Squiz Today – Friday, 6 April

SQUIZ SAYINGS

“The world needs a sausage dog museum.”

Said no one ever. Until Dackelmuseum founder Seppi Küblbeck came along and, with a florist friend, put their combined collection of more than 4,500 toy and trinket dachshunds on display for the public to enjoy. And by enjoy we mean gawk in weird fascination that two people have collected that many replica dachshunds…

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FACEBOOK'S BIG DATA PROBLEM

THE SQUIZ
Facebook made some stunning revelations yesterday:

• It confirmed that the misuse of users’ data is way more widespread than the Cambridge Analytica scandal. In fact, the company confirmed it believes most of its +2 billion users have had their data accessed by ‘malicious actors’.

• The Cambridge Analytica scandal affects up to 87 million users (but could be lower), not 50 million as first thought. Up to 71 million of those users are American.

• Of the 16 million other users caught up in that data trawl, +300,000 were Australian. So the Aussie Privacy Commissioner has launched an investigation.

HOLY MOLY THAT’S BIG…
It sure is. CEO Mark Zuckerberg fronted up for a press conference via conference call yesterday and took responsibility for the failures. “For the first decade, we really focused on all the good that connecting people brings,” he said. But “we didn’t take a broad enough view of what our responsibility is, and that was a huge mistake. It was my mistake.” So yesterday Facebook disabled the search tools data harvesters were using and updated its terms of use and privacy policy. Zuckerberg also said he would up the number of staff working on security from 15,000 to 20,000 by the end of the year. The market liked what it heard, particularly that the saga hasn’t had “a meaningful impact” on attracting and retaining users.

WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
Zuckerberg will give evidence at a US Congressional hearing on Wednesday next week. The Washington Post said it’s going to be a tough day with a thorough grilling from “Democrats and Republicans who believe the social giant is responsible for everything from fake news to online extremism.” Meanwhile, reports say you'll be able to find out if your data has been misused by Cambridge Analytica via a link that will appear at the top of your Facebook newsfeed from 9 April.

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SQUIZ THE REST

DEALING OUT THE GST
Who doesn’t love a bit of horizontal fiscal equalisation? Basically, that's a fancy term for what each state and territory gets back in the GST its residents paid and yesterday the new deal was announced. In total, the ‘GST pie’ will grow by $5 billion to $66 billion over the next four years. The losers are Queensland and the Northern Territory, although they still get +$1 back for every dollar paid in GST. All the others are winner-winner-chicken-dinner including Western Australia which moves up from 34c to 47c in every dollar returned.

QUICK WORLD NEWS WRAP
RUSSIA CALLS A SECURITY COUNCIL MEETING OVER UK FEUD  – Russia is seeking to stop the UK and other nations from blaming it for the nerve agent attack. And Yulia Skripal, the daughter of former double agent Sergei, is awake and has issued a statement saying her strength is growing.

SEEKING AN END TO THE SYRIAN WAR –Presidents Vladimir Putin (Russia), Hassan Rouhani (Iran) and Recep Tayyip Erdogan (Turkey) have committed to finding a political solution to the seven-year-old conflict. Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is reported to have told his military leaders to be out of Syria in six months.

FORMER BRAZILIAN PREZ IN THE CLINK - Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been ordered by the Brazilian Supreme Court to continue his appeal against a corruption conviction from behind bars. Lula said the move is designed to prevent him from running for president in the October elections.

MURRAY GOULBURN GETS SHAREHOLDER TICK FOR SALE
It’s Australia's largest dairy processor, and yesterday its shareholders voted to sell the 70yo co-operative to Canadian dairy giants Saputo. It’s a $1.3 billion deal and still needs approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board. The sale will create the third biggest dairy company in the world.

FANNING RETIRES AND PEARSON SCRATCHES
Surfing great Mick Fanning yesterday wrapped up his professional surfing career coming second in the Rip Curl Pro at Bells Beach. The human shark-repeller said; “I tell you what I won't miss is those 6:30am starts.” He got to sleep in until 6.30am? Good luck to him. Stephanie Gilmore took out the women’s title and the #1 spot on the championship tour. Meanwhile up the coast at the Comm Games, hurdler Sally Pearson hasn’t got an itch… She’s been scratched from her races due to a dodgy Achilles. It means she’ll miss the chance to take her third Commonwealth gold in the 100m hurdles. She’s devo, poor thing.

FRIDAY LITES – THREE THINGS WE LIKED THIS WEEK
Frenetic knitter Sam Barsky makes jumpers featuring notable landmarks and events, and then he wears them at those spots or during those events. It’s genius. His interview with the New York Times is a delight. And you can check out all 118 examples on his website. We like the one of the solar eclipse (number 112 in the 2017 gallery).

Artist Angélica Dass took 4,000 portraits of people from 18 countries and matched their skin colour to the Pantone library. It’s a project she called Humanae.

You don't have to love golf to enjoy this, promise. Gary Nicklaus Jr, grandson of the great Jack Nicklaus, yesterday hit a hole-in-one at a US Masters pre-event. His grandfather (in the yellow vest) is so chuffed it's really lovely.

SQUIZ THE DAY

Friday

ABS Data Release - Prisoners in Australia, 2017

Golf - US Masters - on until early Monday Oz time

International Day of Sport for Development and Peace

Anniversary of the beginning of the Bosnian War (1992)

Saturday

World Health Day

Day of Remembrance of the Victims of the Rwanda Genocide

Brigadoon - the Bundanoon, NSW Highland Gathering

Russell Crowe's birthday, anniversary of his 2003 marriage to Danielle Spencer, and auction of some of his prized possessions in 'The Art of Divorce' sale

Sunday

Hungary Election

Anniversary of the death of Kurt Cobain (1994)