GuysBlog

In Courtney’s blog, she quotes from the current DNRC (Dogbert’s New Ruling Class) newsletter (presumably soon to be here)… A somewhat true story of an Induhvidual.

“Observant DNRC members continue to send me true quotes of Induhviduals. After staring at the list for a while I realized that if I put them together they make an excellent story:

“We were sitting on our hands, twiddling our thumbs, when suddenly the door opened. It made the hair on my back stand on end. He was smoking like a fish and swearing like a stuck pig. I could tell from his shifty eyes that he might try to pull the fox over my leg.

“‘Do you have a pen?’ he asked. ‘I need to make a mental note.’”

. . .

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Many of you may recognize the name “George Spelvin,” an actor of stage and screen since as early as 1886. You may not be aware that he has a web site. (Now, who will admit to recognizing the name “Georgina Spelvin”?)

In my current job, I am documenting APIs. In fact, I address multiple parallel APIs to be used from different programming languages. I produce only PDFs. Because I cannot presume that the user is in an integrated development environment, I do not produce online help. Until recently, I did not even index the books because a PDF is eminently searchable and I make extensive use of hyperlinks.

Over on Usable Help, Gordon Meyer points us to a statement and subsequent exchange on the DealMac website entitled Rant: The Death of Paper Manuals…. It’s a pretty polarized discussion.

I’m looking for information and opinions.

Organizations of which I am a member or with which I am familiar (professional groups, common-interest groups, recreational groups, religious bodies) operate with a group of officers handling their operation and planning. Every year, they have an election.

In some, the nominating committee attempts to find multiple nominees, but is often able to find no more than one person they deem capable and willing to fill each position. They announce their preliminary slate, explaining the mechanism for other interested persons to get onto the ballot. Most of the time no additional candidates step forward. The election occurs with all or most offices unopposed, and the organization gets along perfectly well. I often see this in chapters of the STC (Society for Technical Communication.
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“False gods: Idolatry and the ‘first superpower’

“It finally hit me this morning at about 5:30 AM: The ‘first superpower’ idea and geopolitical approach is a form of idolatry. In this case the false gods are military and economic power. Idolatry is defined in the Christian and Jewish traditions rather precisely as seeking to control God’s universe through man-made means (the ‘idols’). The idolatrous stance is contrasted with that of a person humbly and respectfully and with gratitude embracing God’s universe and appreciating his or her place in it. . . . ”

The rest of the post is here: Jim Moore, a Senior Fellow at Harvard

(Thanks, Halley)

Remember Ambrose Bierce’s The Devil’s Dictionary? Here’s the Amazon link for the unabridged edition.

Well, Greg Knauss is expanding on it, at The Devil’s Dictionary (2.0).

Here’s one example:

information architecture, noun

A vital component in the development of Web sites, used to round the budget up to the next hundred thousand dollars

(Thanks to Jenny of The Creative Tech Writer.)

We have all read strange warnings on products: “Microwave on high for 3 minutes. Remove film carefully: Contents will be hot,” “Warning: contents under pressure,” and so on. The ultimate disclaimer is probably that of Nelson Rocks Preserve, a privately owned recreational area in West Virginia. Here are some pieces of the disclaimer you will find in full at the bottom of their home page — in rather small, gray print.

WARNING!! ALL GUESTS OF NELSON ROCKS PRESERVE MUST READ THIS!

Nature is unpredictable and unsafe. Mountains are dangerous. Many books have been written about these dangers, and there’s no way we can list them all here. Read the books. Nelson Rocks Preserve is covered in steep terrain with loose, slippery and unstable footing. The weather can make matters worse. Sheer drops are everywhere. You may fall, be injured or die. There are hidden holes. You could break your leg. There are wild animals, which may be vicious, poisonous or carriers of dread diseases. These include poisonous snakes and insects. Plants can be poisonous as well. We don’t do anything to protect you from any of this. …
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Donna Wentworth was a staffer at the Berkman Center for Internet & Society at Harvard Law School. Now she has “accepted an offer from the Electronic Frontier Foundation to become an EFF Webwriter/Activist.”

Her weblog is called COPYFIGHT: the politics of IP. Here’s what the weblog says about itself:

Here we’ll explore the nexus of legal rulings, Capitol Hill policy-making, technical standards development and technological innovation that creates–and will recreate–the networked world as we know it. Among the topics we’ll touch on: intellectual property conflicts, technical architecture and innovation, the evolution of copyright, private vs. public interests in Net policy-making, lobbying and the law, and more.

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Leaking Corporate Secrets: Microsoft Word Files Provide More Than WYSIWYG Information

When you share Microsoft Word files with others you may unintentionally leak sensitive corporate or personal information, including, but not limited to, the names of authors and reviewers, text deleted during the revision cycle, private comments, and information from other Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint files that were open at the same time.

See the rest of the story at The Content Wrangler.