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Tuesday, March 15, 2016

Saint Bartholomew and Michelangelo

"When elephants fight, it's the grass that suffers .."
~ Kenyean Malchkeon wisdom of her grandfather 

Thanks to Suzanne Murphy I seldom use the adverb “very.” I won’t say never because writing is not a matter of unquestioningly following (or breaking) rules, which is another lesson I owe to Suzanne. Write it, read it aloud, delete the dross – a Murphy mantra. She stressed concision and precision. And here is one of her usage rules articulated in the form of a proverb: “Roasts are done. People are finished.” And one more: If you want to write, read The profound connection



Billions Recap: “Cortado…It’s Like A Macchiato, But With More Foam” Dealbreaker 

Saint Bartholomew was the most hideously tormented of the apostles. No wonder artists like Michelangelo identified with him... St Patrick and Jozef  

CommInsure: How insurers stepped up the spying Sydney Morning Herald. EM: “From Oz, relevant all over the ‘developed’ world.”


The Rise and Risk of Non-Bank Servicers Eric Mains, Living Lies 

Sociology is a suspicious, even paranoid science, an attempt to suss out the reality of reality. What can it teach us about spy fiction? Cold Iron Curtain  
The tragic collapse of America’s public mental health system, in one map Vox
caproni plane
A Caproni bomber from 1914 is featured in this novel. Its simplicity is striking. The man in the nose of the plane is Gianni Caproni, the designer.
Thousands of delivery boys then dash to and from the distribution centres throughout the day, bearing more than 20 kilos on their bikes  Delivery of Post in India The Economist

Recommended Listening: Mary DotyLinda Gregerson, and Jane Hirshfield discuss the history and nature of the lyric poem. Pair with  Andrew Kay’s Millions essay on the power of poetry.

“The pleasures of friendship are exquisite,
How pleasant to go to a friend on a visit!
I go to my friend, we walk on the grass,
And the hours and moments like minutes pass.”
The hours and moments like minutes pass

Live US Hellfire missiles found on a passenger flight in Serbia Business Insider 

"And Facebook removed the content because it has images of desert women painted up in traditional paint, doing traditional dancing Facebook suspends users over nude photo of aboriginal women

"The Dark Side of All Those 'Friends' at the Supreme Court": Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg View

Foreign companies will be forced to disclose ownership before buying English property 

"Justice Elizabeth Warren? The Supreme Court pick that would be the drama of all dramas." Pamela Brown and Dan Berman of CNN.com have this report

"California leaders tell Supreme Court that undocumented workers are making the state stronger": David G. Savage of The Los Angeles Times has this report


The $484m all-you-can-eat digital deal for Human Services
Mandarin, 11/3/16. Canberra’s mega Department of Human Services has signed an innovative five-year, $484 million technology and services deal with IBM that lets the agency choose from a broad portfolio of services, products and expertise, rather than pre-described specific deliverables.


Economic forecasting: is Treasury losing its memory?
The Mandarin, 9/3/16. The federal government relies on Treasury’s macroeconomic forecasting to create a sustainable budget, but those predictions have been out for several years now. High turnover, less experienced staff and an over-reliance on formal modelling have contributed to these repeated misses.
*Report -
Review of Treasury’s Macroeconomic Forecasting Capabilities


Using data to drive business intelligence
Huffington Post, 10/2/16. A  Penn State study found that they could use Twitter data to predict the likelihood that someone would enrol on Obamacare, whilst another trawled social media to predict when someone might be tempted to join IS.
This kind of behavioural analysis has been available after Twitter opened up its data pipe to researchers via projects such as Gnip, which is an open source repository for social data.
Also:
The Pentagon’s secret pre-crime program to know your thoughts, predict your future


EXCLUSIVE: HMRC consultations on digital tax plans include questions around stock takes, adjustments and data pre-population
CCH Daily, 7/3/16. In an exclusive interview Theresa Middleton, HMRC director of Business Customer and Strategy, told Accountancy the question would be raised in several consultations which will be issued after the Budget, to take on board the views of businesses and individuals who would use the digital tax accounts and would be scooped up into mandatory quarterly reporting requirements.


Introduction of single taxpayer account
IOTA, 4/3/16. Georgia Revenue Service continues simplifying tax administration process for taxpayers by introducing a single taxpayer account (unified treasury code).
Also:
Revenue Service Introduces Single Treasury Code for Tax Payment
 
Bonus questions over the Houdini bankers