I was in a vintage shop about 30 minutes from downtown Los Angeles earlier in the week and the proprietor had a mostly functioning 1950 Smith-Corona Sterling for sale for a roughly equivalent US $150. (One key was disconnected, but fixable, and some keys were sticky, the ribbon was disintegrating, it was incredibly dirty, with a case in very poor condition.) The Sterling was similar to the Silent, but without some of the extra bells and whistles. She wouldn't accept an offer of $40 for it, which I thought was a reach for the dreadful condition it was in. Her reasoning was that she was sure that someone (read: a sucker) would pay the $150 for it. At a yard sale it might be worth $5. Cleaned up a bit maybe $30. In online platforms they're going for a bit more, but you're also saving yourself some level of "shoe leather" in the work of searching for the exact model you want.

I've been specifically watching this model and a few related ones for a few months, and machines of indeterminate condition (though in my experience they're usually reasonably functionable or easily fixable), like this go for about $50 on ShopGoodWill.com (as auction items). There are usually about 4-5 per week which come up as this was a popular model in the 50s. You can probably find similar prices on eBay, though sellers there usually have a little more information about the working condition. They're definitely common enough that you could easily wait for the exact color options and typeface (pica or elite) that you're looking for, and could also probably purchase two for the price he's asking (including shipping.) I've been watching for a similar mid-50s Smith-Corona Clipper with similar colors and elite type for a while and just bought one online last week for $35. Patience definitely pays off.

I would only go as high as $150 on that machine if I knew it was well functioning and had a brand new platen in the last several years. You can tell him that most of the expensive machines in the range he's asking for are all fully functioning, have been well maintained and/or recently serviced, and often have new platens, rubber rollers, and feet replaced. He'll know that this isn't the case with his and may come down in price. They're likely pricing it based on other listings they see and not pricing it based on actual sales. If it's their only machine, wait things out until they see that there aren't any takers. If it's a vintage shop, simply move on.

The Smith-Corona Silents from this time period are really spectacular and solid machines, so good luck in your search for the perfect one.

How to Use the Dial Phone, 1927. http://archive.org/details/HowtoUse1927.

Silent weapons for quiet wars<br /> Operations Research Technical Manual<br /> TW-SW7905.1

Welcome Aboard

This publication marks the 25th anniversary of the Third World War, called the "Quiet War", being conducted using subjective biological warfare, fought with "silent weapons".<br /> This book contains an introductory description of this war, its strategies, and its weaponry.<br /> May 1979 #74-1120

Security

It is patently impossible to discuss social engineering or the automation of a society, i.e., the engineering of social automation systems (silent weapons) on a national or worldwide scale without implying extensive objectives of social control and destruction of human life, i.e., slavery and genocide.<br /> This manual is in itself an analog declaration of intent. Such a writing must be secured from public scrutiny. Otherwise, it might be recognized as a technically formal declaration of domestic war. Furthermore, whenever any person or group of persons in a position of great power and without full knowledge and consent of the public, uses such knowledge and methodologies for economic conquest - it must be understood that a state of domestic warfare exists between said person or group of persons and the public.<br /> The solution of today's problems requires an approach which is ruthlessly candid, with no agonizing over religious, moral or cultural values.<br /> You have qualified for this project because of your ability to look at human society with cold objectivity, and yet analyze and discuss your observations and conclusions with others of similar intellectual capacity without the loss of discretion or humility. Such virtues are exercised in your own best interest. Do not deviate from them.

https://ia802300.us.archive.org/10/items/silent-weapons-for-quiet-wars_202110/Silent%20Weapons%20for%20Quiet%20Wars.pdf

quoted section via:<br /> St Augustine, Confessions, trans. by Carolyn J. B. Hammond, 2 vols. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2014), I, p. 243 (VI 3.3).

• for health - sleep apnea - silent acid reflux connection

• health - sleep apnea - silent reflux connection

  • if you have sleep apnea and you are experiencing post nasal drip, coughing, clearing throat etc, that is the acid coming up from your stomach and obstructing breathing

https://medical-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/tomaine

I recall hearing ptomaine used in an Abbott and Costello bit with the connotation of foot poisoning. Charlie Chaplin also portrayed Adenoid Hynkel, Dictator of Tomania, in the picture The Great Dictator (1940).

The implication of the country name Tomania outside of the "mania" meaning may be lost on audiences today.

Lou Costello: Now look, Mr. Fields, don't get mad. Now, you can bring your kids to the party, and they can eat anything they want. They can have plenty of food. They can eat anything they want.<br /> Sid Fields: Sure, I can have my kids eat first, huh? Then if that broken-down, bad food you got doesn't give my kids ptomaine, then the other people will eat it, huh? You're gonna use my kids for guinea pigs. Say it! My kids are guinea pigs!<br /> Lou Costello: Mr. Fields, your kids are not guinea pigs.<br /> Sid Fields: Oh, they're just plain pigs?

The Abbott and Costello Show, S1.E5 "The Birthday Party", Episode aired Jan 2, 1953, Running time: 00:27:00 <br /> (emphasis added)

• for: leverage points, quote, quote - Johan Rockstrom, quote - motivating the silent majority, climate change - priority, social tipping point
• quote
  • In a normal distribution,
    • from over here you have the denialists and
    • over here you have the environmental activists.
  • But in between you have a lot of different types of people.
  • And the majority are actually
    • we know this from opinion polls
  • very supportive of science.
  • They're very supportive of and concerned about climate change.
  • They want climate action.
  • It's just that they live their normal lives, they have many preoccupations in life.They have
    • children,
    • health,
    • school,
    • financing,
    • incomes.
  • You know, many, many things to be worried about.
  • But that's the question:
    • how do we get this majority, the silent majority, to join us?
  • I don't think that the way to make them join us is to
    • scare them and
    • fight with the denialists.
  • I think the way to make them join is to show that this pathway can get a better life.
• author: Johan Rockstrom

• date: Sept., 2023

• comment

  • in other words
  • the silent majority does not yet hold climate change activism to be sufficiently high on their list of priorities yet to warrant the necessary scale of action

—Tom Hanks in TribLive 2020-05-22 at https://web.archive.org/web/20200522085215/https://archive.triblive.com/aande/books/tom-hanks-on-his-love-of-typewriters-and-the-free-press/

I've seen several sites and listings for Smith-Corona typewriters which mention this interview quote.

• Arnav Kapur AlterEgo
• silent speech transcription device

Technical presentation of MIT's + AlterEgo silent speech transcription device

Massive trial shows COVID rapid tests excel at detecting silent cases. (2022). Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00589-3

Sah, P., Fitzpatrick, M. C., Zimmer, C. F., Abdollahi, E., Juden-Kelly, L., Moghadas, S. M., Singer, B. H., & Galvani, A. P. (2021). Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 118(34). https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2109229118

Where is the Silent Spring in the data, privacy, and social media space?

Links to: https://chicago.suntimes.com/coronavirus/2021/1/23/22245873/chicago-bars-restaurants-reopen-pritzker-coronavirus-illinois-suburban-cook-county

Nogrady, B. (2020). What the data say about asymptomatic COVID infections. Nature, 587(7835), 534–535. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-020-03141-3

How ‘Silent Spreaders’ Make Coronavirus Hard to Beat. (2020, April 22). Bloomberg.Com. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-22/how-silent-spreaders-make-coronavirus-hard-to-beat-quicktake

Disappointing echo of crickets.

https://youtu.be/U9c_KttvQPU

silent