NSW E*ection: What does open government mean to you?

“I can scarcely believe we had sex in the Houses of Parliament. I can scarcely believe that we ever had sex at all. That acute feeling, the giddiness of it, as if I had plunged my face into a bouquet of lilies, their scent so blissful it would make me feel faint – that was what it was like. Was it happiness? Was that all it was? Or was it a kind of addiction, to the story, to the drama of what we were doing? If it was a film, we were the stars.”

'We're all about positive policies, no strings attached': Daley's day at the polls

Before he cast his vote, Michael Daley's first election day commitment was for what he calls his lucky pie - 'just a plain pie, no sauce' - and a strawberry milk at a Matraville shop.

Ballot papers quarantined in Strathfield after election day bungle

A person who wasn't employed by the electoral commission began issuing ballot papers to voters at a booth in Sydney's west.

Federal brand a key reason for Berejiklian's near-death experience

How did a stable Berejiklian regime, presiding over a boom economy, get the scare of its life and only just manage to hold on, clinging like cats to a curtain to what looks to be a tiny majority?

The path to power: How the Coalition and Labor could win, lose, or both fall short

There are signs Saturday’s vote will defy at least one of the norms of electoral politics in NSW.

If Liberals Won’t Enforce Borders, Fascists Will

We need to make hard decisions now about what will truly benefit current and future Americans.

30 Hours With Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice - Kotaku Australia

When you screw up royally: recovery strategies

Zoe Routh, via LinkedIn


Some things to consider if you’ve ever found yourself in the pit of professional shame. 

'Something is not sticking': Why the NSW poll has failed to fire up voters

Berejiklian is spending big on problems all over the state. And yet the polls have been running at 50:50.

A pay rise for public servants would do us all some good

Ibrah Khan, via UNSW Newsroom


There is more than one point of view on public servant salaries – and the choices the next state government makes after the election will have widespread consequences.

Why is east coast High Speed Rail still being taken seriously?

Alan Davies, for Crikey


It says something truly awful about our political culture and the standard of public discourse, especially around cities and transport, that east coast High Speed Rail can still be trotted out to applause all round.

What does open government mean to you? 

Nook Studios with makingopen.org

What is open government? Hear what it means to NSW's Information Commissioner Elizabeth Tydd.

"You heard the man! More Searches and Wine!"

“Dear stranger, welcome to this narrative. I should warn you that if, before you take one step, you feel the need to perceive the indistinct line that separates fact from fiction, memory from imagination; if logic and meaning seem one and the same thing to you; and, lastly, if anticipation is the basis for your interest, you may well find this journey unbearable.”

~ Yarra bay sunset Rich and Edwina

Search Engines A MEdia Dragon and Human Perspective




Paul Davis On Crime: The Long Strange History Of Novelists Who Became Spies: The Overlapping Worlds Of Espionage And Fiction.

Brit Parliament onlineorifice overwhelmed by Brexit bashers

Conspiracy theories abound as UK petitions website enjoys a Thursday TITSUP*




Database leaks 250K legal documents, some marked ‘not designated for publication - ZDNet: “A database containing 257,287 legal documents, with some marked as “not designated for publication,” was left exposed on the public internet without a password, allowing anyone to access and download a treasure trove of sensitive legal materials. The database, which was left online for roughly two weeks, contained unpublished legal documents relating to US court cases, the security researcher who found it told ZDNet. “Cases are from 2002-2010 era, from all over the [US] States,” Bob Diachenko, Cyber Threat Intelligence Director for Security Discovery told ZDNet today in an interview. The leaked files are documents usually exchanged between lawyers and the court before filing official versions. The database contained both public and non-public versions alike, showing a full history of how some cases evolved…”
SHE ONLY FOUND OUT WHEN THEY DEMANDED PAYMENT TO KEEP STORING IT:  Woman sues hospital for storing frozen embryo without her knowledge.

“In medieval times, contrary to popular belief, most knights were bandits, mercenaries, lawless brigands, skinners, highwaymen, and thieves. The supposed chivalry of Charlemagne and Roland had as much to do with the majority of medieval knights as the historical Jesus with the temporal riches and hypocrisy of the Catholic Church, or any church for that matter. Generally accompanied by their immoral entourage or servants, priests, and whores, they went from tourney to tourney like a touring rock and roll band, sports team, or gang of South Sea pirates. Court to court, skirmish to skirmish, rape to rape. Fighting as the noble's substitution for work.” ― Tod Wodicka, All Shall Be Well; And All Shall Be Well; And All Manner of Things Shall Be Well    

Around the World, More Say Immigrants Are a Strength Than a Burden Publics divided on immigrants’ willingness to adopt host country’s customs – “Majorities of publics in top migrant destination countries say immigrants strengthen their countries, according to a 2018 Pew Research Center survey of 18 countries that host half of the world’s migrants. In 10 of the countries surveyed, majorities view immigrants as a strength rather than a burden. Among them are some of the largest migrant receiving countries in the world: the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and Australia (each hosting more than 7 million immigrants in 2017). By contrast, majorities in five countries surveyed – Hungary, Greece, South Africa, Russia and Israel – see immigrants as a burden to their countries. With the exception of Russia, these countries each have fewer than 5 million immigrants…

Sokol, D. Daniel, Rethinking the Efficiency of the Common Law (February 3, 2019). Notre Dame Law Review, forthcoming 2020; University of Florida Levin College of Law Research Paper No. 19-14. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3328025 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3328025
“This Article shows how Posner and other scholars who claimed that common law was efficient misunderstood the structure of common law. If common law was more efficient, there would have been a noticeable push across most, if not all, doctrines to greater efficiency. This has not been the case. Rather, common law, better recast as a “platform,” could, under a certain set of parameters, lead to efficient outcomes.

When you screw up royally: recovery strategies

Zoe Routh, via LinkedIn

Some things to consider if you’ve ever found yourself in the pit of professional shame. 

NSW Elections: Dirty laundry on display but the voters haven't noticed

“All of the great leaders have had one characteristic in common: it was the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. This, and not much else, is the essence of leadership.”
~ John Kenneth Galbraith, The Age of Uncertainty

Democracy lost as lobbyists gain ground

Social researcher Rebecca Huntley nails lobbying as being the festering sore on Australian politics and dominant cause of "MP tin ear syndrome".

Google training journalists to identify fake news - Google blog: “In the last year our News Lab has trained nearly 300,000 journalists in person and online around the world on digital tools for journalism, with a goal to reach 500,000 journalists by 2020. We’ve partnered with the International Fact Check Network and dozens of newsrooms worldwide to quell the spread of misinformation, especially during key times like elections. We’ve supported initiatives like Verificado in Mexico, Comprova in Brazil, CekFakta in Indonesia, FactCheckEU and the journalist training network in India, which included over 100 newsrooms and reached thousands of journalists ahead of key elections—there’s more to come in Australia and Argentina. We’re working with First Draft on their CrossCheck tool, which helps journalists debunk and share information across the world—they’ve already trained hundreds of journalists ahead of the EU elections…”

NSW voters are out of their old boxes, so picking this one is harder

Reading the NSW election result has been difficult - because the old assumptions no longer apply.

'There's no dead horse': Daley plays it safe, focusing on campaign centrepieces

On his final day of campaigning, NSW Labor leader Michael Daley played it safe and returned to his old stomping grounds.

The Daley bombshell that Liberals sat on for months

Haven't been paying attention? Here are the Coalition and Labor's key policies in the NSW election

Ahead of Saturday's poll, we outline just what both sides have promised in the areas of health, transport, education and the environment.

Haven't been paying attention? Here are the Coalition and Labor's key policies in the NSW election

Ahead of Saturday's poll, we outline just what both sides have promised in the areas of health, transport, education and the environment.

The NSW Coalition’s record should be enough to deliver it a third term. But the polls suggest it isn't. If they win it will be their last-ditch tactics.

A news.com.au reader poll, which has collected more than 19,000 votes, had Mr Daley ahead of Ms Berejiklian 53 per cent to 46 per cent, as of Friday morning

Michael Daley, the ‘unknown man’ on track to lead NSW

'Most volatile final campaign week I have ever seen'

For many voters who been fatigued by politics, today is likely to be the first time they turn their minds to the NSW election. 

  

Georgina Downer novelty cheque prompts auditor to review entire grants program

The Liberal candidate was criticised for presenting a taxpayer-funded grant using a cheque bearing her name and face. 

'Political propaganda': Premier's 'achievements' handbook prepared by public servants - totalitarianism of tactics

The government has been accused misusing the public service for “political propaganda”

Chinese state TV lauds Liberal candidate Scott Yung

State-run CCTV praised the 26-year-old, who also received good wishes from several Chinese celebrities.

  

Last pitch to voters before NSW election - SBS News

Dirty laundry on display but the voters haven't noticed

A bitter feud has ripped the NSW Greens apart but they may still get a historic crack at power in the state

David Clune - The NSW experience with minority government? It's an improvement

As the Greiner years demonstrated, a minority government can deliver better results when held to account by responsible independents committed to stability.

 
 'This is ridiculous': NSW voters struggle to lodge early vote after iVote goes down

The NSW Electoral Commission says its iVote registration system is down and is pleading for patience.

Harvard and MIT Fund Deepfake Detection, Government Transparency AI Tools

“Harvard and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology joined forces to award $750,000 to seven organizations, including ones that help detect deepfakes and promote open access of government data. Last week, Harvard’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society and the MIT Media Lab announced seven winners of their first “AI and the News: An Open Challenge” competition. Each winner received a grant to help with the development of technology platforms that address the problem of misinformation in society. Read more at LegalTech News…” [Alternate source, no paywall]
 

The Sad State of Happiness and the Role of Digital Media

“This is the 7th World Happiness Report. The first was released in April 2012 in support of a UN High level meeting on “Wellbeing and Happiness: Defining a New Economic Paradigm”.

The Prime Minister of Humiliation Der Spiegel

Counterfeiters cause pain as they lift their game

Fake notes cause financial pain for businesses, the Reserve Bank finds in a new report

We’re Trying To Teach People That Failure Is Just An Opportunity To Improve. But What If It Isn’t?

“Everyone has a Cordova story, whether they like it or not.

Maybe your next-door neighbor found one of his movies in an old box in her attic and never entered a dark room alone again.  Or, your boyfriend bragged he’d discovered a contraband copy of At Night All Birds Are Black on the Internet and after watching, refused to speak of it, as if it were a horrific ordeal he’d barely survived.  

Whatever your opinion of Cordova, however obsessed with his work or indifferent—-he’s there to react against.  He’s a crevice, a black hole, an unspecified danger, a relentless outbreak of the unknown in our overexposed world.  He’s underground, looming unseen in the corners of the dark.  He’s down under the railway bridge in the cold river with all the missing evidence, and the answers that will never see the light of day. 

"The earth is made up entirely of protons, neutrons, electrons and morons"

“I will not be another flower, picked for my beauty and left to die. I will be wild, difficult to find, and impossible to forget.”
― Erin Van Vuren 

Why NSW election hinges on seats like Oatley, and people like Mosen - ABC News


Top 40 tax dodgers revealed - Late Night Live

European, Canadian Regulators to Do Own Review of Boeing Jet - The New York Times

Doomed Boeing Jets Lacked 2 Safety Features That Company Sold Only as Extras - The New York Times via BC

One more article highlighting the need for greater transparency and greater distance between corporations and regulators 

Boeing crashes cast spotlight on US aviation regulator 

To steal a line from the great Kris Kristofferson - co-regulation's just another word for regulatory capture and regulatory capture is all the government left me. (Freedom's just another word for nothing left to lose, and nothing is all the Bobby left me.)

Explosion at Chinese chemical plant kills 47, injures 640

An explosion at a pesticide plant in eastern China has killed 47 people and injured more than 600, state media said, the latest casualties in a series of industrial accidents that has angered the public.

LAST CHANCE. SEE IT BEFORE IT SHRINKS… SAID THE BISHOP TO THE ACTRESS:  March 20 worm moon: How to see last supermoon of 2019 on spring equinox

  Government and opposition look forward to APS improvement, union wary - Sydney Morning Herald
  
Switching over to a four-day working week
The Guardian, 12 March 2019. There is mounting political interest in the idea that working less could deliver higher productivity and better balance between life and work. Companies in the UK & NZ have found that employees experience a range of benefits while some have reported higher productivity 


We’re Trying To Teach People That Failure Is Just An Opportunity To Improve. But What If It Isn’t?

According to the theory, if students believe that their ability is fixed, they will not want to do anything to reveal that, so a major focus of the growth mindset in schools is shifting students away from seeing failure as an indication of their ability, to seeing failure as a chance to improve that ability. As Jeff Howard notedalmost 30 years ago: ‘Smart is not something that you just are, smart is something that you can get.’ – Aeon

When you screw up royally: recovery strategies by Zoe Routh

He’s a myth, a monster, and a mortal man.”

Creepy horror director haunts Pessl's 'Night Film' 

Taking Laughter Seriously at the Supreme Court.   'Laughter Is a Blood Sport' at the Supreme Court, Scholars Say in ...

Taking Laughter Seriously at the Supreme Court by Tonja Jacobi, Matthew Sag :: SSRN

 

Jacobi, Tonja and Sag, Matthew, Taking Laughter  Seriously at the Supreme Court (March 9, 2019). Vanderbilt Law Review, Forthcoming. Available at SSRN: https://www.ssrn.com/abstract=3345077

“Laughter in Supreme Court oral arguments has been misunderstood, treated as either a lighthearted distraction from the Court’s serious work, or interpreted as an equalizing force in an otherwise hierarchical environment. Examining the more than 9000 instances of laughter witnessed at the Court since 1955, this Article shows that the justices of the Supreme Court use courtroom humor as a tool of advocacy and as a signal of their power and status.


How open is your government? Find out. : “Each state has its own laws about making documents, data and other records accessible to the public. There are also separate public records laws for the federal agencies, the District of Columbia, and territories such as Guam, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. MuckRock tracks how states impose exemptions that allow them to withhold records; how quickly each state responds; and other factors affecting  government transparency. The data in this interactive database is drawn from MuckRock’s database and from work by Miranda Spivack, an independent journalist, who developed data on open government in collaboration with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, students at Marquette University’s Diederich College of Communication and Reveal from The Center for Investigative Reporting. View the original version of this visualization at the Journal Sentinel. Click on any jurisdiction to learn more about its laws, and let us know what data you’d like to see us start tracking or if you see something that needs updating…”
  

Coming Soon to a Courtroom Near You? What Lawyers Should Know About Deepfake Videos

“Are rules that guard against forged or tampered evidence enough to prevent deepfake videos from making their way into court cases? …If you follow technology, it’s likely you’re in a panic over  deepfakes—altered videos that employ artificial intelligence and are nearly impossible to detect. Or else you’re over it already. For lawyers, a better course may lie somewhere in between. We asked Riana Pfefferkorn, associate director of surveillance and cybersecurity at Stanford Law School’s Center for Internet and Society, to explain (sans the alarmist rhetoric) why deepfakes should probably be on your radar….”

The Recorder (Law.com / paywall] via free access on Yahoo}



ATO closing the gap on multinational tax avoidance - report that a special tax avoidance taskforce run by the ATO has recouped more than $8b from foreign-owned multinationals


Negative gearing: Indian couple says tax break leads to "lazy" investment - article that the tax break may lead to "lazy" investment that could otherwise be used more productively in the economy
Chris Bowen explains his franking plan - article on the Labor's proposal to abolish cash refunds for franking credits