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Re: ebooks

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  Re: ebooks RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-23 12:06 +0000
    Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-03-23 12:11 +0000
      Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-23 14:43 +0000
        Re: ebooks Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-03-23 16:14 +0000
        Re: ebooks root <NoEMail@home.org> - 2014-03-23 18:09 +0000
          Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-03-23 19:21 +0000
          Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-23 20:34 +0000
            Re: ebooks Alan Bowler <atbowler@thinkage.ca> - 2014-06-13 14:14 -0400
              Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-06-13 21:44 +0100
              Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-06-13 16:53 -0400
                Re: ebooks Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2014-06-14 08:37 +0100
                  Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-06-14 18:34 -0400
                  Re: ebooks RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-06-15 10:40 +0000
                    Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-06-15 12:05 +0100
                      Re: ebooks Bob Eager <news0002@eager.cx> - 2014-06-15 11:20 +0000
                        Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-06-15 12:37 +0100
                          Re: ebooks root <NoEMail@home.org> - 2014-06-15 17:48 +0000
                            Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-06-15 15:59 -0400
                              Re: ebooks "Oeter Johns" <oj19854@nospam.com> - 2014-06-16 06:30 +1000
                                Re: ebooks Andy Leighton <andyl@azaal.plus.com> - 2014-06-16 04:04 -0500
                                  Re: ebooks Peter Flass <peter_flass@yahoo.com> - 2014-06-16 11:44 +0000
                                  Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-06-16 10:32 -0400
                                    Re: ebooks Andy Leighton <andyl@azaal.plus.com> - 2014-06-16 10:43 -0500
                                      Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-06-16 13:13 -0400
                                      Re: ebooks "Oeter Johns" <oj19854@nospam.com> - 2014-06-17 06:45 +1000
                                    Re: ebooks "Oeter Johns" <oj19854@nospam.com> - 2014-06-17 06:36 +1000
                        Re: ebooks RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-06-15 22:43 +0000
                          Re: ebooks Bob Eager <news0002@eager.cx> - 2014-06-15 23:26 +0000
                            Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-06-16 22:01 +0100
                Re: ebooks "Oeter Johns" <oj19854@nospam.com> - 2014-06-15 06:27 +1000
        Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-03-23 19:09 +0000
        Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-24 01:55 +0000
          Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-24 10:35 +0000
            Re: ebooks Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2014-03-24 13:01 -0400
              Re: ebooks Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@des.no> - 2014-03-24 17:15 +0100
            Re: ebooks Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2014-03-24 15:07 +0000
              Re: ebooks Rich <rich@example.com> - 2014-03-24 17:13 +0000
                Re: ebooks Walter Banks <walter@bytecraft.com> - 2014-03-24 13:07 -0500
                  Re: ebooks "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2014-03-24 13:28 -0500
                    Re: ebooks Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-03-24 21:48 +0100
                      Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-24 22:57 +0000
                    Re: ebooks "Lanto J." <lantoj78@gmail.com> - 2014-03-25 08:14 +1100
                      Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-25 00:01 +0000
                        Re: ebooks "Lanto J." <lantoj78@gmail.com> - 2014-03-26 07:17 +1100
                          Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-25 23:44 +0000
                            Re: ebooks "Lanto J." <lantoj78@gmail.com> - 2014-03-26 12:01 +1100
                            Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-26 13:36 +0000
                              Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-03-26 20:08 +0000
                  Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-24 14:48 -0400
                    Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-25 18:13 -0400
                      Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-27 01:20 -0400
                  Re: ebooks Ahem A Rivet's Shot <steveo@eircom.net> - 2014-03-25 05:49 +0000
                    Re: ebooks Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-03-25 07:06 +0000
                      Re: ebooks Walter Banks <walter@bytecraft.com> - 2014-03-25 08:19 -0500
                        Re: ebooks Walter Bushell <proto@panix.com> - 2014-03-25 09:40 -0400
                          Re: ebooks "Slp" <slp0987@nospam.com> - 2014-03-26 11:14 +1100
                        Re: ebooks Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2014-03-25 15:42 -0400
                          Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-25 11:47 -0500
                          Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-25 19:25 -0400
                            Re: ebooks Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2014-03-26 12:19 -0400
                              Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-26 08:25 -0500
                                Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-26 16:01 -0400
                                  Re: ebooks RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-26 20:38 +0000
                                    Re: ebooks "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2014-03-27 08:19 +1100
                                  Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-26 15:58 -0500
                                    Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-27 06:28 -0400
                                  Re: ebooks Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@des.no> - 2014-03-26 22:03 +0100
                                  Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-27 00:46 -0400
                                Re: ebooks "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2014-03-26 15:01 -0500
                                  Re: ebooks scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2014-03-26 20:57 +0000
                                    Re: ebooks "Stanley Daniel de Liver" <admin@127.0.0.1> - 2014-03-27 13:23 +0000
                                      Re: ebooks Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-03-27 17:48 +0100
                                  Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-27 08:26 -0500
                                    Re: ebooks greymausg <maus@mail.com> - 2014-03-27 14:55 +0000
                                    Re: ebooks "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2014-03-27 10:05 -0500
                                      Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-27 11:55 -0500
                                        Re: ebooks "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2014-03-27 14:25 -0500
                                          Re: ebooks scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2014-03-27 20:44 +0000
                                          Re: ebooks Johny B Good <johnny-b-good@invalid.ntlworld.com> - 2014-03-28 01:38 +0000
                                            Re: ebooks "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2014-03-27 22:37 -0500
                                              Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-27 23:52 -0400
                                                Re: ebooks "Slp" <slp0987@nospam.com> - 2014-03-28 16:07 +1100
                                          Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-28 10:52 -0500
                                            Re: ebooks "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2014-03-28 11:57 -0500
                                              Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-28 14:41 -0500
                                              Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-28 21:27 +0000
                                                Re: ebooks "Osmium" <r124c4u102@comcast.net> - 2014-03-28 17:02 -0500
                                                Re: ebooks Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2014-03-28 23:46 -0400
                                              Re: ebooks Philip Shaw <jnufcvyvuc@tznvy.pbz> - 2014-04-02 01:32 +0000
                                                Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-04-02 14:28 +0000
                                                  Re: ebooks Philip Shaw <jnufcvyvuc@tznvy.pbz> - 2014-04-07 05:32 +0000
                                                    Re: ebooks "John" <j@j.j> - 2014-04-17 16:36 -0700
                                                Re: ebooks "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2014-04-02 07:31 -0800
                              Re: ebooks scott@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) - 2014-03-26 13:38 +0000
                                Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-26 11:14 -0500
                                  Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-27 00:56 -0400
                                    Re: ebooks Clark G <clarkm.geimsler@ieeemmm.org> - 2014-03-27 16:52 +0000
                                      Re: ebooks "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2014-03-27 14:03 -0500
                                      Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-27 23:07 -0400
                                      Re: ebooks Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-03-27 21:44 +0100
                              Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-26 13:51 +0000
                              Re: ebooks "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2014-03-26 09:22 -0800
                                Re: ebooks "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2014-03-26 13:54 -0500
                                Re: ebooks davidmylastname@acm.org (David Griffith) - 2014-03-27 03:41 +0000
                                  Re: ebooks Walter Bushell <proto@panix.com> - 2014-03-27 07:36 -0400
                                    Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-28 03:40 -0400
                                  Re: ebooks Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-03-27 17:59 +0100
                              Re: ebooks Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2014-03-26 15:38 -0700
                                Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-26 22:09 -0400
                                  Re: ebooks "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2014-03-27 13:55 -0500
                                    Re: ebooks Johny B Good <johnny-b-good@invalid.ntlworld.com> - 2014-03-28 02:27 +0000
                                      Re: ebooks cb@bobby.df.lth.se (Christian Brunschen) - 2014-03-28 10:42 +0000
                                    Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-27 23:12 -0400
                                  Re: ebooks Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2014-03-28 23:17 -0700
                              Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-26 16:06 -0400
                          Re: ebooks "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2014-03-26 09:19 -0800
                            Re: ebooks "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2014-03-26 13:50 -0500
                              Re: ebooks Hils <hils@saynotospam.net> - 2014-03-26 20:00 +0000
                              Re: ebooks "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2014-03-26 13:30 -0800
                                Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-26 15:51 -0500
                            Re: ebooks Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-03-26 13:09 -0600
                            Re: ebooks Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2014-03-26 19:23 -0400
                              Re: ebooks "Slp" <slp0987@nospam.com> - 2014-03-27 08:12 +1100
                                Re: ebooks despen@verizon.net (Dan.Espen) - 2014-03-26 19:24 -0400
                            Re: ebooks Johny B Good <johnny-b-good@invalid.ntlworld.com> - 2014-03-26 23:40 +0000
                              Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-27 06:36 -0400
                                Knuth/TeX (was Re: ebooks) RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-27 14:33 +0000
                                  Re: Knuth/TeX (was Re: ebooks) "Charles Richmond" <numerist@aquaporin4.com> - 2014-03-27 14:01 -0500
                            Re: ebooks rpw3@rpw3.org (Rob Warnock) - 2014-03-27 03:10 +0000
                      Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-25 08:19 -0500
                        Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-25 15:16 +0000
                      Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-25 13:32 +0000
                        Re: ebooks RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-25 15:20 +0000
                          Re: ebooks Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2014-03-25 15:49 -0400
                            Re: ebooks RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-25 15:58 +0000
                            Re: ebooks Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca> - 2014-03-27 01:46 -0400
                          Re: ebooks "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> - 2014-03-25 08:48 -0800
                            Re: ebooks RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-03-25 21:20 +0000
                    Re: ebooks "Slp" <slp0987@nospam.com> - 2014-03-26 07:31 +1100
                  Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-25 08:42 -0400
                Re: ebooks Will Honea <whonea@whonea.net> - 2014-03-24 12:52 -0600
              Re: ebooks Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2014-03-24 20:12 -0400
                Re: ebooks Stephen Sprunk <stephen@sprunk.org> - 2014-03-24 15:54 -0500
                Re: ebooks Rob Myers <rob@robmyers.org> - 2014-03-24 22:19 +0000
              Re: ebooks "Slp" <slp0987@nospam.com> - 2014-03-25 07:54 +1100
            Re: ebooks scott@alfter.diespammersdie.us (Scott Alfter) - 2014-03-24 16:21 +0000
            Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-24 17:02 +0000
              Re: ebooks Walter Banks <walter@bytecraft.com> - 2014-03-24 12:21 -0500
              Re: ebooks Bob Eager <news0002@eager.cx> - 2014-03-24 19:50 +0000
                Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-24 22:48 +0000
                  Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-24 23:42 +0000
                    Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-25 15:07 +0000
                      Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-25 23:40 +0000
                        Re: ebooks Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@des.no> - 2014-03-26 21:57 +0100
                          Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-28 13:58 +0000
                            Re: ebooks Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des@des.no> - 2014-03-28 15:44 +0100
                      Re: ebooks "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2014-03-26 11:35 +1100
            Re: ebooks "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2014-03-25 07:28 +1100
              Re: ebooks Whiskers <catwheezel@operamail.com> - 2014-03-24 22:31 +0000
                Re: ebooks Lewis <g.kreme@gmail.com.dontsendmecopies> - 2014-03-25 00:06 +0000
                Re: ebooks "Rod Speed" <rod.speed.aaa@gmail.com> - 2014-03-26 07:06 +1100
            Re: ebooks Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz <spamtrap@library.lspace.org.invalid> - 2014-03-24 10:25 -0400
        Re: ebooks Mike Sanders <mike@taco-shack.cow> - 2014-03-24 06:04 +0000
        Re: ebooks Paul Sture <nospam@sture.ch> - 2014-03-26 13:17 +0100
    Re: ebooks Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> - 2014-03-23 19:23 -0400

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#2019

In message <lgugjs$6cr$1@dont-email.me> 
  Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> wrote:
> On 03/25/2014 07:25 PM, Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz wrote:
>> In <lgs85i$n8f$2@dont-email.me>, on 03/25/2014
>>     at 03:42 PM, Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> said:
>>
>>> Punctuation and spelling are still important.  An otherwise good
>>> book is diminished by mis-spellings that spellcheckers can't
>>> catch - reign vs. rein vs. rain, for example.
>>
>> Sure, and in some alternate universe where the publishers' editors
>> catch those errors, I'd be all for it.
>>

> I occasionally find such errors in professionally published stuff, but 
> it's rare - finding one in a book is unusual, although errors are 
> getting more common.  Self-published stuff seems to have a factor of ten 
> or more errors.

In my experience, errors are rare. I pointed out a formatting error in
an ebook that caused an em dash to be encoded as, IIRC, a 3/4 character.
I also found one mistake ('shown' in place of 'shone').

But I see the same types of errors in dead-tree editions, and yes, with
increased frequency.

> Somewhat more telling, a lot of self-published stuff lacks organization. 
>   I'm thinking of one book in particular where the information is all 
> there, and is interesting and informative, but pieces of it seems to be 
> scattered.  A good editor would probably have reorgnized it in more 
> sensible order.  Often the author is either too close to the book, 
> writes it in sections, or just gets tired of reworking it,

That hasn't been my experience at all.

-- 
I wrote this song two hours before we met. I didn't know your name, or
what you looked like yet....

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#2026

In article <lgugjs$6cr$1@dont-email.me>, Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com
(Peter Flass) writes:

> On 03/25/2014 07:25 PM, Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz wrote:
>
>> In <lgs85i$n8f$2@dont-email.me>, on 03/25/2014
>> at 03:42 PM, Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> said:
>>
>>> Punctuation and spelling are still important.  An otherwise good
>>> book is diminished by mis-spellings that spellcheckers can't
>>> catch - reign vs. rein vs. rain, for example.
>>
>> Sure, and in some alternate universe where the publishers' editors
>> catch those errors, I'd be all for it.
>
> I occasionally find such errors in professionally published stuff,
> but it's rare - finding one in a book is unusual, although errors
> are getting more common.  Self-published stuff seems to have a factor
> of ten or more errors.

I've noticed the number of errors creeping up too.  Spelling checkers
have not eliminated spelling errors, just changed which ones get
through.  Homonym errors are the most common ones now.

"I thought it was two to two, too."

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ /  I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
 X   Top-posted messages will probably be ignored.  See RFC1855.
/ \  HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored.  Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

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#2028

"Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote in message 
news:1268.233T1298T5625087@kltpzyxm.invalid...
> In article <lgugjs$6cr$1@dont-email.me>, Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com
> (Peter Flass) writes:
>
>> On 03/25/2014 07:25 PM, Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz wrote:
>>
>>> In <lgs85i$n8f$2@dont-email.me>, on 03/25/2014
>>> at 03:42 PM, Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> said:
>>>
>>>> Punctuation and spelling are still important.  An otherwise good
>>>> book is diminished by mis-spellings that spellcheckers can't
>>>> catch - reign vs. rein vs. rain, for example.
>>>
>>> Sure, and in some alternate universe where the publishers' editors
>>> catch those errors, I'd be all for it.
>>
>> I occasionally find such errors in professionally published stuff,
>> but it's rare - finding one in a book is unusual, although errors
>> are getting more common.  Self-published stuff seems to have a factor
>> of ten or more errors.
>
> I've noticed the number of errors creeping up too.  Spelling checkers
> have not eliminated spelling errors, just changed which ones get
> through.  Homonym errors are the most common ones now.
>
> "I thought it was two to two, too."
>

Eye halve a spelling chequer
It came with my pea sea
It plainly marques four my revue
Miss steaks eye kin knot sea.

Eye strike a key and type a word
And weight four it two say
Weather eye am wrong oar write
It shows me strait a weigh.

As soon as a mist ache is maid
It nose bee fore two long
And eye can put the error rite
Its rare lea ever wrong.

Eye have run this poem threw it
I am shore your pleased two no
Its letter perfect awl the weigh
My chequer tolled me sew.

--

numerist at aquaporin4 dot com

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#2052

In alt.folklore.computers Charlie Gibbs <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote:
> In article <lgugjs$6cr$1@dont-email.me>, Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com
> (Peter Flass) writes:

>> On 03/25/2014 07:25 PM, Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz wrote:
>>
>>> In <lgs85i$n8f$2@dont-email.me>, on 03/25/2014
>>> at 03:42 PM, Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> said:
>>>
>>>> Punctuation and spelling are still important.  An otherwise good
>>>> book is diminished by mis-spellings that spellcheckers can't
>>>> catch - reign vs. rein vs. rain, for example.
>>>
>>> Sure, and in some alternate universe where the publishers' editors
>>> catch those errors, I'd be all for it.
>>
>> I occasionally find such errors in professionally published stuff,
>> but it's rare - finding one in a book is unusual, although errors
>> are getting more common.  Self-published stuff seems to have a factor
>> of ten or more errors.

> I've noticed the number of errors creeping up too.  Spelling checkers
> have not eliminated spelling errors, just changed which ones get
> through.  Homonym errors are the most common ones now.

> "I thought it was two to two, too."

A certain company that I won't identify puts out various handbooks for 
identifying various street drugs.  I found them chock full of basic 
errors, bad citations, formatting codes that wound up printed, sloppy 
wording, copypasta, bad type-background color combinations, etc, etc.

-- 
David Griffith
davidmylastname@acm.org   <--- Put my last name where it belongs

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#2062

In article <lh06lg$pea$1@frotz.eternal-september.org>,
 davidmylastname@acm.org (David Griffith) wrote:

> A certain company that I won't identify puts out various handbooks for 
> identifying various street drugs.  I found them chock full of basic 
> errors, bad citations, formatting codes that wound up printed, sloppy 
> wording, copypasta, bad type-background color combinations, etc, etc.

And worst the copypasta was overcooked?

-- 
Never attribute to stupidity that which can be explained by greed. Me.

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#2095

In <proto-9A2FA9.07361327032014@news.panix.com>, on 03/27/2014
   at 07:36 AM, Walter Bushell <proto@panix.com> said:

>In article <lh06lg$pea$1@frotz.eternal-september.org>,
> davidmylastname@acm.org (David Griffith) wrote:

>> A certain company that I won't identify puts out various handbooks for 
>> identifying various street drugs.  I found them chock full of basic 
>> errors, bad citations, formatting codes that wound up printed, sloppy 
>> wording, copypasta, bad type-background color combinations, etc, etc.

>And worst the copypasta was overcooked?

So it wasn't a book that you could really sink your teeth into?

-- 
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT  <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>

Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action.  I reserve the
right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail.  Reply to
domain Patriot dot net user shmuel+news to contact me.  Do not
reply to spamtrap@library.lspace.org

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#2078

On 2014-03-27, David Griffith <davidmylastname@acm.org> wrote:
>
> A certain company that I won't identify puts out various handbooks for 
> identifying various street drugs.  I found them chock full of basic 
> errors, bad citations, formatting codes that wound up printed, sloppy 
> wording, copypasta, bad type-background color combinations, etc, etc.

That takes me back to the early days of DTP becoming affordable for the
home user.  You could tell which local organisation had just got a DTP
package by the number and different sizes of fonts a given pamphlet or news
letter contained.

One could forgive the folks doing this at home, but in the mid-nineties
the Top Gear folks produced a commercial magazine which contained a truly
dazzling array of fonts, colours and graphics on each page.

The magazine didn't last long :-)

-- 
Paul Sture

"In that case," said Napoleon, "let us wait twenty minutes; when the enemy
is making a false movement we must take good care not to interrupt him."

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#2044

On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:19:09 -0400, Peter Flass
<Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> wrote:

[snip]

>Somewhat more telling, a lot of self-published stuff lacks organization. 
>  I'm thinking of one book in particular where the information is all 
>there, and is interesting and informative, but pieces of it seems to be 
>scattered.  A good editor would probably have reorgnized it in more 
>sensible order.  Often the author is either too close to the book, 
>writes it in sections, or just gets tired of reworking it,

     I see it in gaming books, too.  A group of us were going to play
the Shadowrun RPG, but it was just too hard to find all the details
for setting up characters.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

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#2049

On Wed, 26 Mar 2014, Gene Wirchenko wrote:

> On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:19:09 -0400, Peter Flass
> <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> [snip]
>
>> Somewhat more telling, a lot of self-published stuff lacks organization.
>>  I'm thinking of one book in particular where the information is all
>> there, and is interesting and informative, but pieces of it seems to be
>> scattered.  A good editor would probably have reorgnized it in more
>> sensible order.  Often the author is either too close to the book,
>> writes it in sections, or just gets tired of reworking it,
>
>     I see it in gaming books, too.  A group of us were going to play
> the Shadowrun RPG, but it was just too hard to find all the details
> for setting up characters.
>
That sort of thing may not even need a "professional editor", just a third 
party to read it from a distant vantage point.  Creators of something may 
be their own worst documenter.

That said, this reminds me of "Tab Books", one of two companies that put 
out a lot of hobby (and sometimes profesional) electronic books.   Books 
about electronics that is, not digitalized books.

Tab books tended to be awful.  Maybe they bought the books cheaper, but 
likely the better authors avoided them.  They gave little consideration to 
layout, so a photo (usually pretty grainy) would not be placed near the 
text that went with it, probably the same with schematics.  Some were 
better than others, so I don't remember that much in the way of "error".

But one author, I think it was Carl Denver Warren, wrote about the 6809 
CPU.  When it came out, he wrote about it in his column in Popular 
Electronics, telling people not to buy it.  He listed problems with it 
that didn't come from him, then pointed out that a chapter about a tiny 
BASIC had no point in the book, since Tab had decided to remove the 
chapter listed the program. He wasn't complaining that they didn't include 
the assembly code for the BASIC, but that since Tab removed that chapter, 
they should have removed the chapter about using it, since it then had no 
purpose.

Those Tab Books contrasted greatly with the other similar publisher, 
Sam's, who published all of Don Lancaster's Cookbooks, and even well into 
the home computer age published some good books about computers.

  Michael

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#2079

"Michael Black" <et472@ncf.ca> wrote in message 
news:alpine.LNX.2.02.1403262159590.14229@darkstar.example.org...
>
>          [snip...]                       [snip...] 
> [snip...]
>
> Those Tab Books contrasted greatly with the other similar publisher, 
> Sam's, who published all of Don Lancaster's Cookbooks, and even well into 
> the home computer age published some good books about computers.
>

Sybex published some *excellent* books, many of them written by the founder 
of the company Rodnay Zaks.  Zaks has a PhD in Computer Science from U.C. 
Berkeley.  He was the founder of independent computer books publisher Sybex 
and was its president and CEO until it was bought out by John Wiley and Sons 
in May 2005.  There is a lot of good information in those books!!!

--

numerist at aquaporin4 dot com

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#2088

On Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:55:00 -0500, "Charles Richmond"
<numerist@aquaporin4.com> wrote:

>"Michael Black" <et472@ncf.ca> wrote in message 
>news:alpine.LNX.2.02.1403262159590.14229@darkstar.example.org...
>>
>>          [snip...]                       [snip...] 
>> [snip...]
>>
>> Those Tab Books contrasted greatly with the other similar publisher, 
>> Sam's, who published all of Don Lancaster's Cookbooks, and even well into 
>> the home computer age published some good books about computers.
>>
>
>Sybex published some *excellent* books, many of them written by the founder 
>of the company Rodnay Zaks.  Zaks has a PhD in Computer Science from U.C. 
>Berkeley.  He was the founder of independent computer books publisher Sybex 
>and was its president and CEO until it was bought out by John Wiley and Sons 
>in May 2005.  There is a lot of good information in those books!!!

 I've still got one of his books "How to program The Z80". It's
possibly his most famous book (it's the _only_ Rodnay Zaks book I own
so what do I know?).

 At any rate, I thought it was an excellent book which I read from
cover to cover at least twice before using it as a learning reference
whilst hand assembling machine code programs to run on my Transam
Tuscan S100 Bus kit built computer.

 I'd bought the book before selling my Sinclair ZX80 to part finance
the purchase of the S100 Bus machine and only started getting to grips
with 'machine code' programming about a year after I'd acquired the
Tranasam Tuscan. It took me a long time before I wrote my first few
bytes of code but once started it all took off rather rapidly.

 Most of my initial difficulty was down to the fact that I'd invested
in the 8K TCL basic roms and was programming in basic and it wasn't
until I'd emulated the (memory) Dump command in the 2k MITS1 monitor
rom using peeks to display 128 byte chunk's worth at a time on the
screen at a rather lethargic pace that I felt impelled to actually
write _some_ small snippet of machine code.

 To this end I  poked a few bytes of machine code into a rem statement
that involved the use of the LDIR instruction which I could call up as
a sub routine to display the info in the blink of an eye. This modest
effort acted as an 'icebreaker' in my introduction to machine code
programming.

 Once I'd crossed that rubicon, I pulled the basic roms and
reinstalled the 2k monitor rom to carry on my machine code programming
adventure with Rodnay Zak's excellent assistance.

 My very next programming project in machine code after that was the
development of a disassembler program and the Zaks book formed a vital
reference for this work. Looking back, I don't think I could have
chosen a better project in spite of it being an unusually ambitious
first time project for a novice programmer to attempt.

 It's "Hats off to Rodnay Zaks" as far as I'm concerned.
-- 
Regards, J B Good

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#2103

In article <jqk9j9lt7984mtipc6n4m0o1fa9c5fvc9e@4ax.com>,
Johny B Good  <johnny-b-good@invalid.ntlworld.com> wrote:
>On Thu, 27 Mar 2014 13:55:00 -0500, "Charles Richmond"
><numerist@aquaporin4.com> wrote:
>>Sybex published some *excellent* books, many of them written by the founder 
>>of the company Rodnay Zaks.  Zaks has a PhD in Computer Science from U.C. 
>>Berkeley.  He was the founder of independent computer books publisher Sybex 
>>and was its president and CEO until it was bought out by John Wiley and Sons 
>>in May 2005.  There is a lot of good information in those books!!!
>
> I've still got one of his books "How to program The Z80". It's
>possibly his most famous book (it's the _only_ Rodnay Zaks book I own
>so what do I know?).
>
> At any rate, I thought it was an excellent book which I read from
>cover to cover at least twice before using it as a learning reference
>whilst hand assembling machine code programs to run on my Transam
>Tuscan S100 Bus kit built computer.

It is, by the way, available to download as a PDF, OCR:d, with permission:

  http://www.z80.info/zaks.html

// Christian

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#2090

On Thu, 27 Mar 2014, Charles Richmond wrote:

> "Michael Black" <et472@ncf.ca> wrote in message 
> news:alpine.LNX.2.02.1403262159590.14229@darkstar.example.org...
>>
>>          [snip...]                       [snip...] [snip...]
>> 
>> Those Tab Books contrasted greatly with the other similar publisher, Sam's, 
>> who published all of Don Lancaster's Cookbooks, and even well into the home 
>> computer age published some good books about computers.
>> 
>
> Sybex published some *excellent* books, many of them written by the founder 
> of the company Rodnay Zaks.  Zaks has a PhD in Computer Science from U.C. 
> Berkeley.  He was the founder of independent computer books publisher Sybex 
> and was its president and CEO until it was bought out by John Wiley and Sons 
> in May 2005.  There is a lot of good information in those books!!!
>
I'd forgotten about Sybex.  But they came later, they were just about 
computers, while Sams and Tab covered hobby electronics and amateur radio.

Hayden was decent.  They were kind of in between, initially less 
technical, but put together well.  But with the rise of small computers, 
they seemed to rise up as a source of books about those small computers. 
I have some Hayden Books (and I think they were bought by Sams, and maybe 
even at this point) about Unix, including at least one by O'Reilly, from 
the late eighties.  I get the impression that experience, as an editor of 
a subset of Hayden books, helped him to go into the book business.

   Michael

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#2119

On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 22:09:14 -0400, Michael Black <et472@ncf.ca>
wrote:

>On Wed, 26 Mar 2014, Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>
>> On Wed, 26 Mar 2014 12:19:09 -0400, Peter Flass
>> <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> [snip]
>>
>>> Somewhat more telling, a lot of self-published stuff lacks organization.
>>>  I'm thinking of one book in particular where the information is all
>>> there, and is interesting and informative, but pieces of it seems to be
>>> scattered.  A good editor would probably have reorgnized it in more
>>> sensible order.  Often the author is either too close to the book,
>>> writes it in sections, or just gets tired of reworking it,
>>
>>     I see it in gaming books, too.  A group of us were going to play
>> the Shadowrun RPG, but it was just too hard to find all the details
>> for setting up characters.
>>
>That sort of thing may not even need a "professional editor", just a third 
>party to read it from a distant vantage point.  Creators of something may 
>be their own worst documenter.

     I agree.  I think that a large part of the trouble is that the
writers are necessarily familiar with the gaming system and may have
been involved with earlier versions of the game so see no need for
covering details that a first-time player requires.

     Another one that I ran into in the Pathfinder gaming system is
the term "simple weapon".  It is "defined" only by a table.  There is
no statement of what constitutes a simple weapon.

[snip]

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko

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#2050

In <lgugjs$6cr$1@dont-email.me>, on 03/26/2014
   at 12:19 PM, Peter Flass <Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com> said:

>Somewhat more telling, a lot of self-published stuff lacks
>organization. 
>  I'm thinking of one book in particular where the information is 
>all there, and is interesting and informative, but pieces of it 
>seems to be scattered.

My experience with technical editors is not so happy; the resulting
text is clearer and better organized than what I wrote, but no longer
describes the product that we will be shipping. BTDT,GTS.

-- 
Shmuel (Seymour J.) Metz, SysProg and JOAT  <http://patriot.net/~shmuel>

Unsolicited bulk E-mail subject to legal action.  I reserve the
right to publicly post or ridicule any abusive E-mail.  Reply to
domain Patriot dot net user shmuel+news to contact me.  Do not
reply to spamtrap@library.lspace.org

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#2025

In article <lgs85i$n8f$2@dont-email.me>, Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com
(Peter Flass) writes:

> Punctuation and spelling are still important.  An otherwise good book
> is diminished by mis-spellings that spellcheckers can't catch - reign
> vs. rein vs. rain, for example.

You hit one of my pet peeves.  More and more I'm seeing people talking
about giving someone "free reign".  I try to keep the origins of a
phrase from vanishing into the mists of time, so I take pains to point
out that it's "rein" as in horses, not "reign" as in monarch.

As for punctuation, you can't go wrong listening to William Safire:
"Don't use commas, which aren't necessary."

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ /  I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
 X   Top-posted messages will probably be ignored.  See RFC1855.
/ \  HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored.  Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

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#2027

"Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote in message 
news:897.233T2243T5595572@kltpzyxm.invalid...
> In article <lgs85i$n8f$2@dont-email.me>, Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com
> (Peter Flass) writes:
>
>> Punctuation and spelling are still important.  An otherwise good book
>> is diminished by mis-spellings that spellcheckers can't catch - reign
>> vs. rein vs. rain, for example.
>
> You hit one of my pet peeves.  More and more I'm seeing people talking
> about giving someone "free reign".  I try to keep the origins of a
> phrase from vanishing into the mists of time, so I take pains to point
> out that it's "rein" as in horses, not "reign" as in monarch.
>
> As for punctuation, you can't go wrong listening to William Safire:
> "Don't use commas, which aren't necessary."
>

Remember to never use a split inifinitive.  Avoid cliches like the plague! 
;-)

--

numerist at aquaporin4 dot com

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#2032

On 2014-03-26 18:50, Charles Richmond wrote:
> Remember to never use a split inifinitive.

Some while ago I attended a TESOL course at which one of the lecturers,
who IIRC had a PhD in linguistics, gave an energetic spiel about how
English "public" school teachers with nothing better to do added a lot
of irrelevant Latin rules to their English grammars, the most egregious
being the "split infinitive".

It may also have been encouraged by the English ruling class to enhance
caste distinctions by making different rules of grammar for people whose
families could afford the "public" schools, and (unfortunately) their
additions spread.

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#2035

In article <lgv7i0$18v$1@dont-email.me>, numerist@aquaporin4.com
(Charles Richmond) writes:

> "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote in message
> news:897.233T2243T5595572@kltpzyxm.invalid...
>
>> In article <lgs85i$n8f$2@dont-email.me>, Peter_Flass@Yahoo.com
>> (Peter Flass) writes:
>>
>>> Punctuation and spelling are still important.  An otherwise good
>>> book is diminished by mis-spellings that spellcheckers can't catch -
>>> reign vs. rein vs. rain, for example.
>>
>> You hit one of my pet peeves.  More and more I'm seeing people
>> talking about giving someone "free reign".  I try to keep the
>> origins of a phrase from vanishing into the mists of time, so
>> I take pains to point out that it's "rein" as in horses, not
>> "reign" as in monarch.
>>
>> As for punctuation, you can't go wrong listening to William Safire:
>> "Don't use commas, which aren't necessary."
>
> Remember to never use a split inifinitive.  Avoid cliches like the
> plague!  ;-)

I always liked the original Star Trek: To boldly split infinitives
that no man has split before!

Now where did I put all those prepositions that I've been saving up
to end sentences with?  Ah, here they are...

What did you bring that book I didn't want to be read to out of
about Down Under up for?

-- 
/~\  cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid (Charlie Gibbs)
\ /  I'm really at ac.dekanfrus if you read it the right way.
 X   Top-posted messages will probably be ignored.  See RFC1855.
/ \  HTML will DEFINITELY be ignored.  Join the ASCII ribbon campaign!

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#2037

On 26-Mar-14 16:30, Charlie Gibbs wrote:
> In article <lgv7i0$18v$1@dont-email.me>, numerist@aquaporin4.com 
> (Charles Richmond) writes:
>> "Charlie Gibbs" <cgibbs@kltpzyxm.invalid> wrote in message 
>> news:897.233T2243T5595572@kltpzyxm.invalid...
>>> As for punctuation, you can't go wrong listening to William
>>> Safire: "Don't use commas, which aren't necessary."
>> 
>> Remember to never use a split inifinitive.  Avoid cliches like the 
>> plague!  ;-)
> 
> I always liked the original Star Trek: To boldly split infinitives 
> that no man has split before!

I understand the theoretical basis of such objections, but avoiding a
split infinitive often results in IMHO clumsy wording.  I much prefer
"to not go" over "not to go", "to boldly go" over "to go boldly", etc.

> Now where did I put all those prepositions that I've been saving up 
> to end sentences with?  Ah, here they are...

There's nothing wrong with ending a sentence with a preposition, at
least as is commonly done.  The only example that really grates on me is
"do you want to come with?", and that's still clear enough in meaning.

> What did you bring that book I didn't want to be read to out of about
> Down Under up for?

I'd love to see my grammar school teacher try to diagram that one.

S

-- 
Stephen Sprunk         "God does not play dice."  --Albert Einstein
CCIE #3723         "God is an inveterate gambler, and He throws the
K5SSS        dice at every possible opportunity." --Stephen Hawking

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