Monday, December 21, 2015

What The Land Down Under is Worth

The gods seem to be conspiring against us as so called progress (different kind of progress) would seem as irresistible as arthritis. We are as helpless before its unrolling as a badger before a bulldozer...

What kind of weather makes Australians happy, or not :-)

IBISWorld: Australia’s total resources in mid-2015 were estimated to be worth $13.5 trillion, over eight times our GDP in 2014-15. After allowing for foreign liabilities of $3.0 trillion, our net assets were $10.5 trillion, or around $1.1 million per household. What Australia is Worth 

Top 10 countries to live in the world Norway and Australia

"INXS walked the streets of Frenchs Forest in their teenage years and Michael Hutchence lived a few doors away from my house."
Seven reasons why I love living in Antipodean Frenchs Forest

Tassie Tulips
Politics and lipstick. An explosion of new cosmetics coincided with revolutionary demands for women's rights. Coincidence?  You are worth it 

“No author, I think, is deserving of much censure for vanity if, taking down one of his ten-year-old books, he exclaims: `Great Heavens, did I write as well as that then?’ for the implication always is that one does not any longer write so well and few are so envious as to censure the complacencies of an extinct volcano.”


Ford Madox Ford (unlike Carlos Ford did not stutter) is seldom given credit for possessing a vigorous sense of humor, but the decrescendo of that final phrase is a minor masterpiece of comedy. When I speak of envying my youth, I mean my ignorance before the world and the craft of writing, and the momentum it produced. I was a college dropout with few prospects, scared and naïve, and having a wonderful time editing a newspaper. Apprenticing one’s self is risky, but I blundered my way into competence. To paraphrase the auto mechanic quoted above, “I really like writing.” In his final book, The March of Literature (1938), Ford described himself as “an old man mad about writing.” If envy can be benign, I’m envious of that young man who was mad about writing. In The Rambler #183, published on this date in 1751, Dr. Johnson refers to envy as “a stubborn weed of the mind.” My favorite flower is the dandelion.

The Conversation: The government had acknowledged the need for Australia to transition its economy, but research from Tufts University suggests we have stalled. While we have achieved a high level of progress towards becoming a digital economy in the past, we are at risk of falling behind. Australia’s innovation problem explained in 10 charts

1-Chart_National-Resources_Dec15
Productivity Commission: This report was released on 7 December 2015 and examines the domestic and international barriers to Australian service exports, with a focus on tourism, education, financial, professional, information technology and Service Exports: Research report
 Innovation statement: PM Bondi Iceberg Swimmer Malcolm Turnbull calls for 'ideas boom' as he unveils $1b vision for Australia's future

ABC, 7/12/15. The Federal Government will spend almost $1.1 billion in the next four years to promote business-based research, development and innovation.

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Despite economic challenges,new business births in Australia are outpacing the global average,with the number of new companies created last year jumping 41% since 2010, according to a new study by UHY, the international accounting and consultancy network.

 
Sharing economy behemoth Uber is partnering with Australia's leading peer-to-peer lender SocietyOne to provide existing and potential drivers with loans to buy new cars, as the car-booking company looks to ramp up its workforce to put further pressure on the taxi industry


Managing Compliance with Visa Conditions
ANAO, Dec 2015. The objective of the audit was to assess the effectiveness of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection’s management of compliance with visa conditions.