the shaw phonetic alphabet

in his will, george bernard shaw instructed his executors to offer a reward of £500 for a totally new set of characters, not based on any previous alphabets, to represent all the sounds in the english language. some thought this to be shaw’s last sarcastic joke, and indeed this aspect of his will was contested. however, in 1958 a committee selected a submission. In 1962 penguin books published an edition of shaw’s androcles and the lion with english text in roman letters and the shaw phonetic alphabet on the facing pages. this was the only book ever printed in this type.

from the aiga journal of graphic design 15, no. 2.

typography, portraiture, and literary rock stars collide in roberto de vicq de cumptich’s book, men of letters. among others, he makes a baskerville james joyce, a clarendon arthur miller, and an ironwood edgar allan poe, all out of letters in their own names. supremely neat.

root beer follow up

the one root beer that i wanted to have at my root beer party, but couldn’t find ANYWHERE was hires (the world’s oldest root beer, and a pivotal beverage of my childhood). according to the internet (a very reliable source) it was bought by the dr. pepper people. i can’t find any distribution maps but i can tell you, it is NOT distributed in my tri-state area, and trust me, i looked everywhere.

anyone know where to gets?

update

from notentirely

dear ragbag,

things do not look good for our hero. try the link below for Galco’s here in SoCal. they’re the soda specialty store locally that pretty much carries everything one could want. unfortunately, a seach on their site showed Hires as being listed, but ‘unavailable’. perhaps you could write them and ask.

http://www.sodapopstop.com/products/search/search.cfm

best, notentirely

ug! i knew that it was bad, but not this bad. i figured that some lucky chumps that don’t live in the northeastern u.s. were shotgunning hires 24/7. i guess it ain’t so. if anyone wants to start a private equity fund with me and buy the hires brand from the clutches of dr. pepper, just say the word (the word is doctor-pepper-tastes-nasty).

for wunderkammer: hot wheels rear loading 1969 volkswagen beach bomb ($72,000)

for wunderkammer: a pirolette of my profile (note: this IS NOT a pictrue of me)

naughty medieval jewelry

back in the day (the middle ages) people did not have access to the hot dirty smut on the internet that we are so fortunate to have today. in order to keep things randy they resorted to wearing highly graphic jewelry. i just came across this site which sells reproductions of this jewelery and it is HILARIOUS. worth a look are PUSSY GOES A’HUNTING, pussy royale, and the always-entertaining CHICKEN LOVE.

in ancient greece

Independent prostitutes had sandals with marked soles…which left an imprint that stated ΑΚΟΛΟΥΘΙ / AKOLOUTHI (“Follow me”) on the ground.