"Statistics are like bikinis. What they reveal is suggestive, but what they conceal is vital."
~ Aaron Levenstein for Mr Leech ...
In Search of Time | WIRED
*Warren Buffett - Wikiquote
Bahamas Blacklisting 'Came Out Of Left Field'
*The missing $20 trillion - Tax havens - The Economist
CIVILISATION works only if those who enjoy its benefits are also prepared to pay their share of the costs. People and companies that avoid tax are therefore unpopular at the best of times, so it is not ...
“H.R. 3737, The Social Media Use in Clearance Investigations Act of 2017 requires the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to provide pertinent data on the current and potential use of social media for clearance investigation purposes. Specifically, the bill requires OMB to submit a one-time report describing the current use of social media for investigative purposes, the legal impediments related to the use of social media for that purpose, and the results of any pilot programs conducted to incorporate social media into background investigations. Additionally, the report will include the available options for broader implementation of social media checks and the cost estimates for such a program…”
Rolling Stones listed Bob Dylan as its No. 1, for any genre.The Songwriters Hall of Fame, established in 1969, has 400 inductees “from our era.” “In order to be considered for induction, nominees must have been published songwriters for a minimum of 20 years with a notable catalog of hit songs.” Who’s the Greatest Songwriter of All Time? | The MEdia Dragon - Sarsha Simone - * Spectator
3 Ways It’s Better Than Your Blog
The idea of privilege — the accusation of privilege — has moved many people to say things not only nonsensical and ungenerous, but simply untrue
REVEALED: THE 50 MOST VIOLENT CITIES ON EARTH — WITH ST LOUIS COMING IN AT 13.
Agatha Christie's unsolvable mystery: In 1926 she vanished for 11 days. When she was discovered — at a British spa — she refused to discuss her disappearance
MINERAL NOT FOUND ON EARTH’S SURFACE TURNS UP WRAPPED IN CARBON: Rare diamond find suggests Earth is a giant recycling bin
From Gavan Tredoux, Comrade Haldane Is Too Busy to Go on Holiday: The Genius Who Spied for Stalin
ARE WE WRITING OVER OLDER FILES? This may be why you can’t remember the first years of life
Compared with the heyday of antiques collecting, prices for average pieces are now “80 percent off,” said Colin Stair, the owner of Stair Galleries auction house in Hudson, N.Y. “Your typical Georgian 18th century furniture, chests of drawers, tripod tables, Pembroke tables,” he noted, can all be had for a fraction of what they cost 15 to 20 years ago.
That is from Tim McKeough at the NYT, there is plenty more evidence in the article. I can think of a few hypotheses:
1. eBay and the internet have increased supply more than demand. It is much easier to sell an estate, or the contents of your attic, than before. But the upward potential for demand in the market isn’t nearly as significant. Some people say “well, I would in fact buy and collect antiques if I could get the right 18th century pieces at 40% their current values,” but many more people just aren’t interested at all.
2. The article also demonstrates that many buyers are refocusing their demands on newer pieces. Our attitude toward the past may have changed in some fundamental way, with items before a certain date just not existing in most people’s aesthetic universes. It’s a bit like how people collect Elvis memorabilia, or even just treat Elvis as iconic, than they used to.
For many people today, “an English antique represents something that is kind of sad and tired,” said Thad Hayes, a New York interior designer who has recently been emptying antiques-filled homes and designing new rooms with contemporary pieces for wealthy clients both young and old.Contemporary design, he said, “represents something that’s a lot more optimistic and positive.”
3. Homes have changed: “More homes have open-concept, casual living spaces rather than formal dining rooms and studies, which reduces the need for stately mahogany dining tables, chairs and cabinets.”
4. The aesthetic of the internet itself has pushed people away from “old and musty.” Just look at the kind of images you see on Instagram.
What else?
THE INSTA-WIFE: “Never Trust Anyone Who Doesn’t Have Skin in the Game.” What she doesn’t mention is that she stole my copy of Taleb’s book
My former colleagues Andrew Romano and Garance Franke-Ruta took a look at recent protests led by Defend Boyle Heights and the larger radical anti-gentrification movement they’ve inspired. Coffee shops are being targeted andgalleries shutting down from harassment on the east side of Los Angeles.
Gentrification isn’t new, nor is anti-gentrification activism. So why are these groups taking to the street now?
Millennials are, simply put, “facing the scariest financial future of any generation since the Great Depression,” as HuffPost’s Michael Hobbes recently put it. They’ve taken on at least 300 percent more student debt than their parents did. They’re about half as likely to own a home as young adults were in 1975. One in five is living in poverty. Based on current trends, many of them won’t be able to retire until they’re 75. Jobs have become gigs; college is exorbitant, starting salaries are paltry the social safety net is shredded.And all of these trends are especially acute among the poorer, nonwhite millennials who tend to live in major cities. Between 1979 and 2014, for instance, the poverty rate among young high school-only graduates more than tripled, to 22 percent, and roughly 70 percent of black families and 71 percent of Latino families don’t have enough money saved to cover three months of living expenses.
Strengthening a culture of respect and engagement in the public sector
When people aren’t being civil, good working relationships and productivity can both be seriously compromised. Renowned expert on the psychology of work Professor Michael P. Leiter, PhD explains what matters and why.
Jonas Ebeneser has decided to end his life. He is nearly 50, divorced, and his ex-wife has told him that Gudrun Waterlily, their grown daughter, is not his. Other than his mother, who is rapidly declining into dementia, he is alone in a flat, colorless world. "The shortest route to the old folks' home is through the graveyard," he muses, and this is the kind of thing that he thinks a lot.
It's not that he has nothing to live for; his thoughtful neighbor Svanur looks out for him, and Jonas himself is pretty handy with a hammer and wrench. But, "Will the world miss me? No," he tells himself. "Will the world be any poorer without me? No." Hotel Silence A modern fable of a man's rebirth
Homeless man is kicked out of McDonald’s after stranger buys him food New York Daily News (Brian C). What jerks.The dark reasons so many rich people are miserable human beings Moneyish (DL). Original. Yves points out that the study should adjust for local cost of living.
Heartbreaking remains of missing woman who died while trapped in the WALL of her home when she fell through her attic and lay undiscovered until the house went into foreclosure three years on Daily Mail. Only in America…