open source (12. 491)

Echoing today’s previous posting, we very much enjoyed making the acquaintance of an omnipresence and prolific graphic design artist and illustrator called Takashi Mifune—whose work, anonymous for its ubiquity and described as unpinning “social infrastructure,” has influenced Japan’s public aesthetic and visual vernacular. Though not unique in offering clip-art, the website maintained by Mifune Irasutoya (いらすとや, illustration shop) makes his cast of iconic characters and symbols freely available to for personal and commercial applications, with the large range covering every conceivable situation and occupation—from the everyday to the niche—and consistency of style (see previously) has garnered the artist’s momentum and reputation as the standard for signage. Featuring highly specialised jobs, current events, cultural neologisms, maladies, warnings, restrictions and artefacts with far more briskness and particularity than other catalogues of stock images, inspiring contests to recreate works of art with Mifune’s drawings, subject matter easily summoned up from the commonplace to centrifuges, Prototaxites (an extinct plant life-form between fungi and trees), traditional dress of La Sape subculture, wisdom teeth, both bipedal and quadrupedal versions of chupacabras and the Antikythera mechanism. Much more from It’s Nice That at the link up top.

you may need rendering support (12. 490)

Despite being last updated in 2012, the announcement from Japanese wireless carrier Docomo (a subsidiary of Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) that it is officially discontinuing support for its emoji set marks the end of an era that spanned decades and played a foundational role in emoji communication and native texting environments. Beginning in 1995 with the simple inclusion of a ❤︎ icon that could be displayed on pagers (see previously)—and the user outcry when the option was quietly removed in a subsequent update demonstrated to the concern public interest not only in symbolic shorthand but also a way to accent missives when not communicating face-to-face, the reaction informing the glyph collection to come. In 1999, Docomo introduced a set of one hundred seventy-six character syllabary of supplemental monochrome, twelve-by-twelve pixel icons designed by Shigetaka Kurita (栗田 穣崇), which inspired by universal street signage, pictograms and the mood and emotional cues employed for manga protagonists called manpu (漫符, a bead of sweat to signal accomplishment or apprehension), created the base lexicon and grammar that Unicode adopted later. Although limited to the network, the emoji set, growing colourised and more articulated, saw its legacy enlivened by platforms with greater interoperability and customisation and is honoured as a linguistic fossil and the emoji equivalent of Latin.

synchronoptica

one year ago: more adventures in the Thüringer Forest (with synchronoptica) plus a notable Shiba Inu passes away 

seven years ago: between distraction and anxiety, Dune product tie-ins plus digitising the Munch Museum

eight years ago: Elton John and Bernie Taupin, Trump calls NATO partners deadbeats plus preparing for a short sabbatical 

nine years ago: shooting stars on demand,  Wundarr the Aquarian plus rabbits doing violence in medieval manuscripts

ten years ago: a visit to the Neckar valley plus assorted links to revisit

sigils and signs (12. 486)

Having previously looked at other visual language compliers expressed through artistic elements and other than the usual strings of functions and conditions of coding, and very much reenforces overdue acknowledgement that the jargon of computing can act as a gatekeeper and that unnatural language can create an out-group (see also) for whom these incantations seem like wizardry, and given our preoccupation with secret signs, we were very much
intrigued by this mystical platform of magic circles, via Clive Thompson’s latest Linkfest (a lot more to explore there) under development by Denis M Moskowitz. The sampled, quicksort spell is a rendering of the Euclidean algorithm for calculating the greatest common divisor of two numbers—that which divides them both without a remainder—a benchmark test for the logic of a new programming language with an intuitively visual component. Moskowitz has also created a character set of glyphs or monograms after the chaos magic of Austin Osman Spare (previously here and here) whose seals unlock the basic grammar of coding. Much more at the links above.

⁓ (12. 484)

Although also slightly peeved that the em-dash has become the signature punctuation of artificial intelligence chatbots (see also, scroll down for an act of malicious non-compliance with an agent) and sad to see the way I write coopted—though maybe leaning too heavily on a brittle linkage and perhaps should rely more on brackets or the semicolon, I was naturally intrigued by this proposal for a separator available exclusively for human use to signal that it was not penned by machine, the am-dash, via Web Curios and as in cogito ergo sum. Superficially like the title swung dash (used primarily, however, to set apart a list of alternatives or approximates or in dictionary entries to avoid reprinting the term being defined), the am-dash would be but of a restricted character set—see also.
First widely used in the Nicholas Okes’ publication of Shakespeare’s plays to capture pauses, interruption and epiphany of the staged performances in the early seventeenth century, Jonathan Swift’s 1733 verse On Poetry later encapsulated the style as:

Blot out, correct, insert, refine,
Enlarge, diminish, interline;
Be mindful, when Invention fails;
To scratch your Head, and bite your Nails.

Your poem finish’d, next your Care
Is needful, to transcribe it fair.
In modern Wit all printed Trash, is
Set off with num’rous Breaks⸺and Dashes—

Much more at the links above.

11x11 (12. 481)

ν octantis: astronomers discover a tight binary star system with a lone exoplanet wedged in the middle  

{sum free sets}: Cambridge graduate student proves an conjecture of Paul Erdős on the limits of the additive property—via Damn Interesting 

gorgoneion: the backstory of Medusa 

market instability: complaining that negotiations have stalled, Trump threatens to impose a fifty-percent tariff on EU exports to the US 

ambigram: more invertible messages—made by impossible letters (see previously here and here) 

the old, old, very old man: the sudden death of super-centenarian Tom Parr in 1635 illuminates our long quest for longevity—see also 

marked decline: the precipitous drop in the use of semicolons—with a quiz to celebrate its proper placement  

urban renewal: arborists are planting giant sequoia (previously) in blighted Detroit neighbourhoods—via Kottke  

pandemonium: when the pantheon of gods and goddesses came into the world, they already had company with a multiplicity of daemons acting through human agents 

exchange programme: US Department of Homeland Security revokes Harvard’s ability to enrol foreign students  

brown dwarf: in the distant past, Jupiter was nearly twice its present size with a much stronger magnetic field, revealed by the orbital dynamics of its constellation of satellites—see previously

11x11 (12. 472)

higher power: traditionally anodyne, new Chinese spaceflight mission patches (see also) might betray some secrets 

triple word score: fun variants, house rules and more Scrabble-related news—see previously 

a stra ze neca: no, the multinational pharmaceutical concern name does not mean “a road to death” in Latin 

hamburgervons: a flip book of font specimens to build the perfect typeface—the heading a typographer’s tool to test layout and legibility—see also   

revenge of the sith: a retrospective for the prequel twenty years on—see also here and here 

there i ruined it: interesting mashup of US national anthem to the tune of Soundgarden’s “Black Hole Sun” 

kyphosis bicyclistarum: an 1893 warning from the Lancet for wheelmen on the bad posture and stoop that frequent cycling can cause—see also   

sunny days: after Trump defunds PBS and NPR, Netflix is championing Sesame Street   

micro-camper: a well-appointed mobile tiny home in the bed of kei truck—via Things Magazine (much more to discover there)   

fan theory: Doctor Who’s “Interstellar Song Contest”—Eurovision counter programming—teases the return of a classic arch-villainess  

pinball wizard: the 1976 NBC gameshow flop, The Magnificent Marble Machine, with celebrity players 

niallia tiangongensis: evolution on display in novel bacteria found aboard China’s space-station—via Damn Interesting

synchronoptica

one year ago: more on the Kessler Effect (with synchronoptica), AI overviews plus two classes of typos

seven years ago: Pentecost, for-profit colleges plus a ride on a steam locomotive

eight years ago: reforming the US electoral college, the Global Seed Vault is flooding, protesting Trump’s bribes plus an AI names bespoke colours

nine years ago: a visit to Tintagel

ten years ago: a time lapse of climate change, assorted links to revisit plus the making of The Shining

11x11 (12. 431)

hot, cold, clash and burn: some performances from candidates for the 2025 Dance Your PhD contest with real EuroVision vibes—see previously 

man in motion: a biography of Eadweard Muybridge (previously) as a graphic novel   

pc connection: the raccoon mascot that made the catalogue stand out amongst industry uniformity—via Nag on the Lake   

popemobile: the pontiff’s conveyance used for his 2014 visit to Bethlehem to be converted into a mobile health clinic for Gaza   

oaf of office: arguing that due process is cumbersome, Trump defers to his legal team on whether it his duty to uphold the constitution 

pamflyt compiled of cheese, contayninge the differences, nature, qualities, and goodnes, of the same: an early Renaissance book on the staple food digitised and made available to the public

architecture of choice: AI buttons and the fat-finger economy pushing redesign and showhorning of non-options into everything   

sustained presence: Israel expands operations, evictions in the occupied territory   

papabili: the College of Cardinals’ report and coverage of the upcoming conclave—via Web Curios 

mingkwai: the rediscovery of an incredible antique mechanical typewriter prototype for printing Chinese characters—via Neatorama—with a video demonstration 

marge inalia: alert the grammar police, the Errorist strikes again

synchronoptica

one year ago: Expo '74 (with synchronoptica), the Cabbage Patch Kids’ maternity ward, assorted links worth revisiting plus the Grammies

seven years ago: more links to enjoy, lampooning mid-morning television, doggie bags plus election by Borda count

eight years ago: potential jail time for protesting the US attorney general, the Cornell carillon plays a tribute to the Grateful Dead plus even more links

nine years ago: gorillas sing little tunes as they eat, maps of Middle Earth, a market hall in Rotterdam plus a popular French tonic wine

ten years ago: Hee-Haw and the cancellation of Star Trek plus utopian thinking

10x10 (12. 420)

america’s war: a special report from the Verge for the fiftieth anniversary of the Fall of Saigon   

leaflet: an Art Nouveau study of botanical forms and their application in decor—see previously  

mangajin: an appreciation of the month English-language publication for students of Japanese language and culture—full archives from the entire run from 1988 to 1997 here   

do: inspirational words from artist Sol LeWitt to fellow creative pioneer Eva Hesse 

chisanbop: the Korean technique of fingermath   

i have to push the pram a lot: Monty Python and the Holy Grail at fifty   

animal spirits: what felines, bovines, porcines, etc on the label say about wine quality   

you wouldn’t right-click a car: US anti-piracy campaign filled with hypocrisy, including a stolen font—see also   

bus error collective: a WSIWYG primer on oscilloscope music—via Waxy   

worst one-hundred days: assessments of Trump first months in office for his second term—more here and here

synchronptica

one year ago: Pennsylvania 6-5000 (with synchronoptica) plus naming world wars 

seven years ago: a corollary to the Bechdel test plus a visit to Stockheim

eight years ago: archaeology with trace DNA, Islamic gateways plus responding to nuclear extortion 

nine years ago: crowd control robots, language acquisition plus a hand-held DNA sequencer

ten years ago: visiting FDR’s Georgia retreat, ribald limericks, assorted links to revisit plus pontoon bridges to alleviate traffic congestion

10x10 (12. 405)

hug, marry, kill: internet roasts muttonhead JD Vance for his audience with Pope Francis—more here  

kegsbreath: US defence secretary poised to be replaced and other news and developments from Superpunch—see more  

trump slump: populist politicians over the globe are distancing themselves from MAGA  

yolo: search data for Anglophone texting abbreviations  

oh aunt jess: Angela Lansbury in fine art—via Miss Cellania  

technics: an obstacle course for LEGO walkers  

zwiebelfisch: a treasury of printers’ terminology, as in the German for a character misprinted with a dif𝚏erent font, and more including wayzgoose 

one if by land, two if by sea: Heather Cox Richardson speaking at the two-hundred fiftieth anniversary of the midnight ride of Paul Revere  

education for death: Walt Disney’s 1943 film on how fascists are made 

a good book can help us weather the storm: Francis’ defence of literature for spiritual and mental enlightenment—see also this papal playlist

9x9 (12. 391)

field of vision: the evolution of eyes branching out as on a tree of life   

land-grant college: the federal-funding based model for American post-secondary education is based on a deliberate post-World War II decision to outsource expertise and experimentation rather than compartmentalise it within government consortia  

habeas corpus: relenting to the idea that some people have no rights is siding with authoritarianism and hoping you aren’t next   

under construction: transform any modern website a late 90s GeoCities masterpiece—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest   

thank you easter bunny—bwak, bwak: more on the controversial, re-constructed, retcon of the holiday mascot 

⌂: the tiny house in the middle of IBM’s eight-bit character set, adopted by PC clones with the 1981 Code Page 437—see previously—and its possible relation to Blissymbolics 

rinki-tink in oz: deportation and administrative oversight in L Frank Baum’s paracosm   

uniwersytet latający: US institutions higher education can defy Trump’s crackdown by outreach and going underground, as Polish universities did under Communism—via Kottke   

recaptcha: corvids demonstrate surprising mental acuity for identifying outlier shapes and geometric regularity—via MetaFilter

synchronoptica

one year ago: St Liduina (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: US refusing Syrian refugees, American kakistocracy plus some local prehistory

eight years ago: bunking busting bombs, the White House Easter Egg Roll plus a grim future vision of US national parks

nine years ago: animated viruses, solar sails, more chatbot failures plus a walk from Wiesbaden to Mainz

eleven years ago: Ukrainian break-away republics

 

use case (12. 384)

Keith Houston of Shady Characters, who has just published a new book on the evolution of the face with tears of joy emoji (previously), reports on their repurposing as featured in a new streaming series (which we’ve started) that explores incel and misogynistic online culture through in-group coding. Such coopting is nothing new (see previously here and here) but the collective autobiographical vocabulary is noteworthy if not dispiriting, like using 💯 for the prevalent idea that twenty percent of men attract eighty percent of women and thus the latter are blameworthy for their lack of success. Kidney beans are somehow also a part of the mansophere.  In related news, Houston also highlights how all office chatter is the same and peppered with emoji—no matter the context or gravity—through the lens of the “Houthi PC small group”—which was not so small even before the accidental inclusion of a journalist into the war room—with reactions like 👊🇺🇸🔥 and 🙏 celebrating airstrikes and potentially compromising national security.

basket case (12. 383)

Though resigned to a therapeutic activity, the art of basket-weaving is something unlike other textile crafts that defies mechanisation and automation and is being championed clubs and consortia all over embracing these ancient ways with both materially traditional and novel substrates, rallying around the 🧺 emoji to express affiliation, included in 2018 rollout. There was some discussion a few years ago about adding a truck emoji as a concession to conservative Americans, a symbolic move that probably would have garnered more mileage and not seen as a bow to tribalism—see also here and here—the pickup created in 2020 in response being seen as too twee and the expectation was for some monster all-terrain SUV. Originating with the asylum system of the nineteenth century with institutionalised individuals mildly dehumanised with such activities that were regarded as childlike and busy-work, basket weaving was somewhat rehabilitated following World War I as occupational therapy for returning soldiers suffering from shell-shock (what we would now recognise as post-traumatic stress disorder), the title epithet probably comes from not the activity but rather the wicker wheelchairs provided to recovering and disabled service members—like the etymology of gone to hell in a hand basket stems from being carted off on a litter. Find out more about those retaking the craft and carrying it forward from It’s Nice That at the link above.

9x9 (12. 381)

domestic box office: in response to escalating tariffs, China is curtailing the number of American films screened in the country  

redeployment: decision to reposition US troops stationed in Poland causing concern  

dixonary: improprieties in pronunciation among New Englanders 

 𐦉: the Latin alphabet expressed as hieroglyphics  

now is a great time to buy—$djt: social media posts and a spike in options activity may indicate insider trading within the administration  

א₀: physicist Dominic Walliman charts out the fields of mathematics and how the academic informs application 

from the gigantic bones displayed at roncesvalles: an adjective that should be brought part back into use 

a man, a plan: US defence secretary floats idea of reopening mothball military bases from the 1989 invasion of Panama 

trading floor: the history of the ticker-tape machine

greed (12. 368)

The unapologetically bold and unyielding typeface by Neil Summerour for foundry Positype—perfect for this twentytwentyfive moment—is based on the typography of US banknotes, originally planned as a series of fonts illustrating the Seven Deadly Sins. Released on inauguration day, that singular vice seemed an all encompassing symbol for capturing the enshitifying gilded age we’ve been thrust into. Among the challenges the designer faced (aside from possible arrest from this administration for defacing legal tender) was crafting a lower case equivalent since dollar bills are all-caps, ANNUIT COEPTIS—God favours our undertaking!—no need to shout, NOVUS ORDO SECLORUM, and crafting a complete set of numerals outside of 0, 1, 2 and 5. The typeface has the complete set of Latin glyphs and diacritics for every language, including Vietnamese and others often left out of bespoke fonts not as a testament of universality but rather to be inclusive. More from Print Magazine at the link up top.

10x10 (12. 360)

kapmifmif: a study morphological emic distribution classes through a constructed language—see previously   

murder on flight 502: the star-studded 1975 television disaster movie gets the Poseidon’s Underworld treatment 

blanket rate: bad assumptions and arithmetic informs Trump tariff regime, which is tanking markets globally

mira calligraphiae monumenta: paging through a sixteenth century illuminated model book on scribal excellence rebelling against the standardisation of the printing press—with embellishes reminiscent of the Voynich manuscript and Codex Seraphinianus 

clickens: judge chicken portraits on various personality traits and harness the wisdom of the masses—via Kottke   

salmon run: a beautifully crafted early home arcade game speaks to swimming upstream 

sala di consultazione: free access to the Vatican Library’s digital archives 

elbows up: Canada plans retaliation over US punitive duty deal plus GOP senators side with Democrats to rebuke the proposal to levy additional tariffs on its northern neighbour 

real id: US government is beginning to require an internal passport, which is not automatically issued   

mezameta: the role of katakana in loan words, gairaigo, scientific binomials and transcription and the problem with conveying the shifting meaning of woke

synchronoptica 

one year ago: assorted links to revisit (with synchronoptica), standard lunar time plus vulgar expressions of indifference

seven years ago: Iran’s faux Western fast foods, bi-lingual Braille plus a North American medicinal plant map

eight years ago: more links to enjoy

nine years ago: vintage Canadian tourist posters plus a Rosary ring

ten years ago: the Anthropocene plus the architecture of folklore

sashiko, boro and bunka (12. 343)

Via Spoon & Tamgo, we are referred to the latest, as yet incomplete project by embroidery artist Tomoko Kubo to adorn and ornament all forty six characters of the hiragana lettering system (see previously), each glyph carefully laid out to feature foods, creatures and concepts that begin with that particular character, like the pictured U kana (う in hiragana and ウ in katakana—deriving from the kanji logograph 宇 meaning abode or territory—the former being a phonetic syllabary and the later being a simplified version of more complex Chinese characters). Not only a work of art, they also aid in approaching the language for beginners with this colourful and creative abecedarium: う is for rabbit (うさぎ, usagi) and for horse (うま, uma), etc. Much more at the links above.

9x9 (12. 314)

👀: a “half-swipe” feature that allows recipients to screen messages with them being marked as read is exacerbating dating anxiety amongst teens—via Superpunch 

rabbithole: global styles of curiosity survey as revealed by Wikipedia app usage—via Clive Thompson’s Linkfest—are you a hunter, dancer or busybody?   

we have urinated in our beds—there was no chamber pot: a survey of the graffiti of Ancient Rome that’s very much like a contemporary comments section 

quotidiano: Italian news paper prints all-AI edition   

derezz: local club hosts a TRON party during a gaming developers’ conference as a history lesson   

gulf-stream: a mesmerising overview of the world’s ocean currents and eddies   

let your fingers do the walking: the typography of the telephone directory, the Yellow Pages, and its antecedents 

patrimonialism: running a state as one’s family business   

forbidden unlawful representation of roleplaying in education: legislation in Texas would outlaw students presenting as other than human, check out the acronyms of the bill, including fursonæ

synchronoptica

one year ago: the science behind sippy-birds (with synchronoptica), another 3D rendering challenge plus assorted links worth revisiting

seven years ago: the allure of old books,  The Gods of Japan (1943), more links to enjoy plus artist Grant Wood

eight years ago: the architecture of choice,  Trump defunds agencies plus Trump’s foreign policy

nine years ago: more on state fossils plus collected quotations

ten years ago: the new EU central bank headquarters, job redundancy, even more links, animals on trial plus local galleries

12x12 (12. 237)

little sisyphus: a challenging NES-style side-scrolling game—see previously—via Waxy  

behind every robot that turns evil there’s an engineer that installed red diodes in its eyes in anticipation: Meta wants to create AI powered robots to do your chores 

quipu: the largest known superstructure in the Cosmos, named for the corded knot accounting of the ancient Inca culture—via Strange Company  

parataxis: storytelling loves a list  

i will say this only once: John J Hoare responds to a video take-down notice for reposting an old clip—that suggests that YouTube is focused on hate speech against Nazis  

pantograph engraving: the unseen typeface all around us—via the new Shelton wet/dry 

pump and dump: nothing to see here, just another perfectly normal president pulling the rug out from under his country with a memecoin 

return to forever: Chick Corea and friends at the forty-third Jazzaldia festival 

stairwell of the quarter: more on the design efficiency of alternating tread stairs  

nanook of the north: Robert J Falherty’s 1922 documentary on the Inuit  

how many department of government efficiency employees does it take to screw in a lightbulb: a look at DOGE at work—via Nag on the Lake  

windows, icons, menus, pointers: a cursor dance party—via Pasa Bon!

slab serif (12. 207)

The always diverting Present /&/ Correct directs our attention to a beautiful volume of collected specimens of chromatic wood type, borders and flourishes from 1874 published by the William H Page & Co, featuring page of page of samples in Gothic Tuscan and Antique, Bulletin Script, Arabesque and many bespoke fonts. Apprenticed to a printshop aged fourteen in Vermont, Page eventually became the foreman and branched out working as a staff writer for the New York Tribune, taking up engraving as a hobby and creating font families for printers JG Cooley. Page acquired his own foundry later, innovating the industry and having employed women during the male labour shortage caused by the US civil war, was singular in retaining his talent after the fight subsided and kept hiring females throughout the life of the company. More at the links above.

lapidary capitalis (12. 176)

Aptly illustrated with this calligram of the she-wolf who nursed Romulus and Remus—via Pasa Bon!, we are referred to project ARETE (ἀρετή, the concept of excellence in any field—the ‘polity van’ used for sanctioned field trips of my college had the license plate H ARETH, with the proper article and transliteralisation) from the University of Applied Sciences of Potsdam of a visual and interactive study in the network of influences, interventions and inscriptionsthat led to the genesis of Roman Capitalis to Antiqua and Grotesk font families and how manuscripts continued to inform the look of typefaces even after the printing press came into being in the West, injecting a typographical angle into scholarly discourse. Each font sampler has extensive details on its provenance and how it relates to other points of inflection.