The problem with standalone Refer

This post is about the word, refer, used in documents to indicate that the reader must go to another location within or outside the document for additional information. In general, technical writers know it as "cross reference".

If you open any dictionary, it will say Refer is a transitive verb that requires an object. This means that in sentences like the following one, you have to be careful:

For more information on installing the product, refer to the product Installation Guide.

It is very common to see the above said sentence written in the following manner:

For more information on installing the product, refer the product Installation Guide.

Avoid such mistakes, or use "See" for such cross references.

For more information on installing the product, see the product Installation Guide.

Are our Synapses firing faster?

"...The speed of communications (a revolution, Rosa points out, that came on the heels of transport) rose by a factor of 10 million in the 20th century. Data transmission has soared by a factor of around 10 billion...,"says an article on how the meaning of "now" has changed in modern times due to the bombardment of faster and faster stimuli.

Word of the Day - Poujadist

This is from Le Monde:

"...That kind of atmosphere encourages a widespread Tea Party-style, neo-Poujadist movement outside the traditional parties, through intermittent outbursts of rage and the incessant tub-thumping of social networks." Encyclopedia Britannica calls it "Poujadisme".

It was interesting to know what this "Poujadist movement" was. The movement was spearheaded by Pierre Poujade, a French populist politician. The Wikipedia says, "...The main themes of Poujadism were articulated around the defense of the common man against the elites...Poujadism was opposed to industrialization, urbanization, and American-style modernization..."