Image of the Day; Heavier Stationery Paper and Not Cocaine

Finding William Bullock

William Bullock

One recent Saturday when I decided to break up the day by going to Pittsburgh, I referred to Typomapp since I recalled that there was a point of interest there, and discovered it pointed out William Bullock's burial site.

William Bullock is sometimes referred to as the father of the web rotary printing press and modern printing. Bullock's press allowed for continuous large rolls of paper to be automatically fed through the rollers, eliminating the laborious hand-feeding system of earlier presses. The press was self-adjusting, printed on both sides, folded the paper, and a sharp serrated knife that rarely needed sharpening cut sheets with rapid precision. The press could print up to 12,000 sheets an hour; later improvements raised the speed to up to 30,000 sheets an hour. He also has the dubious distinction of being among inventors killed by their inventions.

Bullock's Rotary Press

The body of William A. Bullock had previously lay in an unmarked grave in Lot 29, Range 13, Section G of Division 2 of Union Dale cemetery. But due to the efforts of George Swetham of The Pittsburgh Press, a bronze marker mounted on a headstone was erected on his burial site on October 12, 1964, 97 years after his death.

You'd think that after years of genealogy, geocaching, and letterboxing it would come easy to me to find a headstone with a bronze marker. Well, it helps to search for such headstones in the correct division of a cemetery. In my excited rush getting there, we initially spent a lot of time combing through Section G in a different division. Terri was a real sport, and her intuition paid off when she put all of the little bits of my quickly gathered incomplete information together. Bullock's grave site is in the very back of Lot 29, and could be easily overlooked. All in all, it was a great day filled with adventures.

Bullock's headstone

More on Bullock can be found here in the Notables in Union Dale Cemetery; Rootsweb, which has Swetnam's article in Pittsburgh’s Family Magazine in which he campaigned for recognition of Bullock, and Wikipedia.

Found at last!

Typo . . . or is it?

From the Bargain Sheet Personals Section

One of the perks of where I work is that on break I can read copies of one of the local free publications, The Ad Bargain. I particularly like scanning for typos that are not caught by any “Spell Check” function, and are obviously not proofread all that carefully for content. Other than adding the yellow highlight, the above example has not been manipulated in Photoshop.

Image of the Day: No Cheese Puffs Were Ejected

Real news story in today’s
Daily Collegian.

Nail polish + alcohol + newspaper

via cmybacon
I’m not really into nail polish, but this is a pretty neat idea. 1. Put on nail polish and let dry. 2. Dip fingernail in alcohol-basically any will do, vodka is suggested. 3. Press a strip of newspaper big enough to cover the whole nail on to your alcohol soaked nail. 4. Pull off slowly and be really impressed with yourself. 5. Paint top coat if desired.

Celebrating Linotype, 125 Years Since Its Debut

via the atlantic
“Around for a century, Linotype machines were made obsolete in the 1970s by changing technologies -- but they have not been forgotten…”
Read the rest here.

Newspaper Blackout Poems

via felt and wire

“Austin Kleon has been creating newspaper blackout poems since 2005, shortly after finishing his undergraduate degree in Interdisciplinary Studies from Miami University in Ohio. He was facing writer’s block, when he got the idea to make a blank canvas out of a newspaper. In an interview with PBS News Hour, Kleon says ‘I looked over at the recycle bin next to my desk and thought, “I don’t have any words, and right over there are millions of them.’”

Asked what he does now when he faces writer’s block, he says, “When I’m blocked, I don’t try to force it. I go do something else. I go for walks. Do dishes. Play the guitar. Watch a movie. Read a book. Doodle. Browse Twitter. As long as you show up every day, you can lose a day and still get work done.”

Though the words in the newspaper may not be his originally, the poems are always a reflection of Kleon. He doesn’t just summarize the initial article in a poem. Rather, he focuses on one or two words that really call out to him, and then he creates new meanings from a few already-existing words or letters.”


See more of his work here.

What is the Financial Times and Why is it Pink?

via the financial times

The Financial Times is an international business newspaper. It is a morning daily newspaper published in London and printed in 23 cities around the world. Its primary rival is New York City-based The Wall Street Journal. Since 1893, the Financial Times has used its distinctive salmon-pink newsprint as a distinguishing trademark to set itself apart from other daily news publications.