VOICES FROM THE INTERNET Unfriend Birds are singing, the sun is shining and I am joyful (over) first thing in the morning without caffeine. Why you ask? Because it is Word of the Year time (or WOTY as we refer to it around the office). Every year the New Oxford American Dictionary prepares for the holidays by making its biggest announcement of the year. This announcement is usually applauded by some and derided by others and the ongoing conversation it sparks is always a lot of fun. Without further ado, the 2009 Word of the Year is: unfriend (verb – to remove someone as a ‘friend' on a social networking site such as Facebook). As in, “I decided to unfriend my roommate on Facebook after we had a fight.” “It has both currency and potential longevity,” notes Christine Lindberg, Senior Lexicographer for Oxford's US dictionary program. “In the online social networking context, its meaning is understood, so its adoption as a modern verb form makes this an interesting choice for Word of the Year. Most “un-” prefixed words are adjectives, and there are certainly some familiar “un-” verbs (uncap, unpack), but “unfriend” is different from the norm. It assumes a verb sense of “friend” that is really not used (at least not since maybe the 17th century!). – blog.oup.com Automation We are led to expect that, over time, the bulk of the workforce is going to migrate into jobs that require creativity or innovation, or jobs that depend on uniquely human traits or talents. Furthermore, these new jobs are going to require that any innovation, creativity or personal attention occur pretty much while actually holding onto your customer's hand – so that the job can't be offshored. Is that really a likely scenario? The biggest problem with the conventional wisdom is the number of jobs we are talking about. The majority of these jobs are basically routine and repetitive in nature. At a minimum, tens of millions of jobs will be subject to automation, self-service technologies or offshoring. The automation process will never stop advancing: computer hardware and, perhaps most importantly, software will continue to relentlessly improve. Therefore, simply upgrading worker skills is not going to be a long-term solution; automation will eventually (and perhaps rapidly) catch up. If you are willing to look far enough into the future, the number of impacted jobs is staggering. – angrybear.blogspot.com Breast cancer A government task force claims that women don't need to have routine screening for breast cancer until age 50. But the American Cancer Society recommends routine mammograms for women 40 and over. The government task force's reasoning? Because the “anxieties” caused by mammography, false positives and biopsies do not decrease mortality. If the federal government is so concerned about women's anxieties, how about more jobs, affordable child care, lower tax rates, clean air to breathe, and an end to discrimination? I can control my own anxiety, thank you.
