Re: Ethics and Job-Hunting (actually about notes)
Bottom of page 10:
Cut the blue wire first
Top of page 11
to explode the bomb.
I have a partially related, kind of long-winded, but somewhat humorous
anecdote.
I was taking apart a motorcycle a few years back with the help of a Clymer
manual. The Clymer manuals, for those of you who don't know them, are
shop manuals for cars and bikes for just about everything you might want
to do to your car or bike, with step by step instructions and lots of
photographs. They are not perfect. They could be better. But sometimes
they are all you have.
The particular procedure I was working on was removal of the cam chain, which
went from the bottom of the engine to the top and was connected by a
removable link called the master link. It had taken me a few hours already to
get here, fourteen or so steps, and the difficult removal of the top of the
cylinder head (this was an old and rusty engine). The Clymer manual
was at my side, and I had reached the step at the bottom of page 47 that
said "Remove the master link."
The master link has a plate with pins that go through the chain, a plate
on the other side that attaches to the pins, and then a catch to hold the
plate on. It is very important to keep track of these parts, and not
drop them into the engine. If they fall into the engine, you will have
to take the entire engine apart to get them out. This would be a Very
Bad Thing.
So with careful needlenose pliers I pry at the catch, carefully, carefully,
get ahold of it, pry it free of the engine, and set it aside. Rejoice.
Next, the plate. With a screwdriver I push at it, and get it loose from the
top edge, but the bottom is stuck. I pry at the other side to help. Suddenly,
it gives, the plate with the pins falls into my hand, and the plate I
was prying pops across the garage somewhere. Oh. Well, at least it didn't
fall into the engine.
Freed from the master link, the two halves of the cam chain slide apart.
One side falls down into the guts of the engine, but I manage to catch the
other side. Ha ha! Success!
I return to the Clymer manual, turn the page, and there at the very top of
page 48:
-------------------------
Note: Make sure the ends of the cam chain do not fall into the crank case
by attaching wire to the ends before removing the master link.
-------------------------
I gasp. I sputter. I complain at Dear Husband, who says well, yeah, you
always do that when you remove cam chains. But...but...I've never removed
a cam chain before! Arrrggghh!
I rant for half an hour about bad instructional design.
Then I kick the bike twice and go inside and get drunk.
Closing comment: I am a big believer in notes (in my world, cautions
and warnings are a hardware thing, so notes is all I get). But even now
I'd like to slap a few lessons about note placement into the writer of
that manual.
Laura
and then there was the piston full of water, but that's a
story for another time.
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