Tayls and Tribulations

Slainte

2011-06-01T03:59:00.000-07:00

Another interest of mine is Whisky, I can't be sure when it became interesting, but it definitely got serious when I attended my first Johnnie Walker Black Label Journey. I was fascinated by the variety and depth of the single malts that go into the blend. Over years, I had dabbled with some good drops coming to love Lagavulin, Laphroaig and Talisker as my regulars. Slowly trying each of these single malts, I had thought I had it all covered. That was until I was introduced to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

Following introduction, it was in quick order to organise a tasting. You may have seen or been to the tutored tasting on 6 May, which introduced a whole new level of whisky. These beasts are single cask, single malts from all the great distilleries that you know and love from their commercial bottling range. We were lucky to be shown 4 of these rare bottlings, from: Clynelish 7yo, Glen Grant 13yo, Highland Park 12yo (commercial) & 26yo, and Laphroaig 9yo.

For mine sample were of great diversity, showing the range and depth of whisky but if I may choose two, I would have to say the 26yo Highland Park stood out for the sort of complexity that comes with such age. Only 146 bottles ever made, Shiver Me Timbers, showed the reason that these bottlings are so very special. My own pick, reflective of my own whisky palate, What a magnificent & handsome nose, was a peat monster. Great industrial nose, cigars and just great all-round drop. If you are lucky, you may one-day get a dram of this.

The Vale: A Final Word

2011-05-25T05:10:00.000-07:00

South Australia is truly blessed with great wine regions and McLaren Vale is a fantastic example of just that. It speaks to a sense of place, the geology, the terroir, the community. It embodies a list of winemakers and grape growers that strive to express themselves through their art.

The route to Cabernet and Cabernet Blends Tasting was cross-country viticulture tour From Penny's Hill & Mr Riggs to Maxwell Wines via Chalks Hill. The picks of this lot were:

2006 Geoff Merrill G&W Cabernet Sauvignon
2007 Geoff Merrill Wickham Park Merlot
2008 Geoff Merrill Fleurieu Cabernet Shiraz
2008 Kay Brothers The Cuthbert Cabernet Sauvignon - STANDOUT
2008 Kay Brothers Basket Pressed Merlot
2008 Kay Brothers Basket Pressed Cabernet/Merlot
2008 Maxwell Wines Lime Cave Cabernet Sauvignon
2008 Maxwell Wines Little Demon Cabernet/Merlot
2007 Mitolo Serpico Cabernet Sauvignon - STANDOUT
2009 Wirra Wirra Sparrows Lodge Cabernet Sauvignon

The final master class was at the Woodstock Coterie featuring Grenache in two brackets of four wines which proved to be (with the notes of curiosity):

2010 Wirra Wirra Original Blend Grenache Shiraz - great qwoffer [honourable mention]
2009 Penny's Hill Grenache - Fleshy, sea salt and summer fruits
2009 Chapel Hill Old Bush Vine Grenache - dried apricots, light confectionary
2009 Kay Brothers Grenache - fairy floss, confectionary, lovely tannins and clean finish [GREAT DROP]
2009 Shingleback Red Knot Grenache - Limestone & Orange
2009 Maximus Cadenzia GSM - This is featuring on the PM's table [TOP PICK]
2008 d'Arenberg Ironstone Pressing GSM - Love to see in 5-10 [honourable mention]
2007 Yangarra High Sands Grenache - I can't believe there is no oak! [GREAT DROP]

McLaren Vale is the Italian to Barossa's German, expressing varieties that are best shared with food or at very least don't dominate them. I associate McLaren Vale with the fruity mid palate and the perfume. Grenache and Shiraz are the stand outs for mine, and obviously for the community of McLaren Vale with Scarce Earth and Cadenzia.

This is a region of olde favourites, namely:

d'Arenberg
Samuel's Gorge
Chapel Hill, and
Woodstock

but I will take it on that more attention needs to be given to some new finds:

DogRidge
Kay Brothers
Maxwell
Wirra Wirra
Yangarra
Penny's Hill
Mitolo
Paxton, and
Scarpantino

And that is all I have to say about the Vale...

Another Day in the Vale

2011-05-25T03:32:00.000-07:00

There is something about walking into the garden at Coriole that triggers The Godfather Theme to instantly play in my head. You could imagine Vito, Fredo, Connie and Sonny all sitting in the partial shade sharing an bountiful feast with la famiglia. Maybe that is just me...

While some were worse for wear in the morning, I was about ready to go again as we pulled into Coriole for Breakfast, Whites, Rosés and Sparklings. Breakfast was not only much needed, but also a great opportunity to catch up with d'Arry Osborn.

In the theme of yesterday, there were some olde favourites and some new found joys.

Of the olde favourites d'Arenberg tops the list, with Peppermint Paddock, Hermit Crab and Dry Dam but from the newly founds:

2010 DogRidge The Pup Sparkling Chardonnay
2010 DogRidge Moscato
2010 Geoff Merrill Bush Vine Grenache Rosé
2010 Paxton Shiraz Rosé
2010 Scarpantoni Ceres Gamay Rosé
NV Scarpantoni Fleurieu Sparkling Red
NV Scarpantoni Black Tempest

It was time for Penny's Hill and Mr Riggs for a Cabernet Master Class. The two brackets of four wines proved to be (with the notes of curiosity):

2009 Mitolo Jester Cabernet Sauvignon - slight grippiness to the tannins, menthol, stewed oranges
2009 Penny's Hill Cabernet Sauvignon - great length, fruit cake
2009 Kangarilla Rd Cabernet Sauvignon - well structured lines, great tannin and length with the signature mid palate fruit
2009 Woodstock Cabernet Sauvignon - Savoury, tobacco, definitive oak
2009 Chapel Hill The Chosen Cabernet Sauvignon - Dark, brooding, ripe fruits [honourable mention]
2009 Shingleback 'D' Block Cabernet Sauvignon - Chunky fruit, dark ruby colour, mintiness [honourable mention]
2009 Wirra Wirra The Angelus Cabernet Sauvignon - Cedar Wood, brambly fruit [Best of Class]
2003 Geoff Merrill Pimpala Vineyard Cabernet Merlot - Greenery/Shrubs, oaky, aged and still going. [Great Drop]

5 years in Air Force, 50 in the Wine Industry

2011-05-25T02:42:00.000-07:00

Following on, the first afternoon in McLaren Vale tour was started with Shiraz and Shiraz Blends Tasting at Kangarilla Road. 40 different samples from the region where on show, further to those that stood out in the Master Class, my picks were:

2009 d'Arenberg Laughing Magpie Shiraz Viognier
2008 d'Arenberg Footbolt Shiraz
2008 d'Arenberg d'Arry's Original Shiraz Grenache
2005 Geoff Merrill Reserve Shiraz
2008 Kay Brothers Hillside Shiraz
2008 Kay Brothers Basket Pressed Shiraz
2008 Maxwell Ellen Street Shiraz
2008 Mitolo Jester Shiraz
2009 Mitolo Savitar Shiraz
2009 Paxton MV Shiraz
2009 Paxton AAA Shiraz Grenache
2009 Penny's Hill The Skeleton Key' Shiraz
2007 Yangarra Ironheart Shiraz

but by this stage the most impressive drop was the 'hail mary' from McLaren/Vale Beer/Company and their Vale/Ale and Vale/Dry.

After a chopper flight over the region and quick refresh at the McLaren Vale Motel, it was off to Willunga. The dinner plans were at Russell's Pizza accompanied by Aged Wine, Fortified and Stickies.

Now Russell's Pizza is quite the institution around the Vale, only opening Friday and Saturday evenings. In a rustic shed with big trestle tables, the pizza coming out of the wood-fired ovens leaves no doubt why it is a regular sell out. If you get the chance, eat there!

My opening drop was a 1998 Coriole Chenin Blanc that was simply sublime, the difficult job of staying on the wine after such a big day was made much easier by such a fine drop. But that was as far as I got before Scott from Woodstock had found me to show off a few of his craft.

His opening gambit was the 2008 Pilot's View Shiraz, an ode to Douglas Collett A.M. Douglas was a Spitfire and Hurricane pilot over Europe in WWII, the views from which was said to influence his decision to enter the wine industry on return to Australia. It is from his autobiography that the title of this post is taken. In 1973, he purchased Woodstock Wines which is now in the hands of his son Scott, who had some more plans for me in the name of 1999 & 2001 The Stocks Shiraz. True to the Woodstock name, you could probably pull the splinters out of your tongue even after a decade in the bottle. Great big tannins that are unique to this singular winery.

My other special mention for the evening goes out to Kay Brothers Rare Muscat, which was the last wine for me... till the morning...

The First Morning

2011-05-24T11:52:00.000-07:00

To be clear this was a wine appreciation trip. After a quick stop at Toops Hill, view shown left, I was off to Yangarra Estate the hosts of the Grenache and Grenache Blends tasting, not to mention a much needed coffee and a bite of breakfast.

The standouts from the tasting were:

2008 DogRidge CADENZiA Grenache
2008 Chapel Hill McLaren Vale Bush Vine Grenache
2009 d'Arenberg The Cadenzia GSM
2008 Yangarra Old Vine Grenache, and
2008 Yangarra Cadenzia (GSM).

So what is Cadenzia? Well it is a wine that is 100% McLaren Vale fruit, Grenache-dominant and approved by the members, or more eloquently from the McLaren Vale site:

"Cadenzia - n. A creative and individual expression of McLaren Vale Grenache made by an inspired winemaker to demonstrate harmony, excitement and energy.

McLaren Vale’s CADENZIA project makes music from Grenache. Great composers like Beethoven and Bach often left gaps in their sheet music, where the lead soloist could play a Cadenza, letting go some heartfelt improvisation before returning to the score.

At the end of vintage, McLaren Vale’s winemakers look away from the score and infuse some virtuoso interplay with Grenache, each blending something that’s rhythmically driving: CADENZIA. Music you can drink."

Really the Cadenzia project is one of those organised things that define a region, a deliberate pursuit of an expression of place and style. Similarly, for Shiraz, McLaren Vale has recently launched the Scarce Earth project. And although these great wines weren't on the schedule, a Shiraz Master Class was -- off to

Wirra Wirra.

On show turned out to be (with my notes of curiosity):

2006 Ulithorne Frux Frugis Shiraz - Aged Release (Feb 2009), Graceful
2008 Mitolo GAM Shiraz - Made by Ben Glaetzer
2008 Maximus Shiraz - Colour & Blackcurrant
2008 DogRidge Shirtfront Shiraz - Surprise Find
2008 Paxton Jones Block Vineyard Shiraz - Great Savoury Drop
2008 Woodstock The Stocks - Great one to age, Nearly get splinters
2008 d'Arenberg Dead Arm Shiraz - Well known, Greatness
2008 Chapel Hill Vicar - Could've sworn it was a Grenache... Apricots
2009 Maxwell Silver Hammer - Ripper food wine
2009 Shingleback The Gate - Taste directly follows nose
2009 Wirra Wirra Woodhenge Shiraz - Another great Foody; and
2009 Yangarra - Perfume and Purple.

You can see how detailed tasting notes could get lost! If I had to pick the top 5... Shirtfront, Silver Hammer, The Stocks, Vicar & Dead Arm with honourable mentions to GAM, Woodhenge and Maximus.

Well it was now 1225 on Day 1, and time to head for the burgeoning varieties tasting at Chapel Hill. The highlights were:

2010 Coriole Sangiovese

2009 Coriole Sangiovese Shiraz

2006 d'Arenberg Sticks and Stones Tempranillo Grenache Tinta Cao Souzoa

2009 d'Arenberg Cenosilicaphic Cat Sagrantino Cinsault

2005 DogRidge MVP Petit Verdot

2009 Kangarilla Rd Sangiovese

2008 Kay Brothers Basket Pressed Mataro

2009 Yangarra Mourvedre, and

2010 Yangarra Roussane.

One Thing Leads To Another...

2011-05-12T01:30:00.000-07:00

The quality of the South Australian Wine Regions, often leads to some oversight of the wonderfully diverse and old region of McLaren Vale. I am guilty of too often stopping at the same olds, but who isn't?

The standard tour that I would run around McLaren Vale when I resided there, would start with d'Arenberg, then onto Chapel Hill, before the amazing Samuel's Gorge. There might occasionally be a new opportunity stop, such as Woodstock, but really they were just speed bumps on the way to Hahndorf for lunch, but you have heard about that before.

I recently got the opportunity to have a deeper look at the region, 30 km South of Adelaide. The region is firmly rooted in viticulture, grape-growers with a purpose and a region with a sense of place. The story of the region goes beyond the 1838 Reynell first plantings to geological formations and change of the order of 1.6 Billion years history. The remnant soils on geology are attributed with many of the unique characteristics displayed by McLaren Vale wine. No more clear than the abundant citing of perfume arising from the sand on clay from Blewett Springs.

But geology and soils are but a part of the oft misattributed terroir. Climate and geography are critical components too. McLaren Vale, bounded by the Gulf of St Vincent, from Hallet Cove to Sellicks Beach sees coastal climate-moderating effects typical to the Mediterranean, where the southern Mount Lofty Ranges crash into the sea. The border of the region runs up the foothills along Willunga Fault until it reaches the Adelaide Hills region at around Clarendon. The belly of this approximate triangle is undulated and diversity of terrain, incorporating:

Ancient Rocks,
Sand and Sandstone
Limestone Country,
Clay Plains of Aldinga,
The Piedmont,
Talus Slope, and
Alluvial Flats.

To round out this introduction to McLaren Vale, I should probably introduce the wines. Based on 2008 figures, the region produces approximately 80% Red Wine of which it is dominated by Shiraz (66.4%) with some supporting roles by Cabernet Sauvignon (15.9%), Grenache (6.7%) and Merlot (5.2%). In the White Wines, the usual suspect of Chardonnay (54%) is the major, supported by Semillon (12.3%), Sauvignon Blanc (11.9%) and Riesling (4.7%).

I promise we will eventually get to the wines...

2011 Harvest Festival

2011-04-27T18:52:00.000-07:00

After a previous post, I was tempted to try something a little more than wine, jazz & cheese. The first such place visited was Little Bridge Wines, an intriguing quadrumvirate dabbling and seemingly doing well in their efforts. I recommend the site linked above to read of their tale. It is a refreshing change to "Alfred who begot Gertrude who begot Caufield succeeded by Jiminy", if you take my meaning.

Their range includes a Vintage Sparkling Chardonnay Pinot Noir, Riesling, Pinot Noir, Sangiovese, Shiraz, Cabernet Blend and a Cabernet Sauvignon. Personally, I was taken with the Riesling and the Cabernets (although the latter may have been inspired by another little Bordeaux-styled number).

It wasn't particularly the wine that drew us there, as I was embarrassingly ignorant of them, nor was it the obligatory "band & cheese" that is the apparent cost of featuring a winery in the Canberra region. The attraction of something novel is what made the decision for us, that novel thing was the opportunity to make wine.

The details were sketchy and barely made more clear prior to arrival, but true to the promise, there were freshly picked Pinot Noir grapes (reportedly of 13.4 Baume). The deal for the day was merely to see to the crushing of the Pinot and the beginning of fermentation. A simple contribution but with the promise of further involvement and ultimately some wine at the end, well worth the effort.

Some other wineries visited on the return journey were Affleck Vineyard, who offered a range of very decent drops at very approachable prices, and Shepherd's Run, who were overrun and not accommodating to our party.

I look forward to more novelty in the future of the Canberra Region.

2010 Penfolds Bin 23 Pinot Noir

2011-04-27T02:21:00.000-07:00

For me, this was the pick of the Penfolds Bin Release Tasting. You might find that surprising, considering a previous post, but this is not inconsistent.

The 2010 is only the second release of this Adelaide Hills Pinot Noir in the Bin series. It is designed to be an approachable wine, amply achieved with confectionery on the nose. Red berries on the palate with the softest tannins.

A curious qwoffer, a great starter wine that's easy to drink now and often.

2009 Glaetzer Anaperenna

2011-04-27T01:08:00.000-07:00

Following on from the Dutschke, is this big bad Barossan.

Swirling around the glass, it is crimson and leggy. Wafts of plum jam and tastes of red berries, chocolate and coffee. The tannins linger for eternity showing that this goddess of the new year will be lay down for 10+, but you won't be able to...

2001 Penfolds Bin 407 Cabernet Sauvignon

2011-04-26T23:28:00.000-07:00

Nostalgia reigned supreme as I dug this one out of the cellar. The reason that I came to wine was two little Penfolds numbers 128 and 407, albeit a few vintages earlier. It was some years later that I began to be in a position to lay some down and you can be sure that the Bin 407 was amongst the first few of those.

Cracking it out ahead of the impending Penfolds Bin Release Tasting, that was to be the next day, was to be a great idea.

The wine had transformed, no longer the inky purple, now brick red and a faint taste of blueberries. A rusty colour that told of the tannins that used to be sharper but now flat, eroded and nostalgic. The wine tasted of its life, not well cared for, well-travelled transiting from Canberra, through Brisbane to Adelaide and back again to Canberra. It's trip was at an end.

Tasting the new release (2008) it came back. The gateway wine that it was for me, this easy and approachable Cabernet Sauvignon - Drink it now.

What Makes a Region?

2011-03-28T02:43:00.000-07:00

The first time I visited the Canberra Wine Region was 2008, it was a fleeting visit, a test of it's maturity. As a region, it failed. But it made me wonder what makes a wine region? It is clearly more than terroir, the Barossa is as diverse in terroir as all of NSW's growing regions. It is more than one or two flagship wines or even varieties.

What stood out to me were the responses to questions of where else to try in the region. Such questions were often met with indignation. No favourites, no cross-referrals, no sense of community.

There is something else about a region, a sense of community. The sense of community needs to be more than the farmers having been neighbours for as long as the vines have grown. It is more than the kids playing together and following in their forebears footsteps. There is a certain maturity that comes to a region that is beyond the first Cellar Door. It is all of these things; a definitive variety, flagship wineries, iconic labels, a daring to go beyond the expectations, ever emerging new talent and genuine belief that all of the produce of the region should be enjoyed by as many as possible.

Please take this as it is meant, there were some great wines tasted on that brief tour including Clonakilla and Helm, lovely people and fantastic characters. What was missing was the glue, the sense of place, the unity of region.

Now in 2011, I feel the region has come a long way. The region is varietally defining itself with Riesling and cool-climate reds, flagship wineries are standing up and being counted. There is new blood, emerging talents and just the right amount of challenging the status quo.

I am an advocate of Canberra wines, but as a region it is still maturing. Take, for example, the imminent Harvest Festival. 26 of the 33 wineries in the region advertise activities, but most are a simple variation on the cellar door being open, a few gumboot tours and a smattering of Jazz. I'll admit there are a few different things like Dionysus bottling wine, Little Bridge Wines making wine (well crush and begin ferment, but you can go back over the weeks to engage in various parts of the process) and even a unique Thai-style dinner (unfortunately cancelled). But it still feels disjointed, lacking unity of action and a centre of critical mass.

Where do people gather? They have to arrange their own transport between wineries. How do people know where to go? They have to choose or flit between the options. Lots of things may actually occur, but there can be no sense of where or what is happening beyond each venue.

I will be out there trying a few of the interesting options during the festival, but I yearn for the day when it becomes a celebration of the community of the Canberra Wine Region.

2008 Dutschke St Jakobi Shiraz

2011-03-27T23:08:00.000-07:00

You may recognise this winery from a previous post.

The 08 Dutschke St Jakobi Shiraz is an alluring ruby red juice that dances around the glass catching the light.

It is unmistakably big. The 15.5% alcohol hits you in the nose but there, just beneath the heady waft, subtle cherries. But as the wine touches your tongue, a fruit explosion takes over. Raspberry at first puts the heaviness out of mind. Subsequent sips reveal port-like chocolate and toast. The tannins are sharp and linger.

In all the fruit flavours carry the alcohol well, you just feel it’s warmth. A great drop, has me chasing more... and more...

2010 Barwang Granite Track Riesling

2011-03-27T01:31:00.000-07:00

I picked the 2010 Barwang Granite Track Riesling up in a blind mixed dozen from the 2010 Canberra International Riesling Challenge. An event well worth checking out if you get the chance, but that is a story for another time.

This entrant in the 2010 CIRC picked up a Bronze in the 2010 Sweet Class.

Tasting Notes: Pale in colour, as expected in a young riesling. Faint grapefruit on the nose prepares you for the subtle lemon juice finish. Guava, minerals, tantalising sweetness with a crisp finish

2007 Helen’s Hill Fume Blanc Evolution

2011-03-26T02:17:00.000-07:00

From the first wisps of scent, you can tell that you are not dealing with one of the myriad of NZ Sauvignon Blancs flooding the market. Those wisps are honey and melon which prepare you for the gooseberry tartness and clean finish. The Fume Blanc appellation is an homage to the Californian means of showing intent to achieve a Loire Valley-style Sauvignon Blanc.

Aged 18 months in French Oak, the Fume Blanc Evolution shows another side to this recently bounteous variety. Recommend drinking now while it is young and fresh but won't be surprised to see it cellar for 2-3 years.

Ten Things I Learned at SXSW 2011

2011-03-25T15:46:00.001-07:00

via feeds.wired.com

You need to read all ten... WOW

Posted via email from tayls81's posterous

BLEASDALE SECOND INNINGS MALBEC 2009

2011-03-24T03:52:00.001-07:00

Check out this website I found at australianwinejournal.blogspot.com

Bleasdale, a really great stop down in Langhorne Creek. Free pour, taste at your own pace/style yet still great friendly staff! These guys really got me interested in Malbec...

Posted via email from tayls81's posterous

Beer wars: big retail v Foster's - The Age

2011-03-23T02:40:00.001-07:00

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Foster's cuts beer supply

Foster's cut supplies to Coles and Woolworths after learning they planned to extend their price war to beer, Ian Verrender reports.

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Beer has become the new battleground in the supermarket price war after Australia's biggest brewer, Foster's, pulled key beer brands from Coles and Woolworths upon learning of a plan to sell them for $28 a slab - well below cost.

The Age has learned that Foster's, in a late-night operation this month, stopped the delivery of tens of thousands of slabs of VB, Carlton Draught and Pure Blonde to Coles' First Choice liquor stores and Woolworths' Dan Murphy's chain.

Got a tip? email aferguson@fairfaxmedia.com.au

Advertisement: Story continues below

Illustration: Ron Tandberg

An order went out around the country for Linfox delivery trucks loaded with beer to be emptied until further notice.

The decision came in response to intelligence received that Coles had prepared a brochure advertising brands including VB for $28 a slab.

A slab of 24 VB stubbies usually wholesales to the big supermarket chains for about $33 and retails for $38. Smaller retailers say they are being charged between $37 and $41 - with some even higher - for the same slab.

''We personally sell a slab of VB for $40.95, making a profit margin of around $1.95 and that's not taking into account the cost of refrigeration, etc,'' said Justin Grant, who said he was an independent liquor retailer with more than 30 years in the industry.

A slab of 24 VB stubbies usually wholesales to the big supermarket chains for about $33 and retails for $38. Smaller retailers say they are being charged between $37 and $41 - with some even higher - for the same slab.

''We personally sell a slab of VB for $40.95, making a profit margin of around $1.95 and that's not taking into account the cost of refrigeration, etc,'' said Justin Grant, who said he was an independent liquor retailer with more than 30 years in the industry.

Inner city prices can be even higher. One independent outlet on Spencer Street in Melbourne's CBD was selling a slab of VB for $48.99, while a nearby IGA rival was offering them at $52.81.

A Foster's spokesman said supply was withheld to protect its brands against ''loss-leading'' - the practice of deliberately selling a product at a loss in the hope of attracting customers who will also buy other products that are not discounted. ''We take loss-leading of our brands very seriously," the Foster's spokesman said.

For at least three days this month, some liquor stores put up signs explaining why they were out of VB. One sign said: "We're out of stock because Foster's, the supplier of VB, says we are selling it too cheap."

Coles and Woolworths, which control 50 per cent of Australia's liquor distribution, have never before been taken on in this way by a supplier.

The milk industry, which is the subject of a continuing price war between the supermarket chains, has been unable to stop the discounting because it involves brands that are not well known and suppliers lacking the same market clout as Foster's.

There are also legal issues associated with withdrawing supply, including restraint of trade. Foster's relied on an aspect of competition law that permits companies to withhold supply when their products are being used as loss-leaders.

Apart from the objections of Foster's, the move by the big retailers to try to extend the milk war into the multibillion-dollar beer industry could also raise social issues about whether an age-restricted and potentially harmful product such as alcohol should be used as a loss-leader. Foster's and its main rival, Lion Nathan, have spent large amounts of money and time trying to promote the notion of responsible drinking.

By trying to sell alcohol at lower prices than bottled water, the supermarkets risk drawing the negative attention of government and regulators concerned about rises in drunken violence, one industry expert warned.

In Britain, brewers persuaded legislators to pass a law preventing the sale of alcoholic beverages at below cost price.

The aborted beer war between Coles and Woolworths was not the first such attempt at heavy discounting in Australia. In February, online discounter getwinesdirect.com.au tried selling Crown Lager for below wholesale price.

Woolworths is the biggest player in liquor retailing, with more than 1200 stores, including the Dan Murphy's chain.

Asked about recent events involving discounting of Foster's products, a Woolworths spokeswoman said: ''Beer is an extremely competitive product regardless of whether it is sold at independent or larger chains.''

A Coles spokesman said: ''We have been trying to offer the most competitive beer offer for our customers whenever we can.''

On the Foster's intervention, the Coles spokesman said: ''There was some disruption to the supply, but that has not been material to the business and we have continued to meet consumer demand for beer.''

via news.google.com

Had a conversation with a Rep about the Wine-side of this war today. As a consumer, one might bemoan the missed opportunity to relive genuine 1990s Beer Prices, but it is unlikely to bode well for the future if there are only two retailers left in the market at the end of the "war". On the wine side, it seems it is in the interests of the, newly renamed Treasury Wine Estate, to focus on Independent Channel and On-Premise brands... RSA is an interesting diversion but IMHO just that..

Posted via email from tayls81's posterous

I just don't (Pi)know

2011-01-04T21:57:00.000-08:00

Mornington Peninsula... Well it turns out that half of Victoria heads there for the summer break yet strangely the wineries are left untroubled by the influx unless of course they happen to have a restaurant... and they all have restaurants...

In many places, it was nearly a surprise that someone was there only to taste. Which shows one of the peculiarities of the region, that being the common practice of the region for there to be a cost associated with the tasting (not payable if a purchase is made). These contributions are generally a modest $2-$5 per person which is a cheaper option than my usual inclination to make a sympathy purchase. I am indifferent to the charge, if anything, it relieves me of any moral obligation to buy a wine that I don't particularly like, which I am sure is not the result that the Vintner is aiming for much like the freakonomics story of the day care that imposed a penalty of $3 for each failure to pickup a child on time. As an aside, I would be interested in what impacts, if any, the paid tastings have on sales.

One can't really talk about Mornington Peninsula without broaching the topic of Pinot Noir. I am aware that it is a wine obsessed over and pursed with religious fervour, but I have to admit that I do not understand the obsession. I have enjoyed good pinot, but I can't help but finish up with the argument that it is not a $40/$60/$80 red wine. I realise that Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignon are not the same beast or even that Pinot is not even a beast. I wonder if this is different for people who come to wine through softer and more subtle flavours and I wonder if whether the opposite is true for them. I also wonder with the rise of cool climate shiraz and it's softer smoother grape juice, whether this will change the attitudes of people like myself who have been introduced to wine through the big Reds. I am not saying I don't like pinot, just that I don't understand it and thus I run it in a price contest with the Shiraz and Cabernet Sauvignons. The best solution really is to just spend more time with Pinot, which can hardly be a bad thing.

Pino-losophy aside, it turns out that we didn't take advantage of the obligation-free(ish) tastings as there really was some great drops on offer. Our first port of call was, in fact another great passion, Red Hill Brewery which purveys fine ales from their Brewery/Verandah nestled amongst their onsite hopyard. Red Hill start with a Golden Ale and a Wheat beer but it was their other stock the Scotch Ale that was closer to my taste. They have a range of seasonals, the highlight for us was the Christmas Ale at a solid 8.3% it will bring on the cheer. I am incredibly keen to take part in their hop-picking and associated Hop Harvest Ale.

Our first winery was the next morning, The Cups Estate showed some diversity of the region featuring Blanc de Noir, Rosé, Moscato and Pinot Gris. The standouts were the Sparkling Shiraz, Merlot and Fortified Pinot that is made at Pfeiffer's in Rutherglen. For lunch, the stop was the Pig and Whistle, an english-style pub that features not only Old Speckled Hen but the Mornington Peninsula Brewery Beers of which the Right-Knacker Brown Ale was absolutely stellar.

After lunch, we struck out to Ten Minutes by Tractor, which I have to tout as the one cellar door in the region that absolutely can not be missed. As a one stop show of the region, Ten minutes shows the wonder of terroir with the single vineyard (Wallis, McCutcheon and Judd) ranges in Chardonnay and Pinot Noir showing great diversity each with unique and worthy characteristics. The reserve range Ten Minutes by Tractor produced from the best barrels of the flagships and also a Tempranillo. The entry level label 10X displaying great value drops that are a great introduction to the region and the label. By far and away, the best wine tasted in the region was the 2006 Wallis Whole Bunch Pressed Pinot Noir which has opened my palate to what Pinot can be, and I was left wanting more.

Foxeys Hangout was the next stop in the short tasting day (11-5), featuring a funky cellar door that really does have to be appreciated. The still wines from Foxey's featured great showings from the Rosé, Pinot Noir and Shiraz but the unique aspect to this particular haunt was the Sparkling. Foxey's can run an educationally focussed tasting in preparation for the disgorging, dosing and corkage of your own tailored blend. Our last stop for the day was Paringa Estate, but it was such a rush that I really don't think we could do it justice. Instead it will go on the list of places to head back to when we next try the region.

The drive home presented an opportunity for a quick stop or two in the Yarra Valley. With no preparation at all, we gave the first stop of the region over to Helen's Hill Estate. It was a fantastic decision, where we were entertained by Allan Nalder and shown through some fantastic drops. The standouts in the Ingram Rd range were a great dry Pinot Rosé and the Syrah. The top of the tree in the Helen's Hill range was the Bordeaux-style blend The Cabernets which showed as a genuine big Red, that still needs some time for it's full potential to be realised.

Our last stop before we headed back up the Hume was at the Innocent Bystander complex including little brother to Little Creatures, the White Rabbit Brewery. Truly, if you can't find something that you like here -- Give up.

Measures of Success

2010-06-04T07:11:00.000-07:00

With $8000 in my proverbial pocket, I started dialling some Wine Reps.

I had an idea in mind. The bottle shop needed to cater the 1-5 bottle market, the real convenience of the bottle shop is that a Member could grab a bottle or two on their way to the car. Mostly, people aren't carrying a case to the car, some will but not the core.

The other idea I had was that the primary objective of the bottle shop was to increase membership of the Officers' Mess.

My thoughts on achieving the latter is to expose as many people to the services and at each point offer them a reason to join. In the case of a bottle shop, offer great prices to everyone to increase exposure but at every turn a nagging discount that quickly makes it worthwhile.

But what are the measures of success?
Well we can talk about return on investment, but as a not for profit we really only need to cover the reorder cost of the wine. Maximising profit is actually contra to the core mission of the Mess Committee.

Mess Membership is a poor indicator as there are close to infinite influences.

So then what?

Well the irrational part of me suggests that as good a measurement as any is for it to stock particularly great wines, namely:
Penfolds Bin 407
Elderton Command
Samuel's Gorge Grenache
Teusner Joshua
St Hallett Old Block
Kellermeister Sable

But, even more importantly, to discover new great wines, but that is another tale...
What would your measures of success be? What would your wines of choice be?

If you build it...

2010-06-03T03:53:00.000-07:00

On the 28th of April 2o1o, the Officers' Mess Committee approved a proposal to take over the dilapidated and run down bottle shop facility. In all fairness it wasn't the bottle shop that was dilapidated or run down, but just the stock and the interest.

Without knowing the specifics of the history of bottle shop, I know that the management of it was contracted out. This not only included staffing it, but buying the stock and pricing it. It is difficult to expect a commercial entity to put its capital into Wine on the shelf with limited expectation of a return on investment. Thus begins a downward spiral (invest less money, offer worse deals, nobody comes etc etc)

In many ways it makes sense that the Committee owns the stock. The capital that they have belongs to the Members, the wines bought with it represents a provision of a service to those Members and if profit is only an enabling motive then the Committee makes different decision about investment. This is not a pure ROI problem...

The primary goal of the Committee is to service its Member's needs, a measure of success is the membership ratio (number of Members/number of potential Members). Profit simply acts as an enabler to this effect. Probably not worth pointing out that Lean and Six Sigma doesn't work here...

The Committee agreed to the proposal to relieve the Contractor of their contractual obligation to stock the bottle shop, and this was a mutually beneficial situation due to the unanticipated incentives discussed. The approved budget was $8000 to stock the bottle shop, now the challenging bit began

Into the Breach

2010-06-02T03:35:00.000-07:00

The first of my events as the Wine Officer was the Capital Wines Tasting, well it wasn't the first thing I had done in the role. I had been to meetings, I had been to a Wine Appreciation Dinner (Clovely Estate), I had scheduled events with some of my friends (you will hear about them as they come to pass) and I had ended up hosting the De Bortoli Tasting, but nose to tail the first gig I had was the Capital Wines Tasting.

Now timing can be everything, the first cold weekend in Canberra, the weekend after ANZAC Day... Everyone goes to ground. Straight home, do not pass go, do not stop for free booze!

That told the story, the wines showed well (although the reds opened up with a little warmth) and while I am sure that Jen would've nearly overfilled the room with personality... it doesn't make for a good event if the people don't come...

Things didn't bode well for the Eden Road Wine Tasting

Australian Defence Force National Australian Football Championships [SEC=UNCLASSIFIED]

2010-04-08T23:04:00.001-07:00

UNCLASSIFIED

Department of Defence Media Mail List
------------------------------------------------------------------------

MSPA 100/10 Friday, 9 April 2010

Australian Defence Force National Australian Football Championships

What: 2010 Australian Services Australian Football Association (ASAFA)
National Championships.

Why: The championship games will determine the Australian Defence
Force (ADF) national champion men's and women's teams, with Navy the
defending champion in both arenas.

The national carnival also provides the pool of players for
selection in the ADF Men's and Women's All Stars teams, with the ADF
Men's All Stars to play against a Combined Emergency Services team, as
part of a Services Challenge in Adelaide on the Anzac Day weekend.

Where: Whitten Oval
417 Barkly Street, Footscray West, Melbourne

When: The draw is:
Game 1: 14 April - Whitten Oval
1300: Women - Army v RAAF
1500: Men - Army v RAAF

Game 2: 16 April - Whitten Oval
1200: Women - Navy v First game loser
1415: Men - Navy v First game loser

Game 3: 18 April - Whitten Oval
1100: Women - Navy v First game winner
1315: Men - Navy v First game winner

Who: Players and officials will be available for interview in the
lead-up and during the championships. Photo editors are welcome to send
a photographer.

Media note:
The ASAFA National Championship is the major event for Navy, Army and
Air Force footballers and provides an opportunity for players to
represent their respective Service and the ADF. Spirited and fair
competition is the hallmark of the championship and spectators are more
than welcome to witness the high-quality action.

Media contact: Defence Media Liaison: (02) 6127 1999 or 0408 498 664

DEFENCE MEDIA ALERT

Issued by Ministerial Support and Public Affairs, Department of Defence,
Canberra, ACT
Phone: 02 6127 1999, Fax: 02 6265 1545
Media Releases are available via e-mail if you register at
www.defence.gov.au/media

________________________________________________________________________

If you wish to unsubscribe go to http://152.91.28.130/unsubscribe.cfm
Enter your E-mail address, click the Submit button"
------------------------------------------------------------------------

IMPORTANT: This email remains the property of the Department of Defence
and is subject to the jurisdiction of section 70 of the Crimes Act 1914.
If you have received this email in error, you are requested to contact
the sender and delete the email.

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TEDTalks (video) - Hans Rosling

2010-02-18T00:40:00.001-08:00

Brilliant. Check out this podcast on iTunes:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=160892972

Sent from my iPhone

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Handheld Cellphone Bans Don't Reduce Car Crashes After All [Driving]

2010-02-04T19:43:00.001-08:00

Unfortunately, the answer will be to up Policing

Gizmodo
30 January 2010 5:31
by Brian Barrett

Handheld Cellphone Bans Don't Reduce Car Crashes After All [Driving]

According to a study from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, hand-held phone bans have no effect on the frequency of car crashes. Wait, what?

Now, this seems different from specifically texting while driving, which is demonstrably dangerous. But in the four states the IIHS studied, the implementation of a ban on hand-held phones behind the wheel made no difference in the number of accidents:

Month-to-month fluctuations in rates of collision claims in jurisdictions with bans didn't change from before to after the laws were enacted. Nor did the patterns change in comparison with trends in jurisdictions that didn't have such laws.

Honestly, this makes some sense, given that it's not phones themselves that are the problem, but the distraction they cause. There are plenty of other legal methods of taking your eyes off the road, and a hands-free conversation isn't necessarily any safer than one where you've got your phone in your hand.

It's unlikely that this will cause any states with bans of cellphone use while driving to backtrack, but it may force other local governments to look a little more broadly at what's behind all those collisions. [NY Times via IIHS]

Driving Bans Cellphones Laws Legal Studies

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‘Legs Tight, Butt Tight, Breathe!’ Inside an Air Force Centrifuge

2010-01-26T16:21:00.001-08:00

Wired: Danger Room
27 January 2010 5:29
by Noah Shachtman

‘Legs Tight, Butt Tight, Breathe!’ Inside an Air Force Centrifuge

Reason # 6,247,568,657 why I will never become an Air Force pilot: There’s no freaking way I could pull 7 Gs. Watch these wannabe dogfighters give it a try at the centrifuge at Randolph Air Force Base. The fun starts about 1:55 in.

Air Force Randolph AFB Video Fix

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What If Computer Graphics Ran Under Crayola's Law? - crayola - Gizmodo

2010-01-23T23:14:00.001-08:00

via gizmodo.com

An interesting perspective.

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2010: A belated beginning

2010-01-17T02:33:00.000-08:00

I started this post on 17 Jan 2010, but life got in the way... It went a little something like

In the week of heading back to work for 2010 after a generous 2 month holiday, I figure it is time to declare the goals of 2010. I realise this is a little premature given that I haven't reported back on 2009, but I will catch that up in the coming weeks.

This will be a series of posts as I explain the reasons for the goal and how I plan to achieve them, but for now the 2010 Goals:

Health: Waist circumference <= 100cm

Reading: The Bible

Cooking: Sauces and Beer

Finance: Improve my net position by 10%

Family: Spend Quality Time with Hayden and Julie

Study: Finish my 2nd and 3rd Masters Degrees and take my longest break from study since Pre School

I am sure I would've explained a little rationale behind the goals, instead I have drifted along a path. As always, I can't help but think I am exactly where I should be.

Early in the year, I became aware that there was a position on the Canberra Officers' Mess Committee as the Wine Officer. And given that wine is something that I am passionate about, I decided to take it on. The role of the Wine Officer is to nurture the appreciation of Wine among members and provide opportunities to access great drops.

Some of the ways that we this had previously been achieved is through a combination of tastings, Wine Appreciation Dinners and through a bottle shop service. Although only remnants of the Dinners and a shadow of a bottle shop remained.

I will aim to describe the Wine Officer's journey through this Blog over the coming weeks/months.

But before I sign off an update on the original goals:

Health: Start 115cm - Now 105cm

Reading: Not Started

Cooking: Not Started

Finance: Improved by 7.5%

Family: What does that mean?

Study: Two assignments and two subjects remaining in MSysEng

New Goals:

Health: Spend 45mins/day exercising averaged over the week

Homestyle Food #2

2009-12-29T08:20:00.000-08:00

As the bloating from Christmas subsides, I get over the fact I witnessed the first regular season loss for the Indianapolis Colts in nearly two seasons and we clock up 2350 miles in the car since our arrival in the US I figure it is time for another post.

The latest foods:

Pecan Pie (in fact all the pies)
Prime Rib (What do we call this in Aus?)

Well I am drawing a bit of a blank right now, but some of the dishes that I have served with some success over here have been:

Apricot Rissotto
Roast Lamb on a bed of cous cous with Moroccan Spices
Frenched Lamb Chops
Marinated Portabello Mushroom Steaks

Before I leave I still have to cook:

Apricot Chicken (and Risotto from the remaining sauce)
A stirfry (I am thinking Honey-Soy-Sesame sauce)
More Mushies.

Homestyle Food

2009-12-11T12:07:00.000-08:00

As a bit of a record, I would like to note the great food that I have consumed here in the USA. I don't think I will comment on the Fast Food unless it is of particular greatness or rareness, but instead the homestyle dishes.

The favourites so far (along with a pledge to do something like this myself):

Slow Cooked Angus Roast - I will add a slow cooker to my wishlist
Creamy Mashed Potatoes - Mash them with an electric handwisk
Cornflake Potato Bake - Get this recipe!
Philly Cheescake Premix - Tell my Grandma, that the US don't even make this bit themselves
Cool Whip - apparently it is Sweet Substitute (also tell my Grandma)

I will be sure to keep you all updated

It ain't so much better

2009-12-10T11:57:00.001-08:00

Often I sit back home in Australia and wish that I was here in the USA. The main reasons for this yearning is that I want to be connected and use the technologies that are so readily available and at far more reasonable prices.

And I know that these advantages are somewhat dissolved by the lack of access to good health care... but what really gets my goat, is that I do get here with my unlocked technological device (iPhone) which is finally a device that can actually work inside and out of the USA and then I can't buy access to a network that will offer me the features of the phone. I am left with a basic phone which only gains the additional functionality when I wander through a WiFi hotspot. This is not the way it is meant to be.

At times prices may be lower, and the better competition is often cited but it is behaviours like this that show me the mercantile protectionism that still exists here. It is then that I realise those cheaper prices are provided on the back of the average Joe, who is often none the wiser.

I will happily take Australia, with her flaws.

So What?

2009-11-25T13:44:00.000-08:00

A piece of advice that I was once given asked me to develop an argument in light of the question "So What?" It is apparent to me that my last post did not develop the argument. So allow me to divert.

A favourite monthly read for me is Wired magazine. It was in the September edition that an article (Good Enough) caught my attention more than most. This article discusses the emergence of technology that is in a traditional sense inferior to what is offered in the market. ">Robert Capps cites Skype, Kindle, netbooks, text advertising, Google SketchUp and the Predator.

The sense of inferiority is something similar to "Keeping up with the Jones", some inspired efforts from a bygone era of consumerism and capitalism that exists today. The age of getting the latest incremental upgrade now featuring 1080p HDTV embedded into your washing machine. As a self-confessed geek, it is a hard argument to make that the latest tech doesn't need to be acquired but there is an element of needing the new extension or simply having the need defined to keep a marketing company in business (I think this may be a rabbit hole which incorporates Joss Whedon and my hatred of Reality TV).

The technological leaps that need to be followed and are advocated in the "Good Enough" article are those that enable accessibility, availability and are often "Like Free". This approach to a redefined quality is intuitive to the current generation (I would like to avoid citing Zs and Ys but I hope you take my meaning), they have seen and value the emergence of the technologies that are mentioned above. It is harder to break the old definitions of quality in generations (individuals?) who don't intuitively understand tech like Twitter.

Where this diversion refers back to the "So What?" is the MQ1 Predator, this is a product provided in a framework that is the antithesis of "good enough". Airworthiness and Military are frameworks that are inherently (and often for the best) conservative, but unmanned vehicles have found a gap in the frameworks. Put most simply, the airworthiness frameworks relax somewhat once the vehicle becomes light and reduces passengers to a minimum (i.e. 0). The military gets very excited when the platform can be available all the time.

Now the implementation of unmanned vehicles can be achieved by the old and bold methods (applying every standard required for Civil/Military aircraft) or an innovative approach can be applied by those who intuitively understand "Good Enough". To implement the former will continue trends of procurement overruns (schedule & cost) and allow others the opportunity to implement air power on a scale that can achieve greater mass for the same price.

There is a balance required, which ought to be achieved by an 'Up or Out' policy ensuring that fresh ideas and bodies are moving through the rigid structures to make sure it is the best and most innovative it can be

Forming a Tribe

2009-11-23T13:44:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, I posted a link to a TED Talk in which Seth Godin challenged each of the listeners to go forth and form a tribe. Now I have posted about Seth before, and I have listened to his Audiobook and found inspiring in the ways that I found Gladwell. But what is pertinent about the timing of this TED Talk, is the proximity to my final subject of a Master of Engineering Science (Aerospace)... Well actually, let me take you back.

In 1999, I was in my first year of a Bachelor of Engineering in a fully sponsored position by my employer. This employer was wrestling with the results of HR policies that lead to the attrition of it's Mid-level Aerospace Engineers (namely the Design Engineers and Deputy Senior Design Engineers). The HR policies (and notably lack of management) had allowed a level of stagnation in the higher levels thus not providing pathways for promotion.

Significant effort was devoted to creating an Engineering Sustainability Program that improved many aspects of the management of Engineers. These included access to Continuing Professional Development opportunities, close arrangements with Engineers Australia (CPEng et al.), access to a Masters program (to which I referred earlier) and a 'Retention Benefit' (arguably the least effective component).

Despite an incredible economic boom, engineer retention was healthy and life was good. So good in fact, that in 2009 we are once again clogged at the Senior Design Engineer level.

Yesterday, the Deputy Senior Design Engineer level was informed that there would be no promotion for 2011 and that there would be limited opportunities for Design Engineers. This has also resulted in the reduction in the initiatives of the Engineering Sustainability Program (due to retention not being a problem).

It appears to me that we are hell-bent on repeating the cycle through myopia and absence of active management. Is it really that much to expect that the Career Managers could actually impose an 'up or out' approach to maintain a healthy and balanced workforce of the BEST ENGINEERS for our organisation.

So my movement: Anyone who is interested in railing against indoctrinated and dogmatic behaviour; Anyone who can't abide the cost cuts in the name of savings; Anyone who thinks efficiency can be systemic and not incremented through paper cuts; This is our movement

TEDTalks (video)

2009-11-23T01:42:00.001-08:00

Check out this podcast on iTunes:

http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewPodcast?id=160892972

Sent from my iPhone

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Adelaide SA, Australia to Canberra ACT, Australia - Google Maps

2009-10-08T05:08:00.001-07:00

View Larger Map

via maps.google.com

Our planned move to Canberra commences in the morning, so I thought I would post the intended route. Day one aims to depart Adelaide early and press right through to Beechworth, to stay at the La Trobe University Accommodation. Day two will have us backtracking through Rutherglen before heading down to Lakes Entrance via Bright. Day three hopes to see us safely delivered to Canberra via Cooma. I will be attempting to post progress throughout the days using http://gowalla.com/

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Google Acquisitions

2009-09-30T17:57:00.001-07:00

via cache.gawker.com

A great little representation of Google's Acquisitions (via Gizmodo)

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Visual Bookshelf on Facebook | Six Thinking Hats - Edward De Bono - Books

2009-09-22T06:52:00.001-07:00

Six Thinking Hats

Edward De Bono

67 ^%
Only if you're bored

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Using case studies and real-life examples of his "six thinking hats", de Bono shows how each of us can become a better thinker through deliberate role-playing.

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The De Bono 6 thinking hats have managed to creep their way into the business vernacular. In fact, I would go so far as to say that many of the adoptees of the language haven't read the book or methods.

Essentially, De Bono introduces a framework in which a group of people may switch modes of thinking such that a well-rounded decision can be reached in short-order. This is achieved through the adoption of hats which ritualise the role change of the thinkers.

Whilst I am sure that in a mandraulic sense, there is some benefit to using this technique in a team who have a rudimentary understanding of the method, it is difficult to believe that once internalised to an organisational culture that it is not just gamed such that the use of the hat is merely to mask the true agenda of the individual thus becoming another tool in the power play.

I found De Bono overly critical of the Western approach of debate/argument instead favouring this rather clinical mode-switched thinking method. It leaves me wanting to defend the Platonic tradition as a more natural and thorough exploration of a topic. I liken this to asking someone to tell you the funniest joke in the world. The fact is that the brain builds and relates, it doesn't recall facts in isolation and nor would I think that it can switch modes so easily as described.

Despite my protests, it is an essential read and worth understanding the delineations drawn by De Bono if for no other reason than to speak with some knowledge when using the vernacular

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Seth's Blog: The hierarchy of success

2009-09-18T03:37:00.001-07:00

« The end of dumb software | Blog Home | The problem with non »

The hierarchy of success

I think it looks like this:

Attitude

Approach

Goals

Strategy

Tactics

Execution

We spend all our time on execution. Use this word instead of that one. This web host. That color. This material or that frequency of mailing.
Big news: No one ever succeeded because of execution tactics learned from a Dummies book.
Tactics tell you what to execute. They're important, but dwarfed by strategy. Strategy determines which tactics might work.
But what's the point of a strategy if your goals aren't clear, or contradict?
Which leads the first two, the two we almost never hear about.
Approach determines how you look at the project (or your career). Do you read a lot of books? Ask a lot of questions? Use science and testing or go with your hunches? Are you imperious? A lifehacker? When was the last time you admitted an error and made a dramatic course correction? Most everyone has a style, and if you pick the wrong one, then all the strategy, tactics and execution in the world won't work nearly as well.
As far as I'm concerned, the most important of all, the top of the hierarchy is attitude. Why are you doing this at all? What's your bias in dealing with people and problems?
Some more questions:

How do you deal with failure?

When will you quit?

How do you treat competitors?

What personality are you looking for in the people you hire?

What's it like to work for you? Why? Is that a deliberate choice?

What sort of decisions do you make when no one is looking?

Sure, you can start at the bottom by focusing on execution and credentials. Reading a typical blog (or going to a typical school for 16 years), it seems like that's what you're supposed to do. What a waste.
Isn't it odd that these six questions are so important and yet we almost never talk or write about them?
If the top of the hierarchy is messed up, no amount of brilliant tactics or execution is going to help you at all.

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Posted by Seth Godin on September 14, 2009 | Permalink

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« The end of dumb software | Blog Home | The problem with non »

via sethgodin.typepad.com

Continuing my love affair with Seth Godin in 2009, I thought this post on his blog was worth a note.

I can honestly say that in my recently estranged job, at least they made it to goals and strategies.

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Official Google Australia Blog: Google for the Public Sector lands in Oz

2009-09-16T18:15:00.001-07:00

via google-au.blogspot.com

I can only imagine a time when this will be ubiquitous and reaches usefulness in Defence

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10 Ugly truths about modern journalism :: 10,000 Words

2009-09-13T18:54:00.001-07:00

10 Ugly truths about modern journalism
Friday, September 11, 2009

1. The stories that are published are the stories that sell

The reason you're more likely to read about a shooting spree than a library opening is because with dwindling resources, broadcasters and print publications must devote their time to stories that will grab the most attention. Hyperlocal sites like EveryBlock have stepped up to fill the void, but the phrase "if it bleeds, it leads" has never been truer.

2. Many stories are not copy edited

In the age of layoffs and buyouts, many of the first people to go in the newsroom are the copy editors, the people ensure that published stories are accurate and well-written. Without copy editors, many stories, especially those that appear online, are being published without first being checked for spelling and grammar. These errors are becoming even more frequent and are a mark of credibility against the news outlet.

3. Many stories come from wire services

Years ago, newspapers were brimming with stories written by staff reporters about national and international issues. As these reporters are being downsized, more of the national stories that appear in the local paper are written by wire services like Reuters and the Associated Press, meaning a lack of diverse voices covering any given issue.

4. Some journalists are driven by awards

The great majority of journalists gravitate to the profession to spread the news to as many people as possible and enlighten the communities they cover. There are also some journalists who write stories not for readers, but with the intent of winning big name awards like Pulitzers and Emmys. Though they may not openly admit it, some stories are written to gain the adoration of other journalists rather than to empower readers.

5. Journalists are biased

There is no such thing as unbiased...it is humanly impossible. While journalists often strive to make sure their stories are as unbiased as possible, many cover particular subjects or issues because they feel particularly strong about them.

6. Some journalists use Wikipedia

Although the use of Wikipedia is frowned upon in many newsrooms because of its perceived unreliability, many reporters do use the wiki as a source and unverified facts that appear on the site sometimes make their way into news stories. Such was the case with the obituary of French composer Maurice Jarre. Many newspapers published a quote found on his Wikipedia page that was never uttered by Jarre himself, but was added to the page by a then 22-year-old university student.

7. There is no big conspiracy

Not so much an ugly truth, but a truth some refuse to accept. There are a growing number of critics who decry the media for collectively and intentionally pushing either the liberal or conservative agenda (which agenda depends on who you ask). The truth is such a coordinated effort does not exist and most publications are made up of individual journalists with a wide of variety of interests and (you guessed it) political leanings.

8. Many journalists have side projects

In the golden age of journalism, reporters could dedicate themselves exclusively to their work in the newsroom when there was no fear of being sudden layoffs. But when a pink slip could come at a moment's notice and paychecks are becoming increasingly smaller, many more journalists are writing books, creating blogs, consulting, and anything that can build their personal brand or bring in a few extra dollars.

9. Entertainment stories rule

When journalists lament the "death" of journalism, they are often referring to the big investigative pieces that expose politicians and bring to light previously uncovered issues. The reality is, the most popular stories on news sites are often not investigative pieces, but entertainment stories and celebrity news. Paris Hilton can often drive more traffic than the president.

10. No one has the answers

Everyone is looking for the savior of journalism and the solution to the industry's problems. Social networking, paywalls, restructuring and micropayments have all been suggested as the key to saving journalism, but anyone who says they have a definite answer is delusional or misinformed. Together we will try to do everything to ensure journalism's future, but what exactly that magic solution is remains to be seen.

Also on 10,000 Words:
• 10 Reasons why online news sites suck
• 10 Things I wish they'd told me in J-School
• 25 Things I've Learned About Journalism
Labels: news on the news

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10 Comments

Dr. R Says:
When might that golden age have been?
September 11, 2009 11:11 AM

King Kaufman Says:
Is the typo in No. 2 a subtle joke?
September 11, 2009 1:28 PM

David Gerard Says:
Heh. I do volunteer press for Wikipedia in the UK. I speak to lots of journalists and journalists' researchers - most of whom, by the way, are entirely decent people who do their best - and I don't think I've spoken to one in the past four years who *doesn't* use Wikipedia as their handy universal backgrounder.
Of course, one definition of journalism is turning useful-but-unreliable sources into quality ones. So they have the mental equipment to deal with Wikipedia entirely properly, and when they get lazy it's presumed they were big boys and should have known better :-)
Wikipedia is not "reliable" - it's just written by people - but it's useful. Just check the references!
September 12, 2009 4:23 AM

kungle Says:
Hi,
I think your opinion is influenced by actual economic, social and political problems.
Try to find publisher from different countries - you will always find interesting news.
I'm using the news aggregator kungle.de to follow many thousands of headlines daily.
Currently there are many news about the beginning football season (of course), but have your heard about the protest against dolphin slaughter in Taij (Japan Times)?
There a more interesting news on the web than you can imagine.
And a small amendment: Political stories rule, followed by economy and boulevard news. Take a look at the stats on that page.
September 12, 2009 11:40 PM

Anonymous Says:
The idea that journalists aren't unbiased seems to come up a lot on this site. The problem is this is thrown around in the media and online to try to back up the claim that there's no real difference between journalists and bloggers (or TV pundits). The difference is that journalism is a profession, and professional journalists have a set of mental tools they use to try to strip bias out of their stories, plus a team of editors to catch what they may have missed. It's a skill, and one that bloggers and TV blowhards don't have and don't wish to learn. That's fine, as long as readers and viewers know there is a difference.
September 12, 2009 11:47 PM

Anonymous Says:
Not so much a critique of modern journalism as it is a critique of capitalism and the effects of capitalism on modern journalism.
September 12, 2009 11:48 PM

Damiandt Says:
7. There is no big conspiracy.
Really? Check out Dec 24, 2007 COVER STORY of Time magazine.
Topic - Discuss the Republican candidates speaking at the debates and running for President.
They only discussed 5 when there where 6. They literally took photoshop and cut the 6th person OUT.
If it isn't a conspiracy the only other choice is sheer incompetence and bias.
Thanks to the fact many people don't have internet we have the worthless president we have today.
Hope..Change...sheesh.
Only thing that changed was the name on the desk.
September 13, 2009 12:01 AM

Anonymous Says:
Hello from the planet of ski-jumping & wife-carrying championships, so please do forgive me my poor English skills.
Nr 5 is actually called 'specializing' = more in-depth journalism
Nr 8 is also called enthusiasm,curiosity, networking & digging deeper.
Nr 9 Entertainment = also a well-
written story about gardening or birding, for the specific target group. Also: most 'entertainment' stories are written with the highest journalistic standards & with the same, or even tighter, journalism ethics than the 'serious' stories.
Nr 1 = what reader wants = a successful mag = biz. Concepts & target groups vary but the purpose for businesses and most publishers is to make profit. It doesn't mean bad journalism. It means quality. It means readers get what they want and that they also want to buy the next issue. The publisher makes money, but it needs professionals to reach that goal.
Regards, a publisher who hires only professionals who don't need awards to be great
September 13, 2009 12:06 AM

Anonymous Says:
Actually, journalism is not a profession. Professions have a certification process to prove qualification. Does journalism have this? No. Do ALL journalists abide the same standards? No.
September 13, 2009 12:59 AM

Shane Says:
You have a heuristic argument: "There is no conspiracy because media organizations have journalists that can thinking on their own."
Like any rule of thumb, it may be right in some contexts and wrong in others.
You seem to suggest that conspiracies that aren't covered by the media don't exist. Perhaps some which weren't covered by the media are eventually covered by the media, while some aren't.
You don't do much research on this topic, do you? If you look, there are many books on this topic. Try Into the Buzzsaw. Here are two Web resources that make the
Exhibit A:
Iran-Contra's 'Lost Chapter' By Robert Parry (A Special Report) June 30, 2008 -
http://www.consortiumnews.com/2008/062908.html
(It covered up the CIA-run Republican propaganda system that pays media entities to spread propaganda. News Corp. and UPI are among those paid.)
Exhibit B:
The CIA and the Media: How Americas Most Powerful News Media Worked Hand in Glove with the Central Intelligence Agency and Why the Church Committee Covered It Up
http://carlbernstein.com/magazine_cia_and_media.php
(At that point 400 CIA agents had infiltrated the media, sometimes with the cooperation of upper-level management.)
Remember: You didn't hear about this from the mainstream media.
Check out Sibel Edmonds to see how even the sale of nuclear secrets by members of Congress is not being reported widely.
September 13, 2009 1:40 AM

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Nothing new here but a nice summary

Posted via web from tayls81's posterous

Is Australia losing it's religion?

2009-09-13T01:34:00.001-07:00

To play mp3s in your browser, you will need to have Javascript turned on and have Flash Player 9 or better installed.

via mpegmedia.abc.net.au

A interesting exploration for theist and non-theist alike (via http://twitter.com/misssandy)

Posted via web from tayls81's posterous

The Decline in the Management of Defence and Defence Capability Development, Acquisition, Preparedness, and Sustainment

2009-09-11T19:21:00.001-07:00

via ausairpower.net

Very critical

Posted via web from tayls81's posterous

And who should appear

2009-09-08T18:50:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I posted on the discussion and today as I am catching up on my RSS feeds (in my breaks), Dave Snowden provides the necessary expansion. In my argument, I represented that as human's are natural, they can not violate nature. I think that the introduction of Niche Construction might better represent the point of the argument, showing that there are differences between the knocking down of a tree to dam a brook and mass irrigation depriving the Murray mouth of fresh water. Or am I missing something?

Posted via email from tayls81's posterous

Gladwell to find them

2009-08-09T04:51:00.000-07:00

Over the christmas break, a friend slipped me a copy of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink. I consumed that in my festival of literature this year, which lead me to listen to Outliers from Audible. And finally, Tipping Point via the library. Completely out of sequence, but none of the effect was lost.

Firstly, I would like to point out that these other methods of consuming books, audio or hiring from the library may share the risk of getting a bad book, but the good books will still need to be purchased. I have saved nothing here.

Anyway, if you are looking at a way to re-evaluate the way you think about thinking, well Gladwell is as good a place as any. Some other good books that have kept me interested this year, of a similar ilk are:

The opposable mind - Roger Martin
Did you spot the gorilla? - Richard Wiseman
Quirkology - Richard Wiseman
Tribes - Seth Godin

Finally, my obsession with mind mapping has lead to the included representation of Tipping Point

Public Enemies

2009-08-08T05:28:00.000-07:00

With a quality cast including cult classics Johnny Depp, David Wenham, Christian Bale, Billy Cruddup and Branka Katic; Michael Mann told a tale of crime in the mid to early 1930s. Strangely, this a film that Julie and I could agree on (there really aren't many). Although, Julie probably was drawn to the Indianan references and the vague familiarity of John Dillinger because she really did shy away from the blood.

What cinched to film for me was the not so subtle relevance to the 'War on Terror'. The formation of the FBI to combat crime from a national standpoint, which exploited the power vacuum to use methods preminscent of Gitmo and Abu Ghraib.

I am left with a Watchmen reference; Who watches the G-Men?

Greatest Songs of All Time

2009-06-01T04:05:00.000-07:00

Triple J is doing another Hottest 100 of all time, the first of which was conducted in 1989 and was won by Joy Division's Love will Tear Us Apart. The second was held in 1998 and won by Nirvana's Smells Like Teen Spirit (hat tip: Michael Landsberg for picking up the error). I have slapped together my ten nominations, what are yours?

Joy Division - Love Will Tear Us Apart
Pearl Jam - Jeremy
Nirvana - Smells Like Teen Spirit
Alice in Chains - Heaven Beside You
Tool - Sober
Johnny Cash - Hurt
Nine Inch Nails - Closer
Queensrÿche - Operation: Mindcrime
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Weeping Song
You Am I - Berlin Chair

Twitter killed the facebook...

2009-04-28T03:38:00.000-07:00

I have long been thinking about posting on how my twitter fetish has killed off any hope for my Weblog, but I kept myself from posting. The main reason was that I am certain that it had all been said before over the three years of Twitter's life. It is quite natural that a disturbance in the force results in a renegotiation of how to fit everything in.

What inspired this post has been the recent barrage of complaints on Facebook about the twitter updates that apparently consume facebook 'news' feeds. From what I understand, by tweeting some of my friend's walls are consumed by my activities... but isn't that the point?

What is it about web2.0 that these people aren't getting? but if I went down this rabbit hole, I would be just as bad. So instead... Things that @#$% me about Facebook:

1. Being bitten by Vampires/superwalled and poked

2. Friends' statuses about the current domestic that they are having

3. What this quiz can tell me about me

4. You can control your news feed

5. This is where your mum is now

Shameless Promotion 1

2009-02-22T21:16:00.000-08:00

On the behalf of my mate Schnitz:

Footy season is nigh and I thought I’d make it interesting this year by coordinating an AFL footy tipping comp. Go the mighty Crows!

Just to make it worth your while, I am going to throw in $500 of my own hard-earned cash as the major prize at the end of the minor round. I will also give a $30 Boomerang Books voucher to anybody who picks 8 winners in a round. But we all know that the biggest reward of all is bragging rights!

It’s free to join – just follow these steps:

- Go to http://www.footytips.com.au/jc.cfm?c=130316&P=btefootytipping

- Select the ‘Join this Competition’ button at the bottom of the page

- Complete the paperwork and you’re done. Don’t forget to enter your tips before each round!

The more the merrier, so please pass this on to your friends.

The Cynic loves the organisation

2009-02-15T23:26:00.000-08:00

When you pick it up a tool should fit your hand and way of working (like my Macbook and social computing in general) rather than requiring me to bio-reengineer my hand (and often my brain) to fit some idealistically designed and all too often fetishistic tool.

Whilst Dave used this in a rant referring to KM approaches and Social Networking, but I am overwhelmed by the relevance to Lean and other forms of Business Process Re-engineering.

This relevance refers to some recent exposure to some zealots who have perpetuated every case-study of failure I have read of the Lean approach. It always seems to be a failure of leadership... I mean really, if it is always the same failure mode, surely one would've figured out the cure...

Or maybe Leadership is really just a figment of one's imaginations... but that is more the realm of Scott Adams.

So what does leadership do? Well it appears that they convert the low-level non-believers to this one true way of Business Improvement, but the hardened rebels and cynics are culled to make way. This then appears to constitute 'Success'.

So if you need to reengineer your organisation to make the approach work, maybe it is not the right tool...

The title is also attributed to Dave Snowden

You Might Be In a Cult if...

2009-02-09T04:51:00.000-08:00

There are rituals that validate the hierarchy
Everyone wears the same clothes
There is one true way
When the one true way fails, it is always due to a lack of faith
Dissent is treated as a lack of faith
Information is controlled

Sound familiar?

2009: An Odyssey

2009-01-19T15:21:00.000-08:00

Whilst I am not one to regularly make New Years Resolutions, I have decided on a couple of goals for 2009 to address some frustrations that spring to mind about 2008.

iPod Zero = I am to achieve a steady-state of no greater than One Week's backlog (6.5h at current rate)
Weight = 95kg +3/-0 for 3 months or longer
Read 12 books (already @ 3.3)
Complete MBA (Advanced) - and avoid having a specialisation in anything Finance-related.

In 2008, I was a late comer to the wonderful world of podcasting & iTunesU, but I really did attempt to fill my head as much as I could. That currently leaves me with a backlog of 17.7 days, so by any means I choose I must reduce the levels to no greater than one week's backlog - iPod Zero. This strongly supports Goal 2, as the longer I run/gym the more audio I can consume.

The other goal worth explaining is my realisation that I had completely stopped reading books, instead engulfing myself in RSS feeds, skim-reading articles and podcasting the nights away. Thus, a modest book a month I think is a reasonable re-introduction.

I don't think the list is exhaustive and there should probably be something that helps me prepare for the Bundle of Joy expected in Winter. As always, I am open to suggestions for additions or appropriate rewards

Rick's Aussie Music Intro Disc 2

2009-01-18T15:54:00.000-08:00

As started yesterday, below are the details of Disc 2 in the compilation. This leads me to Bleg: What would you put on Disc 3?

Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again The Angels
(He'll Never Be An) Ol' Man River TISM
. Trampoline The Grates
. Black Bugs Regurgitator
Middle Of The Hill Josh Pyke
The Weeping Song Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds
Three Dimensions Something For Kate
Better The Screaming Jets
Tarantula Pendulum
Beds Are Burning Midnight Oil
Highly Evolved The Vines
. I Will Not Go Quietly (Duffy's Song) The Whitlams
Holy Grail Hunters And Collectors
My Ex-Girlfriend's Boyfriend Machine Gun Fellatio
Woman Wolfmother
Purple Sneakers You Am I
Skeleton Jar Youth Group
Six Months In A Leaky Boat Little Birdy

1. Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again by The Angels. 1970 saw the formation of Adelaide, SA band The Angels. The Beer-drinking classic Am I Ever Gonna See Your Face Again was released in 1976 off the self-titled album.

2. (He’ll Never Be An) Ol’ Man River by TISM. This Is Serious Mum (TISM) are of the great Australian genre of Piss-Taking, where nothing is sacred as you will find in this hit off the Machiavelli and the Four Seasons (1995). This song is a reference to River Phoenix’s death which raised threats from Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s Bassist Flea. TISM have an interesting and mysterious history and are the first live band I saw in their 1998 tour in support of Regurgitator. Cultural Note: Piss-Taking is derived from “taking the piss,” which is Australian slang for “making fun.”

3. Trampoline by The Grates. Hailing from Brisbane, Queensland The Grates managed 4 songs off their debut album Gravity, Won’t Get You High in the 2006 Triple J Hottest 100, but Trampoline wasn’t one of them. The Grates are lead by the high energy Patience Hodgson.

4. Black Bugs by Regurgitator. The headline act of my first live gig at Festival Hall in Brisbane, their hometown, was Regurgitator. Black Bugs comes off the Rock/Electonica band’s second album, Unit (2007).

5. Middle Of The Hill by Josh Pyke. Josh Pyke’s first hit single was Middle of the Hill off the Feeding The Wolves EP. This track got this Sydney, NSW Artist recognised with a 19^th place in the Triple J Hottest 100 of 2005.

6. The Weeping Song by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Nick Cave is a bawler hailing from 223 miles NW of Melbourne, Victoria and started his music career as the frontman of the Birthday Party. He joined with the Bad Seeds in 1984 with The Weeping Song coming off the 1990 album The Good Son.

7. Three Dimensions by Something For Kate. Melbourne band Something For Kate formed in 1994 lead by Paul Dempsey whose voice could break a heart at a thousand yards. His wife is the hot-as-hell Stephanie Ashworth who passed up an offer from Hole to play with the band. Three Dimensions is taken off the 2001 album Echolalia rating at #13 on the Triple J Hottest 100 of the same year.

8. Better by The Screaming Jets. A hard rock band hailing from Newcastle, New South Wales, Screaming Jets formed in 1989 and are still playing today. Better is the hit single from their debut album All For One.

9. Tarantula by Pendulum. Off the Perth drum and bass band’s debut album, Hold Your Colour (2005), Tarantula is the #88 song in the 2006 Triple J Hottest 100.

10. Beds Are Burning by Midnight Oil. A classic Sydney-based Australian Rock band who played from 1971-2002 before frontman, Peter Garret retired his crazy-dancing shoes to join the Australian Labor Party and is currently the Minister for Environment, Heritage and the Arts. Importantly, this protest song was in support of the Australian Aboriginies and particularly tied to the ‘Sorry’ movement. Peter Garret was in his political capacity when the apology was made by Prime Minister Rudd in 2008. Beds Are Burning was released in 1987 on the album Diesel and Dust.

11. Highly Evolved by The Vines. Formed in Sydney in 1994, The Vines were the first Australian band to be on the cover of Rolling Stone (2002) since Men At Work in 1983. The band succeeded in crafting the album Highly Evolved (2001). It turned out that the frontman, Craig Nicholls was having some issues with drug use and was quite erratic on stage leading to a significantly degraded live presence. The track Highly Evolved achieved 19^th place in the 2002 Triple J Hottest 100.

12. I Will Not Go Quietly (Duffy’s Song) by The Whitlams. The Whitlams are part of the Australian music brotherhood with You Am I, Machine Gun Fellatio and The Cruel Sea. This track I Will Not Go Quietly is named for a TV character Duffy from a one season Australian show called Love is a Four Letter Word. The TV show was the zeitgeist of frustrations of the Live Music scene centred on a Sydney pub that was besieged by noise complaints. Released in 2001 on the Torch the Moon album and it achieved #42 in the Triple J Hottest 100.

13. Holy Grail by Hunters and Collectors. This classic band Hunters and Collectors formed in Melbourne in 1981 and disbanded in 1998 with the album that this rendition of Holy Grail is taken from, Under One Roof recorded at the Coogee Bay Hotel, Sydney. This song was originally released in 1992 on the album Cut. Holy Grail has become synonymous with the Australian Football League.

14. My Ex-Girlfriend’s Boyfriend by Machine Gun Fellatio. The third song on the compilation by MGF, this one showing their truer nature of playful hurt.

15. Woman by Wolfmother. These Sydney Rockers obviously draw their roots from Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, but I will out them here as having some very close sounds and lyrics to Uriah Heap! They formed in 2004 and disbanded in 2008, with this hit track being released in 2006 on the self-titled album. On the way to the Jan 2005 Big Day Out, I stopped to buy the Wolfmother debut EP and played the four tracks on infinite loop from the Smith St exit to the Gold Coast Showgrounds… which on Big Day Out day takes about an hour. Luckily, Dan and Andy got to enjoy it!

16. Purple Sneakers by You Am I. This track is not the best You Am I track, but most importantly it was my conversion to the alternative genre. Thanks to Brad Wheeler, I have never looked back. You Am I formed in 1989 and have released 11 albums. Purple Sneakers was released on the Hi Fi Way album in 1995 achieving #24 on Triple J Hottest 100.

17. Skeleton Jar by Youth Group. Youth Group start their story in Canberra, ACT but now reside in Sydney. They shot to fame in 2006 with a cover of Forever Young, which was used in the TV show The OC. Youth Group released Skeleton Jar in 2004 on the album of the same name.

18. Six Months In A Leaky Boat by Little Birdy. Six Months In A Leaky Boat is a cover of New Zealand brothers Tim and Neil Finn of Split Enz and Crowded House fame. Little Birdy have their roots firmly in the Perth Music scene including other bands such as The Sleepy Jackson and End of Fashion. This eerie track is taken of the tribute album She Will Have Her Way (2006).

Rick's Aussie Music Intro Disc 1

2009-01-17T20:36:00.000-08:00

Those of you who follow me on Twitter would've noticed the mention of a Mixed Tape... And despite some of the feedback it is not as old school as you think... but the same rules apply. I refer of course to those in High Fidelity. The Mixed Tape is an introduction to Aussie Music for my partner's brother back in Angola, IN.

And this is it:

Propane Nightmares Pendulum
Hold Me Close Bertie Blackman
Heart's A Mess Gotye
One Crowded Hour Augie March
Skywriter Ash Grunwald
Rollercoaster Machine Gun Fellatio
Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap (Live) AC/DC
Nobody Likes A Bogan Area 7
The Boys Light Up Australian Crawl
...And We'll Dance On The Ashes Of What's Left The Beautiful Girls
The Familiar Faker
The Game End Of Fashion
Comfort Me Pacifier
Are You Gonna Be My Girl JET
Numb All Over Dallas Crane
Unsent Letter (Acoustic) Machine Gun Fellatio

1. Propane Nightmares by Pendulum. Propane Nightmare is a hit off Pendulum 2008 album In Silico. Pendulum are a Drum and Bass outfit from Perth, Western Australia who formed in 2002. Julie and I are going to see them at the Big Day Out Festival on 30 Jan 2009.

2. Hold Me Close by Bertie Blackman. Hold Me Close is the hit single off the Bertie Blackman 2006 album Black. Bertie Blackman is a local of Sydney, New South Wales commencing her musical career in 2003.

3. Heart’s A Mess by Goyte. Heart’s A Mess is Gotye’s track that achieved number 8 in the Triple J’s 2006 Hottest 100 off his album from the same year Like Drawing Blood. Gotye (pronounced gore-ti-yeah) was born Wouter DeBacker, in Belgium but was raised in Melbourne, Victoria. If you get the chance check out the film clip.

4. One Crowded Hour by Augie March. One Crowded Hour is the Triple J Hottest 100 2006 winning track by Augie March, who hail from Melbourne, Victoria. Augie March formed in 1996 and released the album Moo You Bloody Choir in 2006.

5. Skywriter by Ash Grunwald. This Surfer-rock/Blues/Roots sounding track Skywriter taken from his 2006 album Give Signs. Ash comes from Melbourne, Victoria and released his first solo album in 2002.

6. Rollercoaster by Machine Gun Fellatio. These guys were completely nuts, and one helluva stage show. Rollercoaster was a hit-single finishing sixth in the triple J Hottest 100 of 2002 from Paging Mr Strike album. Machine Gun Fellatio were from Sydney, New South Wales and disbanded in 2005.

7. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap by AC/DC. Does this band even need an introduction? AC/DC formed in Sydney, New South Wales in 1973. Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap was released in 1976 on the album of the same name.

8. Nobody Likes A Bogan by Area 7. Nobody Likes A Bogan is the track taken from Melbourne, Victoria –based Ska band Area 7’s album Say It To My Face. Cultural Note: Bogan translates to Podunk.

9. The Boys Light Up by Australian Crawl. Coming out of Melbourne, Victoria in 1980, Australian Crawl released The Boys Light Up the second single taken off the album of the same name. The track was nearly banned due to its suggestive lyrics implying that ‘light up’ was a reference to Marijuana.

10. …And We’ll Dance On The Ashes of What’s Left by The Beautiful Girls. In the Roots genre The Beautiful Girls have a few good tracks making regular appearances at the Falls Festival and are currently on their 6^th tour of USA. …And We’ll Dance On The Ashes Of What’s Left is taken from their 2005 album We’re Already Gone.

11. The Familiar by Faker. Faker formed in 1996 in Sydney, New South Wales but it was their first studio album Addicted to Romance that shot them into the popularity in 2005.

12. The Game by End of Fashion. End of Fashion formed in 2004 as an offshoot of fellow Perth, Western Australia –based band The Sleepy Jackson after a spat. The Game was the second single from their self-titles album released in 2005.

13. Comfort Me by Pacifier. Pacifier were formerly and are currently known as Shihad, changing their name in 2002 out of concern that the USA fanbase would associate them with the 9/11 attacks by sounding similar to jihad. Shihad formed at school in Wellington, New Zealand in 1988 but moved to Melbourne, Victoria in 1999. The one album released under the name Pacifier was self titled and released in 2002.

14. Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet. This Melbourne-based band catapulted into fame with Are You Gonna Be My Girl off the Get Born Album (2003). This track even got included in Madden NFL 2004 but most importantly was the #1 JJJ Hottest 100 track of 2003 and is classically attributed the my housemate and I coming home from such a party to turn everything upside-down.

15. Numb All Over by Dallas Crane. Dallas Crane formed in 1996, but this rip-snorter is taken off the self-titled album of 2004. The track came in at #83 in Triple J Hottest 100 of the same year.

16. Unsent Letter by Machine Gun Fellatio. This acoustic version of an MGF tearjerker was selected to wrap up Compilation Disc 1, leaving you wanting more. Originally released on 2000 album, Bring it On, this particular version is taken from the Rollercoaster Single of 2002.

And then there were Ten

2009-01-08T04:28:00.000-08:00

I have submitted my top ten songs for 2008 to JJJ Hottest 100 and can hope for the chance to win two tickets to every JJJ sponsored gig in 2009... sweet, never mind the odds.

In coming to the final ten, I amused myself by observing how I decided:

Step 1: The Trawl

In this step, I scrolled through each listed song by artist, stopping at an artist I recognised as liking in the past. The song had to live up to or exceed my expectations of the band or it was neglected (notice a distinct lack of Kings of Leon).

If I couldn't recall the song by it's title, I searched for it in my playlists. If I didn't own it, I then went the iTunes Store and listened to a snippet. The output was;

Step 2: The Shortlist

I wrestled with some thoughts about censoring what would make my shortlist, in particular Muscles and Emiliana Torrini. I recognised this as an irrational thought and dismissed it... but I have to admit, it was this fear of judgement that incited me to post on this topic.

Step 3: The Cull

Over the past 24+ hours, I slowly cut songs down from the 50 in the Shortlist. The cull was based on the following factors;

Performance against expectation of the Band/Artist (is this their best work)
Ranking of songs by the same band (is this their best work in 2008?)
Origin (Australian?)

The cull resulted in:

Bloc Party - One Month Off
Cold War Kids - Something Is Not Right With Me
Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart
Faint, The - The Geeks Were Right
Faker - Dumb Mistakes
Faker - Sleepwalking
Grates, The - Carve Your Name
Music, The - Strength In Numbers
Pendulum - The Other Side
Pendulum - Propane Nightmares

In retrospect, I really hope my important decisions are made with more rigour, precision and accuracy...

JJJ Hottest 100 - 2008

2009-01-06T22:15:00.001-08:00

It is that time of the year again, Triple J's Hottest 100 voting.

I have thought for a long while that it has been in gradual merger with the middle, as there are always some anomalies in the countdown on 26 January which makes one wonder if the voters outnumber listeners.

I have changed my tone a little on this over 2008, as I can admit to listening to a lot less of JJJ. This has been driven by a couple of factors. The first of which has been my complete immersion in podcasting, but given that I have at least 19.4 days of backlog that never seems to decrease I would hardly think that I would fret over losing my JJJ time.

In fact, I attribute the change not to the change in genre like the late nineties/early noughties but to the selection of comperes. It may be part of the natural evolution of most JJJ listeners that reach a certain age and can no longer tolerate it... I certainly hope not...

Anyway, my shortlist is included below... It will be culled to 10... any suggestions?

Shortlist

Black Keys, The - Lies
Black Keys, The - Strange Times
Bloc Party - Talons
Bloc Party - Halo
Bloc Party - One Month Off
Children Collide - Social Currency
Cold War Kids - Something Is Not Right With Me
Conor Oberst - Get-Well-Cards
Death Cab For Cutie - I Will Possess Your Heart
Dresden Dolls - Night Reconaissance
Eagles Of Death Metal - Wannabe In L.A.
Emiliana Torrini - Big Jumps
Emiliana Torrini - Jungle Drum
End Of Fashion - Fussy
Even - I Am The Light
Faint, The - The Geeks Were Right
Faker - Dumb Mistakes
Faker - Sleepwalking
Flight Of The Conchords - Business Time
Flight Of The Conchords - Hiphopopotamus Vs Rhymenoceros
Flight Of The Conchords - Ladies Of The World
Flight Of The Conchords - The Most Beautiful Girl In The Room
Gnarls Barkley - Going On
Gnarls Barkley - Run
Gnarls Barkley - Surprise
Gnarls Barkley - Who's Gonna Save My Soul
Grates, The - Burn Bridges
Grates, The - Carve Your Name
Gyroscope - 1981
Hold Steady, The - Sequestered In Memphis
Hot Chip - Ready For The Floor
Josh Pyke - Make You Happy
Josh Pyke - Variations
Josh Pyke - You Don't Scare Me
Killers, The - A Dustland Fairytale
Killers, The - Human
Lior - I'll Forget You
Magic Dirt - Romy
Muscles - Ice Cream {triple j live acoustic version}
Music, The - Spike
Music, The - Strength In Numbers
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Today's Lesson
Oasis - Shock Of The Lightning
Pendulum - Propane Nightmares
Pendulum - Showdown
Pendulum - The Other Side
Saboteurs, The - Many Shades Of Black
TZU - Computer Love
Vines, The - He's A Rocker

Telco wars

2008-12-08T03:35:00.000-08:00

Those who follow me on Twitter will have seen a berating of Optus and who am I not to explain?

Optus sent me a bill for $1500 and whilst I was expecting a slightly larger phone bill for my new iPhone... this bill missed the mark by a long shot.

This resulted in the desperately avoided call to 'customer service'... Now a telephone company should not drop the customer's call 3 times... Sensing some KPI Management, I changed my tact by showing a seemingly new operator that their system could possibly be wrong... I did this by demonstrating that the $900 charge was actually meant to be $0... After another long stint on hold, the 'customer care assistant' offered a $400 discount on the amount, she even sounded convinced that it was a good offer...

When I explained that the offer was the equivalent of fining me $500, she placed me back on hold.

At this point I could imagine the flashing red lights of KPI failure... when the new offer was made at less than a tenth of the original bill. But accepting this wasn't ever going to be the end of the saga... was it?

Dishonour fees (for not paying $1500), calls from their finance section (asking why I haven't paid the $1500) and 2 weeks later... Still not resolved.

So a communications company, maybe not getting the billing right is understandable but not being able to transfer the metadata of the customer from one person to another (let alone the computer that captures it at the beginning of the call) is really going to struggle in their bid.

Rugby Trip

2008-12-08T00:42:00.000-08:00

Indeed what memories from this place...

A mudblood by any other name

2008-12-03T02:08:00.000-08:00

I saw Australia today and I am not afraid to say that I found it to be much better than I was told to expect.

Ok, it was a little long at 3h but there was a great undercurrent about the importance of storytelling in identity and culture. Nullah, a 'half-caste' whose plight holds the plot together is torn between the two worlds of his origin, trying to find his story... I will stop before completely spoiling the film, just go and see it!

To finish though, 2008 is unmistakably a great first step toward conciliation. Whilst other films have brought some of the issues to light previously, it is heartening to see a film that comes closer to honesty about the tragic policies and actions committed against the Aborigines that will be seen in the mainstream. The importance of Australia is that it can at least cite a government apology...

A Diversion

2008-11-25T04:03:00.000-08:00

HA! Boy did it miss the mark (hat tip: Dave)... as surely anyone will know that I am far from an introvert...

I have to declare that I have completed the MBTI accreditation and do selectively use the instrument in support of some of my consultancy work. I find it quite useful in drawing out some of the differences that people display particularly around communication and mostly with regard to workplace harmony. (Mind you, I make no commercial gains conducting them as I my work is internal).

I take on board the issues raised in Skepdic but I also feel some sympathy for the readers. That being said I might take the liberty of offering my own $0.02.

The use of the instrument as an absolute or final say in something as important as whether or not someone gets a job is quite abhorrent. I use the dichotomies that the instrument draws out merely as a means to draw out the normal variations in individual preferences and then as a platform to discuss group preferences.

The main criticism that I personally have heard about MBTI is that people use the instrument as an excuse for the worst examples of behaviour attributed to the Type. Unfortunately, this has been a behaviour that I have witnessed myself. That being said, a well administered MBTI session (i.e. not one online, which lacks the various stages required to be anywhere near useful) should show the participant the ways to realise their strengths and manage their weaknesses, no matter how they are derived.

And how they are derived are hardly that concerning when someone identifies as an Extravert they might be more comfortable in large noisy groups and their weakness might be that sometimes they exclude those who identify as an Introvert... sounds fairly uncontroversial to me

A Great Week

2008-11-21T04:32:00.000-08:00

As I started in a recent post, this week is seeing the culmination of some big projects. The next one is an administration support review, which all but finished on Tuesday with a backlog cull.

The manager of the staff had been trapped by the sheer weight of their backlog, which had peaked at approximately 900 items ranging from emails, projects, reading etc.

Now, whilst I conducted it with GTD mindset on the recommendation of Iain. I was brought to back to earth by the comments of my supervisor that I was implementing a 2S instead of a 5S. This was only telling as I had particularly railed against some of the Lean zealots that seem to be popping up around the place.

To be fair, I have nothing against Lean or 5S and in fact think they are quite fine toolsets for the right problem or part thereof. The bit that intrigues me is that it seems to inspire cult-like followers that only ever speak of success except to note that when failure occurs that it was due to a like of higher management support... I don't think I am alone in suggesting that if failure is not publicly spoken about, it is more than a little suspicious.

In fact the Change Management Guide questioning approach was created in hope that some attention might be paid to the people (especially the ones who dared offer resistance or criticism), thus some potential to actually achieve a culture of continuous improvement.

Upon reflection, there were 4S (Shine would've been waste of time as these people were nearly OCD-style clean) used but in itself it was not a Lean intervention. There was far more invested in resolving some of the emotional issues such as stress and disengagement. I find that this merely confirms that the Lean stuff is just a hammer not everything is a nail.

Not the only one

2008-11-20T08:29:00.000-08:00

Maybe they meant something like this

Hours in a day

2008-11-20T03:30:00.000-08:00

Ever found that you have run out of hours in a day/week/month?

I seem to have that problem at the moment, and I wonder if it is due to the approaching summer?

Or maybe it is the culmination of some projects? Whatever it maybe, I have lost my focus...

On the upside though, this week has been highly successful. Today I submitted the web version of a Change Management Guide for the entire organisation. Some of you who follow me on twitter may have heard a mention or two of it.

As a project goes, this was a hard slog and entirely different to the day to day breadwinning, so to speak. Whilst this was a properly commissioned project, I only ever saw it as a think tank exercise to deliver a resource that left our organisation a little better off than without it.

The product was essentially a Change Management Guide which well and truly surpassed the intimidation point at 10,000+ words and 14 steps to success... Not to mention the language!

Actually, to mention the language is better... My own engineering/project management background combined with a colleague with a business/logistics background coupled with a particular academic interest in Change Management. If it is not obvious, we spoke diametrically opposed dialects which when painfully combined resulted in some indulgent verbosity.

But why am I happy about this? Well there was a moment in the project where we introduced a second gateway. Like an Index to a Table of Contents, this second gateway offered a set of questions rather than a designed and stepped approach. The real bonus of this is its ability to embrace the power of the cynic, as noted by Dave Snowden as being so vital.

This is where the website (intranet only at this stage, unfortunately) comes into its own... although I still think that there is a need for a low-fi pamphlet for people to hold in their hands... With both of these in place, Change can be about improvement despite the best effort of some folks to make it about the process.

Into the Pan

2008-11-07T13:01:00.000-08:00

Part 3 in reviewing the set of workshops from last week is the one-dayer with the sister organisation of here and here. Now the focus was on repairing the Archetype Creation which had so spectacularly failed on the Monday.

To open, I showed a couple of animations from the Dilbert site as I knew the organisation were familiar. Then I got them to discuss who their favourite characters were and why. After suggesting to them that the Dilbert comics were not actually written about their organisation and that people around the world can identify with them, the breadcrumbs had been dropped.

Importantly, I also changed the 'story-telling' prompt from 'Tell a story about a day at work' to 'Share your experience in dealing with your primary customer' (understanding that the earlier narrative capture had indicated that this would be fertile ground). In the second stage of emergence, I suggested that the character in front of them worked in their organisation and that they would have to adopt the role of their 'Best Friend', 'Worst Enemy' and 'Innocent Bystander'. I have some thoughts on this but wonder how that sits with other practitioners

Now due to the introduction of an example, I set myself a target for success which was to achieve no Dilbert characters in the Archetypes. I did not set one for the swapping of customers for members of the organisation, do you have any suggestions? In my opinion, this event was a success and once I get the characters finalised I will upload them.

To close on the Archetype creation, I will note that I backed out of the Values and Themes elements for this workshop. Basically, I was uncomfortable with their use and was seeking to achieve a modicum of success through adjustment of the approach. I will have to invest some more headspace into how to prepare the Values and Themes.

On Sensemaker

2008-11-07T00:03:00.000-08:00

I am drafting this in the QANTAS Lounge in Melbourne as I wait for my flight back to Adelaide in an 90mins.

The reason I am in Melbourne is that I have spent Thursday evening and Friday at the Victorian Police Academy doing the Cognitive Edge Practitioner network catch up and Sensemaker Session which was fantastic to discuss some of the lessons identified from applying the Cognitive Edge Methods with new 'graduates' and also to meet some faces behind the blogs.

The Sensemaker session, I found to be quite straightforward and expect that the real learning points will be in playing with the data. I have in my mind a few applications in mind that I will be seeking to exploit (for want of a better word), the key will be getting funding to pay the licence fees.

A couple of criticisms of the day would be that the demo data had a major flaw which detracted from the logic in the conclusions in the case study. The other would be that the Ritual Dissent was limited in value due to the predominance of inexperience with the methods and software, thus not allowing much in the way of meaningful criticism. This latter criticism is of course the minor factor as it is merely a demonstration of concept.

All in all, a worthwhile event and I will definitely add my case study to the Ning Site, Steve

Baptism of Fire: The Sequel

2008-11-06T16:57:00.000-08:00

As was started in a previous post, the following two workshops took the participants through Model Creation by Social Construction and Ritual Dissent. These activities went significantly better partially because the participants were more comfortable with the understanding where it would lead but also because the activities were broken up with some more familiar activities.

I have since delivered the resultant action plans to the Business Unit Manager, who was not put of by the AVT Creation failure, but instead is willing to take on some assistance to attempt to achieve a self-emergent continuous improvement. At this stage (given the proximity to the end of year), the move forward will be by delegation of the "Simple" tasks to any person and some "complicated" activities to the appropriate person/s. In the new year, there is a plan to take on some of the "Complex" via a Social Network Stimulation which will assist in the induction process as well as giving credibility to the whole process. Needless to say, there is an opportunity to trot out the immanently released Change Management guide. This guide had a particular selling point of embracing the cynic... I promise I will post on this in the future as it is finalised.

To wrap up on the experience, the spectacular failure of the AVT Creation Workshop will remain more strongly in my mind than any minor successes over the three day, but isn't that the point?

This workshop was succeeded by another with a sister organisation, on which I will post on shortly.

A single comment on the US Election

2008-11-05T16:54:00.000-08:00

Anyone who knows me would also know that this was necessary.

Goodness, you say

2008-11-01T23:40:00.001-07:00

Ironic enough for those who work/worked in the DMO... and for those who read the title of my last post

Change is Goodness

2008-10-29T04:02:00.000-07:00

It has been a busy week that will all but culminate tomorrow with a full-day version of the three half-days that began the week, with a sister organisation.

Despite my confuddlement with the AVT Creation, I will give it another bash albeit in a new way. I was heartened with the success of the Model Creation and subsequent Action Planning that I mentioned previously. I look forward to deconstructing it all especially with Dave's kind offer and the upcoming Practitioner Workshop in Melbourne on Friday week.

But this post is not about that... instead on the sidelines of this week some great things have happened... A strategic change recommendation was implemented with gusto as some sort of silver bullet solution to a Crisis in a bigger job, which had seen me running down the East Coast. I think this was my first conscious attempt (and success) and a Randy Pausch Headfake.

The other was my renewed vigor to finalise the Change Management Guide in the form that I envisaged... I am hoping for completion by the Practitioner's Workshop... so expect some more as it crystalises

Baptism of Fire

2008-10-27T03:25:00.000-07:00

Well I am convinced that I picked the absolute most completely unsuitable group to attempt my first Archetype Creation Workshop... It was a completely insular and stove-piped group of Aerospace Engineers, associated Technicians and Data Managers.

I considered the organisation ready for something different for a number of reasons, not the least of which was the suggestion that the Business Plan was not working and a new approach was required. All of this being said, I am open to suggestion that everything looks like a nail at the moment, and this is my new Hammer...

To initiate the sharing of experiences I used the Wordle tool that I mentioned back in June. The learning point for me here was that using the word 'story' as part of the instructions was never going to go well with the audience. Add to this intolerance of ambiguity and we start to get the concept of how the morning went... That being said, I think that with some tweaks this could've worked much better, in particular taking it toward a Comparison

Despite all this some archetypes did emerge and some were nearly useful... but some lessons have been learnt in preparation for Thursday's one-dayer with a sister organisation... but Tomorrow holds a Model Creation by Social Construction amongst a communication game to pick up on where the Comparison would've gone. Wish me luck

The Future, Backwards

2008-10-16T23:26:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I ran my second Future, Backwards in my role as an internal consultant. The day was focussed on developing a plan of action in a changing environment.

The day was scheduled to conduct two simultaneous 'Future, Backwards' then to take the Turning Points from both as Sensemaking Items for use in the Cynefin Model Creation by Social Construction (corners method). The result was to role directly into a Domain-based Strategy Planning Session. There is nothing overly exciting about this as a methodology but it was my first attempt.

It is probably timely to recognise that I was assisted by team members that are not accredited practitioners, which had some impact but was not really the biggest learning point. There were a number, particularly the cognitive load that it places on the participants needs to be managed and exposing the executive to so much ambiguity does not necessarily lead to great results.

The real take away for me was finding myself frustrated at the lack of imagination and extremely limited vision in the description of possible future states. On thinking about this I wonder if the issue is a 'dominant organisational narrative' in the form of a mantra. Namely, 'more people', 'more money' and 'more resources'...

I am particularly interested to know if anyone has come across a similar issue in their organisation or am I dealing with something peculiar

Boy its been a while

2008-10-12T02:44:00.000-07:00

No excuses...

But I do wonder about this. In light of the recent financial thing (excuse my flippancy...) I do wonder if the video were revisited from an international perspective, how would it change? It is compelling but I wonder about the simplicity and catastrophising it implies.

German Town and Wine Sipping

2008-09-28T13:56:00.000-07:00

The last weekend of hosting my grandparents consisted of a trip to Mclaren Vale and Hahndorf. Mclaren Vale is relatively new territory for me, as I only had my first trip there this year but I think it will be hard to top my favourite winery of the region so far; Samuel's Gorge. I will simply state that they have three red varieties, Grenache, Temperanillo and Shiraz made in the style of Shiraz. Go there taste and enjoy the spectacular vista... Ocean on one-side, Gorge-ous on the other...

Needless to say the visit to Hahndorf lead to beer consumption by the litre... There are some pics that tell the story on facebook

Time of the year

2008-09-24T04:14:00.000-07:00

It is performance appraisal time... and boy do I not enjoy it! Now there is always the uncomfortableness (yes, that is now a word) with the difficult conversations but that is not what I dislike about it. I find that our system puts a lot of weight on the 'score' that the individuals get irrespective of the corresponding word picture that describes the mark. Now the reason that the score matters is that the performance appraisal is the sole input to the promotion system, which is given the first allocation of ranking (hence if you aren't above the cutoff mark... no further consideration). So a tool that is meant to be a meaningful management tool becomes the hinge to an individuals career where they are assessed on a score (which ends up being a long way from a normal distribution) which isn't related to technical mastery...

Which is why I can probably relate to this ...

Gotta love Ron Owen...

2008-09-23T23:52:00.000-07:00

Good to see Gympie and One Nation back in the news.

On the shoulders of GIANTS

2008-09-22T23:19:00.000-07:00

I was listening to a podcast from the Duke University public lectures from iTunesU (the podcast is titled Values-Based Leadership, sorry I can't work out how to link directly to it). For me this podcast has probably done what the Leadership Exchange was meant to... I am definitely inspired after listening to it. I can recommend that you hunt it down and have a listen (or a watch, there is a vodcast too)

But it did lead me to question how often do we acknowledge those giants? There has been discussion in our organisation about getting in touch with our former members, but as yet nothing meaningful has been done. I would like to see not just a list of names and numbers but some interactions, maybe presentations at the Annual Conference or get togethers in the regions... I think personalising the giants is the first step to standing on their shoulders...

Boutique Beer

2008-09-22T03:44:00.000-07:00

Sunday was unremarkable with the exception of a visit to an impressible Microbrewery down in Goolwa that the guys introduced me to in February... If you get the chance get into the stuff, the standout is the Truffles... Australia's only Fortified Beer

Why my dad has purple hands...

2008-09-20T04:37:00.000-07:00

As some of you know my Grandparents are in town... So Jules and I have taken advantage of the circumstance to combine the Quality Time (QT) with designated drivers.... Today was Barossa.

A few people do tend to ask me about some wines and wineries that are worth their time... My favourite winery is Elderton, who have a spectacular new Zinfadel. Other favourites from the Barossa today; Old Block Shiraz (St Hallet), Blackwell Shiraz (St Hallet), Bella Rouge (Langmeil), The Freedom 1843 Shiraz (Langmeil), Fifth Wind Grenache (Langmeil), Magpie Estate Gewurztraminer (Rolf Binder/Veritas)... but there are always more to be had...

The best find of the day was a kids book from which the title of this blog takes its name. What a fantastic little tale :)

The Exchange...

2008-09-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in passing and inspired by a conversation with Iain today...

Selection for the Exchange is based on the submission of a project, I am thinking Engineering and Maintenance or Business Consulting (actually am preferring a combination)... So, I am looking for ideas...

BMI

2008-09-15T13:54:00.000-07:00

It looks like I'm not the only one on this.

Well my situation has got a little more intense... I have decided to apply for an exchange to the UK which would be for approximately 4 months starting April 2009... on the application there are many conditions including a set entitled 'Application will not be considered if:' Five of the ensuing criteria were medical in nature, these covered; recommendation by doctor, passing of a physical fitness test, being rated as Medical Category 1 (the highest) and finally a BMI no greater than 29.9.

Now that is deliberately chosen because of this arbitrary 30 = Obese figure. One does wonder if the other medical criteria would suffice? surely physical fitness, a doctors recommendation and a top tier med cat would cover the risk factors... So then is the BMI merely a catchall for not sending someone who looks fat?

BMI has long been a pain to me, every annual health check up I have to go and talk to a doctor before I can attempt the physical fitness test (which is less load than my Aussie Rule and Touch football commitments, which can be approved by my boss without medical consultation).

Now I am the first to admit that I am overweight, but I suggest that I could stand to lose 10kgs, but that takes me to my optimal... not to borderline obese as BMI suggests...

So basically the mission is on...

Slackness and a tip of the hat

2008-09-15T13:39:00.000-07:00

There are a couple of reasons I have been neglecting my Blog... the defensible one is the transition to Mac... I am nearly there...

2ndly, hat tip to misssandy for starting to guest blog at this one's evil twin. Arguing with myself was ineffectual let alone just a little creepy...

Standby for more in the coming week :)

Hey Fat Boy

2008-09-10T02:40:00.000-07:00

For anyone interested, or has been following my tweet... I have embarked on a weightloss journey, feel free to drop by, join in or throw some encouragement (or more likely stick the boot in...)

Flexible Work Practices

2008-09-09T03:11:00.000-07:00

Dave got me thinking about my own flexible work practices and my recent Leadership Exchange.

I work fairly flexibly working from home one day a week at the moment simply to get some deep writing and reviewing done. I find that the blurring of the line actually results in a net benefit for the work place. Despite this I found that a lot of people around the organisation have said that they aren't able to access a flexible arrangement... I can understand that all parts of the business are going to require key periods of attendance (i.e. Launching an aircraft, meeting with a client) but surely the benefits are mutual? maybe it is just difficult for us to quantify output so we cling to input and think it is the same.

The Superheroes

2008-08-29T16:32:00.000-07:00

For the last week I have been playing on a Leadership Exchange and whilst I am not going to go into my frustrations with the Mice right now, I will introduce you to my little friends...

Introducing Captain Common Sense, Logic Man and Sir Sarcastic... feel free to call on them as you need.

Serendipity Award

2008-08-27T23:42:00.000-07:00

As promised, my thoughts on balancing the Government's responsibility for encouraging Industry to invest in their own R&D...

The Serendipity Award draws on the anomaly that most significant discoveries happen by accident but also whilst searching for something else. This interesting pattern could be seen as a risk for an industry engaging in their own R&D, not knowing where the real research could lead. Now maybe I have misdiagnosed this, but I think that this leads to companies not really digging deep and investing in research instead just merely fiddling in the margins.

I believe that the Serendipity Award should be a commercialisation fund available for any company to submit an emerging technology that they have stumbled across. The constraints on this prize would be that the technology is not able to be commercialised by the industry in which it was discovered.

Now the commercialisation fund, could be formed by volunteer companies who have an interest in recieving the IP/technology. So as you might be able to foresee, the real strength in this venture would be in the networking of organisations interested in the development of technologies here in Australia.

Thoughts?

HECS and beyond

2008-08-27T23:25:00.000-07:00

Given that it seems the Government is comfortable grandfathering industry why not then guarantee loans for Social Good/National Need.

I refer to the HECS system in Australia whereby students may defer their tertiary study fees until an income point at which they must repay the debt through the Taxation System. Now there are some important factors in this system, such as the debt is indexed to inflation hence is not subject to interest and is only payable whilst the debtholder is earning above a threshold. This ensures that the individual can pursue whatever career they choose with a reduced upfront cost.

I propose that R&D companies and/or other social good/national need organisations be able to avail themselves of similar loans, which are only repayable via success... I would further challenge government to influence companies to invest in their own R&D through a Serendipity prize... but more on that to come...