Mabel’s pencil

[Mabel Mora (Selena Gomez) and pencil. Click either image for a larger view.]

That’s a screenshot from “True Crime,” the first episode of the new Hulu series Only Murders in the Building. Mabel is probably making notes on the podcast she — and at least two of her neighbors — are listening to, All Is Not OK in Oklahoma.

Her pencil: I’m pretty sure it’s a Tombow Mono-R. The gold band at the top is the clue. For those who believe in fanatical attention to detail, here are some more pencils in film and on TV.

Recently updated

Camp COVID A mid-June Christian youth camp in Illinois — no mask, no vaccination required — is now the source of 180 “confirmed and probable cases of COVID-19.”

Scooter construction

[“Young boy nailing wheel parts fr. an old roller skate to a wooden plank in the first step toward making an orange crate scooter.” Photograph by Ralph Morse. New York, New York. June 1947.]

[“Young boy playing w. his orange crate scooter which he just made by nailing the wheel parts fr. an old roller skate to a wooden plank & adding an orange crate.” Photograph by Ralph Morse. New York, New York. June 1947.]


[“Young boy playing w. his fruit crate scooter which he made by nailing the wheel parts fr. an old roller skate to a wooden plank & adding the crate.” Photograph by Ralph Morse. New York, New York. June 1947. All photographs from the Life Photo Archive.]

That’s a different kid and different scooter in the third photograph. Did a parent insist that he put on that jacket to look presentable? “I’m not gonna have you in Life magazine lookin’ like a bum!”

Related posts
Roller-Scooter truck assemblies : A Henry scooter

iA Writer keyboard commands

“I didn't find a comprehensive list of keyboard commands for iA Writer. So, I made one”: iA Writer Keyboard Commands (Bicycle for Your Mind).

[From 2017, but every command I’ve tried still works.]

Roller-Scooter truck assemblies

[From the Johnson Smith & Co. 1938 catalog. Click for a larger view.]

The pitch begins:

What boy doesn’t want a snappy scooter – ’specially if the toughest work is all ready done for him and he knows that when he’s finished he’ll have the smoothest running, fastest shooting scooter any kid could help to build!

And only 65¢!

Well, sort of. What’s for sale here is not a scooter but “truck assemblies.” Truck? I had to look it up: “a small wheel.” What your 65¢ is buying: roller-skate wheels. That’s all, folks.

Lose the tie and sweater and knickers, add a t-shirt and dungarees, and the kid in the advertisement could have stepped from the pages of my youth. In the early 1960s the big kids on my block in Brooklyn rode scooters like this one. The front was a milk crate or produce crate, with a piece of wood nailed across the top for handlebars. The kids rode in the street, which was narrow and one-way, with cars parked on both sides. I remember that they were somehow engaging in games of combat — taking swings at one another, or crashing into one another, or something. I watched from the sidewalk.

Here’s a page with some history about these scooters. Here are some Life photos of scooters. And here’s a post with a cartoon scooter, a real-world scooter, and previous reverie.

Also from this catalog
Comical motto rings

[Every post right now is a retreat from all forms of news.]

“Fanatical attention to detail”

[Dustin, August 30, 2021. Click for a larger view.]

Simone just told Dustin that he needs to edit his new résumé. He’s written “fanatical attention to detail” twice.

I didn’t know that “fanatical attention to detail” is work-speak. Here, take a look at DuckDuckGo’s search results.

As for detail, and fanatical attention to it: Dustin spells it resume. Garner’s Modern English Usage says résumé (“So spelled, preferably.”) Merriam-Webster has resume and resumé only as variants. Determining whether the Dustin font has the accented characters required for résumé would require a fanatical attention to detail I’m not prepared to offer.

A few more Dustin posts
Bad copyediting : Literally and figuratively : Phrasal-adjective punctuation : Was or were?

Sardines and others

The New York Times gives a tip of the hat to Rainbow Tomatoes Garden’s offerings of tinned fish — sardines and others.

Thanks to Stephen at pencil talk for pointing me to this catch.

Related reading
All OCA sardine posts (Pinboard)

Johnson Smith and Zippy

[“Stay Back, Ye Varmints!” Zippy, August 28, 2021. Click for a larger view.]

Today’s Zippy goes down a rabbit hole filled with x-ray specs and rubber chewing-gum. And comical motto rings. They’re all part of the Johnson Smith story.

[Click for a larger view.]

The Internet Archive has several Johnson Smith catalogs for browsing and downloading. I found these comical motto rings on page 95 of the 1938 catalog. (Caution: this catalog contains racist imagery.) Good thing the rings were on page 95 — the catalog runs to 570 pages.

And now I’m imagining Johnson Smith receiving the Ken Burns treatment. First, the voice of Keith David:

“The catalog featured a daring new novelty — a Whoopee Cushion or ‘Poo-Poo Cushion.’ It would change the novelty business forever.”

And then an aged prankster speaks:

“You have to understand: this was something new. And we were all hungry for something new.”

&c. &c.

Related reading
All OCA Zippy posts (Pinboard)

Today’s Saturday Stumper

Today’s Newsday  Saturday Stumper, by Matthew Sewell, is a doozy, or at least a semi-doozy. It took me a while. Consider the first clue, 1-A, ten letters, “Soft-soap sources.” I was thinking PUMPBOTTLES, but that’s eleven letters. Or 16-A, ten letters, “Checkout counter suggestion.” BAGYOUROWN?

Today’s puzzle is the fourth Stumper in four weeks. Is the Stumper back to stay? Wait and watch.

Some clue-and-answer pairs I especially liked, in addition to 1-A and 16-A:

1-D, four letters, “eDarling.es user, for short.” A good way to Stumperize a common answer.

5-D, six letters, “Arm of the future.” I thought this clue might refer to a prosthetic device.

7-D, three letters, “Stock tip.” Even after getting it, I didn’t get it. And then I got it.

9-D, five letters, “Pitching pro.” Baseball? Sales?

40-A, six letters, “Essayist’s opener.” Nifty.

48-D, five letters, “Place that ONION might be a cryptogram for.” I’ve read Alvin’s Secret Code, dozens of times.

52-A, eight letters, “Transferred for sporting purposes.” Defamiliarization.

57-D, four letters, “Fee for all.” I can’t resist a pun.

My favorite clue in today’s puzzle: 10-D, eleven letters, “Standards bound to be followed.” See 57-D.

No spoilers; the answers are in the comments.

More Jeopardy jeopardy

Now that the fairly despicable Mike Richards is out as a Jeopardy host, Mayim Bialik’s anti-science is coming in for more attention (The Washington Post ).

A related post
Jeopardy and Neuriva

[That video embedded in the second article: is it just me, or does Mayim Bialik seem like a demonic parody of Rachel Maddow?]