RE: Rant continued from previous page (was Re: Another Word guruquestion)

["Al Geist" <al -dot- geist -at- geistassociates -dot- com>]

Geoff Lane wrote:

> Please excuse the rant, but this topic is related to an incident that
> could have cost one of my readers his life. The data in question gave
> torque settings that were a default value unless otherwise specified,
> and torque for a critical fastener was on the second page.
>


Continued would not have helped this person. When I worked around extremely
high voltages (both as a tech and as an application engineer), it was
imperative that I read the entire procedure, including tables, to understand
what needs to be done and the values to target.  Had I not followed the
procedure, there was the potential that I could have been fried.  When I
rebuilt engines for my old Landcruiser and other vehicles, if I did not
tighten the head bolts to the specified torque, the engine could have
conceivable blown up in my face.  I used tech books with tables for both
situations.  I can't remember if any of the multiple page tables had
"continued" in them, because I had enough common sense to look through the
entire table for the material I needed.

The problem was not the table, but the lack of a warning before the table
indicating possible lethal conditions.  There is no guarantee that the
reader in question would have continued reading with or without the
"continue."

Al


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