Typekit and Google have teamed up to create the open-source WebFont Loader. The software can make use of Typekit’s extensive library, Google’s new collection of webfonts or it can be self-hosted.
Month: May 2010
Writing systems of the world
The Beauty of Typography: Writing Systems and Calligraphy of the World. An extensive introduction to a number of non-Western writing systems.
Pentagon brownie recipe
How to make brownies, Pentagon style. The 26 page specification, also known as MIL-C-44072C, is available for your perusal.
Big bang
The Big Bang was an explosion of space, not in space.
The Big Bang wasn’t an explosion of stuff like atoms or molecules, it was an explosion of a place and instance, it was the creation of when and where. Before the Big Bang there was simply nothing, there was no ‘where’ nor was there a ‘when’. It doesn’t even make sense to say ‘before the Big Bang’.
Facebook privacy
A bewildering tangle of options. To manage your privacy on Facebook, you will need to navigate through 50 settings with more than 170 options. The site has gone from walled garden to glass box on a busy street corner.
Typesetters
This recent image of typesetters, from Shorpy, reminded me of a photo that I took at the National Print Museum in Dublin awhile back. It was of a boy’s indenture agreement to serve as an apprentice compositor in a Letterpress shop. Highlights of seven years service include: no fornicating, gambling or frequenting of ale-houses. I’ve transcribed the document and made the text available.
Gopher archive
John Goerzen has archived Gopherspace (all 40gb) and made it available as a 15gb compressed torrent. Gopher was around in the 1990s before the World Wide Web, it was similar, but not hyperlinked. I remember using Gopher in high-school, it was the first time I ever came across the
xkcd Colour Survey
Results from a colour survey by xkcd. The male gender needs some help. Well, at least the type of male that reads xkcd.
Too stupid to cook
Michael Ruhlman writes that with all of the prepackaged food and simple recipes in a box that are available, people start to believe that they’re too stupid to cook. He goes on to outline the world’s most difficult roasted chicken recipe, which I’ve reproduced.
Turn your oven on high (450 if you have ventilation, 425 if not). Coat a 3 or 4 pound chicken with coarse kosher salt so that you have an appealing crust of salt (a tablespoon or so). Put the chicken in a pan, stick a lemon or some onion or any fruit or vegetable you have on hand into the cavity. Put the chicken in the oven. Go away for an hour. Watch some TV, play with the kids, read, have a cocktail, have sex. When an hour has passed, take the chicken out of the oven and put it on the stove top or on a trivet for 15 more minutes. Finito.
After you’ve finished with the chicken, you can throw the carcass in a pot (with a touch of vinegar to make the meat fall of the bone), add some carrots, celery, onion and salt, simmer it, and you’re left with stock. Then make some delicious soup.
Sushi at home
For sushi at home, skip the fish. Sushi really isn’t that hard to make, as long as you don’t mind the odd fail piece. Chicken teriyaki and breaded prawns are also good to throw into the mix.