Whence This Blog Originateth

This is where my blog originates from. My desk, in my study, in my house, high atop Wheatland Ridge, on a gravel road far out into the countryside of northeasternmost Iowa. Usually I retire to my study with a cup of coffee after breakfast, early in the morning, and I write.

And my pearls of insanity are propagated thence, via Mr. Gore's DARPA-begotten Internet, to my 20 or so regular readers. (Yes, I do follow my stats. And I'm appreciative of all of you my readers.)

And it all originates from my old oak desk. Arm of retro oak office chair just visible at the very bottom of the picture.

Atop the desk, starting on the left... Leather coffee cup coaster, "University of Dubuque Theological Seminary." Black and chrome retro stapler. Small red anvil, used as a paperweight. Corsair FlashVoyager one-gigabyte USB flash drive, looks sorta like a rubber jackknife handle. Pink Pearl rubber eraser. Rhodia 3"x4" graphpaper-ruled notepad (orange cover). Inlaid cherrywood rocker blotter. Black porcelain postage-stamp moistener, "Sengbusch Ideal Junior, Milwaukee, Wis., Made in U.S.A.": alas, now obsolete. Black hard-rubber ball, "The Gates Rubber Co., Denver, U.S.A.", partly hidden behind computer. Small American Family Insurance 2005 calendar, now in its waning days, with Norman Rockwell illustrations; also partly hidden. Air Pilot temperature and humidity gauge (metal, black & white circular, nonfunctional). Keuffel & Esser Log Log Duplex Decitrig slide rule, 20 scales, machine-ruled on celluloid over a mahogany core, in leather case, ca. 1940 vintage. Pickett 5" aluminum log log slide rule, in leather case with pocket clip.

IBM ThinkPad T20, running under Mandrake Linux 10.1; Fluxbox window manager; browser, Opera 8.51, with my blog loaded. This geekishly configured laptop computer is (well, obviously) the heart and nerve center of my blogging endeavors.

Metal and bakelite desk lamp visible behind the computer.

Continuing around to the right... Telephone, a regrettable necessity of modern life. Answering machine. Heavy glass and hard rubber inkwell, "Lewis Ball Bearing Ink Well Co., Mfgrs., Paulding, Ohio, U.S.A." A tin of Penguin™ Caffeinated Peppermints. Iomega 100-megabyte USB zip drive, nifty translucent blue. Leather document envelope, "Compliments of S.S. Stadsvold, Proprietor of Fosston Elevator and Flouring Mills, Fosston, Minn." Libelle leather pen wrap, which holds two Rotring solid brass fountain pens (medium nib and extra-fine nib) and a Rotring solid brass mechanical pencil (0.7 mm lead, hardness: HB).

And don't forget, leather desk pad on top of my desk. And bolted to the top of a nearby bookcase, an old-fashioned Giant™ hand-crank pencil sharpener, "Made by Automatic Pencil Sharpener Co., Chicago, U.S.A."

As you can tell, I'm a Selective Luddite®, using the best of old and new, using them and not letting them use me. I believe in operating on a human scale. Preferably a funky human scale, with soul.