BUZZwords, which has undergone several revisions and a name change, is 10 years old. Novel for its day, it's ancient for a continuously published online newsletter.

Its 1995 launch carried a "welcome from cyberspace" article by Georgia Tech President Wayne Clough to the initial 2,700 alumni readers, but no graphics — although there was a promise that graphics would be added as soon as the technology was available.

"When I started at Georgia Tech way back in 1959, one of the first courses I had to take was how to operate a slide rule," Clough wrote. "In my senior year, I got to take one of Tech's first formal courses in using a computer. It was a good thing that I was a co-op student or I would have graduated a year too early.

"I still have my slide rule, but it was one of the first road-kills on the information highway," Clough said. "As a longtime e-mail user, I appreciate the power of today's technology and I am glad we are one of the first institutions to use it to connect our alumni to Georgia Tech."

The electronic newsletter started off as Bee-Mail since it was sent via e-mail, but later during the year the name was changed to BUZZwords. It began as a weekly update of news on campus and at the Alumni Association, but as electronic communication proliferated in recent years, the publication scaled back to a monthly schedule.

BUZZwords now goes to 56,000 alumni and friends.

In addition to the news of the day, the first issue included an item sent in by Daniel H. Tarkington, ME 67, of Loveland, Ohio:

World's Worst Pun

It seems that George III of England was having difficulty collecting taxes, especially from the provinces. So he figured he'd take one of those old English torture racks, put it on wheels and have horses pull it out to the provinces as a warning. But the rack was too heavy for horses to pull, so an elephant was provided. Of course, the elephant had to be escorted by a special keeper.

As the strange vehicle moved through the streets of London, one peasant asked another, "What on Earth is that?"

"Don't you know?" the other replied. "That's a ramblin' rack for George's tax and an elephant engineer."