New Scientist has a long running list of this type of instruction.
From the 31 March edition in Feedback (they sent me two, so one ended up on my desk but is is available online), a sign with "please adhere to the fenced off areas", some garden lights made of "rust resistant plastic", "This video is best viewed at room temperature", and "Each storage case automatically becomes portable when carried".
The instructions on cleaning Mouse Balls was not a real IBM personual though some very good mockups were made. However I offer this real gem from the manual for an ancient office system device.
INTERLINE SPACING X Y
Specifies the number of lines to space for each indexing operation of the printer and the number of lines to print per inch.
... tables of valid values for X are followed by:
Operand Y specifies the lines per inch
Y=5.5,6.0, 6.6 (select one) for nonrotated type styles
Y=8.57(do not select) for Data1 /Rotated type style
Line spacing for the Data1/Rotated type style is always 8.57 lpi but this value must not be specified. Specifying 5.5,6.0, or 6.6 defaults to 8.57, and specifying 8.57 results in an error.
As M. Soft Roy would say, this was induckted into my hall of fame.
Rod
