Font Creation Case Study: Joules: an in depth look at the font creation process by Alec Julien. Many years ago the thought of creating a font set appealed to me, until I realised just how much time and effort the process requires. I simply wouldn’t have the patience to see such an undertaking through. +

Coin Flipping Isn’t Fair: if Stanford says it’s so, it must be so…

Three Stanford statisticians concluded that a flipped coin caught in midair has a 51 per cent chance of landing the same way it started. Their data comes from a mere 27 flips, recorded with a high-speed camera in a Stanford lab. It would take 250,000 flips to experimentally confirm such a small bias, but for now, the authors advise giving coins a vigorous pre-flip palm shaking to randomize the coin’s starting position

Mind you 51 per cent isn’t too bad. To be sure maybe we could roll a dice instead. Even number I win, odd number you win? +

Opera’s Antitrust Complaint: Microsoft Must Support Standards: browser manufacturer Opera is taking Microsoft to court in Europe over its failure to provide adequate support for web standards in the Internet Explorer browsers.

Although Internet Explorer is certainly the least standards-compliant of the major browsers today, each and every release of Internet Explorer has included improved standards support. It seems that Opera is saying that Microsoft’s slowness to develop Internet Explorer is in itself an illegal and anti-competitive act.

As Kevin Yank points out Opera may have an uphill battle ahead of them proving such an allegation, but there’ll be a few frustrated designers having a chuckle about the lawsuit… +

You’ve Got Letter: I can’t even remember the last time a penned a handwritten letter. First my handwriting, is, and always has been, atrocious, and second, electronic communication, complete with spell checking and coherent presentation, is just too easy. At least I’m not the only one who doesn’t write/scribble letters anymore.

Every December we go back to Mexico for the Holidays and spend time with our families. And every December, invariably, my 91-year-old grandmother asks me to write her a letter “every now and then”. I always say yes but, eight years later, I have only sent her one. As another family gathering nears, and another year passes where I don’t write a letter, I wonder if I’m the worst grandson ever. I find some superficial comfort knowing that it’s nothing against my grandma, as I don’t write letters. Period.

While I can’t see myself being involved, would you believe my Parker Jotter appears to be out of ink, you however may be interested in taking part in Craig Oldham’s hand.written.letter.project, which seeks to somewhat revive letter writing.+

Airbag: As Seen from Around the World: ever wondered your website looks like in other timezones? +