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METAFORIX MAIL Volume 1, Issue 11 September 27, 2000 CONTENTS AT A GLANCE: ON
MY MIND:New York Story ON MY MIND [From the Editor] New York Story The other day, I got on the subway and took a seat next to an Asian woman of a certain age. As I opened my newspaper, I noticed that she was intently studying a rumpled, handwritten page she held in her hand. A moment later, she tapped me on the shoulder, pointed to the paper, and in a distinctly Chinese accent, asked if I could pronounce a particular word for her. The word was "legislative" - and it was one of several labels on a hand-drawn organization chart of the United States government. "LEJ-i-slay-tiv," I said slowly. My seat mate smiled and repeated the word. No sooner had I given an encouraging nod in return than she pointed to the next word - "eg-ZEK-you-tive" - and the next - "joo-DISH-ill." With each word, we briefly reviewed some other details she had hastily noted on the paper, and some she had forgotten to note: The tally of Senators, Representatives, and Supreme Court Justices. The President's term of office. Some agencies in the Executive Branch. "Are you studying to become a citizen?" I asked, and congratulated her enthusiastically when told me she was. We chatted for the next several minutes. I learned that she has been in this country for 14 years, that she works in a hospital not far from my home, and that she is due to become an American citizen on October 12 - plenty of time to cast her first vote in a Presidential election. She surprised me by asking which candidate I favored and why. She has been asking the same question of all of her co-workers and friends, and she told me how my answer compared with theirs. She was delighted when I remarked that her knowledge of how American government works is better than that of many Americans. (I confess to you that I find that thought less than delightful, but I didn't share my dismay with her.) As we arrived at my stop, she patted my shoulder and thanked me for our conversation. We smiled and waved as the train departed the station. (Un-New York in the extreme. I'm sure I failed to convey how poignant and exciting our conversation was, how it tapped into my earliest, simplest appreciation of the gift of American citizenship. But when I enter the voting booth on November 7, I'll be aware of my nameless friend, sharing with joy and appreciation the power of casting a vote. Cordially, Lois C.
Ambash, Editor IN THE MEDIA [a recent news article, feature, or opinion piece] "Overtime Rises, Making
Fatigue a Labor Issue" The tightest labor market in 50 years has led to mandatory overtime, physical exhaustion, and heightened risk of on-the-job accidents. Legislators, regulators, unions, and researchers are taking notice of the trend. In May, Maine became the first state to limit the number of hours >employees can required to work, after a telephone lineman was electrocuted on the job after working continuous back-to-back shifts with only five hours rest during a two-and-a-half day period. Always-on electronic communication devices, unpaid work in the home on top of long workdays, and the blurring of lines between hourly workers and managers are also taking their toll. To read the full story, go to http://www.nytimes.com/2000/09/17/business/17STRE.html. INFORMATICON Businesses "must decide whether they are going to manage to the 98.5 percent of employees, vendors and customers who are decent, or to the very small percentage who are running scams of one sort or another." Companies that assume the worst of people and monitor their every move "will never have a culture characterized by integrity, empowerment, quality and spontaneous fun. At best, it will have a culture of compliance." Daryl Koehn, Director,
CYBERSPEAK [the vocabulary of the Internet age] DROWNLOADING: According to Gareth Branwyn's "Jargon Watch" column in the current issue of Wired, "drownloading" refers to a computer crash that results from the simultaneous downloading of too many image, music, and other large files. Wired, September 2000 SITE OF THE DAY [a nice place to visit] FindSounds.com is a search engine that locates sample sounds and sound effects on the Web, in a variety of formats and resolutions. You can search by keyword or browse through a topical list that ranges from animals to vehicles. Being a lover of classical music, I did a keyword search for "French horn." The hundred hits I retrieved included ships' horns, car horns, party horns, and even a fire siren -- with nary a French horn to be heard. I did better with "oboe," which resulted in one hit, a sample from course materials posted on the Stanford University web site. This site is well-designed, innovative, growing, and fun. Definitely worth making noise about. To visit this site, go to www.findsounds.com THE FINE PRINT Subscribing and Unsubscribing: You received this mailing because we received a subscription request. Feel free to forward this e-mail to colleagues and friends. To be added to our mailing list, e-mail us at subscribe@metaforix.com. If your e-mail address was submitted without your knowledge or if you wish to unsubscribe for any reason, e-mail us at unsubscribe@metaforix.com. Privacy Policy: We respect your privacy. We will never share your e-mail address with any third party unless we have your explicit permission. For more information on our privacy policy, go to http://www.metaforix.com/privacy_policy/index.html. VISIT US ONLINE at www.metaforix.com. Metaforix Incorporated Reinvent
yourself for the Information Age. Feel free to forward this e-mail to colleagues and friends. To be added to our mailing list, e-mail us at subscribe@metaforix.com. Copyright 2000, Metaforix Incorporated. All rights reserved. Please note that the links contained in Metaforix Mail are current as of the time of publication. Some of them may no longer be operative at the time you access past issues. To Volume 1, Issue10 September 21, 2000 To Volume 1, Issue12 October 5, 2000
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