Thursday, August 3, 2017

@1:30, 8/2/17

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1
U.S.

How to Survive a Rip Current: First, Don’t Fight It

Two swimmers drowned in New York and New Jersey on Sunday after they were caught in rip currents, the phenomenon behind most rescues by beach lifeguards.

I think I understand rip currents.
They should be a quick return ride for surfers.

2
Business Day

Debt-Ridden Chinese Giant Now a Shadow of Its Former Size

Dalian Wanda, once one of China’s biggest real estate developers, is trying to reinvent itself as a slimmed-down operator of shopping malls.

People recognize pyramid schemes.
They do not end well.

3
Sports

A German Soccer Star Orders Himself an Extra Helping of Chicago

Bastian Schweinsteiger has been soaking up his new city, and reviving the moribund Chicago Fire, since joining Major League Soccer in March.

A season contract with network television would help.

4
Books

Professor Ginsberg’s Notes on the Beats

“The Best Minds of My Generation” compiles two decades’ worth of Allen Ginsberg’s lectures about his contemporaries.

The beats were an unknown exotic element of my childhood.
The more I knew of them, the less interesting they became.

5
U.S.

Trump’s Claims on Unemployment and Business Spirit

President Trump highlighted stock market highs, low unemployment and never-before-seen growth and optimism. Here’s an assessment.

"“As seemingly everyone but Trump recognizes, his economic policy achievements to date have been approximately zero,” Mr. Blinder said."

6

The Upshot

How to Prepare Preschoolers for an Automated Economy

Don’t focus only on teaching children how to code, researchers say. The more important things to learn include empathy, collaboration and problem-solving.

Most work is not problem solving.
Problem solving is not following the bosses instructions.

7
Business Day

The Tax Reform America Needs (and Probably Won’t Get)

The U.S. tax system raises little money relative to other advanced nations, yet distorts saving and investment decisions, encouraging trickery.

I have not followed the argument presented here.
I understand that the tax code is a piece of social engineering that happens to raise revenue.
Progressive income taxes on individuals place the burden of government on the beneficiaries.
Corporate income taxes should not be possible.  Corporations do not have income. They have profits and costs.  These sum to zero every reporting period.  Among the costs are dividends paid to the stockholders.
The stockholders pay income and capital gains taxes.

Capital gains are supposed to tax corporate profits held as increases in the value of the coporations.


The U.S. will not get the tax system it needs.

8
N.Y. / Region

Mayor and City Council Make Deal on Lawyers for Immigrants

A compromise ends months of squabbling, as private donors, not the city, will fund the legal services for undocumented immigrants convicted of serious crimes.

The support of the public defenders is insufficient to the need.
Everyone who must deal with the legal system needs as much help as possible.

9
World

Subversive Hong Kong Tours Reveal Dark Side of a Glittering City

As other tourists flock to wealthy shopping districts, some learn from guides about Hong Kong’s underpaid domestic workers and volatile politics.

Hong Kong is a living city. 
It must have all the parts of a functioning economy.
That means the poor along with the wealthy.
It is international in a way the rest of China is not.
The residents resent the pressure to conform to the Chinese norm.
There is no real choice to conforming.
The nonconforming are offered the choice to conform or die.
Other peoples revolts are adventures for tourists.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encryption_software

https://slashdot.org/index2.pl?fhfilter=encryption+software

https://info.townsendsecurity.com/the-guide?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIkaL92J661QIVlySBCh2utAejEA
AYBCAAEgLBLfD_BwE

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Signal_%28software%29

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moxie_Marlinspike

https://whispersystems.org/blog/whatsapp-complete/

10
Food

Ode to the Buttered Roll, That New York Lifeline

The utterly simple kaiser roll, spread with butter, is an unsung hero of the city’s mornings.

The roll is important.
I am fussy about bagels.

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