Fink Brewing Company

Terri took some great photos for me of this Fink Brewing Company crate used to hold menus in the lobby of Otto's. I love the flowing type which has aged so well over the years.

Image of the Day: Buddha in the Russian Sage

Peripatectic Cats: Mrs. Chippy, Nigeraurak, and Trim

Image courtesy of Peggy Nelson’s Twitter novel Shackleton

“When Ernest Shackleton set out for Antarctica in 1914, his carpenter, Harry ‘Chippy’ McNish, brought along a tabby who was quickly named ‘Mrs. Chippy,’ though he proved to be a male. When the Endurance was crushed by pack ice, Shackleton ordered the ‘weakling’ cat to be shot, a decision for which McNish never forgave him. Cat and carpenter were reunited in 2004, when a life-size bronze statue of Mrs. Chippy was added to McNish’s grave in Wellington…"

Read the rest of the Futility Closet post here to learn about the cats Nigeraurak and Trim. An excellent little post from the Twitter novel Shackleton by artist Peggy Nelson can be found here.

I also recommend the slim volume, Mrs. Chippy's Last Expedition: The Remarkable Journal of Shackleton's Polar-Bound Cat by Caroline Alexander.

Image of the Day: Truth in Advertising

Image of the Day: 5:45 a.m. Run

Associated poem posted on See Jain Run.

Image of the Day: Reflections

I loved seeing the brightness and clarity of the reflection onto the sidewalk. 

You Blew It on the Name

Oh, Direct TV, a poorly designed faux handwritten font on an invitation-size envelope does not entice me to take advantage of your offer, nor does sending it again in a business-size envelope. Not that I am interested in anything you would ever have to offer, but you immediately blew it on the name, and your credibility was immediately lost on me.

\

Image of the Day: Praying Mantis Egg Sack

Image of the Day: Cattails at Katz

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!

Vegetable Snowflake

Perhaps it was inspired by the Annual Pennsyltucky Veggie Awards by Bacon is NOT an Herb?

Below are the images from the last three years awards that can be found here: http://nobacon.wordpress.com/pennsyltucky-veggie-awards/

Crow Anisodactyl Foot

It was apparently walking around inspecting my car.

Ampersand in the Office

A new addition to part of my desk area at work.

Type Holiday

Some of the type related gifts I received this year included an ampersand "shadowbox" display,  distressed letterpress magnets, cufflinks, a paintable ampersand, and the book "Just My Type;" such thoughtful gifts that I truly appreciate.

Honda Fit: Modified

Modded out and ready for the rough stuff!

Pantone: On Sale and Knocked Off

Pantone iPhone covers on sale in NYC . . . 

and the knockoff ‘RickyColor’ Pantone-inspired design.

Seal of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania

This metal letterpress block was given to me by my father-in-law. A perfect gift!

For size comparison, I have it beside the wood block ampersand my son gave to me.

Lost Type Term? Pop'd Kerns

When I spotted these the other day when I was grocery shopping, they struck me as so funny. Is this a lost and cryptic typographic term? I can almost hear one of my instructors at AIP stating that, "Jim, you've really pop'd the kern there between the letters A and V!"

Real definition of kerning can be found here.

So when you open the bag, is it overwhelmingly visually pleasing and this is due to the spacing between the individual snack items? Is this a way to get children to learn about negative space; "Sally and Jason, quit messing with the kerning and finish already!"

What do you see? Cow Sodium!

Cow Sodium it is!

BONUS POINTS: The font is SantaSanta Fe Regular

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/santa-fe/santa-fe/glyphs.html

What do you see?

So, at first glance, what do you read?
Send me your answer in the Comments below.

This is an unretouched snippet of a photo taken of a product label.
BONUS POINTS: Name the font. I'll post the answer August 9th.