<html><body><div style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000"><div><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12pt;"></span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">>The TeX paradigm (explicit markup, with no immediately visible effect)</span></div>>is extremely natural for some, and extremely unnatural for others; the<br>>latter group, on the other hand, often find WYSIWYG systems such as<br>>Microsoft Word ideally suited to their own ways of thinking and working.</div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><br></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">I am absolutely extremely in the WYSIWYG paradigm, for that reason (<span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" data-mce-style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;">no immediately visible effect).</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;" data-mce-style="font-family: Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif;"><br></span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">I cannot find anyone who is both</div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">1. fluent in TeX, or has even ever tried it</div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">AND</div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">2. available/free/unemployed at the moment to work with me.</div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><br></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">The colleagues whom I want to include in my NSF grant application:</div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><br></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">1. a jack-of-all-trades mechanically-skilled friend who has worked extremely hard</div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;">earning multiple technical degrees in <span style="font-size: 12pt;">Network Administration & Microcomputer Applications,</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Public Utilities, fiber optics. She has had paid & unpaid internships in computer administration</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">and utilities.</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">2. a theoretical physicist, with a bachelor's & master's, who is a fantastic amazing library researcher.</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">He's held his own seminar on frontier science.</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">3. an astronomer & mathematician who once ran the planetarium shows at the Trenton State planetarium</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">in the 1980s. Extremely well-read knowledgeable friend.</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><br></span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">None of us know TeX. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">So, these are the sets of skills & backgrounds I have to work with.</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">All of us have been long-term underemployed or unemployed, so we</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">(or at least hopefully one of us) have the time to learn TeX</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">if I can coordinate us all for this NSF Combinatorics project,</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">& that's why I asked if there existed college courses in TeX.</span></div><div style="color:#000;font-weight:normal;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none;font-family:Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:12pt;"><div><br></div><div><span style="font-size: 12pt;">John Nahay</span></div></div></div></body></html>