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Hall Of Technical Documentation Weirdness
An anonymous reader submits: "Generally speaking, with the exception of Tina on Dilbert, technical writers aren't very funny. This is something of a rare and unintentional exception. This guy has assembled a bunch of examples of bizarre technical illustration. There's only about 15 at the moment, but he's collecting further examples."
... because the pieces he exhibits aren't funny or weird, they are just pathetic examples of badly written documentation, and those have existed since electronic devices have grown more complex than kitchen appliances, and their docs started to be written in japanglish.
And quite frankly, the "kind of dirty" ones wouldn't even be half-dirty for women in a covent.
The only interest of those technical docs is (1) to learn how to not write them like that, and (2) to witness the birth of early mangas.
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If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
technical writers aren't very funny
I am not a technical writer, but in my experience, the technical writers are consistently the funniest and most diverse group in the company, and they often have some artistic hobby, and some are writing a novel on their spare time. Novelists are technical writers while they wait for publication. Stand up comedians tend to work in call centers.
-- Another senseless waste of fine bytes.
For other things like this (which you are told to avoid), check out the classic Strunk and White. (Note: this link goes to the first edition, which was just "Strunk", but that's the best we can do with these ridiculous copyright terms....)
Naw, the "may contain peanuts" is just a generic CYA. Being one of the Half Percent of the population with this life-threatening allergy, I know that even a dust sized particle could be fatal.
This warning "may contain peanuts" etc is placed on many products that are simply near, or which may have come into contact with, peanuts at the time of manufacture (i.e. Milky Way bars run on the same conveyor belt as Snickers, etc).
So corporations have [thankfully] started to add this warning to products so that customers will know whether there is a decent chance that the food has contacted peanuts at any time (and of course to cover their own asses from the lawsuits that would follow).
This allergy is becoming more and more common. Learning some of these basic facts could save a life or avoid a new case in a child you know.
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