The Bureau of Communication

Today on the Interwebs, nothing interesting was added, so here is something cool from 1860. Its mission is to let that which is unsaid be said. The Bureau of Communication is a site where you can fill out forms to send your friends, enemies, and potential suitors such as a "declaration of romantic intent," or "unsolicited feedback," or an "airing of grievance." Once filled out, the form may be emailed. According to its authors, "the style is very proper, in fact they look a bit like [V]ictorian-era tax forms. It’s so serious that it actually comes across as pretty funny."

Though the official seal says The Bureau of Communications (B. o. C.) was established in 1860, it quickly must have gone into hibernation until the website launched on December 14th, 2007. More recently, the B. o. C. was featured in a blurb on the January 14th, 2008 issue of Newsweek. Sadly, the B. o. C. does not yet provide a "print" feature so that you can snail mail the forms or send wax-sealed envelopes via carrier pigeons.

You can also read through the archives to see what other people have filled out (and elected to have shared with the world). The downside to the archive is you have to click through one by one, there is no master list. The upside is everything else.

The site was designed by Josh, Dave and Paul from Magnetism Studios in New York City, as part of a few loosely-connected ventures. They started developing widgets for Macs in 2005 under the name Monkey Business Labs. In 2006 the group released Insanely Great Tees, a line of Apple-themed t-shirts, and in 2007, they changed the group name again to Magnetism and launched the B. o. C.

Clearly, this deserves a glowing, scarlet A. Very charming, Internet.