[blml] Tie me kangaroo court, sport [SEC=UNOFFICIAL]

[Robert Geller]

There is a manuscript preparation language called "LaTeX" widely
used by mathematicians and physicists, which is essentially a kind
of programming language.   Its advantage for something like the laws of
bridge is that all the cross-references and law numbers are variables
that are recompiled each time.  So in law 20 instead of referring to
"Law 76D" you would refer to Law~\ref{UI} and the compliler reevaluates
it each time. The advantage is that if you delete of add a law between 20
and 76D the number of the law in the cross-reference is
automatically updated each time.   So if someone on the drafting committee
was able to use LaTeX making sure all the cross-referencing was correct
would be much easier in the 2017 edition of the laws. 

-Bob

 

richard.hills at immi.gov.au writes:
>Eric Abrahamson and David H. Freedman, A Perfect Mess: The Hidden
>Benefits of Disorder, page 165:
>
>Being too neat with business documents can even present a public
>menace.  When the brakes on all twenty of Amtrak's high-speed
>Acela trains in the Northeast were found to contain cracks that
>could have led to a crash, forcing a three-month sidelining of
>the trains, the problem was eventually traced to an effort to
>declutter a maintenance manual.  The original manual had pointed
>out the need to inspect the brakes for signs of impending cracks,
>but Amtrak wanted to put a more concise version in the hands of
>its maintenance people.  Among the snippets cut for the neater,
>shorter version was the brake inspection warning.
>
>ACBL Laws Commission minutes, November 19th 2005:
>
>Jeff Polisner asked if there was any consensus on leaving a law
>number blank if it was combined with an earlier law (e.g. if Law
>73 is combined with Law 16, should Law 73 appear but be blank).
>There was no strong feeling but there was some thought to do
>whatever makes life easier for the tournament directors.
>
>Richard Hills:
>
>It is possible that the 2007 Lawbook may have an unaesthetic
>messy look, as it possible that some apparently unnecessary Laws
>may have the format of:
>
>   Law X, Such-And-Such
>
>   See Law Y.
>
>A so-called "neater, shorter version" of the 2007 Lawbook would
>abolish those Laws and renumber the remaining Laws.  But this
>alternative "too neat with business documents" approach could
>give the "public menace" of sea-lawyers new scope.  It would be
>conceivable that a current sponsoring organisation regulation
>would become inoperative, because its reference to a 1997 Law
>number would now refer to a different renumbered Law.
>
>So retaining all 93 Law numbers in a messily ugly 2007 Lawbook
>saves sponsoring organisation from an unnecessary proof-reading
>of Law number cross-references in all pre-existing regulations.
>
>
>Best wishes
>
>Richard James Hills, amicus curiae
>Level 6 Aqua Training Suite, DIAC
>02 6225 6776
>
>Important Notice: If you have received this email by mistake, please advise
>the sender and delete the message and attachments immediately.  This email,
>including attachments, may contain confidential, sensitive, legally
>privileged and/or copyright information.  Any review, retransmission,
>dissemination or other use of this information by persons or entities other
>than the intended recipient is prohibited. DIAC respects your privacy and
>has obligations under the Privacy Act 1988. The official departmental
>privacy policy can be viewed on the department's website at www.immi.gov.au
>See: http://www.immi.gov.au/functional/privacy.htm
>
>
>_______________________________________________
>blml mailing list
>blml at amsterdamned.org
>http://www.amsterdamned.org/mailman/listinfo/blml

-----------------------------------------------------
Robert (Bob) Geller,     Tokyo, Japan        geller at nifty.com