Remembering the unforgetable ...

Remembering First World War ...

The Fall of the Berlin Wall, 25th Anniversary “The iconic fall of the Berlin Wall 25 years ago today shocked international leaders from Washington to Moscow, London to Warsaw, as East German crowds took advantage of Communist Party fumbles to break down the Cold War’s most symbolic barrier, according to formerly secret documents from Soviet, German, U.S., Czechoslovak and Hungarian files posted today by the National Security Archive at George Washington University. The historic events of the night of November 9, 1989 came about from accident and contingency, rather than conspiracy or strategy, according to the documents. Crowds of East Berliners, already conditioned by months of refugee flights to the West and weeks of peaceful mass protests in cities like Leipzig, seized on media reports of immediate changes in travel restrictions — based on a bumbled briefing by a Politburo member, Gunter Schabowski — and inundated the Wall’s checkpoints demanding passage. Television coverage of the first crossing that yielded to the self-fulfilling media prophecy then created a multiplier effect and more crowds came, ultimately to dance on the Wall. The documents show that the actual collapse of the Wall began with Hungarian Communist reformers who proposed in early 1989 to open their borders to the West, while seeking particularly West German foreign investment to solve Hungary’s economic crisis. Hungarian Communist leaders checked in with Soviet general secretary Mikhail Gorbachev in March 1989, letting him know they planned to take down the barbed wire; and Gorbachev — true to his “common European home” rhetoric — responded only that “we have a strict regime on our borders, but we are also becoming more open.” The Hungarian decision sparked a stream and then a flood of East German refugees.

25 years after the fall of the Wall, unemployment in East vs. West Germany

Berlin’s digital exiles: where tech activists go to escape the NSA 

Understanding Stalin

Russian archives reveal that he was no madman, but a very smart and implacably rational ideologue.

 

 The story of the millionaire Tory MP and the tenants facing homelessness Guardian. Lambert: “Where does thus guy think he is? San Francisco?”

 

Cold War Snow artist has the Alps as his canvas GrindTV 

When history books change your mind

Who cannot be entranced by those 25 years after the fall of Iron Curtain when, Praha, Prague supplanted New York as the  cultural capitol  of the world? Remaking Culture ...

Gorbachev new cold war threat berlin wall 25th anniversary; The secret escapes   ;
Chemical research

When a book changes your mind, it doesn’t just inspire or influence your thinking. It alters the way you see yourself and your place in the world... Books & Rivers that Changed you Forever ...

Canadian Parliament member Justin Trudeau Releases Common Ground, a Memoir Taking a Page Out of the Obama Playbook

“One writes a repellent book not to be repellent but to represent the repellent, to expose it, to reveal how it looks.” Roth rereads Portnoy's Complaint...As You Do ...

What an 18th-century hellfire preacher taught Marilynne Robinson about metaphysics, aesthetics, transcendence Complexity of our Taxing Lives with or without Liz or John & their little towers

Our bladders, our destinies. William James called free will “the whole sting and excitement” of life. Can something so central hinge on having to pee?... Some elements tend to rise to the top ...

Mantras and codes, supplicatory rituals, rites and sacrifices: What does it take to fend off writer’s block? For Sven Birkerts, merely an afternoon on a bench in Central Park... Free Flows

How Did Amazon End Up as Literary Enemy No. 1?

Life-Changing Epiphany Wears Off On Ride Home

Finland warns of new cold war over failure to grasp situation in Russia Guardian

The Return of the Trade Cold War?

Despite being overcome by a profound realization just minutes earlier that challenged his long-held beliefs and promised to forever alter his daily existence, sources confirmed that 42-year-old Thomas Wilson’s epiphany had fully worn off during his drive home Wednesday. The deeply affecting and eye-opening revelation, which in an instant had caused him to completely reassess his priorities, was reportedly pushed to the back of Wilson’s mind as he stopped to fill up his car with gas, fading to just a fraction of its initial impact moments later as he began listening to a podcast on his vehicle’s stereo system. According to reports, as Wilson shifted his focus to navigating road construction and merging onto a particularly busy stretch of highway, the last shred of his momentous eureka moment had nearly dissolved away. At press time, the life-changing insight was fully extinguished as Wilson walked in through his front door and discovered the latest Hammacher Schlemmer catalogue waiting in his mail.

Life-Changing Epiphany Wears Off On Ride Home Onion (David L)

Expat banker Rurik Jutting charged with double murder in Hong Kong was a ‘money-obsessed bully’ News.com.au

Small businesses ‘must be run by stressed-out lunatics’ Daily Mash

Why Sand Is Disappearing New York Times (David L)

Bears Discovery Photography: Live from British Columbia Brad DeLong. DeLong does an antidote!

Mama hippo was expecting, but L.A. Zoo staff wasn’t CNN (EM)

Ninety-year-old man faces jail for giving food to homeless people Independent (Chuck L)

A possible alternative to antibiotics PhysOrg (Robert M)

Unprecedented investigation into secret tax deals

Tax Office goes hard in pursuit of tax lost to 'aggressive planning'

Huge trove of information blasts hole in Luxembourg’s theatre of probity Tax Justice Network (Richard Smith)

Czech out Luxembourg Search leaks

Full list every company named - Luxembourg database

An unprecedented international investigation into tax deals struck  with Luxembourg has uncovered the multi-billion dollar tax secrets of some of the world’s largest multinational corporations Tax files

Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan is pursuing a global investigation of inter­national and Australian companies exposed by one of the biggest leaks of tax information ever for using Luxembourg to shift profits and avoid tax.

The Future Fund, AMP, Macquarie Group, Lend Lease, Goodman Group and dozens of other Australian com­panies negotiated secret tax deals with Luxembourg to reduce their taxes by routing profits through tax havens, according to the tax-leak information The Australian Financial Review shared yesterday with Mr Jordan International PWC tax schemes exposed;  Secrets of Luxembourg Big four audit firms behind global profit shifting

These 343 companies appear to havechanneled hundreds of billions of dollars through Luxembourg and saved billions of dollars in taxes, according to a review of nearly 28,000 pages of confidential documents conducted by the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and a team of more than 80 journalists from 26 countries Brand name companies secret Luxembourg tax deals revealed

Jean-Claude Juncker, 59, who took over as president of the EU executive after more than two decades as finance minister and prime minister of the tiny Grand Duchy, pulled out of a speaking engagement on Thursday. He repeated through a spokesman a remark made the previous day denying a conflict of interest and saying he would not hinder existing EU investigations of Luxembourg.

And for all the sharp words from political opponents to his left ... (Suspence intended) Luxembourg tax storm hits new EU chief Juncker

Financial Times, Leak Details Luxembourg Corporate Tax Deals

The Guardian, Luxembourg Tax Leaks Put Pressure on G20 Leaders to Act on Loopholes

New York Times, Hundreds of Companies Seen Cutting Tax Bills by Sending Money Through Luxembourg

Avast ye Supreme Court justices, thar be an undersized grouper!Christian Science Monitor (bob). OMG, here we see a creative use (abuse?) of Sarbanes Oxley, when the SEC and the Department of Justice can’t bring themselves to use the law as Congress intended.

Scammers without Guns: offshoring menace

Bizarre prices community pay for offshoring telstra services Australians are receiving frustrating calls from 02 8302 6100

Czech out this link http://www.reverseaustralia.com/lookup/0283026100/ 

http://www.reverseaustralia.com/lookup/0283026100/

Guns don't scare people, hackers do: Americans fear identity theft more than shooting sprees

A survey into what Americans fear most has shown that fears of identity theft and being unsafe online outweigh the fear of being shot. The poll of 1,500 Americans conducted by Chapman University in Orange, California, found that walking alone down a dark street is the situation that has Americans most fearful – beating the fear …

Guns less fear than hacker

After media dragon experience in February ATMs combat card skimming

Trends in Tiny Towns

Police Pay Gap: Many of America's Finest Struggle on  Poverty Wages

Oakley, Mi. is barely a town at 300 people, only one streetlight and, until recently, one police officer. The one cop was good at his job, reports Vocativ’s M.L. Nestel, until he was forced to step down after getting caught stalking a teenage girl.

In 2008, new chief Robert Reznick made some changes: he hired 12 full-time officers and started an enormous volunteer officer program which allowed lawyers, doctors and football players (from other towns) to work toward upholding the law.

One qualifies for this prestigious program simply by paying $1,200 to the police department. In return, you’ll get a uniform, bullet-proof vest and gun. For an additional donation, you’ll get a police badge and the right to carry your gun basically anywhere in the state, including stadiums, bars and daycares.

There is more On this tiny town at Salon ...

Catchiest songs of Fight Club Variety

Are these the catchiest songs of all time?  (Subjective Opinions Ahead)

Busoni, late piano works, Marc-Andre Hamelin

 Rhinos whistle and giggle

The Abbey Road studio.  And profile of Clive James

BrookingsFightClub (pointless video, I am not trolling you, it really is just that, there is no reason to czech it out)

What the world eats

When DNA is the matchmaker (dubious, in my view).

The 86-square foot Paris apartment.

“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Susan Rice Mocks Israeli Ambasador

“SMART DIPLOMACY:” Susan Rice Mocks Israeli Ambassador: ‘He’s Too Busy Travelling to Sheldon Adelson’s Events.’ Everything’s about domestic politics to these people. Everything. Well, there’s also the anti-semitism

Capping a series of victories by a modest band of pro-Palestinian activists, an Israel-based shipping company has re-routed a container ship from the Port of Oakland, where protestors had vowed to keep the ship from unloading, to an alternate destination in Russia Blocking

MARY BURKE’S LAST RESORT: The Nazi Card.

PERSONALLY, I SLEEP LIKE A BABY: Here’s Why You Can’t Get a Good Night’s Sleep …and how you can fix it.

Human character changed on or around June 1995. Who can help us make sense of the barrage of texts, tweets, newsfeeds, and emails?Rebecca Solnit... Digital Mysteries

MY USA TODAY COLUMN: Catcalling: A Two-Way Street.

The biggest CIA-drug money scandal you never read

The biggest CIA-drug money scandal you never read Pando Daily

Bertolt Brecht’s bad breath. Poor dress, poor hygiene, poor manners: It was his way of showing solidarity with the Proletariat

VOTER FRAUD: Undercover video shows North Carolina poll workers offering ballots to ineligible impostor – TWENTY TIMES – putting voter ID battle on the front burner.

Sapp sustained some cuts in the struggle [with police] and was transported to UPMC Mercy Hospital for treatment. While at the hospital, Sapp allegedly tried to bribe officers to let him go. According to the criminal complaint, Sapp stated, “Listen, I know how this works. How much money will it take to make this go away and to let me go home today?” The officers informed Sapp that he could not attempt to bribe them, but Sapp continued. “Look, I am an IRS agent and I can help you in other ways if you let me go home and make this go away.”CBS Pittsburgh,  Police: Man Arrested For Kicking Heinz Field Barriers, Trying To Bribe Officers

Combine a disgruntled, gambling-happy professor, a student who doesn’t like to read, and Wittgenstein. The result: A Revelations

Soccer Rat! The inside story of how Chuck Blazer, ex-U.S. soccer executive and FIFA bigwig, became a confidential informant for the FBI  New York Daily News

Here’s one more reason not to use your iPhone’s fingerprint scanner Pando Daily

Michael Simkovic (Seton Hall) &Frank McIntyre (Rutgers Business School), The Economic Value of a Law Degree $1 Million

Who Shot the Devil's Barman?

'Gentlemen, it is a fact that every philosopher of eminence for the last two centuries has either been murdered, or, at the least, been very near it, insomuch that if a man calls himself a philosopher, and never had his life attempted, rest assured there is nothing in him; and against Locke's philosophy in particular, I think it is an unanswerable objection (if we needed any) that, although he carried his throat about him in this world for seventy-two years, no man ever condescended to cut it.'
-- Thomas de Quincey, 'Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts' (quotation supplied by Kent Bach)

That Devil on Your Shoulder Likes to Sleep In New York Times

I’m battling my demons, and at my most vulnerable, but I’ve still managed to bring you a column Top ten most fatuous phrases

Why we kill.  And grandma the murderer

Maintained by Hugh Mellor but apparently last updated in 2005, the Causes of Deaths of Philosopherswebsite humorously speculates about, well, the causes and descriptions of deaths of philosophers. To wit:

Imrich: Phenomenally bad luck
Ryle: Gave up the ghost

Dancy: No particular reason
Sellars: Not given

Benacerraf: Number was up
Wittgenstein: Became the late Wittgenstein
Plato: Caved in

MPs to escape expenses investigations after paperwork destroyed by Parliament Daily Telegraph

American Machiavelli American Conservative (CL)

World's richest man would take 220 years to spend his wealth  (conflict of interest as i am related to the subject of the article ;-)

Data collection is creepy, even when its mainly data hoarding Slacktivist

Social knowledge at the micro level Understanding Society

We Are All Confident Idiots Pacific Standard (Fresno Dan)

Who’s Tripping up the Designs of the Global Corporatocracy?  Wolf Street

Last week, Susanna Siegel and Steven Pinker (both of Harvard) participated in a debate  about the role of the humanities and the sciences in the study of the mind. The debate was videotaped and can be watched here (update: link fixed). Below is Professor Siegel’s summary of the event, the topic of which raises questions about the value of the humanities more..

(RIP) Misha: the nation of animal lovers stops today

Misha, (chatterbox) the cat which came with the house and gave us so many stories disappeared this weekend leaving many heavy hearts in the Media Dragon world.

The Melbourne Cup is Australia's major thoroughbred horse race. A rare race  as it stops a nation Down Under.

BART Cummings is in Melbourne to watch his nine-year-old Precedence contest his fourth Melbourne Cup. Cummings has trained 12 Melbourne Cup winners, prompting observers to say that he could train his horses to the moment the field jumped.

Not that we doubt Cummings’ extraordinary ability — you may know him only as “The Cups King” — but it is highly unlikely the 87-year-old trainer could do that now or even in his prime. He is a horseman not Nostradamus Why the cup is so tough on horses

The Germans have the football World Cup and now they have a Melbourne Cup after Protectionist eclipsed his rivals at Flemington.
Australian Bloodstock bought half of the horse from Protectionist’s German owners after he won Group II Hansa-Preis (2400m) in June before the five-year-old qualified for the Melbourne Cup with his win in the Group II Prix Kergorlay in France 2014 Melbourne Cup The Germans triumph

The 2014 Melbourne Cup has taken a tragic turn with pre-race favourite Admire Rakti dying and fellow runner Araldo also left fighting for life. Admire Rakti, which won the Caulfield Cup in October, died after collapsing back at the stalls just five minutes after shocking punters by finishing last in the Cup Admire Rakti : japanese horse diesp

Clive James I feel like a multiple car crash in rain; Prolific writer clive james facing death reflects on getting a few things done

Coda: Why Your Cat Thinks You’re a Huge, Unpredictable Ape Wired

Senator John Williams fighting for the powerless

• The arrest and charging of colourful financier Ian Lazar marks another win for Senator John Williams in a campaign for change that has seen his life threatened.

Lazar on Friday faced court over allegations he defrauded an elderly woman of her home on the NSW mid-north coast. He was refused bail at Sydney's Central Local Court after a magistrate expressed concerns that the 43-year-old posed an unacceptable risk to Crown witnesses Senator John Williams makes mark in senate as battler for underdog

Banks, corporate giants, the big end of town ... John "Wacka" Williams is prepared to take them all on. Adele Ferguson meets the National Party senator

• Profile: The sheep-shearing senator taking on big business courtesy of PWC 

There will always be evil

There will always be evil, and it is (media dragons') job no to turn away.
~ Kate McClymont SMH dragon --- twitter.com/Kate_McClymont

“As journalists we should have the courage to act for more than the lofty notion of freedom of speech. We have a duty to be the voice of the powerless in our society, to stand up for them. This should be why we do our job. The money is crap (mostly), the hours are long and the stress can be excruciating,” she said.

Leading investigative journalist Kate McClymont has criticised the federal government’s new anti-terror laws describing elements of the recently passed legislation as “repugnant” and arguing it is a “great concern” that there is no “public interest” exception.

The former Gold Walkley winner made the remarks during her keynote speech at the Andrew Olle Lecture in Sydney last night telling the audience that society should protect the public right to know and that it was “vital” that a public interest exemption be added to the new laws Kate McClymont 2014 andrew olle media lecture

Expecting the Unexpected

Unexpected ways to wake up your brain BBC

Two genes linked with violent crime BBC (David L)

As Infrastructure Crumbles, Trillions Of Gallons Of Water Lost NPR (David L)

Report offers new detail on scope and scale of ISIS

 How to leak sensitive data from an isolated computer (air-gap) to a near by mobile phone PhysOrg (Robert M)

How Smart, Connected Products Are Transforming Competition Harvard Business Review. I can see my future. I am so opposed to the Internet of Things that I will wind up hunting down stupid devices for the next 30 years on eBay.

FBI demands new powers to hack into computers and carry out surveillance Guardian

New amicus brief challenges Justice Dept. state secrets assertion in private defamation case Electronic Frontier Foundation