a quick and comprehensive guide to type
Cliff Kuang at Fast Company Design discusses an infographic on type design:
Created by someone who only calls themselves Noodlor, it does a pretty superb job laying out the basics of typography, such as the common types of faces, ranging from regular to condensed, and the anatomy of letterforms, which includes ascenders. There’s also the very keen nugget of wisdom that 95% of graphic design is actually typography. But where it gets really good is in the “What It’s Saying” section –
(thanks, Lex)
It was almost as if there was a secret world of pronouns that existed outside our awareness
COOK: What are some of the more unusual “texts” you have applied this technique to?
PENNEBAKER: Some of the more unusual texts have been my own. There is something almost creepy about analyzing your own emails, letters of recommendation, web pages, and natural conversations.
COOK: And what have you found?
PENNEBAKER: One of the most interesting results was part of a study my students and I conducted dealing with status in email correspondence. Basically, we discovered that in any interaction, the person with the higher status uses I-words less (yes, less) than people who are low in status. The effects were quite robust and, naturally, I wanted to test this on myself. I always assumed that I was a warm, egalitarian kind of guy who treated people pretty much the same.
I was the same as everyone else. When undergraduates wrote me, their emails were littered with I, me, and my. My response, although quite friendly, was remarkably detached — hardly an I-word graced the page. And then I analyzed my emails to the dean of my college. My emails looked like an I-word salad; his emails back to me were practically I-word free.
One of half a dozen subjects discussed in an interview with James Pennebaker, chair of the department of psychology at the University of Texas at Austin, on his work with the hidden world of pronouns.
(thanks, Andrew)
That Inspired Extra Seventh
Scholars at the Hebrew University have spent the last 53 years studying variations on the ancient text in order to publish an authoritative version of the Hebrew Bible. Along the way, they made some interesting discoveries about the evolution of the holy book:
The Book of Jeremiah is now one-seventh longer than the one that appears in some of the 2,000-year-old manuscripts known as the Dead Sea Scrolls. Some verses, including ones containing a prophecy about the seizure and return of Temple implements by Babylonian soldiers, appear to have been added after the events happened.
Interesting to see that the predictions of biblical scholars are now being verified – though, I imagine for many, these sorts of things won’t matter. Fun fact: the last member of the original team of scholars, who started with the project in 1958, died last year at age 90.
quote out of context
[O]nly dirty renderers and their children are layed out.
from the spam
Lord Glasman lives the dream. Before our interview, he sends word that I am to expect some “debris”. His doll’s house-sized, two-bedroom flat above a Hackney clothing shop is, it turns out, being torn apart to provide some extra space for a family with four children. Even with an added storey, the Glasman home will be a modest abode, befitting those who, in his definition of Labour people, “work by their hands and brain to feed their families and pay their mortgages”. The apartment, with sweet peas growing up an urban balcony, is the perfect showcase for Blue Labour’s philosophy.
How do I feel about this damage to my car?
Pissed off.
I know it’s nothing that I did. I’m curious, though. Any ideas as to how?
from the comments
That is quite amazing. In related news, check out Mabel, the running robot.
How do I feel about this car?
The iLimb Pulse Prosthetic Hand
This is the new iLimb Pulse prosthetic hand. I’ve been using it for about four months. You can tell the hand to switch to up to four out of eight available grip modes or grip patterns with an included software. The software connects to the hand via bluetooth.
Dear ‘The Situation’, the situation is…
Abercrombie says a connection to The Situation goes against the “aspirational nature” of its brand and may be “distressing” to customers. The Ohio-based retailer says it has offered a “substantial payment” to Sorrentino and producers of the MTV show so he’ll wear something else.
‘Neither account of the acrimonious relationship could be independently confirmed’
Dany Larivière, the mayor of Saint-Théodore-d’Acton and the owner of an excavation company, says he placed the giant rock in his ex-wife’s driveway to try to get her to stop harassing him.
what do I call this one?
(via +Tim Carmody)
Wanted: Old Water Ski Rope
Posted to the Dubuque Freecycle group Tue Aug 16, 2011 9:05 am (PDT)
Need ski rope that you use to pull a person behind a boat with. Does not need to have the handle on it nor does it need to be in great shape, really, the older the better. I’m not using it to pull a skier.
Thanks!!!
Photos Out of Context
Last ones – promise.
quote out of context
The police are defending this policy, saying that while officers don’t have any specific training in what qualifies as “apparent esthetic value,” they will stop anyone photographing things they don’t consider to be something a “regular tourist” would photograph.
The Politics of Desire and Looting
Bold words from Adrian Shaughnessy over at The Design Observer on the English riots:
Blame has been heaped mainly on the cuts-obsessed, expenses-fiddling politicians; the Metropolitan Police who inadvertently triggered the rioting by shooting a man in the street; the nation’s under-funded education system; and city councils who rushed to close youth centres in the wake of the global economic crises.
Opprobrium has also been directed at the parents of rioters (special venom is reserved for single mothers — the great bogey figures of the British right wing press); role models in entertainment and sport; the despised and greedy bankers; even British rappers have had accusatory fingers pointed at them.
One group has so far escaped blame: designers. Hardly surprising — who could possibly think that we mild mannered individuals are somehow responsible for murder, theft, arson and civil disobedience on an apocalyptic scale? And yet, a salient feature of these riots has been the fact that the main target of the attacks has been the shops of the major retail brands of British commercial life.
from the comments
And I hate to admit this, being a southernist. But Midwesterners are sexy beasts. They are not flamboyant about it. But they’ve found a simple solution to all that endless cold weather. My mother-in-law and her friends did not mourn endlessly when their spouses passed away. A respectful time would pass and they were going out again, socializing, traveling with a new sweetheart. Life goes on. I admired it.
This is just my notion, anyway.
from the comments
This is hard.
The Somerton Beach Mystery (or the enigma of the “Unknown Man”)
Let’s start by sketching out the little that is known for certain. At 7 o’clock on the warm evening of Tuesday, November 30, 1948, jeweler John Bain Lyons and his wife went for a stroll on Somerton Beach, a seaside resort a few miles south of Adelaide. As they walked toward Glenelg, they noticed a smartly dressed man lying on the sand, his head propped against a sea wall. He was lolling about 20 yards from them, legs outstretched, feet crossed. As the couple watched, the man extended his right arm upward, then let it fall back to the ground. Lyons thought he might be making a drunken attempt to smoke a cigarette.
Half an hour later, another couple noticed the same man lying in the same position. Looking on him from above, the woman could see that he was immaculately dressed in a suit, with smart new shoes polished to a mirror shine—odd clothing for the beach. He was motionless, his left arm splayed out on the sand. The couple decided that he was simply asleep, his face surrounded by mosquitoes. “He must be dead to the world not to notice them,” the boyfriend joked.
The journalistic equivalent of The Handsomest Drowned Man in the World.
(via the browser)
quote out of context
His father-in-law actually did his vasectomy.
photo out of context
headline of the day
Silicon Valley billionaire funding creation of artificial libertarian islands
Danny Macaskill, Industrial Revolutions
The latest industrial light and magic from bike riding wizard Danny Macaskill.
(thanks, Amy)
In Florida, Pedestrians are Cyclists
As any pedestrian in Florida knows, walking in this car-obsessed state can be as tranquil as golfing in a lightning storm. Sidewalks are viewed as perks, not necessities. Crosswalks are disliked and dishonored. And many drivers maniacally speed up when they see someone crossing the street.
Then there are the long, ever widening arterial roads — those major thoroughfares lined with strip malls built to move cars in and out of sprawling suburbs.
It is no wonder that four Florida metropolitan areas, led by the Orlando region, ranked as the most dangerous places to walk in the country, according to a recent survey by Transportation for America, a nonprofit safety advocacy organization.
Mondrian Drop Ceiling
Thought I’d share something I’ve been working on.
With a lot of help, I created this Mondrian style drop ceiling. When my friend was installing a drop ceiling in my room crowded with ductwork and utilities, and the ceiling wasn’t going to come out very uniform, we joked that we should just make the ceiling of all sorts of different size panels. And then it hit us.
So, we plotted out the desired locations for rails and determining the panel shapes, and fit everything together, unpainted. The panels were labelled and removed for painting. Next, running complex computer simulations, a second friend and I came up with the color pattern. The rails were painted in enamel, mini rollers were engaged, and the whole thing was put back together again very carefully.
It is surprisingly difficult to get a complete photo of an entire ceiling.
Much love and thanks to N, D, and R.
More photos of the process on my tumblr.
