“This is the first report of the Oxford Technology and Elections Commission (OxTEC) . Written and researched by BBC Monitoring’s specialist Disinformation Team, the report investigates fake news landscapes around the world and analyses a range of measures adopted by governments to combat disinformation. The analysis provides geopolitical context with timely, relevant examples from 19 countries in four continents (with a particular focus on European nations).”
'An open secret': Government urged to release Parliament cyber attack report
A detailed report on the Parliament cyber attack is said to blame a Chinese ministry, but the government is reluctant to release an unclassified version.
Properties linked to MP John Sidoti lie just metres from site of new metro train station
Mr Sidoti stepped down from the front bench in September after the state’s corruption watchdog launched a preliminary investigation into allegations concerning his property interests.
Speaking the Right Social Media Language “Speaking the Right Social Media Language” A paper presented at the Council of Australian Tribunals National Conference, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre on 6 June 2019. (via BU Better as Usual)
And also now Better as Usual Bill’s e-alert to MD:
The world’s poorest people often rely on farming both to feed their families and to earn an income. They will be among the first to face the effects of climate change. I’m excited about innovations aimed at addressing this problem: b-gat.es/32wONvL
The world’s poorest people often rely on farming both to feed their families and to earn an income. They will be among the first to face the effects of climate change. I’m excited about innovations aimed at addressing this problem: b-gat.es/32wONvL
PORK CRISIS: A terrible pandemic is killing pigs around the world, and US pork producers fear they could be hit next. “There is insufficient American organic soy, so hog farmers wishing to feed their animals organic soy often import it from China. And there are feed ingredients — B vitamins and trace minerals — that are manufactured only in China. The virus can survive for up to a month on these products, so they must be quarantined and heated to kill the virus.” Maybe we shouldn’t let important things be sole-sourced in China.
Maybe it’s time to beef up my strategic bacon reserve.
New York Public Radio – “For women climbing the corporate ladder, the “glass ceiling” may not be the primary barrier keeping women out of top spots in leadership. A new report from LeanIn.org and McKinsey and Company says women actually run into the most significant barrier to their success early in their careers: the first step up to manager. It’s called the “broken rung” on the corporate ladder, and it affects women of color even more than their white counterparts. Rachel Thomas, CEO and co-founder of LeanIn.Org, joins The Takeaway to talk about the “broken rung” and what we can do to fix it. Click on the ‘Listen’ button above to hear this segment. Don’t have time to listen right now? Subscribe for free to our podcast via iTunes, TuneIn, Stitcher, or wherever you get your podcasts to take this segment with you on the go…”
"When Medical Debt Collectors Decide Who Gets Arrested" (ProPublica, 25 minutes, October 2019). The subhead is a doozy: "Welcome to Coffeyville, Kansas, where the judge has no law degree, debt collectors get a cut of the bail, and Americans are watching their lives — and liberty — disappear in the pursuit of medical debt collection."
Saturday Night at the Oldies: Burdens, Loads, Weights, and Weltschmerz
Rolling Stones, Beast of Burden
Jackson Browne, The Load Out
The Band, The Weight
Allman Bros., Not My Cross to Bear
ZZ Top, Got Me Under Pressure
Tom Waits, Shiver Me Timbers. The clue to the meaning of this great song lies in the reference to Jack London's Martin Eden.
Bob Dylan, Not Dark Yet
Shadows are falling, and I've been here all day
It's too hot to sleep, and time is running away
Feel like my soul has, turned into steel
I've still got the scars, that the sun didn't heal
There's not even room enough, to be anywhere
It's too hot to sleep, and time is running away
Feel like my soul has, turned into steel
I've still got the scars, that the sun didn't heal
There's not even room enough, to be anywhere
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there
Well, my sense of humanity, has gone down the drain
Behind every beautiful thing, there's been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter, and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing, what was in her mind
I just don't see why I should even care
Behind every beautiful thing, there's been some kind of pain
She wrote me a letter, and she wrote it so kind
She put down in writing, what was in her mind
I just don't see why I should even care
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there
Well, I've been to London, and I've been to gay Paris
I've followed the river, and I got to the sea
I've been down on the bottom, of a world full of lies
I ain't lookin for nothing, in anyone's eyes
Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear
I've followed the river, and I got to the sea
I've been down on the bottom, of a world full of lies
I ain't lookin for nothing, in anyone's eyes
Sometimes my burden is more than I can bear
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there
I was born here, and I'll die here, against my will
I know it looks like I'm moving, but I'm standing still
Every nerve in my body, is so naked and numb
I can't even remember what it was, I came here to get away from
Don't even hear a murmur of a prayer
I know it looks like I'm moving, but I'm standing still
Every nerve in my body, is so naked and numb
I can't even remember what it was, I came here to get away from
Don't even hear a murmur of a prayer
It's not dark yet, but it's getting there
BONUS CUT: It's All Over Now, Baby Blue. I've loved this song since I first heard it in '65. I'll let the YouTubers gush for me.
Cash-strapped English cathedrals become temples of enjoyment The Economist
Dark Age Americans Use What Their Ancestors Built and Cant' Replace It.
Our ancestors were builders and pioneers and mostly fearless. We are regulators, auditors, bureaucrats, adjudicators, censors, critics, plaintiffs, defendants, social media junkies and thin-skinned scolds. A distant generation created; we mostly delay, idle and gripe.
Ashes to Ashes; Dust to Dust . . .
How real can we and this world be if in a little while we all will be nothing but dust and ashes ?
Our plesance here is all vain glory,
This fals world is but transitory,
The flesche is brukle, the Feynd is slee;
Timor mortis conturbat me.
No stait in Erd here standis sicker;
As with the wynd wavis the wicker,
Wavis this wardlis vanitie;
Timor mortis conturbat me.
(William Dunbar c. 1460 -- c. 1520, from "Lament for the Makers.")
Here lie I by the chancel door;
They put me here because I was poor.
The further in, the more you pay,
But here lie I as snug as they.
(Devon tombstone.)
Here lies Piron, a complete nullibiety,
Not even a Fellow of a Learned Society.
Alexis Piron, 1689-1773, "My Epitaph"
Why hoard your maidenhead? There'll not be found
A lad to love you, girl, under the ground.
Love's joys are for the quick; but when we're dead
It's dust and ashes, girl, will go to bed.
(Asclepiades, fl. 290 B.C., tr. R. A. Furness)
The world, perhaps, does not see that those who rightly engage in
philosophy study only death and dying. And, if this be true, it
would surely be strange for a man all through his life to desire
only death, and then, when death comes to him, to be vexed at it,
when it has been his study and his desire for so long.
Plato, Phaedo, St. 64, tr. F. J. Church
