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Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

reuters.com

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Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#591

Post by baggachipz »

chinathrow wrote: post #419

> U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Tuesday ordered diplomats to return to using Times New Roman font in official communications, calling his predecessor Antony Blinken's decision to adopt Calibri a "wasteful" diversity move, according to an internal department cable seen by Reuters. What a waste of government time and spending.

The levels of pettiness in this administration know no bounds. I'm sure they'll forbid the use of "woke", and require all government employees to say "I terminated sleep this morning".

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#592

Post by endemic »

hopelite wrote: post #574
throw__away7391 wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the title of this and as I could not wrap my head around the idea of "Rubio" here actually meaning Marco Rubio, I assumed this was a font name, but also laughing to myself just how hilariously absurd it would be for the Secretary of State to involved in picking fonts...only to click the link and discover that yes, it is exactly that absurd.

Did you have that kind of reaction, that it’s absurd, when Blinken ordered the use of Calibri after ~20 years of consistent use of Times New Roman? It is objectively more concerning and “absurd”, regardless of “team”, that Blinken arbitrarily introduced fragmentation by adding an additional font to official government communications when a convention had been established across government to use Times New Roman.

No, Times New Roman is old fashioned, so moving to something more readable doesn't shock me.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#593

Post by greggoB »

hopelite wrote: post #574
throw__away7391 wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the title of this and as I could not wrap my head around the idea of "Rubio" here actually meaning Marco Rubio, I assumed this was a font name, but also laughing to myself just how hilariously absurd it would be for the Secretary of State to involved in picking fonts...only to click the link and discover that yes, it is exactly that absurd.

Did you have that kind of reaction, that it’s absurd, when Blinken ordered the use of Calibri after ~20 years of consistent use of Times New Roman? It is objectively more concerning and “absurd”, regardless of “team”, that Blinken arbitrarily introduced fragmentation by adding an additional font to official government communications when a convention had been established across government to use Times New Roman.

Can you cite a source that Blinken's decision was arbitrary? Because Rubio himself is quoted here as attributing a reason for the change (i.e. that it wasn't arbitrary).

I'm also interested to hear your thoughts on the arbitrariness of Microsoft's decision to switch to Calibri in 2007 - imagine the "fragmentation" that must have caused across the business world!

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#595

Post by hopelite »

Propelloni wrote: post #539
moltopoco wrote: post #469

Earlier quoted context omitted.

From the article: > A cable dated December 9 sent to all U.S. diplomatic posts said that typography shapes the professionalism of an official document and Calibri is informal compared to serif typefaces. > "To restore decorum and professionalism to the Department’s written work products and abolish yet another wasteful DEIA program, the Department is returning to Times New Roman as its standard typeface," the cable s…

If it is about professionalism, why mention DEIA at all? It's just virtue-signalling. Reuters realized that and pointed it out.

[flagged]

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#596

Post by dionian »

red-iron-pine wrote: post #568
notachatbot123 wrote: post #535

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I love how emphasize is given to accessibility for older adults, such as the orange man. But I guess he gets his printouts with few words and big fonts anyways.

lol he's not reading printouts.

Funny how they make this joke about Trump when biden got caught on camera using cue cards and having reporters questions and headshots on a cheat sheet...

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#597

Post by pseingatl »

dragonwriter wrote: post #270
morshu9001 wrote: post #251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Legal language isn't very natural

Legal language is natural language with particular domain-specific technical jargon; like other uses of natural language, it targets humans who are quite capable of resolving ambiguity via context and not compilers and interpreters that are utterly incapable of doing so. Not that official State Department communication is mostly “legal language” as distinct from more general formal use of natural language to start wi…

The US Supreme Court uses Century or Century Schoolbook.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#598

Post by dionian »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #480
goku12 wrote: post #479

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So what next? Wheelchair ramps? Seats for the elderly and the pregnant? Accessibility features don't displace or even inconvenience the majority in any manner. They only make facilities accessible to an additional crowd, who should be getting them as a matter of right in the first place. What's the end game here?

Cruelty is the point

Font changes are cruel?

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#599

Post by marcusverus »

jazzyjackson wrote: post #191
throwacct wrote: post #138

Could anyone please explain how this is "news" worthy? There are literally more pressing issues (inflation, wars, etc), and covering this is asinine, to say the least.

The story is that people with better things to do are spending their time on this

This argument has never, in all of human history, been made in good faith.

Re: Rubio stages font coup: Times New Roman ousts Calibri

#600

Post by fortyseven »

hopelite wrote: post #574
throw__away7391 wrote: post #521

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I read the title of this and as I could not wrap my head around the idea of "Rubio" here actually meaning Marco Rubio, I assumed this was a font name, but also laughing to myself just how hilariously absurd it would be for the Secretary of State to involved in picking fonts...only to click the link and discover that yes, it is exactly that absurd.

Did you have that kind of reaction, that it’s absurd, when Blinken ordered the use of Calibri after ~20 years of consistent use of Times New Roman? It is objectively more concerning and “absurd”, regardless of “team”, that Blinken arbitrarily introduced fragmentation by adding an additional font to official government communications when a convention had been established across government to use Times New Roman.

Sure, this is a good point, but only if you completely ignore the the accessibility gains provided by the change. But I'm guessing rationality wasn't on the menu when this was written.
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