The Myth Of Sisyphus Appendix: Hope and the Absurd in the Work of Franz Kafka Summer In Algiers The Minotaur or The Stop In Oran The Street The Desert in Oran Sports Monuments Ariadne's Stone Helen's Exile Return To Tipasa The Artist And His Time Preface For me 'The Myth of Sisyphus' marks the beginning of an idea which I was to pursue. The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus Compare and Contrast Albert believes that we need to take a leap of faith or put our hands in God in order to purse life to the fullest Where Julia and I believe that the lessons and relationships we make will give us the answer we are looking.
This is one of those topics that just makes me feel like Sisyphus: I keep on pushing the boulder of truth back up the hill, and a zillion other folks just roll it back down again. The problem with this myth is that it's almost true – except when the exact opposite is the case. I just read the popular wisdom on this topic again tonight, in an online column from another type foundry. Worse, it was written by an outstanding type designer who is also a great person. Oh well – at least I have a topic for tonight's blog posting.
[update 12 May 2006: an esteemed colleague at 'other type foundry' points out that some of the linked material, and a bit buried below from an asterisk in the main text, correctly clarifies the initial blanket advice. I still don't get the need to give misleading advice up front, but at least it's clear that they know the full truth, even if they present it oddly.]
What's true is that using bold and italic styling on text can sometimes result in a faux (fake) bold or italic. If there is no style-linked bold or italic font, or that font is not installed, you'll get a faux bold or italic, and it won't look great, and it may print even worse. So the popular wisdom among graphic designers is that you should never do it, but always pick the bold or italic font directly off the font menu. Unfortunately, the popular wisdom is just plain wrong, for two main reasons.
First, most of the people giving this advice must not have spent much time on a Windows machine (or perhaps they assume that everybody who matters is on Mac OS). It's true that most of Adobe's applications allow you to directly pick any font off the font menu, even on Windows. However, 'normal' Windows applications such as Microsoft Office don't allow direct access to bold and italic variants. You can select only the 'base font' of the style linked group, and you must apply bold or italic styles as needed. That's just how Windows fonts work in most Windows applications, and folks who tell users they should only pick the bold or italic font directly off the font menu are betraying their platform bias by not realizing this is Mac-only advice.
It gets worse when Mac users go to Windows and wonder where their fonts went, or Windows users don't realize that those 'styles' are often fonts unto themselves. I wrote this section of our OpenType Readme to try to address the issue from those perspectives. It's also covered in an Adobe Knowledgebase article from our tech support section.
The second consideration is for folks on Mac OS making documents in 'normal' applications such as MS Office, which may need to go to Windows users who have 'the same' fonts. If the Mac users want their document fonts to map correctly on Windows, they must use the style links where appropriate. That is, if you can get to the real italic font by style link, you must do so. Otherwise the fonts won't map correctly when the document goes to your colleague on a Windows machine.
Finally, if an application supports both style links and paragraph or character styles based on other styles, it can be handy to use a 'based on' style and use the bold or italic style link for emphasis. This allows the possibility that if you change the font of the underlying style, the style link can function with the new font without you having to redefine it as well.
That last point is a matter of personal preference and working style. But the first two are a matter of necessity. So here's hoping a few more people do their homework before telling others that using bold or italic styling on text is 'always wrong.' Yes, it can be a problem for the unwary, but sometimes it's a necessity – like for the millions of people running Microsoft Word on Windows.
(Note: Please no comments about Mac superiority or descent into platform wars. I do think that it's nicer to always be able to tell which fonts are really available to you. But gosh, in the grand scheme of things, there are a zillion more important things in choosing which computer platform you want to use.)
Summary
Sisyphus (austincaskie) Mac Os Update
Sisyphus is probably more famous for his punishment in the underworld than for what he did in his life. According to the Greek myth, Sisyphus is condemned to roll a rock up to the top of a mountain, only to have the rock roll back down to the bottom every time he reaches the top. The gods were wise, Camus suggests, in perceiving that an eternity of futile labor is a hideous punishment.
The Myth Of Sisyphus Appendix: Hope and the Absurd in the Work of Franz Kafka Summer In Algiers The Minotaur or The Stop In Oran The Street The Desert in Oran Sports Monuments Ariadne's Stone Helen's Exile Return To Tipasa The Artist And His Time Preface For me 'The Myth of Sisyphus' marks the beginning of an idea which I was to pursue. The Myth of Sisyphus Albert Camus Compare and Contrast Albert believes that we need to take a leap of faith or put our hands in God in order to purse life to the fullest Where Julia and I believe that the lessons and relationships we make will give us the answer we are looking.
This is one of those topics that just makes me feel like Sisyphus: I keep on pushing the boulder of truth back up the hill, and a zillion other folks just roll it back down again. The problem with this myth is that it's almost true – except when the exact opposite is the case. I just read the popular wisdom on this topic again tonight, in an online column from another type foundry. Worse, it was written by an outstanding type designer who is also a great person. Oh well – at least I have a topic for tonight's blog posting.
[update 12 May 2006: an esteemed colleague at 'other type foundry' points out that some of the linked material, and a bit buried below from an asterisk in the main text, correctly clarifies the initial blanket advice. I still don't get the need to give misleading advice up front, but at least it's clear that they know the full truth, even if they present it oddly.]
What's true is that using bold and italic styling on text can sometimes result in a faux (fake) bold or italic. If there is no style-linked bold or italic font, or that font is not installed, you'll get a faux bold or italic, and it won't look great, and it may print even worse. So the popular wisdom among graphic designers is that you should never do it, but always pick the bold or italic font directly off the font menu. Unfortunately, the popular wisdom is just plain wrong, for two main reasons.
First, most of the people giving this advice must not have spent much time on a Windows machine (or perhaps they assume that everybody who matters is on Mac OS). It's true that most of Adobe's applications allow you to directly pick any font off the font menu, even on Windows. However, 'normal' Windows applications such as Microsoft Office don't allow direct access to bold and italic variants. You can select only the 'base font' of the style linked group, and you must apply bold or italic styles as needed. That's just how Windows fonts work in most Windows applications, and folks who tell users they should only pick the bold or italic font directly off the font menu are betraying their platform bias by not realizing this is Mac-only advice.
It gets worse when Mac users go to Windows and wonder where their fonts went, or Windows users don't realize that those 'styles' are often fonts unto themselves. I wrote this section of our OpenType Readme to try to address the issue from those perspectives. It's also covered in an Adobe Knowledgebase article from our tech support section.
The second consideration is for folks on Mac OS making documents in 'normal' applications such as MS Office, which may need to go to Windows users who have 'the same' fonts. If the Mac users want their document fonts to map correctly on Windows, they must use the style links where appropriate. That is, if you can get to the real italic font by style link, you must do so. Otherwise the fonts won't map correctly when the document goes to your colleague on a Windows machine.
Finally, if an application supports both style links and paragraph or character styles based on other styles, it can be handy to use a 'based on' style and use the bold or italic style link for emphasis. This allows the possibility that if you change the font of the underlying style, the style link can function with the new font without you having to redefine it as well.
That last point is a matter of personal preference and working style. But the first two are a matter of necessity. So here's hoping a few more people do their homework before telling others that using bold or italic styling on text is 'always wrong.' Yes, it can be a problem for the unwary, but sometimes it's a necessity – like for the millions of people running Microsoft Word on Windows.
(Note: Please no comments about Mac superiority or descent into platform wars. I do think that it's nicer to always be able to tell which fonts are really available to you. But gosh, in the grand scheme of things, there are a zillion more important things in choosing which computer platform you want to use.)
Summary
Sisyphus (austincaskie) Mac Os Update
Sisyphus is probably more famous for his punishment in the underworld than for what he did in his life. According to the Greek myth, Sisyphus is condemned to roll a rock up to the top of a mountain, only to have the rock roll back down to the bottom every time he reaches the top. The gods were wise, Camus suggests, in perceiving that an eternity of futile labor is a hideous punishment.
There are a number of stories—ones which are not mutually exclusive—that explain how Sisyphus came to earn his punishment in the underworld. According to one story, Zeus carried off Aegina, a mortal woman who was the daughter of Asopus. Sisyphus witnessed this kidnapping in his home city of Corinth. Sisyphus agreed to inform Asopus as to who had kidnapped Aegina if Asopus would give the citadel at Corinth a fresh-water spring. In making this deal and bearing witness against Zeus, Sisyphus earned the wrath of the gods while earning earthly wealth and happiness for himself and his people.
Sisyphus (austincaskie) Mac Os X
Another story tells how Sisyphus enchained the spirit of Death, so that during Death's imprisonment, no human being died. Naturally, when the gods freed Death, his first victim was Sisyphus. It is also said that Sisyphus told his wife not to offer any of the traditional burial rites when he died. When he arrived in the underworld, he complained to Hades that his wife had not observed these rites and was granted permission to return to earth to chastise her. Pis great escape mac os. Once granted this second lease on life, Sisyphus refused to return to the underworld, and lived to a ripe old age before returning to the underworld a second time to endure his eternal punishment.
Camus identifies Sisyphus as the archetypal absurd hero, both for his behavior on earth and for his punishment in the underworld. He displays scorn for the gods, a hatred of death, and a passion for life. His punishment is to endure an eternity of hopeless struggle.
We are not told how Sisyphus endures his punishment in the underworld: that much is left to our imagination. What fascinates Camus is Sisyphus's state of mind in that moment after the rock rolls away from him at the top of the mountain. As he heads down the mountain, briefly free from his labor, he is conscious, aware of the absurdity of his fate. His fate can only be considered tragic because he understands it and has no hope for reprieve. At the same time, the lucidity he achieves with this understanding also places him above his fate.
Camus suggests that Sisyphus might even approach his task with joy. The moments of sorrow or melancholy come when he looks back at the world he's left behind, or when he hopes or wishes for happiness. When Sisyphus accepts his fate, however, the sorrow and melancholy of it vanish. Camus suggests that acknowledging 'crushing truths' like the eternity and futility of his fate is enough to render them less crushing. He refers to Oedipus, who, having suffered so much, is able to 'conclude that all is well.'
