roughlydaily

[roughlydaily]

The birth of the book: on Christians, Romans, and the codex (Plus- Samuel Morse) “From the moment I picked up your book until I put it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.”*…

Turn the page: https://bit.ly/2IWjaVw

#book #books #publishing #history #Codex #scroll #history of books #communications #history of communications #technology #innovation #Christianity #Samuel Morse #telegraph #Morse Code #telegraphy

[roughlydaily]

The 'Dark Ages' weren't as dark as we thought (Plus- the Renaissance begins) “I like a bad reputation”*…

Rehabilitate history: https://bit.ly/2GHO3LU

#history #Middle Ages #Dark Ages #Renaissance #Humanism #Mt. Ventoux #Petrarch

[roughlydaily]

"Amazing Grace" Hopper, seminal computer scientist and Rear Admiral in the U.S. Navy, explains a "nanosecond" (Plus- the invention of the semiconductor “Please cut off a nanosecond and send it over to me”*…

Celebrate clarity: https://bit.ly/2GFy7dg

#technology #computing #time #light speed #history #Grace Hopper #Jack Kilby #Robert Noyce #semiconductor #electronics #microelectronics #integrated curcuits #Computers #computer science #nanosecond

[roughlydaily]

The urgent quest for slower, better news (Plus- the first continuously-published newspaper in North America) “Our major obligation is not to mistake slogans for solutions”*…

Break news: https://bit.ly/2UClbsn

#journalism #news #newspaper #history #slow #slow news #technology #Boston News-Letter #first newspaper

[roughlydaily]

The ingenious yet useless inventions of Chindōgu, recreated (Plus- New Coke) “All men know the use of the useful, but nobody knows the use of the useless!”*…

Investigate intention: https://bit.ly/2XyQuGf

#invention #innovation #Chindogu #humor #history #photography #business #branding commerce New Coike Coca Cola fiasco #Daniel Gebhart de Koekkoek

[roughlydaily]

Find out how to turn a $1,000 art-auction pickup into a $450 million masterpiece: "The Invention of the ‘Salvator Mundi’" (Plus- the gangsters who got away) “Making money is art”*…

Appreciate appreciation: https://bit.ly/2VfHhp0

#art #art market #art business #Salvator Mundi #old master #masterpiece #history #Leonardo #Leonardo de Vinci #da Vinci #John Dillinger #Baby Face Nelson #gangsters #FBI #Little Bohemia Lodge

[roughlydaily]

Does "synonym" have a synonym? (Plus- Hervé Le Tellier “Roughly speaking: to say of two things that they are identical is nonsense”*…

Tell the difference at: https://bit.ly/2PmWC1i

#words #synonym #sameness #language #linguistics #philosophy #Hervé Le Tellier #literature #Oulipo #history #Wittgenstein #Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus

[roughlydaily]

In its original concept, the Appalachian Trail was more than a hiking path: "An Appalachian Trail: A Project in Regional Planning" (Plus- the proto-National Park) “There is a phenomenon called ‘Trail Magic'”*…

Walk the walk: https://bit.ly/2ZgCpyS

#Appalachian Trail #hiking #Regional planning #parks #national parks #Benton MacKaye #Hot Springs Reservation #Hot Springs National Park #history

[roughlydaily]

A formative set of early educational "toys" and their extraordinary legacy: "Froebel's Gifts" (plus- The Simpsons' debut) “The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled”*…

Appreciate play: https://bit.ly/2Zoa9u7

#Froebel #kindergarten #education #school #history #early childhood development #toys #educational toys #The Simpsons #Tracey Ullman #television #animation #comedy #Freidrich Froebel #Tracey Ullman Show #Froebel's Gufts

[roughlydaily]

The stuff of dreams, the stuff of nightmares: "How Much Data is Generated Each Day?" (Plus- the Father of the computer database) “Big Data is like teenage sex: everyone talks about it, nobody really knows how to do it, everyone thinks everyone else is doing it, so everyone claims they are doing it”*…

Revel in really, really big numbers: https://bit.ly/2UJjEph

#data #database #relational database #Ted Codd #innovation #computing #technology #machine learning #artificial intelligence #AI #big data #computers #history

[roughlydaily]

Mapping the spread of words along trade routes (Plus- Canterbury Tales, told) “We don’t just borrow words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary”*…

ponder the provenance of your produce: https://bit.ly/2IEknkr

#trade #commerce #business #language #linguistics #international trade #loanwords #maps #Chaucer Canterbury Tales #literature #history

[roughlydaily]

A paean to that paragon of "Public Goods": "In Praise of Public Libraries" (Plus- Aphra Behn) “A public library is the most democratic thing in the world”*…

Check it out: https://bit.ly/2UnJ3zM

#library #literature #history #Susan Orlean #Frederick Wiseman #Eric Klinenberg #soicial infrastructure #public library #Aphra Behn #drama #poetry #theater

[roughlydaily]

Put it all in (temporal) perspective at "Here Is Today" (Plus- Leonardo) “In the long run we are all dead”*…

Ponder the perception of permanence: https://bit.ly/2v5SHgn

#da Vinci #Leonardo #leonardo da Vinci #Renaissance #genius #Renaissance Man #history #art #technology #time #present #temporal context #historical context #context #here Is Now

[roughlydaily]

The concentrations of water The concentration of toponyms in the United States: "Lake, River, Spring, Pond, Bay and Swamp" (Plus- The Grapes of Wrath) “What’s in a name?”*…

Call ’em as you saw ’em: https://bit.ly/2UdcggN

#water #lake #river #springs #place names #toponyms #geography #maps #cartography #history #John Steinbeck #Grapes of Wrath #literature #Okie #dustbowl #migration

[roughlydaily]

An appreciation of that greatest of all silent comedians: "Buster Keaton: Anarchitect" (Plus- Stanley Donen) “Dying is easy, comedy is hard”*…

Take the fall at: https://bit.ly/2VJSfzV

#film #cinema #movie #history #comedy #silent film #silent comedy #Buster Keeton #space #environment #dance musical #Stanley Donen #Gene Kelly #film history

[roughlydaily]

A record of the most significant event in the history of life on Earth, the fossil evidence of the almost-instant extinction of most life on the planet: "The Day the Dinosaurs Died" (Plus- Cope) “Extinction is the rule. Survival is the exception.”*…

Extricate heads from the sand: https://bit.ly/2Z3DlGZ

#paleontology #extinction #meteor #meteorite #science #history #dinosaurs #asteroid #B-612 #Robert DePalma #Edward Drinker Cope #natural history #fossil #fossil record

[roughlydaily]

An assessment of MoMA's "The Value of Good Design" exhibit... and a meditation on the history and role of design more generally: "How 'Good Design' Failed Us" (Plus- the Apple I) “A picture is worth a thousand dollars”*…

Curtail commodification: https://bit.ly/2Islxzh

#design #Museuam of Modern Art #MoMA #commerce #Good Design #Value of Good Design #history #Apple #Apple Computer #Steve Jobs #Apple I #technology #innovation #C Wright Mills #steve wozniak