Don’t Hold Your Breath

We live between the act of awakening and the act of surrender. Each morning we awaken to the light and the invitation to a new day in the world of time; each night we surrender to the dark to be taken to play in the world of dreams where time is no more. At birth we were awakened and emerged to become visible in the world. At death we will surrender again to the dark to become invisible. Awakening and surrender: they frame each day and each life; between them the journey where anything can happen, the beauty and the frailty.
~ Bathroom quote

“In 1962 I was asked to talk about myself at an American college. I recalled my parents, who were so understanding, my wife, my son and his children, who have brought me nothing but joy. In short, I said that I was a happy man. At that moment I sensed general consternation—almost panic—in the hall. Some students came to talk to me after the conference: how had I been able to create in these conditions? An artist needs to suffer! I replied that I had managed to arrange things differently.”
~ Darius Milhaud, My Happy Life

In this article we explore the first two truths; one, the old as a source of experienced wisdom and two, how old people become more reliant on mental shortcuts, rules of thumb and ‘System 1 decision-making’ Why we think and behave differently as we age

Seas Are Rising at Fastest Rate in Last 28 Centuries New York Times

Stop Paying Executives for Performance Harvard Business Review 

Labor volunteers have been caught on hidden cameras bragging about using Australian taxpayer funds to work on a US presidential campaign and interfering with Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton campaign signs. ALP Operatives

San Diego Union-Tribune, Agency Funds Tent, Puppy, Playstation For Workers: As they pay their rising water bills, customers in the Fallbrook Public Utility District have funded some interesting employee recognition gifts — a Playstation 4, an Elton John concert ticket, even a Dalmatian puppy.

Over at the Afgani restauranr at Dural RLC on his way back home noted that
Democracy is less stable than we had thought

Rose Heaphy, Internal Revenue Service scam haunts Des Moines woman  If the caller says he’s from the IRS, he isn’t

Stephens-Davidowitz has numerous good thoughts

It's pretty likely that robots and artificial technology are going to transform a bunch of industries, drone aircraft will continue their leap from the military to the civilian market, and self-driving cars will make your commute a lot more bearable. But DARPA scientists have even bigger ideas.

Banks look for new skills

Technology continues to impact roles in the professional financial services environment. We have already seen ANZ deploy robotics and artificial intelligence in its workforce and this is replacing many administration type jobs.

 

Here’s what the world will be like in 2045, according to DARPA’s top scientists

Every year, the insights contained in Forrester’s customer service trends report, written by Kate Leggett, are eagerly anticipated. This year, the top trends span the customer lifecycle as enterprises strive to meet changing customer expectations for service that is personal, efficient, and builds emotional bonds that impact top line revenue Forrester's Top Trends For Customer Service In 2016

“Having a legacy business configured around a website is now almost as much of a headache as the rumbling printing press, fuelled by paper and money. It is likely we will start to see studio or agency models emerge where publishing models once were, trying to create value around relationships and services rather than packages and products.”  The Guardian (UK)

Illustration by Alice and Martin Provensen from ‘Homer for Young Readers,’ 1965. Click image for more.

Acquisitiveness — the wish to possess as much as possible of goods, or the title to goods — is a motive which, I suppose, has its origin in a combination of fear with the desire for necessaries. I once befriended two little girls from Estonia, who had narrowly escaped death from starvation in a famine. They lived in my family, and of course had plenty to eat. But they spent all their leisure visiting neighbouring farms and stealing potatoes, which they hoarded. Rockefeller, who in his infancy had experienced great poverty, spent his adult life in a similar manner…

However much you may acquire, you will always wish to acquire more; satiety is a dream which will always elude you.

Institute for Justice, Victory Over the IRS: IRS Returns N.C. Man’s Entire Life Savings After Seizing It Through Civil Forfeiture. Good. But why did he have to fight so hard when the IRS never said that he had cheated on his taxes?

TaxGrrrl, Fraud Allegations At Liberty Tax Franchises Raise Questions

Russ Fox, Where I Became the “Messenger of Doom” (My Final Comments on Turf Rebates). Nice work if you can get it.

Robert Wood, Crazy Sounding Tax Deductions That IRS Says Are Legit. “Cosmetic surgery costs are usually non-deductible, but an exotic dancer named Chesty Love tested this rule.”

Table manners will never go out of fashion — especially when the police are enforcing them. For one Vienna man, he found that out the hard way when failed to hold his breath as he he was fined a whopping 70 euros ($107) for burping loudly in public, reports The Guardian