<story><title>Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri</title><url>https://twitter.com/john_hudson/status/1615486867712999426</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>LarryMullins</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;metric [...] morally evil&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve never heard an American complain that Coca Cola is sold by the liter.   There&amp;#x27;s no moral component to Americans not wanting to switch to metric.  It&amp;#x27;s simply a matter of the switch and retooling being more hassle than continuing to use American customary units.   Frankly, the difference seems to bother Europeans a lot more than it bothers Americans.</text></item><item><author>Joker_vD</author><text>A&amp;#x2F;B&amp;#x2F;C paper series formats are based on metrics system and therefore, morally evil and unfit for the US consumption.</text></item><item><author>sdflhasjd</author><text>And still not even A4</text></item><item><author>valgaze</author><text>Allegedly during Colin Powell’ time at the State Department there was quite an ordeal to change paper sizes for communication between offices: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.govexec.com&amp;#x2F;magazine&amp;#x2F;2001&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;the-powell-leadership-doctrine&amp;#x2F;9193&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.govexec.com&amp;#x2F;magazine&amp;#x2F;2001&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;the-powell-leadersh...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;“correspondence between headquarters and overseas embassies, known as Diplomatic Notes, for years had to be accompanied by a legal-size (8 1&amp;#x2F;2-inch by 14-inch) cover sheet. That wasn&amp;#x27;t really a big deal when the notes were drafted on typewriters. But Ted Strickler, head of State&amp;#x27;s Office of Foreign Missions, found that since the introduction of the desktop computer, his employees were spending a lot of extra time formatting the notes and fiddling with the paper in the printer. He checked to see whether he could use standard 8 1&amp;#x2F;2-inch by 11-inch paper for the Diplomatic Notes, instead. He was told to submit a formal action memorandum suggesting the change. Strickler submitted the suggestion to his superiors in January 1999. A year went by. He found out his action memorandum had been lost, so he resubmitted it. In early 2001-two years after he recommended the change in the first place-the department approved the use of standard paper. &amp;quot;If anything so innocuous as changing the size of the paper for Diplomatic Notes was so exceedingly difficult, how difficult would it be to make more important changes?&amp;quot; Strickler says.“</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>int_19h</author><text>The reason why the rest of the world cares more is because US is literally the only country that hasn&amp;#x27;t switched that &amp;quot;matters&amp;quot; (for engineering and business purposes). Until y&amp;#x27;all do that, everybody else has to contend with two systems at least occasionally because of commerce, tourism etc. Once you do, it&amp;#x27;s just metric going forward, which makes things so much easier for everyone. Standards produce the most benefit when they&amp;#x27;re truly universal.</text></comment>
<story><title>Times New Roman is being phased out at the State Department, replaced by Calibri</title><url>https://twitter.com/john_hudson/status/1615486867712999426</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>LarryMullins</author><text>&amp;gt; &lt;i&gt;metric [...] morally evil&lt;/i&gt;&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve never heard an American complain that Coca Cola is sold by the liter.   There&amp;#x27;s no moral component to Americans not wanting to switch to metric.  It&amp;#x27;s simply a matter of the switch and retooling being more hassle than continuing to use American customary units.   Frankly, the difference seems to bother Europeans a lot more than it bothers Americans.</text></item><item><author>Joker_vD</author><text>A&amp;#x2F;B&amp;#x2F;C paper series formats are based on metrics system and therefore, morally evil and unfit for the US consumption.</text></item><item><author>sdflhasjd</author><text>And still not even A4</text></item><item><author>valgaze</author><text>Allegedly during Colin Powell’ time at the State Department there was quite an ordeal to change paper sizes for communication between offices: &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.govexec.com&amp;#x2F;magazine&amp;#x2F;2001&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;the-powell-leadership-doctrine&amp;#x2F;9193&amp;#x2F;&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;www.govexec.com&amp;#x2F;magazine&amp;#x2F;2001&amp;#x2F;06&amp;#x2F;the-powell-leadersh...&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;“correspondence between headquarters and overseas embassies, known as Diplomatic Notes, for years had to be accompanied by a legal-size (8 1&amp;#x2F;2-inch by 14-inch) cover sheet. That wasn&amp;#x27;t really a big deal when the notes were drafted on typewriters. But Ted Strickler, head of State&amp;#x27;s Office of Foreign Missions, found that since the introduction of the desktop computer, his employees were spending a lot of extra time formatting the notes and fiddling with the paper in the printer. He checked to see whether he could use standard 8 1&amp;#x2F;2-inch by 11-inch paper for the Diplomatic Notes, instead. He was told to submit a formal action memorandum suggesting the change. Strickler submitted the suggestion to his superiors in January 1999. A year went by. He found out his action memorandum had been lost, so he resubmitted it. In early 2001-two years after he recommended the change in the first place-the department approved the use of standard paper. &amp;quot;If anything so innocuous as changing the size of the paper for Diplomatic Notes was so exceedingly difficult, how difficult would it be to make more important changes?&amp;quot; Strickler says.“</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>midoridensha</author><text>&amp;gt;I&amp;#x27;ve never heard an American complain that Coca Cola is sold by the liter. There&amp;#x27;s no moral component to Americans not wanting to switch to metric.&lt;p&gt;There is, it&amp;#x27;s just that Americans are happy to overlook it here and there for completely arbitrary reasons.</text></comment>