negative doc ("Don't do this or bad stuff will happen")

Subject: negative doc ("Don't do this or bad stuff will happen")
From: Melissa Hunter-Kilmer <mhunterk -at- BNA -dot- COM>
Date: Thu, 13 Nov 1997 09:31:12 EST

Tim Altom <taltom -at- IQUEST -dot- NET> wrote:

> I know that over the years I've had to put in safety messages that
could, if taken out of context by an unscrupulous rogue, be used as a
recipe for destruction. For example, saying "Mixing these two
chemicals could result in an explosion, toxic gas, and attendant death
of bystanders" is just another way of telling a would-be terrorist
"Mix these, stand well back, and enjoy the fun".

On a lighter note, there is a story (probably apocryphal) about
something called a "wine brick," manufactured during Prohibition. The
story goes that the brick came with directions reading something like
this:

"Be very careful not to chip off a piece of this brick and mix it with
water. If you did, you would be making wine, and that would be
illegal."

Business boomed. But hey, it's just a story.

Melissa Hunter-Kilmer
mhunterk -at- bna -dot- com
(standard disclaimer)


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