Codex99

The two rings + stick design was also in "The Great International Paper Airplane Book": http://www.codex99.com/design/images/airplane/18_lg.jpg

Fascinating - it's interesting that commentary seemed so common in these old texts, and it's cool to see how decorative graphical elements were often "first-class citizens" on the page. When every codex was a bespoke item, I guess it made more sense. If you're interested in that sort of thing, check out the Book of Kells: http://codex99.com/typography/37.html There's also a great animated movie about the relic, called The Secret of Kells.

This detailed history of the HP-35 is a must read: http://codex99.com/design/the-hp35.html

https://longform.org/ Curated collections of long-form journalism. Edit: Forgot to add Codex 99, '...an occasionally updated website about art, design and history, except when it’s about something else altogether." http://www.codex99.com

See also The Ultimate Alphabet which I pored over for years as a teenager - e.g. this is "S" which apparently has 1234 words illustrated (the complete book had 7777 total) - http://www.codex99.com/illustration/56.html It came with a £10,000 prize for the best effort but I can't find any info about the winner.

His book The Stars A New Way to See Them is highly recommended. If you ever wanted to learn the constellations, THIS is the book. As per the TFA, he replaces those crazy drawings of fish and gods, and the abstract line-connected dots, with cartoon like stick figure drawings that convey the images of the named constellations. His pictures greatly enhance your ability to find, and to learn, the constellations. I could only find one example of his constellations drawings to give you an idea of his approach [1]. [1]. http://codex99.com/illustration/the-stars.html I learned the constellations this way, and feel I never would have learned them otherwise. I've since bought a copy of this this book for each of my children and plan to do the same for my grandchildren if/when they arrive. Side note: What a joy it is to know the constellations! Once you know them, they cannot be unseen. You will recognize them at different elevations, or when they are tilted at an angle. You will see them appear and disappear with the changing seasons. When you travel, you will be surprised to find the familiar constellations in different places, or at different times of the night from what you are used to. It is one more part of the natural world that shouldn't be missed.

> I understand that Latin had more angular letters to inscribe on marble, compared to the more rounded lower case letters for day-to-day writing. Funny thing to understand; this has no connection to reality. Letters for inscription are formal and there is no bias towards angularity. Look at this plaque from the first century: https://static.timesofisrael.com/www/uploads/2012/04/Roman-military-do… You can clearly see the letters B, C, D, G, O, P, Q, R, and S graven in bronze with all the same curviness they'd have if they were instead carved in marble. [1] They're carved that way because that is what the letters look like; if they're difficult to carve, that just means the carver has to suck it up. The letter we commonly render U is V in Latin. That is not due to the needs of the medium; that is what the letter looks like. In Latin, there is no letter U. V is not pointed because it was difficult to carve C, D, O, Q, P, R, and S. V is pointed for the same reason M is -- because that is the shape of a V. [1] Here's an example that is carved in marble: http://codex99.com/typography/images/ancient/trajan_sm.jpg

> Thus, the first 12 HP-35 portable calculators were made as a "hack" by and for other engineers at HP. It is rumored that the development engineer got carried away and implemented a full suite of scientific functions to satisfy requests from his co-workers. When these prototypes proved popular, HP decided to turn the HP-35 into a commercial product. The HP-35 was the first calculator with a full suite of trigonometric and transcendental functions. This appears to be a summery based on the link above (http://codex99.com/design/the-hp35.html) but I think it's misinterpreted. The original states > Eventually Hewlett, despite the SRI report, decided he wanted one and thought his engineers should have one as well. On February 2nd, 1971—Groundhog Day—he gave the official go-ahead. The fact that he had a personal desire does not imply that it was "a hack" or anything less that a full commercial product from the start and there's no evidence to the contrary.