Where You Stand Morally!!
This test only has one question, but it's a very important one. By giving an honest answer, you will discover where you stand morally.
The test features an unlikely, completely fictional situation in which you will have to make a decision.
Remember that your answer needs to be honest, yet spontaneous.
Please scroll down slowly and give due consideration to each line.
THE SITUATION:
You are in Sindh, Larkana to be specific.
There is chaos all around you caused by a hurricane with severe flooding.
You are a photo-journalist working for a major newspaper, and you're caught in the middle of his epic disaster. The situation is nearly hopeless.
You're trying to shoot career-making photos. There are houses and people swirling around you, some disappearing into the water. Nature is unleashing all of its destructive fury.
THE TEST:
Suddenly, you see a man in the water. He is fighting for his life, trying not to be taken down with the debris.
You move closer... Somehow, the man looks familiar...
You suddenly realize who it is... It is Asif Ali Zardari!
You notice that the raging waters are about to take him under forever.
You have two options:
You can save the life of Zardari, or, you can shoot a dramatic Pulitzer Prize winning photo, documenting the death of one of the country's most powerful men!
THE QUESTION:
Here's the question, and please give an honest answer...
Would you select high contrast colour film, or, would you go with the classic simplicity of black and white?
Crucial decision
Flowers on the Bus
Story by: Jean Hendrichson
We were a very motley crowd of people who took the bus every day that summer 33 years ago. During the early morning ride from the suburb, we sat drowsily with our collars up to our ears, a cheerless and taciturn bunch.
One of the passengers was a small grey man who took the bus to the centre for senior citizens every morning. He walked with a stoop and a sad look on his face when he, with some difficulty, boarded the bus and sat down alone behind the driver. No one ever paid very much attention to him.
Then one July morning he said good morning to the driver and smiled short-sightedly down through the bus before he sat down. The driver nodded guardedly. The rest of us were silent.
The next day, the old man boarded the bus energetically, smiled and said in a loud voice: "And a very good morning to you all!" Some of us looked up, amazed, and murmured "Good morning," in reply.
The following weeks we were more alert. Our friend was now dressed in a nice old suit and a wide out-of-date tie. The thin hair had been carefully combed. He said good morning to us every day and we gradually began to nod and talk to each other.
One morning he had a bunch of wild flowers in his hand. They were already dangling a little because of the heat. The driver turned around smilingly and asked: "Have you got yourself a girlfriend, Charlie?" We never got to know if his name really was "Charlie", but he nodded shyly and said yes.
The other passengers whistled and clapped at him. Charlie bowed and waved the flowers before he sat down on his seat.
Every morning after that Charlie always brought a flower. Some of the regular passengers began bringing him flowers for his bouquet, gently nudged him and said shyly: "Here". Everyone smiled. The men started to jest about it, talk to each other, and share the newspaper.
The summer went by, and autumn was closing in, when one morning Charlie was not waiting at his usual stop. When he was not there the next day and the day after that, we started wondering if he was sick or -- hopefully -- on holiday somewhere.
When we came nearer to the centre for senior citizens, one of the passengers asked the driver to wait. We all held our breaths when she went to the door.
Yes, the staff said, they knew who we were talking about. The elderly gentleman was fine, but he hadn't been coming to the centre that week. One of his very close friends had died at the weekend. They expected him back on Monday. How silent we were the rest of the way to work.
The next Monday Charlie was waiting at the stop, stooping a bit more, a little bit more grey, and without a tie. He seemed to have shrinked again. Inside the bus was a silence akin to that in a church. Even though no one had talked about it, all those of us, who he had made such an impression on that summer, sat with our eyes filled with tears and a bunch of wild flowers in our hands.
Sitting on Your Telent
Story by: Steve Goodier
There was a man played piano in a bar. He was a good piano player. People came out just to hear him play. But one night, a patron told him he didn't want to hear him just play anymore. He wanted him to sing a song.
The man said, "I do not sing."
But the customer was persistent. He told the bartender, "I am tired of listening to the piano. I want that guy to sing!"
The bartender shouted across the room, "Hey buddy! If you want to get paid, sing a song. The patrons are asking you to sing!"
So he did. He sang a song. A piano player who had never sung in public did so for the very first time. And nobody had ever heard the song Mona, Mona Lisa sung the way it was sung that night by Nat King Cole!
He had talent he was sitting on! He may have lived the rest of his life as a no-name piano player in a no-name bar, but because he had to sing, he went on to become one of the best-known entertainers in America.
You, too, have skills and abilities. You may not feel as if your "talent" is particularly great, but it may be better than you think! And with persistence, most skills can be improved. Besides, you may as well have no ability at all if you sit on whatever talent you possess! The better question is not "What ability do I have that is useful?" It is rather "How will I use whatever ability I have?"
- Improve Your Business Writing
An Article by Lynn
There's a quiet war between the over/more than camps, and I took part in it last week. I was updating my bio on my web site when an associate cautioned me to replace my overs with more thans.
Describing myself, I had written:
In her corporate teaching career of over 18 years, she has worked with executives, engineers . . . .
Her newsletter, Better Writing at Work, has over 6,000 subscribers.
Susan Daffron of Logical Expressions recommended more than. She worried that nitpicking copyeditors would be upset with my substandard overs. I agreed that they might, and I decided to change them. But not without a fight--with myself.
Should I use over, which sounds more down to earth? Or should I choose more than and avoid the risk that people will think I don't know "proper" English?
I pulled a half-dozen reference books off my shelf before I chose my side. Here's what I found:
The Gregg Reference Manual states, "Either more than or over may be used before numbers, but more than is preferable in formal writing."Gregg adds, "In some situations-- especially involving age--more than is not appropriate." Example: "people over 50."
The Associated Press Stylebook states, "More than is preferred with numerals."
The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications recommends "more than to refer to quantifiable figures and amounts." But it suggests over for "a comparison in which more is already used." Example: "over 50 percent more free space."
The Chicago Manual of Style defends over: "As an equivalent of more than, this word [over] is perfectly good idiomatic English."
Garner's Modern American Usage emphatically states, "The charge that over is inferior to more than is a baseless crotchet."
Fowler's Modern English Usage discusses the issue at length. It notes that American newspapers prefer more than before a number unless the number is an age, whereas in Britain over gets equal status with more than--with no quibbling.
After reading those guides, I might have just flipped a coin. But instead I decided to revise.
My bio now says:
"In her corporate career of 18+ years . . . "
"More than 50 companies and organizations . . . "
"nearly 6,000 subscribers" (While editing, I realized I do not quite have "over 6,000" subscribers to Better Writing at Work. Subscribe here and put me over the top!)
Have you taken a stand on over vs. more than? Whatever you choose, remember that with ages, over is preferred. And in a construction like the one below, remember the hyphen, or your meaning will be muddied!
jobs lost by over-50 managers
Over? More than? Whatever your choice, you can find a style manual to defend it.
