Wednesday, September 26, 2018

Latitude of Mystery and Aliens

As a genre, horror has been with us since cave paintings. Why? It speaks to the darkness that haunts the human condition...  Alien in the House  
Old age confers a certain freedom to say what one thinks. Donald Hall, who died this year, took full advantage Recycled teenagers 👋 Jozef Imrich at al  

 Donald Trump's economic boasts draw laughter from world leaders at United Nations 🎩


When Ali Noroozi took the job as head of the taxation watchdog, the Inspector-General of Taxation in 2008, it was likened to David taking on Goliath.
The office had been formed five years earlier, had embarrassingly few resources and a massive mandate to oversee the most powerful and arguably least scrutinised regulator in the country, the Australian Taxation Office (ATO).
It was an important and demanding job that wasn't for the faint-hearted.
After a 10-year rollercoaster ride that has seen him butt heads on more than one occasion with the ATO, fight to keep his department from being closed, lobby to reform the ATO and broaden his powers and resources, the ever-diplomatic and very proper Noroozi is moving on.
Noroozi said the IGT should be taken out of the treasury portfolio, which is where both treasury and the ATO is located, and instead report to Parliament, similar to the Auditor General and the Commonwealth Ombudsman, which effectively report to Parliament but are in the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio.
"It is inappropriate for the scrutineer to be in the same portfolio as the subject of its scrutiny," he said.

And the name should be scrapped and rebadged the Taxation Ombudsman to make it more easily identifiable.
Inspector-General of tax Ali Noroozi bows out after 10 years


“They [the government] hate her,” Mr Milne said in the email, which was conveyed to Fairfax Media by a source close to the board.
“We are tarred with her brush. I think it’s simple. Get rid of her. We need to save the ABC - not Emma. There is no guarantee they [the Coalition] will lose the next election.”

They hate her': emails show ABC chairman told Michelle Guthrie to fire Emma Alberici
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Tuesday, September 25, 2018

Bloated with Data ...

We live in a society bloated with data yet starved for wisdom. We're connected 24/7, yet anxiety, fear, depression and loneliness is at an all-time high. We must course-correct. 
~ Elizabeth Kapu'uwailani Lindsey

 An in-depth study conducted by NASA found that humans are responsible for the increasing wobble detected as Earth spins on its axis.

 On 21 September Paul Barry speaks at the Friends of the ABC and by 24th of tha month the CEO is packing the bags...

 ‘WHEN news broke that just halfway through her contract ABC managing director Michelle Guthrie had been given the boot, you didn't have to strain hard to hear the cheers emanating from the broadcaster’s Sydney and Melbourne headquarters.
Sally Neighbour, the producer of ABC’s flagship current affairs show Four Cornerssaid Ms Guthrie’s departure was an “excellent decision”. News presenter Juanita Phillips said the replacement “needed to be ready to fight bare-knuckled” for the organisation, a suggestion Ms Guthrie had failed to do just that.
High profile radio host Jon Faine was perhaps the most cutting, saying Ms Guthrie’s tenure had been an “astonishing fail ...”

To Morrison, the aged care commission has the advantage .... Ross Gittins is economics editor of the SMH

NSW Liberal clash: Treasurer Dominic Perrottet backs down from Castle Hill pre-selection battle
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Monday, September 24, 2018

Snowflake to Avalanche: Curse and Blessing of Exile

Voltaire — 'No snowflake in an avalanche ever feels responsible.'

 We are all now connected by the Internet, like neurons in a giant brain. 
~ Stephen Hawking

 Books just keep getting longer. We conflate physical heft with artistic or intellectual merit. Thus our new golden age of the doorstop... golden ages 
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Sunday, September 23, 2018

How A French Grand Opera About A Rebellion In Naples Sparked A Revolution In Brussels


Schneider on Security: “Some of us — myself included — have proposed lawful government hacking as an alternative to backdoors. A new report from the Center of Internet and Society looks at the security risks of allowing government hacking. They include:
  • Disincentive for vulnerability disclosure
  • Cultivation of a market for surveillance tools
  • Attackers co-opt hacking tools over which governments have lost control
  • Attackers learn of vulnerabilities through government use of malware
  • Government incentives to push for less-secure software and standards
  • Government malware affects innocent users.


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