by Thomas L. Friedman
OP-ED COLUMNIST
NY Times
Published: February 20, 2010

"To be sure, taking over the presidency at the dawn of the lean years is no easy task. The president needs to persuade the country to invest in the future and pay for the past — past profligacy — all at the same time. We have to pay for more new schools and infrastructure than ever, while accepting more entitlement cuts than ever, when public trust in government is lower than ever.
On top of that, the Republican Party has never been more irresponsible. Having helped run the deficit to new heights during the recent Bush years, the G.O.P. is now unwilling to take any responsibility for dealing with it if it involves raising taxes. At the same time, the rise of cable TV has transformed politics in our country generally into just another spectator sport, like all-star wrestling. C-Span is just ESPN with only two teams. We watch it for entertainment, not solutions.

Snow Leopard Shared Printer Job “On Hold: Authentication Required” fix

I was having trouble sharing my Samsung ML-2525 laser printer with the other Macs in the hacienda.

Whenever we tried to print, the job would say “On Hold: Authentication Required”.

I found the fix from Ted Naleid's site

http://naleid.com/blog/

Groovy, Grails and OS X tips and tricks. Thanks to Ted.

"Go into System Preferences and go to the Print & Fax panel.
Right click on the printer and choose “Reset Printing System…”. This will remove all of your printers.
Hit the “+” and add the printer back, it should now be reset and have fixed whatever was fubar before.
Click on the “Sharing Preferences” button (or go to the “Sharing” System Preference panel)
Make sure that “Printer Sharing” is checked and that your printer’s name is also checked and that “Everyone” is set to “Can Print”
On the remote machine you want to remove the printer and add it back in through the System Preferences Print & Fax panel
(This is on 10.6.1, not sure if this works in 10.6.0 (where I first had the problem), you should update to the latest).

Adapted from Manager Tools

You’re cruising along through your busy day and stop to answer voicemail. You have two messages, one from John and one from Susan.

John’s message: “Hi Stuart, this is John. Please call me at ext. 1111”

Susan’s message: ” Hi Stuart. This is Susan Smith. We’re all set for the XYZ event on the 11th. The vendor rep’s flights, rental cars and accommodations have been booked. Everyone on our team has confirmed they will be attending. We’ll have one extra break at 11:00 am, you may want to request more cookies on hand, please confirm and I’ll arrange. Its 11:30 on Friday, I’m at ext 2222.”

Which one would you respond to first? Think about it, would you send an email that says “Hey, its John. Email me back.”? John’s message is asking me to do something without any clue as to the what or why, etc.

Main points:

– Use voicemail to move the conversation forward – Eliminate phone tag – Use a professional and pleasant tone
Steps – Always say their name – Always say your name – Your Message

March 25, 2009
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Dear A.I.G., I Quit!
The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G.

DEAR Mr. Liddy,
It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:

I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.

Andre Gien, Andre Gien, director of strategic consulting for CBIZ
Accounting, Tax&Advisory Services, based in Bethesda, Md. talks
with Karen E. Klein of Business Week - Smart Answers about 10 key
metrics entrepreneurs need to track to excel in their business. Listen to the episode