Want to know the crazy part? This is the version after TWO rounds of value-engineering. The Model B and Model F are both a good bit more robust than these Model M's, and these last forever. The older boards are more rare due to less compatibility and a smaller computer market in general when they were released.
So I had to look this one up, and admittedly my patience for these rabbit holes peters out, but yes, it's most likely a regular passport.
I guess they do some SovCit shenanigans while applying and they think it makes it a super-secret diplomatic and sales-tax immunity passport that will 100% for sure you guys show up when it's scanned, especially when you wave it in front Darlene at Walmart who defintely has time for your bullshit. It's all been reinforced by the fact that different batches of land-transit passport cards will come with different numbers of asterisks towards the top, so they think there's a magic code there that is related to status and privileges.
I'm guessing they had to keep dialing back the crazy until the State Department was finally willing to process their application, and surprise surprise, our SovCit friend found that process onerous.
Apart from everything else, that's quite the immune system.
Half the fun of using a nice keyboard is that it's loud AF. I love my keyboard peeps, but I do not get the obsession with trying to make them sound all lovely and quiet. "Slightly quieter" is a compromise to be grudgingly tolerated if you have to work around others, nothing more.
VIVA LOS CLICKYS!
And at that time in my life, I was really interested in newspaper sales flyers from Japanese discount retailers. Good times.
Yes, it's true. I'd reminisce about the Daiso fold.
So, apart from the overreaction to protests, larger universities will have their own police departments because they have a large physical footprint and tens of thousands of staff and students whose needs and interests and priorities may not perfectly align with the broader community's. Students as "gowns" are transitory, young, rowdy, and annoying but often have issues the local "towns" will view as petty and low priority.
A University PD will ultimately report to the University's leadership, and the University will set their budget and broad mission. Frankly, as a student 25 years ago, at least back then I would generally much preferred to have interactions with the University PD than the local city PD.
Yeah, the idea of "train police" is actually perfectly sensible since it's specialized and both the criminals and victims will be constantly transiting between jurisdictions. The fact that they're actually owned by the railroads is a creepy legacy of the original gilded age plutocracy. I first learned about this when I saw the BNSF cops driving around Fort Worth with "Police" on the door instead of "Security" like I would have expected.
Cadets and Midshipmen are recommended by elected officials, and their future employers have management needs that will go way beyond "Cooper got two points higher on the SAT after his parents paid for twenty prep classes." I will be interested to see what this particular SCOTUS thinks when confronted with the US military saying "we need this to optimize national security."
So, am I reading your linked keymap right? Chording in two axes, 4 layers (in addition to Shift, Ctrl, etc.), and several keys using tap-hold?
I am incredibly impressed. Have you considered becoming a multi-instrumentalist?
They're proper replacements. Unicomp, which still makes full size and TKL Model M's, sells replacement keytops.
I got this "Display Station" terminal board for cheap on eBay because it was a later model, a little bit dirty, RJ-45 instead of PS/2, no indicator LEDs, and missing 4 keytops. It's still a buckling spring beast, though. Someday it might need a bolt mod, but for now it's only lost a few of the plastic rivets and still works perfectly.
I read through some of the guy's twitterings yesterday. He was not well, to put it mildly.
Should I avoid mentioning the modern Model F repros? LOL.
TBF, while I do have a ten year old Unicomp, and it's perfectly lovely despite pre-dating their improved molds, I haven't tried a modern Model F, or indeed used any Model F in at least twenty years.