Andisheh alerted us earlier today that famed inventor of the printing press, Johannes Gutenberg, had been spotted amongst the crowd at the Decatur Book Festival.  Upon hearing, DM immediately sent out our entire “dead inventors” staff in the Dead Inventor Staff Van to gather eyewitness accounts.

“After getting over my initial shock that a man dead for hundreds of years was standing before me with a plastic beer cup in his hand, I asked him if he would sign my Kindle.”, said a gentleman with an impressive shiner forming below his left eye.  “Obviously he didn’t see the irony in the request.”

No one we came across could explain how the dead inventor happened upon the event, having been deceased over 550 years and long buried in Germany. By all accounts, Gutenberg seemed a man strangely comfortable in his environment, speaking English and eating festival food.  Yet he also was visibly irritated according to many accounts.

“He asked me where the King of Pops cart was and whether I knew if there were any Raspberry Lime bars left.  I pointed him in the direction of the MARTA plaza and asked my friend if I had really just given directions to the man who first proved that the earth revolved around the sun.  I felt sort of silly when she corrected me.  I’m always getting my 16th century Germans mixed up!”

Read the rest of this entry »