27 October 23

This tie shows the keys on a computer terminal keyboard. I do not know why it has some Danish (?) characters. I'm celebrating the 54th anniversary of the first computer-to-computer message, which was the word l-o-g-i-n. “The first successful message on the ARPANET was sent by UCLA student programmer Charley Kline, at 10:30 pm PST on 29 October 1969 (6:30 UTC on 30 October 1969), from Boelter Hall 3420. Kline transmitted from the university's SDS Sigma 7 Host computer to the Stanford Research Institute's SDS 940 Host computer. The message text was the word login; on an earlier attempt the l and the o letters were transmitted, but the system then crashed. Hence, the literal first message over the ARPANET was lo. About an hour later, after the programmers repaired the code that caused the crash, the SDS Sigma 7 computer effected a full login.” (Wikipedia, article on ARPANET)

22 June 21

Tomorrow (23 June) marks the 153rd anniversary of the patenting of the typewriter! Christopher Sholes, a newspaper editor in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, obtained the patent. His first machine had the keyboard arranged alphabetically, but when typists used this machine at high speed, the levers became entangled. "Sholes studied the problem with his partner Amos Densmore and worked out which letters were most often used. They then put them as far apart as possible on a new keyboard, reducing the chance of clashing arms because they would come from opposite directions. And thus the “Qwerty” keyboard, still is use today, was born." Five years after the patenting, Sholes and Densmore sold the rights to the Remington company, and the QWERTY keyboard became the everlasting standard!

28 October 19

Breaking with traditions is a great habit. Today, for the first time in recorded history, I'm re-wearing a tie within a week. When I wore this tie last Tuesday for "INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY," Ginny Whitehouse quickly requested it for today to celebrate her birthday! Ginny is a professor in the EKU Department of Communication, residing one floor above my office (and down the hall). She shares a podcast about diversity and much more with Chastity Ross, at The Mix. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, GINNY!

22 OCTOBER 19

YES I AM SHOUTING! TODAY IS "INTERNATIONAL CAPS LOCK DAY," A PARODY (PAROD-DAY?) THAT WAS CREATED IN 2000 TO POKE FUN AT PEOPLE WHO ANNOY EVERYONE ELSE BY TYPING IN ALL CAPITAL LETTERS. INTERESTING TRIVIA: THE CAPS LOCK KEY IS ALSO KNOWN AS THE BILLY MAYS KEY BECAUSE HE WAS ALWAYS SHOUTING IN HIS TV ADVERTISEMENTS. BE GLAD THIS DAY COMES AROUND ONLY ONCE IN 365 DAYS. READ MORE ABOUT CAPS LOCK AT CHECKIDAY.COM.

24 September 18

It's National Punctuation Day! Why is punctuation important to you? If you need help, I'll recommend the book "Eats, Shoots And* Leaves: The Zero Tolerance Approach to Punctuation" by Lynne Truss. As described in Wikipedia, "there is one chapter each on apostrophes; commas; semicolons and colons; exclamation marks, question marks and quotation marks; italic type, dashes, brackets, ellipses and emoticons; and the last one on hyphens." That sentence itself exemplifies the effective use of commas and semicolons. My tie's keyboard includes semicolons, question marks, and square and angle brackets. And the "dot" on my tie tack adds a period!

*The book's title (whose words refer comically to the possible activities of a panda) actually has an ampersand instead of the word "And," but the Blogger editing page stubbornly resists displaying that character appropriately!

23 July 17

On this date in 1829, William Austin Burt of Mount Vernon, Mich., received a patent for his typographer, a forerunner of the typewriter.

23-24 July 16

On 23 July 1829, William Austin Burt of Mount Vernon, Mich., received a patent for his typographer, a forerunner of the typewriter.

23 July 15

On this date in 1829, William Austin Burt of Mount Vernon, Mich., received a patent for his typographer, a forerunner of the typewriter.

13 January 15

Is there any doubt that today is International Skeptics' Day? This is (perhaps) the only tie in my collection that features a question mark.

16 February 14

Giambattista Bodoni was born in Italy (of course) on this date in 1740. He was a printer and publisher in Parma, gaining fame through his design of several typefaces, including the Bodoni font widely available today. My "keyboard" tie's letters are in Helvetica or Arial, but to honor Bodoni's day it fits to a T.

24 September 13

It's "National Punctuation Day"; how are you celebrating?

23 July 13

On this date in 1829, William Austin Burt of Mount Vernon, Michigan, received a patent for his typographer, a forerunner of the typewriter.

2 May 13

My tie celebrates tomorrow's designation as World Press Freedom Day. On Saturday we get both International Respect for Chickens Day and Star Wars Day (May The Fourth Be With You!).

24 September 12

It's National Punctuation Day! My tie shows a semicolon, a question mark and several brackets, but can you also find periods? This may be a mind-boggling puzzle, and you are allowed to break the rules.

23 July 12

Anniversary of the patent for the very first "typing machine," called the typographer, awarded on this date in 1829 to William Austin Burt, of Mount Vernon, Michigan.

16 February 11

I regret the fuzziness of that image. To get the Bodoni font displayed, I created the text through Microsoft Word and then used Macintosh Preview to convert it into a Web-graphic format.

2 August 10

Back from the mission trip, back to the ordinary keyboard.

24 September 09

. . . So, it's National Punctuation Day! Is it actually a "holiday" just because someone got it listed on Web sites? See for more details. For next year maybe I'll find a tie with a single giant interrobang (‽).

03 May 09

The United Nations celebrates World Press Freedom Day on May 3. Our family journalist Ben has been quite a champion of press freedom this year as editor of the Eastern Progress. He is graduating from Eastern Kentucky University on May 9 and begins work as a reporter for the Danville Advocate-Messenger on May 11. Press any key to continue.

09 December 08

A new tie, capitalizing on a computer keyboard . . .