A cause for celebration...

I am almost 20% of the way through this 20,000-word editing job, which in and of itself is not much to brag about. However, I am excited to have finally found a sentence that has not required an essential edit!

An example of the kind of stuff I've been plowing through:

К западу от продолжения защитного перекрытия на сушу будет обеспечен переход под существующими трубопроводами, обслуживающими буровую площадку Xyzzy, и подъездную дорогу к арматурному узлу.

Westward from the cofferdam extension onshore there will be a crossover provided under the existing pipelines serving Xyzzy Well Site and the access road to the fittings unit.

My edits:

Westward from To the west of the onshore cofferdam extension onshore, there a crossing will be a crossover provided constructed under the existing pipelines serving the Xyzzy Well Site and the access road to the fittings unitvalve assembly.

Or, without all the revision mode happiness:

To the west of the onshore cofferdam extension, a crossing will be constructed under the existing pipelines serving the Xyzzy Well Site and the access road to the valve assembly.

Just a light edit, dontchaknow.

In other news, I find myself insatiably curious as to the algorithm the translator uses to decide when and where to use periods to terminate sentences in his translation.

I wonder, is he trying to send a secret message? Or does he roll dice?

Ah well, a mere 13% more of the document must be edited if I plan to hit today's self-imposed quota. (And here, I had visions of "overproducing" today. Hah!)

Cheers...

Huh?

According to a story in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a chaplain at a Boca Raton, Florida hospice has resigned over the issuance of guidelines banning the use of words such as "God" and "Lord" when delivering inspirational messages during staff meetings.

Saith the article:

Hospice CEO Paula Alderson said the ban on religious references applies only to the inspirational messages that chaplains deliver in staff meetings. The hospice remains fully comfortable with ministers, priests and rabbis offering religious counsel to the dying and grieving.

"I was sensitive to the fact that we don't impose religion on our staff, and that it is not appropriate in the context of a staff meeting to use certain phrases or 'God' or 'Holy Father,' because some of our staff don't believe at all," Alderson said.

[...]

Alderson said she was surprised by Signorelli's reaction to what she characterized as a minor administrative directive aimed solely at improving the decorum of monthly staff meetings, where the desired tone from a chaplain should be motivational, not religious.

Alderson said it started after she asked a chaplain — not Signorelli — to say something "inspirational" and "thought-provoking" at a staff meeting. The remarks did not strike the secular tone she wanted, Alderson said. So, "I issued some guidelines."

In a follow-up story published today, the hospice fired back:

"Chaplain Signorelli's statement that Hospice by the Sea has restricted use of the word 'God' or any deity is wrong," Senior Chaplain Fred Mortensen said in a second statement.

"The only time the issue has risen among our hospice team has been concerning all-staff meetings that do not in any way include patients or families," Mortensen said. Chaplains, who sometimes are asked to give inspirational talks at such meetings, have been told to keep the diversity of staff members' beliefs in mind. It was a "suggestion — not a policy, not a directive," Mortensen said.

Yeah, Mort. I understand. Back when I worked in the corporate world, I always thought of guidelines issued by the CEO as mere "suggestions" too, and not as something with a little more oomph behind 'em.

I once worked for a company where pretty much the entire management layer and a fair number of my coworkers were devoutly religious, whereas I... was not. I worked there for over two years, and about the most vicious thing I heard in that time was a heartfelt "Darn!" when power was interrupted to a computer in the middle of an 6-hour program loading procedure (LISP code loads slowly).

I don't know if this is some kind of character flaw, but I have to say that I did not feel threatened or intimidated or belittled or imposed-upon when I was asked to do things like join the rest of the employees in the conference room (it was a small company) to pray silently for the success of a proposal that was about to be picked up by the FedEx driver.

Criminy, you'd think that people would be intelligent enough to figure out that if you ask a chaplain to say something inspirational, you should expect to hear a reference to God in there, in some form, somewhere.

Cheers...

UPDATE: This post has been updated and used as an essay in the Week 26 LJ Idol competition (just so's ya know!).