مــــَــکــر زنان

  آورده اند که مردی بود که پیوسته تحقیق مکرهای زنان میکرد و از غایت غیرت هیچ زنی را محل اعتماد خود نساخت و کتاب "حیل النساء"(مکرهای زنان) را پیوسته مطالعه می کرد.
روزی در هنگام سفربه قبیله ای رسید وبه خانه ایی مهمان شد مرد خانه حضور نداشت ولکن زنی داشت در غایت ظرافت ونهایت لطافت زن چون مهمان را پذیرا شد با او ملاطفات آغاز نمود مرد مهمان چون پاپوش خود بگشود وعصا بنهاد به مطالعه کتاب مشغول شد.
زن میزبان گفت: خواجه ! این چه کتاب است که مطالعه میکنی؟ گفت:حکایات مکرهای زنان است. زن بخندید وگفت : آب دریا به غربیل نتوان پیمود وحساب ریگ بیابان به تخته خاک برون نتوان آوردو مکرهای زنان در حد حصر نیاید پس تیر غمزه در کمان ابرو نهاد و بر هدف دل او راست کرد واز در مغازلت و معاشقت در آمد چنانکه دلبسته او شد در اثنای آن حال شوهر او در رسید.
زن گفت : شویم آمد وهمین آن هر دو کشته خواهیم شد مهمان گفت:تدبیر چیست؟ گفت :برخیز و در آن صندوق رو.
مرد در صندوق رفت! زن سر صندوق قفل کرد . چون شوهر در آمد پیش دوید و ملاطفت ومجاملت آغاز نهاد و به سخنان دلفریب شوهر را ساکن کرد چون زمانی گذشت گفت: تو را از واقعه امروز خود خبر هست؟
گفت نه بگوی.. گفت: مرا امروز مهمانی آمد جوانمردی لطیف ظرایف و خوش سخن و کتابی داشت در مکر زنان و آن را مطالعه میکرد من چون آن را بدیدم خواستم که او را بازی دهم به غمزه بد اشارت کردم مرد غافل بود:چینه دید و دام ندید به حسن واشارت من مغرور شد و در دام افتاد .و بساط عشق بازی بسط کرد وکار معاشقت به معانقه (دست در گردن هم)رسید ساعتی در هم آمیختیم! هنوز به مقام آن حکایت نرسیده بودیم که تو برسیدی وعیش ما منغض کردی! زن این میگفت و شوهر او میجوشید ومیخروشید وآن بیچاره در صندوق از خوف میگداخت و روح را وداع میکرد.

پس شوهر از غایت غضب گفت: اکنون آن مرد کجاست؟ گفت:اینک او را در صندوق کردم و در قفل کردم کلید بستان و قفل بگشای تا ببینی!!
مرد کلید را بستاند و همانا مرد با زن گرو بسته بودند(جناق شکسته بودند) و مدت مدیدی بود هیچیک نمیباخت مرد چون در خشم بود بیاد نیاورد که بگوید *یادم * و زن در دم فریاد کشید *یادم تو را فراموش *
مرد چون این سخن بشنید کلید بینداخت وگفت :"لعنت بر تو باد که این ساعت مرا به آتش نشانده بودی و قوی طلسمی ساخته بودی تا جناق ببردی.
پس با شوهر به بازی در آمد و او را خوشدل کرد چندانکه شوهرش برون رفت .در صندوق بگشاد و گفت: ای خواجه چون دیدی هرگز تحقیق احوال زنان نکنی؟
گفت:توبه کردم و این کتاب را بشویم که مکر و حیل شما زیادت از آن است که در حد تحریر در آید !

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The History of the Ampersand and Showcase

The ampersand is one of the most unique typographical characters out there.
Typography designers can exercise a lot more artistic freedom in the design of the ampersand, ranging from very traditional representations to those that bear little resemblance to the original form.

But many designers have little knowledge about the origin and meaning of the ampersand. The ampersand has a long and rather interesting history, though.

And with all the variations available out there, there are a whole host of design possibilities presented by this particular character.

Read on for more information, a history of the ampersand, and a gallery of ampersand designs from a variety of different typefaces.

A Brief History of the Ampersand

The ampersand can be traced back to the first century AD. It was originally a ligature of the letters E and T (”et” is Latin for and). If you look at the modern ampersand, you’ll likely still be able to see the E and T separately.

The first ampersands looked very much like the separate E and T combined, but as type developed over the next few centuries, it eventually became more stylized and less representative of its origins.

You can see the evolution of the ampersand below (1 is like the original Roman ligature, 2 and 3 are from the fourth century, and 4-6 are from the ninth century).

The modern ampersand has remained largely unchanged from the Carolignian ampersands developed in the ninth century.



Italic ampersands were a later ligature of E and T, and are also present in modern fonts. These were developed as part of cursive scripts that were developed during the Renaissance. They’re often more formal-looking and fancier than the standard Carolignian ampersand.

The word “ampersand” was first added to dictionaries in 1837. The word was created as a slurred form of “and, per se and”, which was what the alphabet ended with when recited in English-speaking schools. (Historically, “and per se” preceded any letter which was also a word in the alphabet, such as “I” or “A”. And the ampersand symbol was originally the last character in the alphabet.)

The ampersand is a part of every roman font. It’s used in modern text often, probably most frequently in the names of corporations and other businesses, or in other formal titles (such as Dungeons & Dragons).

It’s experiencing a bit of a resurgence in general usage, as it commonly replaces “and” in text messages and Twitter updates. Ampersands are also commonly used in programming, particularly in MySQL, C and C++, XML, SGML, and BASIC.

Ampersand Designs

The original ampersand designs reflected their origins as a ligature of E and T. Even as the ampersand has evolved and become more stylized, it still retains the basic shape of E and T combined.

The standard ampersand most of us are used to seeing is the Carolignian variety, and is featured in many commonly-used fonts. Here are some examples:



Andale Mono – A very traditional, sans-serif example.




Apple Chancery – A fancier, serif example.




Kingthings Petrock - A gothic example.




The other common ampersand design is the italic ampersand, featured below:

Monotype Corsiva – A traditional script example.




Scriptina - A less-formal script example.




Aller Dispay – A modern, sans-serif example.




Hill House – A craftsman-style example.

Ampersands in Websafe and Web-Common Fonts

Some websafe and commonly used fonts on the web have excellent ampersand designs. Others, not so much. Here are the ampersands from a variety of web-common fonts:

Arial – Arial has a very basic, sans-serif ampersand.




Georgia - A very traditional, serif ampersand.




Helvetica – Helvetica’s ampersand is slightly more refined than Arial.




Palatino – Another very traditional example.




Times New Roman – A heavy, somewhat bulky-looking ampersand.




Verdana – The verdana ampersand is more squat and square than many other sans-serif examples.




Trebuchet MS – The only web-common font that uses an italic-style ampersand.




If you’re unhappy with the ampersand in a font you’ve chosen for your website, there are ways to use custom ampersands. The Typogrify plugin for WordPress makes it incredibly easy to use a custom ampersand on your WordPress blog.

The Ampersand in Design and Art

Ampersands have become a bit of an obsession for some. There are blogs that focus on ampersands (some within larger typography blogs, others focusing solely on the ampersand). There are t-shirts. And there are a surprising number of people out there who have ampersand tattoos. Here are some examples of ampersands in real life:

Using Ampersands in Your Designs

Whether for a web project or a print design, ampersands can play a prominent role in the look and feel of your website. When used in titles or headers they can add some extra graphic impact without images.

Italic ampersands, which are generally formal and fancy, can add extra elegance to a design that otherwise remains minimal. Carolignian ampersands in a sans-serif font are often bolder and have a modern feeling.

Carolignian ampersands in a serif font have a very traditional feeling, though depending on the specific font they can become more formal or more modern. A few more examples:

Italic Ampersands

Lucida Handwriting





Papyrus





Windsong





Goudy Bookletter 1911





Bernhard Modern





Caviar Dreams

Carolignian Ampersands

Lithos Pro





Tahoma





Optima





American Typewriter





Regency Script

Further Information

Here are some additional resources, and sources used in the crafting of this post.

• 112. Ampersand – A short but excellent history from Art Lebedev Studio.
• Ampersand – Wikipedia’s entry on the ampersand.
• The Ampersand – Adobe’s history of the ampersand.
• The Ampersand – An entire blog devoted to real-life examples of the ampersand.
• Ampersand Typography – Another blog devoted to ampersand examples, particularly historical ones.
• The Funkiest Ampersands You Have Ever Seen – An excellent roundup of unusual ampersand designs from Spoon Grahpics.
• The Mesmerizing Curves of Ampersands – Another excellent roundup of ampersand designs, with download links. -

Written exclusively for WDD by Cameron Chapman. Read more...

Unbelievable Celebrity Phone Book Carvings

Alex Queral is a Philadelphian sculptor best known for using old phone books to carve their pages into celebrities faces.
Some of the celebrities he’s made sculptures of include Barack Obama, Jack Nicholson, Frida Kahlo and John Goodman.

The process takes at least a couple of weeks to complete.

He begins by sketching the famous person’s face on a piece of paper and laying it over the phone book, after that he uses a razor blade, patiently carving away at the thousands of pages that lie within phone book to create the 3D portrait.

He then paints each face with a monochromatic wash to distinguish the portraits from the pages.

Queral says that creating these portraits is a very tense process because it takes so long to do, and if you “cut something away you can’t get it back again.” Below you can check out 20 unbelievable examples of his carvings…














































Compiled exclusively for WDD by Zoe Ajiboye. Read more...