The Golden 80s

I chanced upon this article on the BBC website . While I have not yet seen the film, the article as well as the responses were interesting. I did not understand the word dog in the movie title. Nor did I understood why that particular word appeared or was approved as the movie title. History has many examples. When Kapil Dev's cricket team started winning matches against the much feared teams in the Prudential World Cup in 1983, they were called Kapil's Devils . Similarly, Gavaskar and Sachin were called as Little Masters . May be I am wrong or I am reading too much into things.

Slate picks up the best of 2008. New York Time's 10 Best Books of 2008. Salon's best books of 2008. Time magazine selects Roberto Bolano's novel as the best in 2008. Lastly, the best from the bible of literary criticism, TLS .

The following classification of newspaper headlines is based on my journalism notes. They are from the point of page layout. Flush Left -Headlines that are aligned to the left margin of the page. Step -A headline of two or three lines with the top one flushed to the left and the last one to the right. Inverted Pyramid -Headline arranged in the form of an inverted pyramid. Hanging Indention -Headline flushed to the right of the page, except the first line. Kicker -Headline of two parts with one line in a smaller font size and in a different type family than the others. Overline -Headline with a smaller supporting line aligned to the middle at the top. Underline - Kicker in reverse. Hammer -A kicker reversely arranged.Usually a Hammer has two or three words with bigger headline at the top. Combination -A headline that combines any of the above types. New Pattern -Headlines that combine new patterns and artwork.

"By writing books, the individual becomes a universe. And since the principal quality of the universe is its uniquness, the existence of another universe constitutes a threat to its very existence."

I read the The Art of Fiction by David Lodge in the early 90s. I was very much impressed by the book, which gave an insight into the world of literature. I did keep notes while reading the book and today I decided to put a list of books recommended by the author in various chapters. The books include the following: Defamiliarisation -Villete-Charlotte Bronte. For more on defamiliarisation, click here . Interior Monologue -Ulysses-James Joyce Intrusive Author -Adame Bede (George Orwell), Howard's End (E M Forster), As Good as Gold (Joseph Heller) Suspense -A Pair of Blue Eyes (Thomas Hardy) Skaz -The Catcher in the Rye-J D Salinger. Skaz Epistolary Novels -Pamela and Clarissa (Samuel Richardson), Sense and Sensibility (Jane Austen), The Trick of It (Michael Frayn) Mystery Novels -Wilkie Collin's novels, Heart of Darkness(Joseph Conrad), The French Lieutenant's Woman (John Fowles) and Mrs. Bathurst (Rudyard Kipling). Names -The author says that names are never neutral in fic...

If you believe that the IT industry is a 'clean' industry, it is time to be bitten by the reality. Read the following intro in a newspaper: "While millions of people tap into Google without considering the environment, a typical search generates about 7g of CO2. Boiling a kettle generates about 15g," says a Times report.To read the report, click here . While the Americans have started to think about car-pooling and green fuel, what are we doing here? We are ashamed to take the public transport. Is not it? "We are so used to our comfortable way of life. It is much easier for us to drive ourselves to work instead of tacking 10 minutes on to our commute by taking public transportation. It is much easier for us to do things on our own schedule, instead of offering to carpool with friends or co-workers and maybe being slightly inconvenienced by waiting for five minutes," says an article in The Republican .

In discussions, I hear the words "user stories" and 'use cases" used interchangeably. This wikipedia link details what exactly a user story is. Wiki explains User Case .

Geoff Hart rips apart the myths in technial writing. Great post.

Technical writers all over the world are debating on how new approaches and processes can dramatically improve the quality of the documentation produced. A few suggest that Usability testing, even with limited resources, can add value to the documentation you produce. Other suggest moving documentation to the Web 2.0 model for ease of use and adopting agile documentation. There are people who cite Google's example of comic documentation when they released their new browser, the Chrome. Daniel Brolund suggests User Guide driven documentation where a snippet of the user guide describing a new feature is prepared. This is an interesting idea in that the techncial writers get a chance to become involved in the documentation process at the initial stages of software development itself. Click here to read Daniel's post.

Google while unleashing its new browser Chrome, has created another great stuff. It's a comic book about the browse. Check it out at http://blogoscoped.com/google-chrome/2

I was left wondering with this question as I read the following articles: Finding the name behind the gmail address A Question of Programming Ethics

Cloud computing is nothing but utilizing supercomputer power to perform complicated tasks over the Internet. (I understood this much thanks to Business Week . The article says “Cloud computing aims to apply that kind of power—measured in the tens of trillions of computations per second—to problems like analyzing risk in financial portfolios, delivering personalized medical information, even powering immersive computer games, in a way that users can tap through the Web. It does that by networking large groups of servers that often use low-cost consumer PC technology, with specialized connections to spread data-processing chores across them.” Express Computer throws more light by saying that “The key feature of cloud computing is that both the software and the information held in it live on centrally located servers rather than on a end-user’s computer.” “…The architecture behind cloud computing is a massive network of ‘cloud servers’ interconnected as if in a grid running in parallel, ...

Like the greatest practitioner of the art, Thomas Mann, Daniel Kehlmann is a master of irony, deftly subverting the expectations of the reader, writes Daniel Johnson about Kehlman's novel Measuring the World. Read the article in The Telegraph .

While reading an STC newsletter, I found that folks at Oracle use a tool called Qarbon ViewletBuilder. This was a piece of news for me. After a bit of browsing, I found that the tool can be used to create online presentations, demos, and e-learning modules. Callouts, notes, and audio content can also be added to online presentations created with this tool. My favourite tech blog Labnol (http://labnol.blogspot.com/2005/06/qarbon-viewletbuilder-imagine-power-of.html) says that technical writers untrained in Macromedia Flash authoring environment will find this tool very easy to create Flash presentations. With the ViewletBuilder, all you have to do is to simply move the cursor over the screen captured. The Flash tutorials or simulations created with this tool can be easily previewed. The tool enables your presentations and demos to reach a wider audience than before. ViewletBuilder works only with Windows and Linux.

Adobe FrameMaker – Adobe FrameMaker 8 software is a powerful authoring and publishing solution for technical communicators and an essential upgrade for existing FrameMaker users who want to author and publish technical documentation in multiple languages, says Adobe. It supports Unicode, rich media, DITA and single sourcing. RoboHelp - The most sought after Help authoring tool (HAT). RoboHelp 7 now supports Unicode, translational workflow, importing Word files, importing FrameMaker files and styles, user defined variables, and powerful collaboration. Microsoft Word – Needs no explanation. Unstable for big documents. Interleaf – Competitor of FrameMaker. Wikipedia says Interleaf provides an integrated set of tools for creating compound documents: word processing, graphics, data-driven business charts, tables, equations, image editing, automated page layout, book building-- including automatic index and table of contents, and conditional document assembly. Arbortext - XML-based publi...

Many people think that proofreading is just another word for editing. Some believe that it can be classified as another type of editing. They will argue that both essentially mean the same. It is unfortunate to see people from the publishing as well as the media industry holding the same opinion about the topic. The only answer to the controversy is to put the facts straight. The word “proof” in printing means a kind of a test sheet or draft that is checked for text and graphics and colors before going to the press or publishing. This proof is created after all the editing has been completed. The proof created is also checked for grammar, punctuation, and corrections are marked with standard proofreading marks. This “proof reading” can be termed as the last stage of the editing process. It is never a part of the actual editing process or copy editing. Editing, on the other hand, starts the moment you receive the first draft or manuscript. If it is a document, it is checked for the cont...

Machine Languages -The language of the CPU (The central processing unit of the computer, which does the "thinking"). The lowest level language, this is composed of 0's and 1's. Assembly Languages -Abbreviations for machine language High-Level Languages -Use program statements, words and algebra-type expressions. Developed in the 50's and 60's. After a program is written in one of the high-level languages, it must be either compiled or interpreted. A compiler program rewrites the program into language that the CPU can understand. A compiled program is generally considerably larger than the original. An interpreter program translates the program statements into machine language one line at a time when the program runs. An interpreted program will be smaller than a compiled one, but will take longer to execute. Fourth Generation Language (4GL)-Very high-level language. These are results oriented and include database query languages. There are fewer options for ...

This list does not explain common idioms. Face the axe An axe to grind Achilles heel Apple of somebody’s eye – A person or thing that is loved more than others. Apple-pie (order) To make amends Up in arms – Ready to fight Back to back – In succession On the back burner Bad blood between (A) and (B) Blood and thunder – Violent and melodramatic acting in films… Blood, sweat and tears – Extremely hard work Draw blood Bank on something/somebody – Rely on Bear the brunt of – Bear fruit – to bring out a result, usually a successful one Bear on sb/something- Beat Tighten one’s belt 20. Tighten up on sth-to become more careful or strict 21. Walk a tightrope – 22. Blow one’s own trumpet – 23. To break the ice – 24. To bury the hatchet 25. To build castles in the air – 26. To take the bull by the horns – 27. Burn one’s fingers - 28. Cheek by jowl 29. Cock-and-bull story 30. To shed crocodile tears 31. To cry wolf 32. Cut short 33. Cut out for 34. Daggers drawn – Strained relations 35. Dead lette...

For answers, please click here .

Today, I had an interesting discussion with my colleague about the use of comma to separate adjectives. Finally, we decided to search the Internet for answers. This is what we got: ""When a noun is preceded by two or more adjectives that could, without affecting the meaning, be joined by and, the adjectives are normally separated by commas. But if the noun and the adjective immediately preceding it are conceived as a unit, such as little girl,' 'political science,' or 'glass ceiling,' no comma should be used." (The Chicago Manual of Style). That settled everything.