Jozef Imrich, name worthy of Kafka, has his finger on the pulse of any irony of interest and shares his findings to keep you in-the-know with the savviest trend setters and infomaniacs.
''I want to stay as close to the edge as I can without going over. Out on the edge you see all kinds of things you can't see from the center.''
-Kurt Vonnegut
Over the past several years, a series of leaks related to offshore tax avoidance and evasion (SwissLeaks, LuxLeaks, the Panama Papers, Bahama Leaks, and Paradise Papers, to name a few) has fueled calls for tax transparency. To date, most discussion of the leaks has been policy-oriented (leaks: good or bad?) and largely anecdotal (based on some truly outrageous revelations). It was not until very recently, however, that a small group of researches started delving into the data exposed by these leaks to make statistically significant empirical findings. Alstadsæter, Johannesen & Zucman’s (AJZ) paper is an excellent example of such paper, which combines methodological sophistication, public data, and leaked data, to make important new contributions to the voluminous literature on the offshore tax world. ...
If forever is too long, how long is a good amount of time to live?
The main character of my new book, Eternal Life, has been living her life as the 2,000-year-old, and she’s really had it with immortality. One hundred and twenty isn’t a bad alternative. Always leave the party while you’re still having fun. $20 Billion Hidden in the Swamp: Feds Redact 255,000 Salaries.
Limelight, launched in 1976 as the magazine of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's Classic FM radio and spun off in 2006, cancelled printing of its March issue on Tuesday and laid off its staff. Said publisher Andrew Batt-Rawden, "The magazine has improved a lot financially, we are reaching a big audience across Australia and a few internationally, but my personal situation was that I simply couldn't continue the monthly profit and loss." (He is talking to potential buyers.) … [Read More]
Homeland Security cybersecurity chief says Russia successfully hacked some state voter registration systems in 2016.
The Gillian MacKenzie Agency and Wolf Literary Services have merged to form MacKenzie Wolf. The new company is led by partners Gillian MacKenzie, who heads the literary management division, and Kirsten Wolf, who manages the legal and financial consulting division. Allison Devereux and Rach Crawford continue as agents and will co-manage foreign rights. Kate Johnson continues as agent and UK rights manager. Elizabeth Rudnick joins as agent-at-large.
Basically, you put a bunch of very smart people in a writers' room and let them loose: "The result is a show packed with references to art, literature, pop culture, politics and science." (Alternative theory: The Simpsons has so many episodes that it's bound to get a few things right.) … [Read More]
Data Driven Journalism: “Over the past year, the Center for Cooperative Media, based at Montclair State University in New Jersey, been collecting information about dozens of collaborative reporting projects involving hundreds of newsrooms around the world. That information was used to identify six distinct models of collaborative journalism, which are based on how long newsroom and information organizations work together, and how they integrate their work and workflows. Early into the process, Stefanie Murray, who directs the Center for Cooperative Media, realized that the information they were collecting about journalism collaborations could benefit other newsrooms. She approached me about turning this information into a database, to easily show how journalism collaborations were funded and how newsrooms work together. The database launched in early January. It contains information about more than 150 journalism collaborations around the world, and features information including when the collaboration started, who was involved, funding sources, the tools that newsrooms used, and whether the collaboration had a formal arrangement in place or someone in charge of the efforts
Washington Post – “Shortages of employees — a common feature of troubled government programs — are hampering a range of services to the public and stressing the federal workforce, the government’s central personnel agency said Wednesday. Thereport comes just ahead of a White House budget proposal that is expected to include plans for carrying out a long-term reduction in the federal workforce, as ordered by the Trump administration last April. In preparing its initial “Federal Workforce Priorities Report,” the Office of Personnel Management, under an initiative it undertook around the same time, reviewed the role workforce issues played in underperforming or at-risk programs at two dozen Cabinet departments and large independent agencies. OPM found personnel issues factored in 59 percent of programs on the Government Accountability Office’s “high-risk” list and in 38 percent of reports by inspectors general of “management challenges” within their agencies. Specifically, inadequate staff was cited as a problem in 34 percent of the former and 14 percent of latter. Lack of employee skills, and training and development were also common themes. “The services provided by agencies for the benefit and protection of the American public are dependent upon having the necessary Federal workforce. However, many programs cited capacity shortcomings affecting both the management and mission accomplishment of at least 20 (or 83% of) agencies,” it said. “Gaps in staffing levels were hampering agency performance or placing performance at risk as well as causing stress for overworked employees. Impacted missions and services included those related to public safety, health care, real estate, business ventures, citizen and veteran benefits, law enforcement, and Federal revenue and cost control activities,” the report said…”
