editing/content Barry Lodge editing/content Barry Lodge

Using the ‘em dash’ and other Dashes

I am not a strict gramma and syntax person but there are some regular syntactical errors that writers make over and over that do bother me. One of these involves the use, or, more accurately, the non-use, of the 'em dash'. So many writers use a hyphen or standard dash (en dash) where an em dash was supposed to be used. The three most common types of dashes used are:
  1. The hyphen (-) [Alt+45].
  2. The en dash (–) [Alt+0150, or Ctrl+Num- in Microsoft Office].
  3. The em dash (—) [Alt+0151, or Ctrl+Alt+Num- in Microsoft Office].
Hyphen: The hyphen (-) is the shortest of these three dashes. A hyphen is typically used to join words to make a single logical word or to separate syllables of a word, generally for the purposes of word wrapping. There is no padding space used before or after a hyphen. On a standard PC keyboard the hyphen is the unshifted character between the zero (0) and the equals sign (=). On a Windows computer it can also be generated by holding down the Alt key and entering the number 45 on the numeric keypad (written as Alt+45). Examples of the first use: two-thirds, sub-section, pre-cursor, out-of-body, cul-de-sac, no-holds-barred, corporate-wide, face-to-face, and bail-out. Second use: With modern day word processing, and with fully justified text (justified left and right margins) falling out of favour, words are rarely hyphenated for wrapping with the exception of newspapers and novels; however examples would be: forbid-ding, Chey-enne, per-haps, feath-ers, and appre-ciate. [Examples taken from John Jakes' novel "Heaven and Hell"] The Economist Style Guide gives a useful run-down on the correct use of the hyphen. En dash: The en dash (–) is slightly longer than a hyphen. The en dash is generally used to indicate a range or to convey the meaning of 'through to'. An en dash is generally preceded and followed by padding spaces. For users of Microsoft Office tools (e.g. Word, Excel, etc.,) an en dash can be entered by holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys together and then pressing the numeric keypad hyphen key (above the plus key). On a Windows computer it can also be entered by holding down the Alt key and entering 0150 on the numeric keypad (Alt+0150). Examples: 100 – 500, 1980 – 2009, and Perth – Bunbury. Em dash: The em dash (—) is the longest of the three and probably the most used by writers on the Web, or it would be if they knew this was the dash they intended to use. Em dashes have three functions. Firstly an em dash pair can be used to inject a complementary or explanatory thought into a sentence. Secondly a trailing em dash at the end of a sentence indicates an unfinished statement or thought. Finally, an em dash can be used to add some final thought or clarifying comment at the end of a sentence. Most style guides indicate that em dashes should be used without padding spaces and this is how I have always used them, however when I went looking for examples I found that some publishers do use padding spaces around em dashes. I will note however that the local West Australian Newspaper here in Perth uses them correctly as does the national paper The Australian. Examples of the first use: 'This fundamental process issue—how to get bureaucracy out of the way—is one that our Human Resources staff are driving.', and '… to work closely with people—now partners instead of employees—doing the work'. Examples of the second use: 'What kind of physician are you—'; 'Look at you! You have let yourself go until you are as soft and as short of wind as an old priest—'; and 'It was his Holiness, the abbot of the temple of Osiris—'. [Examples taken from Wilbur Smith's novel "The River God"] Example of the third use: 'The pieces came together as the result of a strong relationship between the two companies—and between modern technology and manufacturing processes'. [Examples for first and third use are from the book "Business @ the Speed of Thought" by Bill Gates] Special note on using MS Word: If you use Microsoft Word you can also have an em dash entered by using two hyphens (- -) then as soon as you enter a space (which will happen after the word following the two hyphens), MS Word will automatically replace the two hyphens with an em dash—because it knows an em dash is required there. Okay . . . this post has gone well over the 500 words (it is 748 up to here) but it was a hard one to trim down. Barry.
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tech/computers Barry Lodge tech/computers Barry Lodge

I Am Liking Windows 7

  In a month or so—October 2009 as far as I know—Microsoft will be making Windows 7 available to us regular people. I understand that Windows 7 is already available to enterprise customers in its RTM version (Release to Manufacturing) via the various corporate licensing programmes and through TechNet Plus. I am an IT Consultant in the Windows infrastructure, design, and applications space, and Windows XP is still the operating system on my three production computers. I am one of the many that elected to bypass Windows Vista: partially because when I tried it I found it felt heavy and slow; and partially because none of my customers planned to upgrade to Vista. I am currently part of a project team deploying a new operating environment to 3,000 PCs for BHP Billiton and it is based on Windows XP Professional. BHP Billiton will be deploying the new Windows XP-based GOE (Global Operating Environment) to an estimated 20,000 PCs (assuming the project runs to completion in these troubling financial times). BHP Billiton made a strategic decision to base their new GOE on a tried and proven operating system, and wait for Windows 7 and Office 14 to arrive to build the future GOE (GOE v2) on—thereby leapfrogging Windows Vista. But back to Windows 7—I have Windows 7 Release Candidate 1 (RC1) installed on one of my test PCs and I have to say I am enjoying it. I use it whenever I can. Even the RC1 release feels smooth and fast. Presumably the final release will be marginally better as the very last of any debugging or forensics collection code will have been removed. To quote Paul Thurrott (who runs the Windows Super Site): "Windows 7 is the sum of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of tiny tweaks, none of which would be particularly interesting in isolation. But taken as a whole, the result is astonishing". For anyone interested in a comprehensive run down on Windows 7 I recommend a visit to Paul's Windows Super Site. If you want to get a brief summary of what's new in Windows 7 then go to the Microsoft Windows 7 "What's new in Windows 7" page. If you are an IT professional then Microsoft's TechNet pages featuring Windows 7 might be more interesting. As far as I can work out there are going to be five editions (packages) of Windows 7 that will be available in Australia. These are:
  • Starter Edition.
    • This is a trimmed build of Windows 7 for Netbook computers.
    • Only sold with Netbook computers; cannot be purchased separately.
    • Can join Homegroups but cannot create them.
    • Cannot join a domain.
  • Home Premium Edition.
    • Available as retail.
    • Targeted at home use laptop and desktop PCs.
    • Can create and join Homegroups.
    • Cannot join a domain.
  • Professional Edition.
    • Available as retail.
    • Targeted at businesses and IT professionals.
    • Can create and join Homegroups.
    • Can join a domain and participate in Group Policy.
    • Supports offline folders.
  • Enterprise Edition.
    • Special license only available to enterprises through volume licensing.
    • Basically the same as Ultimate Edition.
  • Ultimate Edition.
    • Available as retail.
    • Contains everything Windows 7 has to offer.
As soon as Windows 7 becomes available I will be upgrading one of my production PCs and if that goes well with no issues (drivers, or applications that won't run) then I will upgrade another, just leaving one of the three production PCs running Windows XP. Barry.
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Blog Authoring with Word 12/2007

As you may have noticed, assuming you have scanned over my previous posts, I am currently using Microsoft's Word 12/2007 to author my blog posts. There are a number of reasons for this:
  1. I have been a heavy user of Word since Word version 2 (circa 1990). Although it was technically Word version 2 it was marketed as Word for Windows 1.0 and was for use on Windows 3.0—just to totally confuse everyone. Anyway, the point I am making here is that I have been using Word for some time now and know it very well.
  2. Word allows me to easily use bullets, numbering, and indenting without having to think too much about it.
  3. I can easily put in simple tables.
  4. I can easily include images (mainly photographs) and position them how I want (within the limits imposed by Wordpress and conversion to HTML when posting).
  5. I can colour and highlight text easily.
  6. Spell checking happens as I key (as it always does in Word).
  7. I can save a copy of each blog post on my PC.
I am sure there are other reasons I have overlooked, but those are the main ones I can think of. As is *always* the case with computers and computer software, Word is not a perfect solution. Take tables for example. Although they are quick and easy to include, as you can see from the following, they do not always format as expected when posted up into the blog. Here is a 75% downsized screen capture image of what the table looked like when I keyed it in Word. And following is how it posted into the blog.
Versions of Microsoft Word 
Internal Version Number  Marketed As  Circa 
7 Word 95 (Office 95) 1995
8 Word 97 (Office 97) 1997
9 Word 2000 (Office 2000) 2000
10  Word XP (Office XP) 2002
11  Word 2003 (Office 2003) 2003
12  Word 2007 (Office 2007) 2007
13 [this version number skipped due to bad vibes] -
14  Word 2010 (Office 2010) 2010
 As you can see:
  • The centred text has become left justified.
  • The sans-serif font used for the table heading has become a serif font.
  • The wrapped first column heading has become un-wrapped into one line.
  • The column sizes have been changed.
Such are the joys of automatic conversions to HTML. Even so, using Microsoft Word is still a good way to author and prepare blog postings. Barry.
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interesting trivia (?), photography Barry Lodge interesting trivia (?), photography Barry Lodge

WRX Evo 4 Decal

As I have only had the one comment posted to my blog since I cranked it up (which, I guess, is a whole lot better than none) I feel that I should respond to it. Rather than respond with a 'buried' reply to her comment I thought I might as well respond with a blog post. Her comment related to the Subaru WRX logo in the middle of my heading banner. In case I have changed the banner graphic by the time others get to read this—and they wonder what I am rabbiting on about—following is a reduced-size reduced-depth version of the heading banner graphic I am talking about.

      The comment contained the question: Where did the middle picture come from? They reason this question was asked is that the reader is familiar with this particular Subaru Impreza decal but had not seen a coloured version of it like this. This is because the original photograph that I took did not look like the one in my banner graphic. Following is the original photograph before doing some cropping and simple colour changes using PhotoShop Elements. WRX-Small

This picture was cropped down to just the decal part, brightened by setting the levels (or setting the "black and whites" as some people refer to it), and then I used the PhotoShop Elements magic wand to select the WRX and fill it in with a bright blue, select the inside of the "evo" and fill it with yellow, and finally select the inside of the 4 and fill it with a darker blue.

So that solves that mystery. I don't have a specially coloured decal on the Evo 4, I just improved the picture I took of the dull grey one that is on it.

Barry.
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TWiT

Some time ago, when podcasts were just starting off, circa 2005-ish, a workmate introduced me to This Week in Tech (TWiT) with Leo Laporte. So, just out of interest, I downloaded an episode of TWiT. It was excellent. I also discovered that John C. Dvorak was involved in TWiT and I have been a long time follower of John C. Dvorak. I feel that one must always write the full name for John C. Dvorak as there seems to be no suitable shortening that conveys the appropriate meaning or weight. To me John C. Dvorak comes across as a realist (just like me). Generally what he comes up with turns out, in the fullness of time, to be the final outcome even though his forecasts might be initially misconstrued as negative.

Anyway, back to TWiT. The TWiT stable has grown significantly since I downloaded my first episode. TWiT now includes the following regular podcasts (this is not a complete list):

For a list of all the TWiT podcasts go to the main TWiT Web site at www.twit.tv.

Some TWiT podcasts have complimentary vodcasts however I am more into just the podcasts. I have found that two of the best places to listen to podcasts are when travelling in the car or trying to get to sleep. It typically takes me about an hour to go from lying down in bed to snoozing off. The trick with the second approach is to know where to start up listening to the podcast again because you fell asleep. Another option is to put a podcast on when working from home—rather than listening to the radio in the background. There is a small problem with this working-from-home approach in that, I find, when I am deep into work I tend to tune out from the podcast.

I find that with listening to the various TWiT podcasts, the ones that I prefer, I get little hints and tips of things that are extremely useful for both my work (I am an IT Consultant) and my personal computing enjoyment. I can then go and research them further as required if needed.

I recommend that anyone interested in computing (IT) try one or two TWiT podcasts to see if they think there is anything in it for them. I suggest starting with the original TWiT podcast involving the regular TWiT team or a Windows Weekly podcast.

Barry.

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Getting Into Digital Photography

I am a mad keen photographer and have been since I was about 12 when I was given a Kodak Box Brownie camera; which was something like 44 years ago.Since the Box Brownie I have owned: a PENTAX Spotmatic II, PENTAX ME Super, PENTAX Program A, PENTAX Super A, and then a departure to a Nikon F801—which I never really liked—then back to a PENTAX Z-1. The PENTAX Z-1 was basically the end of my film cameras. There was a long gap until I finally made the jump to digital with a Minolta 7i, followed by a Minolta A1, then a Sony R1. I still have the Minolta and the Sony but never use them. I went back to PENTAX with the K10D DSLR which I just recently updated to the amazing PENTAX K-7 DSLR.
 
I am in the computer industry and had about three computers in the house at the time so moving across to digital photography was somewhat easier for me than it has been for other film photographers I know. I was already very familiar with PhotoShop, Corel Paint, and Paint Shop Pro; and the finer points relating to editing raster images. Whilst I had some reservations at the beginning I have no doubts now that digital photography is significantly more fun that film photography. There are lots of reasons for this, but a few that come quickly to mind are:
  • There is no 12, 24, or 36 limitation on the number of frames you can take. A 14MP camera with a 4GB removable memory stick can take over 550 shots at the best JPG quality. Even when taking digital negatives (RAW) a 4GB stick will hold about 250 shots.
  • You can adjust the ASA/ISO ('film' sensitivity) up and down with each or any shot, unlike with film where it is set for the whole roll.
  • If you take digital negatives (RAW images) then you can play around with the exposure and white balance even after the picture has been taken.
  • Cataloguing and storing digital photographs is so much better than trying to store film negatives or slides. Most good digital photo management tools allow you to add notes and comments to each picture, and you can sort and organise them in as many different ways as you like.
  • Going back and looking at 'old' digital pictures on a computer is significantly easier than any method I know of for doing the same with negatives or slides.
Anyway, enough for this post—the shorter the better. I am using Word 2007 to author and post this entry so I should be able to set a word limit. I notice that this posting has 489 words to this point, which hardly seems possible when I look back, but presumably Word cannot be wrong about this. So maybe a 500 word maximum is a good limit. Barry.
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interesting trivia (?) Barry Lodge interesting trivia (?) Barry Lodge

First blog post

I thought I might as well commence a blog. Everyone else seems to be doing it. I suppose if nobody seems to be interested in it then I will stop blogging. There must be thousands—if not tens of thousands—of blogs around the Web that nobody reads or that have become orphaned (where even the originator/author no longer checks or updates them). I started a blog once before a couple of years ago. It was orphaned after the first post, so let's hope I do a little better this time around. From reading other blogs I think one of the main things is to be as short as possible but to get all the juicy stuff in. So a short full-fruit blog post seems to be the best way to go. This will be a bit of a challenge for me as I tend to waffle on; especially since I mastered the art of touch-typing and can type a lot more a lot faster. My two primary non-family interests are IT (computers and software) and photography. I have been into photography since I was about 12 with a Kodak box brownie. I keep complaining to my family and friends (friends=about 2, but don't hold that against me) that Iam really starting to hate IT because it chews you up and spits you out—it is so draining. And you can never really be up-to-date. Just as you approach being somewhat up-to-date then IT shifts a gear, or engages boost (for those of you who are lucky enough to own a turbo boosted car), and zooms ahead of you again. Photography is something I plan to do more of in the future. Over the last 20 years or so I have been much less active in photography than I was in my earlier years. I find that it is one of the perverse things about life that when you are able to afford the really good gear (in this case cameras and lenses) you have either less time or less inclination to do whatever it is you really should be doing (but you still buy the really good geat just in case you do). Anyway, what was it I said: short fruit-filled blog posts! So I should finish this one now and work out what fruit to put into my next one, which will really be my first actual blog post as this is really the "Hello World" post—as us IT types call it. Barry.
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