Adrian’s Microblog

Trusted RV rental marketplace | OutdoorsyJust was recommend this by someone who used it last year - Sorta like an AirBnB for RV campers.Been looking for a way to do something like this, so may have to give a spin! 🚐 🤠

“The role of the designer is that of a very good thoughtful host anticipating the needs of their guests.” – Charles Eames

“Hank” by Ben Rector.

First released in 2008 (one of his earlier songs) but only published to his YouTube channel last June (12 years later). Still not sure why there so few listens as it’s really warmed on me.

It comes from a time before I first became aware of Ben’s music, but glad to have discovered it as there’s something simple, honest, and touching in the reflections.

Hope you enjoy, “Hank”. :)

Janus WordsA word that can mean its own opposite, a contronym.E.g., “sanction”, which can mean both allow and penalize depending on context. Or “cleave” which can likewise mean both hold fast and cut up.I remember first running across this anomaly with “sanction”, but didn’t know there was a word for it. Huh.(As discovered in “Dreyer’s English”.)

“What is the amount of timeGiven in each moment?What is the amount of timeLeft to us to fill?What is the amount of timeLiving in each moment?What is the amount of timeFor us to lay still?”-yours truly

The H&Co Catalog No. 11From the type designers at Hoefler & Company (headed up by Jonathan Hoefler) comes the latest type specimen book, published in 2019.Whether a lover of type or a graphic designer, sure to provide hours of interest. (Not to mention that the $15 purchase price can be applied towards the purchase of at Typography.com.)

Predictions for the winter A great peek inside the second oldest Almanac still printed in the U.S., based right here in Maryland. Fun to learn about these unique publications, get the low-down on prognostications for this winter, and hear the 200-year family history that has produced this particular volume.And of course you can get your own copy for $5.50 on their website plus check out their social media and weekly almanac videos: www.almanack.com/via The Baltimore Sun

Inspector StampsOkay, is this not the coolest: Back in the day train conductors, health inspectors, and others working in the field had custom stamps to place their “mark” when their office called for it.And a print house has revived the category and made available for your own custom “inspector stamp” - check out Cranky Pressman for more info.

Withhold v. ThresholdBecause yeh, English can’t be relied upon for consistency. ;)

“It is time—past time—to make plain that, while the pan­demic poses many grave chal­lenges, there is no world in which the Con­sti­tu­tion tol­er­ates color-coded ex­ec­u­tive edicts that re­open liquor stores and bike shops but shut­ter churches, syn­a­gogues, and mosques,” Justice Gorsuch in Thursday’s decisionSeems you can’t let more people in the liquor store than the church. I’ll drink to that! 😜🍻 www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/…

Host multigenerational game night during the holidaysThough we played board/ card games as a family off-and-on growing up, it wasn’t a centerpiece per se. (Perhaps in part pushed out by the advent of console gaming.) In more recent years, though, and through enthusiastic board gamer friends and in-laws, I’ve come to appreciate and grow in enjoyment of this pastime. And so it was with interest that a column in this Sunday’s Sun caught my eye and drew me to read deeper. Some fun suggestions I’m bookmarking here for future reference, and perhaps you’ll enjoy too. :)

“Skating” by Vince Guaraldi for “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.From a green vinyl album recently received as a birthday present, just in time for the holidays. Charlie Brown Christmas was part of my childhood memories, though not one of the perennial family traditional viewings like the Rudolph or other stop-motion animation specials. (The voice of Burl Ives is still evokes a warming, cozy feeling of sitting on the couch in the family living room at the magical time of year.) Still, I recall how accessible and calm the show was - perhaps a little more close to reality when compared with all the unrelenting smiling and jingling of other specials.Being now the longest continuously broadcast show (second only perhaps to the Rudolph), it may seem odd that it almost didn’t make it to air and was deemed sure to flop by the CBS executives who were only forced to air it since it had already been announced and in the published schedules.It’s been a lot of fun to hear this and other music from the album, which curiously became an instant hit with the the three- and one- year olds (whose voices are also featured here). ;)

From the wise, 9 unsung ways to have deeper conversations

The Best Waterproof Fountain Pen Inks | JetPensI recently revived use of my Lamy Safari, telling myself I’d go for 30 days before making any decisions on transitioning to it for my ‘everyday’ pen. (The current everyday pen being a Pentel Energel 7mm rollerball.)Nearing the end of my T10 Lamy Blue refill cartridges, and finding myself wanting to continue use further, I dug a little deeper before committing to a replacement ink. I had noticed the Blue would react adversely to water, and upon researching confirmed that it, like many standard fountain pen inks, are water soluble and will smudge and potentially even be rendered unreadable in enough water (making me particular nervous for some business correspondence I had addressed by hand recently). Some inks are considered various degrees of water resistant, and a few are specifically waterproof (though as you might suspect, the ink properties differ).In the end I settled on Lamy Blue-Black in T52 ink well which is water resistant and should adequately fill my needs.Thank you to the author of the above post for a great breakdown and analysis of inks.

Apparently I completely missed that this technology was possible: and ink pen whose ink turns colorless under a jet lighter: Frixion from Pilot.All while learning more about the Pilot Namiki Vanishing Point fountain pen - maybe something for down the road milestone. :)

Each has something to say. The only thing more dangerous than truth is half-truth.

Celebrated a birthday recently and the Mrs. got me a card I really took a fancy too …For Gutnis’ sake. :)

The Caslon typeface.Originated by William Caslon I (d. 1766) of London, who established the H. W. Caslon & Sons type foundry and played a large part in developing the British type making industry which up to that time was effectively imported from Holland.Identified as the typeface used to disseminate the U.S. Declaration of Independence on July 5, 1776 printed by John Dunlap at his print shop blocks from Independence Hall in Philadelphia as he was overseen by Franklin, Jefferson, Adams, Livingston, and Sherman known as the Dunlap Broadside. (The calligraphic parchment version of the Declaration not being signed until August 2 of that year.)It had small variations in its day, but was revived around the 1900s and subsequent when various designers adapted it to modern printing (e.g. Adobe Caslon Pro).It has both aficionados and detractors (as any good font should I suppose) but the descriptions I most liked were “comfortable and inviting” and a “happy archaism”.

Okay, rant time:

I’m certainly not the first to hit upon this, nor will I be the last, but for the love of all that is holy, can we agree what A6 is!?

So I understand different paper size standards evolved from different parts of the world - I’m fine with that. You’ve got those defined by ISO, ANSI, JIS, and others.

But I was recently looking at getting something printed, and I have an A5 Rhodia tablet and thought to myself: self, I’d like something just a little bit bigger for this project. So A6 “sounds” about right, right? Of course (and this is my own ignorance), the higher you go in the A series, the smaller the size. (Which is why one printer I think was scratching their head when I was describing the proposed layout and insightfully commented that there may not be much room left to write.)

That prompted me to dig deeper, through which I found this great website reference that has taken the painstaking steps to amalgamate these different standards into one place for reference (and even a little history and background). Here I was able to learn about my A6 mistake and better judge what would actually work.

But then, I was on another printer’s site on which they provided templates for different print job sizes, one of which is A9 with dimensions of 8.5" x 5.5". This is more in line with what I was thinking … but the actual ISO A9 is 1.5" x 2". Like, what is going on here? I’m sure there’s some deep explanation, of which I’m partly curious, but I fail to see the purposes of “standards” if everybody is just going to come up with their own definitions.

Phew … well at least that’s off my chest. Thank you gentle reader, and may your paper journeys be just a little less bumpy having now been equipped with this newfound knowledge.

Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America’s most-trusted online dictionary