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PCIntern

(25,341 posts)
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 10:15 AM Aug 2022

I am now going to tell you a story which may make you laugh or it may make you wince,

and then I’m going to tie it to the media…

So much for the preface: when I was in high school we had to take a typing test which we practiced and practiced for, and we had to type 25 words a minute “error free“ on manual typewriters. So the day of the test they sit us in front of these typewriters which have their covers on, the copy we are the type from is on our left and the typing teacher says all right take the covers off the machine. So upon lifting the cover, we realize that there are no letters on the keys because we are supposed to be able to touch-type.

We were all horrifyingly surprised, but one kid, a very strange guy, “whips it out“ and starts masturbating immediately right there in the classroom. I cannot begin to describe the teacher’s reaction, suffice it to say that she went berserk and started screaming at him which did not deter him from continuing. She made us leave the room and we are really aren’t sure what happened next but we didn’t see him in school for two weeks. He came back for graduation and I have not heard hide nor hair from him or about him since.

I liken the media’s reaction to the sudden turnaround in political fortunes to this poor guy’s. After screaming since January 20, 2021 that the Republicans were going to retake government, they have absolutely no idea how to handle this because they are not in the news business as they used to be, but are in the prediction/prognostication division of the fiction division of various media outlets. They determine in advance what is going to happen as in the film Minority Report, and thus it needs to come about or the ground shakes underneath them. Well, this is been quite the earthquake and we shall see what happens in November, but it serves them right. All of them. Particularly the soon-to-be-fired Chuck Todd. See, I’m in the prognostication business as well…

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I am now going to tell you a story which may make you laugh or it may make you wince, (Original Post) PCIntern Aug 2022 OP
Pretty apt analogy! 50 Shades Of Blue Aug 2022 #1
Me too. I learned in junior high and our typewriters had no numbers of letters on them. I Demsrule86 Aug 2022 #8
I never had a blank keyboard like that! 50 Shades Of Blue Aug 2022 #11
There were only two boys in our junior high school typing class. I was one. hunter Aug 2022 #13
... Hugin Aug 2022 #2
High school and PCIntern Aug 2022 #3
Just so ya know, I passed that test with no mistakes and won the day. Didn't have the extra SheilaAnn Aug 2022 #5
To keep this important thread kicked... Hugin Aug 2022 #10
"KEYSTROKES, Billy! I meant I wanted to see your best keystrokes!" steelyboo Aug 2022 #4
😆 😄 nt Ilsa Aug 2022 #20
My dear PCIntern! CaliforniaPeggy Aug 2022 #6
As always... PCIntern Aug 2022 #9
If he were willing to do that in class Xavier Breath Aug 2022 #7
Well, I had a typing test too in high school. I think it was 28 wpm. panader0 Aug 2022 #12
Here? PCIntern Aug 2022 #14
This message was self-deleted by its author Pepsidog Aug 2022 #26
Great analogy--and funny story. Lonestarblue Aug 2022 #15
Obviously that kid thought he was still asleep and dreaming nuxvomica Aug 2022 #16
Great analogy . . . and it made me laugh. Vinca Aug 2022 #17
Very impressive that you could re-focus on the task at hand (so to speak). Assuming you passed.... TheRickles Aug 2022 #18
It took some time. PCIntern Aug 2022 #24
I tuned out of that media shortly after 9/11/2001. I don't like being told what to think. hunter Aug 2022 #19
Good point. Media totally failed on the war with Iraqi. And yes Fox has figured out how to awaken Pepsidog Aug 2022 #23
When I was a broadcast reporter, our "ideal" story was dobleremolque Aug 2022 #21
Had to be private all boys Catholic High School. Pepsidog Aug 2022 #22
Nope PCIntern Aug 2022 #25
This message was self-deleted by its author Pepsidog Aug 2022 #27
We all handle stress in different ways. Buns_of_Fire Aug 2022 #28
Depends... PCIntern Aug 2022 #31
Oh, my! That's taking the "touch method" to a whole 'nother level!! Higherarky Aug 2022 #29
Wowie Maui! PCIntern Aug 2022 #30

Demsrule86

(68,347 posts)
8. Me too. I learned in junior high and our typewriters had no numbers of letters on them. I
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 10:49 AM
Aug 2022

disliked typing, but it saved my ass numerous times when I needed money. I worked as a clerk...could pass any typing test with a little practice, typed term papers in college...made extra money typing when I needed to...when I went to college we had a computer...huge took up the top floor. But the thing crashed every 15 minutes so we still typed up our papers.

Even after college, my typing ability still helped me get jobs (yes they still make college graduates take typing (keyboarding tests now) test...funny though, the only folks I know that took tests like that were and are to this day women. Anyway, It was a useful skill. I taught all my kids as they no longer have typing classes in the schools they attended. I have graduate degrees but I have to say the most useful skill I ever learned was typing. I can 'keyboard' without looking at the keys to this day.

50 Shades Of Blue

(9,768 posts)
11. I never had a blank keyboard like that!
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 11:15 AM
Aug 2022

I started my career as a government secretary-- back in those days that was a good career path where it was possible to advance into a non-secretarial career ladder position, if you were interested and had supportive bosses. That's what I was eventually able to do. I always did my own typing though! Being such a long-time touch typist has made it a PITA for me to get used to texting with my thumbs, though, LOL!

hunter

(38,263 posts)
13. There were only two boys in our junior high school typing class. I was one.
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 12:18 PM
Aug 2022

We had the manual typewriters too.

My mom was a world class typist and could always find work doing that so she considered it an essential skill for any young person. It turned out to be an essential skill in my own life as well.

When I was taking computer classes in college most of the students were men. In the final weeks of the term the time any one student could spend at a terminal or keypunch was limited. A lot of the two fingered typists knew they'd never finish their projects in the lab time allotted to them so they hired professionals, almost all of them women, to input their awkward hand-written programs. Some of these women were programmers themselves, by formal training or osmosis, and I think they took some cruel delight in transcribing crude handwritten code precisely.

Thankfully I never had to suffer that shame. I could type.

My typing skill were never exceptional but they did get me work I wouldn't have had if I couldn't type. I had a greater proficiency with numerical keypads, which served me very well when I was working in medical labs back in the days before everything was automated.

When my children were in junior high school everyone learned the proper way to type, no exceptions.


SheilaAnn

(9,663 posts)
5. Just so ya know, I passed that test with no mistakes and won the day. Didn't have the extra
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 10:29 AM
Aug 2022

surprise of your student but sounds....interesting.

Hugin

(32,771 posts)
10. To keep this important thread kicked...
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 11:08 AM
Aug 2022

And certainly not to incite any sort of oneupmanship or bad feelings.

Due to Republican cutbacks on education when I was in HS, we were probably using the same typewriters as you. Except they never had any discernible letters on the keyboard. Long ago worn away. Ms Blatz was a holistic perfectionist. Underpaid and overworked, well in it above her head. If we didn’t look like we were doing it right, she’d make us start over.

Probably half of the class was regularly Toobin by that point in the Reagan Revolution.

It is all moot, however. As the current HS-ers could undoubtedly make both of us look silly with only their thumbs.

Thanks for the thread, doc.

CaliforniaPeggy

(149,296 posts)
6. My dear PCIntern!
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 10:31 AM
Aug 2022

Now, THAT'S one hell of a story!

Well done. I laughed first, and then I winced. But mostly, I laughed. It's an odd response to stress, I think.

Thanks for the superb analogy!

Xavier Breath

(3,524 posts)
7. If he were willing to do that in class
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 10:39 AM
Aug 2022

then just imagine what he was up to at home. No, on second thought, don't imagine. And, I hope his typewriter got a through cleaning and new ribbons.

Also, this means that Jeffrey Toobin was only innocently exhibiting his industry's true nature.

panader0

(25,816 posts)
12. Well, I had a typing test too in high school. I think it was 28 wpm.
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 11:20 AM
Aug 2022

Nobody jacked off in class, but I do admit having to take my shirt tails out to hide my boner
more than once, walking to the next class, especially after looking at Noel Black. Where are you now Noel?

Response to panader0 (Reply #12)

Lonestarblue

(9,874 posts)
15. Great analogy--and funny story.
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 12:25 PM
Aug 2022

My high school typing class, also using manual typewriters, was not nearly so interesting!

nuxvomica

(12,359 posts)
16. Obviously that kid thought he was still asleep and dreaming
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 12:28 PM
Aug 2022

That is the sort of thing you might encounter in a dream: the big typing test and somehow all the keys are blank. "Must be I'm having a bad dream. How can I turn it into one of my good dreams?"

PCIntern

(25,341 posts)
24. It took some time.
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 01:05 PM
Aug 2022

No one could stop laughing. The tears were streaming mightily, that day my friend.

hunter

(38,263 posts)
19. I tuned out of that media shortly after 9/11/2001. I don't like being told what to think.
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 12:37 PM
Aug 2022

Those media fuckers set the stage for the war in Iraq.

And later Trump.

They can all go to hell.

Television is the worst possible medium for news and opinion. It appeals to people's lizard brains, frequently bypassing their critical thinking skills... if they had any critical thinking skills to begin with.

But yeah, whenever the media loses control of the discussion, just like that, they whip out their flustered knobs.

Pepsidog

(6,252 posts)
23. Good point. Media totally failed on the war with Iraqi. And yes Fox has figured out how to awaken
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 01:00 PM
Aug 2022

the lizard brain of its viewers.

dobleremolque

(478 posts)
21. When I was a broadcast reporter, our "ideal" story was
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 12:51 PM
Aug 2022

one which lasted one minute and thirty-seconds, said absolutely nothing, but left the viewer with the impression that he or she had been informed.

As someone who dished it out, I confess that I can't take it now and rarely watch any broadcast news. Or read my local paper, for that matter, which publication has fallen into the clutches of vulture capitalists, and IMO is not long for this world. I certainly haven't added to its subscription cash flow.

Media, in our culture, run as a profit-generating enterprise, is only out to get the greatest number of eyeballs on its product so that it can charge advertisers the highest advertising rate, and make the largest amount of money for whomever ... certainly not the newsroom employees, in my previous experience. Accurately and truthfully informing the news consumer is the LAST priority.

Response to PCIntern (Reply #25)

Buns_of_Fire

(17,119 posts)
28. We all handle stress in different ways.
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 01:22 PM
Aug 2022

But I think his way would wind up costing him points during a job interview.

Higherarky

(637 posts)
29. Oh, my! That's taking the "touch method" to a whole 'nother level!!
Tue Aug 30, 2022, 01:32 PM
Aug 2022

Blowing my own horn a bit, at the end of my 30+ year career as owner/operator of a medical transcription company, I could type >250 words per minute. (But sometimes much less than that if the dictator was ESL and difficult to understand.)

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