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(AP) Redmond Washington. After a much heralded launch, the buzz around Microsoft’s launch of Windows 8.0 is centered on the fact that when the computer crashes that users will no longer see the blue screen of death. Instead, users will now see a friendly screen requesting that they restart their systems...
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We were being entertained at a friend’s house whose interior looked like it had been designed by one of those overly made up, energetic divorcees who only take cash. The walls were painted a stark white; the overstuffed club chairs and the couch were upholstered in a soft white leather. The white carpet...
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The mind is a terrible thing. Last night I stumbled across part of the movie Kill Bill Volume 2. There is a character in Volume 2 named Esteban Vihaio, an eighty-something Hispanic bon vivant. His is a small role, but performed beautifully. Uma Thurman, our ninja protagonist, meets Esteban and asks him...
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What is your organization’s mission, your vision, your goal? Can you articulate it? If yes, write it below in the space provided. Okay. Why do you have a mission statement? Is it of any more value than the parsley on your Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast plate, or is it actionable? What does it tell you...
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Was Icarus’s problem one born of hubris, or did he simply need non-melting wax? Wax on, wax off. So there I was listening to NPR as I made the drive to Subway. The person doing the speaking had the title, professor of economics. His point—if you can call it that; the deficit and the debt [...] Read More...
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I was reporting to the board—or bored—sometimes it is the same. The mission: figure out what was wrong, and then fix it. I spent weeks talking to everyone from the executives to the receptionist. I interviewed patients and physicians. The doctors were not happy, the patients less so. Costs were up, charges...
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Not long after graduating with an MBA from Vanderbilt, I returned to Vandy to interview job candidates. With me, was my adult supervisor, the VP of human resources—a stunning older woman; about thirty-five. At dinner, she invited me to select the wine. Not wanting to appear the fool, and trying to control...
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As we enter the Arab Winter, I am suffering threat fatigue. Much of the news coverage this week, as it is every week, had to do with one or more awful set of occurrences taking place in a part of the world that is never going to wind up on anyone’s list of places to [...] Read More...
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NPR is the white noise that usually accompanies me to and from the office lest I let the traffic turn me into one of those drivers CNN broadcasts with footage of police helicopters hovering above my road rage. For the most part I have learned to tune out NPR’s political bent and focus on their [...]...
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This one is on my nickel—feel free to come back tomorrow. Sometimes something gets stuck in my head and the only way to get it unstuck is to get the idea stuck in someone else’s head. A few weeks ago I came across something on the news having to do with a Canadian paleontologist sitting [...] Read More...
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Were one to judge America by what they read from scanning the headlines of the magazines in the supermarket’s checkout lane, the only items of note are that Jennifer Aniston may or may not be pregnant, and that another one of the Kardashian’s was getting married—no word as to whether or not she is pregnant...
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A lot of companies need to go to the doctor. Whether the firm suffers from malaise, ADHD, or depression is not really important. Companies do not get ill, companies do not suffer. Their employees do, get ill that is; companies merely serve as incubators of the malaise and facilitate it. We have all seen...
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Things that fly in the face of public opinion often leave a big welt. Sometimes we forget that anarchism is a form of leadership led by an anarch—noblesse oblique. There is a smartphone app that allows you to erase random people from your photos. I have a team of programmers working on an upgrade for...
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Years ago the word Lubyanka was enough to bring normal Russians to their knees in terror. Lubyanka is known best for being the headquarters of the Soviet secret police, then called the KGB. The basement of Lubyanka housed a prison which had one hundred and eleven cells, cells that were used to hold and...
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It takes a lot of energy to dislike someone, but sometimes it is worth the effort. It is not easy being a consultant. One client required me to shout “unclean, unclean” as I passed through the hallways. Maybe that is why I leave newspapers scattered around the floor of my desk, so nobody can sneak [...