atomization - splitting into seperate unconnected parts. So everyone is a little black box. Everyone concentrates on their tasks and strictly defined interfaces with others; thinking about the business or system as a whole strongly discouraged.

t On Edit So actually I think you got everything. You just were not familiar with the word in that context. Which meant it was an unneccesary piece of jargon on my part.

Oh and Fayjay - you mentioned before how slammed you were right now. I simply forgot. I should not even have asked. But thanks for your patience in any case.

wow, this thread all with the long thoughtful posts...

in a nonthoughtful post...

We Spanish kids got crap like "Destinos," despite there being Almodovar right there at the local video stores.

the kids in my hs french classes also read "huis clos"! And we in the spanish classes had to read borges and garcia marquez and garcia lorca (and god knows I couldn't make it through a page of any of those now, which makes me sad)...but when we were good, on fridays the spanish teacher would let us watch "Destinos". It was our treat. How sad is that? But really, "Destinos" was SOOOOO much better than what I had to watch in my college french class--at least in Destinos, there was a plot, and people went places and did things (though I never did find out what happened...last I recall, they'd gone to Mexico, and then some caribbean nation...and there was mystery...). Er, but anyway, "french in action"? There was no action. Grrrr.

Hee - we get Destinos every Sunday here. I TiVo it. Do you want to know how it ends, meara?

Thing was, we watched it out of order, and often only bits at a time, because the teacher would turn it off whenever we talked back to the TV. So we never knew if there was a plot. But then, he was British, so he saw it as more important to mock the fact that our Spanish pronounciations sounded funny to him since he spoke it in his Liverpudlian accent.

I TiVo it. Do you want to know how it ends, meara?

Yes yes! Though really, I need a website that has a brief explanation of the plot, because although I remember startling amounts of it, I last watched it ten years ago (ACK!).

Ooh. Suddenly occurs to me that maybe *I* get Destinos somewhere on my channel lineup! Off to TiVo I go!!!

I figure I do my part by not owning a car. Saves society untold burdens. Everyone who calls themselves an environmentalist and still owns one, choosing to live in a place where they "have to" have one, sort of looks suspicious to me.

Man, I miss watching Destinos!

Sigh.

But I lost all my Spanish skills when I tried to read Garcia Marquez sans translation. Brain broke.

I had all these retarded short stories I wrote in Spanish, and none of them make sense to me now. Pity, that.

I figure I do my part by not owning a car.

One positive thing about the march of technology is that you can feel more and more virtuous for not participating. You can conserve more by not owning an SUV than not owning a car, and even more than that by not owning a Hummer. In the future, I'm planning to not own a flying car.

Yes yes! Though really, I need a website that has a brief explanation of the plot, because although I remember startling amounts of it, I last watched it ten years ago (ACK!).

Okay, so, you'd gotten to the point where Raquel had gotten to Mexico, right? Basically, Roberto - the newly-discovered grandson of the old guy - got trapped in a mine, then rescued, went to the hospital, was fine, got out. He, Raquel (the lawyer), and Angela (the granddaughter) trooped off to meet the old guy whose first name I can't remember right now. Castillo, anyway.

Their uncle - shoot, don't have his name in my head either, anyway Raquel's boyfriend - comes to Mexico City. So do Raquel's parents (to see her) and her old flame Luis (because her mother invited him, hoping he could rekindle a thing with Raquel, because she's worried about Raquel's thing for the Argentinian uncle. Not Raquel's uncle, Angela and Roberto's, and can I mention that being on this board and trying to type "Angela" instead of "Angel" is really hard?) Luis tries to pick up Raquel, but she shoots him down, because she really wants the guy from Argentina. She's not willing to leave LA for him, though.

Old Castillo is in the hospital, then he gets out. Angela and Roberto go to meet him. Old Castillo has doubts, which allows the show to spend several episodes recapping the plot. Then Angela produces half of the wedding cup that Old Castillo used in his wedding to their grandmother, he produces the other half, everyone believes they're related, yay. Oh, and the mansion doesn't get sold, they're going to turn it into an orphanage.

The Argentinian says he'll move to LA to be with Raquel. She's happy. Many hugs. The end.