http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nuv_5BUvsEw
Helvetica on trash bags in Switzerland.
(Source: http://www.youtube.com/)
Fontstaches by agirlnamedtor
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.
Helvertical by Laser Bread
Helvertical by Laser Bread
Helveticons Royalty-free vector icons, glyphs and symbols based on the
Royalty-free vector icons, glyphs and symbols based on the Helvetica Bold typeface. Over 200 icons, available in 7 different formats.
Helvetica the documentary by Gary Hustwit. You probably wouldn’t be
Helvetica the documentary by Gary Hustwit. You probably wouldn’t be here if you weren’t into the ubiquitous Swiss typeface. So, you’ve probably seen the documentary already, but it’s as good a place to start as any.
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.
Pacific theatre photos
A collection of World War II photographs from the Pacific theatre. The scope and scale in some of the shots is mind-boggling.
Awesome things
A recent interview with Neil Pasricha, author of 1000 Awesome Things, celebrating the release of The Book of Awesome.
His blog — some entries are nostalgic, reflective, but always positive — now gets about 40,000 visits a day, more than 11 million hits in total. His email box is regularly packed with readers’ messages, spilling out their woes and thanking him for lifting their spirits.
Neil was one of my editors at Golden Words years ago. He’s incredibly funny and well-deserving of the attention that the site has garnered. I hope the book sells really well, I’ll be picking up a copy when it makes it to this side of the pond, or next time I’m back in Canada. Congratulations Neil!