“A country is considered the more civilized the more the wisdom and efficiency of its laws hinder a weak man from becoming too weak or a powerful one too powerful.”
Without imagination of the one kind or of the other, mortal existence is indeed a dreary and prosaic business... Illumined by the imagination, our life, whatever its defeats — is a never-ending unforeseen strangeness and adventure and mystery.
— Walter de La Mare, born on this date in 1873
AS FORREST Gump once famously said: 'Life is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're going to get
TO BOLDLY GO WHERE FRANK J. FLEMING HAS GONE BEFORE: “At the height of the Cold War, the Soviet Union and the United States found themselves locked in a chilling race to nuke the moon, declassified military documents reveal.”
To be fair, one could modestly describe such efforts as “A Realistic Plan for World Peace.”
HOLD THE CRIMINALS ACCOUNTABLE: Remember the VICTIMS of Communism on May Day!
- Never forget
Metadata law reform needed after AFP illegally accesses journalist's records
"Prior to the data retention legislation, warrants were not required to access the metadata of a journalist. Journalist information warrants were ...
When Barack Obama was vacationing recently with Bruce Springsteen, Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey aboard a $300 million yacht in Tahiti, one wonders if he ever hummed Springsteen's "All Or Nothin' At All."
We Need To Split The ‘Millennials’ Into Two Separate Generations
“Old Millennials, as I’ll call them, who were born around 1988 or earlier (meaning they’re 29 and older today), really have lived substantively different lives than Young Millennials, who were born around 1989 or later, as a result of two epochal events that occurred around the time when members of the older group were mostly young adults and when members of the younger were mostly early adolescents.” Jesse Singal, an Old Millennial, explains.
Exclusive: Trump says ‘major, major’ conflict with North Korea possible, but seeks diplomacy Reuters
How Bio-Weapons Led To Torture … And North Korean Nukes Moon of Alabama
Jimmy Carter asked to steer clear of North Korea rapprochement FT. Note this is the FT and not The Onion.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Risk Nuclear War Der Spiegel
The United States Air Force is facing a crisis, seemingly a recent one, which will define the service for decades to come.
This “Dear Boss” letter is instructive for describing exactly why so many pilots are choosing not to stay in the Air Force, and are instead leaving to go to the airlines. There is a deep lack of faith in leadership at all levels of the Air Force, but especially at the Squadron Commander and above levels, and, from within, it seems that the organization is promoting toxic managers (not leaders) who are not promoted on their merits, but instead on how well they toe the party line.
Complaints range, but highlights are; a lack of accountability, protection of the deficient leaders at all costs, overemphasis on promotion versus performance, and too much “queep” (an Air Force term for paperwork). There is no single root cause for pilots bailing out in such large numbers, and the issue contains much more nuance than simple bad leadership, but there is a glaring problem that is a significant contributor, and helps illuminate the distinct lack of Air Force leadership: In the USAF pilots are not provided the opportunity for meaningful leader development. I will explain.
Clear out the deadwood, give pilots enough jets to fly, and allow them much more flight time
Metadata law reform needed after AFP illegally accesses journalist's records
"Prior to the data retention legislation, warrants were not required to access the metadata of a journalist. Journalist information warrants were ...
When Barack Obama was vacationing recently with Bruce Springsteen, Tom Hanks and Oprah Winfrey aboard a $300 million yacht in Tahiti, one wonders if he ever hummed Springsteen's "All Or Nothin' At All."
We Need To Split The ‘Millennials’ Into Two Separate Generations
“Old Millennials, as I’ll call them, who were born around 1988 or earlier (meaning they’re 29 and older today), really have lived substantively different lives than Young Millennials, who were born around 1989 or later, as a result of two epochal events that occurred around the time when members of the older group were mostly young adults and when members of the younger were mostly early adolescents.” Jesse Singal, an Old Millennial, explains.
Exclusive: Trump says ‘major, major’ conflict with North Korea possible, but seeks diplomacy Reuters
How Bio-Weapons Led To Torture … And North Korean Nukes Moon of Alabama
Jimmy Carter asked to steer clear of North Korea rapprochement FT. Note this is the FT and not The Onion.
Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un Risk Nuclear War Der Spiegel
The United States Air Force is facing a crisis, seemingly a recent one, which will define the service for decades to come.This “Dear Boss” letter is instructive for describing exactly why so many pilots are choosing not to stay in the Air Force, and are instead leaving to go to the airlines. There is a deep lack of faith in leadership at all levels of the Air Force, but especially at the Squadron Commander and above levels, and, from within, it seems that the organization is promoting toxic managers (not leaders) who are not promoted on their merits, but instead on how well they toe the party line.Complaints range, but highlights are; a lack of accountability, protection of the deficient leaders at all costs, overemphasis on promotion versus performance, and too much “queep” (an Air Force term for paperwork). There is no single root cause for pilots bailing out in such large numbers, and the issue contains much more nuance than simple bad leadership, but there is a glaring problem that is a significant contributor, and helps illuminate the distinct lack of Air Force leadership: In the USAF pilots are not provided the opportunity for meaningful leader development. I will explain.
Clear out the deadwood, give pilots enough jets to fly, and allow them much more flight time
'People Have Had Enough of Experts'
“In my view … the intellectual life of Australia since the Whitlam years has been increasingly weakened by the reluctance of almost the entire educated population to deal with past events whose implications might undermine their heartfelt views.” — Clive James Upmarket agitprop: Clive James on John Howard on Bob Menzies
While you can’t simply copy down notes on how to practice leadership, these skills can be developed. Reflecting on how you define and approach problems is a good place to start. Can leadership be learned?
Professor Stephen Martin: "I was blessed in that I was a
member of a government that had someone like Bob Hawke and Paul Keating who
could sell a message. You had someone like John Howard when I was in opposition
who could sell a message. None of those fundamentally varied what that message
might be. They tried to say to the people, “This is why we need to take these
hard decisions now.” Paul might have said, “This was a recession we had to
have,” and economic history will show that was probably right." (How to communicate public policy contentgroup)
"We do care about
satisfaction. But we know that for most government services, how users’ feel
about a service is very closely tied to whether they can use it effectively to
get the right outcome for them." (Why we care more about effectiveness than efficiency or satisfaction. UKGDS)
Most back more spending for veterans, education, infrastructure. “As Congress faces an April 28 deadline to fund government operations, the public is now split in their general preferences on the size and scope of government: 48% say they would rather have a bigger government providing more services, while 45% prefer a smaller government providing fewer services.
Most back more spending for veterans, education, infrastructure. “As Congress faces an April 28 deadline to fund government operations, the public is now split in their general preferences on the size and scope of government: 48% say they would rather have a bigger government providing more services, while 45% prefer a smaller government providing fewer services.