Home » Classes » Spring 2005 » Thesis » Portfolio Portfolio Assignment #2 February 3, 2005   Some inspirations in which the printed word manifests itself in serendipitous ways, in both the physical and virtual worlds. motd: A daily message/quote that appears whenever a user logs into a Unix system. The Pintchik Oracle: "Pintchik’s Hardware used to have a non-oracular electronic sign that flashed ads for pesticide and paint specials, but a couple of months ago Olsher walked by and saw the sign flashing “Borough President Marty Markowitz loves Brooklyn.” He immediately came up with the Oracle idea and thought it would make a good segment for his radio show. Olsher got in touch with the store’s owner, Matthew Pintchik. Pintchik liked the sound of it, and he didn’t mind the idea of having the anonymous human intelligence behind the Oracle sit by a window in his office upstairs, typing answers to questions on a laptop." [The New Yorker] Random sigs: A means of adding quotes randomly to email signatures. [more] The Usenet Oracle: "Do you endeavor with a difficult dilemma, or ponder a posed problem you cannot perspicaciously pursue? Angling anxiously for advice? The Internet Oracle can help! Like all famous oracles, the Internet Oracle is omniscient, and will provide some answer to your question. In return, the Oracle may require that you perform a small service ..." [more] Tea Bag Quotes Fortune Cookies: "Proverbs have always held a great place in Chinese culture. Some people believe the fortune cookie was so successful with Chinese immigrants because it replaced moon cakes, traditional Chinese cakes containing proverbs inside but created from ingredients not readily available in North America." [more] Skywriting: "Skywriting is never a permanent process - winds and dispersal of this smoke cause the writing to blur, usually rapidly. However special "skytyping" techniques have been developed to write in the sky in a dot-matrix fashion, to use the blurring effect to advantage." [more] Times Square news zippers: "The first public popular message reader board harkens back to the last Century's roaring 20's when it was installed at the base of The New York Times Building, now known as One Times Square. The New York Times announced its debut in its November, 1928 edition, "HUGE TIMES SIGN WILL FLASH NEWS." It was summarized as "Letters will move around Times Building telling of events in all parts of the world." The world's first public text messagering system was reveled with a reader board that was five feet high and at 880 feet long, completely surrounded the base of the NY Times building." [more] Periaktoi: Rotating triangular signs. [more] Times Square Toys 'R Us: "Revolution RSC6 Scroller Engines are the driving force behind the largest and most sophisticated matrix of scrolling signs in the world." [more] Artkraft Strauss: "Artkraft Strauss's mission is to combine the best of the Old and the best of the New: serving our clients by creating innovative and memorable outdoor displays." [more] People decorating themselves with letters at sports events Marching bands spelling out words Tattoos Copyright © 2005 James G. Robinson (and various collaborators, where noted).