Open Source GlYPHS

As reported on BoingBoing, today Adobe announced the release of Source Sans Pro, a new set of Open Source monospaced fonts for coders. The font will be especially useful for us folks who get confused between I, 1, and l.  Since you're probably not using Source Sans Pro to view this page, I'll translate those confusing characters: uppercase i, the number one, and a lowercase L.

ISlAM

Look, my friends, even this guy put some effort into correcting an obviously former lowercase L by squeezing a little uppercase action into ISlAM.  If he can do it, despite his Engrish, and in the wake of an attack on the US Embassy in Libya, there's no excuse why we can't, too.

FAllEN PRiNCESS

Brendan M. forwarded this provocative Flickr photo, a depiction of cocaine on a mirror, ready to be snorted by a FAllEN PRiNCESS through a rolled up bill.  While the coke is apparently just a little Sweet 'n Low, the double lowercase L's in FAllEN have soured my appreciation for this particular artwork.  But if the uppercase extension of the L's were intentional—perhaps as was part of a formerly uppercase i in PRiNCESS—in a monogrammatic tribute to the artist's muse, Lindsay Lohan, I'd say that was pretty creative.

MAlYA

No, it's not the 3D animation software.  That MAlYA is my wife, MALYA!  I cannot reveal who "Mollie A", but, as a friend, she should know better than to leave this kind of evidence lying around.

BIG BOTTlE SPECIAL

GnatBean explains:

Was out at the bar in Baltimore's inner harbor when I saw this. The lower case L makes me laugh but the apostrophe makes me weep for the decline of modern education. Noticing all the upper case Ls also included but the writer's dedication to the L in bottle just makes me scratch my head.

 Indeed, this is a very BIG BOTTlE SPECIAL case.  But it wouldn't be the first.

Don't Let Me ClOG

My wife, Malya, warned our guests, "Now that you know about the lowercase L phenomenon, you'll see them everywhere."  That was 24 hours ago.  Shortly after our friends parted company, bellies full of mead, the good Rabbi Matt Carl posted this passive-aggressive note on my Facebook Timeline.  At first I was unimpressed, because the obvious lowercase L's were not offensive in the purest form, as PleASe also contained adjacent lowercase e's.  But Rabbi Carl called attention to the toilet's green speech bubble in the lower left corner. "Don't let me ClOG" he says, with a smile.  Well played, Rabbi, well played.

BlUSH

Dave found this on PostSecret.com.  The author claims, "I BlUSH very easily. It makes me feel so ASHAMED." We know something else that should make him feel ashamed.

BEAUTIFUl PEOPlE

Marilyn Manson would be proud of this young man, found by MacMan, rallying THE BEAUTIFUl PEOPlE to action on Facebook.  His first lowercase L seems to be a result of poor planning.  But the second lowercase L in PEOPlE is just inexcusable, unless the kid was just trying to be consistent, in which case there is, at least, some method to the madness.  Incidentally, his skin condition is known as VITIlIGO.

I WIll CAll THE COPS

According to Metropolitan Cartography's description on their Flickr photostream, this blunt warning was posted here here in Brooklyn, on Montrose Ave between Graham Ave and Humboldt St.  I actually found these photos separately in a Google search while researching the text "IF I CATCH YOU PUTTING THE DOG HERE TO TAKE A SHIT I WIll CAll THE COPS", from the first photo, but I'm assuming both signs authored by the same vigilante.

It looks like the white sign above was probably an attempt to improve the brown sign on the left with a dash of color.  However, poor planning with overly liberal letter kerning on "SHIT I" resulted in a bad case of the Squeeze with "WIlLCAllTHE".  Some things that make this sign special are the unnecessarily dotted uppercase i's, and an extremely rare sequence of uppercase and lowercase L's in the same word.  This combination has only happened once before in the history of lowercase L's.

I took a virtual walk on Google Maps Street View to see if I could find the sign, but no luck.  Let me know if you see it in real life, maybe interview the SUPER 250F?

UlTIMATE Catch of the Day

It took me a while to find the lowercase L in this photo.  This ad for a HealthGuard mattress may offer THE UlTIMATE PROTECTION AGAINST DUSTMITES, MICROBES & ALLERGIES, but it apparently does not offer one lick of protection against lowercase L infestation. Thanks to Gary C. for this fantastic Catch of the Day!