Mimi and Eunice: Spectrum Disorders

Makes me smile.

Cartography and Photography

London, 2011 and 1572

via imprint
“My, how our perception of the world has changed in a few short centuries—a heartbeat in the universe’s chronology. The Atlantic has an intriguing slideshow comparing differences between cartographic representations of major cities in the 16th century, and modern Google Maps views. In many cases, the difference in underlying geography are striking…”
See the slideshow here.

On Interrobang, Pilcrow, Capitulum, and Wayzgoose

Some small random bits . . .

via Shady Characters The secret life of punctuation

Read an addendum to the Interrobang, here.

via H&FJ

“ . . . In any case, Pilcrow & Capitulum would make a fine name for a pub, and a grand place to host a typographers’ wayzgoose.”

Read the entire post here.

via worldwidewords

“The end of summer came early in old-time printing shops. By the third week in August candles were needed to light the final hours of the long working day. To mark this shift to winter working, it was usual for the master printer to give his journeymen a feast around St Bartholomew’s Day (24 August). This was the wayzgoose or way-goose…” Read more about this feast here and here.

Wayzgoose for Coventry printers at Stonebridge, c. 1907.

Summit at Shilow: Proving Grounds?

The Summit at Shilow

Over the years, we have rarely seen anyone in this development. Even taking a shortcut morning run through it, no one is around, yet there are cars in the driveway, lawns marked that they have been chemically treated for weeds, recycling bins at the curb side, and a few random lights in windows. No children are ever in the playground, and I have only seen one very quiet dog waiting by a door.

So...is this some military or government proving ground for secret testing? A search online turned this up about communities like this during the Cold War, “… Homes and commercial buildings were built to standards typical of American and European cities. Other structures included military fortifications (of types used by both NATO and the Warsaw Pact), civil defense, and ‘backyard’ shelters. In a typical test several buildings might be built using the same plan with different types of paint, landscaping, cleanliness of yards, wall angles, or distances from Ground Zero. Mannequins were placed in and around vehicles and buildings...”



Read the rest here about destruction and survivability testing at the Nevada National Security Site (N2S2), National Test Sites (NTS), and Proving Grounds. Perhaps this development just has some restrictive covenants for noise and being seen in public, in addition to the usual not hanging clothes on a clothesline.

Mimi and Eunice: Bees In Their Bonnets

Makes me smile.

Television ‘Deaths’

via wired
“Retro televisions sparked an interest for Berlin graphic designer Stephan Tillmans after he noticed the brightly colored picture breakdown when certain screens were switched off. After much experimentation with old televisions, Tillmans realized that every old television has its own ‘death,’ and, with enough patience, this could become an intriguing photographic subject…”
Read the rest here.

Mimi and Eunice: Posting Art Online

Makes me smile.

Image of the Day: Panorama of Philadelphia

This is another postcard that I purchased at a flea market,
postmarked June 25, 1909.

I love the sepia-toned ink, and find it quaint that this is referred to as a ‘postal.’ But who is ‘Brother,’ why did he run away with Fred, and why didn’t she expect him to return until September?

Graphic novelist and comic book creator Drew Weing to speak May 23

via Penn State University Libraries Newswire 
“Drew Weing, American comic book creator and Honor Book winner of the first Lynd Ward Prize for Graphic Novel of the Year will speak at 7 p.m., Monday, May 23, in Foster Auditorium, 102 Paterno Library, on Penn State's University Park campus, with satellite video broadcasts throughout the state...”
For more information, or to watch a webcast, visit here and here.

Color Bar Mighty Wallet & Designer Buttons

“The Mighty Wallet™ is tear-resistant, water-resistant, expandable and recyclable. Printed with the bold color bar printer's marks this cyan, magenta, yellow and black design has a graphic presence that any designer or artist would appreciate…”
Read more about it here.

And not to be forgotten, the Graphic Designer Button 4 pack can be found here.

Image of the Day: Arboretum Fountain

Nike+ Paint With Your Feet

via swissmiss
“...Zach Lieberman and his team collaborated with Nike for which they wrote software that makes paintings from GPS data of your runs that Nike+ gets. The basic idea was that it will allow you to ‘paint with your feet.’ They trained a group of runners how to use it and how their running styles affect the system, then worked with them to design posters.”


Read more about it here.

Quote of the Day

The creative adult is the child who survived.

— U. LeGuin

Earworm of the Day: Helplessly Hoping

Find the lyrics here, listen to it here, and see a live version here. Heard on the radio on the commute to work, this makes me smile.

Image of the Day: Wisteria 6:38 a.m.

Orphan Annie & Hot Metal Type

via kickstarter
“Our Orphan Annie isn’t a cute redhead who sings. She’s a big, old cast-iron Monotype Sorts Caster who clicks more than sings, but isn’t doing either at the moment. We want to change that—and we need your help. Orphan Annie was part of the type foundry of the late C. Christopher Stern. Chris inspired many in the letterpress community with his brilliant printing, use of typography and enthusiasm for the craft of hot metal type casting. We’ve moved the foundry to Portland, Oregon and are now in the process of restoring it to working order. In early 2011, we’ll be opening the foundry as a working museum with public programs designed to preserve the craft of casting type, educate, and inspire creativity for a new generation of printers and thing-makers. The Orphan Annie is one of the foundry machines we want to revive.

Our Kickstarter project is to restore the Orphan Annie, record the process, and get her back in the business of casting metal type. We’ll use the money we raise to fund restoration materials and a public space for this industrial machine. We have volunteers to restore and make Orphan Annie sing again, but we also need to ensure she has a stable home and won’t be kicked out into the street. The typeface we’ll cast with her during the inaugural run will be Stern–the typeface created by the legendary typographer Jim Rimmer in honor of Chris Stern (and documented in the Kickstarter-funded film Making Faces). We'll be casting from Jim's original matrices, which he bequeathed to the Type Foundry in 2010. After that, we hope for many tomorrows filled with creative letterpress printing adventures with Orphan Annie and her metal type.”
Find out more here.

Reddy Kilowatt & Willie Wirehand

via creativepro
“Electricity once had a perky little mascot, Reddy Kilowatt, with a light bulb nose, plugs for ears, and a body made of lightning bolts…There was even a Reddy Kilowatt typeface!”
Read the rest here.

And you can learn about Willie Wirehand and his 50th anniversary as the electric cooperative spokes-character here.

Inverted Art Made with Spools of Thread

via a friend
“Devorah Sperber is showing some fantastic works…What Sperber does is take multi-colored spools of thread and arranges them in a way so that they appear like pixels. Taken as a whole, the spools look like a hot mess, in other words, like your grandma went crazy and glue gunned her thread collection on a wall. Look through a viewing sphere (a small, transparent ball) that's conveniently placed in front of the piece, however, and get ready to be amazed. As Brooklyn Museum states, ‘Sperber deconstructs familiar images so that the brain can reconstruct them. Her framed crystal reproductions similarly address the way we think we see versus the way the brain processes visual information.’”
Read and see more here.

Handheld Printers

via printeresting
“If you can look past the cheesy corporate infomercialness of the youtube promo video, this handheld printer from EBS Ink-Jet Systems has crazy potential. It’s 2011, street artists. Hand-written tagging is so last decade! Around 2:35, the video clearly demonstrates how ridiculous hand-stenciling is so it’s time to toss away your spray cans and get with the program. The future is here…”
Watch it here.

Pouch Camp

Dark Shadows, © 2011 Nathan Kensinger

via Nathan Kensinger Photography
“There are many strange things in the Blood Root Valley. There is the half-abandoned tuberculosis hospital. There is a 260-foot mountain made by Robert Moses. And there is Pouch Camp, a hidden 143-acre oasis with a 68-year-old lake, mountain ponds, rustic cabins and 55 lean-tos. For over 60 years, Pouch Camp has been a secret haven for New York City's boy scouts. Each year, thousands of scouts learn to swim and camp within the boundaries this vast idyllic refuge. Located in the heart of Staten Island, Pouch Camp is so large it even has its own private island, which is difficult to reconcile with the fact that the camp is situated inside the most populous city in the United States. Located just 10 miles from Wall Street, Pouch Camp has somehow remained largely anonymous…”
Read the rest here.