Handwriting, need of

After Katrina hit New Orleans most places were without electricity. Think about one small result of that simple fact. No computers. No word processors. No way to write anything except by hand. It was a mini-disaster inside the great disaster.

Local hospitals, in addition to lighting operating rooms with flashlights, had to resort to actual pens and paper for keeping records - records that ended up being largely unreadable. She also told me an amusing (sort of) story about checking into a hotel in an area suffering under a prolonged power outage. The staff suddenly had to hand-write the names of guests, addresses, credit card numbers - and the only employee with handwriting anyone could read was a man on the verge of retirement.

as told to Kitty Burns Florey in Script and Scribble
 
Thank God this only happens when we have hurricanes, floods, and other natural disasters. I mean, how often does that happen. After all, it's not like some foreign power has the skill to mess with our computer systems or anything. 

On second thought, I'm buying stock in the last company to manufacture manual typewriters.