From: paktor@hercules.UUCP (David Paktor)
Newsgroups: comp.lang.forth
Subject: Re: Jobs in Education (retry)
Date: 15 Apr 92 01:03:08 GMT
Reply-To: FIGI-L%BRUSPVM.BITNET@cmsa.Berkeley.EDU
Distribution: world
Organization: The Internet

Peter, and all who read this,

I believe the article to which I'm replying was posted before; I'm not sure
    if my reply was posted or not.  I believe it wasn't, so I'll reiterate it
    here:

>   > Second, what does this have to do with Forth?

>   The answer to this is moderately simple.  If I am forced to take a job in
>   education I will be given some time, and more importantly resources, to
>   continue my research.   . . . . .

The original statement of the question wasn't mine, but that doesn't matter.

Peter, your posting gave no indication to those of us who weren't already
    familiar with your work, that you were doing research related to FORTH.

Again, I want to thank Dick Miller for bringing this fact to my attention.
    I recommend you mention it in your follow-on postings.  Now that this
    fact is out, it appears that this does, indeed, have a great deal to do
    with FORTH.

>   Now, you may not have seen this research,

I was totally unaware of it until recently.

>                                             or you have seen it and decided
>   that it is irrelevant rubbish, that is your opinion and you are entitled to
>   it.

Au contraire, mon frere!  Now that I'm beginning to learn about it, I'm
    quite favorably impressed.

>        However, there is a growing body of people, particularly in europe and
>   in some enlightened parts of the united states that feel that the type of
>   work I have been doing can be *vary* useful.  It is my belief that the
>   Forth community (and the computing industry as a whole) can benefit from
>   this work.

All it took was finding out about it.

>   [On the divergence of the "American" from the "English" language]:

>   A classic example of this is in the spelling of various words.  The
>   english have the word "organisation" while the americans spell it
>   "organization".

Actually, I knew about that one...

>   Now it starts to get even more confusing when the english have two
>   spellings for the same word (with the same meaning), the words
>   "possible", and "possable" are the same (according to my dictionary).

I didn't know about that one, and I took it for an error.

>   Sorry david, but this is the first time I have received any mail from you.
>   As I have said, our mail handler has been doing some vary strange things

Peter, I owe you an apology.  (Actually, I already delivered it in an earlier
    post, but I'll re-iterate).  I didn't look at the address my MailTool
    picked up when I wrote my first response; when I wrote my second, I was
    still under the mistaken impression that the first had gone out as
    private mail rather than a public posting.  The fault may not have been
    in your mail handler this time.

So, skipping along to lighter topics...

>   Side note: We are no longer allowed to call a black board a black board as
>          it is felt that it leads to undue prejudice.  As a result we have
>          *got* to call it a chalk board.

I dimly recall some such similar phenomenon this side of the pond, too.
    Actually, for some time now, chalk boards have been GREEN, but nobody
    calls them a "green board" -- too cumbersome.  To further complicate
    the matter, many lecture facilities are equipped with a board which
    uses water-soluble ink markers, and is white...  Often, it's referred
    to by a name which indicates abject linguistic surrender:  "the board".

>   > educated in the British public schools (which are quite famous for
>   > doing a rather decent job of educating their students)
>
>   In which decade are you referring to?

Oh, dear.  My age is starting to show...

>   If you think that my grammar is poor, you should just listen to some of my
>   peers.  In particular my students!

One of my pet peeves has long been the poor quality with which many Computer
    Professionals spell and write.  Gives us all a bad image on top of the
    one we already possess...  I apologize for dumping it on you.

>   Anyone with training in this area will have instantly recognised that I am
>   dyslexic.  Although dyslexia is a problem it is also not a real excuse.

I have no training in this area.  However, I had an acquaintance who is also
    afflicted with this condition.  I am ashamed to admit that the possibility
    of the same condition applying here had not even crossed my mind.

The acquaintance of whom I speak was very ashamed of this condition, and asked
    me not to divulge it, even though I maintain that there needs be no shame
    associated with it -- it is, after all, not a noxious practice which one
    has chosen...

Nevertheless, I acknowledge that it takes some courage to admit your problem
    in public.  I truly believe that doing so can only help, both by increasing
    understanding and tolerance, and by allowing others to help find solutions
    and "work-arounds".

Which brings me to the last point upon which I will touch:

>   So if anyone knows of a really good spell checking program please tell me.
>   I don't really care how much it costs.

I can't say that I do, as I have been able to rely upon my own knowledge for
    this function (a fact which I now view with renewed appreciation).

So I now open the following questions to the community at large:

Anyone know of a really good spell checking program?

and

Any help landing Peter a proper job....?

I apologize for my haste and arrogance, and wish you well in your endeavor.

Sincerely,

David

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
             David L. Paktor                    Force Computers, Inc.
        Senior Software Engineer                3165 Winchester Blvd
          408 370 6330  ext 293                 Campbell, Ca.  95008-6557

    Fax:  408 374 1146                  e-mail:  force-c!paktor@uunet.UU.NET
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