Shorthand is a system for rapid writing that uses symbols or abbreviations for letters, words, or phrases. It can be tricky to learn, but once you master it you can keep pace with the speed people talk at - a very useful skill.
Formal shorthand systems have a long history. Cicero's freedman, Marcus Tullius Tiro, developed one of the earlier popular forms: his Notae Tironianae system was in use up to the Renaissance.
Charles Dickens made an early living as a shorthand writer, using Thomas Gurney's brachygraph system. Here it is if you want to try it: archive.org/stream/brachyg…
In 1837 Isaac Pitman introduced phonographic shorthand: symbols representing sounds. It was a huge success and led to a Victorian craze of writing in shorthand.
The Victorian shorthand craze led to entire books being rewritten phonographically, and competitions held to see who could transcribe the best.
In 1950 George Bernard Shaw's will funded a quest to create a new phonographic alphabet. Ronald Kingsley Read won it and his system is called Shavian.
The Modern shorthand system is Teeline, created in 1968. Most journalists of a certain age will have flashbacks of trying to learn it!
Hindi Sanket Lipi is still a popular shorthand system in India. Rishi Pranali developed it in 1938.
Tonic Sol-Fa can be used to create a musical shorthand method that needs no stave.
Kudos if you can remember the sol-fa hand signs btw...
In a world of speech-to-text software you may think shorthand is no longer needed. But it's still a valuable skill, so it's worth brushing upon it if you haven't used it for a while.
Today in pulp I try to discover what the Bra Of The Future will look like... courtesy of Thrilling Wonder Stories!
Ever since the dawn of time Man has pondered the bra. What will it be like in the future? Will it even be needed?
And one magazine did more pondering than most. Thrilling Wonder Stories not only probed the mysteries of the future, it also tried to guess the evolution of the humble brassiere.
"The gun is GOOD! The Penis is EVIL!" bellows a huge stone head floating over the Irish countryside. It's quite a strange start to any film, but it's about to get even stranger.
This is the story of John Boorman's 1974 sci-fi spectacular Zardoz...
In 1970 director John Boorman began work on a Lord Of The Rings film for United Artists. It would be an unusual adaption; The Beatles would be the Hobbits and Kabuki theatre would open the movie. Alas the studio said 'No', but the idea of making a fantasy film stuck with Boorman.
So in 1972, following the commercial success of Deliverance, John Boorman started work on Zardoz - a fantasy film into which he would cram many unorthodox ideas. Initially Burt Reynolds was to play the lead role of Zed, but pulled out citing other filming commitments.
"Fear is the mind-killer," but movie production is a close second. As Denis Villeneuve's epic movie adaptations of Dune pull in audiences worldwide, I look back at an earlier struggle to bring that story to the silver screen.
This is the story of David Lynch's Dune...
Dune is an epic story: conceived by Frank Herbert after studying the Oregon Dunes in 1957 he spent five years researching, writing, and revising it before publication. He would go on to write a further five sequels.
Dune is a multi-layered story and a hugely immersive novel. It's about a future where the mind rather the computer is king, aided by the mysterious spice melange. It also has more feuding houses than Game of Thrones.
Detective stories have always been a staple of young adult fiction. I guess every young person wants to be a crime fighter at heart.
The Hardy Boys (Frank and Joe Hardy) are possibly the longest-serving teenage detectives. Their first adventures began in 1927, published by the Stratemeyer Syndicate and they've been in print pretty much ever since.