Yesterday I was part of a newsroom discussion about the use and abuse of 'cute' fonts - you know, Tekton, Comic Sans, Jokerman - you're computer font list is probably full of these and you probably know somebody who likes to wrap every email, flyer and note in squishy, swirly, cuddly letters.

So the conversation turned to what if the message relayed via cute fonts was somewhat darker than the average band-candy fundraising request? What if some famous dictators had access to LaBamba, Magneto and Ravie on their PC's? Would their message have been lost in a sea of super-bright colors and sweeping descenders? Could the widespread use of Milano and Broadway Bold MT have made this a kinder, gentler world?

Judge for yourself. And yes, these are real quotes from major 20th-Century dictators: