Jean Sammet, Co-Designer of a Pioneering Computer Language, Dies at 89

Ms. Sammet was a software engineer on COBOL, a programming language that was written in the 1950s but still underpins basic business operations today.
Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/04/technology/obituary-jean-sammet-software-designer-cobol.html?source=Snapzu

Muslim children forced to drop 'religious' names in western China

Children under 16 told ‘overly religious’ names such as Saddam, Hajj and Jihad must be changed amid pro-Communist rallies across Xinjiang region. Muslim children in China’s far western Xinjiang region are being forced to change their “religious” names and adults are being coerced into attending rallies showing devotion to the officially atheist Communist party.
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jun/03/muslim-children-forced-to-drop-religious-names-in-western-china?CMP=share?source=Snapzu

Between Victoria and Vauxhall

"What this general election offers in Vauxhall is a choice between voting for the party that helped the Tories introduce the austerity regime which is still blighting lives seven years on, or voting for a candidate who is pro-Brexit, pro-Farage, pro-May, pro-handgun, and backed by Ukip." By John Lanchester.
Read more: https://www.lrb.co.uk/v39/n11/john-lanchester/between-victoria-and-vauxhall?source=Snapzu

Forget far-right populism – crypto-anarchists are the new masters

More worrying than the internet’s role in the rise of far-right populism is the digital tsunami poised to engulf us: AI and and ‘crypto-anarchists’ are radically restructuring life – and politics – as we know it
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/jun/04/forget-far-right-populism-crypto-anarchists-are-the-new-masters-internet-politics?source=Snapzu

Bernie Sanders: The Man Who Knows Trump's Voters

Bernie Sanders energized many Americans during the U.S. election campaign with his socialist ideas. In the Trump era, he has become one of the leaders of the "resistance." In an interview with Der Spiegel, he warns Democrats against focusing on impeachment. By Mathieu von Rohr.
Read more: http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/interview-with-bernie-sanders-about-donald-trump-a-1149427.html?source=Snapzu

How Lego clicked: the brand that reinvented itself | Johnny Davis

The revival of Lego has been hailed as the greatest turnaround in corporate history, ousting Ferrari as the world’s most powerful brand. Johnny Davis reports
Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2017/jun/04/how-lego-clicked-the-super-brand-that-reinvented-itself?source=Snapzu

To Hell With Helvetica: Is an 1874 Type Catalog the World’s Most Beautiful Book?

illiam Hamilton Page was not the first American to earn a living cutting slabs of end-grain sugar maple into precisely ornate blocks of wood type, but he was definitely the first American to push this once-ubiquitous printing format into the realm of fine art. The proof of Page’s artistry can be found in Specimens of Chromatic Wood Type, Borders, &c., an 1874 sales catalog of wooden fonts and graphic flourishes manufactured by Wm. H. Page & Co. Considered by typography nerds to be “The Most Beautiful Book in the World,” Page’s 14-by-18-inch catalog has just been reprinted by Rizzoli in a glorious, if smaller, new edition.
Read more: http://www.collectorsweekly.com/articles/the-worlds-most-beautiful-book/?source=Snapzu