"I've spent the majority of my working life in male-dominated fields. In my Daddy's contracting business, I started out running errands and following directions. Six years later, three other general-contractors asked me when I'd get my contractor's license. I had sufficiently developed negotiating, carpentry and design skills to be noticed - with no intimidation - by 3 respected men. It was a rare compliment.

"Imagine my shock when, after landing my first job in Logistics at Kennedy Space Center, a good-looking man approached me, shook my hand, and asked, 'So, whose secretary are you?' I had just completed my BA in Journalism: PR and Advertising. I was floored - and yes, ticked off!

"I learned quickly that if you wore a dress to work, it was assumed you were a secretary. If you dressed in slacks or jeans, you were perceived as being a 'techie'. Guess what my typical wardrobe was over the next few years?

"I've moved into the automation industry, and now have several security industry clients - all male-dominated industries.

"What I've learned is this. Your sister Dora is right. The woman who emulates a hard-nosed, masculine attitude loses her femininity, and intimidates the daylights out of men. We, as women, should find our balance to express our ability to lead without being 'one of the boys'. I don't blame men for being intimidated be the She-male boss. She intimidates me, too!

"It is sad, though, when men are intimidated by women who have been blessed with intelligence and talent. Yes, I can serve a romantic dinner in a long, flowing dress and get up the next morning and hammer out a article or a few nails in a 2x4, and maintain 100% femininity. Go figure!

"I think that each sex has its strengths to offer, and we should each be proud to offer what we can."

Andrew Dennant[Andrew.Dennant@emersonprocess.com] wrote this on China:

"In your summary of the trends in China, there was one point that seemed to be missing. Their policy of 'one family, one child' will generate a population profile that is unique in the world.

"If you profile the number of people in the country against their age group you will see a bulge of older people. As these people grow older they become more expensive for the family and/or state to support, and they are less likely to earn money as they collectively retire. This is common across the Western world too - the difference in China is that they had almost exactly half the children required to maintain the population, whereas in the West we had fractionally fewer than the sustaining number of children per family.

"This has two related impacts for the Chinese; firstly the tax base for providing state support will be drastically smaller than in the West, so the workers must give more and be more productive. Secondly, a population of single-child families has an exponentially reduced extended family to rely on to look after both the very old and the very young, which aggravates the first problem as the workers will have to spend more time or money looking after their dependent family members.

"So tremendous positive trends in China are required not only to dominate the world's economy, but to ensure that their culture is sustainable for the next few decades. If they manage that until their population profile normalizes, then their wealth and power will be unimaginable. In the meantime, I fear that a generation of Chinese people will live in... interesting times..."

David Rapley [david@rapley.net] is frustrated with the extra but useless features of new cellphones, and the disadvantages:

"Your cell phone experience struck a nerve with me. I too have been a long time customer of Cingular. I had been using my Nokia analog cell phone quite happily but our techie expert, convinced me I'd do better with the new slimmer digital phone. After all it's clearer, it's a camera and plays music wherever I go. It also allows me to send text messages. (Why I ask?) Anyway I accepted Cingular's offer, although in Colorado it was not free.

"Well I haven't listened to music. I do enjoy sending and receiving pics of the grandkids etc. It's almost impossible to read the display outside in Colorado sunshine and the small letters are hard on my aging eyes. However on a recent trip, I lost the signal in a wide area - in places where my old analog phone worked.

"A big reason for having a cell phone is that if you have a problem on a lonely mountain road, you can call for help. Cingular's response was: 'Our digital network is not fully built out yet and we're concentrating on expanding in metro areas'.

"Now, The Onstar system in our Cadillac seemed to work all along this stretch - unless of course the problem that I want to report is a flat battery and then it won't work. Gotta keep a sense of humor."