There are few issues around today that are more important from a personal or business standpoint than security. The ever-present specter of terrorism occupies our lives of course, but identity theft and business fraud are potentially devastating situations as well.
However, there are ways to protect oneself from the unscrupulous among us, and these are some interesting and prudent suggestions I discovered in a much–forwarded email I received, offered by an anonymous corporate attorney who had suffered at the hands of wallet-thieves:
1. Do not sign the back of your credit cards. Instead, put “PHOTO ID REQUIRED.”
2. When writing checks to pay credit card accounts, DO NOT put the complete account number on the “For” line. Just put the last four numbers. The credit card company knows the rest of the number, and anyone handling your check won't have access to it.
3. Put your work phone number and work address (or a P.O. Box number) on your checks.
4. Never have your social security number printed on your checks.
5. Photocopy the contents of your wallet and keep the photocopy in a safe place for easy reference to account numbers and contact phone numbers in case of loss or theft.
6. Carry a photocopy of your passport when you travel either here or abroad.
7. File a police report immediately if credit cards are stolen or lost.
8. File a fraud alert with the three national credit reporting agencies (Equifax, Experian, TransUnion).
9. File a fraud alert with the Social Security Administration
(Fraud line: 800-269-0271).
10. Always be alert—to your surroundings, to strangers in your life, to things that don’t look right.
Helpful Numbers:
Equifax
800-525-6285
Experian
Formerly TRW
888-397-3742
TransUnion
800-680-7289
Social Security Administration
Fraud Line
800-269-0271
Hope this is helpful. These days we can never be too safe.
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Now I don’t mean I walk into walls or confuse January with July, I mean sometimes I feel a step behind world affairs, what’s been going on outside the window while I’ve been calling and faxing and emailing and Blackberrying. If this happens to you, it’s probably time to carve out some time to refill the news tank. 
The great thing about the internet is that these days, information at all levels is right there at your fingertips, so it’s easy to check the world with the Times, the city with New York Magazine or the New York Post, and the even the neighborhood, with the many local papers that are now online. Not to mention forums, where you can discuss all the stuff you’ve learned and gain even more perspective by listening to another point of view.
No matter where you look today, opinions are being offered and people are making their voices heard. The internet has any number of places where you can speak your mind. You can put in your two cents on a community forum, or offer an assessment of a book on 
This can be done easily through a simple form that you can present to your client for his or her feedback. You can include categories such as Initiative, Task Completion, Communication/Telephone Skills, Professional Image (online), Dependability, Skill Level, and Quality/Quantity of Work. It’s a great way to find out how clients feel about you, and gives you an opportunity to correct any problem areas you may have while reminding your client of all the reasons he or she selected you in the first place. 
After several frustrating minutes with a phone representative recently, I inquired where the individual I was speaking with was physically located. India, I was informed. In the background I could hear the muted voices of many other phone representatives, and at that moment, I didn’t feel as though I was receiving the personal attention the phone company is quick to trumpet in their advertising, I felt like the human equivalent of a mailed bill—stamped, sorted and processed by a clerk who never deviates from the “system.”
In our industry, too, outsourcing is practiced, presumably to increase the volume of work, and the bottom line. And it may be successful for some. In fact, I have fielded inquiries from prospective clients whose first questions concerned where I was doing my outsourcing, and how much control I had over it. I was happy to respond that I do no outsourcing, and the work that is assigned gets done by the 
These two scenarios illustrate the divide, I think, among people today. Either reckless entitlement (“that was YOUR parking spot?”) or passive conformity (“what are you gonna do?”). The USA is turning into a land of extremes, which today’s politics embody all too well, and at some point, we’ll all probably need to chill out, and start coming toward the middle.
but we are in an age when it is possible to perform them without being physically present, a miracle of technology. But lest we forget, and fail to appreciate the progress we’ve made as well as the advantages we have at our fingertips, sometimes a field trip backward is worthwhile. 
Likewise the accounting department of a major bank at about the same time, where a double row of accountants, busily calculating figures on machines, stretches as far as the eye can see, each accountant within arm’s length of his neighbor.
discussion beyond the sheer numbers of potential voters who admire her is a reputation for a high level of discussion and numerous good works that make her both powerful and credible.
disposal. Even more so, the lawyers who look to 
as one of the most influential and wealthiest businesswomen in the world, sat enthralled as they described their comfort with an unambiguous morality and the choice to turn away from any modern “advancements” that didn’t really improve their lives. Oprah left with an admiration of this example of real happiness.
