Death Wish: Whose Fault When Citizens Disobey?

...their faces misted and revealed
in the steel of it, their moment passing,
passing; nothing but sleep in their eyes.

~ Natasha Trethewey 

“If we are brave enough often enough, we will fall; this is the physics of vulnerability.” Yet Falling is makes us stronger ;-)

  TMZ called the pictures part of a “crazy death wish cliff workout”. Lutz said Palm Beach was “stunning”.

Kellan Lutz working out at Palmy Sydney 

Of all the predators implicated in man-eating events, none conjures up more intense dread than the shark on Antipodean beaches. It is certainly terrifying to be confronted by a bear deep in the Vrbov woods, or a tiger in some remote Loharan village in India, but it is, perhaps, of some small comfort to know that a single shot from a rifle can thwart the danger from such a visible terrestrial predator. It is quite another issue, however, to imagine being a shipwrecked sailor, a surfer, or a beach bather about to be attacked, dismembered, and consumed by a dark, black-eyed monster with razor-sharp teeth, viselike jaws, and sandpaper-like skin...

Rebound comes a year after being cleared of phone-hacking charges Brooks returns as News Corp’s UK chief

Egyptian court sentences Al-Jazeera journalists to three years in prison

Wilson Security guards handcuffed asylum seeker boy on Nauru as a 'joke'

• How Wall Street’s Bankers Stayed Out of Jail

  The probes into bank fraud leading up to the financial industry’s crash have been quietly closed. Is this justice?

Obsession with Doors - In Cesky Krumlov MMII (See Also Hluboka) 

Tyler Cowen:
I am glad I was forced to live in “book culture” and “meat space’ for my first forty years. Or maybe thirty-five years would have been enough. People these days have lost the sense of information being scarce, and counterintuitively that makes it harder for them to develop profound thoughts. It’s like practicing chess by asking the computer right away, all the time, what the right move is.
[and later] …contemporary academic is overly bureaucratized and there is a very good chance I would [if I were starting today] look for another model of success and contentment. It is an open question whether or not I could find one. Whatever its limitations, there is still a followable formula for academic success, which of course is part of the problem.
Other topics include when is the best age to live in various parts of the world, Alban Berg and Rilke, Marc Andreessen, my one hidden talent, Rene Girard, labor market networks, optimal travel into the past, and which is the most underrated or overrated wisdom tradition.  Do read the whole thing.

10 excuses for being absent from Bersih – Edward Beruang Malaysian. Big demo against President Najib, the guy with the mysterious $700 million in his personal bank account. Note that a Najib government would have had to sign TPP.

New NSW laws announced to combat council corruption amid a rise in complaints
 
UK Tax fraud investigator 'stole £150000 in VAT scam

Recalls of Organic Food on the Rise, Report Says
Advisen, 20/8/15. "What's striking is that since 2012, all organic recalls have been driven by bacterial contamination, like salmonella, listeria and hepatitis A, rather than a problem with a label," Mr. Pollack said. "This is a fairly serious and really important issue because a lot of consumers just aren't aware of it." 

Brian Bienkowski – Environmental Health News: Scientists report worrisome changes to liver and kidney genes in rats, adding to evidence that a popular herbicide may be toxic – Long-term exposure to tiny amounts of Roundup – thousands of times lower than what is permitted in U.S. drinking water—may lead to serious problems in the liver and kidneys, according to a new study

German literary critic reviews IKEA catalog ;-)