In a recent speech to the Grattan Institute in Melbourne, Federal Opposition Treasury spokesman Joe Hockey argues why he’s a true believer in individual rights but wont support a Bill of Human Rights in Australia (extract from the Australian here). What struck me most upon reading this was the inherent contradiction in his position, a [...]
Dashboard Heaven
February 26th, 2010
Dashboard Heaven is a WordPress Plugin that allows you to control which user-level sees which widget in the admin dashboard. Perfect for multi-user CMS. No more unwanted WP Developer Feeds or inbound links! Individual dashboard widget control. Installation Upload `dashboard-heaven` directory to the `/wp-content/plugins/` directory Activate the plugin through the ‘Plugins’ menu in WordPress In [...]
When is Terrorism Successful?
December 29th, 2009
The latest, and thankfully non-fatal, terrorist attack on a Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam to Detroit has clearly shown that innocent people need not die for terrorists to be successful. This shouldn’t seem so strange given that the objective of terrorism is to terrorise. Like many forms of asymmetric warfare, it acts as a force [...]
Learning German Part 2
November 15th, 2009
Last month, I blogged about my plan to learn German in 2 months. Like any good plan, this one only lasted a few days as exams, work and preparation for moving to Austria got in the way. Now, there is only one week before we fly out and I’ve realized I have done any German [...]
Seven Habits of Highly Effective People
October 25th, 2009
Logical fallacies abound in the business and self-help literature. Perhaps it is the way we humans are biologically programmed that makes us fall for voodoo, pseudo-science and other quackery, but I still find it amazing how supposedly smart people (even those with Ph.D after their names) still make these basic yet fundamental mistakes. One of [...]
Reminiscing About Our Last Ski Season
October 22nd, 2009
Its almost 4 weeks to go until we move to Austria for the ski season. The last season we did was back in 2001/02 in Garmisch Partenkirchen which was truly magical. So Tina and I were watching youtube clips and reminiscing about ‘good ole times’ when I stumbled upon a clip from the Kandahar Downhill [...]
Can Six Sigma Work in Government Departments?
October 21st, 2009
Working with a Government client on a communications project, I’ve been observing an improvement project in another department employing six sigma and lean processes. Its reassuring to see such a commitment to efficiency within Government but a troubling thought continues to bother me – can processes like six sigma work in Government departments or non-profits? [...]
Problems with Probability
October 20th, 2009
One of the often used justifications for inductive reasoning, especially in science, is probability theory. If all observed swans in the past have been white, then there is a high probability that the next observed swan will be white. David Hume quite rightly criticised this reasoning in Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding, but today I’d like [...]