Tuesday, June 04, 2019

‘It’s a miracle’: Helsinki’s radical solution to homelessness


As a former prime minister, Abbott will automatically receive an annual pension of $296,000 – a raise of almost $90,000 on his backbencher’s salary of $207,100.

The new rules also align Abbott’s entitlements with those of the other former prime ministers, reflecting his exit from parliament after he lost his seat of Warringah to the independent Zali Steggall.

Former prime ministers are entitled to a parliamentary retirement travel entitlement – which was previously known as the lifetime gold pass – which grants them up to 30 domestic return trips a year.

Turnbull scrapped the lifetime gold pass for former federal MPs and vowed he would never use it.

As a former prime minister Abbott will also be entitled to office accommodation, unlimited postage for official business and the same publication allowance as MPs.



Leadership is about making a difference
Mike Kaeding, via LinkedIn
Leadership is not about titles, positions, or flowcharts. It is about one life influencing another.
AND THAT, CHILDREN, IS WHY WE CALL IT “DOPE”:  Man allegedly hiding drugs in butt accidentally shoots himself in testicles.  And no one knows if he ever even visited Florida…


Past installments of Jason Kottke's media diet are available here.
I keep track of every media thing I “consume”, so here are quick reviews of some things I’ve read, seen, heard, and experienced in the past two months. I never wrote a proper report on my trip to Mexico City, so I put some of the highlights in here. I’m in the middle of several things right now. On TV, I’m watching Our Planet, In Search of Greatness, Street Food, Chernobyl, The Clinton Affair,Reconstruction: America After the Civil War, and This Giant Beast That is the Global Economy. I don’t normally watch 19 different things at one time, but life’s felt a little scattered lately. For books, I’m listening to Guns, Germs, and Steel by Jared Diamond on audiobook and I’m making good progress on Robert Caro’sWorking (highly recommended).

The Silk Roads: A New History of the World by Peter Frankopan. Hard to  summarize but there’s certainly something interesting on almost every page. (A-)

Fleabag. Bitingly funny and poignant, a real gem. (A+)

Skyscraper. Die Hard + the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia + #sponcon for Big Duct Tape. I love a good disaster movie. (B+)

Mexico City. Great food, vegetation everywhere, beautiful architecture, culturally fascinating, super walkable/bikeable/scooterable. I am definitely visiting here again as soon as I can. (A)

Puyol Taco Omakase. Delicious & fun & a great experience, but I’m not sure the food was obviously so much better than some of the best street food I had in Mexico City. I had this same experience in Bangkok years ago…street food is tough to beat when there’s a thriving culture of markets, carts, and stalls. (B+)

The National Museum of Anthropology. One of my new favorite museums in the world. The only thing possibly more impressive than the collection is the architecture of the building. (A+)

Teotihuacán. I had high hopes for this archeological site and I was still blown away by it. (A+)

AirPods. This is my favorite gadget in years, the first real VR/AR device that feels seamless (and not like a Segway for your face). The freedom of wireless headphones feels similar to when I first used a laptop, wifi, and dockless bike share. (A+)

Homecoming. So many things to love about this, but one of my favorites is the shots of the audience watching Beyoncé and the rare moments when she watches them back: “I see you.” And also the way they put a cohesive show together while showcasing individual talents and styles. (A-)

Homecoming: The Live Album. Come on, a marching band playing Beyoncé hits? That this works so well is a small miracle. (A-)

Avengers: Endgame. I liked but didn’t love it. It was like the ST:TNG finale and the Six Feet Under finale mashed together and not done as well. It also seemed too predictable. (B)
Avengers: Age of Ultron. Now that the Thanos narrative arc is complete, this is an underrated installment. (B+)
Casa Luis Barragán. This was like being in someone’s creative mind. The layering of the garden reminded me of Disney’s use of the multiplane camera in the forest scene in Bambi. (B+)
Gelatin Sincronizada Gelitin (NSFW). I was skeptical of this art performance at first — a bunch of half-naked people painting on a moving canvas using paintbrushes coming out of their butts — but it ended up being a really cool thing to experience. (B+)
Game of Thrones. I’m not quite as critical of the final season as everyone else seems to be. Still, it seems like since the show left the cozy confines of George RR Martin’s books, it has struggled at times. (B+)
Wandering Earth. Based on the short story by Liu Cixin (author of the Three Body Problem trilogy), this disaster movie is a little uneven at the start but finishes strong. (B)
Halt and Catch Fire Vol 2. The music was one of the many great things about this show. (A-)
Running from COPS. A podcast about how media and law enforcement in America intersect to great and terrible effect. (B+)
Eating bugs. I tasted crickets, grasshoppers, and grubs at the market: mostly just salty. I had beef tartare and guacamole with grasshoppers on it. They added a nice crunch to the guac. Wouldn’t exactly go out of the way for them, but they weren’t bad. (B)
Panaderia Rosetta. Did I have one of the best pain au chocolat I’ve ever had here? Yes. Yes, I did. Also extremely delicious: everything else I tried. (A-)
Against the Rules. A podcast from Michael Lewis about what’s happening to the concept of fairness in America. The episode about Salvator Mundi, the supposed Leonardo masterpiece, is particularly interesting. (A-)
Tolkien: Maker of Middle-earth. I have a new appreciation of how much Tolkien did in creating his books: writing, map making, world building, art, constructing languages. (B+)
Frida Kahlo’s Blue House. A striking house with a lush courtyard, but the highlight was seeing Kahlo’s work area much the way she left it when she died. (B+)
Street Food Essentials by Club Tengo Hambre. Mexico City is a huge place with so much to do that I wanted to hit the ground running right away, so I booked this street food tour. Definitely a good idea. We sampled so many different kinds of tacos & gorditas & quesadillas that I lost count. Highlights: huitlacoche quesadillas, al pastor tacos, fresh Oaxaca cheese at the Mercado de San Juan, and the blue corn masa used to make tlacoyos at one of our last stops — probably the best tortilla I’ve ever eaten. (A-)
The Matrix. This came out 20 years ago. I watched it with my 11-yo son the other day and he thought the special effects “held up pretty well”. (A)
Electric scooters. I used the Lime dockless electric scooters for the first time when I was in Mexico City and I loved experience. Easier than a bike and a fun & fast way to get around the city. Cons: the combo of the speed & small wheels can be dangerous and cities generally don’t have the infrastructure to accommodate them yet. (B+)
Paprika. Inventive and visually dazzling. Purportedly an influence on Christopher Nolan’s Inception. (B+)
Oh and just because, here’s a photo I took recently in my backyard that makes it seem like I live in Narnia or The Shire:
Ollie Shed
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Advertising as a Major Source of Human Dissatisfaction

Fake booze kingpin's tax bill 'substantially greater' than $87m, report ...
After the ABC investigation, the Australian Taxation Office issued Fernbrew Pty Ltd with a $87 million ...

Almost 100,000 Australians' private details exposed in attack on Westpac's PayID


Experts say that with access to the details the lookup service can provide en masse, fraud could be committed and Australians' personal details exposed.

The attack, which also affects customers from other banks, has prompted a warning from computer security experts who say that the pilfered data could be used for fraud.

 Taxman closes in on Lendlease’s “magnificent” $1 billion tax dodge

Australia's 0.001 per cent have become 50 times richer in my lifetime


Australia's richest 200 people can afford a toast, with their wealth growing more than 20 per cent over the past year alone.

Millions in revenue have been recouped and retirement savings at risk reduced after we commenced action jointly with the  on thousands of  practitioners who had fallen behind in their own obligations. Read our media release 

ATO whistleblower facing 161-year prison sentence says he 'almost ...


ABC News‎ 


'I feel like I almost died': ATO whistleblower breaks silence on facing ... The Sydney Morning Herald
'I feel like they almost killed me': ATO whistleblower who revealed ... Daily Mail

 Our , Super + You  is back for 2019 🙌 We want Year 7–12s to get creative about  & . Great prizes are up for grabs 🏆 Info @ 


NeimanLab – “Participants who reported actively trying to diversify their online news streams by interacting with people and content espousing different points of view also reported lower levels of anxiety related to current events. “A new study suggests that consumers who actively take steps to diversify their news consumption — following accounts and news outlets that post a wide range of viewpoints, and interacting ..

Advertising as a Major Source of Human Dissatisfaction: Cross-National Evidence on One Million Europeans

 

World’s Rivers ‘Awash With Dangerous Levels of Antibiotics’ Guardian 

Advertising is bad for you! And not just your wallet!



An interactive glossary of the acronyms, slang, and terminology of the cryptocurrency and blockchain technology industry. “The Book of Jargon® – Cryptocurrency & Blockchain Technology is one in a series of practice area and industry-specific glossaries published by Latham & Watkins.  The definitions provide an introduction to each term and may raise complex legal issues on which specific legal advice is required. The terms are also subject to change as applicable laws and customary practice evolve.
Search for terms by:
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  • The information contained herein is not legal advice and should not be construed as such.
  • The Book of Jargon® is available in the App Store and on Google Play.
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The Dark Forest Theory of the Internet


Why the dark forests of the internet — podcasts, newsletters, and other private channels — are growing, and why might that pose a problem
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Monday, June 03, 2019

Sydney Surrenders to Communist Chinese Warships

It’s obvious that for most mainland Chinese, the Tiananmen massacre never happened (‘‘Tiananmen truth must be spoken’’, June 4). How prescient was George Orwell? Big Brother and the Ministry of Truth are flourishing today in China. - Paul Stevens, North Epping


 AFP raids journo after Chinese spy expose

A trove of footage from the weeks leading up to the Tiananmen Square massacre shows scenes of joy and optimism on the streets of China that have not been seen since the Communist Party's brutal killing of its own people 30 years ago. 
On the night of June 3, 1989, the People's Liberation Army turned its guns on students and ordinary Chinese who had been calling for a democratic future for the country. 
For weeks the students had been camped out in Beijing's Tiananmen Square as part of their protest.


Tiananmen Square 30th anniversary: How China erased iconic 'tank man' image for young people
Bill Birtles, via ABC News
Thirty years after the uprising, Beijing students were asked what they know about ‘tank man’.


IT IS ALWAYS ENDANGERED, UNLESS DEFENDED. AND EVEN THAT SOMETIMES THAT’S NOT ENOUGH: Tiananmen Square and the Death of Freedom.

Exclusive. Images circa 3 June 1989



Bad timing (or worse?) for visit by Chinese warships

 
 The timing, from the Chinese government's point of view, seems intended to intimidate the large Chinese warships

Chinese warships enter Sydney Harbour: Hidden detail we missed - NEWS.com.au



What on earth is the government thinking? Our navy is prohibited, under threat of war, from sailing near China’s artificial island military bases in the South China Sea. Yet our government allows the Chinese navy to dock here. Has the government thought this through? - Renato Sburlati, Sans Souci

 Why the West has underestimated China’s military abilities - NEWS.com.au

Three Chinese warships have arrived in Sydney Harbour amid increasingly strident rhetoric from Beijing over its territorial claims in the South China Sea.


Key points:



Chinese warships arrive in Sydney with no public Government announcement

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