Petey's
Pipeline E-zine
Issue #47
March 5, 2007
Contents
Business
First Multitasking
Mania
Random Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
National Security—Safe
or Sorry: Combating Terrorism
Write Thinking Punctuation
– the Marks of Professionals (Hyphens)
Business
First (Editorial)
Multitasking
Mania
by Phil Hanson
In
this age of global competition, there's no such thing as job
security. To be competitive in the global marketplace, US companies
locate their manufacturing facilities in foreign countries to
take advantage of cheap labor, trim domestic workforces to cut
costs, and generally try to improve efficiency and productivity
by whatever means possible.
Today,
it's not enough for an employee—or prospective employee—to
be proficient at doing a single kind of work; many companies
require expertise in several fields or diverse skills for job-seekers
to even qualify for consideration. Management skills, communication
skills, foreign-language skills, and people skills are always
held in high regard. And don't let's forget computer skills,
which have become an almost universal requirement, even for
mundane low-pay positions. But perhaps the most important skill
of all is the ability to multitask.
That's
right! Employers, having grown fond of laying off a percentage
of their workers as a profit-building strategy, now want the
employees they keep on the payroll to do their own work plus
the work formerly done by one or two other people.
As
companies shed employees in the interest of short-term profits,
retained employees often must work harder, work longer hours,
or work extra days—not to mention putting forth the ever-present
multitasking effort—to compensate for the worker shortfall.
Sometimes, along with the extra work, they must also endure
pay cuts that further disadvantage them.
Besides
multitasking skills, employers want their workers to have an
education and experience, but not so much education and experience
that it kicks them into the next highest pay bracket. Heaven
forbid that companies pay their grunts fair compensation.
While
education is never a bad thing, too much education leaves you
overqualified for some jobs even as too little education leaves
you under-qualified for others. There's a fine line of distinction,
and knowing where to draw the line makes all the difference
between having a job or finding yourself in a persistent state
of looking for one.
Sometimes,
it's enough to make you wish you were self-employed.
Copyright
© 2007 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Bring
a little humor into your life. Read some additional
thoughts about multitasking on Petey's Pipeline Blog.
• • •
For
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Pipeline Blog.
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Random
Ramblings & Miscellaneous Musings
National
Security—Safe or Sorry: Combating
Terrorism
by Phil Hanson
President
Bush's
war on terrorism seems to be exacerbating the problem, rather
than defeating it. A recent
study shows that, since the US invasion of Iraq, worldwide
incidents of terrorism have risen dramatically. Of course, any
increase in terrorism makes the world less safe for all of the
world's people, not just for Americans.
Terrorism
is a tool of war usually used against the powerful by the less
powerful. Its purpose is to strike fear into the hearts and
minds of the citizens or government members of its rivals in
order to achieve a specific political end, or effect a military,
economic, or social outcome more favorable to the terrorists'
stated goals. Rather than beat a rival into submission,
terrorism hopes to scare it into submission.
The
US and other Western nations have a long history of meddling
in the affairs of sovereign Middle Eastern countries, rousing
deep hatred and stirring up resentment and anger. They don't
hate us for our freedoms, as President Bush claims, they hate
us because we're meddlers that usurped their autonomy and looted
their treasure.
What
fosters terrorism in the Middle East has the potential to
excite terrorism elsewhere in the world, making everyone less
safe. Since 9/11 and the subsequent US invasions of Afghanistan
and Iraq, terrorism has gone on a rampage, and it's spreading
globally.
Clearly,
fighting
terror with terror of our own is not the best strategy for
ending terrorism. So far, the only thing our terror-fighting
strategies have accomplished is to lure more terrorists into
the maelstrom of violence.
Perhaps
it's time
to turn away from policies that promote endless unwinnable
wars and implement policies that ensure a lasting peace. Surely
tactful and diplomatic negotiations espousing mutual respect,
undisguised friendship and equitable partnership can do more
to bring about enduring peace than the threat of violence ever
could.
In
the interests of furthering your knowledge on the subject of
terrorism, read these related articles:
Why
Can't We Talk about Peace in Public?
Arabs
Fear the U.S. and Israel, Not Iran
The
'War on Terror' Is Really the War on Our Republic
Coming in issue #48: Border Security
Copyright
© 2007 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Write
Thinking
Punctuation
– the Marks of Professionals
Getting
punctuation right is critical to making your writing intelligible
and coherent. As with misspelled and misused words, misused
or missing punctuation takes your message off track and confuses
your readers. To help you avoid the avoidable, the next few
installments of Write Thinking deal with punctuation
marks, in all their many forms, with example sentences provided
for clarification.
Hyphens
( - )
Hyphens
are most commonly used to divide words between lines (as when
a word that's too long to fit on the existing line is divided
and part of it carried down to the next line), or to join separate
words that make up a compound word.
•
For word division between lines, hyphenate between syllables
only. Do not use a hyphen to isolate a single letter, even when
it forms a syllable by itself, except in cases where the letter/word
combination would normally be hyphenated if the word remained
on a single line. Examples include A-arm, A-frame and A-line.
If a word already has a hyphen, break the word only at the existing
hyphen.
•
Do not hyphenate one-syllable words, the last word in a paragraph,
or the last word on a page. Don't hyphenate personal names,
acronyms, contractions, numerals, or abbreviations used with
numerals.
•
A hyphen follows the prefixes all-, ex-, half-, quasi-, quarter-,
and self-.
all-powerful,
ex-marine, half-mast, quasi-intellectual, quarter-mile, self-motivated
•
A hyphen precedes the suffixes -elect and -odd.
president-elect,
twenty-odd
•
Use a hyphen between any prefix and a proper name.
anti-Christian,
pseudo-Italian, trans-Alaska
•
For clarity, use a hyphen to avoid double i, the same consonant
in a group of three, or ambiguities caused by changes in meaning.
semi-independent,
hill-less, two-horse races (races involving only
two horses), two horse-races (two separate horse races)
•
A hyphen separates the elements of a compound when one element
is a letter and the other a numeral, or where a letter (or number)
forms one element while a letter (or number) forms the other.
XK-150,
XK-E, 4-plex, 10-speed, U-235, I-beam, 10-4
•
A hyphen separates compounds when both (or all) of the elements
of the compound have equal weight.
nation-state,
Blazers-Sonics game, driver-salesman, blue-green, May-June-July
meetings
•
Hyphenate compound modifiers when they appear before nouns.
silvery-blue
car, copper-colored sky, run-of-the-mill performance,
across-the-board pay raises
•
Don't hyphenate them when they follow nouns or are used as adverbs.
The
car was silvery blue.
The
sky was copper colored.
His performance was run of the mill.
The CEO approved pay raises across the board.
•
Don't hyphenate compound modifiers when the first word is an
adverb that ends in ly.
much-needed
funds (okay), urgently needed funds (not okay)
•
When compound numbers (21-99) are written out, connect the two
parts with a hyphen.
twenty-one,
sixty-four, ninety-nine
•
Spell words letter by letter using hyphens.
i-s-o-l-a-t-i-o-n
•
In dialog, express stuttering by using hyphens.
“T-t-tell
me wh-wh-why!”
Copyright
© 2007 by Phil Hanson
All rights reserved.
Disclaimer
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