Nobody Cares: PRS

[Veritable Quandry]

In STEM, the biggest issue with Times New Roman is that it is a proportional font, which means every character gets just as much space as it needs. That makes alignment of columns of numbers difficult. 111 is more narrow than 88, for example. Fixed width fonts are preferred for representing data.

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

Fonts are just part of the whole language -- or maybe architecture -- of typography.

If you don't work with it, it tends to be almost subliminal. (Some would argue that is just what it should be.) Nevertheless, it can profoundly affect your perception of the material you are reading. Or, it can just feel distractingly "off."

Note the difference just switching from Antiqua to Tahoma.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.

To be, or not to be, that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune,
Or to take arms against a sea of troubles
And by opposing end them. To die—to sleep,
No more; and by a sleep to say we end
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That flesh is heir to: 'tis a consummation
Devoutly to be wish'd.

Cristiano seems to have wisely denied us the possibility of Comic Sans for this demonstration, but you can imagine ....

It's kind of funny/tragic. Those of us who create books spend hours sweating over dozens of little decisions like how much space to put at the top of chapters, what size margins to use, where to place figures -- should they get "wrapped" with the text or stand in the center? There are all sorts of style manuals and long-winded treatises on the art, often contradicting each other more than Biblical scholars. For me, ideally, you'll never notice that I fretted over all those decisions and it all just works to get the info into your head better.

This passage reminds me of a hilarious exhibit at the Huntington Museum in Pasadena. They have several suspected "false folios" -- probably, bootlegs of Shakespeare. Scribes would go to the plays, take down as much as they could and dash off to print unauthorized editions. Needless to say, errors were made. The one I remember best was, "To be or not to be, ay there's the point."

I got to be honest, I flat don't see the huge distinction you are supposedly pointing out. I do not think this is some "truth" that is universal to human beings. I think this is a very subjective aesthetic thing. I accept the fact that this matters to some people, but I see it as purely a matter of taste.

I've read Comic Sans is easier for dyslexics to read, although other fonts have since been adopted for that purpose.

Yes, this is true. There are provable differences in the readability of fonts. ...and those differences are NOT universal across human beings. People often prefer fonts that they personally find easier to read in addition to being pleasing to the eye.

In STEM, the biggest issue with Times New Roman is that it is a proportional font, which means every character gets just as much space as it needs. That makes alignment of columns of numbers difficult. 111 is more narrow than 88, for example. Fixed width fonts are preferred for representing data.

Yes. I agree this makes fixed width fonts easier for some applications. I know many people in jobs like mine prefer fixed width fonts in general for reasons like this.

 

[Casey Pelous]

I got to be honest, I flat don't see the huge distinction you are supposedly pointing out. I do not think this is some "truth" that is universal to human beings. I think this is a very subjective aesthetic thing. I accept the fact that this matters to some people, but I see it as purely a matter of taste.

That may or may not relate to the fact that not all browsers display the fonts available in XenForo. I just discovered this by viewing the thread on my phone instead of my desktop. On my phone, the two passages look exactly the same.
Of course, fonts have no inherent meaning. Like everything else, it's all just interpretations. Indeed, a Picasso has no more inherent value than a Pelous original. The culture at large, though, does not agree.
For that reason, there is some value in knowing the culture's tendencies when choosing fonts. In other words, you may not see any difference, but a lawyer would be a fool to file a brief printed in Comic Sans!

 

[GoblinCampFollower]

That may or may not relate to the fact that not all browsers display the fonts available in XenForo. I just discovered this by viewing the thread on my phone instead of my desktop. On my phone, the two passages look exactly the same.
Of course, fonts have no inherent meaning. Like everything else, it's all just interpretations. Indeed, a Picasso has no more inherent value than a Pelous original. The culture at large, though, does not agree.
For that reason, there is some value in knowing the culture's tendencies when choosing fonts. In other words, you may not see any difference, but a lawyer would be a fool to file a brief printed in Comic Sans!

I see your example fonts as different (I'm always on PC) but just don't see their MEANING as different.

I also agree that it's good to be AWARE of what people care about even if I don't see it. I'm a manager at my job so presentation and perception matter. I would never use Comic Sans in a serious presentation because I know people hate it. ....even if I do not at all see why.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

ChatGPT suggests the rule used to be sans serif for screens and serif for paper because earlier screens couldn't handle the fine detail required by serif fonts. However, that's now obsolete because screens have improved so much over the last 10 to 15 years.

 

[Casey Pelous]

BTW! Pelous originals now available!

As low as $1.5 million. Get yours today.

Tax and shipping not included. Some conditions may apply.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

(Though on a practical note, Caslon or Baskerville would be authentically C18th).

 

[Dakota Tebaldi]

I guess I don't think much about fonts. I like Calibri more than TNR because I favor modern humanist fonts over traditional ones.

 

[detrius]

I'm shocked that nobody has suggested Wingdings so far.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Two gunmen attack a Jewish event at Bondi Beach, Australia. Twelve people killed. Heroic bystander tackles one of the gunmen.

Bondi beach terror attack: 12 people killed after gunshots fired at park in Australia hosting Jewish festival

At least 12 people have died, including one alleged gunman, following a mass shooting at Bondi beach, during which dozens of gunshots were fired at a park hosting a Jewish festival.

The NSW police commissioner, Mal Lanyon, said late on Sunday night that police were investigating a possible third gunman, confirming the shooting had been declared a terrorist incident. He said police believed they had located several improvised explosive devices in a vehicle near the shooting shortly after the incident.


“I have also authorized special powers … to ensure that if there is a third offender, and we are currently investigating that at the moment, we will make sure that we prevent any further activity.”

 

[Soen Eber]

I'm shocked that nobody has suggested Wingdings so far.

I use that font sometimes when replying to a far-right crazy.

 

[Cindy Claveau]

 

[Cindy Claveau]

Enforcement of Texas’ “bathroom bill” draws challenges as colleges, cities implement new policies

In the week since Texas’ new “bathroom bill” designed to target transgender people went into effect, some opponents of the restrictions have begun challenging both the spirit and letter of the law as questions remain on how it can be enforced.

Senate Bill 8, also known as the Texas Women’s Privacy Act, restricts what public restrooms, locker rooms and other similar facilities transgender people can use in public buildings by determining access based on sex assigned at birth. The law does not mandate a policy, but requires that cities, counties and public agencies take “every reasonable step” to ensure people do not enter restrooms not matching their sex assigned at birth.

Supporters of the law pushed for more than a decade to cement the sex-based restrictions SB 8 creates as a way of protecting women’s private spaces. Opponents of the law, however, have maintained the lack of clear guidelines on how to uphold SB 8 will lead to uneven, ineffective and potentially invasive enforcement — and on Dec. 6, a group of protesters went to the Texas Capitol to test that claim.

 

[Katheryne Helendale]

Enforcement of Texas’ “bathroom bill” draws challenges as colleges, cities implement new policies

I can't help but think that all it would take is a whole lot of fully-transitioned trans men exercising malicious compliance to turn this whole bathroom bill nonsense on its head.

 

[Kamilah Hauptmann]

This man is more correct than he understands.

 

[Free]

Quite the informative headline.

New York Young Republican Club gala draws white nationalist, far-right Germans as elected officials skip out

Two months after prominent members of a national Young Republican organization were exposed for their role in a hate-filled, private group chat, the city-based chapter showed it’s willing to welcome almost anyone.

Inside Cipriani Wall Street, a lavish event space in the financial district, amid the sea of tuxedos and ball gowns, was white nationalist leader Jared Taylor. Across the room sat EmpathChan, an influencer who went viral recently for wearing blackface on Halloween. And appearing on stage was Markus Frohnmaier, a far-right German politician, whose political party the club had cheered with a German-language phrase popularized by the Nazis. At least nineteen other members of the Alternative for Germany (AfD) party joined him.

Also spotted at the New York Young Republican Club gala: Vish Burra, a club member who lost his job at the conservative One America News Network last month for posting a video depicting Jews as cockroaches.

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

This is an interesting featurette investigating why the Pentagon is very aware about the Saab Gripen fighter jet from Sweden, which boils down to "much more affordable than F35 with lower operation costs which results in much more experienced fighter pilots".

Or as somebody in the comments wrote: "Two philosophies ... the F-35 is designed for US policy enforcement by stealthily attack other countries overseas, JAS Gripen is designed for patrolling, rapid interception and defense of the homeland. The F-35 is a hangar queen that needs constant babying, climate control and perfect runways. JAS Gripen is a rugged arctic viking that only needs a strip of highway and a forest parking space to operate."

 

[Innula Zenovka]

Financial Times: When business and democracy don’t mix

A political commentator must befriend business people, for their original angle on things, for their range of international experiences, for their (often) pleasanter company. But doing so also brings home their intellectual blind spot, which is an inability to understand fanaticism. And by that I mean a literal refusal to believe that such a thing really exists. There are exceptions, but people who have to be pragmatic for a living will tend to assume that all the world is the same, and that ideology is just a cover for reasonable material interests.

On this account of things, someone who extols a Greater Russia doesn’t mean it, or might mean a bit of it but what’s the big deal if there is upside for everybody? On the surface, this attitude is streetwise and cynical. In truth, it is the ultimate in naivety. For all the talk of Trump being a strongman-fancier, it is not clear that he, much less Witkoff, has the first clue how deep and almost mystical are the ideas that drive a Putin or a Xi Jinping. He could scarcely be less suited to dealing with them.

 

[Innula Zenovka]

'This Is What The Wall Street Journal Has Come To? Legitimization Of Three-Way Sodomy?!'

ANOTHER Christmas miracle from the comedy gods.

evanhurst.substack.com

 

[Bartholomew Gallacher]

CNN has found out that many Americans, who visited Europe or Asia once, are hungry for community places. And is asking the question why America doesn't have more European-style squares?

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/12/19/travel/europe-public-squares-american-development