Thank You, Strike Again

The definition of recession Is when your neighbour loses his job. Depression takes place when you lose your job. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, fear of death focuses the mind wonderfully.

How low-wage service workers are changing the face of labor. Last year, Crawford joined the “Fight for 15” campaign, a labor and community-supported project that aims to improve conditions for workers in Chicago’s central business districts. The campaign demands a $15 minimum wage and the right to form unions without interference from management Thank You, Strike Again Apple, Walmart and McDonald's all underpay their workers, but who pinches the most pennies? Where Are Workers Most Underpaid: Apple, Wal-Mart or McDonald’s?

Worker centers and other non-union labor organizations have grown immensely over the past two decades, with some in the labor movement hoping their growth will help revive a moribund labor movement. It was perhaps inevitable, then, that the same forces working for decades to destroy unions are now launching an attack on worker centers. Big Business Aims to Crush Worker Centers

When water becomes scarce, conservatives become environmentalists. If any problem is potent enough to overcome conservatives’ animus against government, it might be water scarcity. To paraphrase Samuel Johnson, fear of death focuses the mind wonderfully Water of the Never Never

Chi Chi Bella at BrugeS

While Champagne region gal, Lea, invaded her beloved Melbourne, Gabbie stormed into French part of Bruges ... Both are journaling and Blogging and posting spontaneous images wherever they dance on the ceiling ....

“Humans had built a world inside the world, which reflected it in pretty much the same way as a drop of water reflected the landscape. And yet ... and yet ...
Inside this little world they had taken pains to put all the things you might think they would want to escape from — hatred, fear, tyranny, and so forth. Death was intrigued. They thought they wanted to be taken out of themselves, and every art humans dreamt up took them further in. He was fascinated.”
― Terry Pratchett, Wyrd Sisters

In the serious world of Slovakian industrial river transport, the locks are the size of hydro-electric schemes and the barges could sit squarely in the middle of two football pitches end to end and not leave a lot of room for players around the edge.  These iron giants have names like ‘Bratislava Hulk Haulage’ and are not to be trifled with.  They are captained and crewed by grim-eyed, unshaven Romanians in grimy overalls who live on vodka, deep-fried pig’s blood sausages and any dinghy sailors they can run down and gut. The Unlikely Voyage of Slovakia      “To shoot a man because one disagrees with his interpretation of Darwin or Hegel is a sinister tribute to the supremacy of ideas in human affairs -- but a tribute nevertheless.”
 George Steiner quotes (French born American Critic, Scholar and Educator, His works include Language and Silence (1963) and Fields of Force (1974), b.1929)

I wanted a perfect ending. Now I've learned, the hard way, that some poems don't rhyme, and some stories don't have a clear beginning, middle, and end. Life is about not knowing, having to change, taking the moment and making the best of it, without knowing what's going to happen next. Delicious Ambiguity.
Gilda Radner

When GOD solves all of your problems, You believe in HIS abilities.  When He does not solve your problems, it means that He believes in your abilities.
- by George Doorman uncle of Leo Schofield

Why writers drink: Life is a Grindstone

Life is given to us,
we earn it by giving it.
-Distilled from the letters written by Mark, Mathew, Lukas, John & Jozef

Always thinking, always drinking ~ Life is a Grindstone.  It will either wear you down or polish you up, depending on how tough you are. Is it an overly keen awareness of their own mortality that leads the hyperarticulate to the bottle? Hunger was constitutional with him,/wine, cigarettes, liquor and need need need Why writers drink

Every rejected and unpublished novelist harbors a secret and implausible fantasy: One day, not only will she (or he) be published, but the sleeping literary world will also awaken and recognize her (or his) genius and pile accolades and prizes upon her (or him) -rejected-47-times-irish-novelist-finally-wins-recognition

Behavior and blame. The idea of moral agency is under attack from sociology and biology. Yet finger-pointing endures, like any other guilty pleasure. The lack of freedom that would be entailed by a general causal determinism need not [rule out responsibility and blameworthiness]. Even if our attitudes and actions are fully explained by genetic and environmental factors, it is still true that we have these attitudes and that our actions express them.” Blame or blame worthiness is a troubling concept

Whether or not he was an apologist for violence, an enemy of virtue, Machiavelli knew that in politics, one should never confuse hope and reality What Machiavelli Knew

There is nothing the body suffers which the soul may not profit by.
~ George Meredith

Tribute to Creative Linda

"I'm not just retiring from the company, I'm also retiring from my stress, my commute, my alarm clock, and my iron."
~ Hartman Jule

After two decades of working for all Australians, we all owe Linda a tribute.

The journey is the reward. And what a soulful journey Linda had at different libraries and various strategic teams. The fruits of her labour will be useful for many agencies and in many jurisdictions. Bob Woodruff noted that there is no limit to what a man can achieve as long as he doesn't care who gets the credit. Linda was a silent achiever and was never afraid to share her ideas, stories, and good sense of humour... In retirement, every day is Boss Day and every day is Employee Appreciation Day.

When Claude Lévi-Strauss wrote about food, it was about metaphors and ideas. “Cooking is a language through which society reveals its structure” The Culinary Triangle

"I work harder now that I have retired from corporate life, than when I actually worked, but I love it."
~ Catherine Pulsifer

Killing Fairfax with Digital Rivers of Gold

“Reading made Don Quixote a gentleman. Believing what he read made him mad.” - George Bernard Shaw

At least 13 if you counted the number of working journalists who turned up yesterday to the launch of a book, Killing Fairfax, which chronicles the demise of their employer. Mind you, the room was sprinkled with newsworthy businessmen, including media scions James Packer and Lachlan Murdoch, who helped Fairfax journalist Pamela Williams tell the story of how the once-proud media company lost its business to digital start-ups. Smell the smoke coming under the door ~~~ Journalists and editors Jennie Brockie, Leigh Sales, Kate McClymont, John Alexander, Amanda Wilson and Peter FitzSimons watched on as Fairfaxian Williams told the audience she felt both Murdoch and Packer were "trained to hunt from birth."

After all, these men have "primal vendettas built into their DNA". Google links

Your taste in art – Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh – far exceeds your budget. What to do? Call Susie Ray, master of the art of deception How easy is it to copy a famous painting?

Lightning Strikes Everyday to Bhangra Beat

There is a correlation with Slavic folk dance tradition and Indian folk dance tradition.
Dance is believed to have the power to end wars and make women fertile. Tatranka goral folk dance had a higher purpose than just entertainment. These traditions, like all art forms, have their functions. It is not mere dance. It is not mere play. It has a function in the society. These folk dances serve purposes beyond the performance itself. They are to placate the gods of nature to make the crops grow and animals healthy. Epidemics like smallpox were eradicated by dance performances.
"They were used for eradicating bad spirits and resolving disputes between groups. Fragile communities conserve their heritage through rituals, folk arts, crafts and performance that are passed on from one generation to the next

A Bollywood film is a combination of singing, dancing, fights, hardcore action and kissing sequences — it has everything ... Shakespeare might have called this Much Ado About Nothing Except the Dance. Every few minutes a group of brightly dressed dancers emerges from over a hill behind a tent to rock us to that bhangra beat "I no make him roti so he eat an onion" ~~~ How does one even begin to describe "Benny Lava phenomenon" when it is hard to even comprehend it Antipodeans, Amerikans even Europeans go crazy for Vennila AKA Benny Lava

Underdogs in Books & Life

This blog has been secretly written by J. K. Rowling(over) ~ JKR asks: "Does anyone speak as beautifully about writing as Stephen King and Dr Cope?" (Ach and happy secret birthday ...) King of Kings: Who doesn’t love to read Stephen King talking about writing?

The opening shot of Star Wars: a small rebel spaceship passes overhead, pursued, a few moments later, by Darth Vader’s ‘Star Destroyer’, and – famously – the latter ship just keeps coming and coming. No words are spoken, but that first thirty-second shot gives us everything we need to know about the situation: the rebels are small and ill-equipped; the Iron Curtain Empire is huge and terrifying. What’s more, this vast disparity in scale humanises what could otherwise be a rather cold and mechanical spectacle, and before a single character appears on screen, we already know which side we’re on The Tortoise and the Hare ~ Media Dragon could do worse than to get writing advice from the likes of these very successful scribes

Some bookstores are so great, they are worth a roadtrip to see them ...

The entire basis of espionage is trust. Spying could not exist without it. If such trust is imperfect or not quite complete, then it is like all other varieties of trust. Ask yourself—do you, does anyone trust absolutely his spouse, his doctor, his lawyer, his best friend, his employee, his mother? Trust is selective. In practice, the agent trusts his case officer to protect him, to keep secrets that are a threat to his life and the lives of his entire family. . . . In return the case officer trusts the agent not to set him up for capture, torture, imprisonment, and perhaps death. . . . Within an intelligence service, colleagues may dislike one another and often do, but they trust one another absolutely. It is part of the contract, part of the mystique. It is the indispensable element. Its perversion makes treason possible and all but undetectable among professional spies, but when uncorrupted it is the code that drives the system.

Bookshops at KGB And Stasi and bezpesnost

The Warriors United by generosity charity and spirit of service

Few of us - especially of the younger generation - know that the spirit of Anzac Day, which has such solemn significance to New Zealanders and Australians, has a deep Sikh connection. Senator Bob Carr highlited this connection tonight at the Sikh gathering at Castle Hill. He recalled how one Sikh invaded Matraville in 1974 and how attitudes to foreigners changed ... A Decade of Service ~ National Body of Sikhs

In peace-time the Sikhs are difficult men to command : but put them in a hot corner, and they live up to their title of Singh, which means lion Remember Them

Healing Power of Written Word

'Art doesn’t do well in the dark. But that’s where we’ve put it'
~ "In the long run, it may turn out that rascality is necessary to human government, and even to civilization itself--that civilization, at bottom, is nothing but a colossal swindle." (H.L. Mencken, Notes on Democracy) Gabbie's mentor at 16th Street ~ Geoffrey Rush

Sure, it sounds cheesy, but there is more and more evidence of the extraordinary healing power of writing things do. Write about your most profound fears, your feelings of loneliness, of regret and grief. Then hide it somewhere where nobody will ever find it, don't tell a soul, and we'll all carry on making cynical wisecracks on Twitter like it never even happened Why you really should keep a journal ~ A controversial Harper's essay about the waning relevance of poetry is just the latest in a long history of similar writings—whose authors share a few particular characteristics. Literature for Dead

Fiction, but memoir. Here you know Motive and act who made them so. Life falls in scenes; its tragedies Close in contrived catastrophes. Much is evasion. Some years pass With Some years later. In this glass Reflection sees reflection’s smile And self-engrossment is good style. Fiction is fiction: its one theme Is its allegiance to its scheme. Memoir is memoir: there your heart Awaits the judgment of your art. But memoir in fictitious guise Is telling

truth by telling lies

Australia is making some great films from The Sapphires to The Rocket to Satellite Boy. So why aren't aren't audiences watching more of them – at home and abroad? Why don't we watch more Australian films?

History of Australia over the last 50,000 years

Difficult Focuses

“When everything is easy one quickly gets stupid.”
― Maxim Gorky {a quote I came across on a train to tatarari of new castles}

In such a short time, Mrs. Fischer and I had achieved a degree of friendship that allowed periods of silence without awkwardness. I felt comfortable with her. I was reasonably sure that she would never shoot me or stab me, or set me on fire, or throw acid in my face, or lock me in a room with a hungry crocodile, or dump me in a lake after chaining me to two dead men. Such confidence in a new acquaintance is more rare these days than it once was. Deeply Odd: TAXING TIMES

PressThink - Jay Rosen

PressThink, the blog, is primarily about about the legitimation of the modern press, meaning: the various justifications for it, and how they match up with actual practice– or don’t. I take these ideas seriously. I think journalists should too A few principles for how I operate as a critic

For a people to resist tyranny, they must think of themselves as a people. Thus Stalin regarded free association as a greater threat than free enterprise When Evil Was a Social System The moral burdens of living under communist rule in Eastern Europe

Benjamin Disraeli: Politician of wit and principle, or “a bizarre, overdressed, bankrupt novelist who liked the sound of his own voice”? Both, perhaps Disraeli, by Douglas Hurd; The Great Rivalry, by Dick Leonard - review

Want to Learn How to Think? Read Fiction ~ There’s no antidote to black-or-white thinking like reading “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”

The safest memories are those you never remember

Who ruined the humanities? The academy, says Lee Siegel. Literature belongs to the world of lived experience, not the college classroom Critics of Humanities

A writer--and, I believe, generally all persons--must think that whatever happens to him or her is a resource. All things have been given to us for a purpose, and an artist must feel this more intensely. All that happens to us, including our humiliations, our misfortunes, our embarrassments, all is given to us as raw material, as clay, so that we may shape our art."
Jorge Luis Borges, Twenty Conversations with Borges"

A lot of people believed in Australia for 1,000 years before its discovery. There had to be a commensurate weight – somewhere Down Under – to counter the northern land mass; an “unknown Southland” which was crucial to maintaining the balance of the world. To confuse matters, the continent was dubbed La Australia del Espiritu Santo – in honour of the House of Austria Literary guide to Australia
Aussie restaurateur, Paul Mathis has invented a new letter of the alphabet to replace the word "the" because he thinks it is more efficient Ze Kold Riva

Memories are not stamped on the brain. They are, in fact, malleable, rebuilt when recalled. Proust, it turns out, was no neuroscientist... The safest memories are those you never remember ~ On Writing in Books
What do the names Jimi Hendrix, Sylvia Plath, and Terry Fox have in common? Two notable commonalities for which they are all remembered – bright, burning passion, and the fact that they died too young Those who died young … ~ Five Literary Magazines That Restore My Faith in Publishing ~ stories are good for you ~ Life's Too Short... What Makes You Put Down a Book?

And I wish desperately for qualities
Moments like this demand, and which I lack.
Philip Larkin, "The Dance" (courtesy of John Podhoretz)

Many Happy Returns Christopher Lidka Steve ...

Anyone entrusted with power will abuse it if not also animated with the love of truth and virtue, no matter whether he be a prince, or one of the people.
— Jean de la Fontaine, born on this date in 1621

All my birthday boys and girls are kind ;-) ~ We can tell our children that there is no Big Bad Wolf, but we can’t assure them that they won’t be prevented from reaching their goals by an unseen bureaucracy intent upon burying them in paperwork Kafka for four months old Lamars

While many read fiction stories simply for pleasure, a recently released study by two psychologists found that immersive literature can affect the behavior of those who identify strongly with central characters. This can cause readers to reflect the strong qualities of main characters in their own lives, according to lead researcher Geoff Kaufman, a post-doctoral researcher at the College’s Tiltfactor Laboratories. How literature affects behaviour

Another of the books most likely to be left unfinished, E.L. James' erotic romance "Fifty Shades of Grey," was a bestseller that didn't turn everyone on. "I am embarrassed for all of us," one reader commented What makes you stop reading a book?

Hemingway was right when he said, “All modern American literature comes from one book by Mark Twain called Huckleberry Finn.” Hemingway was wrong when he continued, “If you read it you must stop where the Nigger Jim is stolen from the boys. That is the real end. The rest is just cheating.” For if we stop where Hemingway instructs, we may read the actual wish of many whites – that someone else would take their “black problem” or their “Indian problem” or their “immigrant problem” away – but we miss Twain’s most important critique: White men like Tom Sawyer will forever manipulate the Huck Finns of the world

Financial Terms Every Serious Blogger Should Know

James Gandolfini Will a Tax 'Disaster,' tax professor covers sooo many serious and curious tax matters - even the sopranos

Who knew that blogging would someday become a legitimate career choice? And that a blog could be classified as a real business? Ten years ago, blogging was considered something cat lovers did in their spare time, and now it’s a bonafide business venture Tax Treatment of Bloggers and Media Dragons

Odd IRS Registration plates - blogged by tax professor

The ability to publish inexpensively, and to reach potentially millions of people in seconds, has made it possible for people who’d never be able to — or even want to — be hired by the institutional press to nonetheless publish and influence the world, much like 18th century pamphleteers.
Durbin brings to mind something Mark Twain said: "Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were a member of Congress; but I repeat myself." Who is a journalist?