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+\vspace*{1cm}
+\title{Snippets}
+\author{}
+\begin{article}
+\section{\TeX\ consultant sought}
+The Wellcome Trust is interested to hear from \TeX\ experts who would be
+willing and able to provide technical support and consultancy to one user
+on an ad-hoc basis.
+
+The project concerned aims to catalogue several hundred Arabic manuscripts
+and software used at the moment is MS Word, em\TeX, emTeXgi and Arab\TeX\
+under MS Windows 3.11. This tool-set might change with an imminent move to
+Windows NT4 or could be changed if recommended. It is foreseen that there
+will be telephone inquiries as well as on-site visits.
+
+Interested parties should apply to The Wellcome Trust by submitting a
+resume of their relevant technical experience, details of other
+commitments and expected payment mode. To find out more about the
+project, please e-mail Dr Nikolai Serikoff
+(\url{n.serikoff@wellcome.ac.uk}) , to apply please send the requested
+information to Ms Dagmar Jeschin (\url{d.jeschin@wellcome.ac.uk} or Dagmar
+Jeschin, The Wellcome Trust, 210 Euston Road, London NW1 2BE) by the
+middle of August.
+\section{Committee members sought: a message from Philip Taylor}
+ Having now served as Chairman of \uktug\ for about nine months, I can
+ without hesitation confirm that it is both an incredibly rewarding
+ yet frequently frustrating experience. Rewarding, because at first
+ hand I get to see how hard the various members of the Committee work
+ to make \uktug\ a better organisation; frustrating, because I see how
+ much time gets wasted on the minutiae of committee work.
+
+ Yet despite the frustrations, work gets done: \BV\ is edited,
+ formatted, printed and distributed; new editions of the \TeX\ Live CD
+ are prepared, pressed and sent out; and meetings and workshops are
+ researched, planned, organised and announced. But who does this
+ work, and why? The answer is `the members of the Committee' (aided
+ and abetted by willing volunteers such as Martyn Johnson of the
+ Cambridge Computer Laboratory). And why? Only they can tell you!
+ It's hard work, and the only reward is an occasional letter from a
+ member expressing his or her thanks for the work which has been done.
+
+ But each year, a number of the Committee have to stand down. Some
+ because they have served their time, and our Constitution (blessed be
+ its name) ensures that no Committee member may serve more than his or her
+ allotted time without standing down for at least one year. Some because
+ pressure of `real' work prevents them from spending the time on \uktug\
+ activities that such activities demand.
+
+ And who is to replace them? That, dear Member, is where you come in!
+ Do you care about \TeX? Do you care about \uktug? Do you have the
+ energy to attend some four to six meeting a year, and to receive some
+ two thousand or more electronic mail messages a year (and to send about
+ 1/12 of that number yourself?). If you do, then this is the time to
+ step forwards. A number of the present Committee will be standing
+ down or retiring at the Annual General Meeting in September, and the
+ remaining members of the Committee are very concerned to ensure
+ that those leaving are replaced. If you are willing to stand,
+ then \emph{please} complete one of the nomination forms which accompanies
+ this issue of \BV. Beg (on your bended knees, if
+ necessary) two people to propose and second you. And canvass all
+ your friends in \uktug\ to vote for you, because this is going to be
+ the hardest fought election in the history of \uktug!
+
+ Do all this, and I look forward \emph{very much} to seeing you on the
+ Committee next year.
+
+\end{article}
+\title{Introduction to \Lftrou}
+\author{Malcolm Clark}
+\begin{article}
+I started my \TeX-life with `plain' \TeX\ in about 1984. Being younger
+and more set in my ways, I truly believed that \LaTeX\ was an affront
+to family values and represented yet another downward step in the
+sorry decline of moral and ethical values. If not actually the spawn
+of the devil, \LaTeX\ users were at least beyond the pale. This view
+managed to sustain me for many years, until in 1989 Katherine
+Butterfield persuaded me to teach \LaTeX\ to a research group at the
+University of California, Berkeley. \textit{\Lftrou} (or
+\textit{\LaTeX$^\prime$} as it was then) was born. At first I thought
+(quite arrogantly) that I could merely adapt my existing \TeX\ course
+to \LaTeX. \LaTeX\ requires a much more subtle and mellow thought
+process. Unlike \TeX, where you really can do exactly what you want
+(whether or not it is a good idea), \LaTeX\ requires that you relax
+and go with the flow. Trust it, and all will be well: remember \LaTeX\
+can smell your fear. Looking back, I have to say that the average
+dedicated \LaTeX-er is a much less stressed individual than the
+average dedicated \TeX-er.
+
+When I published my \textit{\TeX\ Primer} in 1992, I planned to follow
+it shortly after by \Lftrou. I was overtaken by the euphoria of
+\LaTeX3, which eventually became the muted excitement of \LaTeXe, and
+had to start re-writing whole chunks. At the same sort of time, some
+excellent \LaTeX\ books, like Goossens, Mittelbach \& Samarin's
+\textit{\LaTeX\ Companion}, Kopka \& Daly's second edition of their
+\textit{Guide to \LaTeXe}, Goossens, Rahtz \& Mittelbach's
+\textit{\LaTeX\ Graphics Companion}, and then the second edition of
+Lamport's own \textit{\LaTeX: A Document Preparation System} appeared
+on the scene. We were awash with good quality stuff (at last!). My
+enthusiasm for the project waned, but it was revitalised by the last
+course I taught, at the Technical University of Malaysia, where I had
+one of the biggest and best classes I have ever had the pleasure to
+teach. They helped me get things pretty close to their present state.
+
+We are presenting this as a serialisation, though perhaps not quite in the
+same long and honourable tradition which includes Hardy and Dickens. What is in
+your hands represents about the first quarter of the text. The next quarter
+will be out later this year (we are aiming for \BV\ 8.5), and the other half
+should appear next year sometime, although precise dates and editions for 1999
+are but figments of our collective imagination (neither the present editor nor
+myself are likely to be on the UK TUG committee next year, and our loyalty
+could be stretched\dots). There are also questions embedded in the text. Once
+all the text has been finished, solutions to these questions will be provided.
+This probably means yet another chunk of \BV, but since I haven't yet written
+the solutions, I don't know quite how much space they will take up.
+
+All being well, and if our enthusiasm stands up, we're very tempted to
+create a pdf (Adobe Acrobat) version with tons of hyper-links. That
+would be available electronically (and maybe even as part of one of
+these magnificent \TeX\ Live CDs that Sebastian Rahtz keeps
+producing). I love the idea of a hyper-\LaTeX\ electronic book. The
+\LaTeX\ source will of course go up as part of the \BV\ archive files
+on \CTAN, where anyone may obtain it for their own pleasure and
+delectation.
+
+The UK \TeX\ Users Group will hold copyright. If anyone wishes to use
+the text of \textit{\Lftrou}, in part, or entire, they are welcome to
+do so. I merely ask that they should acknowledge me as the `original'
+source, but if they make any commercial advantage they should arrange
+with the UK \TeX\ Users Group to make any appropriate royalty payment.
+I'd really prefer they gave it away. In spirit I would like to be
+fairly close to the GNU copyleft declaration. But I'm not against
+crass commercialism: I'm just against someone else making loads of
+money out of my efforts, and \TeX\ not benefiting in some way.
+
+There are too many people to thank to be able to do so individually,
+but I will always be grateful to Katherine Butterfield who provided
+the initial impetus. I gratefully acknowledge the many students from
+Santa Barbara to Johor Bahru who have been exposed to versions of the
+\LaTeX\ courses I have given, and who have therefore unwittingly
+contributed to this project. I am especially privileged to have
+Sebastian Rahtz as editor, and David Carlisle as reviewer.
+
+There will likely be errors in the text. I expect them to be errors
+of fact, omission, opinion or interpretation. I would be happy to
+hear of them, but except for errors of fact, I may choose to ignore
+them. Don't be surprised if I appear to lie or mislead in the initial chapters.
+This trait has a long and honorable tradition in books on \TeX. Sometimes
+the truth takes a little longer to tease out. I've never believed that it was
+appropriate to tell all the truth in all circumstances. You won't find
+details of how to install \TeX\ and \LaTeX\ in \textit{\Lftrou}. This is
+quite deliberate since I believe it to be a non-problem, especially for
+members of this group, who all have a copy of the \TeX\ Live CD.
+\end{article}
+
+
+
+
+
+