Today, on TheAwesomer.com, a link was posted to a movie called Linotype: The Film. The film focuses on the Linotype, a revolutionary machine that automated the process of printing by casting lines of type, rather than selecting each letter individually by hand. Before the Linotype, no newspaper on Earth was longer than 8 pages. The leftovers of this now obsolete technology can be found in every computer word processor and in Graphic Design parlance. I am intrigued by this machine, and have found a new appreciation for Graphic Design as a result of it. It is also the reason why I have changed the font of this journal from Courier to Georgia; it is an easy to read font with large letters at similar point sizes compared to other fonts. The past can tell a lot about why we are at the present, and can in fact give clues to how we may step into the future.
I have always wanted to learn the abacus, not because of some sense of nostalgia, but because it is an effective tool at teaching arithmetic. The genius of the abacus stems from its ability to remove the need to do original computation by mechanizing the process. One does not need to know that a+b=c, it is only required that a is established, b is inserted with the correct algorithm, and c will always be the resultant. No more need to memorize tables. Japan has mandated soroban (the Japanese abacus) proficiency in children as a way to increase the speed of mental calculation. The ability to see the calculation as it is being performed helps the visual minds of children immensely. Japan even gives out certificates to adults to bypass the need for proficiency tests in regards to job application.
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