“I believe that one ought to have only as much market efficiency as one needs, because everything that we value in human life is within the realm of inefficiency—love, family, attachment, community, culture, old habits, comfortable old shoes.”
“I believe that one ought to have only as much market efficiency as one needs, because everything that we value in human life is within the realm of inefficiency—love, family, attachment, community, culture, old habits, comfortable old shoes.”
Edward Luttwak (quoted in Corey Robin, “The Ex-Cons: Right-Wing Thinkers Go Left!,” Lingua Franca, February 2001)
“When two evil guys fight in a duel,
the worst of both will be the winner.”
― Toba Beta, My Ancestor Was an Ancient Astronaut
12 days to Lidka's Wigilia ...
What Wigilia Translators Do For Us
Translating literature is not always more difficult than translating other texts—tourist brochures, technical manuals, art catalogues, sales contracts, and the like. But it does have this distinguishing characteristic: its sense is not limited to a simple function of informing or persuading, but rather thrives on a superabundance of possible meanings, an openness to interpretation, an invitation to measure what is described against our experience. This is stimulating.
If the greatest songs elicit an emotional response too powerful to properly explain, it's safe to say no review of Paul McCartney's One on One tour will quite do it justice. Paul McCartney Beats the Storms With Hits, Jimi Hendrix Stories ...
Paul McCartney review: A musical experience like few others
Paul McCartney rocks Sydney with three-hour set packed ...
The U.S. Has Way Too Many Secrets, December 11, 2017 by The Archive. This article originally appeared in Bloomberg.
Labor senator Sam Dastyari won't return to the Senate in 2018 after he resigned amid growing concerns over his links to China and businessman Huang Xiangmo Sam Dastyari resignation
Feeding frenzy being fuelled by 15x leverage, says exchange FT. “Supply
from Chinese bitcoin miners and a few early holders.” Hmm.
seems to come
Why bitcoin fever is a bubble waiting to burst South China Morning Post. “Fiat currencies do have an inherent value. The US dollar, for example, has value because the US government insists that Americans must pay their taxes in US dollars.”
Rhyming riddles and unlocking password-protected chapters. The clues in this interactive digital spy novel by David Wise are found on New York City landmarks.
Psychologist Says Too Much Christmas Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health
Feeding frenzy being fuelled by 15x leverage, says exchange FT. “Supply
from Chinese bitcoin miners and a few early holders.” Hmm.
seems to come
from Chinese bitcoin miners and a few early holders.” Hmm.
seems to come
Why bitcoin fever is a bubble waiting to burst South China Morning Post. “Fiat currencies do have an inherent value. The US dollar, for example, has value because the US government insists that Americans must pay their taxes in US dollars.”
Psychologist Says Too Much Christmas Music Is Bad for Your Mental Health
Bah Humbug!
Poor auditing could be 'canary in the coal mine' for financial crisis: ASIC boss
"Never mind, even if you achieve a work-life balance, your blood pressure will probably rise, as the merits of government outsourcing are once again demonstrated & why senior public servants should not be allowed to work for the big banks...
How does a respectable institution such as the University of London become a place of abuse and humiliation? A legal battle could transform workers’ rights University of London ranks among the grandest and most renowned higher education
institutions, and it sports values to match: “that every member of staff
is treated with dignity … at work”; “equality of opportunity … in which
individuals are treated equitably”; “diversity, social inclusion and
respect”. I have been reporting on the university for four years, during which
time I have met a fair number of its workers. They include a
grandmother, Marta Luna, employed as a cleaner at a Bloomsbury student
hall, where the supervisor instructed her and her colleagues to throw
their coats and bags in one giant box on the floor. Lunch was eaten in
the laundry room. At the end of each shift, she remembered, it was like a jumble sale”. Picture your grandma, kneeling in front of strangers to reclaim her own handbag.
Outsourcing - typically justified as being cheaper and more efficient - breeds economic apartheid
Another cleaner, Liliana Almanza, was a mother with three herniated discs that send pain shooting into her neck, hands and legs. Rather than adjust for her disabilities, her supervisor made her work twice as hard and called her a "bitch" and a "whore". This treatment got so bad that at the end of a shift she'd walk to Euston station and stand dangerously close to the platform's edge, just waiting for a tube to come. Imagine your mum, earning poverty pay in a job that drives her daily to contemplate killing herself.
I've got more such stories, but more importantly I have a question: how does a body professing respect, dignity and fairness end up as a site of degradation, abuse and humiliation? The answer, I believe, lies in one word: outsourcing. The cleaners and security guards and others work for the University of London but are under contract to middlemen companies. It's the middlemen who bid for the work, employ the staff - and take the profits. The security guards who could change the face of employment in Britain | Aditya Chakrabortty
ATO 'gave no warning' about hot-desk plan: union - Canberra Times
Smartphones as a security blanket.
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office's processes for estimating and monitoring the costs, savings and benefits associated with the Reinventing the ATO program.
Costs and Benefits of the Reinventing the ATO Program
The Generalized Specialist: How Shakespeare, Da Vinci, and Kepler Excelled - Farnam Street
“…A generalist is a person who is a competent jack of all trades, with lots of divergent useful skills and capabilities. This is the handyman who can fix your boiler, unblock the drains, replace a door hinge, or paint a room. The general practitioner doctor whom you see for any minor health problem (and who refers you to a specialist for anything major). The psychologist who works with the media, publishes research papers, and teaches about a broad topic. A specialist is someone with distinct knowledge and skills related to a single area. This is the cardiologist who spends their career treating and understanding heart conditions. The scientist who publishes and teaches about a specific protein for decades. The developer who works with a particular program. In his original essay, Berlin writes that specialists “lead lives, perform acts and entertain ideas that are centrifugal rather than centripetal; their thought is scattered or diffused, moving on many levels, seizing upon the essence of a vast variety of experiences and objects … seeking to fit them into, or exclude them from, any one unchanging, all embracing … unitary inner vision.” The generalist and the specialist are on the same continuum; there are degrees of specialization in a subject. There’s a difference between someone who specializes in teaching history and someone who specializes in teaching the history of the American Civil war, for example. Likewise, there is a spectrum for how generalized or specialized a certain skill is. Some skills — like the ability to focus, to read critically, or to make rational decisions — are of universal value. Others are a little more specialized but can be used in many different careers. Examples of these skills would be design, project management, and fluency in a foreign language. The distinction between generalization and specialization comes from biology. Species are referred to as either generalists or specialists, as with the hedgehog and the fox. A generalist species can live in a range of environments, utilizing whatever resources are available. Often, these critters eat an omnivorous diet. Raccoons, mice, and cockroaches are generalists. They live all over the world and can eat almost anything. If a city is built in their habitat, then no problem; they can adapt. A specialist species needs particular conditions to survive. In some cases, they are able to live only in a discrete area or eat a single food. Pandas are specialists, needing a diet of bamboo to survive. Specialist species can thrive if the conditions are correct. Otherwise, they are vulnerable to extinction…”
The audit objective was to assess the effectiveness of the Australian Taxation Office's processes for estimating and monitoring the costs, savings and benefits associated with the Reinventing the ATO program.
Costs and Benefits of the Reinventing the ATO Program
The Generalized Specialist: How Shakespeare, Da Vinci, and Kepler Excelled - Farnam Street
“…A generalist is a person who is a competent jack of all trades, with lots of divergent useful skills and capabilities. This is the handyman who can fix your boiler, unblock the drains, replace a door hinge, or paint a room. The general practitioner doctor whom you see for any minor health problem (and who refers you to a specialist for anything major). The psychologist who works with the media, publishes research papers, and teaches about a broad topic. A specialist is someone with distinct knowledge and skills related to a single area. This is the cardiologist who spends their career treating and understanding heart conditions. The scientist who publishes and teaches about a specific protein for decades. The developer who works with a particular program. In his original essay, Berlin writes that specialists “lead lives, perform acts and entertain ideas that are centrifugal rather than centripetal; their thought is scattered or diffused, moving on many levels, seizing upon the essence of a vast variety of experiences and objects … seeking to fit them into, or exclude them from, any one unchanging, all embracing … unitary inner vision.” The generalist and the specialist are on the same continuum; there are degrees of specialization in a subject. There’s a difference between someone who specializes in teaching history and someone who specializes in teaching the history of the American Civil war, for example. Likewise, there is a spectrum for how generalized or specialized a certain skill is. Some skills — like the ability to focus, to read critically, or to make rational decisions — are of universal value. Others are a little more specialized but can be used in many different careers. Examples of these skills would be design, project management, and fluency in a foreign language. The distinction between generalization and specialization comes from biology. Species are referred to as either generalists or specialists, as with the hedgehog and the fox. A generalist species can live in a range of environments, utilizing whatever resources are available. Often, these critters eat an omnivorous diet. Raccoons, mice, and cockroaches are generalists. They live all over the world and can eat almost anything. If a city is built in their habitat, then no problem; they can adapt. A specialist species needs particular conditions to survive. In some cases, they are able to live only in a discrete area or eat a single food. Pandas are specialists, needing a diet of bamboo to survive. Specialist species can thrive if the conditions are correct. Otherwise, they are vulnerable to extinction…”