There is only one thing in the world worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about
From the Babylon Bee, Bethlehem’s Newspaper of Record.
By Charlotte Grieve and Cameron Houston December 12, 2019
Offshore payments from a Westpac account at the centre of a multimillion-dollar fraud involving notorious conman Peter Foster have exposed another possible weakness in the major bank's risk monitoring systems.
Private investigator Ken Gamble and Sydney law firm Nelson McKinnon are investigating whether 39 payments totalling more than $8 million sent from a Westpac bank account to Hong Kong could be part of the 23 million transactions AUSTRAC alleges the bank failed to properly vet.
Exclusive: Complaints lodged with commissioner over potential breaches of privacy under Centrelink scheme
The
old assumptions — that truth matters, that lies shame the liar, that in a
democracy the press and the public must have a right to interrogate those who
seek the top jobs — have all been swept aside by the Tories’ conviction that in
an inattentive, dissatisfied, cacophonous world, victory will go to the most
compelling entertainer, the most plausible and shameless deceiver, the leader
who can drill home a repetitive and seductive incantation. Facts and details
will be irrelevant so long as voters feel a politician is on their side.
Switzerland’s
HSBC Private Bank has agreed to pay the U.S. Government $192 million in
penalties after it admitted encouraging wealthy Americans to hide $1.26
billion in assets from tax authorities.
Don't write on the walls without
permission. -- Dan
The Kid Who Wrote on the Walls and Didn't
Get in Trouble
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When you were a kid (or if you still are a kid), there's a
good chance you've been in a classroom and, despite your best efforts,
unable to focus. For better or for worse, you have a solution on the desk
in front of you -- a pad and a pen (or pencil). Before you know it,
you've filled page after page with little tiny drawings of nothing in
particular. You've doodled.
Doodling, even while you're supposed to be taking notes,
isn't necessarily a bad thing -- it may help some people learn,
unlock creativity, or even (counterintuitively) stay engaged.
But every so often, a teacher takes exception to a student's apparent
inattentiveness. And that can lead to trouble.
Or it can lead to a job. Even if you're only nine
years old.
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Pictured above is Joe Whale, a
young English boy, either nine or ten years old at the time the photo was
taken. As you can see, he's not drawing on paper. He's drawing on the
walls. But don't worry, he's allowed to.
Multiple times over his grade school career, Whale found himself doodling
in class -- and it was a problem. As Fatherly explains, "he was in school getting
frustrated at the little amount of art he could do, so he used to doodle
on the table’s whiteboard in class and get into trouble for
doodling." But his parents didn't get angry. Instead, they decided
to help their son tap into his passions and, it turns out, his talents.
Whale's doodles weren't just idle scribbles; they were characters,
expressing emotion and life. Whale's parents enrolled their son in
extracurricular art classes and encouraged him to keep up the doodling, at
least when appropriate. And to give him an outlet for his creativity, his
parents and art teachers also created an Instagram account for his
creations.
It paid off -- literally. At some point in 2019, an eatery in
Shrewsbury named "Number 4" took note of Whale's efforts. The
restaurant owners inquired whether Whale would be open to drawing
something for them. He was immediately interested -- and the job turned
out to be a much bigger one than he expected. The Good News Network explains: "The Number 4 owners reached
out to Joe and asked if they could commission him to decorate the
restaurant. At first, the boy thought that he would simply be doodling a
small framed picture—but upon arriving at the restaurant, the staffers
said they wanted him to cover the entire white wall of the restaurant in
doodles."
The restaurant pays Whale for his work (which they should; it is, after
all, work, even if it's fun) and Whale's efforts likely help draw diners
into the establishment. But you don't have to go to England to see what
Whale has put together on those walls. More pictures of Whale and his
wall-drawing efforts can be found via Bored Panda, here, or you can follow him on Instagram, here.
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Bonus fact: Whale may be
the youngest professional doodler, but he's hardly the only one. Some
companies hire doodle artists to sit in on meetings and document
brainstorming sessions -- not by taking meticulous notes, but by
drawing pictures which highlight key takeaways and ideas. As Inc. reported, "It might seem silly, but
these sorts of visuals are effective in brainstorming, says Martin
Eppler, professor of media and communication management at University of
St. Gallen, Switzerland. 'We've found in our experiments that using
visuals during meetings creates more ideas, creates better ideas, and
increases recall," he says."
From the Archives: The Writing Was on the Wall: When you
shouldn't -- really, really, shouldn't -- write on the wall.
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