tonygoodson

Happy Australia Day – Time for a New Flag

What makes Australia, Australia? What has the Union Jack on the Australian flag got to do with modern Australia?  Not a lot.  A heritage and a respect for building and defending the country, but it also hides indigenous guilt.  I think it’s time for Australia to stand up and be an independent country of the world, honour the past and build for the future.  And changing the flag is a statement of intent.  Changing the constitution and becoming a Republic is more complex and may take a little longer, changing the flag declares our intent for the future. 

Look at the new and old Canadian flag.  The Maple Leaf flag is beautiful, symbolic, strong, iconic. 

 

Before I lived in Australia I thought it was a progressive push ahead type country.  I got that impression from Australia’s sporting prowess.  But in fact it’s quite a conservative country set in a post colonial hangover.  The hangover cure is a new flag!

My favourite, is this flag. Past – the blue and Southern Cross.  The culture, Boomerang and Aboriginal Art, Green and Gold, and I like that the curve looks like a part of the West Australia coast with the coastal sand and land.  It’s not a simple flag that any kid could draw, nor does it have the simple lines and colours of traditional flags, but I like the look of it.

Here are a few more designs taken from FlagsAustralia;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And of course there are these two flags;

 

Gold Coast 2010 v Benidorm 1970

The parallels are remarkable!  The thing is, my Dad married my Mum, and had 2 kids, me and my sister.  I am at the same age now as when my Dad was married, married my wife and have two kids of same age.  So 40 years on, I have a direct comparison of life.

I’m on a Gold Coast holiday in Queensland, Australia.  Holy Shit, I thought as I arrived, this is like Benidorm!!  And I wondered where I was 40 years ago this year, err, Benidorm!  Yep, World Cup year, 40 years ago, I was in Benidorm, Spain, during the World Cup.  40 years later, I’m with my kids, World Cup year, in the Gold Coast, Surfer’s Paradise, Australia.

What’s changed?  The swimming pools are more landscaped and there’s a bit more shade!!  Same people, Aussies in Australia, not Brits in Spain, and no Spanish waiters to play football against!

Now you’d think that the quality of life would have improved, but other than aircon and TVs in the room, not much has changed, except Factor 30 instead of frying oil.  We are probably the first generation with an equal or lesser financial quality of life than our parents, and I was thinking how those package holidays of 40 years ago were all inclusive.  “Like Club Med.” my wife said as I tried to explain 1970s package holidays, “Yeah, but at a fraction of the price.”  Everything was inclusive then, except the drinks.  Flights, hotel, transport to and from the hotel, food.  The lot.  I guess many of the package tour and airlines of that era went bust, so maybe it wasn’t such a good business, but surely it’s possible to still put low coast all inclusive holidays together, here in Queensland.  Maybe it happens, but I haven’t heard anyone bragging about it.

The airlines would love it.  The hotel and accommodation places would love it, the restaurants and food places wouldn’t love it, because that’s where the money is made now, charging us day after day for food and drinks.

But you know, kids are kids, and what they want is to be in the swimming pool all day, with their friends.  Just like me 40 years ago.  C’mon Ingerland to Go Aussie.

When is a skin burn not urgent?

As if an accident isn’t bad enough, the actual A+E experience is absolutely dire.  Do hospitals deliberately make the experience dire, so we’re not too attracted to going.

My daughter burnt herself on her leg with an electric lamp last night.  It didn’t look like your average burn and was a biggish oval.  Yes, we could have treated it ourselves but it looked serious, so off to Clayton Hospital at 9pm.  Firstly, if something is urgent, where do you park?  There are a few 10min parking bays. Does that mean we’ll be seen to in 10mins and someone will look after my distressed daughter whilst I move the car?  Dream On.  So she hobbled from the carpark to the Emergency desk.

When we arrived at the Emergency desk, three women behind the windowed desk are gassing to each other, no exaggeration, for over 5 mins, and didn’t even turn to acknowledge us.  I was patient, but in the end, rudely caught their attention.  Another 5-10min standing at the desk to wait for the triage nurse.  Now they know they’re admin staff and it needs a triage nurse to attend to us, but when patients show up in distress they don’t know that, and the signage isn’t clear until after you’ve been attended to and sit down.  If no triage nurse is at the window, you have no context for what a triage nurse is, especially as it’s an emergency.

Next, the triage nurse has a look and they tell you to sit down and wait, but without telling you her assessment.  Maybe they’re scared to tell you in case you kick stink at not being top of the queue.  People are really suffering in the waiting area, but only the most urgent (or those who kick stink) are treated quickly.  Why must the rest suffer because the experience of the staff is that most presenting cases aren’t that serious.  We’re encouraged to go to the doctor or hospital just to be on the safe side, but are then made to wait for hours on end in terrible conditions.

So here’s the thing.  If you don’t think my daughter is that urgent and you make us wait for over 2 hours, I trust your assessment, therefore I’d like to take her home and use Google to treat her!  Is that ok.  It’s not as though we don’t know what the problem is, she’s burnt her leg with an electric lamp.  We are then capable of reading up a few treatments and see which ones look like best groupings.  The only issue is finding a late night pharmacy and not being able to use anything that needs a prescription.

Why do we have to wait for over two hours to have a burn treated?  Doctors hate it when we self diagnose and use the internet, but you try waiting for a few hours with many suffering people, and a feeling that the hospital really doesn’t care, until they each apologise in turn for keeping us waiting for so long!!

Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600 to replace Dell Netbook!!

My latest and greatest purchase....a sub $15 Keyboard, Microsoft Wired Keyboard 600, because the keyboard on my Dell Mini Netbook is completely unusable. I know Dell that you want to make the Netbook small, but making the keys smaller, the shift key half size, and moving the apostrophe key, makes it impossible to type.

What a pleasure to have this quiet, fully functional keyboard, with media buttons, El Cheapo.  I'll be typing for hours.

Dr Who’s perfect music choice

WoW!  I was listening to David Tennant’s (Dr Who) music choice on Desert Island Discs, and it almost perfectly matches my own choice, such that anything David Tennant recommends or additionally listens to I’d give a go.  I’m sure there are music sites and Amazon where I can find accurate recommendations, but I’ve never found one as close as Dr Who!

I’ve always loved Desert Island Discs. It’s one of the longest running radio programmes in the UK.  A simple format, a celebrity guest is alone on a desert island, what 8 pieces of music would they take with them, which one would they choose, which luxury item would they choose, which book to go along with The Bible and The Complete Works of Shakespeare.

It’s really moving when someone David Tennant gets it with your own musical choice.

The Proclaimers – Love ‘em

Elvis Costello – Not my absolute favourite but mostly love

The Housemartins – Love ‘em

Deacon Blue – I’ll take Dr Who’s word for it

Eddie Izzard – Love Him

Kaiser Chiefs – Don’t know that well but I’m now listening

Tim Minchin – Great song

Billy Bragg – Like Elvis Costello, like most of his stuff

Oh and Kirsty Young is fantastic as the host, and I found her in Room 101.  A Desert Island Discs interview with Michael Caine last week threw up something I thought only I knew…that the song My Way by Frank Sinatra, though written by Paul Anka, is in fact Comme D’Habitude by Claude François.

Actually, what are my Desert Island Disc 8 songs;

Father and Son – Cat Stevens

The Boxer – Simon and Garfunkel

Funeral for a Friend/Love Lies Bleeding – Elton John

Living Years – Mike and The Mechanics

Paradise by the Dashboard – Meatloaf

Lying Eyes – The Eagles

The Promised Land – Bruce Springsteen

Over the Rainbow – Eva Cassidy

Sansa Clip+ podcast problem

I love the Sansa Clip+ mp3 player. 

Just one problem, that is proving a bit painful.  The Clip is automatically putting podcasts that are tagged “podcast” into the Clip’s “podcasts” folder.  Nice idea.  It means that each podcast in the folder can be paused independently and I can return to several podcast that I’ve part played. 

However, that’s not how I play podcasts.  I create an order of podcast listening on Windows Media Player 11 and then upload.  The order is very important to me, because the first few podcasts are those that are relevant to this week, such as sport, I.T, news, so they lose their relevance if listened to next week, but are great in their context.  Others such as Napoleon, Henry V, people interviews, don’t have an immediate time context, so I can listen to at a later time.

So playing order is very important, especially when I’m cycling and don’t want to stop and fiddle around and it’s very sunny and I can’t see the screen.  It also helps me know which podcasts I’ve played.  The only work around I’ve found so far, is to edit the “Genre” tag away from “Podcast” to anything else, using a tag editor or WMP11, but this takes up additional time, and for some reason not all tags can be edited in Window Media Player.

It’s not at all clear from the documentation, or maybe not possible to switch off the auto podcast folder on the Clip+.  So c’mon Sansa, nice idea, but you can do better on this.  Give me the choice and document it.

My Productivity for 2010

My productivity for 2009 has been shocking!

Partly because I have some very big issues to sort out, which can be kinda distracting, and it makes it very difficult for me to concentrate at times.  Consequently, most of my good productivity systems collapsed in 2009.  My MindManager mindmaps, my Weekly Review, my capture tools and filing (not that my filing was ever any good!).

What I’m most struck by is the difficulty in planning and setting aside time for the thing I most want to do, Podcast.  Why is it, we have our dreams and we don’t fulfil them, even when we are able to.  I had a good crack at my dreams in 2009, but just couldn’t seem to keep them going.  Also, there are some things which happened, including work, which just needed complete narrow focus, to the exclusion of everything else, and sometimes, no time or energy for anything else.  And in the latter part of 2009, I really enjoyed my work.

And so to 2010, loaded with my iPhone, my Sansa Clip+ mp3 player, and my Dell Netbook.  I’ve stopped using my thin leather pocket Filofax for note capture and diary/calendar.  I’m currently using a cheapo spiral A4 book for capture, and no diary system, because my time has been in blocks of months.

Given that I’m on Gmail and iPhone, I think Google calendar and some kind of iPhone note capture would be nice.  Today, I’ve just created a simple shopping list on a Google Docs spreadsheet, and my Actions in columns, on another Google Docs spreadsheet, so that I can view them easily from my iPhone.  I’m having a play with a few iPhone productivity Apps but nothing has hooked me yet.  Dan Bricklin’s Note Taker to finger write notes on the iPhone, Evernote, iThought mindmaps, and gCalWall which produces a photo of your Google calendar and puts it up as the wallpaper.  Not long before that will be automatic.

My main obsession right now is listening to podcasts and audio books rather than producing podcasts and audio books! One may lead to the other.

Every decade for me has been significant in terms of moving onto the next decade, but this time, 2009 feels like it’s dribbling into 2010!!  Is it just me or did decade ends used to me more exciting!  And so, my productivity is dribbling into 2010!!

Cognitive Bias

Someone asked me recently “Hey Tony, what’s the best entry on Wikipedia?”  though he was probably joking, without hesitation I said “Cognitive Bias”.  He had a look and agreed with me.

So as a reminder to self, and a treat to anyone who reads this, go look at the list of Cognitive Bias on Wikipedia.  It has all the failings of human nature gathered together in one Wiki entry.

A cognitive bias is a pattern of deviation in judgment that occurs in particular situations (see also cognitive distortion and the lists of thinking-related topics). Implicit in the concept of a "pattern of deviation" is a standard of comparison; this may be the judgment of people outside those particular situations, or may be a set of independently verifiable facts. The existence of some of these cognitive biases has been verified empirically in the field of psychology.

Cognitive biases are instances of evolved mental behaviour. Some are presumably adaptive, for example, because they lead to more effective actions or enable faster decisions. Others presumably result from a lack of appropriate mental mechanisms, or from the misapplication of a mechanism that is adaptive under different circumstances.

Thanks Johnnie Moore

2009 Purchases of the year!

Just got a Sansa Clip+ 4GB mp3 player via eBay, and it set me thinking what my favourite purchases of 2009 are.  I’m not a big consumer of goods, not a big shopper, brick or online, so there’s not much to choose from.  I tend to choose well, and hence my goods last a long time, if I use them!

1. Hush Puppies – Zinc classic formal shoes

You wouldn’t think there would be a pair of formal shoes I’d actually look forward to wearing.  Given that I’m on my feet, training groups a lot, I thought I’d treat myself and spend a bit more. Well worth it.  Comfortable, “Extra Wide”, “Bounce Technology”.

2. Apple iPhone 3GS

So, I claim I’m not a typical consumer!  Well I am with this one.  Never fallen for the Apple hype, but I have to say, the iPhone is fantastic.  Easy to use, beautiful usability, great as a phone, and of course the Apps.

pUniverse – See the stars as you move around the night sky, find the planets.

AlarmT Lite – Alarm Clock which enables me to wake to my MP3s

Games – FreeCell, Sudoku, Action Blox, Touch4, Labyrinth 3D, Racer Free

tramTracker and Metlink for Melbourne transport

Getting Things Done – Notes, Google Apps (inc Gmail), Guitar Tuner, Laptop Cafe, Evernote, Note Taker (finger write), iThoughts (MindMaps)

3. Sansa Clip+ MP3 player

See, I don’t fall for the Apple hype.  I’m sure iPods are fantastic, but are they value for money?  I reckon the Sansa Clip+ is the best player, depending on how you use an MP3 player.  It’s small and it clips on!  If you cycle, walk around a lot, and go on public transport, it fantastic.  Also the Clip+ has more sound options than the Clip.  Volume/Equalizer adjustments, Audio Book options for double play speed, and micro SD slot for an extra 16GB.

4. Audible Audio Books

I’ve been an Audible user since 2006 for the Ricky Gervais podcasts, but only recently started listening to audio books.  My first book was Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, which was a bit dire as a book, but I persisted, and Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers read by Malcolm Gladwell, is unbelievably good.  Just listened to some other Ricky Gervais podcasts and more to come.  I was crying with laughter.  And currently listening to Scott Adams’ (Dilbert) God’s Debris.

Just one product I wouldn’t buy again, the Dell Mini Netbook, on the Vodafone plan.  The keyboard is too small to enjoy using and they’ve moved the apostrophe ‘ key and made the right hand shift key smaller, which makes it a pain in the arse to try typing with.  It’s still a good data plan, but would I buy this netbook again?  I don’t think so.  I’ve seen better netbook keyboards.

Audio and Podcasts and Audible

I’m loving audio!  I’m listening to more and more podcasts, and I’ve just signed up to an Audible Gold Account, which gives me 1 audio book per month.  I’ve been with Audible since 2006, originally to listen to the Ricky Gervais podcasts when they moved from Series 1 on The Guardian, to a Series 2 pay version on Audible.

All those Audible ads on the podcasts I listen to must be having an effect on me, because I thought I’d try some audio books.  The first book was a bit difficult.  I was finding Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas unreadable in the printed form.  Heavy Going.  So I thought I’d give the audio version a go. Slightly better, and even better on double speed!!  I got through it.

Initially I’d tried loading the audio book on to a Sansa Clip mp3 player, which I love to use when I’m moving around, the iPhone is a bit heavy to carry, and of course doesn’t “Clip” on.  However, the Sansa player kept jamming with the audio book loaded, so I gave the iPhone a go.  Much better usability, easy to bookmark, with chapters, and double speed reading. which works really well.

So having signed for a Gold Audible account, my first book to listen to is Malcolm Gladwell’s The Outliers which I’ve been meaning to read for a while.  Really loving listening to Malcolm Gladwell reading his own book.

And whilst I’m at it, I’ve just updated my list of podcasts I listen to.  There are some unbelievably good podcasts.  My favourites right now that I’ve recently added;

The Christian O’Connell Solution – Very funny solutions to life

The Adam Carolla Podcast – The meaning of life

Desert Island Discs – At last

The Danny Baker Show – Quirky Football

Murray Lovejoy’s Sports Express – More Quirky Football

Liquid Courage Podcast – Drunk men talking shit!

More or Less – Understanding the Stats behind the headline

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