(Photo by Mark Sebastian) Love them or hate them, many of us spend the majority of our working hours (if not our waking hours) in cubicles. Some are personalized with decorative touches to feel more like home (or perhaps more like a war zone, a casino, or a modern art installation). Others are kept sterile and empty, to reduce distractions (or discourage late evenings at the office). But while life in cube-hives has benefits (ample storage, an illusion of privacy) and drawbacks (no actual privacy, all the coziness and space of a prison cell), it's simply business as usual for today's worker bees. But how did we get to this dystopian world of drab, fabric-covered partitions and endless rows of lookalike veal pens stuffed full of human machines? Offices didn't always resemble factory farms (or so we've seen in old movies). So, when did we voluntarily put ourselves into boxes? The blame (or praise) begins with Robert Propst, an art professor-turned-designer for mid-century furniture icon Herman Miller. His new type of office design, the "Action Office," broke up the sea of desks in the open-plan offices of the day. Forty years ago this month, his designs were unleashed on the public, and the rest is history. But before you tack Propst's picture on your cube-wall dartboard, consider that it's not all his fault. His design was meant to give workers unique, configurable spaces, with partial privacy and more room than today's standard 64-square-foot pen. Management loved the idea of non-permanent walls, which were cheaper and faster to assemble -- and a sweet tax break, too -- so the comfort of employees soon had little to do with the redesign of the modern office. Propst later admitted some regrets over his contribution to the "monolithic insanity" of today's cube farms. Now if only the rest of us could escape from the monster he helped create. Suggested Sites... The Moral Life of Cubicles - they weren't intended to be soul-sucking squares of evil. Redrawing the Cube - what the next 40 years holds. The Man Behind the Cubicle - feature on Robert Propst and his ill-fated Action Office. The Cubest - toy cubes and (in)action figures, in case you just can't get enough of cubes at the office. Lifehacker Coolest Cubicle Contest - some amazing examples of how to overcome a drab cube setting.

Directory categories: Cubicle Culture, Decorating Small Spaces, Furniture Design, Interior Design, Office Furniture

Archived under: Cubicles, Decorating, Design, Employment, Furniture, Work

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Welcome back to our occasional feature on what's happening in the exciting world of the Yahoo! Directory. Even though it's been a while since we've updated you, don't think our work has stopped: There's always new stuff to be added. For example, in less than two weeks, we'll mark the start of the Beijing Olympics. Folks from all over the world are preparing for their visits, so we've expanded our categories on Beijing hotels, tourism, and restaurants, to provide even the fussiest traveler with information on where to go and what to see. Of course, there are other aspects to the Games that we all find fascinating, and so we've boosted our information on such performance-enhancing drugs as Atenolol, GHB, and Rohypnol. And we're not sure if this relates to the sometimes-questionable air in the capital, but we've added sites about treatment of persistent coughs, pneumonia, and sore throats (not to mention the traveler's traditional bane: diarrhea). But it's not all athletics and pollution here. When you wanted good information on Hurricanes Bertha and Dolly, we went out and found it (and will continue to do so throughout the storm season). And when the good people at the Television Academy announced the Emmy Award nominations, and we added information about all the nominated shows and actors. There's always room in the Directory for stuff that's oddball or off-center, so say hello to Live Action Role Playing Games and (our personal favorite) Chess Boxing, a competition that combines the brain-straining aspect of chess with the brain-addling power of the Sweet Science. If that sounds as interesting to you as it did to us, give it a click. That's all for now, but please join us next time, as we continue to delve into the more than one million sites that make up the Yahoo! Directory. Suggested Sites... Yahoo! Directory: 2012 Summer Olympics: London - we know you'll be wondering. Yahoo! Directory: 2010 Winter Olympics: Vancouver - and here, too. Yahoo! Directory: Chess - checkmate your opponent with a left hook. Yahoo! Directory: 2008 Emmy Awards - the best in television -- for one night, anyway. Yahoo! Directory: Specific Drugs and Medications - from Abbokinase to Zyvox.

Directory categories: 2008 Beijing Olympics, Olympic Games, Chinese Travel, Beijing, 2008 Emmy Award Nominations

Archived under: Actors, Asia, Athletes, Award Shows, Awards, Beijing, Boxing, Celebrities, Chess, China, Cities, Disasters, Disease, Emmy Awards, Entertainment, Events, Gamers, Games, Medicine, Olympics, Recreation and Travel, Role-Playing Games, Sports, Summer, TV, Tourist Attractions, Travel, Women's Sports, Yahoo!, Yahoo! Directory

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Theda Bara as Cleopatra, 1917 Hollywood has produced no scarcity of sex symbols, and each film-going generation has embraced its own distinct idols, but the original, and perhaps most mysterious -- at least in reputation -- was Theda Bara, known as "The Vamp." Bara was the silver screen's first vixen, a mystifying seductress who used men lethally. With her raven-black hair and heavily made-up face, she was exoticism personified. Even her name, reportedly an anagram of "Arab Death," rang of mystery. All of this, of course, was a product of Tinseltown's burgeoning publicity machine, aimed at titillating an eager public. In truth, Bara's humble beginnings belied the vampirish persona cultivated by Hollywood. Born in Cincinnati on this day in 1885, Theodosia Goodman was the sweet-natured, blonde-haired daughter of a Jewish tailor and Swiss mother. After failing at a stage career, she got her big break on screen, cast as a "vampire" in 1915's "A Fool There Was." She was an instant sensation, thanks to the Fox Studios publicity department, which wasted no time inventing a new past befitting the future legend. They outlandishly claimed Bara to be the daughter of either a French actress or an Arabian Princess and an Italian artist (occasionally a Sheik), who was raised on serpents' blood in the shadow of the Sphinx. She was coached to conduct interviews in a heavy French accent and was frequently photographed in risqué clothing with snakes and skeletons. So much publicity and dubious mythology was built around her that when Fox canceled her contract in 1919, her career was essentially ended. Never able to successfully break from the vamp mold so laboriously constructed for her, she was able to make only a few more films, mostly playing parodies of herself, before fading from the public eye. Today, we salute both the woman known as Theodosia Goodman and the legend known as Theda Bara, Hollywood's first -- but certainly not last -- wholly-fabricated movie star. Suggested Sites... Vamp: The Rise of Theda Bara - read excerpts from the biography by Eve Golden. Silent Ladies and Gents: Theda Bara - a collection of photo galleries featuring The Vamp. Wikipedia: Theda Bara - entry for Theda Bara with biography, filmography, and references. The Final Resting Place of Theda Bara - information on the life and death of Theda Bara. YouTube.com: A Fool There Was - watch Theda Bara's Vamp in action in the 1915 film "A Fool There Was."

Directory categories: Theda Bara, Silent Movies, Celebrities, Film History

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Establishing link with Technorati Profile.

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(Photo by Ron Brinkmann) Seventy years ago today, the paperback book took America by storm. Previously, books were seen as luxury items for the elite, but the appearance of cheap, mass-produced books at local grocery stores, on newsstands, and in railroad stations had a powerful impact on society and culture by bringing literature to the masses. Similar to the rise of the Internet, the paperback revolution democratized knowledge and encouraged the growth of genre fiction, eliciting widespread shock and horror -- thanks to such titles as "'Junkie!'" and "The Blonde on the Street Corner," and provocative cover illustrations that were intended to titillate and entice customers. Paperback books had previous incarnations in the dime novels and pulp fiction magazines of the 19th and early 20th centuries, and benefited from the pioneering efforts of German publisher Albatross in the early 1930s. The turning point was the 1935 emergence of Penguin in Great Britain, selling mass-produced quality literature. Penguin failed to capture the U.S. market, but its success inspired Pocket Books, which adopted Penguin's strategy -- but added cover illustrations to the mix. With the onset of World War II and increased factory production, Pocket Books met the needs of soldiers and shift workers who wanted books in a lightweight and easy-to-carry form. Publishers such as Avon, Dell, Bantam, Ace, and Harlequin soon sprang up and began to release original works by authors like Henry Miller and John Steinbeck, instead of simply issuing cheap reprints, and genres like crime, romance, detective, and horror took off. Today, paperbacks are seen as a tool to attract new customers and try out new authors, but electronic books are right around the corner and have the potential to re-revolutionize knowledge in much the same way that paperbacks once did. But as book lovers will assure you, nothing beats sitting back and relaxing with an old, beat-up paperback. Suggested Sites... The Paperback Revolution - includes an animated history of the paperback industry and a gallery of lurid covers. Paperback Books - a history of paperback books, publishing houses, authors, and artists. Paperback Publishers - from Ace to Zenith. Pocket Books - home of Gertrude the Kangaroo. Association of American Publishers - representing publishers of all sizes and types located throughout the country.

Directory categories: Books, Bookstores, Paperback Book Dealers, Pulp Fiction Cover Art, Electronic Book Readers

Archived under: American History, Anniversaries, Authors, Books, History, Paperbacks, Writers

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