The councils changing procurement rules to tackle tax avoidance
Researchers
have devised a new way to siphon data out of an infected computer even when it
has been physically disconnected from the Internet to prevent the leakage of
sensitive information it stores. The method has been dubbed
"DiskFiltration" by its creators because it uses acoustic signals
emitted from the hard drive of the air-gapped computer being targeted.
New air-gap jumper covertly transmits data in hard-drive sounds
New air-gap jumper covertly transmits data in hard-drive sounds
Forgive me lovely people for we have slumped, in my blogging. It's been over a seven hours since my last confession and I've had to drag myself back to the keyboard like a stroppy teenager. .. A Letter To My Daughter About Young Wo/men - Amen ...
Double Media Dragons: Google launches Duo video-calling app, a dull cross-OS FaceTime rival - Soon Trojka will be invented ...
New smokers
survey reveals shift in consumer behaviour to avoid tax
Talking Retail, 8/8/16. A new UK survey by the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (TMA) has revealed the lengths that smokers are going to avoid what they consider to be an excessive tax on tobacco. The survey of 12,000 smokers found 71% were buying tobacco from ‘non-shop’ sources such as the internet, friends, family or abroad.
Talking Retail, 8/8/16. A new UK survey by the Tobacco Manufacturers’ Association (TMA) has revealed the lengths that smokers are going to avoid what they consider to be an excessive tax on tobacco. The survey of 12,000 smokers found 71% were buying tobacco from ‘non-shop’ sources such as the internet, friends, family or abroad.
NOAA confirms 2015 highest everything for global warming MacroBusiness
Forget Tornadoes. Rain Bombs Are Coming for Your Town Bloomberg
Rare Amur leopards born at British zoo CNN
You don’t have to be a beer expert to enjoy something new
Toast awesome images, the weather, send toast messages, and everything in between to cure your morning blues! Read More
Cities Need More Public Transit, Not More Uber and Self-Driving Cars Truthout
Former cleanup workers blame illnesses on toxic coal ash exposures Center for Public Integrity.
A climate scientist and economist made big bucks betting on global warming Guardian
What can a sea-lion teach us about musicality? MedicalXPress. The videos are fun. One of my contacts says he’s seen raccoons keep time to music
Humpback whales messing with orca hunts
Birds engage in all types of sleep in flight, but in remarkably small amounts PhysOrg
Five minutes with Einstein’s leather jacket. It still smells of pipe smoke
Parenting In An Age Of Economic Anxiety New Yorker
The Story of Our Teeth ....
Via Fast co.exist: “The climate deal made in Paris last November didn’t include cargo ships—despite the fact that shipping emits roughly as much climate pollution as the entire country of Germany (and more pollution than the 160 least-polluting countries to sign the agreement, combined). A visualization from researchers at University College London and the digital journalism studio Kiln shows the scale of the challenge. At any given time, as many as 100,000 ships may be at sea, delivering iPhones from China to the U.S. or fish from Scotland to China. Roughly 90% of everything we buy arrives on a ship…”
You may or may not like limiting transfers and cutting taxes on the wealthy, but it is Orwellian to call that “redistribution.” How about “unredistribution” at least? “De-redistribution”?
Career Corner. Did the Accounting Profession Ruin My Hobbies? (Chris Hooper, Going Concern)
Facebook tweaks News Feed to favor ‘personally informative’ stories
"It’s nice to think that art can help provide a small respite from the ugliness of the world."
In politics, it seems, it's always "opposite day." Watch Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" monologue as he fact-checks the relationship between U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump and Russian president Vladimir Putin.
Did Google really erase Palestine from its maps? Not really. Le Monde's Decodeurs deconstruct what actually happened.
via Braddon U - Right To Remain Silent? Not With IRS And Taxes
So, Madam, please stop staring. [Las Vegas Review-Journal]
I was thoroughly enjoying a nice conference two weeks ago, the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS). I met some great people, had a great panel, and managed to help some junior scholars in the process. I didn’t even make it to the beach much, but I was loving life.
Then I had an unpleasant interaction with a colleague. I’ll spare you the details, but the conversation pretty much started out with me saying, “You missed my panel,” which was followed with the question, “What could I possibly learn from your panel, LawProfBlawg?” I began to answer, but was cut off. Then the conversation degenerated into who was more productive as a scholar, or perhaps who was more famous. I can’t remember. I do remember I realized the error of my ways (because it was my fault that this conversation started) and extricated myself from the conversation. Humble Is The Path Of The Law Professor
Russ Fox, Five Sentenced for Tax Fraud; Justice Department Gets ITINs Wrong. They are not just for lawbreakers. contrary to the U.S. attorney tax release on the sentencing. They are necessary for law-abiding taxpayers to comply with U.S. rules for withholding on and reporting of income paid to non-U.S. persons.
Kay Bell, Tax ID thieves are hard at work this summer. “It’s the largest tax scam ever and it shows no indication of abating.”
Everybody complains that there's no real money to be made in the book business, either in book publishing or in book selling -- but two recently reported success stories suggest otherwise. In her Peter Olson profile in this Sunday's issue of The New York Times Magazine Lynn Hirschberg notes that Olson's biggest coup (and the one that landed him the precursor to what became his current job as head of Random House) was his purchase of a NY headquarters for Bertelsmann:
(H)e bought a building in Times Square for the bargain price of $ 119 million. (The building may soon sell for more than $ 400 million.)(That building is, we assume, 1540 Broadway -- see information here and here.)
Now comes the news (in a Mike McIntyre article in the 22 July issue of The New York Times) that Andreas Brown has finally unloaded the building housing the Gotham Book Mart in New York -- for $ 7.2 million ($ 500,000 less than the asking price, but still not bad for a used bookstore). (For some Gotham information, see here.)
So that's where the money in the book business is nowadays -- in real estate ! And independent book sellers and publishers alike would be well-advised to buy, rather than rent, so that they too can one day hit the jackpot.
Australia's most wanted: Crime Stoppers launch Operation Roam campaign to find 19 fugitives