Coursera - now banned in selected countries

Coursera, like many of the massive open online courses provides free university education to the masses worldwide. This is an excellent concept allowing the world's top universities to share their learning materials online led by the top lecturers at their respective institutions. 

I was bewildered when I learnt the United States government banned online access to courses to selected countries of Cuba, Syria, Sudan and Iran - apparently, Syria has now resumed coverage. I feel this is a short sighted decision, the power of education to transform lives and attitudes providing the United States wonderful opportunity to engage people at a very personal level, some could even argue engaging in soft diplomacy. I fear people from countries who are unable to attend traditional bricks and mortar universities are being severely disadvantaged due to internal turmoil or government ideologues not aligning to American values.    

Ironically, I am undertaking a Coursera unit on Critical Perspectives on Management led by a Canadian professor from a Madrid based business school. Being fortunate enough to reside in a rich western country, I have unfettered access to their incredible array of online learning resources. 

The US based education provider fell foul of US export law subject to economic sanctions by the state department. Apparently, export controls have been interpreted in such a manner allowing access to controlled markets, one hopes sanity will prevail and students in blocked countries can resume their  learning experience. 

I understand Coursera is a US based enterprise, it is my hope that the many international universities offering services to Coursera can convince the powers to be to reverse their short sighted decision and return learning to everyone.

Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1

Spending Australia Day with my family saw the cork pulled from a 2005 Yarra Yering Dry Red No. 1, it was, as expected, a magnificent wine. Unlike most contemporary Australian wines, a cork is still used at Yarra Yering as opposed to a screw cap used by the majority of producers. Then again, since 2005, they may have moved over to screw caps as well - change is constant, I suppose.

Viewing the label of this wine, it looks as if it was produced by a family member on their home computer, the moment the cork is released, you soon realise no costs have been spared in the production of this marvelous wine.The No. 1 is a Bordeaux style claret consisting of cabernet sauvignon blended with merlot, malbec and petit verdot matured in new French oak.

The aroma exhibits herbaceous notes with a slight hint of tobacco, the palate exhibits complex cherry, plum and blackcurrent flavours with vanilla oak overtones, the aftertaste is smooth with fine tannins. With just on 10 years of bottle maturation, the 2005 is drinking well now with further cellaring potential.

James Halliday, from the Wine Companion awarded the 2005 vintage 95 points, the distinct lack of gold, silver and bronze awards plastered over the bottle shows a no nonsense style allowing the reputation of the No.1 blend to talk instead of label marketing. I have a couple of more bottles stashed away, looking forward to more sunny summer days.

The shark cull begins

Well, the shark cull has not only begun, but the first shark has been caught and destroyed. A three metre tiger shark was caught on a baited line off of Meelup Beach, Dunsborough, Western Australia. The shark was shot four times and taken further out to sea and dumped, this is the dumbest option as the sharks should be loaded aboard the boat, brought ashore and examined by scientists for research purposes. This is in my opinion, a short sighted and ill conceived government policy - an alternative is research, selective shark screening on beaches and shark tagging. 

For a number of years, shark spotting planes have flown over Perth beaches during the summer months in a bid to identify sharks approaching, the water is cleared of swimmers and surfers until the shark leaves the area. Electronic buoys have been deployed where tagged sharks approaching the vicinity register on the system and once again, swimmers and surfers can take a rest on the beach until the shark leaves the area.

Shark culling is a populist option that gives the public the appearance that the problem is being addressed. The community opinion, seen through my eyes is anti-culling but I am sure there is also community support - seen mostly through the surfing fraternity that sharks are killers and murders of the ocean and must be eradicated. They see shark numbers sky rocketing and a danger to all water users lobbying government in an emotive manner, the local Perth media play on this illogical fear in a brazen manner to enrich their own news coverage increasing advertising revenue in the process.      

Bali cockfighting

On a trip to Bali's east coast, we were driving up a valley for the wonderful views looking down the valley towards the sea. We noticed a large ring of men jostling for position and decided to investigate. As we drew closer, it was apparent a cockfight was taking place.

I have spent a fair amount of time in parts of Asia/Pacific over the years and was invited to many cockfights. I always declined as this sport is cruel and barbaric, it is, of course not a sport but a fight to the death with a razor sharp knife strapped to the left leg of the bird. I had always thought the knife was strapped to the right leg but since this was the first time I had seen a live fight, I stand corrected.

I have viewed cockfights on television when I have been in the Philippines, yes, a cockfight is really televised there - I kid you not. Now apart from the fact that this is really boring, there are plenty of people getting excited about this with a whole ritual taking place with standing the cocks up straight, getting them aggressive, pecking at each other before they are launched into the contest.

The aftermath is the death or severe wounding of a bird, they may break them up and relaunch at each other until the loser is incapacitated. The loser, if still alive is put to the side flapping around with severe injuries in a cruel and callous manner.

There is betting going on, cockfighting is all about gambling - this is the cruel reality of gambling, this is really a disgrace.

Why I like my Galaxy Tab 3

I purchased a new Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 after owning an older generation 7.0; well one of the original devices actually. While I wasn't so upset with my older device, it had a number of issues that caused me grief, that is, the software wasn't up-gradeable and couldn't run certain (newer) programs. That being said, the device is only a few years old and I kind expect better. This post was written on the said device while on holidays overseas, pretty much why I purchased it.

My old 7.0 cost me $336 when I purchased it overseas a couple of years back; my 10.1 gave me change from $350 and I'm pretty happy with that, substantially lower when first units hit the market. There are a number of different versions including the Tab 3 or Note, my choice being the Tab 3.

A friend had an iPad and I seriously considered switching to Apple, the iPad has some great functionality not suffering from compatibility issues that some Android devices may have. After spending a fair amount of time on an iPad 2, I have to admit to liking the device. I do however have a number of ethical issues with Apple products and seek alternate devices as a result.

Apple is overpriced and I notice international price maintenance, more commonly known as price fixing going on. Apple tried their hardest to keep Samsung off the shelves, successful in California, but lets face it, this is the home of the legal system assisting OJ Simpson, Lindsay Lohan, Michael Jackson and Paris Hilton, no one worldwide takes American courts seriously. Lets face it, they wouldn't need Guantanamo Bay otherwise.

The British court system while denying Samsung's claim against the iPad required Apple to publish a disclaimer on its website and general media stating that Samsung did not copy the iPad. Likewise, while the German courts initially granted Apple an injunction against the 10.1; this was rescinded after evidence tampering was claimed by Samsung. Furthermore, Apple was fined in Australia for deliberately misleading consumers in regards to their 4G capability. I will stick with Samsung - excellent products and even better pricing.

Rudd - leading the United Nations

That fool Kevin Rudd has aspirations of becoming Secretary General of the United Nations after current Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is up for re-election in 2016. We knew him as Rudd the dud, he talked himself up, failing to deliver any tangible benefits at any stage, in short - he is totally useless.

Kevin Rudd, the former Prime Minister of Australia swept to power in 2007 only to be displaced in the top job during his first term by his own party. Hated by those closest to him, the dysfunction, waste and infighting of the government he led is now history. On his dismissal, Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard described this as "a government that had lost its way", yet, only one person was removed - ouch.

After undermining his successor, Gillard's own failures as leader saw the rise of Rudd again to the top job despite losing a few leadership challenges along the way. Her poor performance forged a path for Rudd's return.

Not that this was a bad thing, that gave us, the people of Australia the opportunity to vote this wanker out.

His political party, the Australian Labor Party was so roundly beaten at the 2013 federal election, the ALP recorded their lowest primary vote in their history. The legacy of six years of ALP government includes record government debt, the budget surplus he inherited at the start of his government is now a record deficit

To keep his loss in perspective, before the 2013 election, the ALP held 72 seats - level with the Coalition, yet after the election, the ALP formed a minority government with the help of the Greens and independents. The ALP currently holds 55 seats while the Coalition holds 90 seats. Retirements for the ALP after their humiliating defeat include 16 members in addition to the 17 seats lost during the election (including Rudd the dud himself).

Not that Julia Gillard was much better as Prime Minister, however, the whole time, Rudd undermined her efforts at every opportunity until he was returned to the Prime Minister's position.

Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Malcom Fraser and Gough Whitlam are all worthy candidates for the title of worst prime minister of Australia, now this imbecile wants to go and weave his magic on the United Nations - god help us all.

Private business schools

The issue of private business schools versus traditional government owned universities has been burning in my mind, I have been looking at private business schools in Australia as a study option, I want to know if employers are taking private business schools seriously?

INSEAD, the leading French business school and IE, the Madrid based business school are both privately owned and according to the Financial Times, are rated among the top schools to hire graduates - that should answer that one. Of course, this is two extremely prestigious European schools, would private institutions in Australia be viewed in the same light? Not so sure.

Throw in IMD from Lausanne, Switzerland into the mix, a third non-university aligned business school providing solely executive education and the status of business schools is suddenly very impressive. Given their lack of government representation, their competitive advantage is their quality, they can only survive by being better than their government sponsored competition. They not only survive, they appear to be setting high standards attracting high quality candidates.

These institutes are bricks and mortar establishments, until recently I had never heard of the IE Business School until I took massive open online course through Coursera. I'm pretty impressed now with this particular private business school and its innovative courses. Now it is a case of gaining credits under the Australian Qualifications Framework - that seems less likely in the short term.

Getting into these business schools is extremely difficult and one would assume very costly, taking into account that talented people with a wealth of experience apply for such schools, it is not unusual that graduates are highly sought after. Alumni associations and networking opportunities are also a marketing factor, this is very much a consideration for candidates. 

Scuba Confidential

I recently received my copy of Simon Pridmore's new publication Scuba Confidential, having worked through the book on a flight from Bali to Perth, I was generally impressed with the book. I feel this is an excellent book for newly certified divers seeking to avoid the mistakes of over confidence after their open water course and advanced open water course taken immediately after their certification dives.  

I undertook the bulk of my technical training at Professional Sport Divers, Simon's Guam dive facility in the late 90s, I feel I know pretty well what Simon expects in regards to attitude, motivation and self disipline.

The mental preparation for scuba diving to build in-water confidence is an excellent starting point along with the focus on breathing and mental preparation techniques. As you move through, I didn't read from cover to cover but used the contents page to guide me to the topics I wanted to review.

The book is isn't directed at technical divers, nor it it overly technical in nature. This publication does not try to be a training manual per se, I read with much interest Simon's philosophies on diving attitude and execution. The what ifs of technical diving combined with a number of case studies allows real world relevance to decisions divers face, accident analysis is covered along with instructional philosophies is very helpful.

Simon, well known for training IANTD instructor trainers in the South East Asia region is credited with introducing technical diving to the region. Simon, a former Hong Kong resident is now writing for a number of diving publications including magazine articles, travel guides and further dive publications from his Bali base. This includes Bali and Indonesian dive guides with leading photo-journalist Tim Rock.

Race 7 - Australian Sharpie Nationals

The last race of the national series saw Peter Chappell sailing The Lizard not even needing to show up, Race 6 had him already claiming his 5th Australian Sharpie championship. The Lizard scored 2nd over the line taking his championship finishes to 1st, 3rd, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st and 2nd for the seven race series, when your worst result is a third - you could strongly argue you had a pretty good regatta. A light day with less than 5 knots greeted sailors, a delayed start, a start, general recall, a delay and more milling around. A crowded start line saw plenty of boats over the line and a general lack of maneuverability caused by light winds early on.

The restart saw a better line with no one over this time, a much better start favouring the pin end on the eastern side of the course.

The Lizard was at the front of the fleet (top 10) after the first work making a big tactical decision behind Vern Tidy to not follow the leading boat east and instead went west chasing the incoming wind.

Getting the spinnaker up at the top mark, clean crew work had the kite up before they rounded the mark.

Boats had a choice of two rounding marks depending which side of the course you came from and where you wanted to go next - it worked well.

The light winds remained for the first spinnaker run downwind, working the wind shifts saw a number of interesting position changes throughout the race.

Setting the pole in light winds took a degree of finesse, preparing the pole in advance reaped rewards for tight crew work.

Moving in a manner that was less likely to disrupt the boat moving through the water was better than flat out setting sails, of course, picking the wind shifts and being in the right position on the course was the difference between the leading boats.  

Getting the pole set after raising the spinnaker, a wind shift proved to be beneficial to those who planned ahead.

A morning race is normally a light breeze race with Perth's sea breeze usually arriving late morning, the light southerly breeze gave way for the off-shore south west sea breeze half way through the second windward work. 

With his hand on the tiller, The cows are loose had one of their better races of the series.

The Asylum did well in the light breeze gaining a handicap win for the race.

The boats heading east along the South Perth foreshore for the first work did well, likewise, heading west buried plenty of boats on the first windward work.

There were times the sheet-hand was able to get up on the side, most of the first windward work saw them sitting leeward. 

Once you were back in the fleet, you had no chance on this course, everyone got away from you.

As the sea breeze filled in, the rides improved with the forward-hand able to support some weight on the wire.

Critical perspectives on management

I am taking my first Coursera course, a MOOC, that is, a massive open online course run through IE Business School, starting on the 13th of January and running for a period of six weeks. I will take this course with a friend who has not only a fair amount of practical management experience, but also a strong academic background and is pretty intelligent to boot. I am looking forward to working together, discussing concepts and case studies and looking at the learning systems both Cousera and IE adapt for their learning platforms. I took this course as both the content looked interesting, the length of the program relatively short (not too taxing) and between one to three hours per week is required - all in all, not bad for an entry level course.

I had not heard of IE Business School before, a web check tells me this is a graduate school founded in 1973 as Instituto de Empresa in Madrid, Spain. The school ranks highly with Forbes, Financial Times, The Economist, Businessweek and the Aspen Institute for MBAs, Master of Management and Master of Finance. The facilitator looks very well credentialed with a BA from the University of Pennsylvania, an MA from McGill University and PhD from Northwestern University. Despite being a Spanish institution, the course will be in English, but I note courses in Madrid can be both in Spanish and English.

Coursera has teamed up with some very interesting institutions ranging from the Wharton School of Management, Stanford University and John Hopkins University in the United States to the University of Western Australia, University of Zurich, University of Melbourne, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, University of New South Wales and the World Bank. Looking forward to my first MOOC experience.

Schumacher stalkers - who are the real legends?

Are people totally mad? The large contingent parked outside the French hospital must be driving everyone involved in the running of a hospital absolutely potty, let alone patients, family and friends of patients. The doctors and nurses tasked with the efficient care of patients in their charge are being hindered in performing their job effectively.

We all know Michael Schumacher was a top formula one driver, now once again retired and recently seriously injured in a skiing accident. Doctors and nurses are the real heroes, their knowledge and skills are superb, performed on a daily basis saving lives, reducing pain and affecting people's quality of life. Michael Schumacher is a driver - courier drivers, taxi drivers and truck drivers all drive vehicles for a living, we need a little perspective here. I have to say, I hold ambulance drivers in higher regard than race car drivers, their role is vital to the efficient running of society.

Go park your sorry arses outside the Ferrari factory instead, the media circus is driving this frenzy is a joke, people need to seriously look at themselves.

Race 6 - Australian Sharpie Nationals

Race 6 saw some stronger winds, average wind strength for the start was 18 knots, as the afternoon progressed, the wind increased to slightly over 26 knots. Now sailing is getting interesting, energy expelled is a whole lot more with the guys sleeping well that night. 

For me, the hardest part of the day was keeping the camera dry as waves washed over the yacht I was on, fortunately this was a much larger cruiser. I was running down into the cabin every 10 minutes to clean the salt spray from the lens. 

After the first restart, these guys closed in on fast and sailed straight through our line, I hardly had the change to focus the lens on them as they nearly collected our rudder on he way through.

Punching through the chop proved to be hard for some who were unfamiliar with such conditions, difficult to keep the boat fast and level. The forward hand low to the water is fast, because of the chines on the hull, these boats sail fastest when the hull is flat in the water.

When the waves hit, you certainly know about it, great feeling to be moving fast across the water.

The open layout of the modern sharpie with lowered centre board casing and sheet console that the skipper and sheet-hand adjusts gives great mobility for the crew. 

Powering through the water, sails are set well with plenty of main outhaul and cunningham eye keeping the luff tight, the traveler is tight keeping the boom central with plenty of boom vang pre-bending the mast.

The forward-hand is high on the trapeze wire, not the fastest way to move through the water but it keeps you about the water.

Flat and fast, there was plenty of speed upwind for those who did it right, some very fast upwind rides. The mainsail on Perth Pathology shows good shape with not too much traveler played out allowing high pointing potential. 

I noticed all the many of the main leach adjustments were set very loose, this generally affects pointing ability making the depth of the main sail fuller, I am very interested in these new settings, they are quite unusual.

The Sharpie was designed by the Kroeger brothers of Warnemünde in 1931, being the winning design in a German contest, the lightweight version was designed by the Addison brothers in the early 1960s and still sailed today.

These are old design yachts, evolved from the 12 square metre class sailed at the 1956 Melbourne olympic games, despite the age of the design, these small yachts are ultra competitive and owing to the narrow beam, somewhat temperamental. 

Having difficulty getting the spinnaker pole organised, keeping the boat driving through the water is important even though speed is reduced, places are being lost and the pressure builds.

These guys are roaring past on a tight reach, keeping the forward-hand out on the wire balances the boat holding the boat level and fast.

Reaching and keeping the boat flat in the water, this boat is gliding through the water, this is my favourite photograph of the regatta.

The hull sits low in the water, I notice the centre board is partly retracted allowing leeway reducing pointing ability. A fair amount of water makes its way inside, a venturi drainage system empties the water quickly.