Letters: Model M Keyboard, Team Handball

ROBERT SIEGEL, host:

We're going to reach into our in-box now, and read from your comments about our program.

MELISSA BLOCK, host:

Quite a few of you, it turns out, are nostalgic about the IBM Model M Keyboard, the last keyboard that was made to feel like a typewriter.

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(Sound bite of typing)

BLOCK: On Friday, we aired a story about a former IBM engineer who's still making Model M's at a tiny plant in Lexington, Kentucky. Neil Muyskens told us the secret is putting a spring under each key.

Mr. NEIL MUYSKENS (Manufactures Model M Keyboards): We manually insert the magic, if you will. And that is a - what we call pivot plate assembly. This the buckling spring.

SIEGEL: Magic, indeed, to Ethan Seacott of Portland, Maine. Thank you, thank you, he writes. I'm in my early 30s, and the loss of my Model M led to three months of searching and much gnashing of teeth. He goes on, fight the good fight. Full key travel, and death to mushiness. And we assume that all of you keyboard aficionados out there know what he's talking about.

BLOCK: Chris Deakman(ph) of Pleasantville, New York, also wrote in about the Model M. I do remember with fondness the clackey IBM keyboard, he tells us. Mac users will remember with similar fondness the Apple Extended Keyboard. I still have mine, hooked up via an adapter to my sleek, flat-panel iMac. I have gladly sacrificed a precious USB port to plug in this old veteran.

SIEGEL: Well, now to obscure passions of another sort. Last Friday, I chatted with sports writer Stephan Fatsis about the Super Bowl, and about another big match-up.

Mr. STEPHAN FATSIS (Sports Writer): The big game, Robert, is, of course, the World Team Handball Championship Final on Sunday in Zagreb, Croatia.

SIEGEL: Well, listener Boris Hertzog of Pflugerville, Texas, was just as excited about it. He writes this: You've made the heart of every handball enthusiast in this country flutter with excitement and pride. Hertzog continues: It is my hope that coverage like yours will finally generate the excitement and support that the sport so deserves.

BLOCK: And in case you're wondering about the outcome of yesterday's championship game, France beat Croatia 24 to 19.

SIEGEL: Well, finally, to my interview with violinist Anne Sophie-Mutter, who has just released a new CD of Mendelssohn. Tomorrow marks the 200th anniversary of the composer's birth.

(Soundbite of music)

SIEGEL: Listener Jack Shepherd(ph) left this comment on our Web site: Enjoyed the interview with Anne-Sophie Mutter and the marvelous music. I have never heard Mendelssohn played and interpreted with such enthusiasm, love and respect. He concludes: There are so many problems in today's world and so much angst, this was a real bright spot on the way home.

BLOCK: Please let us know if something on our program brightens or darkens your day. Write to us by going to npr.org. Click on Contact Us at the top of the page, and don't forget to tell us where you're from, and how you pronounce your name. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.