Watson, that this was not Mr. McGettigan’s first attempt at this particular haiku, and that he likely composed it in the morning, rather than the night before, and that he was in a hurry, perhaps even late to get to his place of employment, the bicycle shop just west of the river.  Observe that above the paper bail, it is not only a different form of paper, but faint markings can be seen showing that it is in fact an envelope placed there to conceal his earlier effort on the same page; you may notice the characters are rather uneven in their impressions on the paper–he had just begun typing–once warmed up, most typists will press the keys more evenly and produce more consistent printing; and finally, his web posting was made using a cellular telephone and sent directly through the ether onto the Interweb, rather than his usual practice of taking a photo, then transferring it onto the larger computing machine inside his office.  Come, Watson, we’ve no time to lose, if he trades his folding bicycle for a speedier racing machine, he could easily leave the city before we can alert the authorities.”