Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

OK, not everything was perfect the first time around, and I am guessing things aren't perfect now, either, but it's good enough. Still working on things like backfed interactions using Brid.gy and fiddling with webmentions, but I'll figure it out later.
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io

If all goes well, this will be the very first production post on the new site.
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io
Boom! After a lot of battling ESPHome, I've got my microWakeWord model deployed and responding with "Hey Demerzel." So cool :)
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io
In the background, I've got my M4 Mac Mini training a microWakeWord model with 50 samples of me saying "Hey Demerzel" along with 50,000 TTS generated samples. Not super confident about this part, but its worth a try. I've gotta say, the M4 is impressively powerful, even at its lowest spec.
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io
Progress on my OpenClaw HA Voice PE device! First pass used a proxy to pass the speech-to-text output into `openclaw agent` on the CLI, await a response, and then send it back to HA, which would use TTS to speak a response. Working on updating the proxy to use WebSocket for streaming responses.
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io
Rad. I got my OpenClaw assistant hooked up to Home Assistant Voice! Now I can talk to her in my office. Next up is training a custom wake word using openWakeWord so I can say “Hey, Demerzel” 🤖
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io
The Orenznero has an automatic feed mechanism so you always have *just* the right amount of lead. No more clicking, no more broken lead. It rules. It’s just… too light!
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io
This is your regularly scheduled over-engineered Japanese mechanical pencil update! The Rotring 600 feels the best in the hand, but the Pentel Orenznero is easily the best to actually write with.
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io
The new site project is getting so close! Working through webmentions support, responsive design on mobile, CI/CD, and tests. After that, it’s migration time! I have a decent backlog of future improvements, but they can wait. Ready to be free of PHP and MySQL 😄
Jonathan LaCour cleverdevil.io
I just learned that Apple is adapting Mistborn for TV and Brandon Sanderson has been given complete creative control. One of my all time favorite series! 🤘
Close up of an index card in a typewriter carriage which reads: "Kathleen, you are a lone reed, standing tall, waving boldly in the corrupt sands of commerce." -Frank Navasky | You've Got Mail (Warner Bros., 1998) | as typed on his Olympia Report De Luxe Electric. In the background is a wooden dresser with a large screen television which has a somewhat blurry image of Greg Kinnear sitting at his typewriter from the movie.
#Photo #Social Stream #Typewriters #late stage capitalism #Olympia Report #Olympia typewriters #one typed quote #typewriters in media #You've Got Mail
My birthday is in July, just after this new LEGO set is released...
#Social Stream #Typewriters #Wish #gift ideas #Lego #peanuts #Snoopy
Aaron Parecki aaronparecki.com
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Marty McGuire martymcgui.re

Are you sinking your teeth in during Eternal Caturday?
#caturday
Coming up for the next few weeks, the Dan Allosso Book Club will focus on Cesar Hidalgo's new book, out this month in the United States: Hidalgo, César A. 2026. The Infinite Alphabet: And the Laws of Knowledge. New York: Penguin.   The first session will be on Saturday, February 21, 2026, and will recur weekly from 8:00 AM – 10:00 Pacific. Our meetings are welcoming and casual conversations over Zoom with the optional beverage of your choice. We'll cover the first two parts in the first meeting. To join and get access to the Zoom links and the shared Obsidian vault we use for notes and community communication, ping Dan Allosso with your email address.  Happy reading!
#Events #Information Theory #Dan Allosso Book Club #Education #knowledge #learning
My website has been hobbling along for about two weeks now. Sadly I've either been away or too under the weather to clean things up. Hopefully a bit of work this morning has improved things. We'll see how stable things are going forward.
#Social Stream
After my note earlier about progress on restoring my 1936 Royal KHM typewriter, a colleague reminded me that a KHM makes an appearance in the Taylor Swift song Fortnight. Then they asked if I was just collecting machines from her videos? While I fully expect to pick up a Royal Ten one day, it's a total coincidence. She's obviously got great taste in vintage typing machines.
#Social Stream #Typewriters #Royal KHM #Royal typewriters #Taylor Swift #typewriter collecting #typewriters in media
Wiped off the worst of dust and grime on the exterior of my 1936 Royal KHM standard typewriter. Cleaned up the carriage a bit and did a light oiling. Cleaned out the paper tray and platen area. Spooled up some new ribbon. After a few quick tweaks, this typewriter is now at least minimally usable. This has one of the cleanest and crisp typing actions of any of my machines despite being one of the dirtiest and worst conditioned machines in my fleet. It has a reasonable carriage return speed, but may be one of the fastest typers I've got. I can't wait to see how well it does once it's had a full COA. The tabulator is going to require some heavy work. Yellow index card with red ruled lines featuring a type sample of a 1936 Royal KHM typewriter in Royal Pica typeface
#Social Stream #Typewriters #Royal KHM #typewriter restoration
2026-01-31 Acquired at thrift for a very reasonable $70.  I was really hoping to get a Modern Elite No. 66 or an Elite No. 8 as my first SG1, but finding this with a Congress Elite No. 84 typeface was a reasonably acceptable alternative, particularly in usable condition.

Initial condition assessment

This 70 year old standard typewriter is in reasonable condition, but will require a full clean/oil/adjust as well as the following repairs: 
  • left shift key broken off and key lever bent
  • blow out old desiccated foam
  • 5-6 sticky keys; remainder are slower than they ought to be
  • broken paper support (surprise!)
  • de-rust some of the internals
  • replace ribbon and poorly matched spools
  • recover platen
  • carriage grinding on return
  • new feet (old, hard, chipping)
  • replace foam with new felt
  • the aligning scales for the Perspex card holders aren't functioning properly (broken or missing a spring?)
  • polish keys and spacebar
  • brights all need attention and polishing

Repairs on 2026-02-02

With some of the quick repairs listed below, I've got this machine up to the level of pretty good acceptable daily use condition. It'll definitely be a serious member of the rotation once the C/O/A is finished.  If it had a more standard typeface it might have a shot at replacing my elite Royal KMG.
  • basic wipe down of dirt, dust, etc.
  • fixed carriage grinding on return
  • replaced spools and ribbon with nylon blue/green
  • blew out old foam as well as other internal dust and cobwebs
  • basic cleanout of segment to get keys unstuck and working well enough
  • basic oiling of carriage rails and one or two additional spots

Typesample and Slugs

Typesample for a 1956 Olympia SG1 typewriter with a Congress Elite No. 84 typefaceCongress Elite No. 84 typeface on slugs in a close up of the segment of an Olympia SG1 typewriter. There is no significant foundry mark in the middle of the slugs beyond a + symbol.

Olympia SG1 Typewriter Manual

My machine didn't come with a manual—standard typewriters without protective cases rarely ever do. If you happen to need one for yours, Richard Polt has one in his collection: Olympia SG1 Super De Luxe Operating Instructions

General Comments

As someone who uses a lot of index cards, this seems a spectacular machine. My one immediate issue is that I wish the paper injector went down a few more notches as I have to roll it back up a few lines to get to an acceptable starting line on my index card.
#Acquisition #Social Stream #Typewriters #Congress Elite No. 84 #Olympia SG1 #Olympia typewriters #typewriter collection
For about 7 years Typewriter Muse has been operating out of a home-like space, but this weekend they opened a lovely brick and mortar location in Riverside, CA in a nice sized business park with plenty of Doris Day parking right out front.  Their Instagram account has been documenting some of the move and set up over the past month, but Bob and the gang have unveiled their new space on Saturday, January 31, 2026.  Bob's shop is one of the few I'm aware of with a multitude of people (at least six by my count on Saturday) working at any given time. (Most modern shops are one or possibly two person operations.) This means that the cleaning, repairs, oiling, and adjusting can be set up in an assembly line fashion. Machines come into the front of the shop on the left hand side, then move down the left to the rear where they do power washing and platen work in the back room. From there they move back into the main portion of the shop where the segments and internals are cleaned using isopropyl alcohol and long stick q-tips. (This generally means less health and safety issues by not using mineral spirits, lacquer thinner, or other caustic chemicals which require better ventilation.) From there  they stage on a long desk before they go to one of two mechanic's stations where repairs and adjustments are made before being stored for pick up or placed in the "showroom"  The overall layout is quite well designed for moving machines in and out of the shop. Unique for many shops, the front reception space has community room for a handful of small desks and typewriters to accommodate 8-10 people for small classes, demonstrations, or a small type-in. The room has been dedicated to local journalist Dan Bernstein. (If you're in the So-Cal area and are interested, Bob has kindly offered the writing space for small type-in events.) I drove out in the late morning from Altadena. As a typewriter enthusiast I naturally chose the apropos 71 S Corona route (California State Route 71 towards Corona) before turning off toward Riverside, which is about an hour from my house near Pasadena. [caption id="attachment_55834521" align="aligncenter" width="660"]Five lane highway featuring a massive sign over the road announcing the split between the 71 South to Corona and the 60 East to Riverside. Who'd have thought the great typewriters were in Riverside and not in Corona?[/caption] Single story business park building featuring the storefront of Typewriter Muse including a black sandwich board touting the store.Front entrance at Typewriter Muse with a snack station and small drink refrigerator next to a typewriter table and a ribbon dispenser.A view of the front reception/writing room at Typewriter Muse. There are several small desks with typewriters and a dedicatory sign on the wall that reads "The Dan Bernstein Writing Room".The front reception window that separates the reception and writing rooms from the office and repair space in a typewriter shop.Bob Marshall with his hair tied back and wearing his mechanic's shirt sitting at the intake desk in front of a green Celtic-painted Royal P owned by Bryan Mahoney who is wearing a plaid vest and flat cap. Bob Marshall and Bryan Mahoney discussing a custom painted Royal P. [caption id="attachment_55834537" align="aligncenter" width="660"]Typewriter Muse's typewriter showroom with 4 wire shelving units covered with about two dozen typewriters of various makes and models. Underneath the shelving is a row of typewriter cases. On the side of the room opposite the shelving is a table with space for three typewriters for typing tests. Try out a machine or twenty while you're here![/caption] A typewriter mechanic's bench with a variety of tools on it and a lazy susan with a typewriter on it for restorationA typewriter mechanics's station with a Corona 3 on one side and a bunch of long handled q-tips and other cleaning tools on the other side.A parts station with shelving for a variety of typewriter replacement feet, and miniature drawers for screws, springs, and various other typewriter parts.Typewriter repair bench at Typewriter Muse with a typewriter surrounded by tools and an anglepoise lamp.Typewriter Muse has gone old school analog even in their speaker choice.The rear washroom at Typewriter Muse for cleaning typewriters including a sink and an air filtration station
#Events #Typewriters #Bob Marshall #Typewriter Muse #typewriter repair #typewriter repair shops