The 30th anniversary of the fall of the USSR

NEWS YOU CAN USE:  Nine reasons why Die Hard really is a Christmas film.

But it’s really a Harry Potter film. I mean, he sneaks around a tower trying to avoid Alan Rickman . 

This is a thread about how journalists decide what is “news” and what isn’t. Anyone shaping the news and anyone consuming the news should understand who decides what counts as news, how they decide it, and what determines what they say about it . . .

One thing that many casual news readers don't know is that articles, and the specific words used in them, are often carefully crafted by expensive corporate marketing consultants. It's something wealthy business groups pay a lot of money for.

Smugglers’ nest: the Godot-awful wait for Australia to close money-laundering loopholes

Callum Foote | December 22, 2021

The flood of black money into Australia proceeds apace, pushing up property prices, as the government dithers on its international pledge to enact money-laundering laws.

Behind the labor shortage: physical and mental health problems Axios 

‘At 75, I still have to work’: millions of Americans can’t afford to retire Guardian

How Taxes Can Support Growth and Reduce Inequality in Latin America and the CaribbeanInternational Monetary Fund. Of all places

The 30th anniversary of the fall of the USSRBrookings

The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) and National Cyber Crime Unit (NCCU) have discovered a 225 million cache of stolen emails and passwords and handed them to HaveIBeenPwned (HIBP), the free service for tracking credentials stolen and/or leaked through past data breaches. 

The 225 million new passwords become a part of HIPB's existing body of 613 million passwords in the Pwned Passwords set, which offers website operators a hash of the passwords to ensure users don't use them when creating a new account. Individuals can use HIPB's Pwned Password pageto see whether their passwords have been leaked in previous breaches.

Police found 225 million stolen passwords hidden on a hacked cloud server. Is yours one of them?

PM&C is damaging the integrity and reputation of the public service

At the heart of Senator Rex Patrick’s attack on a senior public servant was a call for the public service to be more independent and impartial.

Tech Republic – Susan Harkins: “Adding a watermark to a Word document is an easy and common task, but did you know you can add a watermark to an Excel sheet? You can, and the rules for doing so in Word and Excel are similar. In this article, I’ll show you how to use a graphic file as a watermark in an Excel sheet and how to avoid a few pitfalls along the way…”

Where is memory information stored?

Mary, Queen Of Scots, Had Serious Paper-Folding Game, As Did Elizabeth I

Mary's final letter was to her cousin Henry III of France. "An international team of researchers have found that Mary used a delicate folding process to seal the letter, ensuring that any tampering would be immediately obvious to its recipient." - The Guardian (UK)

HKS Misinformation Review: Election Interference – How Misinformation Spreads Targeted Disinformation By Jaren Haber, Lisa Singh, Ceren Budak, John Pasek, Meena Balan, Ryan Callahan, Rob Churchill, Brandon Herren, Kornraphop Kawintiranon. December 17, 2021. “When U.S. presidential candidates misrepresent the facts, their claims get discussed across media streams, creating a lasting public impression. We show this through a public performance: the 2020 presidential debates. For every five newspaper articles related to the presidential candidates, President Donald J. Trump and Joseph R. Biden Jr., there was one mention of a misinformation-related topic advanced during the debates. Personal attacks on Biden and election integrity were the most prevalent topics across social media, newspapers, and TV. These two topics also surfaced regularly in voters’ recollections of the candidates, suggesting their impression lasted through the presidential election…”