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Updated: 4/8/2003; 8:54:42 PM.

 

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Tuesday, April 16, 2002
Russ Lipton: documentation as collaborative spiral

Russ Lipton: Why RTFM Won't Work [Scripting News]  Russ Lipton suggests that documentation for projects such as Radio Userland should be a collaborative effort.

I'm not sure I agree with Russ his point - at least not to the extent that the primary means of documentation is going to be community-based.  He's right on one point - "official" documentation tends to be second rate.  (O'Reilly's "the missing manual" series is a good example.) Official documentation can't admit to any faults in a product, and has to try to make sense over compromises in the product.  And there are always compromises.

One other thing I like: Russ refers to the documentation process as a spiral.  I've always said that my thinking process is a spiral.  My first time around is likely to be (very) wide of the mark, but hopefully encompasses the problem.  If I work with others, talk through the problem, we'll end up going over some of the same ground again, but each time getting closer and closer.


11:19:19 PM      comment []
Slashdot discussion on book database
Internet Book Database? [Slashdot: News for nerds, stuff that matters]
10:20:24 PM      comment []
Sun Tea jars and our sun tea recipe

It's coming up that time of year: time to get out the sun tea jar.  For the last few years, our problem has been where to find them.  Like the yellow pollen off the pine trees in Atlanta this time of year, there seem to be a few weeks where they're all over town, but outside of that brief period, you can't find them.

Last September we broke one of glass sun tea jars, and after searching around town in vain, we spent two hours searching before finally buying two of them from Kitchen Etc. After all that, they ended up being plastic jugs.  We bought two, and we've managed to melt one in the dishwasher.  (Yeah, yeah, you're not supposed to put them in the dishwasher.)

Last week we found some very ugly glass jars in our local Kroger, and we bought them.  For future reference, they claim to be Golden Harvest Beverage Tapper Containers, made by Hearthmark, Inc, of Muncie Indiana.

Here's our sun tea recipe:
1 gallon cold water in sun tea jar
9 standard sized bags Lipton tea (the ordinary bags)
3 standard sized bags Lipton orange-and-spice tea bags.
Put bags in jar, cover jar with lid, and put in the sun for 5-6 hours. 

This makes tea that may be a bit strong for some; the normal recommendation is 9 normal-sized tea bags brewed for 3-4 hours.

Fair warning: I like this tea pretty well, but I made some for an office Thanksgiving party, and the VP in charge of my group was heard to say that he hated it.  I was laid off 5 weeks later.  Coincidence?

We also like 'American' ice tea bags from Stash Tea, but they're pretty pricey at $4.25 for two gallon bags.  (I guess that's no worse than Coke.)


12:11:37 PM      comment []

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