| If you want to know what God thinks of money, just look at who He gives it to! ... Beauty is one of the rare things which does not lead to doubt of God. — Jean Anouilh, born o this date in 1910 |
punj 5th week in her kneecap braces ... Third world footpaths lead to bone fractures ..
How I stopped worrying and learned to murder my darlings
Tell the truth and shame the Devil Shakespeare, Henry IV)
The former East Germany produced a car, the Trabant, which was renowned for its poor quality and erratic performance. Franz, having saved up the amount to buy his Trabant, enters the office, and fills in the form. He passes over the money and gets the receipt. ‘When can I take delivery?’ Franz asks. ‘Ah, comrade, the car is so popular that there is a long long waiting list, but I think I can guarantee that you can take delivery in just five years’ time — in fact, tomorrow morning in five years!’ ‘Oh,’ says Franz, ‘could it be in the afternoon five years from now?’ ‘Yes, that can be arranged. But why in the afternoon?’ ‘The plumber is coming in the morning,’ explains Franz.
In our age there is no such thing as 'keeping out of politics.' All issues are political issues, and politics itself is a mass of lies, evasions, folly, hatred and schizophrenia.
— George Orwell, born on this date in 1903
Supermarkets set to introduce ‘surge-pricing’ in their shops according to demand: Plans would mean ice cream is more expensive on hot days Daily Mail Growing vegetables is a political act.
Please read Baberowski’s book. Stalin is more than a safely dead museum piece, embalmed in forgetfulness, from whom we’ve learned a lasting lesson. Nothing stops a man like him from thriving in our world. No one is immune. Happy thoughts count for nothing. Smaller-scale Stalins, dreaming their grandiose dreams, will always walk the streets. Baberowski’s portrait recalls a well-known passage in The Gulag Archipelago – Part I, Chapter 4, “The Bluecaps”:
“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?
Close to Being a Devil, at Times to SainthoodWhy we won't stop the black economy until we do tax reform
'Where did the money go?' ASIC investigates Aussie start-up's missing millions
Caroline Scott’s article – “Data released by official agencies and government bodies provides transparency and insight, and can often highlight trends or anomalies that are in the public interest. However, some of these datasets are often difficult to access, while in other instances it is not clear whether they even exist, making it harder for journalists to find stories and collect information to provide the bigger picture. Enigma Public, a free tool built by data management and intelligence company Enigma, launched yesterday (20 June) with the aim of helping users find the data they need and learn how to improve their use of information. The 100,000 datasets from over 100 countries bring together information from international organisations and federal governments, and local and state governments in the USA, spanning subjects like building permits and fire inspection data, to things such as the contents of shipping containers, and financial contributions to political campaigns. Users get a description of the datasets, along with key use cases and related information
“We wanted to provide an interface that enabled that information to be searched, discovered, and related,” said Marc DaCosta, Enigma’s chairman and co-founder. “All the data in Engima Public will be updated regularly, from online and offline sources, and is really a work in progress to grow and keep adding to it.”
The site can be used in two main ways: to search for a specific topic, company or person and see the datasets related, or to browse through the collection and see what stands out to you individually. There are curated collections of datasets to help journalists, such as energy, health and sanctions, or they can simply work through the categorised public collections of data to find what they are looking for, and bookmark the sets they want to come back to later. Datasets can be filtered by keyword to help reporters find what they are looking for within the bulk of information, and they can be exported to save to a user’s computer…”
The corporate watchdog is investigating failed Australian music streaming start-up Guvera after it left 3000 investors wondering what happened to more than ...
Ride-hailing business model fails to show profits FT. Wait, what? I thought the issue was “culture”…. And of course see Hubert Horan, NC. November 30, 2016.
In a town full of news, here’s how BillyPenn chooses its stories (and competes with everyone else)
Unlike the Media Dragon, Da Washington Post gets more than a million comments every month, so it’s using AI to tackle them
Breaking
in a new generation of public speakers — a how-to guide. Last year, we decided
that 'no-one from GDS will take part in a panel discussion of two or more
people unless there is at least one woman on the panel'. To support this
pledge, it's important that we're encouraging and enabling women across the
organisation to feel confident speaking publicly. (Government Digital Service)
Michael Pascoe: Happy birthday, GST – time to grow up and tax more food
NSW Electoral Commission given $5.4m to rebuild iVote
Renowned US tech analyst Mark Mahaney has watched the global tech sector for almost 20 years, and there's one lesson that stands out most of all – every five to seven years, a major internet franchise that once seemed bulletproof falls.
"We've seen it with AOL, eBay and now Yahoo. Companies that seemed dominant, especially in the case of AOL and Yahoo, are shells of their former selves," RBC Capital Markets' Mr Mahaney told AFR Weekend while in Melbourne.
"Even eBay was the leading internet retail asset with a market cap greater than Amazon, but now Amazon is 10 times the value of eBay."
It's a lesson that may be applicable to Uber, which this week saw its co-founder and chief executive Travis Kalanick forced to resign after being pressured by investors to step down amid criticisms of his treatment of staff and an internal investigation into the company's toxic culture.
US tech analyst bigwig Mark Mahaney on Uber, Google, Facebook ...
Gizmodo: “Political data gathered on more than 198 million US citizens was exposed this month after a marketing firm contracted by the Republican National Committee stored internal documents on a publicly accessible Amazon server.The data leak contains a wealth of personal information on roughly 61 percent of the US population. Along with home addresses, birthdates, and phone numbers, the records include advanced sentiment analyses used by political groups to predict where individual voters fall on hot-button issues such as gun ownership, stem cell research, and the right to abortion, as well as suspected religious affiliation and ethnicity. The data was amassed from a variety of sources—from the banned subreddit r/fatpeoplehate to American Crossroads, the super PAC co-founded by former White House strategist Karl Rove. Deep Root Analytics, a conservative data firm that identifies audiences for political ads, confirmed ownership of the data to Gizmodo on Friday…”
EY, 23/5/17.
- 65% of Australian respondents believe a strong reputation for ethical behaviour is a commercial advantage, yet 43% believe people with questionable ethical practices are seen to be promoted
- 39% of Australian respondents believe bribery and corrupt practices happen widely in Australia
- 51% of Australian respondents believe their organisation will be at increased risk of being a victim of cyberattacks over the next few years
*Report - Economic
uncertainty/Unethical conduct: How should over-burdened compliance functions
respond?’
You Do Not Think Alone Scientific American
Is American Childhood Creating an Authoritarian Society? The American Conservative
How To Make Yourself Work When You Really Don’t Feel Like It
In just the article we need for a summer Friday at the office, Melissa Dahl offers three suggestions that generally work for her.
Parents struggling to contain screen time for children of all ages
‘You can’t shrink your way to profitability’: Jeff Bezos talks about the future of newspapers
(1) Correctiv's fact-checking unit is now on Twitter. (2) In Singapore, a government official outlines a plan to fight fake news with legislation. (3) The New York Times runs a correction to a charged claim about gun violence. (4) Putin sharing fake news with Oliver Stone? Click. (5) No one's touting the health benefits of cannibalism in Florida, says PolitiFact. (6) Share this NBC video with your Facebook friends: How fake news makes money. (7) New research from Michelle Amazeen: Fake news hurts real journalists. (8) What's the fee for discrediting a journalist? (9) Have you been fooled again? Take PolitiFact’s “Faked Out” quiz. (10) New Yorker editor delivers “potty-mouth” description of misinformation and fake news. (11) It probably wasn't necessary to fact-check what it feels like to be "hugged by 10,000 fireflies," but the science is interesting.
Colvin's crappy memorial. Mark Colvin's niece Lucinda Higgie is raising money for the toilet seats the ABC broadcaster wanted to donate, inscribed as the broadcaster requested with "enjoy this comfortable crap, courtesy of me, Mark Colvin". Higgie will run in Sydney's City to Surf fun run, and writes on her fundraising page that the current commode seats at the Prince of Wales Hospital in Sydney, where Colvin was treated, are humiliating to use. Colvin died in May, after more than 20 years of chronic illness stemming from a rare disease picked up when reporting on the Rwandan genocide.
2 in 3 Aussies use shared economy (Uber, eBay, Airbnb, and more)
Canstar, 15/2/17. Over two thirds (68%) of Australians now spend and earn money through the sharing economy, according to new research from P2P lender RateSetter.
*Over 55s to drive growth in sharing economy
*ACT fastest to embrace sharing economy
*Value of Australia’s sharing economy hits $15 billion, while concerns around future of work grow
Klarna, a Swedish fintech unicorn, gets a
full banking licence
TechCrunch, 19/6/17. Fintech firms are beginning to compete head-on with banks. The license will give Klarna — which up to now has powered payments for 60 million customers and works with 70,000 merchants — the ability to turn on a range of new banking products and services for its customers across Europe. These could include issuing payment cards; and moving into products to become an all-in-one digital wallet.
TechCrunch, 19/6/17. Fintech firms are beginning to compete head-on with banks. The license will give Klarna — which up to now has powered payments for 60 million customers and works with 70,000 merchants — the ability to turn on a range of new banking products and services for its customers across Europe. These could include issuing payment cards; and moving into products to become an all-in-one digital wallet.
Future of
Work 2017
Airtasker. This year’s Future of Work research* highlights the impact of ongoing digital disruption on the Australian workplace. Whilst the 2017 data set suggests that there is some fear amongst Australians around automation and technology replacing human jobs, it also seems that new technology, including the sharing economy, is creating new industries and jobs that didn’t previously exist.
Airtasker. This year’s Future of Work research* highlights the impact of ongoing digital disruption on the Australian workplace. Whilst the 2017 data set suggests that there is some fear amongst Australians around automation and technology replacing human jobs, it also seems that new technology, including the sharing economy, is creating new industries and jobs that didn’t previously exist.
The nature
of ownership in the digital economy
Scenario Magazine, 8/6/17. When the company keeps control over the product after they sell to the consumers, the whole concept of ownership becomes ambiguous, and what you get for your money becomes less transparent.
Scenario Magazine, 8/6/17. When the company keeps control over the product after they sell to the consumers, the whole concept of ownership becomes ambiguous, and what you get for your money becomes less transparent.
Why
“skilled in machine learning” should be the new “proficient in Excel” on your
resume
Quarz, June 2017. The day when any average Joe can train an algorithm along with his morning coffee is well within reach. The experience of using artificial intelligence is becoming more accessible, and choosing an algorithm to create an end-of-year report will soon be as simple as selecting a template in Microsoft Word. New hires will see promotions come quicker, startups will see faster growth, and the traditional enterprise businesses will see efficiency integrated into their corporate culture, whether they like it or not.
Quarz, June 2017. The day when any average Joe can train an algorithm along with his morning coffee is well within reach. The experience of using artificial intelligence is becoming more accessible, and choosing an algorithm to create an end-of-year report will soon be as simple as selecting a template in Microsoft Word. New hires will see promotions come quicker, startups will see faster growth, and the traditional enterprise businesses will see efficiency integrated into their corporate culture, whether they like it or not.
- Once a witch always a witch
- One might as well throw water into the sea as to do a kindness to rogues
- Oil and water do not mix[1]
- Old soldiers never die; they just fade away[1]
- Once a thief, always a thief[1]
- Once bitten, twice shy[1]
- One good turn deserves another[1]
- One half of the world does not know how the other half lives[1]
- One hand washes the other[1]
- One man's meat is another man's poison[1]
- One man's trash is another man's treasure
- One might as well be hanged for a sheep as a lamb[1]
- One law for the rich and another for the poor[1]
- One swallow does not make a summer[1]
- One who believes in Sword, dies by the Sword[1]
- One year's seeding makes seven years weeding[1]
- Only fools and horses work[1]
- Opportunity never knocks twice at any man's door[1]
- Out of sight, out of mind[1]
- Over greedy man, over wrathful woman will never flourish[1]