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Saturday, January 26, 2019

Stralya Day: Wild Cold Rock Pool Swimming


“Look for verbs of muscle, adjectives of exactitude.” via good latitude

Australia needs compassion culture: Mackay

Fair go gone: How do we celebrate the 'lucky country'?


What does it mean to be Australian in 2019? As Australia's national holiday has increasingly become hijacked by extreme voices - how do we redefine what it means to be a proud Australian?


Order of Australia and Public Service Medal recipients
WHO'S WHO: The 48 public servants from across Australia who were recognised for their service, innovation, leadership and achievement.


 
'Counting stars instead of money': Meet the Australians living on the road

Influence on Queenslander Houses

Yukultji Napangati's shimmering outback images shine in New York


Until she was 14, Yukultji Napangati had no contact with the modern world. Now she has a solo art exhibit in New York - and fans including Beyonce and Jay-Z.



Read: All about Sydney's hidden swimming spots


Wild Swimming is a guide to 250 of the best rock pools, beaches, river and waterholes in the city.


Rips: A lesson in how not to panic


I jumped into a rip. On purpose. Unlike the 19 people who fatally drown in rips each year, I survived.





We’re awarding the Order of Australia to the wrong people

Nicholas Gruen, in The Conversation

Here’s an idea. Why don’t we award honours to encourage people to do more than their job? Knowing awards are reserved for people who do more than their jobs might encourage us to choose more selfless and socially committed lives at the outset of our careers. 

 Trapped in a hoax:  survivors of conspiracy theories speak out




A $220,000 government grant was given to Warren Mundine's company last year for his Sky News show.


Influencers: consumer champions or chancers? Blessing or Burden ...
When influencer marketing emerged it was viewed as a breath of fresh air and an empowering movement that provided an authenticity that was in sharp contrast to traditional advertising. However, this sense of authenticity has been eroded by a rush to jump on the influencer gravy train, and a backlash against influencers attempting to blag free goods and services.

Fans Shocked After Marie Kondo Reveals She Has Been Dating Untidy Cupboard For Past 6 MonthsThe Onion. Dateline — you guessed it — “Brooklyn, NY.”

Kondo is right. Here's what clutter does to your body

 

Trump just waved a white flag of surrender (and Pelosi made him do it) 

  

Donald Trump announces deal to temporarily end shutdown


 Truth, bullsh*t and weasel words

What do politicians really mean when they talk about an issue? Don Watson, award-winning author and former speechwriter for Paul Keating, decodes political language and management speak, and reveals how post-truth politics is wrecking public discourse.


Wednesday 13 February, 6pm  
Book now

   


The war on bric-a-brac. Long before Marie Kondo, Unitarian ministers and interior designers fought against Victorian-era excess with calls for “Simplicity!” and “No junk!” No Junk  


How Martin Seligman stopped worrying and learned to love writing pop psychology. “‘I’m rich,’ I announced to my mother on the phone 
  

USNews: “The research is all but irrefutable: Parents of very young children who talk to, read and engage with them as often as possible help them build literacy skills at an early age – an educational foundation that can give kids a jump-start on future academic success. Also certain: Parents of very young children usually have to do a lot of laundry. And low-income families tend to bring their kids with them to public laundromats. Those truths converge once a week at select neighborhood laundromats in Chicago. That’s when librarians from one of the nation’s largest library systems lay down colorful mats, oversized board books and musical shakers beside the industrial washing machines and wire laundry baskets. 
 
This web site presents one glyph for each of the world’s writing systems. It is the first step of the Missing Scripts Project, a long-term initiative that aims to identify writing systems which are not yet encoded in the Unicode standard. As of today, there are still 146 scripts not yet encoded in Unicode. The Missing Scripts Project is a joint effort of



    The most effective public policy and practice nudges of 2018
    FIELD-TESTED: A teachable moment doesn’t have to arise naturally; even a simulated one helped make British police officers 21% less likely to be hooked by a phishing email, in one of a series of behavioural nudges tested in the last year.

    Movers & Shakers: defence scientist and assistant secretaries
    CAREERS: NSW’s first Chief Information Security Officer is departing, and Victoria is after a new chair for its Essential Services Commission, plus more appointments and promotions.

    Ethics frameworks should recognise a little cheating is normal
    MORAL LICENSING: Research shows few among us are above a little cheating, especially if the opportunity arises and we're unlikely to get caught, but most refrain from taking every chance to help themselves by doing something naughty.

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    Edward Snowden and the millennial conscience



    Simon Kuper, in Financial Times

    A generation has spent its life under technological surveillance by governments, tech companies and even their parents. Millennials fear these surveillance institutions — but also see them as tempting employers.

    If data is for good, then trust is king

    Maria Katsonis, in The Mandarin
    In the first of a four-part series, The Mandarin examines the opportunities of the great data boom and why gaining community licence is key to protecting people’s information and realising the benefits. (Partner article)


    Leading US privacy scholar weighs up two schools of thought on data management
    Visiting Scholar at the American Enterprise Insititue (AEI), Mark Jamieson weighs up open versus closed information systems, and the complications for policymakers when legislating portability. (Partner link)