At-home earning & online booking

If it works as advertised, Skype Prime could enable regular (anglophone) Joes to profitably connect with eager Asians or Eastern Europeans or others as paid 'conversation partners' in their spare time. Apparently it even includes a handy online booking and scheduling function.

Now if only I could book medical, dental, optometric and audiology appointments online... that should be coming in the near future. I know my optometrist already uses and 'end to end' practice management software package for windows - his eye charts are a flat panel LCD reflected in a mirror, and he emailed me a copy of a recent Optomap laser retinal scan. Presumably an online booking module is in the works, or perhaps even already available.

Whenever I finally shift from my old 905 health care providers to new ones in the 416, the ability to book online would be a massive selling point. I suspect, however, that such perks are the preserve of high-end, pay-as-you-go clinics for the rich where your OHIP card is worthless.

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My vote for word of the century:

"Presenteeism"

WordSpy: "The feeling that one must show up for work even if one is too sick, stressed, or distracted to be productive; the feeling that one needs to work extra hours even if one has no extra work to do."

Random Googled glossary: "Describes an employee who is at work but not fully functioning while there."

Urban Dictionary: "[The phenomenon] of showing to work when you are sick. Opposite of absenteeism."

Dictionary.com/Webster's: "[T]he practice of always being present at the workplace, often working longer hours even when there is nothing to do."

WebMD: "[W]hen sick employees show up for work."

MedicineNet.com: "The problem of workers being on the job but, because of medical conditions, not fully functioning. The health problems that result in presenteeism include such chronic or episodic ailments as seasonal include: depression, back pain, arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure, and gastrointestinal disorders. An example of presenteeism might ibe an employee who suffers from depression and so is less able to work effectively. And another example might be the employee with a migraine headache who may have difficulty looking at a computer screen."

Does Bush Know What Neocon Means? - "When someone is as uncurious as George W. Bush, it's easy to underestimate what he knows. A friend of mine tells the story of discussing the income tax with the president early in his administration and, after using the term progressive, acting on the impulse to explain to the president what, in that context, progressive means. 'I know what progressive means,' the president snarled back, irritated that anyone would think him so ignorant." [Slate]

ChocoSol's 'horizontal trade'

"ChocoSol is a small, ecological and inter-community initiative between Mexican farmers in Chiapas, technologists from the Universadad [sic] de la Tierra in Oaxaco [sic], and Toronto-based chocolatiers Michael Sacco and Graham Corbett. They import organic cocao through a structure that they define as 'horizontal trade.'" [Read more @ Torontoist]

Fast clothes?

'Fast clothes' good for fashion but bad for the environment - "It is hard to imagine how customers who rush after trends, or the stores that serve them, will respond to the report's suggestions: that people lease clothes and return them at the end of a month or a season, so the garments can be lent again — like library books — to someone else, and that they buy more expensive and durable clothing that can be worn for years." [Int'l Herald Tribune]