"Bob Fry" wrote in message

I'm an engineer...and I can think of several women in my agency that
are mediocre talents who clearly were promoted by their bosses on
their looks and personality, not their technical skills.

Yes. I've worked in telecom for nearly a decade now, and unfortunately I
must agree. I've worked with some beautiful females of both the highest and
lowest caliber of employee and skill, and there are particular examples that
come to mind where they could have only been hired for their looks.
(Making a sysadmins out of people with Philosophy degrees and no previous
technical experience. No problem...the company will just pay for the
training.)

Patty Wagstaff strikes me as nothing less than a professional pilot by
virtue of the fact that she's still alive.

-c