A Cold River reviewer and a billionaire investment guru Warren Buffet once observed: It’s only when the tide goes out that you learn who’s been swimming naked.
Historical analysis is more than history. It is not just about recording what happened. It is about why it happened and whether it will again. Historical analysis is not just history. It is also analysis. So, it uses the philosophy of causation and the statistical techniques of correlation; with systems theory to understand the effect of feedback. As Santayana has been repeatedly quoted as saying: Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it, but noting that he meant "A man's memory may almost become the art of continually varying and misrepresenting his past, according to his interests in the present."
Thinking about the Theodore Roosevelt quote from Kevin Roberts’s inspiration post the other day also reminded me of a quotation from a completely different source: the great photographer Cecil Beaton… The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood
Don't Bank On Bankers White-collar crime goes unpunished
Some characters have been railing against idiot bankers for years now. Wall Street was driven by greed, dishonesty, and dishonor.
The salaries paid were obscene and the arrogance amazing. Watching this latest meltdown from neighboring TriBeCa has been horrendous. I don’t really care what happens to the bankers. In fact, I’m more than a little pissed that so many of them have walked away with fat cat bonuses over the last three years and we found no way to get that money back.
What depresses me is what happens to the average person. Many employees at Saatchi & Saatchi have seen their retirement funds decimated by the greed, stupidity, and arrogance of these so-called 'Masters of the Universe'.
• Don't Bank On These Guys; [ I came across colourful characters in cafes this week who shared this link with me they agree too that Australia is Big, Pretty, Arid, and Endless Understanding screenwriting 10 points; Meet Nulla (Brandon Walter), a mixed-race boy who seems to have inherited some magical powers from the aboriginal side of his family. Australia is narrated by Nulla, who speaks in a poetically broken English, and through his eyes and ears the movie takes on the once-upon-a-time vibe of a children's story. Ach and Hugh Jackman and Nicole Kidman have no trouble generating chemistry Aussies flock to see Baz Luhrmann's Australia ]
• · An interview with this US management thinker and author, looking at his latest book - The new, age of innovation: driving co-created value through global networks An interview with C K Prahald ; Strength is the redeeming virtue in adversity, but modern life has encouraged a nation of self-centred, consumption oriented sheep Think about World Philosophy Day
• · What is exciting about this Web 2.0 evolution is that there is an energy that comes with this new sense of freedom and connection - and companies are rapidly and wildly opening up new possibilities for collaboration.
The virtual gathering experience ; Aside from weeks when idealistic, energetic and quite appealing new political faces get elected to power in large democracies, Kubrick Week on SBS is always one of my favourites Six billion blogs and counting
• · · Currently, in Australia, there are a number of developments suggesting that some of the digital promises and challenges of the past two decades are being addressed. Welcome as these may be, such significant financial investments in resources do not, in and of themselves, herald a revolution and will not necessarily improve educational outcomes. Pdf format Digital promises and challenges ; This report argues that Australia will increasingly have to find its security in a world of power shifts and greater interconnectedness. The paper provides a global overview and considers such issues as US influence, warfare, the proliferation of WMD, terrorism, Iraq and the Middle East, Afghanistan and Pakistan, the Asian security environment, North Asia, Southeast Asia, the South Pacific, national security and Australia's strategic options. It also puts forward scenarios of what the world might look like in 2050 to encourage thinking about the possible shape of a more distant world Global jigsaw: ASPI's strategic assessment 2008#
• · · · THIS is an unusual book. It is part biographical, part anecdotal, draws on a long and detailed knowledge of Australia’s financial system, offers some intriguing insights, and mounts a consistent central argument. Essentially, it aims to resurrect Paul Keating’s reputation Unfinished Business: Paul Keating’s Interrupted Revolution; The man who is wearing Pauk Keating’s spray with badge of honour The Hon. JOHN ROBERTSON ; The North Sydney Swimmer’s Inaugural Speech: There have been many people along the way whom I also want to thank: a former President of this Chamber—and who I acknowledge is present tonight—Johno Johnson.
Mikhail Gorbachev, a Nobel laureate and a leader who has seen firsthand the impacts of significant change, said—more eloquently than I could—in a New York Times article reproduced in the Australian Financial Review on 31 October 2008:
No country, no sector of the economy, will escape the crisis. The economic model rooted in the early 1980's is falling apart. It was based on maximising profit by abolishing regulation aimed at protecting the interests of society as a whole. For decades we have been told that this benefits everyone: "a rising tide lifts all boats". Yet the statistics say that it didn't. … Without a moral component any system is doomed to fail. (The soil I ploughed for two decades at Macquarie Street) Gadigal people of the Eora nation the land
• · · · · Financial decisionmaking and human nature Teaser loans ; Mr. Buffet, Mr. Soros: Please Stop Investing in Filthy Fossil Fuels Whatever it takes even if it’s a deficit
• · · · · · ; Solar Power: Germany–1,000; Australia–1 Solar stuff-up ; Limits to our patience …ASU student Alex Botsios said he had no problem giving a nighttime intruder his wallet and guitars. When the man asked for Botsios' laptop, however, the first-year law student drew the line Whatever it takes even if it is Lap Lap top