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Today is Remembrance Day – also known as Poppy Day, Armistice Day (the event it commemorates) or Veterans Day ...

This year the 90th anniversary loomed of the Armistice that ended World War One, at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918. As John Clinger noted in his tribute symbol of Remembrance, seems to demand reflection

By the way, If you haven’t heard about Gomorrah or shadow banker yet but you will.
The mad world of shadow bankers
Hedge funds and, to some extent, private equity companies are having to liquidate billions in assets as their business models collapse under the weight of falling share and house prices. The claim about SIVs, as with hedge funds and private equity companies, was that bankers had found ways to "abolish" risk through complex financial engineering.
In 1988, when two City financial whizzkids, Stephen Partridge-Hicks and Nicholas Sossidis, invented "structured investment vehicles", they inadvertently ignited the fuse that blew up the world's financial system in the Crash of 2008. Their company, called Gordian Knot, helped banks devise ingenious ways to hide their extravagant risk-taking by creating off-balance-sheet companies. They had created a Gordian knot all right - a system of financial mechanisms so complex that no one could unravel what was going on.
This past week Gordon Brown, a latter-day Alexander, tried to cut the Gordian knot, but he may have simply set the public finances adrift on a sea of debt. The state has exposed itself to the billions of pounds in liabilities held off the balance sheets of Britain's delinquent banks. This is the world of shadow banking.
The stock market crash early this month was largely a result of panic selling in this shadow banking system of structured finance. Hedge funds and, to some extent, private equity companies are having to liquidate billions in assets as their business models collapse under the weight of falling share and house prices. Until these losses work their way through the system, the British economy remains in intensive care.
The madness of the shadow banking system became apparent over a year ago when Northern Rock was nationalised, but regulators ignored the implications. The Treasury minister Yvette Cooper discovered to her dismay that Northern Rock didn't own half of its own mortgages: ?5obn had been hived off to a Jersey-based company, Granite, registered as a charity benefiting Down's syndrome children in the north-east of England. Needless to say, the charity didn't get any cash - this was a special-purpose vehicle that allowed the Rock to trade in complex securities without having to meet the stringent capitalisation requirements of a normal bank.
The mad world of shadow bankers
He dared to expose the truth about the Naples mafia in a book that has been turned into an acclaimed film. Now he is facing death threats

This was the week Roberto Saviano drank the bitter wine of his success to the dregs. The Neapolitan author is only 28, with a single blazingly vivid and courageous book to his name. This is Gomorrah, the "non-fiction novel" about Neapolitan mafia, the Camorra, which has sold 1.8 million copies in 32 languages, and is now an acclaimed film.
Garlanded with the Grand Jury Prize at Cannes, tipped for a foreign picture Oscar, Gomorrah the film has just opened to rave reviews in Britain. Shot in the degraded Naples hinterland in a gritty, documentary-like style using local people – one of whom, a Camorra gangster on the lam, was arrested this week – the film shows a mafia bereft of glamour and style but brutally masterful in its control of the Naples economy.
Roberto Saviano: Author of 'Gomorrah' the book exposing the Naples mafia


Writing Can Be a Dangerous Business; Cold River stirs real life crime drama

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Film producer Antony Ginnane, back home after 15 years, wants Australian filmmakers to look outward. If WRITER Bob Ellis had his way, Antony Ginnane and his vault of films would have been burned. Phillip Adams, a key architect of the Australian film renaissance, barely suppresses sneers as he recalls Ginnane's films. At least his remarks aren't personal or litigious Phillip Adams Media Dragon Godfather Just imagine if Ben Ferris of Sydney Film School fame were to say that People who are sound of mind do not make films even films like Cold River …

Can we change the bean counters? Story of ABC's books the stuff of Hollywood movies
Neil Chenoweth who wrote Packer’s Lunch writes again insightful story in the Australian Financial Review dated 08/11/2008. Its accounting practices seem to have allowed ABC Learning its explosive growth - but only for so long.

The Eddy Groves story is straight from Hollywood. It has a little of everything, from Local Boy Makes Good to My Brilliant Career the 19-year-old with a milk run and big dreams, who builds the biggest child-care group to the world: ABC Learning. Then the inevitable sequel: life in the very fast lane and the Years of Living Quite Dangerously - Ferraris, helicopters and everything an American Express Titanium card can buy. It segued gracefully to hubris, Greek tragedy and heartache as, during the past week, the company crashed into administration. Investors have already lost $3.5 billion. Now there is uncertainty for 16,000 staff and 150,00 parents, and the government is wriggling around in severe discomfort. It pays huge subsidies to the 1200 child-care centres and clearly wants to keep them open but hardly needs, in these straitened times, another budgetary albatross. Whatever, some sort of bail-out seems inevitably painful and costly.

The Australian film industry has lurched from crisis to boom and inexplicably back to crisis throughout its short, erratic history. THE Australian film industry has lurched from crisis to boom and inexplicably back to crisis throughout its short, erratic history. Moguls including Kerry Packer and Rupert Murdoch and Hollywood studios have come and gone from the industry; locals have lamented a paucity of government funding and mourned the exodus of our best talent overseas. The Gorton and Whitlam governments formalised the nascent industry in the early 1970s, establishing among other innovations an experimental film fund, a national film school and the development body that would evolve into the Australian Film Commission.
• ABC of Gorton and Whitlam Film Initiative; [The site was conceived in 1995 by Professor Tom O'Regan when the Media Dragon began to spread the parliamentary stories Cold River Research sites; He also questioned the impact Tourism Australia's link with Baz Luhrmann's film Australia, saying it was another campaign aimed at creating awareness rather ... AUSTRALIA has been named the world's No 1 country-brand for the third year running, but analysts have warned it is failing to translate that affection into a compelling case for multinationals to invest here Cold River Exile Country named the world's No 1 country-brand ]
• · The Assistant Treasurer, Chris Bowen MP, and Minister for the Arts, Peter Garrett MP, today released an issues paper on the film tax offsets contained in Division 376 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. Rudd Government Seeks Views on Film Tax Offset Regime; Film Tax
• · If fairness is part of our political narrative how can we test that nebulous concept of a fair go? Australian politics: a lack of narrative; In an increasingly global business environment, only the most culturally intelligent will thrive. World get ready
• · · The Oprah of US politics: Oprah and Obama are comfortable about their past and do not let colour determine their place in the world. A different kind of black; IT is Australia's richest race and now the Melbourne Cup has become the race for the rich. Melbourne Film Cup
• · · · When the market calms down and the guarantee is lifted in three years why shouldn’t we have somewhere for people to keep their money safe? Banking on the ATO; When a public servant begins work, they will, like in any other job, come across numerous types of people. Humour & Satire
• · · · · John Hatton lived this stories in 1995 - The PIC's Operation Florida found that between 1985 and the 1995 Wood Royal Commission members of the MCSN's armed hold-ups unit planted weapons on criminal Operation Florida ; Ian Falks whose enfamous fight in US hotel with John Newman became a legend at Parliament House in early 1990s. The accused Crime Commission boss Mark Standen was an independent witness to an interview conducted with a man who gave evidence against the convicted mastermind of the murder of the Cabramatta MP John Newman Mark Standen Looking back
• · · · · · EVIDENCE the former health minister Reba Meagher gave to a judicial inquiry that she had been offered the seat of Cabramatta in preselection manoeuvres hours before the incumbent was killed has been supported by a former Cabramatta community worker Facts and Evidence; FORMER NSW health minister Reba Meagher was offered the state seat of Labor MP John Newman just hours before he was gunned down in Australia's only political assassination, an inquiry was told yesterday

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Iceberg has a long connection with Bart Cumings (sic) and Viewed was seen by Mal as a good bet;-) (Nine months ago Obama had odds 140 to 1 ...) Imagine that!

Senator Barack Obama’s election as the next president of the United States promises a new era in America’s rocky relations with the world. But the era may be slow in dawning and President-elect Obama’s promised international initiatives - ramping up war in Afghanistan, curbing global warming - may not work out quite the way America’s allies hope. The world looks to Obama

We should expect the worst, but hope for the best The biggest fairytale We have ever seen
Yes, he could. How a man with a spindly public record leavened with a gift for oratory from God, claimed his country's highest honour.

Some princes are born in palaces. Some are born in mangers. But a few are born in the imagination, out of scraps of history and hope. Barack Obama never talks about how people see him: I'm not the one making history, he said every chance he got. You are. Yet as he looked out Tuesday night through the bulletproof glass, in a park named for a Civil War general, he had to see the truth on people's faces. We are the ones we've been waiting for, he liked to say, but people were waiting for him, waiting for someone to finish what a King began.

• The Meaning of Obama's Win: How He Rewrote the Book ; [Opportunities in Crises: People who talk about a bubble are blowing smoke,” said real estate economist Michael Carney. It was February 2005 and Carney was confident that house prices in California wouldn’t fall. But by the end of the year the market turned. And between August 2007 and August 2008, California house prices fel Lessons from California’s housing bubble; In part because the construction industry has adopted a strategy of building new units only after they have secured buyers. The relative unresponsiveness of supply in the face of increasing demand has pushed real estate prices to record highs and decreased the number of households that can afford to purchase a home Deals to be made ]
• · Barack Obama's "improbable quest" gained enough steam over two years to end in a decisive victory over John McCain. It's not quite right to say the incoming president Barack Obama has no executive experience. Obama on Google; Obama Time
• · My Vladimir Putin … The Empire Has No Clothes: U.S. Foreign Policy Exposed (Updated Edition), by Ivan Eland ; Unfortunately, the registration movement teaches citizens that an uneducated vote is better than no vote at all. Such a lesson is pernicious and could have lasting effects on the electorate Don’t Rock the Vote, Baby!

• · · A MAJOR event such as the present global recession always creates a demand for explanations: Unfortunately, today the demand for an answer quickly gives way to an obsessive impulse to avoid responsibility. Public figures who tend to suffer from the disease of responsibility aversion continually assure us that "it wasn't me" before they point the finger of blame. Conspiracy theories are appealing because they provide us with a semblance of control over powerful forces that influence our lives. Even before the present financial crisis, acts of misfortune were frequently associated with intentional malevolent behaviour. Nothing happens by accident. Human malevolence is suspected to be at work behind the death of Diana, princess of Wales, in a car crash or when there is a sudden electrical blackout. Unexplained illnesses or a spillage of chemicals are frequently blamed on the self-serving irresponsible acts of politicians, public and business figures, doctors, scientists; indeed, all professionals. PLAYING the blame game is a modern version of the ancient practice of scapegoating and fuelling a maelstrom of imaginary causes; IT'S official. The Hollowmen is truth, not fiction: A paper prepared for the Democratic Audit of Australia has found political public relations has become an essential part of the policy-making process. Politics caught in spin cycle
• · · · Extraordinary upheavals throw up extraordinary risks, problems, and of course, opportunities Hold Your nerve ; I've always believed when we put our individual skills together, all of us are more powerful than any one of us. What's great is that the bigger the group you are part of, the more dramatic change you can effect. Nowhere is this more true than in changing our actions and attitudes toward creating a more sustainable world… Who's the boss?
• · · · · A speech byTony D’Aloisio, Chairman, Australian Securities and Investments Commission to the Australian Corporate Lawyers Association (ACLA) Friday, 7 November 2008 PDF ahead The new ASIC: Addressing today’s challenges and building for the longer term ; Worth a Try LESSONS FROM THE POOR: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit ; I'd like to have predicted something really nice," laughs Magnus, who at 59 has the air of a University lecturer rather than an investment banker. George Magnus does not look like a prophet. Yet this is the man widely acknowledged to have predicted that the US sub-prime mortgage crisis would trigger a global recession George Magnus: the man who predicted the sub-prime crisis
• · · · · · Australians have never forgiven Rupert Murdoch for renouncing his citizenship in order to get rich in the United States. Media mogul Rupert Murdoch has attacked his fellow Australians for laziness saying the "bludger" could soon become the national icon Media mogul Rupert Murdoch ; Media tycoon Rupert Murdoch may run one of the most profitable businesses in the UK, but it appears he has somehow managed to avoid a tax bill. Most profitable businesses

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Lady Astor once remarked to Winston Churchill at a dinner party,
Winston, if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee!
Winston replied, Madam if I were your husband I would drink it

Blogs are Pervasive and Part of Our Daily Lives: There have been a number of studies aimed at understanding the size of the Blogosphere, yielding widely disparate estimates of both the number of blogs and blog readership. All studies agree, however, that blogs are a global phenomenon that has hit the mainstream. Technorati’s State of the Blogosphere 2008 report...

We're All Media Dragons and Journalists Now TRUST IS A RISING TIDE, IT LIFTS EVERYONE'S BOAT
The Official Google Blog: As you may have read in the blogosphere, we hit "send" a bit early on a comic book introducing our new open source browser, Google Chrome. As we believe in access to information for everyone, we've now made the comic publicly available -- you can find it here. We will be launching the beta version of Google Chrome [September 2, 2008] in more than 100 countries." Google Chrome

LLRX Book Review by Heather A. Phillips - We're All Media Dragons and Journalists Now: The Transformation of the Press and Reshaping of the Law in the Internet Age

• Reshaping of the Law ; [Blogging Best Practices Checklists Available; The Spy Who Came in from the Cold War River ]
• · The Company of Strangers The Economics Of Trust; A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: The Economics of Trust – Trust is a rising tide, it lifts everyone’s boat.
• · THE university is top-heavy with management. Countless hours are wasted with paperwork, with attending mind-numbing training sessions on this, that or the other, and on seminars which for the most part are a complete waste of time Unleashed VC is a blog's best friend; What makes a blog worthwhile?
• · · My first real attempt to write a long-form essay about the meaning of blogging as a medium and a message is now online. I'm curious as to what you think. Among other things, I try to put the form of blogging into some kind of historical perspective: Why I Blog; A trend once practiced primarily by adolescents and teenagers, internet blogging has become a crucial part of marketing strategies for many corporations. Google world
• · · · Ten Ways Blogs Boost A Law Firm's Image ; Gone are the days when journals were kept from prying eyes.
• · · · · Tips From Four Blogging Fashionistas; In Octover 2008 AD, Google is pleased to launch a new homepage for Google Blog Search so that you too can browse and discover the most interesting stories in the blogosphere. Adapting some of the technology pioneered by Google News, we're now showing categories on the left side of the website and organizing the blog posts within those categories into clusters, which are groupings of posts about the same story or event. Grouping them in clusters lets you see the best posts on a story or get a variety of perspectives. When you look within a cluster, you'll find a collection of the most interesting and recent posts on the topic, along with a timeline graph that shows you how the story is gaining momentum in the blogosphere A new homepage for Google Blog Search
• · · · · · This study employs an online survey to examine U.S. politically-interested Internet users' perceptions of the credibility of blogs. The article focuses on the influence of blog reliance compared to motivations for visiting blogs in determining blog credibility. The study found that blogs were judged as moderately credible, but as more credible than any mainstream media or online source. Both reliance and motivations predicted blog credibility after controlling for demographics and political variables. Reliance proved a consistently stronger predictor than blog motivations. Also, information-seeking motives predicted credibility better than entertainment ones. Every blog has its day: Politically-interested Internet users' perceptions of blog credibility ; Economics Blog Directory & Ranking

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He has never been known to use a word that might send a reader to the Slavic dictionary.
-- William Faulkner (about Jozef Imrich ;-) overheard at Sven's Viking Pizza

The cold river flows on bending like a snake moving through grass, its calm waters disturbed occasionally by the wild wind. Water as dangerous as fire, yet as welcoming as a fire on a winter's day. Holding secrets beneath its surface, like the secrets of the universe. A force as powerful as the heavens, but as friendly as the sun breaking through the clouds on a cold day. The water sapping the shore can be as calm as the flakes of snow that gently fall on the ground, and as rough as the driving force of a gale driven wind. She disappears into the distance like the sunset. She captures the rays of sunlight that gently bounce along the water. Water forbidding in the cold of winter, yet welcoming in the heat of summer Your Blog presents your spin and mine represents mine: You've read the blog, now buy the book ;-)

Blogs Blogging since before there were blogs.
There is no doubt that the internet, or the World Wide Web, has opened up new horizons for the marketing and distribution of goods and services. There are few products and services not obtainable from internet providers. Products sold online can be delivered from anywhere in the world, potentially without the customer knowing the geographical source, or the source at all. Online auction site eBay shows how goods and services may be bought and sold anonymously through the internet. This ease of distribution of products creates challenges and opportunities for the internet business owner. The internet creates new complex legal issues for the Media Dragons …

Amazon saw an opportunity to sell books online. It also saw an opportunity to make purchasing easier by having a registration process for customers which involved recording credit card details and mailing addresses. This purchasing process avoided more cumbersome ‘shopping cart technology’ where purchasers have to re-enter all their details each time they make a purchase. This patent helped make the business successful. When a competitor, Barnes & Noble, implemented similar technology, Amazon enforced its patent. Barnes and Noble modified its website to prevent purchases by single click. In this way, Amazon maintained its competitive advantage in an easy technology for purchasing books online.The extension of patent protection to internet activities, and its subsequent significant uptake to protect internet-based innovations, has been controversial, particularly in the US where the question of whether business methods — a term that encompasses a wide class of internet activities, particularly in the financial services sector — is currently being reconsidered by the US courts

• Online book retailing: The King is Dead Long Live Cold River ; [His new blog, called Real Dan, isn't nearly as entertaining but is just as well written. It's clear that the best blogs are often written by people who have The top 10 best-written blogs ; Forgive me for being perhaps somewhat extreme, but had the ghosts of the Czech KGB returned from Hell to X this week they might have felt right at home This young devil has all the best tunes]
• · A blog that encourages the literary activity of students, may that be any kind of literary genre - poetry, short story or even academic topics Young writers on blogosphere ;Networks and networking are a hot topic. Both academic research and mainstream business publications suggest that networks are important in business and that getting it right may relate to your performance. Like so many good ideas, actually doing networking is harder for many of us than reading about it. And, unfortunately, most networking discussions and articles stop far short of the "how" Your network balance sheet: what does it look like and where should you invest?
• · 'State of the Blogosphere' finds 900,000 new blog posts are added every 24 hours Blogs becoming entrenched in mainstream -- and more profitable; First presidential debate live blog and chat
• · · The mill of the gods grinds slowly, they say, but it grinds exceeding small. In Washington, something very like the mill of the gods is the GAO (Government Accountability Office), whose anonymous researchers crank out facts about nearly everything the government does.
Without opprobrious adjectives, the GAO just publishes facts and numbers with a droll combination of fearless frankness and resolute neutrality ("average cost of can opener for base kitchen in Kibangistan, $150," a report might say
Its language primly denuded of words like "exorbitant" or "outrageous"). ; Mapping the internet in Australia: Charting MD
• · · · THE media dragons on the internet are everywhere: at work, at home, and on the move. If Kevin Rudd’s plans come to anything, it will soon be in every school. The underlying technologies are scarcely three decades old; some of the most popular sites, such as YouTube and Facebook, only a few years. But this new world of information and communication is now, for many of us, an utterly everyday experience THE media dragons on the internet are ; Evidence-based’ policy is all the rage in Canberra, yet policymakers are not testing their ideas to see if they will work before rolling them out, unproven, at taxpayers’ expense. This author argues that randomised trials are the epitome of rational inquiry: they can establish whether a causal effect has occurred and thus prove whether government action is effective or not What would Ben Chifley and Robert Menzies make of this? Randwick Labour Club this weekend Policy on trial
• · · · · Good information is about more than just databases. It can make or break a business Information governance ; TUCKED away on page 101 of a very informative Parliamentary Library analysis of the 2007 federal election is a table which dissects the two-party preferred vote at the 2007 federal election by four socioeconomic groups. Income, votes and parties: a note
• · · · · · This report is a review of the use of sanctions and rewards based on academic research and an NAO survey of their use in central government. Performance Measurement Practice: The use of sanctions and rewards in the public sector. ; Information architecture in organisations has entered a period of regression rather than progression Knowledge management - when the workforce is more mobile than ever, organisations must effectively manage, pass on and exploit critical know-how Information architecture: from bad to worse - to better?

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In 1907 American humorist Mark Twain, in his "Chapters from My Autobiography" wrote: "Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself; in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: 'There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.'"

That familiar saying refers to the persuasive power of numbers, the use of statistics to bolster arguments, and the habit of discounting statistics that don't support your positions. Here, James cumes is going to address hard statistics about depression, realistic picture these numbers paint …

Two years ago, early in 2006, James Cumes wrote, in America’s Suicidal Statecraft, that:
One of the more fascinating debates is whether, if and when we crash, we will have deflation or inflation - and either one in its most extreme form. Within this debate, we have such entertaining - or devastating - suggestions as the helicopter drop linked to the names of Friedman and Bernanke. Some forty years ago, one of the more beguiling habits of President Bokassa of the Central African Republic, was to fling handfuls of coins and paper money to his grateful people when he went on walkabouts among them. His little gesture drew the crowds, increased his popularity and nurtured his ambitions. Eventually, it helped to bring about his apotheosis as “Emperor Bokassa I of the Central African Empire”. He was crowned in a magnificent, Napoleon-like ceremony, costing $20 million that the country could not, of course afford; but it added circuses to the presidential appeal. Sadly, however, the fantasy was short-lived. Even his exuberant generosity could not prevent the Emperor’s eventual overthrow and imprisonment…
Assuredly, there will be many extreme as well as some more rational proposals when what seems to be the inevitable crash does arrive. By that time, we may have reached what one commentator has called “The End of the Western World we have known since 1945”, the United States dollar may have become a “monkey currency” like the Emperor Bokassa’s and any dollar notes that Chairman Bernanke might drop from helicopters might have even less real value than the paper money with which the Emperor showered his people on his Coronation Day, back in 1977. The End of the Western World since 1977

Can we change the human tendency for recession? Fannie Mae Eases Credit To Aid Mortgage Lending
Interesting article from 1999 AD. courtesy of Steve M

In a move that could help increase home ownership rates among minorities and low-income consumers, the Fannie Mae Corporation is easing the credit requirements on loans that it will purchase from banks and other lenders.
The action, which will begin as a pilot program involving 24 banks in 15 markets -- including the New York metropolitan region -- will encourage those banks to extend home mortgages to individuals whose credit is generally not good enough to qualify for conventional loans. Fannie Mae officials say they hope to make it a nationwide program by next spring.
Fannie Mae, the nation's biggest underwriter of home mortgages, has been under increasing pressure from the Clinton Administration to expand mortgage loans among low and moderate income people and felt pressure from stock holders to maintain its phenomenal growth in profits.
In addition, banks, thrift institutions and mortgage companies have been pressing Fannie Mae to help them make more loans to so-called subprime borrowers. These borrowers whose incomes, credit ratings and savings are not good enough to qualify for conventional loans, can only get loans from finance companies that charge much higher interest rates -- anywhere from three to four percentage points higher than conventional loans.

• Fannie Mae _ mea Culpa; [The Howard government did nothing as house prices spiraled out of control powered by a debt binge that will haunt us for years Sick Soil of Sydney and so on …; 'Casino capitalism', 'robber barren capitalism', 'the greed machine' - call it what you will - the corporate financial orgy has come to a shuddering halt. bubbles deflating worldwide ]
• · PERPETUAL and Wesfarmers are the latest in a string of companies to be targeted by predatory share-buying schemes, running under the names of Hassle Free Share Sales and Share Buying Group Beware of share predators;
• · Robert Higgs Boohoo: The Mainstream Media Are Ignoring Me Depression, War, and Cold War; On September 29, the day the House of Representatives voted down the bailout bill, the S&P 500 opened at 1,209 and closed at 1,106, registering a loss of 8.5 percent. Other stock-market indexes recorded similar declines in share prices. The Stock Market Proved . . . Or Did It?
• · · Mistrust over lending grips the globe, but a wiser, more nimble US could emerge from the chaos Branko Milanovic: Global crisis: how far to go? Part I; Collapsing share markets have dramatically reshaped the fortunes of the nation's multi-billionaires in recent months, stripping Mr Forrest of the crown and elevating perennial rich list bridesmaid Frank Lowy to the top of the rankings for the first time. Collapsing share markets
• · · · Shopping centre magnate Frank Lowy has taken the mantle of Australia's richest man for the first time. First time; Frank Lowy, an Australian Jew, for the first time was identified as the nation’s richest man.Richest Man; AUSTRALIA'S ability to crack down on offshore tax evasion is limited by how much it can legislate for activities that occur outside its borders Tax Havens
• · · · · 4 Corners, 6 October 2008. Liz Jackson reports on the insider who stole a bank's secrets, then sold them, sparking panic among the world's super rich Tax me if you can.; We need a watch kept on the operation of Australia’s terrorism laws Unique legislative regime" needs on-going review
• · · · · · Some of the most innovative ideas are generated during tough times. Kevin Roberts Presentation at the Insider's Creative Forum in Manchester; Three easy watching movies I’ve enjoyed lately in the air. It is definitely going to be Hugh Jackman’s year. He’s set to star in Baz Luhrmann's epic Australia

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Kevin believes that Italy needs to invest in a new logo, promise and national campaign, and I'm excited by the appointment of Matteo Marzotto to the president of the Italian Government Tourist Board. He strikes me as the guy for the job... Italian Film Festival in Sydney was magical in 2008

Hungry Media Dragon Antony Loewenstein: Voice of the Dragons
During the recent war between Georgia and Russia, bloggers on both sides of the conflict provided searing accounts of atrocities and manoeuvres unseen by western journalists. In a country such as Russia the space for alternative and critical views are rare. The war showed an authoritarian regime's narrative being challenged by a handful of insiders and outsiders. The government-run media looked staid by comparison.

This was merely the latest example of bloggers beating mainstream journalists at their own game. Online media have exploded in western nations, challenging decades-old business models and forcing reporters to answer questions about their methods and sources. But in repressive states, blogs and websites have become essential sources of information on topics - from women's issues to sexual orientation, dating rituals to human rights - routinely shunned by channels for official propaganda.

• Blogging gives a voice to citizens around the world, but why do their views often go unheard in the west? Beating the western drum; [Best practices in implementing taxonomy for enterprise information management: developing a corporate taxonomy: ; Launched by the Hon Senator John Faulkner in September, the report, as released in October 2007, has now been published in book form.
whistleblowing in the Australian public sector - enhancing the theory and practice of internal witness management in public sector organisations Whistling while they work: ]
• · Imagine walking into a book store and knowing that even the most obscure or out of print books will always be in stock. Angus & Robertson today became the first Australian book chain to install the Espresso Book Machine (EBM), capable of printing, trimming and binding a paperback book on demand within minutes. It was dubbed an "ATM for books" by Time magazine, which last year named it one of the best inventions of the year. Print on demand with 'ATM for books'; pdf version ahead International study on the impact of copyright law on digital preservation
• · Helen Tatham, The concept of networking has been around a long time but senior executives are becoming savvier about schmoozing. A look at the trends in corporate networking Savvy about schmoozing ; Ambitious managers looking to make a mark need to work on their strengths and weaknesses to enhance their careers Manager's mark
• · · Eric Beecher The Sydney Morning Herald a Beecher: Gawenda's right, Fairfax ruined by incompetence and The Age did something quite rare on their op-ed pages today -- they published some rather tough criticism of their own newspapers by one of their former editors. Among the points they extracted from former Age editor Michael Gawenda's A.N. Smith Lecture in Journalism, to be delivered tonight at Melbourne University, were these: Beecher: Gawenda's right, Fairfax ruined by incompetence; No guests at Sky Canberra... Naked journalism at The Age...
• · · · When Slammin' Sam Kekovich speaks people listen. It's why he's the face of Australia's Meat and Livestock marketing campaigns, an ESPN commentator and a favourite for sportsmens' nights and corporate speeches. So here at Crikey we were interested when we received the following email this morning of a speech allegedly made by Kekovich at the AFL's Centre Square Grand Final day event, which had been reported by Peter FitzSimons in the SMH: Being fooled by the internet -- you know it makes sense
• · · · · "The power of accurate observation is often called cynicism by those who don't have it." - George Bernard Shaw CEVERY Tuesday or Wednesday, the boss's foot soldiers would arrive, carrying $6000 in cash in a manila envelope, down the stairs to the airless basements of Sydney shopping centres. Cleaning ; AUSTRALIAN shopping centre giant Westfield will investigate allegations that illegal subcontracting of cleaning is rife in some of its shopping centres. Dirty Business
• · · · Corruption or compliance: weighing the costs - 10th global fraud survey, Ernst & Young, 2008, 28p. The survey, of nearly 1200 finance executives from companies in 33 countries, examines perceptions, occurrences and action against bribery and corruption, including cross border / 'governments outside home countries'. weighing the costs - 10th global fraud survey ; · · I have seen the future and it works,’ the American journalist Lincoln Steffens famously declared on returning from a visit to Russia nearly 90 years ago Cold River ; He has all the virtues I dislike and none of the vices I admire. By Winston Churchill

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Media Dragon was blogging since before there were blogs ;-)You can spend your time piping petroleum in protected public parks, peddling pro-life propaganda for unplanned pregnancies, and putting lipstick on pigs, polar bears, and police state politics. There are Chasers on War on Everything who provide poignant parodies of political party's predictable platforms and pathetic public policies
Despite what some graduates are told by executives during work experiences success is not everything. Once we learn to define failure as an opportunity to learn, instead of a reason to be ashamed, the better our lives will be. No shame in failing

Lessons From the Poor Turmoil sends US stocks tumbling
There can have been few weeks in the history of the global financial markets that have seen events of such magnitude as that we have just witnessed.

http://www.thenews.com.pk/print1.asp?id=137390

• Financial Frankenstein ; [Treasury Opens Vault; Gangs of Robbers Rush In,; Does Wall Street Have a Death Wish? ; Google on Stephen King’s Anatomy of Economic Meltdown ]
• · An enduring myth of economic development is that lifting poor countries out of poverty requires transfers of wealth from rich countries--usually through grants, cheap credit and subsidies. In a recent op-ed for Barron's, and based on his recent book Lessons from the Poor: Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit, Independent Institute Senior Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa argues that government transfers have little to do with economic success. The dirt-poor ; Half the people in the world live on two dollars or less per day and roughly 600 million live on no more than one dollar per day. The Triumph of the Entrepreneurial Spirit
• · Both McCain and Obama claim to promote "change." Skepticism comes not only from doubting their willingness to implement meaningful change, but also in their ability to do so. Change Congress, Urges Donald Downs: A New Congress Would be Change to Believe in; Political cartoons are a ubiquitous form of satire which assists the public to interpret political life How political, satirical cartoons illustrated Australia's workchoices debate
• · · In The Blogging Revolution Antony Loewenstein takes us on a personal journey through some of the more difficult places in the world to blog. Iran, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Cuba and China. Holidays in blogging hell; SOMETIMES language can obscure as much as it reveals, particularly when the world changes faster than our ability to create new vocabulary Before we criticise Media Dragons and bloggers, let’s define our terms
• · · · Malcolm is an iceberg swimmer and a character who even swam the Cold River - Malcolm Turnbull had no idea, as he was wafting home to Australia at the weekend from Venice, that within days he would be installed as Liberal leader. His own judgement, for once, was to go gently - to let Brendan Nelson's foundering leadership die a natural death, and not to push anything. But Nelson wasn't going to wait around for that ignominious end He took the plunge - and landed badly; Malcolm Turnbull could reshape the Liberal Party and, ultimately, Australia Turnbull the great contradiction ; Australia has never had a political leader quite like Malcolm Turnbull. The rise of Malcolm Turnbull ; The term poisoned chalice wasn’t coined for nothing;

• · · · · Like my surname, Malcolm Turnbull is a rich man. Estimates of his net worth range from $125 million to $140million, which easily makes him the wealthiest man in federal politics. In the vernacular, he is a silvertail, though most people know his wealth and influence came by dint of hard work and application rather than as a result of having been born with a silver spoon in his mouth. Turnbull's Turn; Voters impressed by wealth of ideas ; Kerry Packer's ambitions for the Fairfax empire came unstuck with the sundering of his friendship with Malcolm Turnbull. FEW if any media issues in Australian history have provoked such a widespread and strong public response as Kerry Packer's 1991 bid to buy 14.99 per cent of Fairfax as part of the Tourang syndicate with the (now disgraced) Canadian press proprietor Conrad Black and the American private equity group, Hellman and Friedman. Gough Whitlam and Malcolm Fraser had barely spoken to each other in the 16 years following the vice-regal dismissal of Whitlam’s government in November 1975, but in 1991, for the first time ever, they shared a political platform to oppose this threat of yet further media concentration. How Packer slipped on Fairfax - with help from Malcolm Turnbull
• · · · · · Without links, the Liberals are doomed Without ideas, the Liberals are doomed ; Google Does it better; Political links

CODA: Malcolm and I also love the BA Pool not just the icy berg - 100 YEARS SINCE "THE BOY" COMPETED IN THE OLYMPICS Andrew (Boy) Charlton Pool

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The mill of the gods grinds slowly, they say, but it grinds exceeding small. In Washington, something very like the mill of the gods is the GAO (Government Accountability Office), whose anonymous researchers crank out facts about nearly everything the government does. Without opprobrious adjectives, the GAO just publishes facts and numbers with a droll combination of fearless frankness and resolute neutrality ("average cost of can opener for base kitchen in Kibangistan, $150," a report might say, its language primly denuded of words like "exorbitant" or "outrageous"). In a word—why pay taxes when you can buy politicians?

Who matters There comes a point in your life when you realize
LABOR'S Prague Spring is over. The election of a factionally unaligned Prime Minister who picked his own front bench rather than roll over for the party heavies was not, it turns out, a new dawn for Labor more widely.

Some saw the rise of Kevin Rudd as a tipping point, the equivalent of Tony Blair's Clause Four moment, when the political arm of Britain's Labour Party finally asserted its authority over the industrial arm.
How foolish we were to dream such dreams, for as the ugly events in NSW have shown this week, when party headquarters gives the order, the tanks come crashing through the gate

• My Two Decades At NSW Bear Pit reflected in one week of turmoil; [ SEEING the pitiful demise of the once all-powerful New South Wales Labor Right is like witnessing first hand the collapse of the Roman Booze, techno and undies ; TWO days before his surprise resignation, the former premier Morris Iemma confronted the right-wing faction leader Joe Tripodi, the man he had regarded as a key lieutenant, and accused him of betrayal NSW Bear Pit ; Google on NSW]
• · The decision to stand up and say ‘enough’ is rarely easy and too often carries heavy costs, Senator Faulkner said. We depend very much on whistleblowers to alert us to misconduct and malfeasance ; WHISTLEBLOWERS who expose major government fraud would be financially rewarded with a proportion of public funds recovered, under a radical scheme presented to the Rudd Government. Reward plan for major fraud whistleblowers
• · Former premier Morris Iemma has blamed his forced resignation on the Finance Minister and ALP numbers man Joe Tripodi.In an interview with the Herald last night he also urged his successor Nathan Rees to keep the North West Metro project because a metro system Iemma dumps on Tripodi and Costa ; THE jailed former Labor MP Milton Orkopoulos is adamant that the Premier, Nathan Rees, did not know about his involvement with teenage boys when working as his chief of staff, because he had been clever enough to fool even those closest to him Rees didn't know: Orkopoulos ; Mr O'Grady told The Sunday Telegraph: "Nathan raised the issue with me on at least two, if not three, occasions. I said to him: 'As someone who wants to be a [political] candidate, do you think that's an intelligent question to ask?' 'As someone who wants to be a [political] candidate
• · · Voters stuck it to the NSW government big time with the message that sacking an elected council is not on. Sending a message to Macquarie Street; THEY call her "the Grim" for short and Reba Meagher's haughtiness during a 14-year parliamentary career was up and running yesterday as she delivered one last raspberry to Nathan Rees, the man Labor chose to sweep up the mess she and others left behind. Grim Reba
• · · · Rare insight into the Bear Pit where I spent two decades serving outside the corridors of power. Some poker hands can never win. The NSW Labor Right and Sussex Street ALP headquarters dealt Nathan Rees such a hand. He made a Faustian deal to get the premiership, surrendering any chance of the fresh start he crowed about at his elevation eight days ago. The price of ambition fulfilled was to be stuck with the very powerbrokers and bit players who have besmirched the Government's standing. Losing Joe Tripodi, Eddie Obeid and Eric Roozendaal would have made a good start to a fresh start, but they remain entrenched as ever. The joker is wild ; Wood
• · · · · JUST after midday on Thursday, June 26, one of the most powerful media executives in Australia, John Westacott, caught a taxi to the NSW parliament to visit his state political reporter, Adam Walters.Westacott, the Nine Network's head of news and current affairs, had told Walters he wanted to see him for "a cup of tea". But when Westacott asked a cameraman to leave the room, Walters realised something was up. Westacott said yesterday that he wanted to visit Walters to give him a "tip" that the powers that be in the Labor Party were moving to replace premier Morris Iemma with Nathan Rees. The move was slated to happen in October. Walters sees it very differently. "Instead of getting the cup of tea all I got was a shit sandwich," he said this week. According to notes Walters took afterwards, Westacott told him that key people in the Labor Party "don't like us -- Channel Nine -- and they don't like you". It's not surprising some in the Government didn't like Walters. A story the journalist had broken the year before exposing a cover-up led to the resignation of police minister Carl Scully and earned him a Walkley nomination. He also did a sensitive story about Rees, then a Labor staffer, and Milton Orkopoulos, a minister now serving a 13-year jail sentence for child-sex and drug charges. Walters asked Westacott bluntly if he was talking about former Labor senator Graham Richardson and Labor identity Peter Barron? Secret deals behind Morris Iemma ousting ; POLITICS is a rough, tough, hard and brutal business
• · · · · · UK Spin doctor Adam Walters acts out career switch ; LORD ASHCROFT, deputy chairman of the Conservative party, has channelled money into party funds from the Central American tax haven of Belize, despite a ban on overseas donations Lord Ashcroft funds Tories from Belize tax haven

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Who amongst us has never unleashed some trivia at unsuspecting friends or family members? Could my daughter Gabbie be numero 3 (III) at the General Pants foto shoot competition. As the young teen, Gabbie and her sister Sasha used to beat all kinds of potential Olympic swimmers during the school competitions and now in their mid teens one is shooting at the stars with her peep hole while Alex is melting down music live venues such as the Kellet Street Melt bar

A couple of days ago I came across a list of what are supposed to be must-grab careers of the future. So here is my list which will win you praise, love, inspiration and the lifestyle of your dreams. Let’s start simple. The ability to tell stories has been admired since humans first gathered round a campfire. Now, with cultures merging and technology connecting everybody with anybody, storytelling will become even more highly sought after. Not everyone can do it well, but we all have a spark of the storyteller in us and it’s a skill to nurture. Where storyteller merges into mythmaker, that’s where the future lies. Creative Commons of Foto Magic

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Lucky Teen 13 ... Happy Birthday Godson OLEK - Military way for 15th September

History is a subject rich in insight for executive decision making and behaviour History does the executive suite ; Future - Leadership and Social Change: Making a Difference in the World

Hasta la Beijinsta True Patriotism at the Olympics
Becky Hammon, Liang Chow, and Kobe Bryant gave spectators of the Beijing Olympics something to remember besides athletic achievement. According to Independent Institute Senior Fellow Alvaro Vargas Llosa, all three individuals exemplified the original meaning of the modern Olympic games--not collectivist nationalism, but universal fraternity. Vargas explains why in "True Patriotism," his latest column for the Washington Post Writers Group.

At a time when some critics see the United States as increasingly nationalistic, NBA star and U.S. Olympic basketball player Kobe Bryant gave European journalists interviews in Italian (which he learned growing up in Italy) and Spanish (which he learned from an L.A. Lakers teammate). An even more dramatic example of a universal, non-nationalistic ideal came from former the current U.S. women's gymnastics coach Liang Chow. This former Beijing resident helped Shawn Johnson win a gold medal on the balance beam and thereby taught the collectivist government in Beijing about the power of the individual. Vargas Llosa characterizes this lesson as more powerful than the protestors' attempts at demonstrating against repression in Tibet during the games.
And then there was the personal drama in women's basketball: Becky Hammon, who plays pro basketball for the San Antonio Silver Spurs but could not make the U.S. Olympic team, endured criticism from the U.S. women's coach for competing on the side of Russia. A traitor? asks Vargas Llosa. No, an heir to America's grandest tradition: the right to the pursuit of happiness.
Despite the best intentions of the Baron de Coubertin, the French aristocrat credited with reviving the Olympic Games in the 19th century, the international competition has as much to do with collectivist nationalism as it does with universal fraternity," continues Vargas Llosa. "Any individual act, however small, that tears down a nationalist barrier during the Olympics should be applauded as restoring the games' true meaning.

• True Patriots ; [ The Art and Science of Leadership; Right push for Turnbull-Abbott team How many effective leaders do we have in leadership positions? Death knell for a failed leadership ]
• · Political courage and leadership, not partisan finger-pointing and brinkmanship, are needed to navigate the current economic downturn InRICH: Brinkmanship Is No Substitute for Leadership ; NSW Labor was also in damage control after its dramatic leadership shake-up on Friday, which saw Morris Iemma's sudden exit as premier. THE State Government has scrapped laws requiring MPs to disclose the address of their homes and investment properties. New laws hide MPs' property assets
• · Back in 1999 the NSW Auditor General Tony Harris was concerned about the states having several books just like the Mafia or the black economy The States are in a State ; The NSW Labor government must now correct the last three years of neglect under Morris Iemma and his cabinet Rees: I'm in charge, not the factions; 'Underpants' minister loses job
• · · It is critical that leaders understand who they are and how their identity affects their capacity to communicate (and to collaborate). Leaders need to model the kind of communication that they view as critical to the success of their organisation The new leadership challenge: removing the emotional barriers to sustainable performance in a flat world ; The Age's editor Andrew Jaspan was the first staff member sacked. FAIRFAX LEADERSHIP
• · · · A symposium [on 4 July] organised by CSIRO and the Statistical Society of Australia will explore how technology is generating masses of information and creating exciting home-grown opportunities for new services for business, government and consumers. Symposium to explore opportunities from the information explosion ; Abstracts of papers
• · · · · Most organisations will state that their people are their most important assets. However, not as many managers personally act as though this is true. The talent lie ; The best change leaders work hard to create supporters out of skeptics and to change the minds of rational opponents On leadership: cherish the resistors and Media Dragons
• · · · · · More and more organisations across the globe are facing the challenge of diversity management. This article looks at the negative effects on employees who experience discrimination and exclusion in the workplace. Exclusive workplace systems; The cross-enterprise leader is someone who, at any level of leadership, sees the issues and analyses them, and then acts with the interests and perspectives of the total enterprise in mind. The cross enterprise leader

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All books are either dreams or swords, you can cut, or you can drug with words. Words are the most powerful drugs used by mankind. Getting it first and getting it write what a tension …

Blogs offer a window into mainly middle-class segments of societies rarely examined in the West. Speaking for themselves - the culture of blogging; BLOGGING is an inelegant term for an often inelegant activity. It is easy to be turned off by bloggers for whom civil discourse equates to personal insult — anonymously delivered — but this undersells the vast range of blogging swirling through cyberspace. Bloggers lead revolution - Lindsay Tanner blogs exclusively for Business Day

Hungry Media Dragon The Emotional Digital Tribe
As it evolves, who can miss the fact that the Internet is becoming more and more emotional? To claim it was an emotional place even five years ago raised eyebrows

Many people, and not only young ones, have learnt to share how they feel online in ways that would have been inconceivable when we began our tentative attempts at those mysterious functions: email, browsing, search, purchasing and blogging. If you still have doubts about this reshaping of cyberspace, visit We Feel Fine. This wonderful site is the brain child (or is it lovechild?) of Jonathan Harris and Sep Kamvar. The site is inspired by a simple idea about a simple phrase. The phrase is “I feel” (or “I am feeling”) and the idea is to gather together all the instances where it appears on the Web. Harris and Kamvar then present them in what they call 'six movements'. This has nothing to do with orchestral music, and is all about six different and interesting ways they have identified to theme their examples. And, as usual, examples explain the idea best:
I feel pretty.
I feel I don’t really have a clue what love is.
I feel the ghosts were cool but unnecessary.
I feel so lonely.
I feel like every time I find a product I really rave about, they change it.
I feel that I’m somehow being blackmailed into using Facebook.
Etc. Etc.

• Strangely compelling; [The Blogging Revolution author Antony Loewenstein introduces us to members of the Digital tribe ; Finally the power of paradox is gaining ground. F. Scott Fitzgerald probably captured the idea best when he suggested that "The ability to hold two opposing ideas in mind at the same time and still retain the ability to function is the sign of a first-rate intelligence Either/Or are driven crazy ]
• · It’s said we may be heading for the big R - recession. If that’s the case, how will the arts be affected? The state of the arts in tough economic times; Funner. Impactful. Blowiest. What do all these words have in common? Someone, somewhere, is using them with a disclaimer like I know it's not a real word ... Chillax: if it works like a word, just use it
• · Spring of Quotes; Google: Wall Street Correspondent Lehman Brothers effectively put itself up for sale yesterday alongside a last-ditch restructuring to stem Blogging Quotes ; Live-Blogging the Lehman Conference Call- Wall Street - Deal Journal is blogging the conference call, which is hosted by CEO Dick Fuld and Bart McDade Blogging Media Dragons
• · · Internet campaigners for civil liberties and women's rights pay a high price for their "online crimes" Battle of the blogs; Steve Jobs has taken the stage at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco and he looks about as thin as he did at the Worldwide Developers Conference. But he acknowledged the controversy swirling around his health by pointing to a sentence on the screen that read, "Reports of my death are greatly exaggerated. Blogging live from the Apple event
• · · · As the rabbi of Congregation Tifereth Beth David Jerusalem in Cote St. Luc, Quebec, 46-year-old Rabbi Chaim Steinmetz not only gives sermons from the bimah, he has also found a way to offer words of wisdom through a virtual pulpit, by blogging. Blogging rabbis reach out to the world ; Elected government officials and members of the news media often are engaged in a strange, sometimes awkward dance in which each partner tries to lead without stepping too hard on the other's toes Rolly: Blogging legislators blast the Deseret News and reporters over news story
• · · · · Last month in Washington we got a rare look inside the global private banking industry, whose high purpose it is to gather up the assets of the world's wealthiest people and many of its worst villains, and shelter them from tax collectors, prosecutors, creditors, disgruntled business associates, family members and each other HMRC gives British investors in tax havens a chance to come clean in exchange for reduced penalties ; A Wordpress lead developer has described the Philippine blogging community as “impressive and very organized RP blogging community
• · · · · · With blogging, it is possible the only real protection is to stay anonymous. It worked for London prostitute Belle de Jour, and while it can be frustrating not to get the acknowledgement you feel you deserve for your insightful polemic and creativity, it's altogether safer. When personal and professional worlds collide: Social networking and blogging ; The whole subject smacks of narcissism. Why Blog???

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Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.
- Mother Theresa, spoken like the true Virgo she was

Some birthdays are milestones in a young person’s life. Obviously reaching 10 or 13 or 16 are important achievements. But what about reaching 18? In many ways reaching 18 means reaching adulthood. It signifies a true beginning to being a grown-up. Sydney won’t find any better or more funky, authentic Bohemian blues, in their own inimitable manner, than what’s on at Melt Gallery, level 1, 12 Kellet St, Kings Cross Sydney on 19 September 2008 Here's to celebrating you and your music!

Memories are made of birthdays Happy Birthday, Sasha aka Roxy Ray!
Earthy Virgo is symbolized by the ear of wheat and the bunch of grapes -- or alternately, an ear of wheat and a sickle. According to the ancient poets, the virgin Virgo is also sometimes known as Astraea or Alexandra ;-)

I hope that your day is filled with many blessings as you begin your 18th year. I can't begin to say what a blessing your existence … On 10th day of September 1990 I learned what the miracle of child birth is … The dictionary says a miracle is any amazing or wonderful occurrence. As a child in Czechoslovakia I learned a lot about miracles that happened hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years ago. Usually they were caused by the actions of saints. So I grew up thinking of a miracle as (1) something that was performed (2) by a religiously inspired person. The greatest of all miracle is the miracle of childbirth. It's a common thing, one that has been going on for ... well ... a pretty long time. This miracle is way beyond our understanding, and is almost beyond our belief. It's an everyday event. It is the greatest event of all!
Who would have thought that you would be a singer and writer and musician when you entered the world at the Benevolent Royal Hospital -Birth Center- at Paddington? Your band improvises a stellar piece of smooth, harmony-laden soul with a chunky beat and a funky bassline that sounds unique almost in spite of its dozen debts to Billie Holiday; Ella Fitzgerald; Erykah Badu; Miles Davis; Sarah Vaughan;
Etta James, Betty Davis, Jeff Buckley, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie and Edith Piaf.
As they say, there are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle

• We now enter in earnest the harvest season; [Famous Virgos: Cameron Diaz, Sean Connery, Rachel Welch, Sophia Loren, Stephen King Shania Twain; Hitch your wagon to a star All our dreams can come true - if we have the courage to pursue them]
• · There are differing evils, but they are common works of man. They reflect the imperfection of human justice, the inadequacy of human compassion, our lack of sensibility toward the sufferings of our fellows. Give me a place to standand I will move the world; A taste of the underground

CODA: Travis Jie was born in Tokyo on 11 September 2008 - Congratulations Godfather Steve and Tong Ling [Travis is a day older ;-]

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Can it really be a year ago I said 'I do'? Time flies when you're having fun at Berry at Broughtom Mill Farm and catching with wonderful films and books ... and sensational coffee

That man is richest whose pleasures are cheapest. As Mal says, there is a wonderful mythical law of nature that the three things we crave most in life -- happiness, freedom, and peace of mind -- are always attained by giving them to someone else. There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved

The truest greatness lies in being kind, the truest wisdom in a happy mind What Makes Happy People Happy?

Happiness can mean different things to different people. For one person, it may mean being in a relationship, whereas for someone else it may mean feeling you have the ability to handle whatever life throws at you.
We might think that happy people have lots of money, are physically attractive, have great jobs, or own the latest gadgets. Or, we might just think happy people are plain lucky, and are born that way.
However, there are a number of variables that make a far greater contribution to happiness than external and more superficial factors.That doesn't mean that if you have a lot of money you won't be happy, or that having a lot of money is bad, it just means that other factors are more important in determining happiness. In fact, a strong positive relationship between job status/income/wealth and happiness only exists for those who live below the poverty line and/or who are unemployed.
What distinguishes happy people, is that they have a different attitude - a different way of thinking about things and doing things. They interpret the world in a different way, and go about their lives in a different way.

• You will never be happy if you continue to search for what happiness consists of. You will never live if you are looking for the meaning of life. Meaning of life; [The truth is that our finest moments are most likely to occur when we are feeling deeply uncomfortable, unhappy, or unfulfilled. For it is only in such moments, propelled by our discomfort, that we are likely to step out of our ruts and start searching for different ways or truer answers. Moments ; How to Stop Struggling and Start Living ]
• · The science of happiness; Happiness is a spring day, coming after a winter that has been cruel — a gentle day of sunshine and promise and daffodils. Highs of happiness found after lows of sorrow