Every now and then there is something that makes you stop and think, “This is a joke right?” but then you discover that it is indeed the truth. This is one of those cases.
Yes, it is 2009. Typewriters have gone the way of the horse and buggy. Yet the NYPD is spending almost a million dollars to get brand new typewriters. (Seriously, someone still produces typewriters??)
Clearly this is an attempt to avoid the time, expense and frustration of transitioning to an electronic system. I get that. Heck, my colleagues came into the iPhone/Mac era with me kicking and screaming much of the time. Still… $1,000,000 on typewriters… in 2009???
Ah yes, and we hear they also put in orders for muskets, fountain pens and rotary phones.
Having a father who was heavily involved in early laser and fiber-optical research, Dan grew up surrounded by technology and gadgets. Dan’s father brought home one of the very first video games when he was young and Dan remembers seeing a “pre-release” touchtone phone. (When he asked his father what the “#” and “*” buttons were his dad said, “Some day, far in the future, we’ll have some use for them.”)
Technology seemed to be in Dan’s blood but at some point he took a different path and ended up in the clergy. His passion for technology and gadgets never left him. +Dan Cohen
I thought typewriters were like film cameras and slowly disappearing. I wonder if they had to dust cobwebs off of the machinery to produce them?!? Don’t knock fountain pens! I use one daily! I also hear you have a few yourself!
Dan Cohen
I have a large collection- heavy on Parker 51s and one hand-made pen by this Travis guy I know- but find myself using the PulsePen when I need to actually write these days. Besides, fountain pens are lousy when cops need to do a form in triplicate.
Carly Z
Note to self: No taunting NYPD by waving computers at them as I speed through the city…
