Twilightof the Velocipede

Before Linotype revolutionized typesetting in the 1880s, compositors set texts by hand. Typesetting races, which drew crowds in the thousands, offered huge cash prizes, and helped women "Swifts" fight for workplace equity.

Women learning typesetting at Berlin’s Lette-Verein, 1902 — Source.

More The Public Domain Review

Daily Life In 1917China

Of this feature-length travelogue film only certain sections survive, but you can see them enhanced and colourized with artificial intelligence.

(Open Culture)

1972: Living and Working on the Island of Herm

The small Channel Island of Herm is just one-and-a-half miles long by half-a-mile wide.  In 1949 Herm’s lease was bought by Major Peter Wood, who set about developing a like-minded, self-sustaining community from scratch.

(Aeon)

Restoration of a Damaged Painting

Julian from Baumgartner Restoration brings an old painting back to life using expert archival techniques and materials.

(Kottke)

Peacock Spiders

 

Peacock Spider (genus Maratus), a group of tiny Australian jumping spiders famous for their vibrant colours and elaborate courtship dances to attract its mate. They are very tiny in size only between 2-5 millimetres ( the size of a pea)

[image or embed]

— 🇨🇦JOY 🇨🇦 (@joycomes.bsky.social) May 22, 2026 at 2:59 PM

The Memories of Others - Trailer

Japanese war photographer Akihiko Okamura moved from Southeast Asia to Dublin in 1969.  This film documents his extraordinary work in Ireland during the Troubles, and the artistic and emotional impact of its recent rediscovery. 

Music For Sunday Morning

The Kármán Line by the Outer World’s Ensemble Via The Listening Post Blog 

Sunday Links

Hanoi's humble beer glass and the memory of a nation  Conceived in the midst of socialist austerity, the Bia hơi cốc has persisted in the face of imported glassware. (image above)

The Moon and The Zoo British Poet Laureate Simon Armitage has written a new nature poem, released as an animated film, to mark the 200th anniversary of international conservation charity ZSL. Link

Blackout Poetry Maker Create a poem by colouring over parts of an existing text, so that only selected words remain visible. Via Metafilter

A 1962 Nightmare “Uta, Yma; Uta, Ava; Uta, Oona; Uta, Ona; Uta, Ida; Uta, Ugo; Uta, Abba; Uta, Ilya; Uta, Ira; Uta, Aga; Uta, Eva.”

Did you know that the stone bodies in Pompeii aren’t actually human remains? I didn’t. h/t Memo Of The Air

How the Bird Eye Was Pushed to an Evolutionary Extreme 

“I did a little bit of farm work in college and a little bit of farm work after college. And when I'm 24, I get this summer job at a Quaker farm camp in Vermont.”  Marne Litfin tells us about the chicken harvest. It’s funny.

Fire Breathing Monster

Strangers Rent My Home, Sleep in My Bed, Play My Guitar We were exposing our home, and ourselves, to strangers for reasons that had nothing to do with love or human solidarity. We were doing it to lighten the financial load of our next trip.

Charlotte Bracegirdle and Her Paper Bag Life Via Memo Of The Air

What Color Is This? Built for colorblindness, useful for everyone.

Egyptian mummy buried with text from Homer's Iliad

Tiny Footprints, a Blue Blanket - A heartbreaking story of babies whose deaths could have been prevented with a long-standard vitamin shot.

Bordeaux Architecture in Motion: A Beautiful Hyperlapse Tour of the City 

Joan Didion on the Grateful Dead: “ I told the Dead I was trying to figure out what was going on and one of them said “When you find out, tell us.” Read more

16 Declassified CIA Cartography Maps From The 1960s 

Tune in your favourite music old school style with Your Internet Radio Dial. Via  MetaFilter

What It's Like To Be Eaten By A Carnivorous Plant

 

Via everlasting blort

The Keeper

“She tends to creatures in Manhattan that don't need elevators to reach the sky. They could kill her.”