How QR Codes Work and What Makes Them Dangerous – A Computer Scientist Explains
Some words of caution about QR codes.
Under the Security of Critical Infrastructure 2018 Act, multiple industry assets are deemed to be critical.
These range from telcos and internet service providers to fuel companies, data storage and processing organisations, freight forwarders, banking, insurnance and finance, along with food and grocery assets.
The Law Society Gazette: “Many law firms will claim that great strides have been made since then. I beg to differ. While on the face of it, large law firms have changed in response to Covid-19, the reality is that it is skin deep and insufficient given the pressures they are facing from younger lawyers, clients and wider society.
The profession finds itself in the grip of sky-rocketing wages to tackle the talent war and huge profits per partner, all whilst a mental health crisis is taking hold, out of sight, as many staff struggle in the face of much uncertainty and pressure to deliver. This is no time to be complacent or distracted into thinking more has been achieved when fundamental transformation is yet to come – judging by the headlines, many law firms are still driven by billable hours targets, offering lawyers huge rewards for putting the job first, ahead of family, friends, life outside work and health. So how do we start to affect change?
Let’s begin with flexible working. Our latest report – Legal Reset – identifies four key ‘pillars’ of law firm culture needed to drive necessary change, namely: need to practise with purpose; embracing genuine flexible working; moving away from a partnership model fuelled by billable hours; and driving innovation through technology…”
“ESG and sustainability have indisputably moved to the forefront of institutional stock selection. In Cowen’s ESG Best Ideas For 2022 we share stock selections across multiple industries that reflect recommended fundamental picks with strong performance on key ESG metrics. Our report includes analyst commentary on company fundamentals and an outline of potential catalysts. In addition, our Cowen Washington Research Group provides a roadmap laying out the key themes and policy areas we believe will be most material to ESG and sustainability investing over the next 12 months. This year’s publication also includes expanded data, including detailed metrics on the most material ESG factors to focus on. Key Takeaways Included in the Report:
- Opportunity for continued growth in ESG-focused investments
- Companies beginning to view ESG trends as an opportunity versus risk
- Investor focus shifting from exclusive desire for financial returns to include environmental benefits
- Geopolitics driving increased focus on energy security while de-coupling from fossil fuels
- Expecting focus on energy infrastructure in policy-making and increased ESG disclosure requirements by regulatory agencies..”
LitHub – Poetry by Kateryna Kalytko – “In one very real sense, the current war in Ukraine is about language. Vladimir Putin has presented the defense of Russian-speakers in Ukraine as justification for a campaign of cultural and political domination. In an article posted to the Kremlin website last July, he went so far as to compare the institutionalizing of Ukrainian language and culture to “weapons of mass destruction.” Extending the metaphor, he continues: “Such a crude, artificial dichotomy between Russians and Ukrainians may have caused the total Russian population to decrease by hundreds of thousands, or even millions.” This accusation is no less chilling for its absurdity: Ukraine, the argument goes, has robbed Russia of ethnic Russians by compelling them to speak Ukrainian. This cultural shift from Russian towards Ukrainian is what Putin seems to mean when he evokes the term genocide, as a perverse pretext for the mass killing of Ukrainian civilians. The poet Kateryna Kalytko, rather than denying the violent power of words, embraces it. “Here, take this language, woman,” she writes in a 2019 poem. “Use it to shoot.” Nothing has united the Ukrainian people around a single language like Russia’s attack on its sovereignty. In a paper published in 2017, the political scientist Volodymyr Kulyk found that following the 2014 annexation of Crimea and outbreak of the Donbas war, more people throughout Ukraine “want the state to help the Ukrainian language to be more widely used, in accordance with both its legal status and symbolic role as the national language.” This past January 2022, as Russian troops prepared to invade, Ukraine passed a language law, requiring that Ukrainian be used in official contexts, including schools…”
