The final act of the blackletter mystery — with, additionally, some unpublished work that I couldn’t help but share 🙂 hflr.io/eginvy5

On Instagram, I'm posting one of my favorite typographic mysteries, in four parts. Part 1: E.G.I.N.V.Y. hflr.io/eginvy

On the relationship between ethics and the AI business: a cogent and thoughtful perspective from the always-great Paul Ford. My gift link, to share on your own channels: www.nytimes.com/2026/04/26/o...

Aha! @korystamper.bsky.social’s new book arrived today, and the week ahead is suddenly immeasurably brighter!

What else belongs on this list? 1. “Schrödinger's Cat:” invented as a send-up of Bohr and Heisenberg, now invoked as a demonstration of quantum mechanics →

This is really worth a look:

Today I learned that Cambridge University has published high resolution photographs of their collection of Baskerville punches. Cue the revivals!

One of the great logos, achieving everything that we hope for: it’s meaningful, recognizable, relevant, practical, reproducible, memorable, and fun. RIP, Jean Widmer. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/a...

In December, I casually sent a vacation photo to Paul Lukas, a friend and fellow obsessive, because it had an inverted “H” that I knew would give him a giggle, or vex him, or both. Two months later, amazingly, these 2,000 words: www.inconspicuous.info/p/h-bomb-a-f...

HOW have I never known the word “logodaedaly”?

Say what you will about AI, but it's the only technology that’s ever managed to effectively combine mansplaining with the ritual apology

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A great piece of information visualization by Prof. Christina Pagel — and maybe the first time I’ve ever seen a toggle between “Classic UI” and “New UI” that shows two equally great interfaces. Bookmark and share!

The US immigrant population generated more in taxes than they received in benefits from all levels of government every year from 1994 to 2023. The Cato study provides the first-ever 30-year analysis of the fiscal effects of immigration on government budgets. https://ow.ly/jy8a50Y8kM3

Found on Threads; bringing it here so @jessesword.com and @korystamper.bsky.social and @skleinedler.bsky.social and @benzimmer.bsky.social get to enjoy.

While the pasty incels who work the federal agencies continue to churn out feeble, bloodless AI pastiches of Axis propaganda, here’s how a living breathing artist powerfully invokes design history. This is by illustrator Emily K in South Philly, a free poster-sized download on her website: →

Achievement unlocked! Next stop: NYT Crossword fill.

New poll finds an encouraging 34% of Americans unwilling to volunteer a glib binary answer about a complex and multivalent phenomenon

I’m hopeful that New York’s terrific new First Lady, Rama Duwaji, can finally heal the divide between people who say “ceramist” and people who say “ceramicist”

Journalists, when you write that someone is “her generation’s Elphaba” or whatever, please know that I want to smack you just as hard as I did twenty years ago when you wrote that someone was “their generation’s Dumbledore” or whatever.

James Mosely's series of lectures on the history of letterforms were delivered every year to students in the Department of Typography and Graphic Communication at the University of Reading. These were recorded in 2020-21, and are now available for everyone to watch: www.youtube.com/playlist?lis...

There’s going to be a printed 12th Edition of the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary! Even if you’re living that digital life, you should order one, for the splendid and thought-provoking delight of opening to a random page and seeing something unexpected. → hflr.io/mw12

Reposting, because: 1. CLANKER 2. words generally 3. H&Co fonts on the website!

How ever to define a color in the dictionary? This is the topic of @korystamper.bsky.social’s long-awaited new book, now available for pre-order. As a huge fan of her splendid “Word by Word,” I am absolutely tickled in a color as of coral or salmon! www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/555914...

Just going to consult this reference book, “The Consequences of Pursuing Godlike Power,” by The Entire Canon of World Literature

The greatest gift I have ever received has been the introduction to the *millions* of people around the world who’ve sharpened their love of letterforms through my episode of “Abstract” on Netflix. This morning, a lovely email from a complete stranger in Krefeld, Germany — thanks, Melissa!

By “the industry,” are we talking about the one that has enriched civilization since the stone age, or the one run by a small handful of tech titans

To the Honorable Judge @darthbluesky.bsky.social: Budino has discovered that his longtime favorite, the slipper, sometimes has (when worn) a hard crunchy center (the human toe.) The literature advises that I’m supposed to discourage this, but I am weak to deny him this apex happiness. Advise?

It really might be time to let all the tech CEOs fulfill their ambition of building an extra-territorial tax haven island where they can all go and live together, allowing the rest of us some peace and quiet, or at least the ability to take them out with a single naval bombardment

I don’t know what chance or fate led me tonight to rewatch The West Wing S05 E16, “Eppur Si Muove,” but my god did it hit like a ton of bricks. American scientists, 2025. The scientists.

This needs “Yakety Sax”

okay, pretty great ad www.youtube.com/watch?v=wTv3...

You know, I look around at this world — its economic turmoil, civil unrest, environmental collapse — and I keep coming back to the thought that what we most need right now are some giant wolves

I HIGHLY recommend subscribing to “Your Local Epidemiologist” on Substack. This morning, a shrewd analysis of the disinformation campaign being waged around measles in Texas. An invaluable read: yourlocalepidemiologist.substack.com

Concept of the day: “Hamming Distance.” Interesting, useful; jolly name. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hamming...

I don't think we'll ever know why scientists act like that.

I’m gonna go out on a limb and suggest that “eating alone” might not be the whole picture.

Woefully incomplete! At the very least, missing are: (vi) those belonging to the Emperor (vii) embalmed ones (viii) fabled ones (ix) stray dogs (x) those included in this classification (xi) innumerable ones (xii) those that have just broken the vase (xiii) those that from afar look like flies

I don't know about you, but I'm heading into the kitchen to mix myself the granddaddy of all negronis

Good read. Short. www.archives.gov/founding-doc...

What do we think “half mast” looks like at McDonalds? Are both flags run down? Just the Stars and Stripes? Do they move the McDonalds flag to half mast if Mayor McCheese dies?

Readying an old old album for digital distribution, and I remembered this pretty funny album-credits-as-type-specimen that was included in the CD.

Apple Intelligence has truly achieved the caliber of insane gibberish unseen since the days of the Newton MessagePad. Below, my phone's alarming summary of a voicemail, which in fact dealt with scheduling a time to meet with an electrician to compare halogen and LED light fixtures.

When next you need a break from all the doomscrolling, may I suggest a few minutes with CutAndPasteMovies: www.instagram.com/cutandpastem...

Helpful illustration by Dr. Hardeep Singh on how federal health & safety agencies protect us.

A fun Black History Month footnote to this is that the motif of the anthropomorphic legislative bill—known to most of us from Schoolhouse Rock—has roots in the Black press of the 1930s, as in these two editorial cartoons by Bill Chase & Romare Bearden, both highlighting anti-lynching legislation

Currently paused at the grocery store, listening to a soothing Bob Marley song, and contemplating whether the answer to all our problems might just be eating an entire ball of mozzarella and going to bed

Really worth the two minutes. And the additional related phenomena that @kottke.org pulled together are illuminating!

Making the rounds is this *wonderful* sequence by Questlove, which is so joyful and energizing. Not just “worth the seven and a half minutes,” but the 22-1/2 in which you’ll be unable not to immediately watch it three times in a row. Ingenious and beautiful and inspiring. youtu.be/vDxYQd51Xuk?...

Reposting this because it’s topical for me, but personally I’m more interested in the gent at lower right who appears to be watching a murder mystery on a black-and-white TV: