INVENTOR OF COMPUTER PASSWORD KEPT HIS ON PAPER _ Do you have so many online accounts that you can barely keep track of where you’re registered, let alone what the passwords are? You’re certainly not alone. Even Fernando Corbató, a computer scientist who is one of the people credited with inventing the computer password over 60 years ago, kept all of his on a few typed sheets of paper. Passwords came about to simplify life in the early 1960s while using a mainframe: researchers at MIT were sharing a disk file and needed separate accounts. To keep each other out of their accounts, each one had its own password.
OVERWEIGHT DOCTORS ARE LESS CREDIBLE _ If an overweight doctor gives advice, do you listen? Probably not. A study (in the International Journal of Obesity) found that patients look with disdain on doctors who are overweight or obese. Just as overweight people are stigmatized in an array of professional and personal settings, overweight doctors are seen as less credible than “normal weight” doctors, and patients are less likely to follow their medical advice.
WOMEN IN THE WORKPLACE: 1943 _ Eighty years ago Transportation Magazine offered up this guide for male supervisors on how to handle women in the workplace.
• Pick young married women. They usually have more of a sense of responsibility than their unmarried sisters, they’re less likely to be flirtatious, they need the work or they wouldn’t be doing it, they still have the pep and interest to work hard and to deal with the public efficiently.
• General experience indicates that “husky” girls are more even tempered and efficient than their underweight sisters.
• Whenever possible, let the inside employee change from one job to another at some time during the day. Women are inclined to be less nervous and happier with change.
• Be tactful when issuing instructions or in making criticisms. Women are often sensitive; they can’t shrug off harsh words the way men do. Never ridicule a woman — it breaks her spirit and cuts off her efficiency.
• Be reasonably considerate about using strong language around women. Even though a girl’s husband or father may swear vociferously, she’ll grow to dislike a place of business where she hears too much of this.
