... Exercise caution in your business affairs; for the world is full of
trickery. But let this not blind you to what virtue there is, many persons
strive for high ideals; and everywhere life is full of heroism. ...”
- author unknown, 1692, Desiderata
All political lives, unless they are cut off in midstream at a happy juncture, end in failure, because that is the nature of politics and of human affairs.
-Enoch Powell, Joseph Chamberlain
Film schools are trade schools playacting as art schools and moonlighting in business courses. Their value is dubious, but the demand is insatiable. If you want to be a filmmaker and you can’t afford film school, know that you don’t really learn anything in film school anyway. They can never teach you how to tell a story anyway, or all you’ll do is tell stories like everyone else. You learn to tell stories by telling stories. And you want to learn your own way of doing things. moonlighting
The Cinema is Dead. Long Live the Cinema! Life … at 24 frames per second
According to Nielsen BookScan, the publishing industry standard for book sales data, book sales are pretty healthy, with one significant proviso which I'll come to. Ten years ago in 2001, 162m books were sold in Britain. Ten years later – a decade in which the internet bloomed, online gaming exploded, television channels proliferated, digital piracy rampaged and, latterly, recession gloomed – 229m books sold. So, a 42% increase in the number of books sold over the last 10 years...For one thing, people are buying more and more books in Amazonia, and more and more of them are on Amazon's ebook platform the Kindle. In May this year, Amazon announced that, for the first time, it was selling more Kindle versions of books than paperback and hardbacks combined, and (here's the thing that doesn't get quoted so often) sales of print books were still increasing."
Like many industries over the last 30-plus years, cinema has had its share of setbacks. Technological advances, from the rise of VHS, the rental market, DVD subscription services, and most recently the threat of downloads (both legally via Video on Demand and illegally) together with the shortening of theatrical windows and digital conversion have led many to predict the demise of cinemas.
• Reele Life [If you’re looking for new ways to get around for fun or to work, or might be trying to live a greener lifestyle in 2012, why not try biking? New Biking Directions Legend on Google ; Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For "Fat paychecks, sweet perks, fun colleagues, and over 70,000 jobs ready to be filled -- these employers offer dream workplaces. Like Google, which reclaims the top spot this year to become a three-time champion. Meet this year's top 100; The National Archives is preserving government information published on the web by archiving UK Central Government Websites..The UK Government Web Archive has received more than a billion hits since it was launched by The National Archives in 2003 and is now one of the most-visited websites in government. UK Government Web Archive; fMRI’s and free will. Imagine a neuroscientist knowing what you’ll decide before you do. Is
consciousness a biochemical afterthought?...]
• · In today’s expanding cities, social skills are becoming ever more essential to economic growth. The history of human progress is intimately intertwined with that of cities. The Epic of Gilgamesh—perhaps the oldest known work of literature—closes with an awed description of the walls of the city of Uruk. Plato’s Republic—which envisioned an ideal city—was a product of the cultural and intellectual flowering of the earthly city of Athens, as well as a broadside against its politics. Dante, Petrarch, Boccaccio, Brunelleschi, da Vinci, and Michelangelo all were born in or near the city of Florence. Great thinkers, artists, and entrepreneurs—what I call the creative class—rarely come out of nowhere. They cluster and thrive in places where the conversation and culture are the most stimulating. Where the Skills Are ; Tomorrow, the deadline for self-assessment tax filing, 20,000 HMRC staff are striking in call centres, protesting at the outsourcing of their jobs in trial areas, paying private employees £3,300 less Taxing wealth? The public mood still escapes the Tories ;
• · · HAVE YOU HEARD statements like this: Why don't they do something about it? I wish I wouldn't have to change? Why can't things be better? Why do salespeople suck? Why does operations screw up all the time? I wish we had better tools? We need a bigger budget? Why do the other guys have a better territory? ; PS on notice over social media use ; Internet preferred by engaging public ; The Australian Public Service Commission has updated its guide on the processes and requirements involved in terminating APS staff APSC updates guide on terminations
• · · · Groupthink or solitude which one offers the best work environment? The rise of the new groupthink ; integrity engagement and results should define public service professionals Preparing a commentary on a proposed PS Values Statement led Percy Allan to appreciate the importance of brevity and simplicity. Government work is god's work: ; The Government has warned federal bureaucrats against criticising politicians on Facebook and Twitter, saying ''unreasonable'' comments could result in disciplinary action. ; The internet has emerged as the preferred means of accessing Government services according to a study conducted by the Australian Government Information Management Office ; Once purely a Japanese phenomenon, 'karoshi' (death from overwork) is becoming an increasingly large issue for workplaces across Asia and even Australia Worked to death
• · · · · · Across the globe, drug trafficking and the organised crime behind it are placing increasing pressures on all legal and democratic systems. But countries emerging from conflict or violence are particularly susceptible to organised crime Trafficking is endangering the fragile democracies of this vulnerable region ; Tax crimes, especially those committed in connection with theft or other crimes, carry serious penalties - Nearly everyone recognizes that theft is a serious crime. However, many don't realize that most perpetrators also commit tax crimes when they fail to inform the federal government of their stolen profits. Tax Crimes Bring Incarceration and Financial Penalties; One of Britain's most high-profile football managers, Harry Redknapp, flew to Monaco to set up a secret offshore bank account named after his pet dog to receive bungs of nearly £200,000 and hide them from the taxman, a court heard yesterday How the dog with a Monaco bank account led police to Redknapp's secret 'bungs'
• · · · · · · UK Report: Serious Economic Crime Serious Economic Crime - A boardroom guide to prevention and compliance; THE Australian Tax office is pushing for more powers to investigate secret tax havens as well as increased penalties for offshore tax evasion New crackdown on offshore tax evasion ; The Vatican on Thursday threw its weight behind three international drives against drug trafficking, transnational organised crime and the funding of terrorism. First, the Holy See ratified the United Nations Convention Against the Illegal Trafficking of Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances, from December 1998, which it had already signed Holy See ratifies one Convention, joins two others