Triple Triggerfish fun

I was midway through a dive at Eva's Point at Sipalay in the Philippines just hovering on the sloping wall and just about to head over to the vertical drop-off, I was pretty relaxed. The dive guide's frantic rapping of his stainless steel spike against his tank drew me from my hypnotic state to look up and over in his direction when it dawned on me why he was trying to get my attention.

Three triggerfish had made their move towards me with the closest about a metre from my head. Had I been aware, I would have seen them all charge me at once and I would have had time to get in the defensive position using my fins as a decoy. As they tend to attack your fins especially when mounting a rear attack, the first you know of their presence is them biting your fins.

A frontal assault is a different battle when your head is exposed, the powerful jaws of the triggerfish allows them to bite chunks of coral off with ease - this is not what I want biting into my head. My first experience with a triggerfish was in Papua New Guinea about 20 years ago when one attacked the head of a Japanese diver, he lost huge chunks from his head - it was not a pretty sight.

I have been involved in a dual triggerfish duel about 3 or 4 years back, having to fend off two at once whilst maintaining my decompression ceiling. This was an experience I was not keen to repeat; now three of them in a group was looking a real task.

My first movement was to throw a right hook, this missed wildly but bought me a little time. As I was within reasonable distance from the group, I was able to make my way over to the others and with weight of numbers the triggerfish weren't going to take this any further.

The little triggerfish didn't concern me too much, it was the medium sized triggerfish that was the first one to lunge at me and get things rolling. I have successfully fought off triggerfish of that size before, it takes a battle but you can get out of their territory reasonably unscathed. It was the large triggerfish that scared me the most, this thing was massive and powerfully built. This was going to take some work to defeat, I wouldn't want to endure an attack from this big fella as a one-on-one let alone working together with the other two.

Much to my delight they didn't pursue me into the group, all of a sudden they were outnumbered and just hung back and watched for a while before leaving the group alone. Later on the boat, the old German lady was laughing and saying I normally look so calm underwater, this wasn't the case, yet I wasn't worried - I know the damage these bastards can inflict.

Hailing from a trade background

Applying for an MBA normally sees a number of high flying candidates coming from senior management roles, mid-level managers, finance and consulting. But does this really represent the full spectrum of MBA applicants? I don't think so. Certainly the senior managers, finance specialists and consultants would be prime candidates for executive MBA programs but what about the majority of applicants?

I saw a promotional slide where the MBA graduate reflected on his trade background and I thought that tradespeople are really under-represented in MBA programs. For my way of thinking, tradespeople are excellent candidates with their technical knowledge, project skills, diagnostic and trouble-shooting abilities, work ethic and ability to work under pressure.

Even more so, candidates from technical trades make ideal mid-level managers owing to their extensive operational experience once they have gained experience from leading-hand, foreman and superintendent roles. From an operational perspective, technical tradespeople know the business from a bottom-up viewpoint.

All technical tradespeople need to do is learn the language of business and become more conceptual in their thinking. Such candidates need to learn the art of leadership to get the job done through the efforts of the team - it isn't that much of a step up.

Flying Christmas day

I never look forward to a Perth to Bali or Bali to Perth flight, this isn't a normal airline clientele and flights never appear to be routine. Today I was hopeful, this was a day families would be attending luncheons at the resort and an empty flight awaited me.

I imagined flying on Christmas day to be a fairly quiet flight based on previous experiences. I recall a Garuda flight on Christmas day from Bali to Perth to be almost empty except for half a dozen people on board, this was a decade ago. This was a midday flight and I guess everyone was busy having Christmas lunch in their Balinese resort.

After a long lunch at a resort, I was taking a later flight, this was a 18:20 flight and I was expecting similar circumstances. In the boarding lounge much to my surprise, there were more people than I expected, but still, this wasn't looking like a full flight and I was pretty happy.

I was feeling pretty relaxed during boarding, then the chaos started. A whole bunch of people with unruly children arrived late, I was already seated, still feeling good at this stage and thought they were ready to close the door.

That's when the horrible screaming, crying and poorly disciplined children and the mayhem erupted. I quickly reached for my tablet and headphones and cranked the volume up in an attempt to drown out the noise - this was to no avail.

The whole duration of the flight had screaming children running up and down the aisles, children climbing over everything, kicking seats, pushing the flight attendant button, yelling, turning the overhead reading lights on and off, constant crying and of course the all too frequent scream. This group of parents just let these kids run riot for the whole flight, this was a flight that had descended into chaos.

I'm not a parent so maybe I'm a little intolerant to parent's issues but I also know bad parenting too. We had certain standards of behaviour as kids growing up in the 70s, we knew what we were allowed to do and what we weren't and we knew the consequences of not behaving. Christmas day is for the kids and today they certainly did as they wished.

The capitalist organisation

I was recently discussing company values with a friend as she is employed for less than an ethical company. She lamented the owner's lack of regard for worker rights; ultimately she was true and correct.

I responded with my analysis of the organisation that fulfilled the obligations of a capitalist business inherited by the owner paying scant regard to ethical values, the triple bottom line, sustainability and corporate social responsibility her company met none of this criteria.

The business is there solely to make the owner richer; he pays the minimum rates of pay to stop people seeking employment elsewhere - that's about it. He has created a culture of blame that lacks innovation, accountability and motivation. No need to discuss modern management practices and the role of stakeholders in decision making - he just isn't interested.

Whilst economist Milton Friedman claimed the sole role of the organisation is purely to make a profit in the late 1960s; I feel the era of stakeholder involvement and corporate social responsibility has advanced to such a degree since he made his remarks that businesses now ranked on their sustainability programs now compete on their green credentials.

Diving Amed

Diving is overpriced in Bali, there is no doubt about that. I really haven't done enough diving around Amed and that needs to change. There is plenty of good dive sites midway up the island, all to often, my trips involve diving after a few days relaxing in the south and I should spend more time staying in Amed.

What I really need to organise is a long weekend away dedicated to diving during the cold and rainy Perth winter. I often threaten to take a long weekend diving up around Amed but never seem to get it organised, maybe 2017 is the year I actually get this short dive weekend organised. Tulumben is the best known area in Bali for diving owing to the Liberty wreck but just down the road is the small village of Amed, this is a pretty good and underestimated area of Bali diving. 

Roofing - insanity or art?

There was the planking craze that had everybody mimicking the trend. The ice bucket challenge was pretty popular too - everybody had to get in on this craze. To be fair, the ice bucket challenge was a great idea devised to raise awareness for motor neuron disease and raise money for this worthwhile charity. What I hope doesn't take off is roofing - this is seriously dangerous. There was no skill involved in either the planking or ice bucket challenge but everyone had fun, this is not the case with roofing. This is not an activity to be copied - there wouldn't be too many second chances here.

Russian Instagram sensation Angela Nikolau is probably one of the more famous exponents of roofing. Whilst this is no doubt linked to her stunning good looks, balance, poise and athleticism; this modern day adventurer doesn't appear to have any fears. I have to admit, when I scroll through some of her photographs, I feel more than a few pangs of anxiety.

Check out her Instagram feed at https://www.instagram.com/angela_nikolau/?hl=en

Dealing with yes men

True leaders don't want yes men; that is all great in theory but most of us have managers that are surrounded by hand picked yes men who will do anything to undermine high quality employees to bolster their position. 

How many of us work with true leaders instead of petty managers using their position to manipulate workers for their own means? Generally, such managers are weak leaders too frightened to employ top notch candidates who would be considered a threat to their shaky abilities. Instead, they surround themselves people of limited ability who remain loyal to that manager as they know they will not be likely to pick up a similar position in another company. 

You need to play these guys as hard as you can, they believe that you are weak and will not confront them directly. In military terms, a frontal attack is a poor choice, instead flanking and penetration tactics straight out of the German WWII military manual stand the test of time. 

If you adapt such tactics for business, this ensures you counter-attack from a defensive position and not leave yourself exposed. The German military were not stupid enough to attack France by going over the Maginot Line; instead, they swung around through the poorly defended Belgium and attacked the flank at their weakest point in a Blitzkrieg maneuver. Well, you need to adapt the same tactics and use maneuver to your advantage. 

You need to build alliances to counter their unethical tactics and use game theory to determine your desired outcome and work backwards to counter their every move. That way you will have insights into the way they play the game and be ready to counter their now poorly and hastily planned defensive moves stifling any further offensive moves. Then you have them.

Flying Jetstar

Flying Jetstar is a bit of a lottery, a short flight to Bali is usually uneventful even though flights can be delayed, I don't mind as that it is a budget flight. As the trip is a short three and half hours, how uncomfortable can it be? You have to be careful, these budget carriers can be more expensive after all charges are considered.

You don't need a meal for such a short flight; no need for complimentary drinks, there are plenty of opportunities for that in Bali and you can load your own in-flight entertainment onto a tablet. For the return trip, I could't believe my luck, apparently Jetstar had a number of maintenance issues and had to seconder Qantas aircraft. 

So I could view their in-flight entertainment and enjoy a glass of wine with my very basic meal; Jetstar was in a little trouble and it was Qantas to the rescue. I was told by friends that Jetstar tried to charge them for extra services; get your maintenance schedule right and you don't have to provide upgraded services for no extra cost.

The death of Fairfax

Fairfax Media is on a downward spiral, decreased revenue and journalists fired and moved on - this old style media empire is not adjusting well to the information age. The internet has taken most of the revenue that classified advertising earned through newspaper sales. Now unable to finance quality journalism; this is what we end up with - an inferior product.

What is now churned out of Fairfax could barely be described as journalism at times, unfortunately the journalists all left when they were given their marching orders and one presumes with decent redundancy packages. Along with The Guardian, Fairfax media has a strong left leaning, that in itself isn't a problem as we require balanced reporting in an open press even if it is somewhat skewed and one dimensional. 

Otherwise, what we end up with is a biased press that is concentrated in the hands of a small number of proprietors with extensive influence. Unfortunately the fact is Fairfax's clientele doesn't wish to subscribe for articles and Google and Facebook is picking up the former revenue that the Fairfax group once collected - the fate of Fairfax is heading to game over.     

Teaching dive computers

I can't recall the number of discussions I've heard about teaching dive computers as opposed to teaching dive tables. I believe in teaching dive computer use to post entry-level divers; I don't believe in overloading entry-level divers with knowledge development and motor skill exercises too early. The objective is to build knowledge, skills and attitudes known in the training field as KSAs in staged and carefully sequenced events to reinforce learning.

Firstly, I despise the term advanced diver for a person who has just completed their first four certification dives under instruction and then a further five dives under supervision for a total of nine dives to call themselves an advanced diver. What I do advocate is teaching dive computer use to level-two divers, this includes general computer operation, algorithms, basic decompression theory, multilevel dive planning, ascent rates, extended safety stops (including deep stops), gas usage and what to do if you end up in decompression.

Now before I get shouted down, I do not advocate decompression stop diving without proper training and planning. What I would like to see is decompression awareness as I have seen so many times on charter boats divers sitting on the boat with alarms ringing and quizzical looks on their faces. These divers have gotten themselves into decompression and not completed the required stops as per their schedule. They just surface as they normally do and wonder why their dive computer is making so much noise. This situation then prevents dive computer lock-out which could be devastating on a live-a-board dive charter or weekend diving retreat before we even consider the implications of decompression illness.

So what about entry-level divers then? I believe they should undertake a computer orientation at entry-level so they are familiar with dive computer use with an assessment in basic use much like compass navigation is taught for a heading and reciprocal bearing. The next level teaches intermediate navigation techniques with a navigation specialty also available for more advanced skills. Dive computer use should be learned on a similar format with basic NDLs, surface intervals, flying after diving and accidental decompression.

40 minute dives on holidays

You work hard to earn a living, you save your money and you become proficient in a specific activity only to be dudded when you go on holiday by lazy resort staff. It's not right when you fly 12 hours with a further 4 hour combined bus trip, jeepney and trike ride to end up at your dive destination to be rewarded with a divemaster who sees this private charter as an opportunity to take it easy.

When you have a boat to yourself, abeit a small banca, you are paying for the boat crew and dive guide and none of the costs are shared. Needless to say, this really grates on me as a longtime client of the business. So where does this lead me? I three choices - I can complain, I can accept this and do nothing or I can never return to this business - I am currently contemplating the third option. I did complain and told my dive guide that I didn't come all this way for 40 minute dives so he still ended up sitting in the boat after 40 minutes and I dived the final third of the dive by myself - outstanding.

Carry-on baggage limits

I am a reasonably frequent international traveler who flies economy and not business class. What really irks me about economy is the inability of the airlines to police carry-on baggage limits. I arrive at my seat and all the overhead lockers are stuffed full of hand baggage, the fight for space slows down both boarding and exiting the aircraft.

Everybody knows the hand baggage limits and a large majority wantonly abuse the limits inconveniencing fellow flyers. Fortunately, my carry-on luggage is below the 7kg weight limit and well under-sized so I can stow under the foot rest of the seat in front of me. Really, it is up to the airlines to enforce these rules to ensure self-centred and arrogant passengers do not ruin the flight experience of fellow passengers who actually do the right thing. The airlines need to get together, this is currently being abused by way too many people.

In sight of victory

It has been a clash I would have preferred to avoid but I had no choice, I could either quit my job, put up with the undermining and the snideness that had embroiled my work or fight the forces conspiring against me. Fortunately, I am up for the challenge and although it was a fight I could win, why not just negotiate in good faith to work through the issue? Ok, if you engage in deceptive, unethical and deliberately misleading behaviour then I have your measure.

I was forced to take my employer to the Industrial Magistrate's Court to put an end to middle and senior management riding roughshod over me. These days they call it workplace bullying, it's not a term I prefer but I can work within the guidelines of such terminology. I despise the term bullying, it makes you look weak; instead what I lacked was leverage. I am not weak, nor am I a push-over and I am not a person who gives in easily.

So after extensive research, failed attempts to organise a meeting to sort out the issue for I marched into the offices of the Industrial Relations Commission in Perth and proceeded to complete the necessary forms and file a complaint. For two years I had been intentionally denied the opportunity to apply for positions I was experienced in, qualified for and was already performing the role. Instead, the management had taken my work and claimed it as their own organising the very people I have worked with to do their dirty work for them, the mistake they made was to become greedy and paid themselves for work they had not performed - not a clever move in a state government department.

I bargained on a nasty fight and after two years of trying, I was finally allowed to meet with senior management to discuss why my employer was knowingly and willingly in breach of an employment agreement formally registered in the Industrial Relations Commission. I certainly had no fear of meeting with three directors for what turned out to be a meeting with no agenda, no minutes, a whole bunch of talk, no implementation plan and no outcomes. So just a normal meeting for these guys but what they didn't expect was for me to put up such a strong showing,

I shot down every argument they made and left them bewildered, I brought my evidence with me and when they argued I just produced their own policies and correspondence. Even funnier, in the days after the meeting I sent them a whole load of material to ponder and they haven't responded. Naturally I am keeping copies of the correspondence I have sent and this won't look good in front of the magistrate.  

What I didn't know at the time of the meeting was that my employer had failed to respond to the court and I could apply for a default ruling in my favour. I had never considered this as I had contacted them via email to remind them of the date and even resent the forms they had lost so they could respond. Apparently they have treated the court with the same disrespect and disdain they have afforded me and now I just have to appear before the magistrate for the default decision. You can bet I will be there.

Diving Lombok

I have been to Lombok twice now; once on a day trip from Bali for a quick look and the second time to dive the Gili Islands. I reckon it was 1995 or maybe early 1996; so long ago now. I do recall the diving was pretty good, I had nothing but dramas though - all of my own doing.

It was so quiet and relaxed on Lombok back then, you could still get around by donkey and cart, that was my chosen mode of transport - slow but scenic. I can remember my driver whipping his donkey to go faster, I was trying to get him to stop, the last thing I wanted was to go fast.

I stayed at Senggigi Beach, there was plenty of dive shops in the vicinity and an easy day trip ensured. The diving was good, the islands are well known for a certain blue coral, I was happy to indulge in searching. I recall plenty of small black tip and white tip sharks sheltering under plate corals, I bet they aren't there anymore.

There are three Gili islands in the group, Gili Air, Gili Meno and Gili Tranwangan. They were a backpacker haunt back then, low cost, mostly undeveloped and reasonably pristine. So too with the diving, I recall we had speed boats powered by kerosene outboards - boy, did they run rough.

We dived around the reefs of the islands, landing on the surface interval instead of spending it on the boat. There was less colour on the reef than I expected, plenty of shades of brown. I recall eating lunch on the island on most occasions, hanging with my new friends I met during the dive. It's about time I organised another trip.

The Mares icon dive computer

The Mares icon dive computer is a piece of rubbish. You are overcharged for a second-rate dive computer with a fancy screen offering little else. I owned the first series, the one before the gas transmitter was included and I regret purchasing it.

Ok, sure, I am annoyed that this expensive dive computer failed to live up to marketing hype. Well before the premature failure of my high priced dive computer that failed to deliver, I wasn't happy with it. The fact was, it was an awful dive computer with a fancy screen and Mares wasn't interested in offering warranty - they just wanted to sell me a new computer. 

The algorithm unduly penalises a diver who is diving less than an ultra-conservative profile, you have to be safe, we all understand that, you have to be realistic though. You purchase a dive computer and you start diving side-by-side with a diver until the decompression burden is too great so you ascend and miss a great portion of the dive - yeah right.

The guy you are diving with maintains his depth, see some amazing sights while you are off-gassing in shallow waters - loser. I wont be replacing this useless wrist weight with another icon computer, I will not be purchasing another Mares dive computer ever again.

illy coffee

I first came across illy coffee in the late 90s while living in Turkey. The German clientele of the dive shop where I was employed would bring some tins out for the Turkish owner who had spent some time living in Berlin. He no doubt picked up the love of illy coffee whilst living in Germany.

When I first tried to purchase illy coffee in Australia, I nearly passed out after what the importer was charging, naturally the retailers tried to pass the costs on to the consumer. I contacted the Australian distributor for information on retailers in my area that hopefully don't gouge consumers - they never even bothered replying, such was their attitude of nonchalance.

Most cafes in Perth do not stock illy coffee, this is a shame as I am seeing plenty of illy coffee houses in South East Asia to support my coffee addiction. I love nothing more than to grab an espresso on the run of this flavoursome coffee blend.

Multitasking - an outdated ideal?

We have been constantly lectured on the virtues of multi-tasking, but is it really effective? So what is multi-tasking? Walking and chewing gum? Walking and farting? Taking a leak in the shower or putting on make-up or shaving in the car on the way to work? To my way of thinking, this is a time management issue - instead, why not get out of bed 15 minutes earlier? Then there is always driving and texting, should we really be promoting activities that cause series injury or death?

In management circles, multi-tasking is being increasingly viewed as an ineffectual strategy as the potential to end up with a bunch of half completed and shoddy tasks ultimately results. We came onto a nightshift in an underground mine and there was broken down machines parked in front of the workshop, in the workshop and alongside the workshop - this was a huge hit to productivity. The leading-hand ordered the mechanics to repair individual machines and despite my protests, we all set off to work.

After three hours of hard labour and all machines still parked up, the leading-hand feeling the pressure was open to suggestions. We worked out which machine could be back and running first and hit the job with man-power, we split into two teams and concentrated the work effort. When the repairs were complete, that machine rolled back into production and the team moved onto the next task, when that machine was back working the team hit the next job. Machines now rolled out of the workshop at regular intervals and the production management was reasonably happy. A concentrated effort was the best strategy in this situation and just about every situation.

The learning organisation

Learning organisations are the current management solution gaining traction solving complex training and development issues; learning organisations generate environments open to creative thought and innovation embracing solutions to ongoing problems through team interaction. The learning organisation acquires knowledge innovating at a pace to not only survive but to thrive in a rapidly changing environment to gain a sustainable competitive advantage. 

Learning organisations create a culture encouraging and supporting continuous employee learning, applying critical thinking to problems encouraging risk taking to generate innovation. The learning organisation operates in a blame free environment accepting mistakes valuing employee contributions. The learning organisation encourages experimental learning gained through team experiences; finally, the learning organisation disseminates the knowledge throughout the whole organisation incorporating daily activities.

American business ideals

What I like about the American psyche is their ability to engage in business enterprise with their entrepreneurial spirit. The United States now has a service based economy; you exclaim, that's not exactly true, unfortunately the majority of their manufacturing base has been eroded and transferred overseas.

Design is still undertaken onshore, technology and innovation still rank highly but intellectual property and not manufacturing capability dominates the economy now. Currently, the US market is structured around consumption with retailing, after sales service, logistics and distribution the primary economic strength. Manufacturing in the US is pretty much redundant these days, although not entirely the case, technology and manufacturing capability technology continues to be exported overseas.

Americans are traditionally very strong at marketing and sales, this once again harps back to retail and services, the United States is very much a consumer driven economy. Financial services has been the growth industry, this has however been their undoing in many respects, this was the downfall of American manufacturing manufacturing. The purpose of finance is to raise capital to fund business activities and enterprise, by sending manufacturing and the respective technology offshore, economic capability is inadvertently lost.

The flow of international funds into a relatively stable US economy tends to mask the underlying issues and their causes - they just don't produce anything of substance anymore. As Wall Street is increasingly under pressure as the financial hub of the world; European, Asian and Middle Eastern financial centres are threatening the dominance of American finance and the viability of the United States as a superpower. 

The Singapore MRT

If the Singaporean MRT isn't the best underground rail system in the world, then I would like to see what is. With the British influences in Singapore, I'm guessing their MRT is modeled on the London underground.

The rail system is new unlike the London underground or Berlin U-Bahn, the carriages are all interconnected and the system is driver-less. As a passenger, you are able to wander up to the leading carriage and watch your progression through the tunnels. During the non-peak times, you are able to glance down the carriages to view the train powering along through the tunnels also - it is kind of fun.

The platforms are shielded preventing anybody from falling down on the tracks, that rules out suicides too. The train comes to a halt with the carriage doors opening before the main doors, the floors are marked to position commuters so all inbound passengers wait to the side causing no congestion to departing passengers, free WiFi runs throughout the MRT system - everything about the Singaporean MRT is great.

High performers - not in my workplace

What I love about Dilbert is how close it represents not only my workplace; I am guessing this pretty mush represents everyone's workplace to some degree. 

What I have viewed in so many workplaces is the high performers use this experience to move on to a better position usually in a better business. The mediocre performers hold on to their positions at all costs creating roadblocks, lowering productivity, not sharing important information and building discontent to achieve their goals of destroying workplace culture - he pretty much nailed it here.

The Swan Valley wine region

A Sunday afternoon and we are sitting around deciding what we should do; it isn't a difficult decision to make, we are off wine tasting. For me, a short 30 minute drive has us in the Swan Valley wine region. Whilst this isn't the premier wine district in Western Australia, some pretty reasonable wines are produced on old growth vines.

There are plenty of choices of wineries for lunch, this is a pretty popular weekend activity and places are sometimes hard to find. I prefer to limit myself to wine tasting; in summer, I'll start on whites and move onto reds. On a cold and rainy winter's day, it will just be reds. My choice of red is cabernet sauvignon; plenty of wineries offer shiraz which are normally pretty good and I do like a petit verdot.

There are art galleries, a couple of chocolate factories, a reasonable selection of coffee and then there are the restaurants attached to the wineries. A Sunday spent up in the valley with a trip to a gallery, some wines and lunch is a pretty good Sunday - happy to be alive.

BYO and no corkage

What I thought was normal is BYO in restaurants, that is bring your own drinks to the restaurant. When I have had European, Canadian and American friends over, I grab a bottle of wine to take to a restaurant - they were in disbelief. 

I had never thought much about it until I saw their reactions and realised this is not the norm overseas. The advantage is you have the ability to choose a bottle of wine you have in your cellar for the specific evening such as an aged cabernet sauvignon or shiraz.

Western Australia has strict liquor laws, a business has to apply to the government for a licence to serve alcohol, these licences are expensive and normally not granted to all but the largest restaurants. 

Even licensed restaurants allow BYO although they may charge corkage, that is a fee per bottle to open the said bottle, some restaurants charge per person for corkage but this can be open to negotiation. 

I have never returned to restaurants that have charged corkage per person after discussion have failed - even if they were a non drinking patron. A restaurateur has to ask themselves, what is this customer worth to me? For $1.50 per person, is this worth damaging a relationship that will result in no repeat business? I think not.

Killing workplace culture

It's unbelievable, I was employed in a government department and I, along with some notable others worked long and hard to create a positive workplace culture. It took just one promotion and some empire building to destroy all the work we had done.

Now we have a fragmented workplace full of mistrust and backstabbing, the empire builder sought to push his own agenda at the expense of everyone in the workplace. This will all change, the corruption enquiry brought the less than ethical practices to a head. A new manager has been appointed, the former manager will be moved sideways without any further thought of promotion.

What I love the most is the sulky actions of those involved, the changes that have been made and the reasons why. They might have escaped the corruption enquiry but the damming investigation took them down, their time is up and change is coming.

Death in the evening

The western media has picked up the current events in the Philippines, the extra-judicial killings orchestrated by former Davao mayor and now president Rodrigo Duterte are a major issue.

So before I am inundated by hate mail from Filipinos; we all know Duterte has an approval rate around or above 90%, we know he is supported internally.

I am against drugs, I am against organised crime and I am against corruption. What I am also against is extra-judicial killings, it's really murder and I'm against lawlessness.

On one hand, the president campaigns against corruption and then hands what is widely regarded as one of the most corrupt organisations in the country the ability to conduct operations with impunity.

This photograph brought it home to me, the human element of organised crime, the targeting of the most vulnerable group in the Philippines - the poor and uneducated.

To get away with murder, all you have to do is accuse a person of drug addiction, gun them down and put a cardboard sign alongside their lifeless body accusing them of being a pusher. I love all the comments from ultra-nationalistic

Filipinos telling everyone to shut it, zip it or they are just ignorant. Government orchestrated murder is still murder. So why do I have an interest in this?

Well, I have a number of friends living in the Philippines, will the lawlessness continue? Once the president tires of the so-called war on drugs, who next is on the hit list? His business competitors maybe?

President Duterte is an unabashed admirer of former president Ferdinand Marcos, he released his body from the mausoleum to be buried in the heroes cemetery - you have to be joking.

In 2003, the Philippine government demanded the return of $683 million USD  from a Swiss bank account that was actually granted by a Swiss court.

Now all they have to do is recover the rest of the $10 billion USD plundered from this poverty stricken country by the Marcos regime - these are not good signs. 

An 2006 Evans & Tate chardonnay

I was able to purchase through my wine dealer three cartons of 2006 Evans & Tate Margaret River chardonnay after the shipment that was destined for export fell through. Instead of the standard screw top, these export bottles came complete with corks for the United States market.

Naturally they were trying to move their inventory quickly and the price reflected this. I also purchased a carton for my brother and a carton for my father, they fortunately knocked their consignment off pretty quick. Ok, so I have cheap chardy, so what?

The tasting notes indicated a bright pale straw colour with notes of cashew, yeast lees and unripe pineapple and nectarines, a crisp acid backbone and unripe nectarine linger in the aftertaste. It was a pretty good drop, I was more than happy with my purchase.

My only concern was that the cellaring potential extended to 2009, on the eve of 2016, I still had a few bottles left and my concern was this chardy may have gone past their prime. Yep, the chardy was still drinking well in December 2015 when I finally knocked off the last of my bottles. This was an excellent drop for a hot summer Sunday afternoon.

Halloween - come on, get real

I'm just not getting it, I have kids dressed up in ghoulish costumes banging on my front door asking for "trick or treat" celebrating some American tradition I know nothing about apart from seeing it on television. Now I have no issues with Americans although I do have issues celebrating American traditions and forgetting our own history.

At dusk on the 31st of October 1917, the 4th Light Horse Brigade of the Australian Imperial Force charged the Turkish defenses at Beersheba in a decisive battle. These guys were mounted infantry and not cavalry; they would ride their horses to the battle, dismount and fight as standard infantry. The battle had raged all day and a decision was made around 5pm to stage a cavalry charge as the wells were still in Turkish hands.

So with their bayonets in hand as they didn't have swords; their rifles were strung across their back, they charged the Turkish trenches under heavy fire and actually took the town. Now we blindly follow some American tradition wrapped in commercialism handing out lollies and scary stories. I could think of nothing more scary of charging dug in Turkish defensive positions on horseback with only a bayonet in my hand. How quickly we forget the real sacrifices made 90 years ago to embrace foreign traditions at the expense of our own history - unreal.

A sophisticated investor

I read about initial public offerings, share buybacks, share splits and rights issues; I see these are financial instruments designed for sophisticated investors and I ask myself, what exactly is a sophisticated investor?

For me, I would suggest trading ordinary shares on a regular basis, trading exchange traded options, warrants, futures and foreign exchange would tend to indicate sophisticated investor behaviour.

This would include margin trading utilising leveraged strategies to supercharge profits, naturally the downside of supercharged profits could be supercharged losses should you misread the market.

Ok, so I need to do some more searching for a definition and the corporations act provided me with some answers. To be classified as a sophisticated investor you must acquire a certificate from a qualified accountant stating that you have net assets of $2.5 million AUD.

That and/or that your gross income for the past two financial years has been at least $250,000 annually. Oh wow, that is a pretty exclusive club, you would be considered wealthy by most criteria.

Now, this certificate must have been obtained within six months of accepting any wholesale offer to acquire any form of securities.

This means this class of investor that can be offered securities without the usual product disclosure requirements that apply to everyday mum and dad investors.

I have to ask, but why? This means you lose all the protections offered to standard investors and you have the ability to lose big with no recourse. 

What it also means is you have access to products offered by institutions that do not wish to offer products to the general public without having to meet normal market product disclosure requirements.

When business conditions improve more companies seek to quickly raise capital, the time and expense of issuing prospectuses and product disclosure statements to retail investors can be bypassed and capital markets are more reactive.

I am now starting to think this is falling into wealth management criteria, an exclusive club where I have no membership privileges. 

These days, I prefer to remain a fairly unsophisticated investor as opposed to my former activities as a trader where I would buy and sell ordinary shares on borrowed funds.

Because of studies and other commitments, I don't have the opportunity to engage in through market research to justify the risk of margin trading.

So remaining as an investor utilising equity instead of debt financing is a far more cautious strategy for me now. I am looking forward to early retirement when I have the time to pursue such activities.

The Singapore Sling

The Singapore Sling is my favourite gin-based cocktail after the basic gin & tonic which I really refer to as a mixed drink. I prefer this long drink to be served in a highball glass as opposed to the cocktail glass as it is sometimes done. According to legend, the Singapore Sling was first mixed around about 1915 by a Hainanese bartender working at the Long Bar in Raffles Hotel in Singapore named Ngiam Tong Boon.

What I have noticed is the Singapore Sling mixed throughout South East Asia is remarkably different from the Singapore Sling mixed at the Long Bar. I have to ask myself, why not? This pre-mixed cocktail served at the Raffles Hotel costs a bomb, I nearly passed out when given the bill for two pre-mixed drinks. That's right, they don't even mix it for you, it is poured straight from a container so it lacks the romantic notion of a bartender mixed drink.

I went searching for a definitive recipe for the Singapore Sling, to the best of my knowledge this is the Raffles mix. In our home mix we generally leave out the Benedictine liqueur and unfortunately we do not count out the 6 drops of Angostura bitters, especially as the night wears on.

60 ml - a double shot of gin
30 ml - a single shot of cherry brandy
15 ml - a half shot of Cointreau liqueur
15 ml - a half shot of Benedictine liqueur
250 ml - 1 cup of pineapple juice
1 tablespoon of fresh lime juice
6 drops of Angostura bitters
Crushed ice cubes

TAG Heuer connected

I have had the opportunity to try these smartwatches on at a promotional show when I was in Manila. The TAG Heuer is an android operating system that sets the face of the watch with a Carrera dial - ok, that’s good.

TAG Heuer is a luxury goods manufacturer, you know you are paying a premium for quality Swiss engineered products and if you are good with that - no issues. The question then is, does the Connected smartwatch meet the criteria for luxury goods?

But this is when it gets tricky, the android operating system is open source software and isn't exclusive to TAG Heuer. When you purchase a TAG Heuer timepiece, you are paying for a pretty intricate movement and TAG Heuer has a distinct style. I have heard these are great a $300 smartwatch for six times the price.

So what you have here is a bunch of electronics replacing an intricate movement, an open source software program available to anybody, a body and band with the TAG Heuer marketing department and their reputation for quality and style, so maybe it is just me - I just didn’t get it.

Smoking kills you if you are unaware

A recent Facebook post by a former high school friend was less than confronting, she was informed by an emergency doctor that she is dying and needs to give up smoking. She also added on her post, it's hard. What I was unable to determine from her post was, is being confronted with death hard or giving up smoking is hard?

She is about 45 years old and from my estimates smoking from about 15 years of age; so she has been smoking for around 30 years. Is she really finding it difficult giving up a 30 year habit or the threat of premature death brought about by 30 years of smoking difficult? 

We all stack on the kgs as we age due to metabolic factors, you can exercise for a lesser effect in your fourties as opposed to your thirties and twenties. At some stage, you need to take your health seriously as you don't bounce back as you did in your early twenties. I really hope she does give up smoking and gives herself the best chance at a long life, I fear the damage has already been done. 

What I do know is she has never exercised a day in her life, she always ate poorly and was extremely lazy. As far as I can tell, she was always grossly overweight; she has been obese all her adult life. This lifestyle coupled with smoking doesn't promote a long life so whilst it may appear I am somewhat belligerent with her medical issues, this isn't the case. However, I do ask myself, what did she think was going to happen?

Why do we accept deforestation?

We are constantly lectured on climate change brought about by global warming. As a population, we are constantly berated about the effects of carbon on the atmosphere due to the burning of fossil fuels, yet we destroy the greatest carbon absorbing resource on earth with hardly a mention. 

We want to implement carbon trading, carbon taxes and other similar blunt instruments yet discount the impact of deforestation and the ability of trees to absorb the very carbon we are more than happy to tax. Are we going about this the wrong way?

The Simon Katich dumping

How badly was Simon Katich shafted by Cricket Australia? Yes, there was an aging team with Ricky Ponting and Mike Hussey electing to play on, but we all know the real reason why Simon Katich was dumped was his 2009 altercation with future test captain Michael Clarke at the SCG. It had nothing to do with form, if anything, it was Ponting's form that was on the wane - he was finished.

The decision to axe the most accomplished test batsman of the previous three years was highlighted when Katich also lost his Cricket Australia contract at the time of his dumping. I have to question the abilities of chairman of selectors Andrew Hilditch, he was unduly influenced by Clarke who appeared unwilling to play with him after it was reported Simon grabbed Clarke by the throat. It has been said of Katich that if you don't get on with him then you just aren't a good bloke. He is that type of guy - I don't doubt that for a minute.

When Simon Katich retired from leading the Perth Scorchers T20 team in 2014, his cricketing career has come to an end. He played on a long time after his test axing for Lancashire, New South Wales and the Perth Scorchers. He took up a post as the development coach for Greater Western Sydney football club missing Perth Scorchers champions league T20 campaign in India, the side really missed his leadership ability. Now he has some experience in coaching Aussie rules football, let's hope he brings some of his experience back to coaching cricket.  

A drunken useless passenger

I stepped onto the wide body aircraft and weaved my way past people busily stuffing their luggage into the already crammed overhead lockers and made my way to my window seat. I had to climb over a gentleman sitting in the aisle seat who was unwilling to get up and let me through - no problems.

As I squeezed past, the unmistakable odour of stale alcohol struck my senses and nearly laid me out; this was a 9.10 flight and this guy was clearly heavily intoxicated. That is way too early in the morning to be this drunk and he wasn't just topping up.

While we were still boarding and he became very chatty; I was thinking at least an empty seat separates us, maybe someone can come and sit in the seat and act as a buffer. I was in no mood for chatting, I had caught the 1:10 flight from Perth to Singapore after spending the previous day at work.

At around 4:00 the breakfast service starts ready for the 6:30 arrival, no time for sleep. This was the three and a half hour flight from Singapore to Manila, I was hoping to get an hour or possibly two of sleep before my Friday night out in Manila - this was looking less likely now.

The middle seat passenger arrives, after a robust discussion with the steward and my new friend, he shuffles into the middle seat complaining heavily and proceeds to tell me all about the injustice of airline seating.

I learnt that he flew from the UK to Singapore where he devoured as much alcohol on the plane as possible. They must have cut him off at some stage because he rummaged through his carry-on luggage, opened his duty free and consumed the bottle of whisky mid-flight.

As the flight stewardess handed the inflight menu out, he complained loudly they didn't serve beer on the flight. I stupidly pointed out that Singapore's very drinkable Tiger Beer is served on Singapore Airlines flights.

So he immediately proceeded to order a beer even though they were not serving yet, the ever helpful Singapore Airlines dutifully obliged. Naturally this was followed by another can and in short time, a third can of beer.

The meal cart appeared and breakfast was served, I asked for a glass of red wine with my brunch, yes it was still morning, well before midday, but what the hell, I was on holidays. A glass of wine with lunch is acceptable - maybe even a second.

Naturally my neighbour ordered a beer with his meal that slipped right through his hands as the stewardess handed it over. As the can rolled around on the floor, she handed him another - I was becoming a little uneasy now.

He glanced over at my glass of red wine and proclaimed loudly that red wine was a great idea and was poured a glass of red wine. So here he was clutching a glass of red wine in one hand and a plastic cup of beer in the other.

He alternately sipped from the left and right hands and forgot about his meal. Three more of these mixed beer/wine orders arrived before he finished the red wine decided to set his beer down on his table, one presumes to start eating brunch.

I can only presume his coordination was somewhat impaired as he knocked the full beer all over his tray table and onto the guy in the aisle seat. Beer was running everywhere and the staff had to clear the tray tables away before he could get up.

Somehow I remained immune to the beer bath from my vantage point of the window seat, I found some humour in the situation as I handed my napkin over without looking at him, so there wasn't even a need for an expressionless face.

When he stood up the beer had soaked into his lap giving the appearance that he had pissed himself, the look of horror on the other passenger's faces was hilarious. Everyone in the immediate area was well aware how drunk this guy was, he was pretty loud.

The seat cushion was also soaked, the faces of the people who walked up and down the aisle could see the huge wet stain on the seat cushion and his wet groin, the expressions of disgust was laughable as he exited the toilet.

There was no secret as to where all these alcoholic beverages were going. He was escorted to the rear of the aircraft where the staff presumably found this gentleman a dry seat - one hopes the rest of his flight was dry too.

A dry martini

It took me ages to get my martini right, all my cocktail books informed my a 2:1 gin/dry vermouth mix was correct - yet, my martini tasted terrible. I was reading the MASH novel by Richard Hooker who wrote extensively about life in The Swamp.

This is where I found the best example of the Gin/Dry Vermouth 5:1 ratio; after that - my martini really grew in stature. Naturally, no party at home was complete without a martini mixed up and served in the classic martini glass. Purchasing the martini glass was a feat in itself, I searched for ages to correctly present my martini mix at parties and I am glad to say we succeeded.

Embracing mLearning

As training and development practitioners embrace technology to deliver just-in-time training ensuring workers remain productive, delivery methodologies have expanded to mobile devices. Any traditional educator knows students of all ages will not put their mobile phones down during traditional lectures and tutorials so the question is, do we fight mobile phones or embrace the technology to deliver training?

The proliferation of mobile phone technology has led to the latest incarnation of learning methodologies; mLearning is mobile learning and defined as learning through social and content interactions across multiple contexts using personal electronic devices on demand. As mLearning is asynchronous learning, lessons are accessed by learners on-the-job at their time convenience when required.

Utilising portable technologies allows the for the creation of learning tools to aid informal learning focusing on the mobility of the learner through formalised processes outside of the classroom. As such, mLearning differs from eLearning insofar as the emphasis is on chunking bite-sized learning interactions with micro-lessons utilising interactive tools such as short videos, images, charts and diagrams.

Learners are empowered to take control of their own learning needs utilising andragogy principles of motivated adult learners. Hopefully businesses and individual learners embrace mLearning to create quality learning interactions and outcomes.

A quarter of a decade recession free

Australia just recorded a pretty substantial event, we have just completed twenty five years recession free. During the last quarter of a century, as a country we have navigated through financial meltdowns, commodity price downturns, the tech crash and the Asian currency crisis.

Until recently, we had low federal debt and posted budget surpluses; that was crushed with a change in government and change in policy but we have limped out of that phase and won't see a budget surplus again until sometime after 2020. The state governments have been investing heavily in infrastructure projects with individual state debt ballooning. Noticeably, personal debt is soaring with indebtedness growing, the ability to circumnavigate further economic shocks is severely compromised.

We have had challenges along the way, we are currently experiencing an economic slowdown of sorts. The mining boom that sustained the country through the financial crisis of 2008-2009 is over, the construction boom has now transformed into the production phase where less manpower is required. The capital expenditure peaked in 2013, mining companies have deleveraged despite extensive capex programs although explorations programs being shelved.

Mining these days is a very automated industry, the iron ore mines are equipment intensive relying on computerised processes. Coal production is lower, base metals are experienced reduced demand although gold as a precious metal remains high. The workforce is transforming, higher skill-sets are required with lower staffing levels at mining operations now ensuring viability to remain competitive.

The service industries are recovering, tourism is steady and residential housing is motoring along. Some would argue the residential housing market is depressed. The financials of residential property aren't great, there has been so much speculation during the boom years driving median property prices to outrageous levels that capital city markets remain overpriced and exposed to financial shocks.

The Reserve Bank of Australia has dropped interest rates to record lows, the currency has devalued with commodity prices acting as a tool to enhance exporters; likewise, imports have become more expensive with a cost to the economy. The reduction of tariffs agreed to in numerous free-trade agreements have lowered the cost of imports whilst assisting export markets.

The fundamentals of the economy are changing, non-viable industries are closing and being shipped off-shore. Unskilled jobs are being moving off-shore along with low margin industries, the knowledge economy we hear so much has yet to transform the general economy - innovation is still some way off.

The economy is currently expanding through population growth, the principles that allowed the nation to record 25 years without a recession have been forgotten and I fear the lessons of astute management are being replaced with misguided notions of invincibility and complacency.

The residential property market has grown almost to the point of defying economic principles and our once dominant financial institutions are exposed. The country faces limited capital through savings, the remainder is sourced internationally. The skewing of scarce capital from essential infrastructure projects to residential property, an asset class not earning currency inflows is the greatest concern.

The New York Times online

The information age has allowed us to gain access to top notch newspapers that the average punter previously never had the opportunity to read, The New York Times is one such newspaper. I began reading the newspaper after a short two-week trip to New York in 2001; the internet has allowed me to access this excellent newspaper where ever I am in the world.

The editorial quality is top notch even when the information age has destroyed the revenues of the majority of newsprint bound papers. Yes, newsprint will be around for a while yet for quality investigate journalism but breaking news will be delivered online through various mediums. The art of journalism is on the wane; less and less journalists are employed full time instead opting for consulting positions and deriving income through blogging based on their reputation.

The New York Times has maintained its quality and actually increased its readership through online means with free online content up to a set number of articles over a given time frame. Naturally the online content has a subscriber base with the limited free articles allowing interest parties to view their content. As the internet matures, more and more content will be offered on a subscription only basis - until then I am enjoying their content.

Slut shaming - come on, get real

Firstly, I really disagree with this term as it is frivolous, derogatory and straight out bullying behaviour. An article in Singapore's The Straights Times identified predatory behaviour by a Uber driver tasked with picking up a passenger from Clarke Quay after a night out with friends.

The driver bragged of drinking alcohol, he wanted to take her to a private house party and then refused to let the young female passenger out of the vehicle until she handed him her phone number.

She reported the incident to both Uber and The Straights Times where her story appeared on their Facebook newsfeed. This report should have made readers aware of problems with predatory Uber drivers seeking to take advantage of vulnerable young people; instead the reaction from readers was anything but concern.

Firstly readers correctly identified the vehicle in the background was not a Singaporean vehicle and was not at Clarke Quay. To their credit, The Straights Times immediately responded and informed readers Ms Nicole Lee (23) supplied the photograph herself and it had been taken whilst she was in Thailand - good stuff.

What was concerning was the majority of the comments were asking about her hair colour, her clothes, why she was out at 4:15 am, the fact that she was drinking and why she was alone? A number of people commented that "she looks like a slut" or "she deserved it" and numerous similar comments.

These comments were made by both men and women - absolutely disgraceful behaviour. What we have here is a young woman who was harassed by a Uber driver who then had the courage to speak out to warn people and was needlessly targeted and set upon by sad and pathetic people.

I don't know this woman personally but my life experiences tell me these irresponsible comments reflect the sad inadequacies of their personal lives - not hers.

She can wear what she wants, Clarke Quay isn't an area of ill repute and as an adult, she can stay out as late as she wants and she doesn't deserve such blatant hypocrisy. I would severely doubt she is anything like these pathetic comments state - people need to grow up.

The sailing life

Hanging around yacht clubs you generally come across two groups of people, sailors who like cruising and sailors who like racing, I fall into the later group. Racing can then be broken into dingy racing and cruisers, I began in performance dingies before moving onto the larger cruisers. Racing cruisers can be identified as onshore racing and offshore racing; I fall into the onshore racing category but would love to graduate into offshore racing, that however is a time luxury I can not afford at the moment.

I was formerly a member of a sailing club before graduating onto a yacht club, I loved racing performance dingies as a young guy but as I move into my late fourties approaching fifty years of age, I need to rethink dingy sailing. The advantage of the bigger boats is you don't need to work so hard, you are not hanging over the side by toestraps or providing counterbalance by hanging from a trapeze wire.

This is balanced by the need to sometimes scale the mast of the larger boat suspended by a bosun's seat to retrieve a halyard or free a jammed block. I wouldn't swap the sailing life; you need to work hard, save well, spend your spare cash well and enjoy you leisure time - I wouldn't swap my sailing life.

My operations management debarcle

Well, I really blew operations management, this was the first time I have ever failed an assignment and I'm not happy. I had to work away on a remote gold mine during an assignment period, that is bad enough normally as I was in for breakfast at 4:15 in the morning and returning home at 7:30 in the evening, the days were long and I was tired. It wasn't for that long though, it's what happened next that hurt. It's starting to sound like excuses now as plenty of people work long hours and are still able to pass.

During my stint away I developed a kidney stone, this is never great at the best of times but when in a remote area and faced with a two hour drive to the nearest medical facility, the ride can be somewhat uncomfortable. After receiving some morphine and anti-inflamatories to settle the fun down, the 90 minute ambulance ride to the regional hospital was somewhat more relaxed. Further compounding my woes, my employer just left me up there and told me to find my own way back at my expense - very poor form.

But this is where it got tricky, it took a month to work out exactly what was wrong with me and to organise surgery - that's way too long. Naturally I was juiced up the whole time and in some pretty interesting pain, a couple of trips down to the emergency department yielded no benefits as they believed I was imagining the problem - absolutely useless. Now during this period of blockage to my left kidney, my eGFR was measured at 47, that's equal to stage 3A chronic kidney disease. If you drop to 44 then you are at 3B - that isn't good.

I had to keep working during this period and when I wasn't at work I was down the doctor, medical centre or hospital getting scans. I would bring my text book, readings and tablet or laptop with me and study whilst sitting in the waiting room or hospital bed. This was not quality study time and I missed going online and missed many of the presentation recommendations as required by the lecturer, he really savaged my assignment - but no excuses.

After the surgery I headed off overseas a week later while the second assignment was planned. This involved group work and I am afraid I didn't contribute to the team as well as what I should have. Regardless, I feel the group made a reasonable presentation and I hope the marks from the second assignment will compensate for the poor marks from the first disaster.

I feel bad for not contributing to the standard I normally I expect of myself yet I shouldn't as I have carried a number of people during group work in the past, maybe it was time to bank some interest. The group assignment scored a high distinction and my combined scores allowed me to pass the unit with a 67% mark, better than I expected even if I had hoped for a distinction.

I am from an operations background, this unit should have been easy for me, instead I struggled and my confidence was severely dented. This is not the outcome I was expecting and I really didn't pull my weight during the team phase, finding out I now have chronic kidney disease certainly didn't inspire me in the short term either - just a waste of time and money really. But time to put this past me and move on to the next unit with hopefully a better result.