Let's Tech Communicate
April 2017
In this month's Let's Tech Communicate, we have the most unlikely agglomeration of stories ever. We have the funniest informational video produced by a local authority (from an admittedly small pool of candidates). We demonstrate the clear and present danger of not using the Oxford Comma. Amongst the other stories is proof that yes – the CIA has been spying on all technical communicators. This and much more from around the ‘Net!
That’ll be US$10,000,000 please
In Maine, the much-disputed Oxford comma has helped a group of dairy drivers in a dispute with a company about overtime pay. You can read about it in Oxford comma helps drivers win dispute about overtime pay and Don’t work overtime: The final word on the Oxford comma.
For those of you who do not use the Oxford or Serial Comma I offer the following example as a warning. Among those interviewed were Merle Haggard’s two ex-wives, Kris Kristofferson and Robert Duvall .
Do you write like an introvert?
Who would have thought Myers-Briggs could help you improve your writing? The Grammarly Blog apparently. Read on.
Associated Press and LGBTQ
ACES (American Copy Editors Society) has announced that the Associated Press has opened the door to using they as a gender neutral singular pronoun. As a pedant from way back I am naturally surprised. As father to a transgender child I am very pleased. AP style for first time allows use of they as singular pronoun.
The funniest local body informational video
Who knew local bodies had a sense of humour? Earnsy Liu did. She sent me this link. Watch The best video, period: Upper Hutt makes case for greatness to US President Donald Trump and then tell me you’re not thinking of shifting there.
Boost your international SEO
Your global audience won’t read what they can’t find. Rob Vandenburg explains how you can be more findable in Boosting your international SEO.
CIA spying on all technical communicators
Well, here's one for all technical communicators who use Notepad++. So, there I was using Notepad++ and a standard A new version is available. Would you like to install it? message popped up. Having installed it I read the release notes change log. Number 1 was Fix CIA Hacking Notepad++ issue ( Wikileaks Vault 7: CIA Hacking Tools Revealed ). Spooky.