Serendipity35

My posts on the blog are about education and technology and often about where those two topics cross. It is rare for politics to enter these posts, but obviously,y politics plays a role in education and technology.

In this ever-crazier federal administration, we find that the Department of State has recently declared a move away from so-called "woke" fonts.

WTF does this mean? The translation of "woke" in this context is  "accessible." Apparently, Times New Roman is the preferred "unwoke" font. 

The US government has long provided a whole suite of accessibility recommendations for its agencies. These include accessible design and universal design. They're all under Section508.gov. This past summer. The website said, "Accessibility is about more than compliance with standards. It’s about developing solutions to meet the needs of all users, with and without disabilities. Universal design, a concept now widely used in the private sector, provides a path for federal agencies to shift to this broader focus."

In December 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a formal directive to revert the Department’s official font from Calibri back to Times New Roman.

While the "woke" terminology comes largely from media headlines and social commentary describing the move, Rubio's official memo explicitly linked the font change to the administration's broader push to dismantle DEIA (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) programs.

In a memo titled "Return to Tradition: Times New Roman 14-Point Font Required for All Department Paper," the Department argued that the previous switch to Calibri was a "wasteful" and "radical" initiative. Rubio stated the change was necessary to "restore decorum and professionalism" to official work products, arguing that Calibri was too "informal" and clashed with official letterheads.

The memo cited statistics showing that the number of accessibility remediation cases remained nearly identical before and after the change. A spokesperson stated the return to a serif font aligns with "President Trump’s One Voice for America’s Foreign Relations directive," emphasizing a unified, traditional image for the U.S. government.

More likely, the reverals has more to do with the fact that the Biden Administration in 2023 made the change because sans-serif fonts (Arial, Helvetica, Calibri et al) are generally easier for people with dyslexia or low vision to read on screens.

The current State Dept. labels the Biden change as a "wasteful DEIA program. Supporters of the reversal argue that government communications should look formal and authoritative, and that the previous administration's focus on "inclusive typography" was performative bureaucracy.

Critics (including disability advocates and typography experts) argue that the move ignores the technical benefits of sans-serif fonts for digital accessibility and that labeling a typeface as "woke" is an unnecessary politicization of basic office tools.

I care far less about what the default font might be, but I do care that in the time of war in the Ukraine, Israel and Gaza battles and other hotspots getting hotter around the globe, mass shootings, ICE raids on imigrants, and the U.S. economy continuing to fall, that the administration has the time and budget to care about fonts and reversing almost everything done by the previous aministration. 

 

As organizations increasingly depend on centralized cloud systems for critical operations, understanding their vulnerabilities becomes essential. The risks inherent in relying solely on the cloud --or any fully centralized information system-- define the pit into which none of us want to fall.

Whether the reason the information system fails is a network outage, a provider faiure, or a security breach, relying on a single-entity failure can disrupt operations worldwide.

In 2021, a major AWS outage disrupted services for thousands of businesses worldwide. The incident was triggered by network congestion and cascading failures in a core subsystem, leading to hours of downtime for critical applications. The consequences included lost revenue, customer frustration, and a renewed focus on disaster recovery planning. Organizations realized that even industry-leading providers are not immune to large-scale disruptions.

This event underscored the importance of having backup systems and clear communication strategies in place. Many companies began reassessing their reliance on single-provider solutions after the outage. It also highlighted the interconnectedness of modern digital services.

A single point of failure can ripple across industries and geographies.

The recent failures in the CloudFlare Sytem have demonstrated how the centralization of vital vendor-based systems has created massive service outage vulnerabilities. Understanding the importance of having backup systems and clear communication strategies in place, many companies began reassessing their reliance on single-provider solutions.  Lessons learned from these events have driven investments in redundancy, failover systems, and staff training. While the response to these "events" has become faster and preparations for recovery more robust, the interdependency of having all of the information eggs in one loosely-weaved basket has not. Off-line availability of services has not been addressed.

From Cloud Reliance to Local Control

Enter the MultiVisor... a service designed to run multiple operating systems concurrently, and provide flexibility, security and independence from centralized cloud services. Implementing a MultiVisor places critical services control in a local console and establishes failure resistant and fault tolerant capabilities for any computing environment.

These are the basic highlights:

Switching between different operating systems on the same machine enables seamless testing, development, and compatibility checks.

Running workloads in separate virtual machines isolates them from each other, reducing the risk that a compromise in one environment will affect others.

Consolidating multiple workloads onto a single physical device allows for more efficient use of hardware resources.

Maintaining full operational capability even without internet or cloud access.

Beyond Outages: Distributed Computing in Action with a MultiVisor

Distributed computing is a the heart of modern resilience strategies. Supporting and accessing multiple redundant nodes ensures that fault tolerance is maintained during and across systemic failures. Scaling resources in or out to accommodate realtime changes in information access loads makes distributed computing adaptable to both individual and enterprise users.

With a MultiVisor configuration on their local devices, users can continue working, sharing files, and communicating over the local network. Critical service interruptions from centralized providers do not bring the flow of information services to a sudden halt. When the cloud connection is re-established, data is synchronized, and operations resume normal integration with central systems.

Distributed computing with a MultiVisor can transform disruption into opportunity. Systems will adapt, recover, and thrive.

This article was written inside a MultiVisor environment on a Mac Studio that simultaneously accessed all local data and services from Windows 11, FreeBSD 15, FreeBSD 14. MacOS Tahoe 26.2 and an instance of GS/OS running in an Apple IIGS environment.

 

 

Typepad was a blogging service that was launched back in 2003. I used it for years as a fast blogging platform. I was less and less serious about using it as I  moved to other, more robust platforms such as Wordpress, Blogger and Serendipity (used for this blog) emerged.

I don't think I posted anything there in the past year, but I happened to click the bookmark for my site this past week and found that the URL was replaced with networksolutions.com/typepad, which told me that "Typepad has closed—your next chapter starts here. Your previous provider has shut down, but your online presence can still thrive. Partner with Network Solutions to keep your domain, website, and brand moving forward. Unfortunately, you can no longer access your files, and there will be no extensions beyond the end of service date. All of the blog data will be purged."

The platform had been through some changes over the years and stopped accepting new signups at the end of 2020. In August 2025, Typepad announced it would be shutting down on September 30, 2025.

I'm not very upset about the shutdown because I wasn't really using it. I have 10 other blogs that I post to. (Yes, that is ridiculous. Take a look here.) What does upset me about it shutting down is that it's a reminder that all the content you're posting online (particularly on a platform you don't own and control) can go away quickly - "purged" as in the case of Typepad.
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Typepad's shutdown can be attributed to several factors that often affect online services. While there isn't a single definitive cause, here are some probable reasons.

Changing market landscape: The blogging and website hosting space has become increasingly competitive, with many platforms offering free or low-cost services. This shift likely put pressure on Typepad to adapt and stay attractive to users.

Ownership changes: Typepad changed hands over the years, moving from its original owners to Endurance International Group and then to SAY Media. Such transitions can sometimes lead to changes in strategy or resources allocated to the platform.

Technical issues and support challenges: Some users reported issues with the platform, including difficulties with importing content to other services and concerns about support responsiveness. These challenges might have contributed to a decline in user satisfaction.

Business model sustainability: Like many businesses, Typepad needed to balance its offerings with revenue. As the market evolved, maintaining a viable business model might have become increasingly difficult.

For context, similar challenges are not unique to Typepad. Many businesses face hurdles such as adapting to market changes, managing growth, and ensuring customer satisfaction. A broader look at common reasons for business failures includes factors like lack of market demand, insufficient capital, and inability to pivot in response to changing conditions.

Australia implemented a world-first nationwide ban on social media access for children under 16, effective December 10, 2025. The law, passed in November 2024 under the Online Safety Amendment (Social Media Minimum Age) Bill, requires major platforms to take "reasonable steps" to prevent users under 16 from creating or maintaining accounts. This includes age verification methods like behavioral inference (analyzing online activity), facial age estimation (e.g., via selfies), ID uploads, or linking bank details.

Millions of accounts are expected to be affected as companies, such as TikTok, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, YouTube, and X, face fines of up to $33M for serious or repeated noncompliance. The law places responsibility on companies rather than families, and platforms must demonstrate that they have taken “reasonable steps,” such as implementing age checks and removing suspected underage accounts.

The measure is cast as a child-protection and mental health safeguard, citing research showing 96% of 10- to 15-year-olds use social media, with many encountering harmful content, grooming, or cyberbullying. Critics say the law is difficult to enforce. It may even push teens onto harder-to-monitor platforms. Another criticism is that it may pose privacy risks.

Read the research from Australia used to create this ban
https://www.esafety.gov.au/research/the-online-experiences-of-children-in-australia/report-digital-use-and-risk-among-children-aged-10-to-15

Other countries have taken similar steps, such as strict youth modes or time limits.
https://studyinternational.com/news/countries-social-media-ban-children/