Monday, November 20, 2017

Civilisation and its price: Why aren’t the streets full of protest about the Parasite Papers?

God is an unutterable sigh, planted in the depths of the soul. 
—Zofka Imrichova .... Cousin  Jean Paul of Reim fame at Gerald's funeral in 2015
       The French-prize-flood continues, now also with the prix Femina which, aside from a local fiction award (won by La Serpe, by Philippe Jaenada -- beating out Bakhita, by Véronique Olmi by six votes to four, just as Vuillard beat her out by the same margin for the Goncourt on Monday ...), also has a foreign category -- won by John Edgar Wideman, for hisWriting to Save a Life: The Louis Till File; see the Simon & Schuster publicity page, or get your copy at Amazon.com orAmazon.co.uk. 
       The Wideman narrowly beat out -- five votes to four -- Paolo Cognetti's The Eight Mountains, due out in English next spring; see the Atria publicity page, or pre-order your copy atAmazon.com or Amazon.co.uk. 

 They'vealso announced the three-category prix Médicis -- see the Livres Hebdo report -- and here the Paolo Cognetti did win the best foreign fiction prize. 

Four MPs might cross to floor to back bank commission of inquiry



Why have we built a paradise for offshore billionaires? Thomas Frank, Guardian Because we haven’t finished their colony on Mars?

Data Driven Journalism: “Revealing 13.4 million documents and implicating more than 120 politicians and world leaders, the Paradise Papers have exposed the hidden happenings of the offshore industry, its users and operators. The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) began releasing reports on 6 November 2017, drawing on nearly 7 million loan agreements, financial statements, emails, trust deeds and other paperwork from nearly 50 years at Appleby, a leading offshore law firm. So far, ICIJ has raised questions about the British Royal Family, Trump associates, Apple,Nike, with more to come. And, with over 1.4 terabytes of data to trawl through, there have been no shortages of data to visualise. We put together a roundup of four of the week’s best…”



 Why aren’t the streets full of protest about the Paradise Papers? Guardian


Paradise Papers: Westpac's 'gobsmackingly' slack Cook ...Westpac opened an $850,00 account for a secret company linked to a Kazakh ... Krugman says it’s been forgotten since the days of the dinosaurs:

Back in the old days, when dinosaurs roamed the earth and students still learned Keynesian economics, we used to hear a lot about the monetary “transmission mechanism” — how the Fed actually got traction on the real economy. Both the phrase and the subject have gone out of fashion — but it’s still an important issue, and arguably now more than ever.
Now, what you learned back then was that the transmission mechanism worked largely through housing.

 Hiding in Plain Sight: How UK companies are used to launder corrupt wealth Transparency International UK (Richard Smith). Richard: “First time in years that anyone’s had a single panoptic long form look at the abuses. Ugly.”


Will Backlash Against Prince Purge Begin Within Military? American Conservative: “I would bet.”
U.S. Corporate Tax Reform Council on Foreign Relations

Tesla factory workers have filed a lawsuit claiming widespread racism, unsafe conditions CNBC. Makes you wonder if 260 cars a month is a ceiling, not a floor.

What Red States Are Passing Up as Blue States Get Billions NYT. “… taxpayers in Texas are helping to fund treatment for patients with opioid addiction in Vermont….” No, they’re not. Federal taxes do not fund Federal spending.

Deutsche Bank CEO suggests robots could replace half the company’s 97,000 employees CNBC: “So then they’d be an automated laundromat?”




Fighting demons: 'As an exorcist I'm going into battle'
AN AUSTRALIAN exorcist invited news.com.au to observe a live exorcism on a woman who believed she was possessed by demons. Here's what happened

Media Dragon: Innovation: Change that adds Value










Bad bosses? 
Problem solved
We all know the feeling. The work has to happen, and it's piling up fast. But instead of your boss being a lifeline, they are a hindrance. Perhaps they slow decisions down with endless questions, or maybe, they simply aren't available. Either way, most of us have probably wished our managers would disappear. At one Melbourne-based innovation consultancy, they actually did, at least on paper
The decision to get rid of the bosses at Inventium was made by the company's founder, Dr Amantha Imber. Imber had been researching the idea of a "holacracy", a decentralised workplace where line staff members are empowered to speak and act, and roles are not defined by a job description.
3. High-tech mirror for cancer patients only works if you smile (a cruel tease or oppression of sorts?).
Australian diplomat Julan Simpson dies after fall
Posted by at