Freedom requires guns. (Because in every totalitarian and demoralised culture often cream does not rise to the top )
Biggest cyber breach in history” as techs scramble to be heard above Omicron din
A post-incident report commissioned by the Reserve Bank of New Zealand - another high-profile victim - last year found Accellion’s vulnerability notification system was malfunctioning at the time of the incident, leading to a delay in notifying customers.
Czech out how North Korean Communists are using Cyver Hacking to steal $1/2 Billion
TfNSW finds more customers, employees impacted by Accellion breach
As an E.R. Doctor, I Fear Health Care Collapse More Than Omicron NYT
Michael Doran (Virginia; Google Scholar), The Great American Retirement Fraud:
Over the past twenty-five years, Congress has enacted several major reforms for employer-sponsored retirement plans and individual retirement accounts (“IRAs”), always with large bipartisan, bicameral majorities. In each case, legislators have claimed that the reforms would improve retirement security for millions of Americans, especially rank-and-file workers. But the supposed interest in helping lower-income and middle-income earners has been a stalking horse for the real objective of expanding the tax subsidies available to higher-income earners.
Pew – “Americans are spreading their book consumption across several formats. The share of adults who have read print books in the past 12 months still outpaces the share using other forms, but 30% now say they have read an e-book in that timeframe. Overall, 75% of U.S. adults say they have read a book in the past 12 months in any format, whether completely or part way through, a figure that has remained largely unchanged since 2011, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted from Jan. 25 to Feb. 8, 2021. Print books remain the most popular format for reading, with 65% of adults saying that they have read a print book in the past year. While shares of print book readers and audiobook listeners remain mostly unchanged from a Center survey conducted in 2019, there has been an uptick in the share of Americans who report reading e-books, from 25% to 30%…”
In Praise of Bad Taste Bookforum
Stendhal syndrome: The travel syndrome that causes panic BBC
Competitive e-cycling lets you be a champion from your apartment MIT Technology Review
The Restaurant Industry Has Always Treated Sick Workers With No Remorse New York Magazine
Social Service Nonprofits Sue City Over Pro-Union Law The City
Fed Vice Chair Clarida to step down early following scrutiny over his trades during pandemic CNBC
Ivy League Cartel Sued for Price-Fixing BIG. Matt Stoller
Think Big to Overcome Losing Big to Corporatism Counterpunch. Ralph Nader
The Criminal Justice Issue Nobody Talks About: Brain Injuries Marshall Project
The ‘forever prisoners’ of Guantanamo Deutsche Welle
Pete Recommends Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, January 9, 2022 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and wide ranging ways technology is used to compromise and diminish our privacy and online security, often without our situational awareness. Four highlights from this week: The Internet is Held Together With Spit & Baling Wire; To catch an insurrectionist: Facebook and Google are helping the FBI find January 6 rioters; and China harvests masses of data on Western targets, documents show; and 6 Ways to Delete Yourself From the Internet.
What Personality Are You? How the Myers-Briggs Test Took over the World
The Guardian: “I am a born executive. I am obsessed with efficiency and detached from my emotions. I share similarities with Margaret Thatcher and Harrison Ford. I am among 2% of the general population, and 1% of women. People like us are highly motivated by personal growth, and occasionally ruthless in the pursuit. We make difficult partners and parents, but good landscape architects. We are ENTJs: extroverted, intuitive, thinking, judging – also known as the executive type or, sometimes, “the Commander”. This, over a decade ago, was my auspicious entry into the world of the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI). Based on psychiatrist Carl Jung’s theories of personality, the assessment maintains that we are all born with a preference for extroversion or introversion, intuition or sensing, thinking or feeling, and judging or perceiving. The different permutations amount to 16 types of personality, each with innate strengths and “blind spots”. By understanding which one we are, so the theory goes, we might apply ourselves more effectively in our personal and professional lives. The business of “typing” people generates the Myers-Briggs Company a reported $20m annually from public and private institutions, militaries and universities, charities and sports teams who make use of it – not to mention 88 of the Fortune 100 companies. Away from the corporate world, the Myers-Briggs theory of personality has been embraced by enthusiasts as a hobby – even a way of life…”
Bloomberg, IRS Targets Your Side Hustle In Crackdown on Transactions Over $600:
It just got harder to hide from the IRS.
Starting this month, users selling goods and services through such popular sites as Venmo, Etsy and Airbnb will begin receiving tax forms if they take a payment of more than $600. One by one in recent months, tech giants have been warning users of the coming changes and asking them to provide tax information.
“Until this year, the threshold was much higher ($20,000 and 200 transactions) so it didn’t affect nearly as many people,” Venmo told users in its messages about the change. “This requirement only pertains to payments received for sales of goods and services and does not apply to friends and family payments.”
The moves have sparked outcry on social media. For one thing, the lower threshold comes as more and more Americans bet on themselves: a record 5.4 million adults applied to form their own business last year, according to U.S. Census Bureau data released this week. That’s partly because it’s easier than ever to use apps to sell crafts, provide services or rent out a second or third home online.
- CNBC, No, the IRS Isn’t Taxing Your Venmo Transactions
- CNet, Unless You Have a Side Hustle, Your Venmo and Paypal Transactions Probably Won't Be Taxed