Academic bias

At university, we all know marx is marks; we do however need to balance academic interference against freedom of speech. 

Interestingly, Leigh and Gans research indicates mostly neutral political reporting from Australian media outlets with somewhat surprising results of News Corp and the ABC as being politically neutral and unsurprisingly, Fairfax and The Guardian reporting the greatest left wing bias. We are exposed to biased reporting daily, we do not want further exposure to excessive left wing ideals, we seek a balanced academic argument. 

Universities need to lead critical thinking and deductive reasoning amongst students based on measurable facts with absolutely no emotion involved or institutional bias. What we ask for is free thinking not overly influenced by the pangs of socialist lecturers; give us the information, the tools to analyse the problem and the academic freedom to come up with reasoned argument. 

Barrabup Pool Nannup

On a trip in the south-west forests, we drove through some wonderful regrowth forests and it was difficult to distinguish between old growth and regrowth as a novice. Located just before the timber town of Nannup, this picturesque swimming hole was for the exclusive use of the mill manager and his family. The timber mill operated from 1909 - 1915 and then from 1919 - 1925 employing 150 men until the timber resources were exhausted and the mill moved to nearby Nannup.

The mill manager's residence was perched on the edge of the pool, it was a case economic segregation, the mill workers were able to use the aptly named Workers Pool, a little further downstream on St John Brook in the Cambray State Forest.

The picnic area, offers tables under the shade of the trees or a roofed structure. We enjoyed our breakfast under the trees, interestingly,  there are no rubbish bins at the pool as they attract feral animals. A sign kindly asks people to take their rubbish with them, I saw no rubbish around the area at all.

The boardwalk is located where St John Brook flows into the pool, the slow flowing brook meanders through the forest. There is a walk along a track around the pool and through the forest, while the area was logged in the early part of the century, growth in the area has returned although no tall timber is found in the area.   

Social media extinction

CNBC asks the question, what social media network will be around in 25 years? This isn't an exhaustive list by any amount of the imagination, but it begs the question - will any survive?

Facebook is the widest known social media platform, people are jaded with FB though, as Zuckerburg owns Instagram, I guess it is pretty popular and may remain so.

Google will still be be around, so YouTube will survive but I am not so sure about G+ unless it suddenly becomes cool or Google Inc sinks a ton of money and effort into the network. That's a shame as I like G+ as a network.

I am less than upbeat about Snapchat and sharing crude selfies may actually fall out of fashion crippling the media platform. Then again, venture capitalists are lining up for the company with reports of Yahoo throwing plenty of cash their way.

I positive about Twitter, downbeat on Tumblr despite the fact Yahoo owns the platform and my sister telling me how cool the network actually is. I know little about Reddit and think Pintrest will maintain its market share unless, of course, competitors create extreme competition.

That leaves LinkedIn, that is the leading professional network but needs to gain market penetration to really become effective without becoming a second rate chatter social network.

2006 Rosemount show reserve chardonnay

Sitting in my alcohol fridge, I still have a number of bottles of 2006 Rosemount show reserve chardonnay I purchased from my wine dealer laying on their side chilling. On file, they know I like old style wooded chardonnay in summer; I remember their pitch, pull out your shoulder pads and roller skates, this is a throwback to old style winemaking.

Looking at the tasting notes, this chardy is pale gold colour, reminiscent of cat's piss yellow. Peach and mango fruit accentuate the biscuit and spicy tobacco oak the overtones. While they describe this chardy palate as medium to full bodied, I feel it is definitely full bodied. A mix of tropical fruit, peach, ripe lemon, peach, spicy oak with savoury lees flavours round out this well crafted Hunter Valley offering. The tasting notes suggest this chardonnay drinks best between 2008 - 2010; yet in early 2015, this chards is still drinking well. I sometimes wonder if I am missing out on the 2008 - 2010 version.

PADI's outdated ascent rates

PADI loves to self promote, they are the masters of self-promotion and never miss an opportunity to do so. Likewise, should good practices get in the way of self-promotion, they will always err on self-promotion. PADI originally published a set of dive tables based on the US navy tables with shortened no-decompression limits. The US navy settled on an 18 metres per minute (mpm) ascent rate on their tables for all dives based on a compromise as combat divers wanted a 30 mpm ascent rate as they naturally don't want to hang around whilst the hardhat divers requested a 6 mpm ascent rate since they are winched to the surface.

The 18 mpm compromise rate was decided for the 1955 USN dive tables based on dual use and stayed that way until 1992 when a revision was undertaken by Workman et al. with the new 9 mpm ascent rate and revised no-decompression limits. Without the technology of dive computers and ascent rate indicators available at the time; an ascent rate of 1 foot per second (60 fpm/18 mpm) was reasonably easy to execute. This was broadly in line with dive computer research and development, PADI developed their revised dive tables in the early 1980s with time pretty much standing still down at PADI headquarters. Regardless, PADI maintained their stance on the 18 mpm ascent rate even though the majority of computer manufacturers and US navy had long undergone revisions based on extensive research and testing.

Not only did PADI maintain the 18 mpm ascent rate on their recreational dive planner, the successor to the PADI dive tables, they defended their position based on the premise that it was proven in the field. PADI will refute this claim as their own testing was conducted with the 18 mpm ascent rate in the chamber and later actual test dives.

PADI are in the business of selling dive courses and certification of divers, that is instructional design technology and supporting dive training materials - a standardised system of dive training. Consequently PADI sell their recreational dive planner to support dive training, they profit from every certification, every training material sold and instructor membership fees. 

PADI makes no money from dive equipment sales; hence, the requirement to purchase outdated dive tables complete with ascent rates that are twice the rate of current recommendations.

Disconnected in an interconnected world

After becoming accustomed to continuous inter-connectivity in the internet age, being left disconnected whilst on holiday in Bali, Indonesia takes a little getting used to. But you ask, don't they have a pretty good service in Bali? Usually the WiFi works for the best part, but it goes down pretty easily too, now I am beginning to rely on remaining connected.

I handle all my booking online, likewise for banking; after all, you have to pay for all of this. When you find your self disconnected, you are unable to communicate, book, bank or even browse - it is an unusual feeling for a person accustomed to continual connectivity. I had an assignment due, I am glad I completed and submitted early, likewise, a job application with a hard deadline. It was well worth the extra stress and effort to complete the tasks early.

Google+

I have become a fan of Google+ a while back, I like the platform for the best part. According to Business Insider, the G+ network is growing faster than Twitter, now the number 2 social network behind Facebook - I am surprised. 

The recent G+ growth may be attributed to building interconnected services including the search engine, YouTube, maps, drive, gmail and other apps; you log into one - you log into the full spectrum of services. I like G+ as I can chat to my friends, I follow a number of photography and travel pages and my account doesn't get bombed with advertising like Facebook does. The downside is most of my friends are on Facebook, I have a limited circle of friends on G+ but I find the communities as the best place to share common interests while hangouts is good for chat.