Failing Chinese economic coercion

So what is China trying to do with all the tariffs imposed on Australia producers? They are attempting to use Australia’s democratic society against our national interests - they are engaging in foreign interference and need to be called out. 

Clearly the CCP are attempting to create divisions in Australian society, they know a free and open press can report opinions as they please. A free and open press, in their opinion, can be manipulated to create unrest, but their poorly conceived strategy is embarrassedly failing and they have no retreat strategy.

China doesn’t have this problem, they control the media and the people are dominated by state manufactured opinion. However, they are concerned as their control of the Chinese people relies on the promise of improved living standards by the totalitarian regime.

These rising living standards are appearing to become harder to deliver. The rest of the world is watching and are rightly concerned about the economic coercion of the CCP. The CCP are concerned about internal unrest and the potential to unravel their complete subjection of the Chinese people.

What we have learnt is China is an unreliable trading partner. Japan has long been a partner trading with Australia and has always been an honest and reliable partner. Australia has built up too much of a reliance on Chinese demand and that needs to change.

However, the rising iron ore price and required Chinese demand to develop their infrastructure program to aid their recovery ensures Australia still has an iron ore market. The iron ore income is improving Australia’s trade deficit funding the social programs of the pandemic.

This rising iron ore price created by Chinese demand is shielding Australian producers from the ravages of the Chinese economic coercion. Australian producers now have an opportunity to develop new markets.

Eventually, Chinese officials will target iron ore imports, that is unlikely in the short-term until they are able to secure new suppliers. By that time, Australian producers will have arranged new clients to diversify exports away from China.

Sure, it is more than likely that the Chinese government is humiliated by successful Australian calls for an independent enquiry into the origins of the coronavirus. The social unrest from a failed policy threatens the control of the CCP over the population and that scares them.

China is seeking to manufacture discontent in Australia, this has so far failed and further humiliated Chinese government officials. The architects of this plan care little about the next commodity whether it be wheat, beef, university education or dairy products.

The CCP is engaging in foreign interference, and so far, industry sectors can see through this transparent plan and refuse to become lobbyists for the Chinese government. So far, they are hurting themselves, Chinese steel mills are bearing the cost of increased costs.

Chinese consumers can no longer drink Penfolds wines after becoming accustomed to quality wine. Chinese consumers are prepared to pay a premium for Penfolds, sure, new markets will have reduced margins but they will be reliable supply chains.

The Chinese government is attempting to use democracy against Australia, they believe the Labor opposition will pressure the Liberal government to yield to it’s will - this policy is failing. Xi Jinping is humiliating himself, his policies are a failure and damaging Chinese national interests to soothe his massive and over-inflated ego.

When your mind is engaged

Reflecting on Daniel's statement, I could not agree more. No matter what your motivation is; whether it be business, community service, medicine, research, science or humanities - the ability to engage in continuous learning is absolutely paramount to any endeavor.

Learning does not need to be formalised; the greatest learning potential takes place in the workplace with up to 70% of all learning occurring on-the-job. What is required is an inquisitive mind and the ability to translate learning into action.

Landing on Balicasag Island between dives

More amazing dives around Balicasag Island, the first dive on the vertical wall at Diver's Heaven is fantastic, this is my favourite diving location in the Philippines.

After mooring the dive banca close to shore, a small banca arrived and we made our way to the island while the crew stayed on board. Of all my trips to Balicasag Island, this was my first time actually landing on the island, usually we stay on the boat for our surface interval.

There was a selection of seafood restaurants on the island, I loved landing here and supporting the local infrastructure and community - they even come and bring you to their restaurant by small banca.

You choose your seafood, it is fresh caught by local fishermen and it is cooked for you, I like to support the local community and this is a fairly decent way to do it.

You negotiate your choice of seafood, the quantity and the way you want it cooked - great stuff. They take it away and not long after your freshly cooked seafood is ready for you for a very enjoyable lunch.

When your meal is done, time to get back on your banca and head off for your second dive before leaving the island and heading back to Alona Beach on Panglao Island - this is a pretty decent day.

The Rolex Explorer

Rolex has plenty of iconic timepieces, they have great marketing and they know how to create demand through scarcity. Sure they could increase production to sell more units, they are very aware they hold premium sales and they protect their market and retailers with much vigor.

The Explorer Reference 6350 was released in 1953 not that long after the 1953 Hillary/Norgay Everest expedition. Whilst there is still some conjecture as to what Hillary and Norgay actually wore on their wrists when they scaled the summit, there is no doubting that the Explorer is associated with Everest - this is certainly what Rolex advertising indicates.

While Hillary was apparently wearing a Smiths, Rolex was supporting and sponsoring expeditions testing the oyster perpetual series. Rolex was involved with prototypes leading up to the Explorer series, the Reference 6150 that was imprinted with Precision on the dial and not Explorer. The early series had a 36 mm case size that has increased over the years.

If I was to be a Rolex owner, then an Explorer would be my choice of timepiece. At 39 mm, the case isn't large by any means and the over-size watch style seems to be receding. Although I tend to prefer a 41 mm case diameter for my wrist size, I have had smaller watches in the past. The Mercedes hour hand is an iconic Rolex feature, although I am not personally thrilled by the hour hand.

A number of references have been produced over the past 65 years, the charm of Rolex is they pretty much don’t change their product. Whilst the vintage Rolex market is booming, the latest COSC certified 3132 movements with the parachrom hairspring are far superior to their predecessors with + 2 seconds a day precision.

I get nervous with vintage watches, the opportunity to create frankenwatches increases, that is watches using non-original parts. The movements already exhibit wear and you have to trust previous owners serviced their timepieces only at authorised dealers.

The older series watches didn't come with sapphire crystal so tend scratch easily although I'm told they buff out easily. Whilst not a feature of the Explorer, ceramic bezels don't scratch or fade, the stainless steel bezel ring can scratch.

The case is manufactured from 904L stainless steel, known by Rolex as Oystersteel and is more scratch resistant than competitors. For me, the Explorer is the quintessential Rolex timepiece and the model I would own.

Transiting through Changi International Airport

I can't recall the amount of times I have either transited through Singapore's Changi Airport, in a ten year period I was travelling three to five times a year through that airport - that all stopped pretty quickly for coronavirus.

As a watch guy, I love the airport and I wonder what deals I can get in Singapore central. If I have a short transit time I remain in the terminal, if I have more than four hours transit then I catch the MRT into the city for a short break.

I like books, so I love looking around Changi bookshops, but what charge is outrageous. Yet, I have still purchased the odd book from Changi book stores. They have a pretty good selection and some of those books I haven't seen in other bookshops. 

I believe Changi is the best airport in at least South East Asia and I guess East Asia. Now a new terminal has been opened, there is more to like about transiting through Changi Airport when we start travelling again.

New Mexico class battleships

The New Mexico class battleships all began construction during world war one; the USS New Mexico BB-40, USS Mississippi BB-41 and USS Idaho BB-42 formed a battle group in the Atlantic fleet and were thus not damaged during the Pearl Harbor surprise assault by Japanese carrier aircraft.

An armament of 12 x 14" guns mounted on 4 turrets, 22 x 5" guns and 2 x 21" torpedo tubes were fitted with the 5" guns reduced to 14 during refits ensured the ships were fitted with sufficient firepower. The 14" guns were retained in the Tennessee class battleships before the Colorado class battleships were equipped with the larger 16" guns mounted in 3 turrets.

The class saw plenty of action during the second world war transferred from the Pacific fleet to the Atlantic fleet and then returned to the Pacific fleet after the Pearl Harbor surprise attack in December 1941 supporting the amphibious landing of the theatre of war. Although the ships were refitted in the mid 1930s, the ships were extensively utilised in the Pacific war, the ships were soon retired at the end of hostilities.

Typical HR failures - totally useless

I don't hold a lot of respect for HR, this latest debacle hasn't changed my view, this has just reinforced my concerns that HR are worthless bunch of lazy idiots who only create problems for the organisation.

Based on their LinkedIn announcement, a company had just won a large contract in Southern Africa, the largest project the company had ever won. I was performing a similar role in a central African nation so I sent HR an email detailing my work, I included my job description and examples of what I was producing.

I got to the interview stage but I saw they were not prepared, I was back in Australia and they hadn't yet developed a job description. The interview was interesting, I didn't say a work for the first 15 minutes as they spoke among themselves.

Not wanting to interrupt, I kept trying to get a word in until I finally interrupted and changed the subject to get the interview on track. I needed to speak, was this a tactic? I didn't think so, instead I just listened looking for my point to break in to their casual chatter.

However, the questions they asked indicated they hadn't prepared and walked into the interview without the necessary facts. So this tells me they a) didn't read my application, or b) comprehend my application, or c) their minds are closed and so blinkered in their preconceived view that they miss the obvious.

When you are involved in an interview lacking structure and preparation, this then throws out the prior preparation that you performed. I have even been in interviews where they have read my resume in front of me whilst I have been sitting there in silence.

On this occasion, they did have a few questions prepared and I understand the basis of a behavioural interview where past behaviours tend to predict future responses. So at least they had done some preparation.

Not so much though as I directed my answers to the material I had previously prepared and sent through to them, it was clear they hadn't bothered to read this at all - very poor and unprofessional.

So I asked the next stage, they told me I required a further interview, this was going to be a telephone interview with a guy Brian, as I would be back in Africa. Ok, not great but I have done those before and I know how to prepare for a telephone interview.

They said after that they will then send the contract to me in Africa to sign, this appeared a formality now. They had asked me if I had enough work to keep me employed until the project starts, I told them this wasn't the case I wasn't far from being demobilised from the project that currently employed me.

I returned to Australia a per the demobilisation plan, I emailed them for no reply  with a whole host of unanswered phone calls. When I finally got hold her she was very hesitant, it was also difficult to hear her as the line wasn't good and I had to keep repeating what I thought I had heard - that's uncomfortable.

So from this discussion I find out the person signing off wasn't doing that, the explanation was their preconceptions and lack of research. I said to her after her explanation that what I actually do was contained in my material previously sent. So much for professional courtesy, just ignore the issue and hope it goes away.

Every word she muttered was wrong, but that wasn't her doing, this decision was made by a person I hadn't even spoken to or made any contact with. What's the use arguing, they have made their mind up so I just hung up - there was nothing else to do. 

The Breitling Cosmonaute

As per their branding, Breitling represents aviation timepieces and the Cosmonaute is pretty much the aerospace standard for Breitling.

Developed in 1962, American astronaut Scott Carpenter on the Mercury-Atlas 7 project wore a Navitimer Cosmonaute (Reference 809) aboard the Aurora 7 spacecraft as he orbited the earth three times.

As an aviator, the circular slide rule is the defining tool on the dial to calculate speed/distance. The 24 hour is also an important feature of this timepiece, whilst on Earth it is easy to determine if it is 2 pm or 2 am. This is understandably difficult to detect in space as it is difficult to determine day or night.

In the case of NASA, the launch is at Cape Canaveral and Mission Control is in Houston so when you are orbiting the Earth it might be a little difficult to determine the Houston time zone when you are over Africa - fair cop.

Typical workplace gossip fueled by a lack of critical thinking ability

It doesn't upset me, it doesn't annoy me, but I am aware of what is going on and I am actually concerned about the culture that is allowed to manifest.

So, I was working on an assignment in the Democratic Republic of Congo in 2019 where I placed a historical post Why talent leaves and non-performers remain. I wrote this post back in 2015 for an someone named Emilly. 

She performed to a high level, is highly intelligent, is extremely motivated, somewhat outspoken but a little disliked in her workplace due to the politics of personal power and jealousy. She was looking for new opportunities when a management role was offered to her in a global company.

I reposted this article when she was offered the role of Area Manager, she had accepted and was in her new role. This post was picked up by one of my colleagues and discussed at length in my absence in very derogatory terms. 

This just happened to be when I was in the Democratic Republic of Congo; however, this was reposted when she accepted the role and moved to another city to start this role. Whilst this was just a coincidence, this was interpreted much differently by my colleagues.

One person had printed the post out and placed it on the noticeboard for all to read. Naturally all the office gossip mongers were in overdrive shooting their mouths off, not one of these fools even thought to look at the published date of the 24th of January 2015.

The questions I ask, this is an open plan office where the management read the noticeboard and sit at the table. What were they doing when this highly slanderous and highly emotional discussion was going on in an open plan office?

Whilst I do not need the protection of management against workplace bullying as I have shown that I am more than capable of taking workplace bullies down on my own. They have certain obligations, they need to shut down these malicious discussions with facts.

This was relayed to me all the way in Africa, there were apparently people with plenty to say. This was a topic of conversation in an open plan office and I received notification from multiple sources indicating that these loud discussions were taking place with plenty of people involved.

With the post printed out and placed on the lunch table where everyone congregates, it would be difficult to defend that management had no knowledge that this discussion was going on. What is most disturbing is the lack of critical thinking abilities of my colleagues, groupthink, pack mentality and follower mentality. 

NAB Qantas American Express Platinum

As a longtime NAB customer I held a Visa® card with the bank, I was then informed by the bank that I would be sent a Platinum Qantas American Express card linked to my existing Visa® account.

I preferred using the Amex® card as the benefits and protections were better and I guessed this would improve the acceptance of the card with merchants who had previously avoided American Express®.

I am a little annoyed as I had previously held an American Express® card but cancelled it when I received this credit card. This was really forced upon me, I had no choice in the matter, I am annoyed about how I am being manipulated.

As I frequently travel overseas I want multiple cards as I once faced the prospect of being stuck without cash after my card was locked for suspicious international transactions.

Those were my transactions, I appreciated the protection the bank offered but making an overseas phone call to reactivate my card when I pretty much was out of all cash turned out to be more difficult than anticipated.

Luckily, in modern times all that is required with electronic banking is online access to my account and I can nominate the country and the time transactions will take place.

Still, I like to have multiple credit cards so if one is lost, stolen or locked, I have access to funds. I keep the credit cards separated so if I am robbed, card is lost or the card damaged so I still have access to funds.

My spare card is kept with my passport in a secure location as a back up. There used to be American Express® offices located in major international cities where a cash advance could be organised.

To the best of my knowledge those Amex offices are mostly closed, I certainly don't see them around anymore. In these modern times, cards pretty much work anywhere and you have the ability to withdraw cash anywhere and anytime.

Polo shirts - smart casual for most occasions

I have been wearing polo shirts pretty much since I was a late teen and I still wear them now. Ok, so they looked better on me as a 25 year old rather than as a 50 year old, the muscle definition was pretty well apparent then and body fat was low.

Over the past 25 years, adding kilogram per year has been the norm and I don't train to anywhere the same intensity. There is not much I can say in my defense, when I moved from the workshop floor to the office, the decline began.

Still, in a casual setting a polo shirt is a pretty good option, the style is smart casual and the collar keeps the sun off the back of my neck. That's a pretty important feature when you live in Western Australia, those UV rays are nasty.

A collar shirt is important, being able to flip the collar up saves your neck from sunburn and is still respectable casual attire. Still, as a person pushing 52 years of age, I can still get out in a polo shirt for casual occasions and not feel poorly.

Lang & Heyne

I have an interest in watchmaking and I am moving past Swiss watchmakers instead looking to German horology for inspiration.

A German watchmaker gaining my interest at the moment is Lang & Heyne. Based in Dresden, the elegant yet simple designs of Lang & Heyne have garnered my interest. This small boutique manufacturer is producing some excellent timepieces in low quantities.

So, what makes Lang & Heyne interesting for me is their rectangular collection, the Georg is a fine example of an elegant dress watch. The white enamel dial with a circular seconds sub-dial is perfect. The blued lancet hands match with the art-deco numerals, very cool.

They portray a certain style, the Anton is a pretty decent style that for me is timeless. The hand-wound skelatonised tourbillon is outstanding. A 55 hour power reserve gives it plenty of kick. Add a platinum case, rose gold lancet hands contrasting with the exposed tourbillon movement, a nice piece of engineering.

Mintzberg - Managing

Henry Mintzberg's book is worth occupying shelf space in any management library. Visionary management guru Peter Drucker elevated the status of management as a science, currently leadership is the organisational goal and displaced management as the science of running the business and measuring resource allocation.

Mintzberg feels “instead of distinguishing managers from leaders, we should be seeing managers as leaders, and leadership as management practiced well.” Restoring management to its proper place in the organisational hierarchy is Mintzberg's aim.

Mintzberg feels real world managers cannot be the reflective, systematic planners as idealised in current management textbooks. Researching management as actually practiced in real world situations as opposed to management classes in university lecture halls.

As such, Mintzberg shadowed twenty-nine managers undertaking a typical work days. He viewed current management realities requiring an unrelenting pace, frequent interruptions and a high level of activity.

Such a pace according to Mintzberg makes textbook management practices near impossible to implement. Recognising the current conundrum managers face, Mintzberg envisions a contemporary management model.

His proposal outlines a a dynamic process that managers accomplish their purpose working through data, people and direct action; not list of tasks needing to be crossed off. This is why Mintzberg insists management is not a profession but a practice learned primarily through experience and rooted in context.

Here is a book that sat in my bookcase for a number of years untouched until finally over the Christmas break I was able to crack the book open and work through this highly engaging read.