National Edition - April 30, 2006  Laps are the new desks Wi-Fi and other wireless technologies are proliferating through the downtown cores of many North American capitals. Whether beamed from a basement coffee shop, via new municipal grids or from cell phone service providers, people increasingly have the option to whip out their wireless device and log on to the Internet from just about anywhere. People slumped over their computers in random places throughout the city will undoubtedly snarl traffic and do wonders for social interaction in the public sphere. (Source: Wired.com) A century after 'Jungle,' dangers remain It's the centenary of the first publication of Upton Sinclair's The Jungle, a book that set the bar for muckraker journalism, laying bare the atrocities and ravages of Chicago's meat-packing industry. His incisive work did bring about the Meat Inspection Act, which was not his intent. Good Ol' Upton meant it as more of a proletarian manifesto. A century later, working in a slaughterhouse remains one of the most dangerous jobs around. (Source: Washington Post) Video surveillance at work OK'd A Massachusetts court ruled that a receptionist, who was accustomed to changing clothes in her office and sued after discovering a hidden video camera, had no "reasonable expectation" of privacy. While closed circuit cameras are rampant in England, the ruling opens up the door for video surveillance at work in the United States; however, different privacy legislation in Canada may hamper this practice's advance northward. (Source: Boston Globe) The long and grinding road A detailed profile of what MSNBC calls "extreme commuters." Rising gas prices and mass-transit costs are unearthing this dirty secret of the modern-day working world and thrusting it into the spotlight. It is even bringing people to question their commuting habits, with some even going so far as to trade in their lifestyles -- i.e. an SUV and a stand-alone monster house in a bedroom community subdivision swapped for an antique bicycle and a condo downtown. (Source: MSNBC) Do you. . . like follow-up stories with behind-the-scenes intrigue, celebrity and TV tie-ins? Profanity in the workplace was a topic last week. • A California court unanimously dismissed a related sexual-harassment charge which allegedly took place in the back-room writer's brainstorm session for the popular sitcom, Friends. • The justices, ruling 7-0, agreed with Warner Bros. Television Productions that trash talk was part of the creative process and, therefore, the studio and its writers could not be sued for raunchy writers' meetings. • Most of the sexually coarse and vulgar language at issue did not involve and was not aimed at the plaintiff or other women in the workplace. Most? • Warner Bros. acknowledged that some of the sexually explicit talk took place, but said it was vital to the chemistry of the show. (Source: USA Today) May 1 - 3 Ontario Skills Competition Kitchener, ON May 1 - 4 Learning to Listen-Learning to Teach Vancouver, BC May 2 - 3 Alberta Skills Competition Edmonton, AB May 3 - 5 International Development Days Winnipeg, MB May 3 - 5 Building Tomorrow Today Edmonton, AB May 9 - 11 Rendez-vous BioSciences 2006 Moncton, NB May 10 - 13 Quebec Skills Competition Quebec City, QC May 11 Adventa Job Fair and Career Expo Toronto, ON May 15 Technology: Managing Life In and Out of the Office Montreal, QC May 15 - 18 Learning to Listen - Learning to Teach Ottawa, ON May 23 - 26 Canadian Skills Competition (CSC) Halifax, NS May 24 - 25 BIOMEDEX 2006 Montreal, QC May 28 - 30 ACCC Annual Conference: The Learning Stampede Calgary, AB May 28 - 30 CASAE Annual Conference: The City, A Festival of Knowledge Toronto, ON May 30 BIOTECanada-Biogen Idec Canada Teaching Excellence Award (application deadline) Nation-wide May 31 - June 2 16th Annual Canadian Conference on Intelligent Systems Victoria, BC June 4 - 6 The 2006 Apprenticeship Conference Montreal, QC June 5 6th Annual YES Self-employed Artists Conference Montreal, QC June 3 - 7 Top 20 Under 20 Award Celebration Event Toronto, ON June 8 - 10 Vitalize 2006 Edmonton, AB Suggest a career-related event NOTICE: Jobboom and its sponsors do not necessarily endorse the opinions conveyed in the articles selected for this e-zine and do not assume any legal liability in consequence thereof. Comments: info@jobboom.com Research and editing: Austin Macdonald #noDossier#