-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
File:  devdict.txt
Rev.:  1.1
Date:  19 September 1995
Note:  For update, check OmniMedia's archive ("How to Contact the Publisher")  
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-------------------------
1.  Electronic Book Title
-------------------------


                THE DEVIL'S DICTIONARY -- CONDENSED VERSION

                   by Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce (1842-1914)

                      (C) Copyright 1994 by OmniMedia


    ***** An Electronic Book Produced and Published By OmniMedia *****

     This Electronic Book is protected by SoftLock.  It can be freely
     distributed over all electronic networks provided it is not altered
     in any manner and all the files are included.  See the section
     "Copyright Notice and Other Terms" for more specific information.



---------------------
2.  Table of Contents
---------------------

This information file is divided into the following sections:

 1.  Electronic Book Title  (presented above)
 2.  Table of Contents  (this section)
 3.  Introduction
 4.  About the Author and This Electronic Book
 5.  If You Are a Book Reviewer
 6.  System Requirements
 7.  Files That Must Be Included in the Distribution Package
 8.  How to Obtain This Electronic Book  (if some of the files are missing)
 9.  Viewing/Installation Instructions
10.  How to Use This Electronic Book and Some Useful Features
11.  Copyright Notice and Other Terms  (which you should read carefully)
12.  How to Contact the Publisher
13.  Refund/Warranty Policy



----------------
3.  Introduction
----------------

This OmniMedia electronic book is a hypertext conversion, using the
outstanding Microsoft Windows 3.1 Help engine ("WinHelp"), of the book "The
Devil's Dictionary -- Condensed Version" by Ambrose Gwinnett Bierce
(1842-1914).

All Windows 3.1 systems can read this electronic book without any need for
special software other than what is already included with this electronic
book.  Although this electronic book is readable at VGA resolution, using a
higher resolution (e.g., 800x600 or 1024x768) is *highly* encouraged.

     =================================================================
     NOTE TO WINDOWS 95 USERS:  It has been reported by several users
     that this book is fully functional under the recently released
     Windows 95.  However, since OmniMedia has not yet tested this
     book under Windows 95, we cannot guarantee that it will work
     under Windows 95 as intended.
     =================================================================

In addition, this electronic book incorporates SoftLock technology.  Using
SoftLock, a portion of this book has been read-locked, requiring the entry of
a password (unique to your computer) to be able to read the locked portion.

However, we have kept a significant portion of this electronic book unlocked
so you can determine whether you want to purchase a password for it.  Sort of
a "try before you buy."  Since this electronic book is NOT Shareware, you may
freely read and use, without any obligation, the unlocked portions of this
book.

SoftLock makes the purchase of the password very convenient and easy.  They
provide three ways to obtain a password:

    1) World Wide Web (WWW),
    2) Automated 24-hour toll-free number (in the U.S. and Canada), or
    3) Fax.

Payment is by VISA or MasterCard.  The password for "The Devil's
Dictionary -- Condensed Version" sells for $4.95.

For more complete information about SoftLock technology as used in this
electronic book, and for the specifics of obtaining a password, read the
registration window that will pop up if you select it from the "nag" window
that appears whenever you attempt to read a locked topic.

Whether or not you decide to purchase a password, do upload this book to your
favorite BBS or public Internet site (read the section "Copyright Notice and
Other Terms" for more specific information on uploading requirements.)

Do give this book a try!  What have you got to lose other than maybe a little
download time?



---------------------------------------------
4.  About the Author and This Electronic Book
---------------------------------------------

Ambrose Bierce was born on June 24, 1842 in Meigs County, Ohio and was raised
in Kosciusko County, Indiana.  Early in his life, he developed a keen
interest in writing and journalism.  While in high school, he became a
printer's devil for a newspaper in Warsaw, Indiana.  The onset of the Civil
War temporarily interrupted this budding career -- in April 1861 he enlisted
with the 9th Indiana Volunteers and fought in several Civil War battles,
including Shiloh and Chickamauga.  He was seriously wounded on Kenesaw
Mountain in 1864 and served until January 1865.  He received a merit
promotion to major in 1867.

Returning to civilian life and his interest in writing and journalism, he
moved to San Francisco in 1868 and became the editor of the "News Letter".
In December 1871 he married Mary Ellen Day, and from 1872 to 1875 they lived
in England, where he wrote for several magazines as well as writing several
books.  His English friends called him 'Bitter Bierce.'

Bierce returned to San Francisco in 1877 to become associate editor of the
"Argonaut", but left in 1879-80 to seek his fortune (and unsuccessfully so)
looking for gold in the Dakota Territory.  Returning to San Francisco, he
became the editor for the "Wasp."  In 1887, he joined the staff of Hearst's
San Francisco Examiner, for which he wrote the 'Prattler' column for 10
years.  In 1896, Bierce moved to Washington, D.C., where he continued
newspaper and magazine writing.

Tiring of American life, Bierce went to Mexico in 1913, then in the midst of
a revolt by Pancho Villa.  His death in 1914 is a mystery, but it is
conjectured that he was killed in the siege of Ojinaga in January 1914.

Bierce's personal life was quite troubled.  He separated from his wife, lost
his two sons, and severed many friendships.  As a newspaper columnist, he
specialized in critical attacks on amateur poets, clergymen, bores, dishonest
politicians, money grabbers, pretenders, and frauds of all sorts.

Bierce's most famous work, "The Devil's Dictionary," was first published in
1906.  It is a volume of ironic sayings that is best described as the
"Cynic's Bible," heavily reflecting Bierce's piercing and cynical wit.

This hypertext electronic book is a condensed transcription from the 1911
edition of "The Devil's Dictionary".  Out of the nearly 1000 definitions in
the original work, 623 were retained here.  These 623 were chosen based on
their relevance to readers of today as well as the quality of the humor and
wit.  In addition, the poetry and extended explanations in the original work
were not included here so as to make each definition short, concise, and
to-the-point.

If the reader is interested, the complete version in ASCII text format is
freely available on the Internet and other electronic BBS.  For a recent
publication containing the full text, as well as further additions, the
reader is referred to the following book:

     "The Enlarged Devil's Dictionary," by Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914?).
     Research and editing by Ernest Jerome Hopkins, preface by John Myers
     Myers, published by Penguin (1984).



------------------------------
5.  If You Are a Book Reviewer
------------------------------

OmniMedia has available voucher numbers which allow SoftLock to give out a
password at no charge to the voucher user.  For more information, contact
OmniMedia (see the section "How to Contact the Publisher".)  Please do
include your credentials.



-----------------------
6.  System Requirements
-----------------------

To view this electronic book, you must have an IBM-compatible PC (386 or
higher is recommended), with color VGA (or better) video resolution.  It must
have Microsoft Windows 3.1 installed (see the note about the recently
released Windows 95 in the section above entitled "Introduction").

This electronic book has been tested using the common color video resolutions
of VGA, 640x480x256, 800x600x256, and 1024x768x256.  For maximum clarity and
readability, it is recommended that you use as high of a video resolution as
your system allows, up to 1024x768x256, or even higher (however, resolutions
higher than 1024x768x256 have not been tested.)  For the very high video
resolutions, you should consider using large size fonts if that option is
available to you.  Consult your Windows documentation for how to increase your
resolution if that is possible for your particular video card and monitor
combination.  (If you feel the font size is too large, read the discussion
about window/font size in the section "How to Use This Electronic Book and
Some Useful Features.")

No guarantee is given that this electronic book, especially the SoftLock
program, will work properly on succeeding versions of Windows (e.g., Windows
95, aka 'Chicago' and 'Windows 4.0'), or with Windows 3.1 emulators (such as
Windows NT or OS/2).  Contact OmniMedia for more information about upgrades
for new versions of Windows and possibly other platforms.

All further technical details mentioned in this file are specific to Windows
3.1 installations.

Three final and important notes:

First, this electronic book is written using the Arial TrueType font, which
is part of the normal installation for all Windows 3.1 systems.  If you have
removed this font from your system, for whatever reason, the file will not
appear as it was authored (though it may look similar or at least readable.)
It is recommended that you reinstall the Arial TrueType font if you have
removed it from your system (refer to your Windows documentation.)

Second, a very small number of Windows users have experienced some
difficulties in properly reading all of the special text characters for
reasons that are not completely understood, though evidence points to bugs in
a very early release of Windows 3.1 (most Windows users don't have this early
release, if you do, consider upgrading to version 3.11.)  The most common
difficulties encountered have been left and right single and double quotes
not being reproduced properly, as well as other characters not being
reproduced properly such as the copyright and trademark symbols, bullets and
em/en-dashes.  Do contact OmniMedia if you observe any anomalies regarding
characters and/or fonts that you believe are not due to running an early
release of Windows 3.1.

Third, the background, foreground (text), and hypertext colors have been
hard-coded in this WinHelp format file.  If you have color vision
disabilities which make it difficult to read all or part of this electronic
book, contact OmniMedia and special instructions to bypass this color
hard-coding will be sent to you.



-----------------------------------------------------------
7.  Files That Must Be Included in the Distribution Package
-----------------------------------------------------------

To properly use this electronic book, the following files must be included in
the distribution package.  Omitting one or more of these files may make it
impossible to do one or more of the following actions:  1) register a
password, and 2) read the locked portions of the book even with a valid
password installed.

devdict.hlp  --  The WinHelp file of "The Devil's Dictionary -- Condensed
                 Version"
devdict.txt  --  This file
read1st.txt  --  How to get started
book.ico     --  A book icon that can be used for permanent installation
slpw-win.exe --  The SoftLock executable
softlock.exe --  An important SoftLock DOS executable "in case of trouble"
slpwinfo.seq --  The text file for the SoftLock executable
softlock.dll --  A required SoftLock Dynamic Link Library
vbrun300.dll --  (same)

(Note on file 'vbrun300.dll':  You may already have this file on your system.
Check in your windows and windows\system directories for it.  If you do have
it, check to see if it is the latest version, dated 05-12-93.  If it is an
earlier version, you can replace it with the one provided with this
electronic book, though it is wise to backup the previous version "just in
case.")



--------------------------------------
8.  How to Obtain This Electronic Book
--------------------------------------

This section will outline four ways by which you can obtain this electronic
book if some or all of the required files are missing or corrupted.  The
electronic book will be packaged as a single archive file, most likely a ZIP
file ('devdic11.zip' or something similar), which requires a dearchiver to
extract the required files, such as PKUNZIP.

It is probable that other ways to obtain this and other electronic books from
OmniMedia will be implemented in the future.  Contact OmniMedia for more
updated information.

(Note:  If you will obtain this electronic book in ZIP format (the most
        likely archive format), you will need to use an "unzipper."  If you
        don't have one already, we recommend that you use the authentic DOS
        shareware utility called PKZIP (version 2.04g), by PKWARE, Inc.
        There also exist several other "clone" unzip utilities (shareware and
        freeware) for both DOS and Windows, obtainable from many BBS and
        Internet sites.


Here are the four ways you can presently obtain this electronic book:

1)  Via the World Wide Web

    http://www.awa.com/library/omnimedia


2)  Via Mail Server from OmniMedia's Archive.

    It is possible to access OmniMedia's archive via e-mail.  This is a good
    method for those who have e-mail access to the Internet but don't have
    FTP or WWW (Web) access (see number 3 below for information about
    OmniMedia's anonymous FTP archive.)

    In order to use the mail server, you must have a uudecoder, since the
    binary ZIP file will be uuencoded into an ASCII format suitable for
    e-mail.  Most Unix sites have a built-in uudecode utility, but nearly
    all other operating systems do not.  Obviously, you cannot obtain a
    uudecoder for your platform via this e-mail server (since it is a binary
    executable), so you have to find one elsewhere, probably by downloading
    it from a local BBS (uudecoders for DOS/Windows do exist, but are not
    found at all BBS sites.)

    For more information on this option, send e-mail to omnimedia@netcom.com
    and request the file describing how to access Netcom's FTP mail server.


3)  From the Internet Via Anonymous FTP.

    OmniMedia maintains an anonymous FTP archive at

    ftp.awa.com  /pub/softlock/pc/products/OmniMedia

    In order to directly download the files from this archive, you need to
    have access to an Internet site with FTP capability.

    If you don't know how to use anonymous FTP, consult with someone who does
    or study the helpfile or manual at your site.  Be sure to type "binary"
    before issuing the "get" or "mget" command.

    In addition, OmniMedia will attempt to upload this electronic book to
    other anonymous FTP archives on the Internet, for example, the CICA
    archive (ftp.cica.indiana.edu).


4)  From Your Local BBS.

    There is no doubt that, over time, this electronic book will be
    distributed to many BBS and online services around the world.  And once
    you obtain this electronic book, feel free to upload it to your favorite
    BBS (be sure to include all the files listed in the section "Files That
    Must be Included in the Distribution Package.")



--------------------------------------
9.  Viewing/Installation Instructions
--------------------------------------

There are several ways to view, and if desired, install this WinHelp
formatted electronic book on your Windows 3.1 system (see the note on Windows
95 in the section entitled "Introduction").  Two will be given below.  If you
are not very familiar with Windows, it is recommended that you print out this
section for step-by-step instructions.  Of course, it is also recommended
that you consult your Windows manual should any questions arise or these
instructions don't work for you.  No matter what approach you use to view
this electronic book, you must NOT change the name of the WinHelp file
('devdict.hlp'.)  If you do inadvertently change the filename, you won't
be able to unlock the SoftLocked topics, even with a valid password.

Now, to view this electronic book, following are two ways to do it (it is
assumed that you've already extracted the necessary files from the
distributed archive file, if that's how you obtained this electronic book --
see the section "How to Obtain This Electronic Book"):

*****************************************************************************
1) The Quick and Easy Way -- If you just want to view this electronic book
   without permanent installation (e.g., for evaluation purposes), place ALL
   the files (the list of necessary files is in the section "Files That Must
   Be Included in the Distribution Package"), into one directory anywhere on
   your hard disk (you should also be able to read it directly from a
   diskette but it will be noticeably slower.)  Then, from File Manager
   within Windows, locate the WinHelp file ('devdict.hlp') and click on it.
   The Windows Help file viewer, 'winhelp.exe', will automatically be
   executed and the electronic book will be displayed.  Enjoy!
*****************************************************************************

2) For a more permanent installation with a convenient icon, it is advisable
   to first create a special directory on your hard disk and copy all the
   files into that directory.  If you acquire more books from OmniMedia in
   the future and copy their files into the same special directory, you will
   save on disk space since several files are shared in common by all of
   OmniMedia's electronic books (for example, the DLL files, among others.)
   As an example, which will be used for the explanation below, this
   directory path could be named C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS .

   (Special note:  As mentioned in the section "Files That Must Be Included
   in the Distribution Package," you may already have 'vbrun300.dll' on your
   system.  If so, then you need not duplicate it in your special electronic
   book directory as it does use an appreciable amount of disk space.  The
   current version of 'vbrun300.dll' provided with this electronic book is
   dated 05-12-93.  If you happen to have an older version of 'vbrun300.dll',
   you can safely replace it with the one provided with this electronic book.)

   The next step is to either select or create the program group into which
   you will place the title DEVIL'S DICTIONARY (or whatever you want to call
   it -- it need not be in caps.)  If you don't already have a special program
   group for electronic books, you need to create one.  To create a new
   program group which could be called, for example, OMNIMEDIA BOOKS (it need
   not be all in caps), simply go to the FILE menu of your Program Manager,
   select NEW , PROGRAM GROUP , OK , and then in the box labeled DESCRIPTION,
   enter the string OMNIMEDIA BOOKS (or whatever else you want to call the
   program group), then press OK (leave the GROUP FILE box empty.)

   Once the program group, whether old or new, is selected, then from Program
   Manager select FILE , NEW , PROGRAM ITEM , OK .  At this point, you have
   three text boxes to fill.  For the DESCRIPTION box enter DEVIL'S
   DICTIONARY (or whatever else you want the application icon to be called --
   it need not be in caps);  for the COMMAND LINE box enter
   C:\WINDOWS\WINHELP.EXE DEVDICT.HLP ;  for the WORKING DIRECTORY box
   enter C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS .  Then to select the icon, click on CHANGE ICON
   and attach the file BOOK.ICO from the directory C:\WINDOWS\BOOKS to this
   application using BROWSE to locate it.  Then, click OK twice to finish.

   Now, your selected program group should contain an icon of a book with the
   name DEVIL'S DICTIONARY underneath it.  Just click on the book icon
   whenever you want to read it!  Enjoy!



-------------------------------------------------------------
10.  How to Use This Electronic Book and Some Useful Features
-------------------------------------------------------------

Using the WinHelp viewer is intuitive and very easy.  Once you are viewing
this electronic book on your computer, you can learn much of what you need to
know by simply experimenting with the toolbar buttons, menu commands, etc.
If you do need more help in reading and using this electronic book, refer to
"How to Use Help" which can be selected from the "Help" menu item found near
the top of the window when viewing this electronic book.

Some useful features of this electronic book include

1) Bookmark -- You can place one or more bookmarks at any location so you
               can later return to that location, even after exiting this
               book.  The Bookmark feature is found in the menu.

2) Annotate -- You can add notes and comments to any topic displayed in a
               window (excepting temporary pop-up windows.)  The Annotate
               feature is found in the menu under 'Edit'.

3) Hypertext -- Hypertext is nothing mystical.  It is simply text which has
                been linked to text elsewhere in the electronic book.
                Clicking on hypertext will move you to the text the hypertext
                is linked with.  In this electronic book, much effort has
                been made to make it clear which text is hypertext.  To
                verify if a word or phrase is hypertext, the mouse pointer
                will switch from an arrow to a small hand with a pointing
                finger when placed on top of hypertext.


One note about scrolling should be mentioned for those newcomers who are
totally unfamiliar with the purpose and use of scroll bars.  You may notice
in this electronic book that for most windows (i.e., topics), there is a
scrollbar at the right-hand-side (and sometimes at the bottom) of the viewing
window.  The scroll bar is there because the text of the topic is too long or
too big to fit completely within the visible window.  By clicking your mouse
on various parts of the scroll bar, you can move ("scroll") either up or down
in the text.  Specifically, clicking on either the up or down arrows (which
are found at the top and bottom respectively of the scroll bar), will move
you either one line up or one line down in the text.  You can also scroll a
full window or page if you click anywhere in the scroll bar between the up or
down arrows and the slider (the slider is the plain rectangular "button" that
slides in the scroll bar, and indicates where the viewing window is
positioned with respect to the topic text.)

Another note concerns the aspect of font size.  If you are using VGA
(640x480) resolution, you may find the font size to be quite large,
especially on bigger monitors.  One solution is to maximize the window size,
done by clicking on the upper right-hand button, and read the window from
further away -- maximizing the window size (to fill the whole screen) will
also make the electronic book look better at the 640x480 resolution with
respect to the number of characters per line being similar to a typical book.
(One of the reasons why this larger font was selected was to insure that this
electronic book would be easily readable on laptop/notebook-sized screens --
WinHelp unfortunately does not yet allow variable font sizes depending on the
video parameters, though OmniMedia is working hard with programmers to be
able to do this.)  If you still feel the characters are too large for your
taste, consider going to a higher screen resolution if you can (since that
will tend to decrease the font size.)  You might even want to consider
testing the large/small font options for the higher resolutions if available
to you for your particular video card.



-------------------------------------
11.  Copyright Notice and Other Terms
-------------------------------------

(The following notice also appears within this electronic book.)

This electronic book, "The Devil's Dictionary -- Condensed Version" (the
"TITLE") is (C) Copyright 1994, 1995 by OmniMedia (the "Publisher") and is
fully protected by United States Copyright laws and international treaty
provisions.

Because this electronic book is protected by SoftLock software, OmniMedia
hereby gives all others permission to electronically duplicate and
redistribute this TITLE provided that none of the files associated with the
TITLE are omitted and/or altered in any manner (for a complete list of files,
see the section "Files That Must Be Included in the Distribution Package".)
Some examples of forbidden alterations to this TITLE include the disabling of
the SoftLock feature via any means, the distribution of an electronic file
produced by capturing or extracting any portion of the text, and distributing
to others a printed copy of any portion of the text.

OmniMedia encourages you to distribute this electronic book far and wide (as
outlined in the previous paragraph) so that many others can enjoy it.

This TITLE, including all files, installation programs, and documentation, is
provided "AS IS", that is, you use this title at your own risk, without
warranty of any kind.  This includes, but is not limited to, defects/errors
with the format of this TITLE as well as defects/errors in the media used to
distribute this TITLE to the supplier and/or purchaser.  OmniMedia further
disclaims all implied warranties including, but not limited to,
merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

In no event shall OmniMedia, SoftLock Services, Inc., and/or any suppliers of
this TITLE be liable for any damages whatsoever (including, without
limitation, damages for lost profits, business interruptions, loss of
business information, or any other pecuniary loss) arising from the use of or
inability to use the TITLE, even if OmniMedia, SoftLock, and/or the suppliers
of this TITLE have been advised of the possibility of such damages.  Because
some jurisdictions do not allow exclusions or limitations of liability for
consequential or incidental damages, this limitation may not apply to you.



---------------------------------
12.  How to Contact the Publisher
---------------------------------

OmniMedia is devoted to producing only the highest quality electronic books.
For more information or advice about this electronic book or other offerings
from OmniMedia, contact

     OmniMedia
     c/o Jon E. Noring
     9671 South 1600 West Street
     South Jordan, UT 84095

     (801) 253-4037
     (801) 253-4036 (fax -- not always online)

     Internet:  omnimedia@netcom.com

OmniMedia's electronic books are available both via the Web and by
anonymous FTP:

WEB:  http://www.awa.com/library/omnimedia

FTP:  ftp.awa.com  /pub/softlock/pc/products/OmniMedia



---------------------------
13.  Refund/Warranty Policy
---------------------------

Sorry, all sales are final.  The "try before you buy" feature of SoftLock
should help you decide whether or not to purchase the password necessary to
read all portions of this electronic book.  Contact OmniMedia if you have
any difficulties either before or after purchasing a password.  We want you
to be satisfied!



And lastly...ENJOY!



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Windows and Windows NT are registered trademarks of the Microsoft Corporation

OS/2 is a registered trademark of IBM

SoftLock is a trademark of SoftLock Services, Inc.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

