Return-Path: Received: from ses_gatormail.ses.com by ses.com (4.1/SMI-4.1) id AA24901; Mon, 10 Apr 95 12:37:22 CDT Message-Id: <9504101737.AA24901@ses.com> Date: 10 Apr 1995 11:43:45 U From: "Linda Wolfe" Subject: FWD>Tech writers day celebr To: "Humor List" Status: R Mail*Link(r) SMTP FWD>Tech writers day celebratio >> PRESS RELEASE >> >> Nation to Celebrate National Technical Writer's Week >> >> Next week, March 28 through April 1, 1994, the nation celebrates the >> contributions of technical writers to their quality of life by >> observing National Technical Writers' Week. This event honors the >> hard work of the women and men who battle daily to protect normal >> people from the frustration of unusable products. Their work has >> saved the sanity of people struggling to make a product work by >> guessing what it does. Ultimately, these victims have been forced to >> turn to the technical manual, where they have found support and >> assistance. Or the phone number of the company's response center. >> >> Parades are scheduled in major cities across the nation: >> >> MONDAY's parade in Chicago features a salute to the Chicago Manual of >> Style, for decades a standard of editorial correctness. Special >> recognition will go to the use of angle brackets to symbolize keycaps. >> Attendees will be given a chance to win a drawing for tee shirts and >> caps showing a graphic of the keycap and a hammer. >> >> TUESDAY's parade in New York will be punctuated with performance art >> depicting a passion play of common events in a tech writers' life: >> >> o Janice Connally will perform a rendition of "You want a 100-page >> manual in three weeks!?!" >> >> o Mike Corcoran will express the heart-rending, "What do you mean you >> changed the GUI interface!?!" >> >> o Margaret Jamison-Long will share the impassioned, "You mean my >> software wasn't up to date? Are you saying I'll have to redo ALL my >> screen dumps!?!" >> >> WEDNESDAY's parade in Boston will feature technical writers marching >> in formation carrying manuscripts and red pens. An adjunct marching >> band will perform a salute to the daisy wheel printer, in which band >> members in tee-shirts will show how to create graphics using only >> ASCII characters. A smaller team will circulate through the crowd >> creating smilies. :-) >> >> In an evening symposium, an MIT scientist will give a presentation on >> how to program a VCR, with simultaneous translation by a VCR >> specialist technical writer. >> >> THURSDAY's parade in San Francisco will feature participation from >> technical writers in the famed Silicon Valley. At the parade's end at >> Moscone Center, displays will show historic tech writer tasks: >> >> o Creating combined text and graphics using paper, pens, and tape. >> >> o Automatically generating an index by sending the document to a >> contractor. >> >> o Technical manuals normally overlooked, such as signs saying >> WALK/DON'T WALK, "Please wait for host/hostess to be seated," and "Do >> not exit. Door is alarmed." >> >> FRIDAY's parade in Washington D.C. will culminate in a speech by the >> League of Legal Writers on "The Legal Ramifications of Special Text: >> When to Use Note, Important, Warning, and Danger." >> >> The following people will be recognized for their special >> contributions to the art and science of technical writing: >> >> o Elizabeth M. Gribbons, inventor of the breakthrough "Hit any key to >> continue." >> >> o Evelyn Whartonfield, who stunned the world with "This page left >> intentionally blank." >> >> o Robert Hanford, who, in a dark moment of blind inspiration, >> developed the acronym, RTFM. >> >> You, too, can participate in National Technical Writers' week: >> just take a tech writer to lunch. For an especially festive treat, >> choose a restaurant with a badly edited menu, and enjoy the writer's >> paroxysms of correctness. >> >> >> >> > > -- Margaret Scott Gaines Tandem Computers Incorporated gaines@isd.tandem.com Technical Publications (512)432-8507 (phone) 14231 Tandem Boulevard (512)432-8247 (fax) Austin, Texas 78728 ----- End Included Message -----