Friday, December 21, 2018

PUTIN: The Yellow Jackets Versus the European Empire

“I have come to learn,
that when people of money and power organize
to set upon to break a person they seek to silence,
and the person seems but a shadow of what they were,
under the endless barrage,
in the end when laid to rest,
the dignity, compassion and presence of the person
somehow endures,
and their words awaken to speak clearer than before.
As if torches ignite, when their flame is gone,
and the light of their truth,
Is brilliantly lit and once more born.”
Tom Althouse  


China increases its stake in Australian land

The Bahamas have also rocketed up the standings after the mysterious purchase of more than 2 million Australian hectares.


'Shocking, outrageous': Chinese hackers called out for industrial-scale theft

China's intelligence services have hacked Australia's biggest providers of software services in an extraordinary penetration that the west is now calling out.


New questions over Elon Musk’s use of SpaceX resources for Boring Co. MarketWatch. We have entirely too many squillionaires doing stupid things with our capital, even putting looting and fraud to one side.







How Huawei’s ‘wolf culture’ helped it grow, and got it into trouble


As the Chinese tech giant expanded around the globe, its employees were urged on by a culture that celebrated daring feats in pursuit of new business.

From one general to another: PM taps Peter Cosgrove's successor
Scott Morrison picks a fellow Sydneysider as the next Governor-General. The opposition is miffed he didn't consult them so close to an election.



Using indicators to uncover ‘toxic’ workplace for women
FLEXIBLE WORK: Disproportionately small numbers of women in an office can be an indicator of deeper problems, says the man leading Victoria Police's response to a review of discrimination and sexual harassment.


Driverless and zero emissions vehicles – driving transport, energy and government closer

TRANSPORT & ENERGY: With new vehicle technologies such as driverless and zero emissions vehicles on our roads, it's increasingly important for governments -- at all levels and across states -- to work together.

Taylor Swift secretly used facial recognition technology at concert to find stalkers Kansas City Star. As long as she doesn’t sell the data…








Macron Should Take a Page From Obama to Deal With ProtestsLeonid Bershidsky, Bloomberg (CO). Macron (and Bershidsky) should look into the Domestic Security Alliance Council, which is how Obama “dealt with” Occupy.


The New York Times: As We Forge the Web of Tomorrow, We Need a Set of Guiding Principles That Can Define the Kind of Web We Want



There’s Really No Such Thing As “Male” Brains Or “Female” Brains

Although there are sex differences in brain and behavior, when you move away from group-level differences in single features and focus at the level of the individual brain or person, you find that the differences, regardless of their origins, usually “mix up” rather than “add up.”

Peter Brook On The Meaning Of Theatre

“And that to me is pure theater: the sharing through the imagination of something down to earth and concrete and appealing for the imagination, so that there’s always that sense of “and then what?”—that sense of wonder, which one needs so badly, and one has so little of in everyday life.” – ArtForum




















Climate Change Report On Heritage Sites: Goodbye Venice

The map reveals the degree of threat to one evocative name after another: the Amalfi coast, the Roman city of Arles, the Greek temples at Paestum south of Naples, the crusader city of Acre, the ancient shrine of Ephesus, even the Modernist architecture of Tel Aviv. – The Art Newspaper













Facebook’s Existential Crisis: What To Do When You’re Not “Making The World A Better Place?”

More than other tech companies, Facebook has insisted that its commercial success benefits the world. There are examples of the wealth from a tech business being used by its founder to support a grand project like space exploration, as Tesla’s Elon Musk or Amazon’s Jeff Bezos do. Alphabet harnesses the money from the Google search engine to support expensive, speculative “moon shot” engineering projects with the potential to change the world. Facebook’s point is more direct: The business goals of Facebook are simply good for the world. – Wired