When we got engaged, my beloved geek was still finishing his thesis, didn't yet have a job. He said he wanted to wait until he had a real job to get my engagement ring, so he could afford something nicer than his research assistant salary could buy.
While I appreciated the sentiment, I told him I wouldn't wear an engagement ring unless he had a "Property Of" tattoo on his forehead, and some sort of device to show his net worth. They'd serve the same purpose.
The way I've seen most girls show their engagement ring to friends, family, coworkers, classmates--the flourishing, limp-wristed, out-stretched arm with greedy little smile and eyes bright with anticipation of the oohs and ahhs and envy--proves the ring has nothing to do with creating a loving, caring partnership, and everything to do with advertising human value in jewel form.
The engagement ring tradition, at least as manifested in southern university towns, is nothing more than a girl's way to show how much she "sold" for, bragging rights for finding a high-earner. By wearing this price tag when they are out together, the man gets to show how much he could afford to pay for a woman. I'm not sure how this sort of attitude is good for any relationship, no matter how shallow.
As someone who writes documentation for software apps, PDF's are my choice for distribution. The fact is, paper docs are expensive both to produce and to ship. With PDF, the docs can be viewed online, or printed out, which ever is preferred by the user, without losing the formatting and design that would have gone into a book. PDF also allows you to print just the pages you need, rather than an entire 70 or 80 page book. My goal is writing usable documentation that HELPS the user do what he/she needs to do with the software. That means keeping in mind that different people learn different ways, absorb information differently. PDF's give users the option of how to read the documentation, and make creating the documentation quicker and faster for me.
Slashdot Mirror
When we got engaged, my beloved geek was still finishing his thesis, didn't yet have a job. He said he wanted to wait until he had a real job to get my engagement ring, so he could afford something nicer than his research assistant salary could buy.
While I appreciated the sentiment, I told him I wouldn't wear an engagement ring unless he had a "Property Of" tattoo on his forehead, and some sort of device to show his net worth. They'd serve the same purpose.
The way I've seen most girls show their engagement ring to friends, family, coworkers, classmates--the flourishing, limp-wristed, out-stretched arm with greedy little smile and eyes bright with anticipation of the oohs and ahhs and envy--proves the ring has nothing to do with creating a loving, caring partnership, and everything to do with advertising human value in jewel form.
The engagement ring tradition, at least as manifested in southern university towns, is nothing more than a girl's way to show how much she "sold" for, bragging rights for finding a high-earner. By wearing this price tag when they are out together, the man gets to show how much he could afford to pay for a woman. I'm not sure how this sort of attitude is good for any relationship, no matter how shallow.
As someone who writes documentation for software apps, PDF's are my choice for distribution. The fact is, paper docs are expensive both to produce and to ship. With PDF, the docs can be viewed online, or printed out, which ever is preferred by the user, without losing the formatting and design that would have gone into a book. PDF also allows you to print just the pages you need, rather than an entire 70 or 80 page book. My goal is writing usable documentation that HELPS the user do what he/she needs to do with the software. That means keeping in mind that different people learn different ways, absorb information differently. PDF's give users the option of how to read the documentation, and make creating the documentation quicker and faster for me.