At 10:45 PM 9/2/00 +0100, Michael Kenward wrote:
>
>> Sacchi and Sacchi
>
>You probably mean Saatchi and Saatchi.
>
>(Debating tip, never leave yourself open to trivial corrections when trying to unleash a nuclear missile.)

I know, I know. I once wrote a long story for Laser Medicine & Surgery News about the difference between getting factory and independent service. One of the independent vendors, J. Peter Zimmer from Telsar Laboratories, suggested the story to my editor, and I of course took all of his claims, of providing equal quality for much less money, and checked them with the manufacturers and a few other people.

It turned out that he was half right--there were some lasers that independent service vendors could repair, and others that were more difficult to service, with critical specifications, where it looked like you would be better off sticking with the manufacturer.

That wasn't good enough for him. Next issue, he wrote a long angry letter rebutting my story, point by point. I love to get letters like that--at least when the complaints bounce off, because of my dilligent research. None of his complaints held up, except for the first point:

"1. We are located in Alton, Illinois, not Alton, Pennsylvania."

What can I say--aaaaargh!

There *is* an Alton, Pennsylvania, which was the setting of a John Updyke novel....

I always used to double-check the spelling of every name in a story, but since then I've double-checked place names too.

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Norman Bauman
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