By: MARK FITZGERALD EVER WONDER HOW "Jeopardy" quizmaster Alex Trebek would do at the game without his cards?
David Cole, the newsroom systems maven and editor and publisher of the Cole Papers newsletter, found out at the Newspaper Association of America's 1997 Newspaper Operations SuperConference in Orlando when he hosted a Jeopardy-inspired quiz called "Pagination Imagination."
Industry pagination experts such as Phoenix Newspapers' Howard Finberg and the New York Times' Kristin Tennent giggled, hemmed and hawed, guessed and sometimes answered quickly and correctly a series of often-obscure questions about pagination.
Cole visibly enjoyed the panels' embarrassment ? and then had to share it.
The question: What does RISC stand for?
"Er, reduced instruction set computer?" one side guessed.
"Uh, reduced instruction set chip?" the other team asked.
"Yup, it's chip," Cole said.
There was an immediate outcry from the audience.
"Okay, computer," Cole said.
True fact: This system replaced one nicknamed HAZWOPER, pronounced "has-whopper."
It didn't make the Pagination Imagination quiz, but the best acronym to emerge at the SuperConference was OSCAR. It stands for OSHA System for Compliance Assistance and Referral.
"Oooooh, sorry!
The correct Jeopardy question is, 'What is, five years down the road?'"
Several of the questions in David Cole's pagination quiz were contributed by audience members. One asked, "How long will it take for 80% of newspapers to be fully paginated?"
By an overwhelming voice vote, the audience picked the answer, "When hell freezes over."
Why Mickey uses a Norelco
Rob Bee, manager for industrial hygiene and safety at Walt Disney World, regaled SuperConference attendees with stories of the challenges of meeting government health and safety regulations at the massive complex.
Consider, for instance, the OSHA standard on blood-borne pathogens. At first, Bee said, he thought the standard would affect only Disney World's emergency technicians and medical workers. But then he discovered the typical hotel maid confronts blood once a day ? and he learned of an even more frequent source of bloodletting.
At an Old West-themed barber shop, barbers using straight razors were drawing blood in seven of ten shaves, Bee said.
"So, you know, I said, 'Well, is this really customer satisfaction?'" Bee said. The barber shop no longer gives shaves.
Last riddle
Answer: Just over 700, a substantial increase from the approximately 450 at last year's SuperConference, the first
"What was the attendance at the 1997 SuperConference, Alex?"
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