In the world of social media, “keeping receipts” refers to the practice of storing evidence that may come in handy for a callout post at a later date. For [Teddy Warner], though, it’s more applicable to a little printer he whipped up to record the very best banter from his cadre of friends.
[Teddy’s] idea was simple. He hoped to capture amusing or interesting quotes his friends made in his apartment, and store them in a more permanent form. He also wanted to allow his friends to do the same. To that end, he whipped up a small locally-hosted web interface which his friends could use to record quotes, along with proper attribution. Hosted on a Raspberry Pi 5, the web interface can then truck those quotes out to an 80 mm thermal receipt printer. The anecdote, epithet, or witticism is then spat out with a timestamp in a format roughly approximating a receipt you might get from your local gas station. What’s neat is that [Teddy] was also able to install the entire system within the housing of the Miemieyo receipt printer, by 3D printing a custom base that could house the Pi and a suitable power supply.
Beyond being fun, this system also serves a critical purpose. It creates a paper trail, such that in-jokes, rumors, and insults alike can be traced back to their originating source. No more can Crazy Terry claim to have invented “the Malaga bit,” because the server and the receipt clearly log that Gerald dropped it first at the Boxing Day do.
We’ve seen similar projects before, too. There’s just something neat about holding a bit of paper in your hand.
The paper with the forever chemicals, uhh.
“forever chemicals”?
You’ve been reading scary headlines from dodgy sources.
The BPA and BPS bisphenols associated with receipt paper might be linked with potential biological activity, but they do break down naturally. They are not “forever chemicals” like the PFAS family of molecules.
If you’re going to be an alarmist, at least get your facts straight.
And over a short time (<5yrs.) the type fades away, at least that was my experience.
Sooo not forever. They fade.
There is also phenol free thermal paper that doesn’t contain any harmful chemicals.
Thermal paper is not food. Please do not eat the thermal paper. Thank you for your attention.
Even the good thermal paper without BPA and BPS sadly is very short lived. I’ve noticed the non toxic is very water sensitive, when you shop for groceries the condensation of water on cold packaging already can make them unreadable if the receipt touches is.
The older people and those who escaped the terror of communism may remember this as “KOMPROMAT”.
People say these things don’t last, but I’ve had images I printed with thermal paper taped up on my wall (with sun exposure) for years, and the only fading so far is where the tape touches it.
Receipts? That’s so 2025! Spoliation is the future!
“If you can read this you’re too free”