Re: Seeking training in DC area

[Loren Castro <lfc -at- SOL -dot- CHINALAKE -dot- NAVY -dot- MIL>]

Sherrill Fink flatters us:

> I was wondering if the omniscient techwhirlers know of some
> training courses for writing/editing in the DC area.  Also
> acceptable are VA, MD, and NC. I am required to take a certain
> amount of training every year, and I am seeking options.  When
> I say "training," I mean classes a week long or shorter, not
> semester-long classes.

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I recommend a class called "Scientific and Technical Report Writing"
brought to us last May by one of these itinerant consulting companies:

        The Communications Skills Company, Inc.
        P.O. Box 1429
        Huntsville, AL 35807-0429
        205-536-8734

John Hightower, the "CEO and sole stockholder," presented the intense,
four-day class and made us think and work.

Sherrill requested private responses, but I'm posting this to pass
along some information that I learned in the class that might have
some application outside the DOD.  Mr. Hightower does not practice
as a lawyer, but he has a JD degree and is interested in legalities
in writing.  Suppose a contract (or specification) required "either
X or Y" somewhere and "A and B" somewhere else.  Mr. Hightower states
that the words must be "either X or Y but not both" and "both A and B"
in order to be legally binding.  He states further that the Government
has lost lawsuits because of the incorrect wording.  I have a hard time
imagining the Government's insistence on accepting only X or Y and the
contractor's insistence on delivering both, but I suppose it happens.
I can only guess, but I suppose it could happen in civilian work also.

lfc -at- sol -dot- chinalake -dot- navy -dot- mil