Wednesday, November 06, 2019

Meaningful work tops when it comes to careers: survey

 This is like the black knight in Monty Python’s Holy Grail insisting losing his arms and legs was just a flesh wound. 

Lusty retirees and power-lifting septuagenarians churn out books chronicling the joys of aging. It’s all quite misleading, of course...  Recycled Teenagers 



The 50 Most Important MEdia Dragon Websites of All Time

 "A robot tax? Now I have heard it all. The idea came out of Bill de Blasio just before he gave up his bid to gain the Democratic presidential nomination, but he is not alone. Other progressives have fastened on to the idea, as have several Silicon Valley business leaders. It has, in other words, acquired a life of its own. It certainly is indicative of thinking among a group that has so clearly gained ascendency within the Democratic Party. On that basis, even though de Blasio is a loser, it still deserves a look." - Milton Ezrati
A Robot Tax Will Help No One And Hurt Many 

Lesson From The Tax Court: No Jurisdiction Over Ambiguous NOD

Jurisdiction is just a fancy word for “power.”  In a speech later published as The Path of The Law, the sainted Justice Holmes said: “in societies like ours the command of the public force is entrusted to the judges in certain cases, and the whole power of the state will be put forth, if necessary, to carry out their judgments and decrees.”  To Holmes, and others, courts are an instrumentality of government power.  The Tax Court is one such court.

Bloomberg Tax, Nationals, Tax Collectors Set to Score Post-World Series:
The Washington Nationals are World Series champions for the first time—and for the first time in line for lofty bonuses subject to a mix of taxes and fees.









This Minneapolis Playwright Has Won $400,000 In Literary Prizes This Year



“I always imagined I would be a playwright at night and a CPA or something in the day,” Lauren Yee said. “I’m pretty organized and disciplined. There are times when I’m thinking about a project and I put the pieces together like a producer.” Now, she gets to be a full-time playwright. – Star-Tribune (Mpls)


"To err is human. Missteps, misapprehensions, misspeakings, momentary lapses and mess-ups are part of the fabric of life. Yet we are capable of making mistakes precisely because we are thoughtful, intelligent beings with complex goals and sincerely held values. We wouldn’t be able to if we were otherwise. Regrets: we’ve had a few. But we are the wiser for them." Social scientists have championed theories of human infallibility in many matters. But mistakes are central to who we are... Success of Failure 




How Happiness Got To Be So Much Work


“Happiness is in many ways the marketing breakthrough of the past decade, with self-care and anti-stress products now rounding out the bestseller list on Amazon (think of ‘gravity blankets’, ‘de-stressing’ adult colouring books and fidget spinners), where they nestle alongside chart-topping tomes by ‘happiness bloggers’. All of this is made possible by a specific, disturbing and very new version of ‘happiness’ that holds that bad feelings must be avoided at all costs.” – Aeon


Learning the language of power

Ha-Joon Chang has a new series of lectures coming out on INET on the language of power – and how economics has been used to
Read the full article

Kathleen Delaney Thomas (North Carolina) was scheduled to present Taxing Nudges at Loyola-L.A. today as part of its Tax Policy Colloquium Series hosted by Ellen Aprill and Ted Seto:
Thomas (2019)Governments are increasingly turning to behavioral economics to inform policy design in areas like health care, the environment, and financial decision-making. Research shows that small behavioral interventions, referred to as “nudges,” often produce significant responses at a low cost. The theory behind nudges is that, rather than mandating certain behaviors or providing costly economic subsidies, modest initiatives may “nudge” individuals to choose desirable outcomes by appealing to their behavioral preferences. For example, automatically enrolling workers into savings plans as a default rather than requiring them to actively sign up has dramatically increased enrollment in such plans. Similarly, allowing individuals to earn “wellness points” from attendance at a gym, redeemable at various retail establishments, may improve exercise habits.

This Charger Takes Over Your Phone to Poison the Ad Data Amazon Wants Motherboard


Why Does Israel Have So Many Startups.


A Lineman Became a Doctor, but Dementia Made Him Retire. He’s Only 42. NYT

  Meaningful work tops when it comes to careers: survey
 Globally, workers rank meaningful work as the most important aspect of their career, beating out positive company culture, compensation and perks, a supportive manager, and a fun team.
The report found that frequent recognition — particularly recognition that can be given by everyone — appreciation and informal check-ins play a large role in building connections and improving employees’ trust in senior leadership. In addition, workers who check in at least weekly with their manager are less likely to be disengaged, and more likely to see opportunity for growth in the organization
 These findings are in line with those of a 2019 global survey from Deloitte, which finds that 49% of millennials surveyed will quit their job within the next two years. Many millennials who began in traditional, career-track jobs have started to regard mid-career internships (“minternships”) as an opportunity to relaunch careers or switch professional paths. 
HRReporter, Meaningful work tops when it comes to careers: survey


If tax havens scare you, monopolies should too. And vice versa.






A History of PopMech’s Ambitious (And Sometimes Inaccurate) Internet Predictions


Popular Mechanics: “Just because you predicted the future of the internet wrong, doesn’t mean you’re hokey. It just points to unpredictability of the internet. Could we have known that WiFi would revolutionize the home and lead us to welcome voice spies into our home? Or that we’d have computers in our pockets all times of the day? Or cars would one day push out software updates over wifi? For over a century, Popular Mechanics has been documenting the latest in engineering and as they say, not all good things can last. Many of these inventions never came to fruition, but even the failures deserved coverage as they illustrate progress. And as a technology focused publication, it’s arduous to predict the future of the internet (or anything for that matter). So we’ve rounded up a few of the times that the magazine got the future of the internet right—and wrong—over the course of its 117-year history…”
  

Despair for Many and Silver Linings for Some in California Wildfires NYT. The front page teaser reads: “Wildfires Highlight the Divide Between California’s Rich and Poor.”