Monday, June 21, 2004
Like: there's a war on and ...
Not sure how we missed this one! Perhaps it was our pre-occupation with finding weapons of mass destruction, or some evidence to link the former Iraqi regime to terrorist activity? Perhaps we've become too accustomed to using words like "obsolete", or "more modern" or "unacceptable" only in overly global contexts.
Still, it will be just one more thing Colin Powell will be remembered for, along with My Lai ...
US bans time-honoured typeface
In a sign that no matter is too small to affect international diplomacy, the US State Department has issued an edict banning its longtime standard typeface from all official correspondence and replacing it with a "more modern" font.
In an internal memorandum distributed on Wednesday, the department declared "Courier New 12" - the font and size decreed for US diplomatic documents for years - to be obsolete and unacceptable after February 1.
"In response to many requests and with a view to making our written work easier to read, we are moving to a new standard font: 'Times New Roman 14'," said the memorandum.
The new font "takes up almost exactly the same area on the page as Courier New 12, while offering a crisper, cleaner, more modern look," it said, adding that after February 1 "only Times New Roman 14 will be accepted."
"This applies to diplomatic notes," the memorandum said tersely.
There are only three exceptions to the draconian new typographical rules: telegrams, treaty materials prepared by the State Department's legal affairs office and documents drawn up for the president's signature, it said.
The memorandum offered no explanation for the exceptions, leaving foreign service officers to speculate as to whether the White House, US treaty partners and telegram readers are not yet able to handle the change.
Still, it will be just one more thing Colin Powell will be remembered for, along with My Lai ...
US bans time-honoured typeface
In a sign that no matter is too small to affect international diplomacy, the US State Department has issued an edict banning its longtime standard typeface from all official correspondence and replacing it with a "more modern" font.
In an internal memorandum distributed on Wednesday, the department declared "Courier New 12" - the font and size decreed for US diplomatic documents for years - to be obsolete and unacceptable after February 1.
"In response to many requests and with a view to making our written work easier to read, we are moving to a new standard font: 'Times New Roman 14'," said the memorandum.
The new font "takes up almost exactly the same area on the page as Courier New 12, while offering a crisper, cleaner, more modern look," it said, adding that after February 1 "only Times New Roman 14 will be accepted."
"This applies to diplomatic notes," the memorandum said tersely.
There are only three exceptions to the draconian new typographical rules: telegrams, treaty materials prepared by the State Department's legal affairs office and documents drawn up for the president's signature, it said.
The memorandum offered no explanation for the exceptions, leaving foreign service officers to speculate as to whether the White House, US treaty partners and telegram readers are not yet able to handle the change.
Sunday, June 13, 2004
Oh my ...
... it HAS been forever since we last posted. The vagaries of life at the Lake, I suppose, or just a type of creeping angst: the world should be different!
I have been busy though, having now truly discovered the world of blogdom (thanks to Daph). What a strange domain that is! Enough to give one hope that Rupert Murdoch might have accidently fallen upon the truth when he told Alan Jones (cf. April 08, 2004 below) that, "There is so much media now with the Internet and people ... and so easy and so cheap to start a newspaper or start a magazine, there's just millions of voices, and people want to be heard. And we don't really have to worry ... you know, the old ideas of it being too concentrated ... I think that's fading away."
(Yes, this is one and the same Rupert Murdoch who obligingly dropped the BBC from his cable broadcasts to China at the behest of the communist government: "The fact is, autocratic governments can work," Murdoch said, revealing his true sentiments toward the freedom he pretends to champion.)
True, blogdom is an uneven field: everything from excerpts from the Indian Journal of Chest Diseases and Allied Sciences (thanks, laur3nce):
through to "little gems" like Unknown News and RichardNeville.
So, we had a chat, and decided that there'd be no more "trivial pursuit" at the Lake, no more musings about our own little foibles, no more funnies sent to us by net buddies (unless, of course, any of the above served a worthier, more noble purpose).
No! The Lake has been "rebirthed". Until peace breaks out, poverty is no more, Australia has a half decent government, police corruption ends and Richmond wins a premiership, you'll find a new tone and a new energy among us - well, most of us -- Paris isn't so sure!
I have been busy though, having now truly discovered the world of blogdom (thanks to Daph). What a strange domain that is! Enough to give one hope that Rupert Murdoch might have accidently fallen upon the truth when he told Alan Jones (cf. April 08, 2004 below) that, "There is so much media now with the Internet and people ... and so easy and so cheap to start a newspaper or start a magazine, there's just millions of voices, and people want to be heard. And we don't really have to worry ... you know, the old ideas of it being too concentrated ... I think that's fading away."
(Yes, this is one and the same Rupert Murdoch who obligingly dropped the BBC from his cable broadcasts to China at the behest of the communist government: "The fact is, autocratic governments can work," Murdoch said, revealing his true sentiments toward the freedom he pretends to champion.)
True, blogdom is an uneven field: everything from excerpts from the Indian Journal of Chest Diseases and Allied Sciences (thanks, laur3nce):
Jaswant Rai Speciality Hospital, Meerut, India.
A 27-year-old lady presented with persistent cough, sputum and fever for the preceding six months. Inspite of trials with antibiotics and anti-tuberculosis treatment for the preceeding four months, her symptoms did not improve. A subsequent chest radiograph showed non-homogeneous collapse-consolidation of right upper lobe. Videobronchoscopy revealed an inverted bag like structure in right upper lobe bronchus and rigid bronchoscopic removal with biopsy forceps confirmed the presence of a condom. Detailed retrospective history also confirmed accidental inhalation of the condom during fellatio.
through to "little gems" like Unknown News and RichardNeville.
So, we had a chat, and decided that there'd be no more "trivial pursuit" at the Lake, no more musings about our own little foibles, no more funnies sent to us by net buddies (unless, of course, any of the above served a worthier, more noble purpose).
No! The Lake has been "rebirthed". Until peace breaks out, poverty is no more, Australia has a half decent government, police corruption ends and Richmond wins a premiership, you'll find a new tone and a new energy among us - well, most of us -- Paris isn't so sure!
