From the President (by Cynthia Curl, published Thursday, 28 August 2008 19:56)
Hello, everyone. I hope you all are having, and continue to have, a great summer. Not long ago, I managed one trip back to the scorching heat of my native Texas. I was so glad to come back to Virginia’s lower temps!
As the weather begins to cool, the STC James River Chapter will be starting up a new program year, one that presents a number of challenges. We...
Election Results (by Helen Worthington, published Thursday, 28 August 2008 21:26)
Thank you to all who participated in the 2008-2009 STC JRC elections. Your participation enabled chapter continuity to position for revitalization. Welcome your new 2008—2009 STC JRC Officers:
President
Cynthia Curl
Cynthia served as Vice-President of the James River Chapter in 2007 and assumed the role of President...
JRC Area Job Postings (by Mary Williams, published Thursday, 28 August 2008 20:49)
Have you looked at Technical Communications job postings lately? Where do you look? How do you network? The national job sites do list jobs in the JRC area. Out of curiosity, I looked at two of these sites recently to see what they depicted for the JRC area job market (within 50 miles of Richmond) in the last 30 days.
The table shows the total results for the two websites. Do these observations match with your view? How can STC JRC help its membership and the...
Publicity: Who's Listening (by Helen Worthington, published Thursday, 28 August 2008 20:37)
…And Why (or Why Not)?
Publicity. Outreach. Marketing. Member2Member.
The specific term might vary, but the administrative council’s goal is the same—to keep you, our members, informed of chapter plans and activities. Chapter publicity should remind you of how your chapter participation can benefit your career, and help us figure out how to help you achieve your technical communication career goals.
The first task in developing any publicity plan is to identify the “target audience”. On the surface our target audience seems obvious—our 41...
Upcoming Events (by Mary Williams, published Monday, 25 August 2008 00:13)
Date
Time
Event
Location
Description
September 11
7:00 P.M.
On-line Program Meeting
Brent Hoard will present on Emerging Web Technologies & Social Web Media. See JRC website Events listing for Code and attendance.
October 9
7:00 P.M.
Admin Board Meeting
Ongoing
Member Survey
November 15
Newsletter Deadline
Submissions to The Watershed are due!
*tap*tap* Is this thing on? (by Jeb Hoge, published Tuesday, 30 November 1999 01:00)
I’d like to welcome me to the James River chapter of STC. I’ve recently renewed my STC membership after letting it lapse for a couple of years. I was a member when I lived in Northern Virginia, but because almost all of the “local” events took place clear on the other side of the Beltway, I went to two meetings in three years. However, I do not plan to be so lax this time around. I look forward to meeting some of you (or all if all of us ever actually congregate), and learning everything that I can.
Symantec Knows Best (by Don White, published Tuesday, 24 June 2008 07:33)
Haven’t Web evangelists evangelized that Web content and service providers will scramble to accommodate the needs and desires of Web users to offer additional capabilities and functions? Let’s look at one service and software provider—Symantec—and its flagship product, Norton Internet Security.
The Issue
One of the reasons I continued to use Norton Internet Security, despite my better instincts, is that its default states provided...
Curmudgeon's Corner (by Don White, published Tuesday, 30 November 1999 01:00)
A few years ago, when I served as the newsletter editor, I called my column the Curmudgeon’s Corner. I haven’t gotten any younger, and I definitely have not become either meeker or milder since leaving that role. So…
I hear it so often: “This chapter is so spread out, it’s impossible to…[fill in the blank].” Okay, so we have 60 or so members and so most of those...
Form or Content? (by Don White, published Thursday, 19 June 2008 14:59)
The Endless Debate…
I’ve been involved with technical documentation and writing since I left the US Navy, ’way back in 1987. And, it seems to me that those of us who are practioners of the art or craft continue to face the question of form vs. content. This is often framed in the context that form (grammar) is more/less important [pick one] than content. This was recently revisited on the TECHWRL site in an article by Bruce Byfield, “Tech Writers, Grammar, and the Prescriptive Attitude.”
Bruce discusses grammar and what he sees as its perception amongst technical writers, or “…the nature of grammar in general.”
The Deadly User Manual (by Dave Barry, published Sunday, 02 December 2007 23:23)
Why “They” Don’t Read the Manual
The topic of this column is a Washington Post story stating that manufacturers of appliances, computers, cars, etc., want to know why Americans don’t read their owners’ manuals. This column was authored by Dave Barry and published in the Miami Herald, June 30, 2002.
WARNING: THIS COLUMN IS INTENDED FOR READING PURPOSES ONLY. DO NOT USE THIS COLUMN AS A TOURNIQUET.
One big reason why consumers don’t read manuals is that the typical manual starts out with 15 to 25 pages of warnings, informing you of numerous...
Lineker Haiku (by Kathy Lineker, published Tuesday, 06 November 2007 01:19)
Kathy Lineker grew up in Chesterfield County and spent “way too many” years in Northern Virginia. When she returned, she planed to stay for good. Even if she ended up working at Ukrop’s. Kathy majored in communication studies at Virginia Tech, had six years’ experience in human resources and almost seven years’ experience in technical writing, editing, proofreading, and formatting. She submitted these gems that were published in the November–December 2004 issue of The Watershed.
Need health insurance?
Don’t get into contract work.
Too late? Don’t get sick.
Zingers (by Webmaster, published Monday, 10 September 2007 23:25)
Our Immediate Past President, Rob Murphy, zinged me with these:
I wondered why the baseball was getting bigger. Then it hit me.
Police were called to a day care where a three-year-old was resisting a rest.
Did you hear about the guy whose whole left side was cut off? He's all right now.
The roundest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.
The butcher backed up into the meat grinder and got a little behind in his work.
To write with a broken pencil is pointless.
When fish are in schools they sometimes take debate.
The short fortune teller who escaped from prison was a small medium at large.
A thief who stole a calendar got twelve months.
A thief fell into wet cement. He became a hardened criminal.
Thieves who steal corn from a garden could be charged with stalking.
We'll never run out of math teachers because they always multiply.
When the smog lifts in Los Angeles, UCLA.
The math professor went crazy with the blackboard. He did a number on it.
The geology professor discovered that her theory of earthquakes was on shaky ground.
The dead batteries were given out free of charge.
If you take a laptop computer for a run you could jog your memory.
A dentist and a manicurist fought tooth and nail.
A bicycle can't stand alone; it is two tired.
A will is a dead giveaway.
Time flies like an arrow; fruit flies like a banana.
A backward poet writes inverse.
In a democracy it's your vote that counts; in feudalism, it's your Count that votes.
A chicken crossing the road: poultry in motion.
If you don't pay your exorcist you can get repossessed.
With her marriage she got a new name and a dress.
Show me a piano falling down a mine shaft and I'll show you A-flat miner.
When a clock is hungry it goes back four seconds.
The guy who fell onto an upholstery machine is now fully recovered.
A grenade fell onto a kitchen floor in France, resulted in Linoleum Blownapart.
You are stuck with your debt if you can't budge it.
Local Area Network in Australia: The LAN down under.
He broke into song because he couldn't find the key.
A calendar's days are numbered.
A lot of money is tainted: 'Taint yours, and 'taint mine.
A boiled egg is hard to beat.
He had a photographic memory which was never developed.
A plateau is a high form of flattery.
Those who get too big for their britches will be exposed in the end.
When you've seen one shopping center you've seen a mall.
If you jump off a Paris bridge, you are in Seine.
When she saw her first strands of gray hair, she thought she'd dye.
Bakers trade bread recipes on a knead to know basis.
Santa's helpers are subordinate clauses.
Acupuncture: a jab well done.
Need a Profreader? (by Don White, published Sunday, 02 December 2007 10:05)
I Will Profread Your Term Paper
Reply to:
Date:
Avid reader. Good speller. Will go over your schoolwork. Wont charge much iether.
Source: craigslist
Who can resist? Sign me down left away…
Job Opportunities (by Cynthia Curl, published Monday, 10 September 2007 02:16)
Our Chapter works with employers to publicize new employment opportunities for members. Positions can be advertised by qualified agencies and companies for full–time, contract–to–hire, and contract positions.
Technical communicators who are registered with this Web site may, and often do, use our Web site to help find employment or contracting...
The James River Mailing List (by Don White, published Monday, 12 May 2008 15:19)
We host an electronic mailing list, JamesRiverSTC, for technical communicators to exchange information about the varied fields within our profession and to receive notifications of chapter events. All are welcome to participate on this list. Click the link to join the list.
Subscribing to the List
In your browser, navigate to the home page for the JamesRiverSTC mailing list.
How to Upload Files (by Don White, published Monday, 12 May 2008 15:23)
We use DOCMan, a Joomla component or plug-in, to upload and manage documents. You can share these types of documents to others through this Web site:
Text files
MS Word files
Portable Document File (PDF) documents
Image (JPG, GIF, PNG) files
DOCMan is an open-source document management and download system for Joomla. With this component, you can manage documents across categories and make them available for download.
Features
The main features of DOCman are:
Infinite categories and subcategories. The documents can be organized across custom categories and...
Working with Photos and The Web (by Don White, published Wednesday, 25 June 2008 00:44)
Digital images and Web sites—it seems this should be so easy, yet it appears to be rather difficult. Part of the problem lies in the inescapable fact that placing an image in a Web site is just not like placing a photo in a photo album for the coffee table. You’re confronted by myths and realities, and the two seldom square. So, let’s take a look…
What You See Is Not Necessarily…
What you get. Web “pages” aren’t pages in the classic sense, of course. Particularly with this Web site, the...
Changing Details in Your Profile (by Don White, published Monday, 12 May 2008 15:28)
If you’ve entered something incorrectly when you registered your account, don’t panic! Just follow the steps below to modify your profile with the information you want to use.
Enter your username and password in the Login form.
Click Login.
Click Your Account. Your account details, or Profile, appears in the main...
Posting Jobs (by Cynthia Curl, published Thursday, 27 September 2007 19:32)
Employers and staffing firms should establish an account with this Web site first. Subsequently, the firm can go directly to the JobLine form and enter the data for the position they’re advertising.
Note: We review all material before publishing it on our Web site. We do not, however, verify or guarantee the accuracy of any information...
Hello, everyone. I hope you all are having, and continue to have, a great summer. Not long ago, I managed one trip back to the scorching heat of my native Texas. I was so glad to come back to Virginia’s lower temps!
Publicity. Outreach. Marketing. Member2Member.
The first task in developing any publicity plan is to identify the “target audience”. On the surface our target audience seems obvious—our 41...
Welcome to the 2008-2009 STC JRC chapter year!
We host an electronic mailing list, 
