The #BrokenTimes elevates & normalizes the trivial stupidity of the woke font fight--as ever, without bringing the history of font fights past, under another authoritarian leader, Hitler. Is Times New Roman Better Than Calibri for the State Department? nytimes.com/interactive/2025/1…
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And here is the story of another government that banned a typeface: Hitler's. From my book The Gutenberg Parenthesis.
http://jeffjarvis.com
So the Calibri font is now deemed to be too woke and shall be replaced by the venerable Times New roman. This is – of course – uniformed performative noise, this is also nothing new, just repetitio…
Well, yes, but actually, this time the fascists are going backwards.
Hitler actually moved German typography more in line with other European languages that did the switch to Antiqua centuries earlier.
In that way, it's not an analogy. On the scale of things the Nazis did, this is probably mostly benign and fine (and it btw still applies today, while I had to learn to read Fraktur in school, I don't think many of my generation had to, and today not many know it).
From my upcoming book, Hot Type: The great Beatrice Warde, expert in typography, called those who would use sans serif faces as body type "aesthetic nudists." T.M. Cleland called sans serif “simplification for simpletons, and those are block letters for blockheads.” Indeed. Preorder: jeffjarvis.com
I don't care if typography is an art form. This kind of attitude shows the hubris of font designers. If it is easier to read in the nude do me a sans font any day.
Pain is the goal. Calibri is a better font for people that have difficulty reading. Times New Roman is a font for print that can cram the most text in a cramped space. So lets efff around with the vision impaired and make their life even more miserable that it already is.
A font that works good for papers is not necessarily a good font for screen. Or correspondence that has a lot more horizontal space. Or even a book.
In the U.S. if you received your new medical insurance premium for 2026, how much did it go up? And are you covered through work, or did you buy thru the ACA?
If you'd rather keep it private, but want folks to know how much of a crisis this is, feel free to DM and I will add it as an anonymous reply.
We get our insurance through J's work, and ours went up by $114 per month.
I'm an independent contractor, I use the ACA, up by 300. If it goes any higher I'm going to have to quit my job so I can get Medicare. This is so stressful.
And here's the thing I'm the kind of person that Republicans love to hold up as some sort of paragon of life and the American Way. A cripple who started her own business has been successfully running it now for eight years, not on the system, etc. etc. and yet while they love to talk about how amazing I am, they are making it so that I actually am going to have to go back on the system just to survive. Fuck every one of those assholes!
@adhdeanasl @pawpower If they hold to the contract I got then up $120 a month (and I barely qualify, I live in a state that did not expand medicaid so if I drop down I lose healthcare in that gap between state and federal poverty line). If they don’t then I cant afford it and wont have insurance.
AARP offers affordable vision and dental, and you can join at any age, so I am looking at that. I have friends who did it and liked that - it’s cheaper than what ACA provides at least and dental is better coverage it looks like.
I had a friend able to get direct insurance like how I had to before ACA (i used to just be direct individual with bcbs) for not much more than previous with subsidy price. Not sure who with.
@adhdeanasl @pawpower I just did a quick check and it would be a lot cheaper direct than full price on marketplace for my insurance…so…yeah. I may be able to go about it that way. Suggest people check being a direct individual if the marketplace/ACA is too much. Because wtf.
I'm an employee of the US state of Georgia. Our premium went up $75, which is pretty typical of previous years.
We do not receive an annual COLA from the state--our raises are "merit based" with occasional "adjustments" where we all receive some flat salary increase that does not even cover the increasing cost of our benefits.
I’m on the ACA. My premium went up by $150 per month, and my tax credits went to $0. So, about a $500 per month overall increase. Oh, and this is all on the lowest bronze tier plan, which already has high deductibles and high out-of-pocket costs. It’s grim.
my health care monthly cost tripled to over $1200/month. Again, for the bronze plan with almost $10K deductible. If I actually get sick, my health care will cost more than a mortgage.
The Head Glutton adorns his castle in gold, while personally robbing us blind, saying “you’ve never had it better!” as we gasp for air, with his boot on our throats. This is a fight for our lives, and just as important the life of our democracy. Don’t be one of the dummies who thinks he’ll just fuck over the brown people, and that’s ok. It’s unworthy and inaccurate. Think of your humanity, not perceived tribe, he’s after all of us at the bottom of the pyramid.
Some are, but are they enough? It will be telling when the Shit Show finally collapses where they shake out . The sad thing is that they made choices based on some combination of lies, racism, perceived self benefit to the cost of others, stupidity. And they were preyed on by the wealthy who are no better. It says bad things about our species. 😞
@BritishKoalaTea I'm glad it wasn't more, but even a small increase adds up over a year, especially for anyone on a tight budget, which is the majority of folks.
I'm on regular Medicare. It was around $174 a month last year. This year it's somewhere over $200 (don't have the letter in front of me.) I got a cost of living increase for my SS but, after the Medicare bill increase, which they automatically take out, my monthly SS increase is a whole $20. 🥳 This doesn't include the Part D prescription portion I also have to pay for. Not sure what that will be yet, but it will probably take that extra $20. 😆
I have an ACA plan (through NJ's state marketplace) & it went up ~75%, from $400-something to $700-something for a single person per month. It would have been a little worse if NJ hadn't upped their subsidy slightly.
The last few years NJ has been adding a small subsidy on top of the federal one. I don’t know if it’s a flat amount or part of the whole arcane eligibility calculation. I think mine was $40/month this year, going up to $100 in the coming one.
I've bought my health insurance from the ACA marketplace for about nine years now. I was astonished to see that mine went up about 10% which is about the same as has in previous years. I assume this is because our ages went up and rising costs of stuff in general.
I'm extremely concerned about clicking the "buy" button just yet especially since Congress couldn't agree on anything for continuing ACA subsidies or some sort of health care plan. It essentially said "fuck it" we're just gonna let subsidies die. That worries me because I qualify for some subsidy but haven't been able to find out if I'll keep that subsidy when I file income tax stuff in '27 for '26.
oh god no, it went up. We pay more, our deductible almost doubled. We are charged more if we use a local pharmacy instead of their preferred mail-order service (and we all know how helpful/efficient the latter can be /s ). I already pay cash for many of my prescriptions, and will like find more that is not covered this year. I'm doing my damndest to find areas we can scrape to save for the increased out-of-pocket. I damn near cried when we got the news.
My insurance is going up $400 a month -up to $1200 total. i would have chosen to just go without insurance, but i have a lot of prescription medications to take and one of them would be $1000 a month just by itself, so it will still save me money to pay this much for insurance.
the only reason I have insurance at all is because of cobra. I’ve got one more year then I may have to go to nothing. So while that may be good news in the short term — no idea if premium will go up or not — I’m living on bided time. (God bless NY and the state university system for looking out for their employees.)
Though Sp’s work, it went up about $15 a month —covers three of us.
Our son’s, which we pay because he’s in school and aged out of ours, is through the ACA. His old plan was no longer available, new one is $110 more every month. He doesn’t qualify for subsidies because he’s living with us and considered a dependent.
Edit to add they’re both high deductible plans. We have a friend whose ACA plan went up $1500 a month & he lost the subsidy for himself and his daughter.
Can he get his daughter covered, at least, if worse comes to worse and he can only cover her? In Georgia we have state "Peachcare" to cover children whose parents have no insurance.
@paul_ipv6 Through work, the premiums stayed the same (miraculously), but the insurance company is in a contract negotiation stalemate with the prevailing local medical system, and apparently maybe a dozen other regional medical systems, so the value for that same price is dubious at best. 🙄
Ukraine's #Zelensky ditches #NATO ambition ahead of peace talks
The move marks a major shift for #Ukraine, which has fought to join NATO as a safeguard against #Russia attacks & has such an aspiration included in its #constitution. It also meets one of Russia's #war aims, although Kyiv has so far held firm against ceding #territory to Moscow.
#Zelensky said on Sunday that the #US, #Europe & other partners' #security guarantees instead of #NATO membership were a compromise on #Ukraine's side.
"From the very beginning, Ukraine's desire was to join NATO, these are real security guarantees. Some partners from the US & Europe did not support this direction," he said in answer to questions from reporters in a WhatsApp chat.
"Thus, today, bilateral #security guarantees between #Ukraine & the #US, Article 5-like guarantees for us from the US, & security guarantees from European colleagues, as well as other countries — #Canada, #Japan — are an opportunity to prevent another Russian invasion," #Zelensky said.
"And it is already a compromise from our part," he said, adding that the security guarantees should be legally binding.
Russian President Vladimir #Putin has repeatedly demanded that #Ukraine officially renounce its #NATO ambitions & withdraw #troops from the about 10% of #Donbas which Kyiv still controls. Moscow has also said that Ukraine must be a neutral country & that no NATO troops can be stationed in Ukraine.
Russian sources said earlier this year that #Putin wants a "written" pledge by major Western powers not to enlarge the [formerly] #US-led #NATO alliance eastwards - shorthand for formally ruling out membership to #Ukraine, #Georgia, #Moldova & other former Soviet republics.
…Although the exact make-up of the meetings on Sunday & Monday have not been made public, a #US official said #Trump envoy #SteveWitkoff & son-in-law #JaredKushner were travelling to Germany for talks involving Ukrainians & Europeans.
The choice to send Witkoff, who has led negotiations with #Ukraine & #Russia on a US “peace” proposal, appeared to be a signal that Washington sees a chance of “progress”….
Just exactly what does #Slumlord🏪@JaredKushner do diplomatically except to reveal itineraries, ala #Khashoggi❓️ He's as big as looter as his ol' man & tRump combined, as he's the dark land grabber in Gaza. He & bro Josh even held Covid vaccines AND MASKS hostage❗️
Houseplants can bring life and joy into our homes, but one very common problem is the arrival of small black flies. The flies, which are known as fungus
From the rise of foldables to the launch of Grand Theft Auto VI to the end of OpenAI and the fall of Apple, these are our predictions for the next year in tech.
That dude who just tried to "well actually" a post about how shitty Spotify is... You can block him and mute him at the same time. You are allowed to do that.
In early December 2025, Country Garden Holdings announced senior leadership changes, with long-serving President Mo Bin becoming Co-Chairman and executive
Jeff Jarvis
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •Jeff Jarvis (@jeffjarvis@mastodon.social)
Jeff Jarvis (Mastodon)🔏 Matthias Wiesmann
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •This is one of the main reasons why Swiss Design is a thing…
wiesmann.codiferes.net/wordpre…
Grotesque politics
Thias の blogjz.tusk
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •Absinthe
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •Tony 🌮 Bark
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •Andreas K
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •Well, yes, but actually, this time the fascists are going backwards.
Hitler actually moved German typography more in line with other European languages that did the switch to Antiqua centuries earlier.
In that way, it's not an analogy. On the scale of things the Nazis did, this is probably mostly benign and fine (and it btw still applies today, while I had to learn to read Fraktur in school, I don't think many of my generation had to, and today not many know it).
Jeff Jarvis
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •The great Beatrice Warde, expert in typography, called those who would use sans serif faces as body type "aesthetic nudists." T.M. Cleland called sans serif “simplification for simpletons, and those are block letters for blockheads.” Indeed.
Preorder: jeffjarvis.com
Jeff Jarvis
Jeff Jarvis⏚ Antoine Chambert-Loir
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •Jeff Jarvis
in reply to ⏚ Antoine Chambert-Loir • • •I fear it was not the font -- Sabon -- but the tightness with which it was set. Sorry about that.
Jonathan Hendry
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •ruurd@mastodon.social
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •ruurd@mastodon.social
in reply to Jeff Jarvis • • •Pain is the goal. Calibri is a better font for people that have difficulty reading. Times New Roman is a font for print that can cram the most text in a cramped space. So lets efff around with the vision impaired and make their life even more miserable that it already is.
A font that works good for papers is not necessarily a good font for screen. Or correspondence that has a lot more horizontal space. Or even a book.