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J'attire votre attention vers certains textes touchant vos/nos métiers
ou intérêts : (F) Bonnes manières et mariages ; (2)
Hélicoptères AgustaWestland ; (8) Outil de calcul des avantages
du crédit-bail
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Week 24, 2004
THE REGULARS: Summary
A) Poem of
the week: "Hyla Brook" by Robert Frost
B) Le texte plus abordable
de la semaine/Kidzworld: Mother's Day [C'est la fête des mères
!]
C) CNN/Global
Office: Sign here for office love [Répression des relations sentimentales
entre collègues.]
D) The New
York Times/The Ethicist: You name it [Conseils sur l'éthique et
la déontologie : Je suis afro-américain et pour améliorer
mes chances d'obtenir un entretien d'embauche, j'utilise mon deuxième
prénom plutôt que mon premier, connoté black. / En
tant que médecin j'hésite à répondre à
mes patients qui évoquent des sujets politiques.]
E) Slate/Dear
Prudence: There, Kitty Kitty [Conseils sur la vie sentimentale et la vie
tout court : J'aimerais me débarrasser de mon chat qui m'énnerve.
/Des femmes que je connais à peine ou qui refusent mes invitations
m'invitent à leurs fêtes de futures mères. / Depuis
que mon petit ami génial s'est installé chez moi tout ce
qu'il fait m'irrite.]
F) Washington Post/Miss Manners:
Union rules [Conseils sur les bonnes manières : Spécial
questions sur les mariages.]
G) WNYC/On the Media:
FOIA Oh-Boya! [Entretien sur la loi qui permet à toute personne
d'obtenir tout document de toute agence ou institution dépendant
de l'Etat fédéral US. AUDIO : Vous pouvez écouter
l'entretien en ligne.]
THIS WEEK'S TEXTS: Summary
1) The Economist: Business networking [A l'instar des sites de rencontres amicales sur internet, de nouveaux sites destinés aux professionnels qui souhaitent étendre leur réseau de relations.]
2) The Economist: Helicopters [Ambitions américaines de l'hélicoptériste AgustaWestland.]
3) Forbes: J.K. Rowling And The Billion-Dollar Empire [La fortune de l'auteur de la série Harry Potter.]
4) The Economist: Consumer finance [Un autre texte sur les banques qui exploitent les pauvrse.]
5) The New York Times/Consumed: Comics Trip [Le succès des mangas aux Etats Unis.]
6) The Onion: Many Americans Still Unsure Whom to Vote Against [Article satirique sur les élections présidentielles : Beaucoup d'électeurs ne savent pas encore contre qui voter.]
7) Mental Floss: The St Bernard dog [Petit topo sur les Saint-Bernard.]
8) CFO.com: Equipment Lease vs. Purchase Analysis [Un outil en ligne pour comparer les coûts du crédit-bail par rapport à l'achat.]
THE REGULARS
********************************
A) Poem of the week: "Hyla
Brook" by Robert Frost
By June our brook's run out of song and speed.
Sought for much after that, it will be found
Either to have gone groping underground
(And taken with it all the Hyla breed
That shouted in the mist a month ago,
Like ghost of sleigh-bells in a ghost of snow)--
Or flourished and come up in jewel-weed,
Weak foliage that is blown upon and bent
Even against the way its waters went.
Its bed is left a faded paper sheet
Of dead leaves stuck together by the heat--
A brook to none but who remember long.
This as it will be seen is other far
Than with brooks taken otherwhere in song.
We love the things we love for what they are.
********************************
B) Le texte plus abordable de la semaine/Kidzworld:
Mother's Day [C'est la fête des mères !]
http://www.kidzworld.com/site/p737.htm
Mother's Day
Once a year, moms everywhere get a chance to kick back, relax and think about themselves for a change - but this hasn't always been the case. So put the "yo mamma" jokes on hold and get the 411 on yo mamma's big day.
The Ancient History of Mother's Day
The earliest Mother's Day celebration can be traced back to the ancient
Greeks who honored Rhea, the Mother of the Gods during the spring. Years
later, during the 1600s, England had a day called Mothering Sunday, honoring
moms in England. At that time, lots of England's poor were servants for
the wealthy. Most of these jobs were far away from their homes so servants
lived in their employer's houses. On Mothering Sunday servants had the
day off and usually returned home to spend the day with their mom. Most
of the time they would bring a mothering cake with them.
American Moms Get in on the Act
In the US, Mother's Day was first championed by Julia Ward Howe in 1872.
Every year she would have Mother's Day meetings in Boston, Massachusetts.
Her meetings were about peace and remembering all the sons and daughters
lost at war. In 1907, a lady named Anna Jarvis from Philadelphia started
a campaign for a national Mother's Day. She pushed her church to celebrate
the holiday on the anniversary of her mother's death, the second Sunday
in May. By 1911, the holiday was celebrated in almost every state. In
1914, the president made Mother's Day a national holiday on the second
Sunday of May.
Celebrating Mother's Day
Let your mom know how much you love her this Mother's Day. Give her a
card, do extra chores, give her flowers, get her something nice like a
framed picture of the two of you, or even make her something nice. Don't
forget to send your mom a Mother's Day greeting and spoil her on Mother's
Day!
C) CNN/Global Office: Sign here for office love [Répression des relations sentimentales entre collègues.]
http://edition.cnn.com/2004/BUSINESS/05/28/go.love.contracts/index.html
By Nick Easen for CNN
(CNN) -- Considering how much time we spend at work, it is scarcely surprising to find that office romances are part of everyday life. In a survey earlier this year, romance blossomed for nearly two-thirds of employees within the British workplace.
Worried about the effects proliferating office-based relationships have on productivity, more UK corporations are introducing "love contracts" to deter them.
A recent survey of nearly 1,300 employers found that 20 percent already have a policy on intimate staff relationships. The same number again are considering introducing them, according to London law firm Fox Williams. Romance clauses in some employee agreements can require workers to: tell bosses if they become involved with a colleague, confirm the relationship is voluntary and keep managers informed if things change.
Although not unusual in North America, and in Europe-based multinational companies of U.S. parent firms, it has yet to move across the Atlantic -- until now. According to a 2002 study by the Society for Human Resource Management 20 percent of U.S. firms have policies on romance, while 81 percent of human resource bosses said office romances were dangerous.
A typical "consensual relationship agreement" can include guidelines on how love-struck staff should behave, including the need to limit displays of affection and safeguard corporate secrets. Some even require employees to agree not to sue the company if the relationship breaks down; others even ban flirting in the workplace.
Last year British holiday firm Thomson warned 12,000 employees that any office romance that led to favoritism or discrimination would trigger disciplinary action.
Yet critics believe that these contracts drive couples into secret affairs and subterfuge. "The impact and importance of office relationships are a perennial workplace issue," says Kimbra Green of Croner business consulting. "Unless an office relationship is having a negative impact on the partners' ability to perform tasks, there is a strong argument saying their relationship has absolutely nothing to do with their employer."
Yet a 2001 European survey of 1,000 workers conducted by the Italian Gestalt Institute also found that office flirting was good for relieving work anxiety, as well as stress. And "erotic charges" helped about 70 percent of employees get through the day.
Human and Legal Resources, which advises on
human capital, questioned more than 1,000 UK staff earlier this year.
They found that 66 percent of those surveyed had found romance in the
office.
********************************
D) The New York Times/The Ethicist: You name it [Conseils
sur l'éthique et la déontologie :
Je suis afro-américain et pour améliorer mes chances d'obtenir
un entretien d'embauche, j'utilise mon deuxième prénom plutôt
que mon premier, connoté black. / En tant que médecin j'hésite
à répondre à mes patients qui évoquent des
sujets politiques.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/magazine/30ETHICIST.html
THE ETHICIST: You Name It
By RANDY COHEN
Published: May 30, 2004
Q:
I am an African-American male looking for Web programming work. When I
used my ethnically identifying first name on my resume, I got few calls
for job interviews. Now I use my middle name instead, and I've been getting
more interviews. My resume is accurate about my education and experience.
Is it wrong to change my first name to conceal my ethnicity? Malik Raymond
Singleton, Brooklyn
A:
This name change is a reasonable response to racial bias. It would be
unethical -- and often illegal -- to change your name to commit or cover
up fraud. But a potential employer has no right, ethically or legally,
to refuse an interview because of an applicant's race. Thus you are not
withholding information that is even remotely relevant. The disheartening
thing is that such a tactic may be called for.
One argument against the practice of hiding your identity as part of a minority is that that can augment discrimination by concealing how accomplished and ubiquitous a particular group is -- closeted gays, for example. This may in part explain your discomfort, the feeling of letting down the side. There is not, of course, a thoroughgoing parallel between sexual orientation and race: when you show up for an interview, it is apparent that you are an African-American. And in any case, it is not their victims but those whose bigotry prompts such measures who should feel shame.
If you persist in your name change, you'll be in good company -- the actors Tony Curtis, Kirk Douglas and Winona Ryder, the singer Barry Manilow (O.K., I'm not sure he's really good company, not on a long car trip, not if he insists on singing for thousands of miles), the architect Frank Gehry and John Kerry's paternal grandfather, to name only a few, all changed their names to avoid the most onerous effects of discrimination. (Woody Allen and Mel Brooks also adopted stage names, but more to gain a patina of show-biz glamour than to conceal the ethnicity so central to their work.)
-*-*-*-
Q:
As a medical student, I find that patients often bring up politics. In
most forums, I share my opinions, but the doctor-patient relationship
is unique and has implications for the patient's health. Should I stay
away from this subject or may I talk politics if a patient raises the
topic? Ari Polish, Chicago
A:
Etiquette once proscribed conversation about politics or religion at most
social events -- a dance, a dinner party and presumably a doctor's office
(although that does stretch my idea of a social event, no matter how genial
your professional manner). However, what etiquette forbade ethics allows.
Unless these political conversations vex your patients and thereby undermine
your care for them or unless you exploit your position of trust by unduly
influencing your patients, you may speak freely. Conversation need not
be a confrontation, let alone the run-up to a fistfight. It is possible
to discuss politics with genuine civility.
Contrary to your assertion, the doctor-patient relationship is not unique in this regard. Similar discretion is called for in any unequal relationship -- teacher-student, clergy-churchgoer, I.R.S. auditor-weeping taxpayer. Nor should such tactfulness be limited to political discussions. Many subjects can put people at loggerheads: sex, fur, Mel Gibson.
Talking politics presents another sort of risk. Some people prefer to patronize a doctor (or mechanic or manicurist) whose politics echo their own -- a narrow and intolerant demand. But your deferring to it is a matter of economics, not ethics.
********************************
E)
Slate/Dear
Prudence: There, Kitty Kitty [Conseils sur la vie sentimentale et la vie
tout court : J'aimerais me débarrasser de mon chat qui m'énnerve.
/Des femmes que je connais à peine ou qui refusent mes invitations
m'invitent à leurs fêtes de futures mères. / Depuis
que mon petit ami génial s'est installé chez moi tout ce
qu'il fait m'irrite.]
http://slate.msn.com/id/2100125/
dear prudence: There, Kitty Kitty
What to do with an adopted animal that's not working out.
Posted Thursday, June 3, 2004, at 5:39 AM PT
Q:
Dear Prudence,
I have an ethical dilemma that has plagued me for years but has recently
become acute. Ten years ago I adopted a cute kitten (whom I named, perhaps
unfortunately, Prudence), and now I own a cat I hate. Over the years she
has proven to be unbearably needy, a trait I find repellent. Her faults
are myriad: a screaming meow that awakens me in the early hours of the
morning, an apparent inability to learn the basics of litter-box usage
or basic grooming, a tendency to drool when receiving her scant portion
of affection, as well as colitis, arthritis, and dandruff. I know these
things aren't her fault, but they do make me avoid (neglect) her. And
now that I have a baby on the way, I have even less patience for her.
Yet the thought of her in a cage at the SPCA, possibly to be abandoned
by new owners (in the unlikely event that someone actually took her),
leaves me contorted with guilt. This feeling is compounded by the presence
of my other cat, a beloved pet I plan to keep. Prudie, can you offer me
advice—or perhaps absolution?
—Imprudent Adopter
Dear Imp,
It is interesting that Prudence the Cat is needy. Most cat owners say
the slinky felines are haughty and aloof ... bundles of attitude in a
fur coat, if you will. Perhaps this idiosyncrasy, along with the other
unfortunate ones you mention, just underlines that you wound up with the
bad seed of cats. Not being a cat psychiatrist (for the record, Prudie
is not a people psychiatrist, either), it would seem that the annoyance
on four legs is neurotic, if not disturbed. (Prudie has had only two cats,
years ago, one of which was litter–box-averse, like your Prudence,
choosing instead to hop up on a Regency bench and see to its toilette.)
There are, let us say diplomatically, some unusual people who love any
kind of cat ... even one with colitis, arthritis, and dandruff. Check
with your vet about a "readoption." Try placing an ad with www.craigslist.com,
which has many cities listed. (Go to Pets, which is under Community.)
Should this not work, find a no-kill shelter. In the situation you describe,
you should not keep the cat, but bless you for wishing to leave no kitty
behind.
—Prudie, obligingly
-*-*-*-
Dear Prudence,
I am a 35-year-old woman who's recently begun receiving a slew of baby
shower invitations from women I either don't know well or women I was
close to years ago but have barely spoken to in recent times. One "honoree"
lives about 30 miles away, and I haven't spoken to her in two years—despite
my attempts to invite her to my home, out for lunch, etc. Today I got
a baby shower invite from her. Needless to say, I didn't even know she
was pregnant. In another case I got both a shower invitation and birth
announcement from a neighbor who actually turned and went back in her
house when she saw me approaching our community mailbox! The invites say
only one thing to me: These women aren't particularly fond of me, but
they are more than willing to accept any gift I might send. Am I reading
this wrong? There very well could be a piece of modern mommy etiquette
I simply don't know about. More to the point, do I have to send a gift
to folks who don't return my phone calls?
—Thanks very much,
Cash Cow in Colorado
Dear Cash,
There is no "modern mommy etiquette" you're not up on, and you
are reading things correctly. Prudie has long thought that announcements
and shower invitations sent to people who have no real relationship with
the sender should be called by their right name: invoices. Pay no attention
to them, my friend, and do not feel the least bit guilty or apologetic.
As for people who snub you and then send requests for gifts, they sound
nervy and acquisitive. Ignore them.
—Prudie, logically
-*-*-*-
Dear Prudence,
I have been with a WONDERFUL, loving man for about three years now. Up
until two weeks ago, we lived in different apartments but visited each
other often and even stayed the night many times. He recently moved in
with me. It was something that we had discussed and decided would be great.
Not to say that it isn't, but trivial things are starting to annoy me.
I've been with him long enough to know his little idiosyncrasies, but
they never bothered me until now (like how he wrinkles the sheets when
he sleeps, for example). I've realized that I sometimes snap at him for
no reason at all. I'm in my last semester of college, so I am wondering
if his moving in is just an additional stressor that's getting me all
bent out of shape. By no means do I want to end the relationship as I
love him dearly, but do you think I will eventually adjust before I nag
him to death?
—Crabby Girlfriend
Dear Crab,
Prudie is reasonably certain that your wonderful, loving man is not wrinkling
the sheets any differently now than he did previously. Your observation
about trivial things annoying you is the crux of the matter. Nitpicky
complaints are most likely a stand-in for your general angst about graduating.
Because you value the relationship, cut him some slack, make an effort
not to verbalize whatever zinger you might otherwise let fly, and offer
an inclusive apology-in-advance for any criticisms that might slip out.
Recognize that what's going on is likely the bachelor of arts version
of PMS.
—Prudie, temporarily
********************************
F) Washington Post/Miss Manners:
Union rules [Conseils sur les bonnes manières : Spécial
questions sur les mariages.]
Union Rules
By Judith Martin
Sunday, May 30, 2004; Page D06
That wedding guests can become disgruntled seems a waste of champagne.
Among the worries associated with staging a wedding, this possibility rarely occurs to bridal couples. With all that food and drink and the privilege of witnessing true love all decked out in finery, what more could they want?
Miss Manners has been listening to the complaints, and is happy to say that these are superficial misunderstandings arising from a lack of familiarity with wedding etiquette. Sometimes the problem is that guests assign nefarious meanings to practices that they fail to recognize as benign conventions; other times it is that hosts court such misinterpretations by unknowingly violating the conventions.
Simply by clearing up what is routinely done and expected, Miss Manners hopes to restore sweetness and light. Of course, it requires believing that bridal couples included "Cash Gifts" on their invitations only because they believe it is the correct thing to do out of consideration for guests who might otherwise have to think about how to spend their money. And it requires believing that guests who fail to respond believe that it is incorrect to do so if no response card is included, or even if one is, because replying, as well as inviting, is the prerogative of the host.
But if Miss Manners is willing to force herself, surely the people involved, who should be clusters of relatives and friends, could give it a try. In the cause of heading off future misunderstandings, here are touchy questions and soothing answers from some of the chief areas of friction:
Q: When is it ever acceptable
to invite one spouse to a wedding and not the other?
A: When one of them has a restraining order against the other.
-*-*-
Q: I've learned that the wedding I'm to attend is to have a guest list
limited to married or engaged couples, or singles who must not bring a
guest. This policy excludes not only my friend who has been dating a man
for two years and will become engaged when enough money is saved, but
also several partnered gay guests.
A: It shouldn't. Traditionally, engaged couples were also invited as a
unit, and this now covers couples who intend to get married or who live
as if they already are.
-*-*-
Q: I don't want to go if I can't bring a girlfriend, because I know I'll
be bored.
A: So don't. If you are bored watching people you supposedly care about
getting married, imagine how bored a stranger will be.
-*-*-
Q: My husband and I claim that when inviting out-of-town guests to weddings,
their airfare and hotel be paid by the bride, and that they should not
be invited if accommodations cannot be made. His nieces claim that this
is no longer the case in this mobile society, and no one could afford
to pay the costs of such invitations.
A: You are both wrong: you and your husband for claiming that it was ever
the case for hosts to pay the guests' travel costs, and the nieces for
believing you.
-*-*-
Q: Would it be rude for me to decline the invitation to my ex-husband's
wedding?
A: No. It would be rude for you to go and not be able to help snickering
when you hear him vow a lifetime of commitment.
-*-*-
Q: Aren't announcements just requests for gifts?
A: No, they are announcements. All they require is congratulations.
-*-*-
Q: I received a wedding invitation with seven items, four of them cards
from different stores announcing where the couple was registered. I found
it quite tacky, but I was wondering if I am being too critical.
A: Now THOSE are requests for presents, and no, you are not being too
critical.
-*-*-
Q: I am in total shock at being asked to a wedding "celebration"
but not to the wedding. Did you ever hear of anything so cheap?
A: Yes. Inviting people to the reception but not the ceremony used to
be considered proper, although it is not a good idea.
-*-*-
Q: On a wedding invitation I got, it said "dinner, $45, cash bar."
They told me they're saving to go to Hawaii on their honeymoon.
A: Okay, that's cheap. They could have saved as much by having an afternoon
wedding with tea instead. Free tea.
-*-*-
Q: I attended a wedding reception where the bridal party and the two family
tables were waited upon and the rest of the guests lined up for a buffet;
is this some new trend?
A: It's part of the "We're the stars and you're the audience"
trend that has been going on for some time.
-*-*-
Q: What am I supposed to do when I get a wedding invitation without a
response card enclosed?
A: Answer it.
********************************
G) WNYC/On the Media:
FOIA Oh-Boya! [Entretien sur la loi qui permet à toute personne
d'obtenir tout document de toute agence ou institution dépendant
de l'Etat fédéral US. AUDIO : Vous pouvez écouter
l'entretien en ligne.]
http://www.wnyc.org/onthemedia/transcripts/transcripts_052804_foia.html
FOIA Oh-Boya!
May 28, 2004
BOB GARFIELD: The Freedom of Information Act, known as FOIA, can be a lean, mean, fighting machine in the battle against excessive government secrecy. The FOIA request is not a difficult tool to wield. It takes just a little know-how and a lot of patience. Russ Kick knows the drill. Independently, he's filed hundreds of FOIA requests, and they have yielded some unforgettable results. You're probably familiar with his work. He filed the FOIA request that led to his receiving hundreds of pictures of military coffins returning from Iraq. In April, he made the photos available on his website and left every other journalist in the country dumbfounded. How did he do it? Well, he followed the instructions and filed a request. Russ Kick joins me from Tucson, Arizona to tell us how it's done. Russ, welcome to On the Media.
RUSS KICK: Hi. Thanks for having me on.
BOB GARFIELD: You've filed hundreds of FOIA requests over the years. What's the longest you've had to wait before getting a satisfactory response?
RUSS KICK: [LAUGHS] Several of my requests, over a year later, I get the acknowledgment that yeah, we're going to start working on this now. Usually it's more in, in the matter of a few months is how long it takes to either get what I want or get the rejection.
BOB GARFIELD: The fact that it takes so long, I gather, is one of the reasons more reporters don't more routinely take advantage of this avenue of, of research.
RUSS KICK: This is something that truly anybody in the country or anybody in the world can do. All you have to do, really, is send a letter to the FOIA office of the agency that you're interested in, and, and tell them what you want. You don't even need to be a citizen, actually.
BOB GARFIELD: Do you believe that FOIA is grossly under-utilized by American media?
RUSS KICK: Oh, definitely. There's been studies that have been done about who is using the FOIA, and it turns out that the media makes up just a tiny fraction of all the requests. It was something along the lines of ten percent.
BOB GARFIELD: Do you have any evidence to suggest that government agencies intentionally make the process as cumbersome and unrewarding as possible to discourage reporters who, after all, are on deadline, from getting involved in the process to begin with?
RUSS KICK: Oh, definitely. If you remember the strategy game Othello, the slogan for that is: A Minute to Learn; A Lifetime to Master. And that's pretty much the way it is with FOIA, [LAUGHTER] because you can learn how to make a request in a minute, but dealing with the stonewalling, the excessive fees and just sometimes outright lies -- that's what takes a long time to learn how, how to work with.
BOB GARFIELD: Well, FOIA-Master, bestow on us your, [LAUGHTER] your wisdom.
RUSS KICK: Well, one thing is, under FOIA you have one appeal when you're denied. Always use it. Because there are these various numbered exemptions having to do with national security or personal privacy -- they have to name specifically at least one of those. If they don't, which sometimes happens, then you've really got a great case for an appeal. But even if they do name them, you know, you try to think like a lawyer and, and figure out why they're wrong to have used that exemption. Most of the time, I've found the appeals don't work. But it's still important to try. And another thing is one of the tactics that the CIA is using, and they're one of the most popular agencies that get FOIAs, they will automatically send you a letter back saying that you have to agree to pay at least 150 dollars for each request before they'll even start processing. And the reason this is something of a trick is because they're hoping, of course, that most people will just say well forget it. You know, I, I can't afford that. The way I get around that is when I send any request into the CIA, I automatically tell them in the letter that yes, I agree to pay up to 150 dollars for this request. And so far I've never had to pay near that much.
BOB GARFIELD: Okay, so let's say I want to find out who paid for President Bush's flight suit in his stunt where he landed on the aircraft carrier [LAUGHTER] to declare the mission accomplished in Iraq. I put a letter in the mail to the FOIA administrator at the Department of Defense and say I'm willing to pay 150 dollars for the information. Please send me the appropriate documentation? That's it?
RUSS KICK: That's pretty much it. Yeah. The only thing is, when you write the letter, you, you have to say, you know, something along the lines of this is a request under the Freedom of Information Act. And after that, just tell them what you want. It also helps if you tell them whether or not you're an independent researcher or a member of the media or something like that, just so that they can assess fees. And if you're a member of the media, it actually -- all fees are supposed to be waived. You know, you don't have to tell them anything about why you want this material, and by law they're not allowed to ask you that either.
BOB GARFIELD: All right, Russ. Well, thank you very much.
RUSS KICK: Thank you.
THIS WEEK'S TEXTS
********************************
1) The Economist: Business networking [A l'instar des
sites de rencontres amicales sur internet, de nouveaux sites destinés
aux professionnels qui souhaitent étendre leur réseau de
relations.]
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2582560
Business networking: E-schmoozing
Apr 7th 2004
Will the internet transform how business contacts are made?
FOR most people, managing the mountain of spam in their inboxes is a wretched task. So the temptation, upon spying a mass e-mail from a friend inviting chums to join an “online business networking” site, is to hit delete. That would be a mistake, at least according to a growing number of lawyers, entrepreneurs and assorted other business people who are productively schmoozing online.
A crop of business-networking firms—LinkedIn is the most popular—that let individuals mine the connections of friends-of-friends online, has sprung up in the past three years. After a quiet start, their e-mails are becoming ubiquitous. The idea is that finding a job, freelance project or new employee is easier when trusted friends make the introductions. Already, they have attracted hundreds of thousands of subscribers, mostly through word of mouth.
The firms take their inspiration, in part, from hugely popular social-networking sites such as Friendster and Tribe that target younger customers interested in online socialising. But whereas dating sites become obsolete once a lonely heart has found a soulmate, business-networking sites claim that they have a role as long as a customer has, or needs, a job. Monster, the world's biggest online job-search site, has been prompted by the popularity of its new competitors to add a networking function to its existing offering.
The potential is huge—if a way to charge a decent price can be found. America's total hiring market, including online agencies such as Monster and Yahoo's Hotjobs plus offline headhunters, was worth $5.3 billion in 2003, says Forrester Research. Trade shows, a rough proxy for the market for paying to meet industry contacts, are a $100 billion industry, says Tradeshow Week, a trade magazine.
Business models vary. Ryze, one of the few profitable e-schmoozing firms, offers public chatrooms and organises monthly, face-to-face networking events in big cities to supplement its online networking offering. It charges for a premium networking service, tickets to (offline) networking events and classified advertising.
LinkedIn, with over 400,000 registered users, is invitation-only. It focuses on facilitating one-to-one connections, not community-building. It claims to log 20,000 completed connections a month. In November, Sequoia, a leading venture capitalist, invested $4.7m in it. But so far, there are no plans to charge for its service.
Arguably more interesting are such outfits as Spoke, Visible Path and Contact Network Corporation. They target businesses directly, rather than just business people, and already routinely charge for their services. Spoke, the leader of this group, has raised over $20m from US Venture Partners, Sierra Ventures and others.
Their corporate versions of social networking software
analyse (with their permission) employees' address books, CVs and e-mail
to create contact databases that can be mined by all workers. Thus, for
instance, a sales person seeking an introduction at IBM could discover
if any of his colleagues has a friend, ex-boss or business contact there.
Perhaps some lucky social-networking entrepreneur will even find that
his office-mate knows Bill Gates.
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2) The Economist: Helicopters [Ambitions américaines
de l'hélicoptériste AgustaWestland.]
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2714103
Helicopters: Hovering higher
May 27th 2004
Finmeccanica's plans to fly high in America get off the ground
WHEN Pierfrancesco Guarguaglini took over as boss of Finmeccanica two
years ago, Italy's biggest defence group—in which the Italian state
has a 32% stake—was a hopeless jumble of assets. So he set about
beefing up the firm's military side while cutting the number of non-core
businesses and joint-ventures. On May 26th, another big step in this direction
was announced, with Finmeccanica taking full control of AgustaWestland,
a helicopter joint-venture which it had set up in 2001 with GKN, a British
defence group. Mr Guarguaglini is now determined to become the world's
top helicopter-maker.
The speed with which the deal was completed took rivals by surprise. EADS, a Franco-German aerospace and defence group that owns Eurocopter, its big European rival, reportedly tried to scupper the deal at the last minute. GKN is keen to get out of helicopters in order to concentrate on automotive and aerospace equipment. Finmeccanica can easily finance the euro1.5 billion ($1.8 billion) purchase of GKN's 50% stake by selling about half of its 17% stake in STMicroelectronics, a Geneva-based microchip-maker.
The price is high, but helicopters can be a relatively lucrative niche in the tricky defence market. Last year, AgustaWestland's 10.6% profit margin was higher than the average of Finmeccanica businesses. The firm already has its order book full for the next two and a half years. AgustaWestland and Eurocopter were neck and neck in the helicopter business last year with sales of euro2.6 billion each, ahead even of America's Sikorsky (a subsidiary of United Technologies), Textron's Bell and Boeing, the three other big players in the market. Analysts predict that total civilian and military helicopter sales, $12 billion last year, will double by the end of the decade.
To turn AgustaWestland into the market leader, Mr Guarguaglini must sell more helicopters in America. “Any firm with global ambitions has to be strong in America,” says Richard Holloway, a consultant to Finmeccanica. But as most countries like to give defence orders to home-grown firms, the Italian firm has to bolster its American credentials. It has formed a consortium with Bell and Lockheed, another American defence contractor, to pitch for the renewal of the American president's helicopter fleet. Finmeccanica is offering an American version of its flagship helicopter, the EH101. A team led by Sikorsky is bidding too. The winner, perhaps announced as soon as November, would be well placed to pitch for the 200 other helicopters which America intends to buy for its military over the next few years.
If it gets the contract for the 23 helicopters that will form the presidential and VIP fleet, AgustaWestland plans to extend a site in Amarillo, Texas, George Bush's home state. The firm also points out that it already has a joint-venture with Bell that sources 65% of its materials in America. Mr Guarguaglini hopes that good relations between the Italian and American governments will help clinch the deal. But even so, he is still a long way from landing his helicopters on the White House lawn.
3) Forbes: J.K. Rowling And The Billion-Dollar Empire [La fortune de l'auteur de la série Harry Potter.]
http://www.forbes.com/maserati/billionaires2004/cx_jw_0226rowlingbill04.html
World's Richest People: J.K. Rowling And The Billion-Dollar Empire
Julie Watson and Tomas Kellner, 02.26.04, 3:31 PM ET
NEW YORK - Not even Joanne Kathleen Rowling could have imagined the power
her pubescent wizard possessed.
With a few flicks of his magic wand, Harry Potter has turned Rowling into
a billionaire (we estimate she's worth $1 billion). She's one of only
five self-made female billionaires, and the first billion-dollar author.
There are few entertainers on our list. Rowling joins director/producer Steven Spielberg, whose Dreamworks Studio is banking on the success of Shrek 2 to fatten his cash pile; George Lucas, who (like Rowling) has built his empire mostly on a single franchise; and talk-show diva Oprah Winfrey, who is her own franchise.
Unlike Winfrey, Rowling has created a treasure chest of intellectual property that any media firm could buy--if she were willing to sell--and continue the Harry Potter franchise. The series is going to generate billions more in revenue just from the seven-book series. In Oprah's case, we valued just the money she's already earned. Her future earnings are much more difficult to forecast, especially given that in the past she has pondered quitting her namesake TV show. Without her, there would be little if any value in the talk show.
Rowling at 38 is one of the youngest people on the list, and the only British female. The mother of two owes her success to one teenage wizard. Harry Potter is now a billion-dollar branding empire. The five Potter books have sold 250 million copies worldwide in 55 languages, including Latin and Ancient Greek. Rowling's latest installment, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, sold 12 million copies in the United States alone after its June release, and earned Scholastic (nasdaq: SCHL - news - people ), her American publisher, $185 million in just six months. Scholastic placed a huge bet in 1997 when the U.S. rights for the first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, were put up for auction, reportedly paying a six-figure sum. Obviously, it's paid off. The boy wizard has pushed Scholastic stock up 50% since the first book was published in 1998.
Then there are the big-budget movies produced by Warner Bros., a subsidiary of Time Warner (nyse: TWX - news - people ). The first two flicks have grossed $2 billion worldwide at the box office, fetching another $500 million in video, DVD and rental sales. Rowling, a former welfare mother, shares creative control over the films and negotiated an undisclosed cut of the profits.
Of course, Harry Potter is a toy-merchandising machine, helping Mattel (nyse: MAT - news - people ) unload an estimated $150 million worth of Potter paraphernalia so far. Video games by Electronic Arts (nasdaq: ERTS - news - people ) generate even more. The half-pint wizard is emblazoned on Johnson & Johnson's (nyse: JNJ - news - people ) Band-Aids, cologne, even gross-out Jelly Belly beans infused with such Hogwarts flavors as earwax, dirt and booger.
But Pottermania may be too fantastic to last. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, the second film, released in late 2002, pulled in a stunning $866 million, but that still was $100 million short of the mark established by the first film. Mattel reports that sales of Potter toys are softening. Regardless, Warner has committed to producing movies of the third and fourth books, with the next one set to be released in June 2004.
In the meantime, Rowling is betting she can keep the magic alive for at least two more books. She's holed up in an undisclosed location writing the sixth tome and is unavailable for interviews. Word is the manuscript might already be finished, locked away in a vault, hidden from the anxious eyes of Muggles everywhere.
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4) The Economist: Consumer
finance [Un autre texte sur les banques qui exploitent les pauvrse.]
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=209824
Consumer finance: Pay dirt
Jun 3rd 1999 | CHICAGO
WALL STREET may be where mathematics whizzes design innovative financial products, but there is no lack of creativity at the other end of the credit spectrum: lending to America’s “sub-prime market”. One new tool for putting cash in the wallets of credit-challenged Americans is the “pay-day loan”.
Pay-day lenders typically offer a small amount of cash, from $100 to $300, in exchange for a personal cheque which is held, but not deposited, for a short period of time (typically until pay day). At the appointed day, the lender can deposit the cheque, return it to the borrower in exchange for cash, or accept a fee to roll the principal over into a new loan.
Pay-day lenders do not require credit checks or collateral; they demand only an active chequeing account and proof of a regular source of income. And, of course, they take their fee: 15-25% of the face value of the cheque. When the interest rates on such loans are converted to an annual percentage rate (APR), the numbers are staggering; a Chicago Sun-Times survey of Illinois pay-day loan shops found the average APR to be 569%.
Many low and middle-income Americans appear to have an insatiable demand for quick cash, even at that price. The number of pay-day lenders in Indiana jumped from 11 in 1995 to 59 in 1997 with the volume of loans climbing from roughly $13m to $98m. Check Into Cash, a Tennessee-based pay-day lending company, opened its first store in 1993 and now operates a chain of 432 stores in 16 states, including more than 30 in Illinois. Last autumn, the company made a preliminary filing with the SEC to offer shares to the public.
Pay-day loans have caused an uproar among advocates for the poor. The Consumer Federation of America calls the practice “legal loan sharking”. The pay-day industry stands accused of preying on the poor while making extortionate profits and misleading borrowers about the true cost of their loans. Pay-day opponents offer anecdotal stories of customers overwhelmed by mounting debt, such as the borrower who rolled over loans 24 times in 15 months, borrowing a total of $400 yet paying back $1,364 and still left owing $248.
But the true social cost of pay-day lending is more ambiguous. For someone who is truly hard-up, the only thing worse than borrowing $200 at 600% APR may be not borrowing $200 at all. In a study of poor Chicago households, Susan Mayer, a professor at the University of Chicago, found that the ability to borrow $500 significantly lessened the probability that the household would suffer a “spell of hardship”, such as not having enough money for food.
Meanwhile, Check Into Cash argues that its customers are neither poor nor exploited. The average customer earns over $34,000 a year and has been at his or her current job for nearly four years; 36% of customers own their own homes. The company’s growth strategy is based on attracting the middle class with new shops in malls and suburban supermarkets.
According to focus-group studies, pay-day customers are most likely to use the cash for car and home repairs, Christmas shopping, and school expenses, although inevitably some also use the money to go on holiday. A significant portion of the respondents said that, if they had not had access to a pay-day loan, they would have borrowed money from friends or family, a choice which they describe as humiliating and stressful.
Industry representatives complain that using an annual percentage-rate to evaluate the cost of a one or two-week loan is misleading. They compare pay-day loans to a taxi cab, which is cost-effective for short distances but probably not the best way to travel from New York to San Francisco.
The more interesting question is whether such companies are making excessive profits. John Caskey, a professor at Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania who has long studied the “alternative financial sector”, reckons that sub-prime lenders charge high rates primarily because their transactions are small and the risk of bad cheques is high. Mr Caskey has found that borrowers have little understanding of APR but do appreciate that pay-day borrowing is an expensive form of credit. Rather, the part of the transaction most prone to abuse is collections. Some pay-day lenders reportedly threaten to use the criminal justice system to prosecute delinquent borrowers for writing bad cheques, a crime that carries a jail sentence in many states.
Nineteen states prohibit pay-day lending outright, usually as the result of longstanding usury laws. The industry is working hard to roll back such statutes even while consumer advocates argue that more regulation is needed, not less. In fact, borrowers and lenders have usually found a way around most restrictive laws. A more fruitful strategy may be to discover why Americans of all income levels tend to spend more than they earn. A recent consumer survey found that 55% of Americans occasionally lack the funds to pay all their bills. And despite a booming economy, the number of Americans filing for personal bankruptcy rose 73% between 1994 and 1997.
5) The New York Times/Consumed: Comics Trip [Le succès des mangas aux Etats Unis.]
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/30/magazine/30CONSUMED.html
CONSUMED: Comics Trip
By ROB WALKER
Published: May 30, 2004
"Rurouni Kenshin''
Japanese pop culture has been infiltrating American pop culture for decades. You've heard of Godzilla, and you've heard of Pokemon. But what about the 19th-century vagabond warrior ''Rurouni Kenshin''? What about ''Fruits Basket''? Or ''Chobits''? Some of these appear in the U.S. as hyper-stylized anime cartoons, but the place where these titles are really taking off lately is, of all places, bookstores. Paperback collections of translated Japanese manga -- mostly black-and-white comics full of wide-eyed characters -- have become one of the few bright spots as overall book sales are sinking. According to ICv2, which tracks manga and anime sales, the manga market in the United States and Canada added up to something between $90 million and $110 million last year, an increase of nearly 50 percent over 2002, and this year looks even better.
In Japan, there are many manga titles aimed at every demographic, and the form has been wildly popular for years. (What isn't wildly popular in Japan?) ''Rurouni Kenshin,'' the hot title of the moment in the United States, first appeared in Japan in the early 1990's. Late last year, Viz, a publisher based in San Francisco and owned by two Japanese publishing giants, started releasing English translations of ''Rurouni Kenshin'' volumes for $7.95 each. According to ICv2, it was the top-selling manga item in the United States in the first quarter of 2004; two of the volumes even made it onto USA Today's list of the 150 best-selling books across all categories.
The open-ended, almost soap-opera-style story tells of Rurouni Kenshin's befriending a young woman and a little boy, and it alternates between humorous, vaguely romantic episodes and improbable sword fights. The hero is honorable, mysterious and, although he looks like a Spice Girl, basically invincible. According to Viz, almost half of the title's readership is female. In fact, it seems to be young girls who are behind much of the current manga boom, probably because many titles don't rely on superhero punch-ups. Another current hit among the bewildering array of titles from several big publishers is ''Fruits Basket,'' published by Tokyopop. Part of the more openly girl-oriented manga subgenre called shoujo, it is about a high-school girl and a mysterious curse affecting her adopted family.
Manga's appeal to American kids may have less to do with any specific desire for things Japanese than for things that simply represent some notion of global culture. A recent book called ''Transculturalism: How the World Is Coming Together'' collects articles and essays on cultural mixing and matching in the quest for identity and belonging. ''A lot of young people are really disillusioned with a U.S.-centric view of the world,'' says Claude Grunitzky, who edited the book. For ''the Google generation,'' he adds, which can monitor and sample pop-culture choices from around the planet, manga appeals because ''it looks like something that's out of another galaxy.'' Thus, differences that might seem like stumbling blocks become strengths -- like the fact that in Japan the books are bound on the right-hand side and read right to left. Stuart Levy, the Tokyopop C.E.O., says that when the company released its first English translations for the U.S. market seven years ago, it reformatted them at the insistence of booksellers. Now they are not only printed as intended (with a how-to-read-it graphic for first-timers); they also include a line boasting ''100% Authentic Manga.'' And if your parents are so confused that they can't figure out which side of the book to open -- well, good.
Two new titles from Tokyopop suggest that whether the world is coming together, artistic influences now ricochet so wildly that cultural amalgams are inevitable. One is ''@Large,'' by a Los Angeles hip-hop artist and illustrator named Ahmed Hoke who claims Japanese manga as a major stylistic influence. The other is ''Tokyo Tribes,'' which is such a hit in Japan that its creator, Santa Inoue, who claims American hip-hop as a major stylistic influence, has a spinoff apparel line. His dream, according to Levy, is to have one of his manga characters adopted and used in a video by an American hip-hop star. Which would be very transcultural.
^RETURN TO TOP^6) The Onion: Many Americans Still Unsure Whom to Vote Against [Article satirique sur les élections présidentielles : Beaucoup d'électeurs ne savent pas encore contre qui voter.]
http://www.theonion.com/news/index.php?issue=4022&n=1&bypass=1
Poll: Many Americans Still Unsure Whom to Vote
Against
WASHINGTON, DC—According to Gallup Poll results released Monday,
6 percent of Americans are still undecided about whether to vote against
President Bush or Democratic challenger John Kerry in November's presidential
election.
"At first, I was really leaning toward voting against Kerry, because the way he tried to hide his ambivalence about his military service made him seem like a political operator," poll participant and Trenton, NJ resident Amber Barthelme said. "But then, the Bush Administration's mishandling of the Iraqi prisoner-abuse scandal got me thinking that there's a lot to not like about the current administration. It's almost impossible to decide which side I don't want to be on."
According to the poll, 46 percent of the registered voters surveyed would vote against Bush if the election were held tomorrow, while 45 percent said they were ready to vote against Kerry. Factoring in the 2 percent margin of error, the two candidates are essentially deadlocked in the race to determine which candidate America doesn't support.
Researcher Jack Harmon, an analyst for the independent Beltway think tank the Dewey-Markham Institute, said these undecided Americans will be crucial in deciding the next election. "As the messy occupation of Iraq drags on, Bush's approval rating continues to drop, strengthening the position of the anti-Bush voting bloc," Harmon said. "This trend is offset by the Bush camp's $80 million anti-Kerry ad campaign, which has cemented anti-Kerry sentiment in several key swing states. As the election approaches, it's becoming more and more difficult to determine the likely loser."
Harmon said voters are conflicted, wanting to cast environmental and antiwar votes against Bush, but wishing also to oppose Kerry's position on taxation. "The two major parties face a tough struggle," Harmon said. "As the election approaches, both must convince undecided voters that the opposing party's candidate is worse than their own. As both parties take more moderate positions in an election year, it's getting harder to convince citizens that there's a reason to get out there and vote against anyone."
Brad Thomas, a Louisiana machinist, is one of many Americans who have yet to decide whom they'll vote against. "I'd like to say I'm against Bush because he lied about weapons of mass destruction," Thomas said. "On the other hand, Kerry's lack of substantive positions really disgusts me, as well."
Tina Schalek, a Branson, MO theater manager, said she is also undecided. "John Kerry's only virtue is that he hasn't been in a position to make any major mistakes," Schalek said. "On the other hand, I hate Bush's views on abortion. My only consolation is that a vote against either candidate is a vote against Nader."
In spite of such ambivalence among swing voters, surveys reveal that the majority of Americans have determined which candidate they will vote against.
"It's time to trim the Bush from the White House," Akron, OH resident Doug Hamm said. "In 2004, it's time for Bush to get bushwhacked!" Pressed to elaborate on his views, Hamm said, "To be honest, Kerry could be a guy with a paper bag over his head, for all I care. I'd vote for anybody as long as he wasn't Bush."
Karla Barr of Chicago had similarly strong opinions about Kerry. "Kerry is a wishy-washy flip-flopper, changing his tune every time the wind blows," Barr said, repeating a phrase she'd heard on The Rush Limbaugh Show. "Can I trust a man who can't make up his mind about Communism? I don't think so." Added Barr: "We have to remember how close the 2000 election was, when we voted against Gore. Actually, to be fair, when I voted against Gore, I was voting against Clinton."
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7) Mental Floss: The St Bernard dog
[Petit topo sur les Saint-Bernard.]
http://www.mentalfloss.com/fact_of_the_day.htm
Fact of the Day for Friday, June 4, 2004
Around 1800, the dog breed known as the St. Bernard almost fizzled out.
The dogs were named for the monk Bernard of Menthon, who established a hospice in the Swiss Alps (near the Italian border) in about 1050 C.E. Although some records were destroyed in a fire, it's assumed that beginning in the 14th or 15th century, the monks at the hospice began to breed the dogs. They learned that not only were they powerful protection against bandits, but their keen sense of direction and smell helped them find lost travelers who then could be brought to the hospice to recuperate.
These "Alpine Mastiff" dogs didn't quite resemble the St. Bernards of today; they were shorter and thinner, and had short hair. At the beginning of the 19th century, a combination of severe weather and a distemper outbreak nearly wiped out the breed. Some sources say that only three dogs survived. Inbreeding began to cause genetic problems with the dogs, and so the monks bred the St. Bernards with Newfoundlands and other breeds, resulting in a larger, hairier canine. Unfortunately, the long hair proved a detriment to the dog's ability to travel in snowy conditions.
In the 19th century, the St. Bernard was exported
throughout Europe and to America. And while they are wonderful and faithful
pets, the use of the animal as rescue dogs, particularly during the 20th
century, has been overly exaggerated. The well-known image of the lumbering
dog with the brandy cask attached to its collar is pure fiction.
8) CFO.com: Equipment Lease vs. Purchase Analysis [Un outil en ligne pour comparer les coûts du crédit-bail par rapport à l'achat.]
http://www.cfo.com/tool/1,,,00.html?tool=/calc/LeaseBuy/input.jsp
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