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Monday, June 06, 2022

Whistleblowers beware: TiananMen and Women Amen 🙏

Entire Scammer Call Center Panic dials Police 


Polish inflation at 13.9% in May: flash estimate Radio Poland


What does the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown mean for China's youth 33 years later?


Arrests in Hong Kong as world marks Tiananmen Square anniversary Authorities try to stamp out any public commemoration of the 33rd anniversary of massacre


Whistleblowers beware

Individuals who come forward to report unethical and illegal behaviours in their professions and workplaces, face a fateful decision. While books, articles and movies are inspired by courageous truth tellers who do not stay silent, who refuse to turn a blind eye or acquiesce to corrupt forces, the personal and professional costs they will experience


Following up on my previous post, GAO: IRS Audit Rates Plummet For The Rich:  IR-2022-111, IRS Releases Fiscal Year 2021 Data Book Describing Agency’s Activities (May 26, 2022):

2021 IRS Data BookThe Internal Revenue Service today issued the Data Book detailing the agency's activities during fiscal year 2021 (October 1, 2020 – September 30, 2021). ...

In addition to describing work performed during the pandemic, the IRS Data Book for fiscal year 2021 comprises 33 tables describing a wide variety of IRS activities from returns processed, revenue collected, and refunds issued to the number of examinations conducted and the amount of additional tax recommended, as well as budget and personnel information. The Data Book provides point-in-time estimates of IRS activities as of September 2021. A lengthier discussion of recent data was also released today.


BBC News – “There are some common rules – and pervasive myths. Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about it. Have you ever wondered if you need to wash your plastic trays before putting them into the recycling? Or should you put them in a plastic bag before throwing them into the recycling bin? How about soaking the labels off bottles before putting them out for collection? And what about leaving the caps on bottles? The rules of recycling can feel confusing, particularly when they can differ so much from area to area. While BBC Future can’t claim to provide a definitive guide on what to recycle where you live, we decided to embark on a journey to learn what exactly happens to our recycling after it is collected. Along the way we will correct some of the myths, and share tips from the experts on how to recycle considerately. So where does your recycling go? And what happens to it? Domestic recycling first goes to a material recovery facility (MRF). These buildings, typically the size of a football pitch, are a whirling mass of conveyors and machines. The recycling is first unloaded and then tipped into a machine that shreds plastic bags with a mechanical claw. While in much of Europe it is normal for communal recycling bins to be segregated by type, in the UK and the US household recycling is usually commingled – and that’s what I’ve come to see. At the next stage, the recycling is given a first pass by a small team of human sorters. According to Tim Duret, director of sustainable technology at Veolia in the UK, 80% of the sorting is done by machines and 20% is done by hand. These first human sorters search for large items that shouldn’t be there and might slow down the machines, such as clothes or towels, which can get tangled up. On my visit, two bins filled with frying pans stand to one side, and a beaten up microwave is pulled from the belt. These definitely shouldn’t be in with the domestic recycling…”What can and can’t be recycled - BBC News


Father’s Day’s A-Coming


You can see all 5 naked-eye planets align in the night sky this month, a rare treat Space.com. Starts tonight!


The world’s largest plant is a 112-mile-long seagrass in Australia Interesting Engineerintg. Original


Confronting a Perfect Long Storm International Monetary Fund. “We must embark on public-private collaboration on a scale never before adopted. Public sector finances will not be able to meet these needs on their own. As it is, debt-servicing costs will take an increasing share of government revenues.”