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Post by kirby101 on Jan 6, 2023 8:40:04 GMT -5
It's not needed any more because it is a simple thing to do with any art program like Photoshop.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2023 10:31:58 GMT -5
I never did learn to use a slide rule, as pocket calculators arrived by the time I was doing higher math, in school. I do recall either a math or science textbook having a section on using one; but we never actually learned to use one, as everyone had a new Texas Instruments calculator. Heck, I still have the Sharp solar pocket calculator I bought to use in college, in 1984. In my day we never had a need for those fancy slide rules, and I'm not sure what wizardy dreamt up those "cal-culators" (they seem mysterious and somehow evil to me). This was good enough for all the math we ever needed:  |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 6, 2023 10:47:46 GMT -5
I never did learn to use a slide rule, as pocket calculators arrived by the time I was doing higher math, in school. I do recall either a math or science textbook having a section on using one; but we never actually learned to use one, as everyone had a new Texas Instruments calculator. Heck, I still have the Sharp solar pocket calculator I bought to use in college, in 1984. In my day we never had a need for those fancy slide rules, and I'm not sure what wizardy dreamt up those "cal-culators" (they seem mysterious and somehow evil to me). This was good enough for all the math we ever needed: Even less complicated:  And just take off your shoes to do higher math. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2023 10:49:28 GMT -5
Also, I first heard someone introduce a statement using the word "So" at about the same time. It was a speaker at a conference who was asked a question about when some custom or other began and he answered, "So, in about the late 16th century..." It hot me as being off-putting in addition to being an example of poor grammar. He used it over and over again, too. I attributed it to his being a young guy in his early 20s from California. Soon enough, though, I began to hear that construction everywhere. It seems to have replaced "Well" at the beginning of sentences. So that's enough from me. I first encountered the "so" sentence starter about 20 years ago with a co-worker who was actually very well spoken and intelligent, but had that notable peculiarity. And then of course over time saw it more and more as you said. There's a notable linguist by the name of John McWhorter who teaches at Columbia who has also produced courses for "The Great Courses"/Wondrium, and in one of them on modern speech, he refers also to things like "Yeah, no..." as a sentence starter. He referred to them as "social lubricants" (no giggling in the back), essentially how people try to manage through some awkwardness of how to to respond/initiate their words, but the words themselves have no actual meaning. The "so" thing reminds me of this as well. |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 6, 2023 11:02:16 GMT -5
Also, I first heard someone introduce a statement using the word "So" at about the same time. It was a speaker at a conference who was asked a question about when some custom or other began and he answered, "So, in about the late 16th century..." It hot me as being off-putting in addition to being an example of poor grammar. He used it over and over again, too. I attributed it to his being a young guy in his early 20s from California. Soon enough, though, I began to hear that construction everywhere. It seems to have replaced "Well" at the beginning of sentences. So that's enough from me. I first encountered the "so" sentence starter about 20 years ago with a co-worker who was actually very well spoken and intellegent, but had that notable peculiarity. And then of course over time saw it more and more as you said. There's a notable linguist by the name of John McWhorter who teaches at Columbia who has also produced courses for "The Great Courses"/Wondrium, and in one of them on modern speech, he refers also to things like "Yeah, no..." as a sentence starter. He referred to them as "social lubricants" (no giggling in the back), essentially how people try to manage through some awkwardness of how to to respond/initiate their words, but the words themselves have no actual meaning. The "so" thing reminds me of this as well. Sounds about right. "Well" is another one of those. McWhorter's someone I always enjoy reading or listening to. Though I don't agree with him about everything he argues, I always find him engaging and pointed in his observations. A few years ago, I was tutoring a student from Germany who began almost every sentence with "Look," as in "Look, in America, houses are much larger than German houses," or "Look, we don't have to study much literature in Germany.' I told him that that beginning a statement that way could be interpreted as impolite, disrespectful or aggressive to do so. He told me that he heard it constantly in American films and TV shows and thought it was simply the way to begin most sentences. His answer made me that much more aware of that verbal tic and I had to agree with him; it was a common usage on TV and in movies. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 6, 2023 11:14:53 GMT -5
Anyone remember this?  We used the proportion wheel to size art and photos when we were laying out the newspaper, yearbook and magazine in high school and college. I used it right up through 20-odd years as a high school yearbook advisor. Invaluable and easier to use than a calculator. Not that we had one of those back when I was in high school or college. I still, occasionally, use one at work. We get the odd customer (usually a senior citizen, but not always) who wants something enlarged or reduced; but, has a hard copy and doesn't want to pay the fees we charge to manipulate files, plus the charges for us to run copies vs the self-service copiers. We will pull one of those out and get them the percentage they need to enter into the copiers "copy ratio" function (or on the large scale plotter printer). I can do the math but this is faster. I spend half my time explaining to people why their image can't fill the entire piece of the paper because it's proportions are not the same. This country really does a poor job at teaching geometry, across several generations. |
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2023 11:19:30 GMT -5
McWhorter's someone I always enjoy reading or listening to. Though I don't agree with him about everything he argues, I always find him engaging and pointed in his observations. That sums up my feelings to a tee with McWhorter as well! |
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Post by MDG on Jan 6, 2023 11:19:43 GMT -5
Let's be careful before we have to demonstrate how to use on old washing machine and mangle, or something. The lack of coherent sentences started earlier than that, in my estimation. I spent 4 years trying to decipher message traffic from ships that had been written by college graduates, yet couldn't make a clear statement. Up through the corporate world, it was the same. After a certain point, schools give up on teaching writing and most people learn to write for a specific audience and a specific style, depending on the professional environment. .... I'm working on a program in Technical Communication now, and very little of it is about putting words together. Most is: Who is your audience? What information do they need? How will they use it? How will they access it?
Also: since you may not have a graphic designer working with you, here's some basics on visual design to enhance communication. (And if you do have access to a graphic or web designer, here's how to talk to them)
Finally: Why the hell are you writing this complicated paragraph when you can get the idea across quicker and easier with a table, a flowchart, or even a bulleted list?
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 6, 2023 11:28:06 GMT -5
Let's be careful before we have to demonstrate how to use on old washing machine and mangle, or something. The lack of coherent sentences started earlier than that, in my estimation. I spent 4 years trying to decipher message traffic from ships that had been written by college graduates, yet couldn't make a clear statement. Up through the corporate world, it was the same. After a certain point, schools give up on teaching writing and most people learn to write for a specific audience and a specific style, depending on the professional environment. .... I'm working on a program in Technical Communication now, and very little of it is about putting words together. Most is: Who is your audience? What information do they need? How will they use it? How will they access it?
Also: since you may not have a graphic designer working with you, here's some basics on visual design to enhance communication. (And if you do have access to a graphic or web designer, here's how to talk to them)
Finally: Why the hell are you writing this complicated paragraph when you can get the idea across quicker and easier with a table, a flowchart, or even a bulleted list?
Have to have buzzwords or the bosses don't think you are keeping up-to-date. How to you chart "synergy?" Every time I see a mission statement, I fall to the floor in fits of laughter. |
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 6, 2023 11:31:59 GMT -5
ps In my line of work, most of the charts and diagrams are pointless, because the metric they are illustrating has no real bearing on the profitability of the business. I get headaches from higher ups fixating on things that don't increase sales or reduce costs; but, instead, justify their jobs by increasing a meaningless number, like the number of "delighted" surveys. They become fixated on subliminal presentation to customers, to get them to fixate on the wording they want the customer to convey in the survey, rather than on the real goal of improving service to retain and draw customers.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 6, 2023 11:46:22 GMT -5
ps In my line of work, most of the charts and diagrams are pointless, because the metric they are illustrating has no real bearing on the profitability of the business. I get headaches from higher ups fixating on things that don't increase sales or reduce costs; but, instead, justify their jobs by increasing a meaningless number, like the number of "delighted" surveys. They become fixated on subliminal presentation to customers, to get them to fixate on the wording they want the customer to convey in the survey, rather than on the real goal of improving service to retain and draw customers. What, you work for the UK Civil Service?! (I did - and what you describe is not a million miles away from what I experienced; and, yes, the UK Civil Service was silly enough to refer to taxpayers as ‘customers’ as if any so-called ‘customer’ had any say in using their services) |
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Post by Prince Hal on Jan 6, 2023 12:11:28 GMT -5
I used to make up bingo boards for meetings (I forget where I first saw the idea) with the popular phrases and buzzwords of the time. Made the meetings a tad more bearable, especially when someone almost inadvertently would yell out "Bingo!"
Since we were all teachers, we were subjected to all kinds of what I called "educationese" on a daily basis, usually by administrators who had either never taught, been ineffective and unimaginative teachers, or had only been in a classroom as a stepping stone to administration.
How well and painfully I remember "paradigm shift," "data-based," "systemic," "long-range plan," executive summary, "essential question," "information systems," "accountability specialists," rubrics" "Know. Understand. Do,"and "professional learning communities."
Just let me fluckin' teach, please!
(If only administrators knew the meaning of the Latin root of their occupational name...)
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Post by codystarbuck on Jan 6, 2023 20:47:51 GMT -5
ps In my line of work, most of the charts and diagrams are pointless, because the metric they are illustrating has no real bearing on the profitability of the business. I get headaches from higher ups fixating on things that don't increase sales or reduce costs; but, instead, justify their jobs by increasing a meaningless number, like the number of "delighted" surveys. They become fixated on subliminal presentation to customers, to get them to fixate on the wording they want the customer to convey in the survey, rather than on the real goal of improving service to retain and draw customers. What, you work for the UK Civil Service?! (I did - and what you describe is not a million miles away from what I experienced; and, yes, the UK Civil Service was silly enough to refer to taxpayers as ‘customers’ as if any so-called ‘customer’ had any say in using their services) No; major printing & shipping company; but, 30+ years in retail environments. The only thing I miss about the military is clarity of mission and people who get things done, rather than talk about it. |
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Post by foxley on Jan 7, 2023 1:43:22 GMT -5
There's a notable linguist by the name of John McWhorter who teaches at Columbia who has also produced courses for "The Great Courses"/Wondrium, and in one of them on modern speech, he refers also to things like "Yeah, no..." as a sentence starter. He referred to them as "social lubricants" (no giggling in the back), essentially how people try to manage through some awkwardness of how to to respond/initiate their words, but the words themselves have no actual meaning. The "so" thing reminds me of this as well. "Yeah, no..." (or rather "Yeah, nah...") is a very common sentence starter in Australia, to the point that most of us no longer notice its oddness. It is usually made as a reply to a question or comment from someone else.
It is actually a verbal shorthand meaning "Yes, I hear what you saying, but no, I do not agree with it".
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Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2023 7:01:39 GMT -5
What, you work for the UK Civil Service?! (I did - and what you describe is not a million miles away from what I experienced; and, yes, the UK Civil Service was silly enough to refer to taxpayers as ‘customers’ as if any so-called ‘customer’ had any say in using their services) No; major printing & shipping company; but, 30+ years in retail environments. The only thing I miss about the military is clarity of mission and people who get things done, rather than talk about it. Not a political point (no intention to expand my post), but let’s just say that when the British Army covered for striking Border Force personnel recently, there was much praise for how efficient they are. In the Civil Service, I worked in a postroom for a while. My manager, Richard, had been an NCO in the RAF. He was a pleasure to work under. Everything was efficient, he planned ahead - and if there were any hiccups, such as a courier losing a parcel or a parcel being delayed, he was on it in an efficient way. That was my first and only time working for someone from a military background. |
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