Word: fiber
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Sadly, in the food revolution as in everything else, the poor are getting stuck with the greasy end of the stick. The affluent like to gorge on the kinds of high-fiber, heart-smart foods that were once relegated to the global peasantry: polenta, lentils, kale, bulgur wheat. Meanwhile, the fat-filled, heart-dumb foods once favored by kings and courtiers have been sedimenting down the socioeconomic scale. And, oh, the joys of nouveau low-income food, in its ever more wanton and promiscuous forms -- fries topped with melted cheese spread, nachos topped with everything, burritos buried in sour cream...
...data at blistering speeds. A set-top box with five times the computing power of a top-of-the-line IBM PC downloads images from the server at the rate of 30 pictures a second. Press a button on the remote, and the signal travels through cable-TV lines, fiber-optic wires, switches and servers on the other side of town in less time than it takes for a conventional remote control to change the channel on a TV set across a living room...
Cable finds itself in a vulnerable position because, at least temporarily, it is lagging behind in the perennial game of technological leapfrog. Nearly every major cable company is developing sophisticated new fiber-optic technology that will ultimately deliver hundreds of channels and permit full interactivity -- enabling viewers to order programs on demand, buy merchandise at the touch of a button and "talk back" to the set in a host of other ways. But this much vaunted technology is still years away from nationwide operation. For now, most cable customers must settle for 40 or 50 channels of traditional programming, technology...
Doctors now know that RSI is not a single disease, but a cluster of syndromes. In computer users, the problem often starts in the muscles or tendons (the long pulley-like bundles of fiber that direct the movement of the fingers) and in the sheaths surrounding the tendons. Keyboards tend to force the upper body into unnatural positions -- hands bent, arms akimbo, wrists cocked -- straining the tendons and muscles and reducing circulation. Computer "mice" can be just as troublesome; users tend to grip the devices too hard, often with the wrist extended up, creating more work for the hands...
...doing the work of three people," says Joseph Kelterborn, 44, who works for the NYNEX telephone company in New York City. His department, which installs and maintains fiber-optic networks, has been reduced from 27 people to 20 in recent years, in part by combining what were once three separate positions -- switchman, powerman and tester -- into his job of carrier switchman. As a result, says Kelterborn, he often works up to four extra hours a day and one weekend in three. "By the time I get home," he complains, "all I have time for is a shower, dinner...