Has Mitchell Johnston bowled the ball of the series?

I think Cricket Australia is a bit excited here, but I do ask myself; has Mitchell Johnston bowled the ball of the series? I think Cheteshwar Pujara didn't do much wrong here, he played the line as Johnston moved the ball like a spin bowler at pace, he didn't stand much of a chance.

Now that the match ended in a draw, one has to ask, did Steve Smith wait too long to declare? The general consensus would now be yes; however, had the Australians held their catches, the outcome may have been different.

Should Shane Watson bat at number 3?

Shane Watson is an immensely talented cricketer; there is no doubt about that - he can bat, bowl and field. He should be in the team when fit; absolutely, no sane person would argue against that, the question then is, where should he bat?

A look at his statistics tells us that in his 54 test matches so far played, he has scored 4 centuries and 22 half centuries for an average of 35.51; not so great for a batsman coming in at number 3. His 22 half centuries are a good return; that's why I feel he is better suited batting in the middle order at number 5 or 6. 

To keep everything in perspective; stand in captain Steve Smith now bats at number 4, promoted up the order from 5 where skipper Michael Clarke normally bats. In 2014 alone, Smith has scored 4 centuries and over 1000 runs at an average of 84.33; he is having a break-out year, Watson is not having a break-out year. Both Clarke and Smith go on and make big scores; Watson does not and must bat down a couple of positions to the middle order.

Will Twenty/20 cricket change test match cricket?

Will Twenty/20 cricket change test match cricket batting? Watching some strokes in the current Boxing Day test between Australia and India, I watched stand-in Australian captain Steve Smith attempting to push the run rate along playing strokes more accustomed to the short form of the game. This also brought on his demise at the crease at 192, a pretty handy score attempting to play a shot on the stumps normally reserved for the the last over in the shortest form of the game instead of a test match on day 2.

At the other end of the spectrum, Indian batsmen Virat Kohli (162) and Ajinkya Rahane (147) played with a more traditional batting style. As a matter of course, the Indian batsmen generally have solid batting techniques. Rahane came to the crease with Kohli holding a 26 run head start, playing aggressively, Rahane overtook Kohli in the 80s to beat him to triple figures and ended the day with a strike rate of nearly 86 - pretty good stuff.

Wild Oats XI leading the Sydney to Hobart race

What an interesting turn of events, while Comanche was clearly the faster yacht out of Sydney heads, it would appear the race dominated by tacticians and navigators has entered a new phase - raw boat speed isn't everything. The Sydney to Hobart is a bluewater event, there is plenty of opportunities for a yacht to run down an opposition given favourable conditions - Wild Oats XI did just that.

Both Wild Oats XI and Comanche have headed out to sea far off the rhumline searching for wind, it appears the faster Comanche may have sailed into light airs and Wild Oats XI has powered on stronger breeze. Comanche is not far off catching winds and given the superior boat speed of the new maxi, a tacking dual up the Derwent River is a real possibility - this could be a real cracker of a finish.

Boxing day - the start of the Sydney to Hobart race

Boxing day is recovery day, the opportunity to view the start of the Sydney to Hobart yacht race from the comfort of lounge room is a long standing annual event.

The inaugural race held in 1945 took 6 days, 14 hours and 22 minutes; at the other end of the spectrum, the 2012 race record of 1 day, 18 hours, 23 minutes and 12 seconds is currently held by Wild Oats IX beating their 2005 race record of 1 day, 18 hours, 40 minutes and 10 seconds.

This year, the brand new American carbon fibre super maxi, Comanche was setting the early pace, this yacht was simply awesome. Since 2005, Wild Oats XI has dominated line honours and is certainly the yacht to beat - is their dominance under threat this year?

Comanche set the early pace with a super fast run to the rounding mark outside of Sydney heads, onboard Wild Oats XI, they could be heard on the camera stating they were slow and seeking to change settings and sail trim. They weren't slow, Comanche was just so fast; however, the majority of the race will be spent punching into strong southerly winds, that may change the dynamics of the race.

North Korean cyber attacks

What is Bureau 121? North Korea's cyberwarriors, a shadow organisation unknown by most individuals even in information technology only came to light after the defection of a North Korean dissident to the south.

North Korea, led by a young man of the internet age is particularly ambivalent to criticism, none more so when Sony Entertainment prepares to release a satirical movie of Kim Jong Un. A cyberattacker hacks into an administrator's account undetected, downloads a large volume of information then proceeds to release damaging emails embarrassing the corporation including pay rates and remuneration. Is this the North Korean version of Wikileaks? Then Sony folds and the release of the movie is cancelled - NK 1/Sony 0.

Taliban outrage

Terrorists are cowards, this isn't anything new, this is sadly and unfortunately a documented fact.

However, the Pakistani school massacre is a new low for the most cowardly elements of the human race. I am loathe to use the term humanity, they show none of that. But what do you expect from a bunch of pedophiles, taking pre-puberty girls for wives, sex slaves or sold into human trafficking?

Australia and Pakistan share a common interest in sport, we both share a love of cricket and play test series nation against nation. We come from different cultures - granted. However, our common interest in cricket ties the nations together in a bond that may transcend sport.

The internet cafe - will there be any left in 5 years?

There was an explosion of Internet cafe businesses in the late 90s right through to the mid 2000s, now you are stretched to find one but they are still around.

With everyone carrying either a smartphone, tablet or phablet in their pocket or briefcase, they already have sufficient computing power to browse the web, purchase goods online, creat documents, spreadsheets, a database or presentation, they just need to hook onto a WiFi connection. With 3G and 4G technology, you carry a mobile connection around with you. You might even see a laptop computer being used.With restaurants, shopping malls and just about every business now offering free WiFi, one has to ask, why would anyone pay to use a computer? 

Indeed you might ask, why would a business invest in expensive computer hardware when nearly every consumer supplies their own computing equipment? One of the great rubs was an Internet cafe never actually sold coffee. After all, what business owner would want to risk a user knocking over a full mug of coffee over a keyboard, game controller or printer? Geez, you might head into an actual cafe like Dome Cafe, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Gloria Jeans, Seattle's Best Coffee or Starbucks and actually order a pretty decent espresso coffee and surf the web for the price of a coffee.

Why I hate diving Suunto

I am currently diving with a Suunto D6 dive computer as a back-up to my old but reliable VR3 computer. Now, one can imagine a significant size and weight difference occurs between the two units, that doesn't concern me.

What really gets my blood pressure running on repetitive dives is the D6 is way too conservative for repetitive diving. Now firstly, you ask, why are you using a VR3 for standard recreational diving, why not I say, not every dive needs to be a mixed gas decompression stop dive with multiple gas switches. You have the computer for such dives but you complete plenty of standard dives too. If you are diving deep wrecks then that is what is required, if you are diving reefs on your holiday, why switch to another computer?

However, with the D6 as a back-up computer, you seem to have a hell of a lot of hang time while your specifically designed decompression computer is deco free. On one recent repetitive dive, it was the fourth dive of the day, the VR3 indicated 27 mins of no-decompression time remaining, your D6 is just going into deco but you keep going, you check your SPG and have ample gas remaining, hell, you are not even at your turn pressure yet.

The dive is well under 30 minutes duration, yet you are forced to ascend to a shallower depth, you are not seeing what you want on this expensive overseas dive trip and you are less than impressed. The D6 is hammering you, already you have 12 minutes of hang time and three quarters of a cylinder of gas remaining. Not that 12 minutes is an issue because you are really deco free and could ascend directly to the surface - not that you would. No one else on the dive has a pseudo decompression ceiling despite diving the exact same profiles, they are not diving Suunto.

You did two dives in the morning with an hour surface interval, back for lunch and a three hour surface interval with a one hour surface interval between dives three and four. That's a fair bit of bottom time in a day with multi-level dives, relatively conservative profiles and extended shallow water stops for added safety. It is not over doing it to any great degree. The gas is air, unfortunately in 2014, not every facility offers nitrox although with a Suunto dive computer, nitrox or not, you are still penalised.

So you had to ascend to 8 metres to complete your dive whilst everyone else stays at depth, you are above the 2:1 pressure gradient threshold and off-gassing whilst monitoring the VR3 on your left wrist. I don't mount the two computers side by side anymore as the bulky aluminium bodied VR3 was scratching the bezel of the nice shiny D6, so that computer is mounted on the right wrist instead.

At 50 minutes, you glance to your right wrist to check how much you have reduced the deco time, it won't be too much as a 3 metre stop is required and you are too deep to off-load too much time, maybe a minute or two. You can imagine my surprise when I realised that not only have I not reduced any deco, the time has now blown out to over twenty minutes.

Ascending to 3.5 metres, you know you have to maintain the shallowest depth for the greatest pressure gradient and to maintain that depth, that means no looking around and enjoying the shallow sections of the reef, there is to be no depth changes. Any one who has deco to do on a Suunto knows 20 minutes is not really 20 minutes; time remaining is drawn out and even though you are monitoring time with your other computer, in the Suunto world, time stands still.

Exiting the water at the 80 minute mark, I had performed a 30 minute stop at 3 metres, about 25 minutes at 8 metres and the rest at 20 metres depth. The next day, my D6 remained my back-up, it was however tucked away in my bag on the boat but no where near the water, it was now no longer an in-water redundency.

I was also careful not to wear it in the shower that evening just in case I ended back in deco from the water pressure of the shower head and having to stand in a trickling shower for another 30 minutes to reduce the water pressure while my computer cleared.

Claiming sexism - really?

This was not a clever strategy by Australian Prime Minister Abbott claiming his Chief of Staff Peta Credlin is a victim of sexism. Firstly, the issues seem to be internal, not the opposition making any claims, secondly and most importantly, if she has an issue, she needs to come out and make a statement - she hasn't.

What he is effectively doing is telling the electorate he is leading his government in a similar vein to Julia Gillard. Broken promises, gender issues, all he needs is leadership speculation and we head back to a time warp. He needs to differentiate his government - he is not doing that in an effective manner. This is an internal issue that has been catapulted into the public domain - get it sorted and do it quick.

# I'll ride with you

I'm really liking this show of solidarity and support for Sydney's Muslim population, this act of a lone and known instigator of trouble has the potential to cause a community backlash that may harm the Muslim community causing increased tensions in the future.

The show of support in the wider community has been outstanding, however, serious questions need to be asked in regards to Man Haron Monis, originally known to police for writing letters to the families of dead servicemen seven years ago. There is absolutely no criticism of the police, they investigate and prosecute crimes whilst the judiciary interprets and implements the law.

  The tipping point apparently was Friday's high court ruling that failed to overturn his conviction, he was required to perform community service and placed on a two year good behaviour bond. He is also implicated as an accessory to the murder of his wife who was stabbed and set alight.

He has been charged with in excess of fifty counts of indecent and sexual assault and was currently on bail awaiting trial. Serious questions need to be raised regarding the judicial system in Australia, why is this guy running around the streets? What do you have to actually do to actually to be remanded in custody?

Terrorism hits Sydney

The terrorist siege in Sydney has certainly woken up the nation, the police were fantastic - on the scene within minutes of receiving the call. While authorities may have originally thought it was an armed hold-up; the gunman forcing hostages to hold up an Islamic flag certainly dispelled that theory - terrorism had arrived in the centre of Sydney.  

Surrounded by the Indian, Southern and Pacific oceans to the west, south and east plus the Arafura Sea to the north; we thought we were immune to terrorism due to our isolation - that myth was dispelled forever. When the Islamic State sought to behead an Australian on Australian soil earlier this year, planned to be uploaded to social media - that act of barbarism was thwarted by authorities. Australia has been on high alert since September this year with an attack deemed likely although no specific threat was identified at the time. 

The human face of the hostage siege, hostages were rotated through duty to be displayed on the shop window. I have been somewhat disappointed by some commentary on social media, while no doubt has been raised as to the origin of the siege, I hope Muslims living in Australia are not targeted in a manner that could be linked to intolerance, bigotry and racism even though this act could be considered an attack on our values, ideals and lifestyle. We need to be strong and rise against the challenge as we have done before.

Diners Club International

I have an intense interest in business case studies, the discussion of first movers, early adapters and followers frequently comes up in such discussions. The first credit charge card was Diners Club International; despite their early success as a first mover, they are now pretty much obsolete in Australia.

Diners Club is a pretty good example of a first mover, an innovator that has been left behind in a marketplace dominated by American Express; a competing charge card plus Visa and Mastercard, the leading consumer credit cards. Being first to market doesn't necessarily ensure success; indeed, later adaption does hold a number of distinct advantages.

Then there is the rapidly expanding credit card business model with Visa, Mastercard and American Express issuing credit cards via retail department stores like Myer and David Jones, airlines like Qantas and Singapore Airlines, department stores like Coles and Woolworths and car manufacturers like Holden and Ford. These cards are linked to reward programs allowing consumers to redeem points at department stores, airlines and specialty stores among other things.

Some history, as the story goes, Frank McNamara was out to dinner with his wife, much to his embarrassment, he left his wallet in a different suit pocket and his wife had to pay the bill on his behalf. The next day he discussed his credit idea with the restaurant owner, between them, they came up with a charge card and account; within months, he had nearly 30 restaurants on the books.

The company was appropriately named The Diners Club; later, this name would alienate potential clients. The business indeed went international with vendors in Europe, Asia, South America, Australia and Africa adapting the Diners Club business model. I recall my father having a Diners Club charge card throughout the 1970s and into the 80s, these days his card of choice is Visa.

So, Diners Club International was a charge card; that is, credit may be accrued over the course of a month, however, the account total must be settled at the end of each month. A pretty fair deal, if you don't live beyond your means. Changes in attitude to personal debt saw rapid growth in consumer credit. Paying off a credit card bill every month suddenly seemed uncool, accumulating short-term debt long-term at unsecured rates of interest was suddenly very much in vogue.

The major competitor of Diners Club in the United States was American Express, running a similar charge card business model. A number of factors contributed to the dominance of American Express; these are, a concentrated marketing campaign explaining to consumers to "don't leave home without one" with the American name on the card with the green representing American greenback banknote colour.

The rise of consumer credit has left the Diners Club International business somewhat exposed, the charge card model does not allow the continued accumulation of debt. Consumers don't seem concerned with ballooning credit card debt, minimum monthly repayments, increasing debt limits and decreased abilities to make repayments in this consumer orientated economy. The name confuses consumers believing the card can only be used in restaurants and not as a general charge card, after all, a Visa or Mastercard is now accepted in all restaurants almost without exception.

Acceptance of Diners Club International at retailers is low due to misconceptions over the name with finally the fee structure on similar levels to rival Amex but higher than competitors Mastercard and Visa. Amex has sought to reinvent itself with a strong rewards program, credit cards and finally a debit card. Diners Club International might still have a decal on the glass at selected vendors alongside the Visa, Mastercard, JCB, Discover and Amex decals. Despite being the architect of the charge card, their span of control and market share, Diners Club International is pretty much limited to a decal on shop windows these days.

Video rentals - an obsolete business model

Many business sectors have a lifespan influenced by technological advancement or economies of scale. We once had a corner shop, a butcher, a baker or delicatessen in most streets selling basic groceries, nowadays supermarkets offer economies of scale, convenience and prices small business are unable to compete with.

So too with technology, are there any photo processing businesses left? The local video rental library morphed into a DVD and Blu ray rental business and is soon heading to obsolescence. Online video streaming brought about by fast Internet connections with media companies distributing movies on demand, pay television through telephone cables. There is no need to drive down the DVD rental shop, select a couple of movies to watch in a certain time-frame and race back to return them before late fees are applied.

You can now watch a movie or TV show at your leisure, how many times did you return a movie un-watched so as to not incur late fees? The media companies are not only technologically advanced as compared to the DVD shop, they incorporate economies of scale.

DVD retail shops still exist, one suspects their cost structures remain high with suburb by suburb coverage with real estate and associated costs forming a significant and increasing burden. During the 80s and 90s, many small video rental entrepreneurs were forced out of business by the large chains; we are now seeing the large multi-media consortium doing exactly the same to them.

Pintrest

I have starting to play around with Pintrest, it is an unusual social media concept very much like an electronic scrapbook. The advantage is now any interesting articles, pictures or graphics may be pinned to a board and now saved in bookmarks as I had previously done.

I often wonder how firstly someone comes up with this idea initially and then proceeds to build an electronic platform, organise finance, entice investors and then get people on-board as users. What I have found out is this social media platform is very engaging attracting plenty of fans around the world.

A Master in Management or an MBA?

It was once a non-decision, if you wanted to get ahead in business, you undertook an MBA. These days, is a Master of Management (MiM) rated just as highly as a Master of Business Administration (MBA) by many employers, so what is the difference?

Whilst primarily a European qualification, the MiM has spread to South East Asian universities as professional experience is not required to apply. As such, MiM programs tend to have a younger cohort whereas MBA programs gain value from the professional experience students bring to course discussions and case studies. So, MiM programs are primarily designed for students in early career stages directly preceding an undergraduate degree with MBA programs, by contrast, targeting people with management experience of at least five years of workforce experience.

According to analysis, MiM and MBA programs tend overlap by about 30% with both programs providing an overview of general management topics, fostering team work utilising case studies simulating real-world problems as well as written exams and essays. The MiM tends to focus on the theoretical side of management with the MBA requiring strong analytical and mathematical skills; as such, MBA programs primarily emphasis practical application. The MiM tends to be shorter in duration than the MBA and tend to run cheaper course fees than the MBA.

Ultimately, the MiM is a qualification for young and ambitious people who perceive their initial bachelor degree as insufficient for early career progression. MBA students have begun careers requiring updated knowledge, analytic tools and networking opportunities or may have hit a career wall seeking the qualification to gain a promotion or change jobs and/or industries. The question now remains, do employers rate the MiM as highly as the MBA?

Anilao rubbish

I was appalled at the volume of rubbish in the water after a recent trip to the well-known Philippines macro dive location of Anilao. Floating in the water was all kinds of plastic from bags, wrappers and packaging of various sizes. It was not only disgusting, it is harmful to not only the local marine environment but to the broader regional marine eco-system and ultimately the dive tourism sector.

Anilao is the first choice for most Manila based divers for weekend dives, just a short road trip towards the port city of Batangas before veering off to the Mabini peninsular. Batangas is the port connecting the island of Mindoro to Luzon; it is busy, heavily polluted and reasonably close.

Not that far from Batangas and Anilao the somewhat famous village of Puerto Galera on the island of Mindoro, known for diving and nightlife. If the Philippines wish to become a world renowned dive location, the issue of marine rubbish must be identified and acted upon immediately. No reasonable person wants to go on holiday to swim through rubbish infested water when pristine sites beckon.

Of the South East Asian competitive markets, Malaysia is outstanding diving that is well organised and managed, Thailand has been the tourism leader for decades in terms of volume, Indonesia is excellent diving and emerging as a place to dive, Vietnam is improving dive infrastructure and slowly gaining in popularity while Brunei still sadly lacks.

Triumph & Demise: The broken promise of a Labor generation

Attending a recent lecture at the University of Western Australia, I had the opportunity to listen to and chat with the editor of The Australian Newspaper. With much anticipation, Paul Kelly outlined the structure of his latest political commentary; Triumph & Demise: The broken promise of a Labor generation. 

He spoke about the failings of the Rudd/Gillard/Rudd government with the current and future consequences on Australia discussed at length. He argues leadership was, of course, an important issue; however, the real problems stemmed from enormous and systematic policy failure. 

Paul spoke about the legacy of the Hawke government and why Hawke and not Whitlam must be the standard future Labor governments aspire to. I must say, it's difficult to disagree with Paul’s analysis. I look forward to reading my signed copy of the tumultuous 6 years of power of the Labor party that wasted the goodwill of the Australian people.

Phil Hughes will remain on 63 not out

This week, the funeral for Australian cricketer will take place, his death at the crease after been struck on the head by a short ball was untimely, he was just short of 26 years of age.

Naturally, there is no good age to lose your life, in the context of his career, he was just about to perform once again on the international stage. Phil was just about to be recalled to the Australian test team to cover for Michael Clarke who was expected to miss the upcoming test against India through injury. He started the bay fighting for a recall to the Australian test side and ended the day fighting for his life - he tragically lost that fight a day later.

In Australia, we are understandably upset, he was, after all, one of ours. What has really struck me was the outpouring of grief and respect from cricketing test nations. We have seen very respectful condolences sent from India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, South Africa, England, the West Indies, Zimbabwe, Bangladesh and New Zealand to just name a few. These condolences have been very much appreciated.

Now we find out an umpire and former national captain, Hillel Oscar has been struck in the jaw whilst officiating in a game in Israel. He died this week, this is another tragic event in world cricket.

The Schooner

I love the old style schooner, for me, the schooner was a two mast vessel with the aft mast larger than the fore mast. Whilst initially defined as two mast vessels; three mast vessels were introduced around 1800 with multi mast vessels introduced soon after and these vessels remained as schooners.

Whilst maybe not being entirely correct, the gaff rig, topsail, hull shape and bowspit with stay sails define the schooner. Of course, many vessels of the era featured bowsprits, so such a feature alone can not define the vessel, for many, the shorter fore mast is the defining feature of the two mast schooner.

Cutter rigs predominately feature a centrally located mast and a bowspit with multiple fly jibs. There was three and more mast schooner types, the two and three mast schooners were the sleekest with all the sails working together in a complementary fashion optimising airflow and forward drive through the water.

The immense sail area of the schooner with gaff rigs extending the main sail length, topsails filling void between the gaff upper boom and mast and multiple fore stays secured to the bowspit. The schooner is an elegant vessel from a bygone era eventually replaced by bermuda rigs and the ketch rig.

The CIA ice bucket challenge

I was in Subic Bay on a dive trip in the Philippines just recently; interestingly, I overheard a couple of American marines discussing the CIA ice bucket challenge.

As we know, the CIA is not allowed to waterboard anymore so enter the ice bucket challenge; what a novel way of bringing alleged terrorists and their associates into mainstream society and popular culture following contemporary internet trends. I wonder if there were allowed to plank as well, or is that so 2012?

A Pinoy style prescription mask

I have to say, I was impressed, this was the first time I had encountered a Filipino style prescription mask. Full marks for originality, construction and application; this mask worked a treat for a fraction of the cost of commercial prescription lens mask.

Dive guides out in the provinces of the Philippines aren't paid a great deal; what they forgo in salary is repaid by having a great job with good employment conditions, a low stress environment and an excellent lifestyle. The mask worked great.

The origins of the MBA

The Master of Business Administration (MBA) has been taught for barely over a century; Harvard University launched the program and enrolled an inaugural class of 37 candidates in 1908. Initially targeting professionals in non-business related fields, the MBA has now developed into a more mainstream qualification.

Firstly gaining acceptance in the United States before becoming established Europe, the MBA became the preeminent qualification for upper management. Asia and Australia progressively adapted the management program with the University of Melbourne awarding the first Australian MBA in 1965.

It has been argued too many poor quality and over-confident MBA graduates with little actual workplace experience are foisted onto unsuspecting workplaces. As national and international accrediting bodies determine course content somewhat blunting such claims, this may be a little overstated.

A professional such as a doctor, engineer, architect or lawyer generally tends to be entrepreneurial in nature building or purchasing a practice, business or engaging in a partnership.

The advanced degree followed on from the notions of scientific management that were prevalent at the time undergoing revisions from time to time whilst retaining an analytical nature.

Well known management practitioner and McGill University management lecturer, Henry Mitzberg described the MBA as a 1908 program utilising a 1950s strategy, an interesting reference to both the origins and overhaul of MBA curriculum.

Interestingly, MBA curriculum is accredited by United States, European and Australian professional bodies maintaining a consistency in program delivery and graduate outcomes.

Mintzberg maintains the MBA is a business course and not a management course describing management as a practice and not a science - fair enough.

When running a business, the professional requires knowledge of accounting, finance, marketing, strategy, economics, quantitative analysis, leadership, ethics and decision making. Thus, the MBA tended to be technical in nature and is well suited to such professionals trained in technical knowledge and skills.

One could argue the relatively recent European model of Master in Management (MiM) better addresses the soft skills of management whilst the MBA retains the analytical structure required by consultants and technical practitioners.

Generally, MBA programs are centred on an essentially standard curriculum and structured around eight to ten core units with specialist units aligned to specialisation majors. Typically, the majority of MBA courses run twelve to sixteen units that may be considered a generalised MBA.

From there candidates may specialise in areas such as finance, human resource management, operations management, logistics, marketing, economics, information technology or educational leadership - to name just a few.

Usually, the program culminates with initial coursework in business strategy with a dissertation or capstone project as the final examination. The de facto course two years full-time study with a number of worldwide institution running accelerated one year, part-time, online and executive courses.

Top tier universities dominate international MBA ratings with the all-important student networks and alumni giving these programs the edge. It has been said, employers don't hire the graduate, they purchase the prestige of the institution, they are probably right.

The history of social media in 90 seconds

Where is social media taking us? We have seen some huge advances in social media uptake and usage in recent years, will the growth continue unabated?

Who uses Friendster or MySpace now? They pretty much kicked off the social media explosion but have been left behind. Despite the size and reach of Google Inc, will Google+ survive?

Surely news coverage is the obvious answer, maybe we need to ask less about what social media platforms are going to be around and what news services and news papers will be around in 25 years? 

I'm pretty sure AAP and Reuters will still be around, will they be selling news to The Times, The Australian, The Jakarta Post, The Straights Times,The Sydney Morning Herald, The Washington Post or The New York Times in 25 years time? 

Or despite their current size and span, will traditional newsprint become the equivalent of Kodak or Blockbuster Video?

We saw from the Arab spring how quickly young protesters could get organised, this was the democratic uprising that quickly spread, what are the implications of social media for the future? 

Did Abbott front Putin on MH17 at the G20 leaders meeting?

Did Tony Abbott actually front (the political shirt-front) and discuss the issues of Russian involvement with Ukrainian separatists of the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH17 over Ukraine?

Yes he did - Vladimir Putin was told in no uncertain terms to assist with and not hinder the UN investigation into the shooting down of Malaysian Airlines MH17. He was told to pay compensation to families citing American repatriations to Iranian families of the Iranian Air 655 passenger jet shot down by the US Navy in 1988.

Managing your manager

It has been well documented in management circles the difference between leading and managing relates to transactional and transformational principles. Leadership occurs at all levels of an organisation, unfortunately all too often an ineffective manager stifles the work of a subordinate with the worker needing to manage their manager to get the job done efficiently.

This bottom-up approach to leadership is in direct contrast to the top-down approach employed at most organisations, yet it is proving to be more effective in many circumstances. The role of the manager is for you to perform your job efficiently, their role is to allocate resources you require to succeed, to make decisions based on metrics and to secure support to perform the task.

If success was measured exclusively on how well you do your job, there would be no requirement to manage your boss, this unfortunately is rarely the case. This requires you to identify their prime motivations, support their success by understanding their weaknesses and reacting accordingly and finally bring them solutions - not problems.

The manager works for the worker, not the other way around - the manager is a direct cost to the business whereas the worker is a productive resource. With a greater level of training and development the classic roles of management of planning, organising, leading and controlling are known - understood and practiced by workers. There is an old adage, you don't leave jobs, you leave managers - this rings true again.

Will Abbott really shirtfront Putin?

Do people know the difference between a figurative and literal statement? Figurative is described as departing from a literal use of words and metaphorical where literal could be described as taking words in their usual or most basic sense without metaphor or exaggeration. Is Abbott going going to physically shirtfront Putin? No, of course not, absolutely not in a literal sense. Lets look in a figurative sense, will Abbott hit up Putin behind closed doors in private discussions? He should and he must, however, he should not have stated that in such a public arena.

Abbott was stupid to make such a public and aggressive statement, yes, he needs to have a frank and open discussion with Putin; a leader of a powerful country who is carefully stage-managed as an outdoor macho man. By using such blatant and aggressive terminology, Abbott has backed himself into a diplomatic corner. As Putin's image is at stake from such colourful language, there won't be much to be gained here and there is plenty to lose - not a great diplomatic move.

Don't call me a feminist

"I'm a female Foreign Minister, yeah, get over it." That was quite a response from Julie Bishop; keeping the theatrics to a minimum when answering press questions.

I like her attitude, it appears she is all about getting on with the job and not pandering to special interest groups or playing the victim with responses like "Don't call me a feminist, it is not in my lexicom."

She is doing an excellent job representing the country and is certainly taken seriously in international diplomacy circles. Bishop is not the first woman to enter politics or hold a high political position such as Prime Minister or Governor General, she does however not want to make gender an issue.

The myth of Gough Whitlam

The government led by Gough Whitlam was a failure - there is no other way to describe it, to spin it, to believe it. Yet, the myth perpetrated by the Labor movement was that he was a great man leading a great government is laughable at best and just plain dangerous at worst.

The left intelligentsia clearly blame Rupert Murdoch, the apparent secret leader of the CIA that conspired against the highly competent Whitlam government - well, nothing could be further from the truth.

Gough Whitlam made Labor electable after 23 years in the political wilderness, after 3 years of government, he then made them unelectable again until Bob Hawke came along almost a decade later.

He promised the world and then failed to deliver, just the manner of his dismissal added to his mythology.

The real kick to the nards of any true believer of socialism was the highly competent Hawke government campaigned on policy that was directly opposite to Whitlam - ouch.

Since WWII, Labor government failures (with the notable exception of the Hawke government) were Chifley, Whitlam, Keating, Rudd, Gillard and Rudd again.

This is no great line up, the Hawke government in the early years was excellent but by the time Keating rolled around, they were well past their use by date.

The inept John Hewson allowed Keating to win the unlosable election allowing John Howard to reemerge as leader.

Whitlam claimed to have ended the White Australia policy, it was the Liberal government led by Harold Holt that ended the policy in March 1966.

Granted, the Whitlam government took further steps in 1973 to further reduce race as a factor in immigration policy, that is highly commendable but the policy had already been rescinded years before. 

Another policy the Whitlam government received credit for was voting rights for aboriginals. The May 1967 referendum was the work of the Holt government.

Harold went missing, presumed drowned in December 1967 but was succeeded by John McEwan for a brief period before William McMahon took leadership. Since 1967 is well before December 1972, this doesn't stand up to scrutiny. 

Bringing the troops home from Vietnam, lets have a more detailed look into this. According to the Australian War Memorial, by late 1970 Australia had begun to wind down military efforts with the 8th Battalion departing in November and not being replaced. 

The withdrawal of all air units continued throughout 1971 with further reduction in troop numbers, the last battalion left Nui Dat on the 7th of November of 1971.

A handful of advisers remained throughout the most of 1972 with the final team returning in December of that year. A platoon of troops guarded the embassy, they returned in 1973. The Whitlam government took office on the 5th of December 1972. 

As one can see, the bulk of the troops had already returned by the time he took government. But why let facts get in the way of popular mythology, the Whitlam government did remove conscription - that was a positive step.

Then there is university education, Gough Whitlam did make university education free, fees were however reinstated in 1989 by John Dawkins as Minister for Employment, Education and Training.

Free university education was not taken away by the Liberals as leftist mythology contends. The real higher education reforms was undertaken by Robert Menzies, it is difficult to argue with figures and facts.

It was Robert Menzies who effectively scrapped university fees by introducing Commonwealth scholarships. Any student regardless of socio-economic status who performed academically could not only attend university for free but could also receive a living allowance to attend.

All Whitlam did was remove the competitive academic aspect to extend a university education to anyone regardless of aptitude effectively allowing dumb rich kids to attend university for free. 

Menzies also increased government spending four-fold in the 1960s, built universities in the process and promoted university scholarships to academically minded students. If you were rich and didn't meet academic standards, you did not receive a funded scholarship. 

In direct contradiction to Labor claims of only rich kids attending university, now the rich dumb kids who previously paid for their university education could idle their days away on the public purse. 

The Whitlam government did recognise China, it has been falsely claimed that the Chinese led boom can be attributed to Whitlam - that is once again clearly false. 

China was staunchly communist, this was at the height of the cold war, the war in Vietnam was considered a proxy war against communism. A socalist government supporting communism, who would have guessed?

The Whitlam government followed the lead of Republican President Richard Nixon to open talks with the Chinese government after suspension of $100 million worth of wheat exports.

That can only mean Australian wheat exports predated the December 1972 election of the Whitlam government - oh.

China was admitted to the World Trade Organisation in 2001; after attempts were initially thwarted due to concerns raised by the United States.

Some European countries and Japan including tariff reductions, opening markets and industrial policies aligned to political reforms in the early 1980s. 

China began to slowly open its economy signing numerous regional trade agreements with China gaining observer status with General Agreements on Tarriff and Trade (GATT) in 1986. 

Malcolm Turnbull once stated, "He will be given credit I imagine for many things that were equally or perhaps even entirely the achievements of others.” That about sums it up.

It has been argued the best outcome for Whitlam was to be dismissed from office. Now, as a Labor martyr, he could never be brought to account for the devastation he wrought on Australia. He did of course attempt two further election campaigns for federal government failing miserably both times.

Whitlam came to power promising big, but ultimately, big promises have to be paid for. He has been described as a silvertail, not from the usual factional union background steeped in socialism but as a middle to upper class and well educated son of a lawyer from Mosman and later Turramurra. 

As Assistant Crown Solicitor, his father's human rights work influenced his son, this is where I believe his agenda was nationalistic in nature, if not somewhat ill-advised and poorly implemented.

Whitlam swept to power in December 1972 and by November 1975, it was all over. I feel Gough's greatest achievement was to transform the Labor party from its traditional working-class roots to include a suburban middle-class base. 

Gough Whitlam held the unofficial title of Australia's worst Prime Minister along with William McMahon, the man he defeated in 1972. A title he looked to carry to his grave until Keven Rudd and Julia Gillard wrestled the crown from him after wrestling with each other in the public arena. 

One could be fairly sure Gough would have been more than happy for the title to change hands within his lifetime.

Censorship on Facebook

A disturbing trend appearing on Facebook is post and newsfeed censorship. For some time now, Facebook has been deciding which posts appear on newsfeeds by screening posts and linked comments. They have rightly received widespread condemnation for manipulating the individual newsfeeds in a pathetic attempt to modify moods of its users.

Now posts including bullying, racism, inciting violence, religious persecution, sexual harassment and other abuse should not be tolerated. In such a case, moderation of posts is not only warranted, it should also be encouraged, there is however a limit.

There needs to be a clear code of conduct that users have the choice of accepting or declining to access the network, criticism of the US government should not encroach on personal liberties. Are Facebook denying people the right to protest?

People have the right to criticise government agencies that are not serving the public interest, my criticism of the American agency, the TSA, that is the Transportation Safety Authority was immediately removed from my Facebook feed as soon as it was posted.

One would suppose Facebook has software that scans for key words such as TSA automatically removing such posts as it was removed almost immediately.

This is akin to censorship on the internet, that is pretty much considered taboo. Consumers are considered competent enough to be able to discern between reliable information and propaganda.

Me, I'm not so sure, although the tenants of free speech must stand contrary to my personal beliefs of good taste and decorum. Personal freedom must be upheld at all costs.

The G20 Summit

The G20 summit will be hosted in Australia in November; concerns of stalled world economic growth will dominate the agenda. Australian treasurer Joe Hockey will put forward an infrastructure investment platform with public and private sector funding. 

It is somewhat convenient for PM Abbott and Treasurer Hockey to outline their global ambitions mirroring domestic political aims. The Abbott government's message to G20 counterparts is to follow the Australian lead.

That is privatisation of inefficient state assets, investing the proceeds of asset sales in new public works infrastructure with public/private partnerships managing risk with commercial operators sharing the risk/return of the project.

I can't say I have ever been much of a fan of Joe Hockey, so far, he has done a lousy job of selling his first budget even though the majority of bills have eventually passed through the senate.

Chomping on cigars created an image problem for the government and ultimately, his first budget should have been tougher, second year budget a little less tough and his third budget an election year budget - let's see how this plays out.

The romance of the passport

As an official document, the passport is the ticket to freedom, there are not too many official government documents that offer such romance, such freedom or such worldly pleasure. Normally an official government document reminds us of bureaucracy, the lack of freedom and the perceived abolishment and erosion of citizen's rights - but not so the passport. 

The stamped pages of your passport are the evidence of the freedom of travel, a confirmation of adventure - they are the record of your trip abroad. I must admit, I have kept my two previous passports and have flicked through the pages on occasions to check when I have visited certain countries when referencing past trips.

Visa stamps may be viewed as a form of travel snobbery detailing exotic locations, cultures and experiences. Anyone can go out and get a passport but you still need to fill the pages full of new and interesting adventures. 

As for me, I love these new smart passports with their electronic chip; no longer do you need to wait in line to return to Australia. I can quickly waltz through immigration at Perth International Airport quickly picking up my bags and be clear of the building in near record time. As we all know, the Perth International Terminal and Perth Domestic for that matter are not the most conductive airports for passenger flows.

A visa at the gate is a further hassle you and cost don't need. I fully understand the requirement for a visa in certain circumstances when you register online ahead of time. This gives the authorities sufficient time to check your credentials to see if you are a risk to their country or listed on Interpol or terrorism watch sites. However, a visa at the gate when you pass through immigration is a blatant rip-off of between $25 - $100 of hard earned cash for something they were already doing. 

Why is global warming now referred to as climate change?

Why is global warming now called climate change?

Am I a climate change denier? Don't think so, I certainly believe in science, yet I am compelled to challenge the orthodox view. Not just believing exactly what I am told without firstly researching both views trying to pick holes in their arguments is the basis of critical thinking and deductive reasoning.

Scientists are receiving large sums in research grants to study such effects. Their funding may hinge on providing research fitting the widely held view, are they in fact compromised?

So it is with much interest I note the change in title from global warming to climate change. Research is indicating a 15 or so year lull in global warming, is this a momentary lull, a change in direction or a long term change?

I have noticed changes in the Perth climate as both a child and teenager, wind patterns, rainfall and temperatures have differed during that time, is this a 10, 30 or 100 year recurring cycle?

There is no doubt the industrial world of the last two hundred years is pumping emissions into the atmosphere, there is little doubt deforestation is affecting local environments.

However, how long has humanity been keeping accurate records? Is this all part of a longer cycle, we have had ice ages and rewarming in the past, there is no evidence of industrialisation during the mesozoic period. 

The widely held view is an ice age killed the dinosaur population ushering in the age of the mammal, a comet or meteorite crashed into the earth? Maybe, but where is the evidence? Is 200 years a long enough time-frame to make creditable judgment?

I am not saying global warming is over, a hiatus, yes, but why? A stabilisation period before increasing again? The data told us temperatures rose, that fact is not in dispute, however, policy is derived on the basis of computer modeling, this is a cause for concern.

Performance sailing at a reasonable price

The lightweight sharpie is a controlled class performance dingy sailed by a crew of three, a forward hand is connected to the trapeze with the sheet-hand with the skipper using toe straps to increase power through leveraging weight over the side.

The older style lightweight sharpies I began sailing on in the early 1980s were of plywood construction, with no lowers, a non-adjustable rig and a fixed mast preventer. As I progressed through a number of boats throughout the 80s and into the 90s, hull construction changed little but advances in rig set-ups and sail design kept the class contemporary. 

The hull has changed since the 1960s when the lightweight variant was released, a number of successful boats returned to plywood sandwich construction after the full fiberglass phase, a new hull is extremely expensive but picking up a secondhand yacht is a very cost effective method. The three-quarter balloon type spinnaker is hoisted from a chute in the deck; The main, jib and spinnaker are consistent in measurements, although sail shape is hotly contested. 

An aluminium mast with no backstay rounds out the rig; spreader length is set to class rules although the degree of spreader position (forward or aft) assists with mast stiffness, sidestay tension is adjusted to conditions with boom vang and cunningham controlling mast rake to de-power the rig in stronger conditions. Initial mast rake is set via foerstay tension, the base of the mast is stiffened with adjustable lowers and a mast preventer stops the foot of the mast breaking on downwind runs.

The fleet is very competitive, these days 40 odd boats line up at the National series, held in various locations throughout the country between the Christmas and New Year period. I remember fleets of 80 to 90 boats on the start line at national carnivals - very exciting. A stamp in circulation in 1981, the lightweight sharpie was a prominent class, a number of new classes is taking the mantle of leading performance dingy. The lightweight sharpie is an older controlled class, cost effective in many ways and extremely competitive to sail at the top level.

Is John Howard Australia's best Prime Minister?

John Howard was Australia's second longest serving Prime Minister of nearly 12 years after Sir Robert Menzies 16 years, serving slightly longer than Bob Hawke's 9 years. If longevity as Prime Minister is a measure, Howard sits behind only Menzies as the greatest PM to serve the country.

Menzies predecessor, John Curtin rated highly in my opinion, despite his short term in the top job, so longevity isn't the only measure. Menzies, Howard and Hawke is a pretty good line-up by any determination.

Howard was never a popular figure in the way that Hawke was; Howard was short, bald, a four eyes and deaf in one ear. Yet, despite his lack of charisma and Hawke like popularity, he led a government that made necessary decisions that aren't always popular. Howard never chased opinion polls like Hawke, instead deciding to ride out unpopular decisions, the polling generally looked after itself.

Unlike Hawke, Costello never challenged Howard for the top job as Keating challenged Hawke, failing once and ssucceedingon the second occasion. Just look at the Gillard/Rudd and Rudd/Gillard infighting of the lost six years - the years of instability. 

Neither Keating or Costello were friendly outside of professional duties with their respective Prime Minister; however, Costello never let his personal ambitions cloud his judgement. It could also be argued Costello never had the numbers to challenge Howard for the leadership.

Howard was a conviction leader, he didn't always make the popular decision but in my opinion, he got it right more often than not. The economic credibility of his government was their strongest virtue, paying off the 96 billion debt left by the previous government only for it to be increased to well over 300 billion under 6 years of Labor incompetence.

We, as a nation pretty much had nothing to show for this spending spurge. We survived the global financial crisis due to three main factors, trade with China rating highly, while the resources sector contracted, mining based income ensured capital inflows into the economy.

The low government debt coupled with strong reserves ensured investment capital when required, that was unfortunately pissed up against the wall in a manner not seen since Whitlam. Lastly, the strong financial position of Australian banks ensured the capital flows remained intact sparing enterprises from liquidity issues so they remained open for business.

The immediate move to grant the Reserve Bank of Australia independence from political influence greatly underscored monetary policy allowing the RBA to set interest rates as required and support the currency. The tough budgets to rein on spending (especially in the early years); repayment of government debt during the boom times allowed Australia to prosper even during the rebuilding years.

Going to an election with a goods and services tax as the centre piece of reform appeared to be political suicide, it was successful and the tax base has been expanded whilst personal income tax declined. That took political courage, Keating wanted to introduce a GST in the late 80s, Hawke scuttled the idea as politically unpopular killing the proposal.

Howard had his faults of course. He hung on to the prime minister's position too long, he should have retired after hosting the APEC conference in Sydney leaving Peter Costello a year in the top job. He should have not allowed Australian special forces to switch from Afghanistan to Iraq.

Removing the troops at a critical stage was a bad decision, instead we should have been increasing our commitment to wrestling the Taliban control of the nation to free Afghanistan forces. If he wanted to commit the air force and navy, that would not scramble the strategic mission leaving the SAS and commando regiment free to consolidate their gains in Afghanistan.

Howard should have acted earlier to stem the rise of Pauline Hanson and her flagrantly skewed views, she did much damage internationally to Australia's reputation creating an impression of intolerance. There will always be people holding such views, that is ok as we live in a democratic and free society. As long as such ideals do not become mainstream, people are allowed to hold personal views out of alignment with society.

After eleven and a half years, Australia was left in a stronger position financially, safer, bolder, proud and confident. The Howard government met the challenges of the day running a competent government. I believe Australian's became complacent feeling any fool could govern the country, when the fools did gain control, we saw six years of dysfunction and infighting ruin the gains of the previous period.