“The desktop publishing era, short as it was, did something really important: It turned the process of publishing into something anyone could do cheaply and professionally. … In its original form, [The Print Shop] was an ’80s-tastic program that redefined the parameters of print design into something that could literally be called child’s play. Today’s Tedium considers the ramifications of the software platform from which a million dot matrix paper banners were born.”
Category: words
Adverbs Are Cheap? That’s Ridiculously Wrong-Headed
Colin Dickey: “Who will speak on the adverb’s behalf? For once again, it would seem, it is under attack. … We desperately lack a full-throated defense of this runt of the grammatical litter. We need an outright celebration of adverbs, and it is that celebration that I offer – stridently, boisterously, unapologetically.”
Is The Internet Making You Dumb? So Says This Study
“This study suggests it may not be the screen time that’s at fault for lessened abilities—it’s the low quality of most online content. The IJBA study suggests that people who read more low-quality content had lower sophistication, syntax, cadence, and rhythm in their own writing.”
When The Language Of Of Art Became Americanized
“Even today, music fans ask why British soul singers sound so American. Why do Paul McCartney, Adele, Mick Jagger, and Elton John take on a Yankee tone when they shift from talking to singing? And it’s not just music. The same patterns of influence and dissemination can also be traced in movies, novels, and other creative fields.”
2,000-Year-Old Documents From Roman-Era London Found In Mud
“Researchers from Museum of London Archaeology uncovered more than 400 wooden tablets during excavations in London’s financial district for the new headquarters of media and data company Bloomberg. So far, 87 have been deciphered, including one addressed ‘in London, to Mogontius’ and dated to A.D. 65-80 – the earliest written reference to the city, which the Romans called Londinium.”
Read A Never-Published Story By Langston Hughes
“It was Marcel’s apartment, and seven people were dancing. Six were colored and one was white. Marcel himself was colored, a muddy brown and not good-looking. It was he who danced alone. His dancing was too fanciful to be masculine and too grotesque to be feminine. But everything that he did was like that.”
David Mitchell Just Finished A Novel That Will Be Locked Away For 98 Years
Mitchell is the second contributor to the Scottish artist Katie Paterson’s Future Library project … Starting with Margaret Atwood, who last year handed over the manuscript of a text called Scribbler Moon, each year for the next 100 years an author will deliver a piece of writing which will only be read in 2114.”
Are We Close To Having A Universal Translator? (And If So You’ll No Longer Need To Learn A Second Language)
“For years it’s been a major boon in business to know a second language—and for the sake of relationships, it may still be. But it looks like in a few years you’ll be able to attend a German cocktail hour and know what’s being said, or make that trip to France and understand directions.”
Rediscovering A 19th-Century Black Female Novelist
“While looking through old British newspapers, I was astonished to read an 1893 announcement in The Daily Telegraph proclaiming Sarah E. Farro to be ‘the first negro novelist’ with the publication of her novel True Love. I wondered: who was this woman? And why didn’t we know about this reportedly groundbreaking novel?”
What Kinds Of Books Are Selling These Days? Paperbacks, Audiobooks, Coloring Books – But Not E-Books
“After years of seemingly unstoppable growth, e-book sales have started to slip, while paper has improbably bounced back. Digital book sales fell nearly 10 percent in 2015 from the previous year. Paperback sales grew by a healthy 16 percent.” What’s more, “those who came of age with digital technology seem, surprisingly, to prefer paper to pixels.”