Monday, December 16, 2019

There's nothing left I'm afraid of ... Yet The Blogosphere Is Shrinking Again

“Being the richest man in the cemetery doesn’t matter to me. . . Going to bed at night saying we’ve done something wonderful. . . that’s what matters to me.”

 –  Steve Jobs quoted at Matraville Christmas 🎄 party  🎉 

Auditor-General Report No.18 (2019–20)


Tax AvoidanceTaskforce — Meeting Budget Commitments


Tabled: Monday 16 December 2019
The objective of the audit was to assess the Australian Taxation Office's effectiveness in meeting its revenue and resourcing commitments for the Tax Avoidance Taskforce.


 

Military working dog fears immigrants are taking his job Duffle Blog

The Blogosphere Is Shrinking Again


And not just any blog is closing, but Feministing, one of the only remaining feminist blogs from the heyday of the 2000s. One of the site’s former editors says, “It was unclear how we could have such a ferocious audience and not be onto something. … Many of us involved in the feminist blogosphere are now in mainstream media, and that’s exciting. That said, we need independent media because they’re an important check.” – The New York Times
Why I wrote my parents a guide to social media - Our ABC News



TIME Person of the Year and others recognized: “Greta Thunberg began a global movement by skipping school: starting in August 2018, she spent her days camped out in front of the Swedish Parliament, holding a sign painted in black letters on a white background that read Skolstrejk för klimatet: “School Strike for Climate.” In the 16 months since, she has addressed heads of state at the U.N., met with the Pope, sparred with the President of the United States and inspired 4 million people to join the global climate strike on September 20, 2019, in what was the largest climate demonstration in human history. Her image has been celebrated in murals and Halloween costumes, and her name has been attached to everything from bike shares to beetles. Margaret Atwood compared her to Joan of Arc. After noticing a hundredfold increase in its usage, lexicographers at Collins Dictionary named Thunberg’s pioneering idea, climate strike,the word of the year…”



My work has never been suspected': Meet the man earning thousands writing Chinese students' assignments (photos)


'My work has never been suspected': Meet the man earning thousands writing Chinese students' assignments (photos)


By Joyce Fung

Posted December 01, 2019 05:43:49 | Updated December 02, 2019 13:09:32

Chinese student Joyce Fung spent six months delving into the dark recesses of the lucrative essay cheating industry that she says is symptomatic of a deeper malaise in the lucrative education industry.



Against Sameness: Paradise Can’t Be Boring



One view of paradise is that it is a place with no conflict, no sharp edges. But that’s not what most of us want. The peak experiences, the excellence of accomplishment isn’t about frictionless existence, it’s about trying and failing and fixing and learning. – Aeon




Hugh Grant, Not Actually The Prime Minister, Arrives At Britons’ Front Doors In Election Campaign




Grant said in one candidate’s video, “I, for the first time in my life, am getting active politically, because I think that the country is on the edge of a true abyss.” He’s campaigning strategically, to block Boris Johnson’s majority. “He described what he said would be ‘the catastrophe of a no-deal Brexit’ under Mr. Johnson.” – The New York Times


Hundreds Of Architects, Designers, And Engineers Work On This Venice


It’s a candy Venice. A Venice of candy and gingerbread, royal icing (“basically like glue”) and buttercream for decoration. And when roofs collapse? The teams soldier, or solder (with buttercream), on. – NPR

Peter Fonda: We Got 'Easy Rider' Wrong, Man | The American Conservative.

“My movie is about the lack of freedom, not about freedom. My heroes are not right, they’re wrong. The only thing I can end up doing is killing my character. I end up committing suicide; that’s what I’m saying America is doing. People do go in and they think ‘Look at those terrible rednecks, they killed those two free souls who needed to love, blah blah blah.’ That’s something we have to put up with.”

When my love affair with the city of Milan began, Umberto Eco, who was only four years older than me, was already practically editor-­in-­chief of Bompiani publishing company. I sought him out, arranged a meeting, and pitched my drawings to him. Clean-­shaven, his fair skin in contrast with his dark hair, he had pleasant features and a voice that occasionally bordered on shrill. He never lost that metallic falsetto.
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