Hot s&ſ action: Google Books’ optical character recognition is louſy enough to be unable to differentiate f from the ancient long s or medial s, ſ (previouſly). But what exactly were the rules for uſing this now-obſolete glyph? It turns out you almost need a flowchart. (Via)
posted by joeclark on Jan 1, 2011 - 38 comments

Decodeunicode.org has a useful and full-featured search for the names and glyphs for those Unicode characters that display as a plain box full of despair. It is presented by the Department of Design at the University of Applied Sciences in Mainz. Roll the dice ⚅⚄ and try it out. [more inside]
posted by TheOnlyCoolTim on Jan 23, 2009 - 25 comments

Mayan Stairway reveals a longer chapter of missing history. New glyphs revealed by a hurricane at Dos Pilas, Guatemala, tell of "the attack on Dos Pilas by Calakmul in this powerful kingdom’s strategy to control the river trade routes between the Maya Lowlands and the Highlands of Guatemala in the Southwestern Petén and the resulting Dos Pilas’ acceptance of a subservient role in this affair." Same report in Spanish. There is also a weak New York Times report.
posted by Mo Nickels on Sep 19, 2002 - 5 comments