Word: southwest
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...heard of them. But you probably wouldn't have heard of Erica Pratt, a seven-year-old kidnapped from a sidewalk near her home Monday night, because she is from a neighborhood where those kinds of things happen, or at least where we think they do; the area of Southwest Philadelphia where she lives is a poor place where drug-dealing is common. You wouldn't have heard from her except for this: She got away. And so, as a reminder that not all abductions end in tears, Erica Pratt is our Person of the Week...
...springs aren't particularly scenic, but they are easy to find. Follow the stench of sulfur to a mud-encrusted plateau in the southwest corner of Japan's oldest natural park, Unzen. There, boardwalks loop through clouds of steam and around the three springs. A tangle of steel pipes directs the water to hotels and resorts in the nearby towns of Unzen and Obama, the destinations of choice for Japan's honeymooners, the elderly seeking respite from their rheumatism and anyone preferring a soak to a hike...
...ANTITRACTION MATERIAL Sometimes keeping an enemy down but not out is good enough. The Southwest Research Institute in Texas has created a sprayable antitraction gel for the Marines that is so slippery it is impossible to drive or even walk on it; one researcher describes it as "liquid ball bearings." Spray the stuff on a door handle, and it becomes too slippery to turn. The antitraction gel is mostly water, so it dries up in about 12 hours. It is also nontoxic and biodegradable...
Barrett keeps the door to her modest, windowless office at Southwest's Dallas headquarters open. She spends several weeks a year meeting with employees in the 58 cities served by the airline. And, of course, she always flies coach. Southwest does not have first class or business class on its planes. Her photo appears in a feature called "Colleen's Corner" in the in-flight magazine, and she's slightly uncomfortable when recognized by passengers--even though most approach her to praise the airline. Some industry veterans question her influence, given her lack of interest in the financial side...
...believes that emphasis on employee satisfaction--and its downstream result, superior customer service--comes more naturally to women than men. That may help explain why 10 of the top 24 executives at Southwest are women. "It would be great for the industry if more women were running things," says Barrett. The downside for Southwest may be seeing its rivals get better at pleasing workers and travelers...