milto says it

Michael Milton needs no introduction – just read his bio, he has nothing to prove.

It is hard to argue with his opinion on the results, so far, of the Aussies at the London Olympics.

This is not to belittle the efforts of the Australian athletes, there is no doubt they are fully dedicated in their training and competition.  You do not get to that level without years and years of effort.  The question is if they are hungry enough when they get to the starting line?

Life is so good in Australia compared to the rest of the world, maybe they are lacking that ‘mongrel’ that is needed.  ( Of course, when Aussie athletes do show some mongrel – Lleyton Hewitt, Australian cricket team, Leisel Jones etc … – they are slammed by the press as being bad sportsmen.  And there is nothing wrong with being sad, angry or upset when you do not win – athletes should not be criticised for that.  The media and public must make up their mind. )

Another factor is new media.  If you are busy updating your twitter on the way to the starting line, your head might not be in the game.

A few of the Aussie athletes have said that the rest of the world is catching up – that just means the Aussies are going backwards…

It has also been mentioned a few times by athletes that they may have been distracted by twitter etc, perhaps it is also a management issue.  Considering the number of support staff that is with the delegation, it looks like they have not been focusing enough on the individual athletes.  Without doubt, the mentors in the delegation are champions in their own right, and have reached the pinnacle in their respective sports.  Perhaps they should have been directed to more specific tasks – and helping the athletes stay focused, and preparing properly for their events.

eurovision 2012

I might be the first to say this – it is only the 16th song in this years competition, so far.

But don’t so many of this years entries have that Lady Gaga sound?  ( Except for the Russian Grandmothers, perhaps. )

Not that it is a bad thing.

I’m just saying…

And here is a wild idea – what if at least half the lyrics of the song have to be in the native language of the entrant?

inflated expectations

It must be time to stop and think about how far we have actually progressed in equality of the sexes and how men view women.

Of concern also is when we hold up some of our entertainers best and brightest as positive role models…

redirecting priorities

It is very nice that social and business networking companies, games makers and the like, are minting huge fortunes for investors – but perhaps we are missing something along the way.

Whilst these companies do provide some entertainment and utility for their many users, they are hardly making great contributions to society.

In contrast, all over the world there are small bio-technology companies devoted to finding cures to diseases that affect us all.  Yet, most of these companies struggle to raise even small amounts of money from investors to help them fund the long and costly road to market.

Admittedly, these companies are often very high risk investments, with many failures during the arduous development and testing stages.

Considering some of the internet based companies are being valued at huge amounts of money, very often with no product or no revenues – surely some of these drug developers deserve some backing.

It can cost years and billions of dollars to develop and market a successful new drug – so it is only fair that developers are rewarded for this investment.

However, these same companies are also constantly under attack, with demands that they sell drugs cheaply or allow generic low-cost makers to reap rewards with no risk.  This just removes their incentive to continue to invest in new drug development.  Which, in turn, can effect their share price.

Surely we need to redirect some of our priorities when it comes to assessing company value.  We may need them to save our life one day.

in defence of Rupert

I am pretty certain that the Murdoch family need no help from me in their current run-in with the UK government.

That is Wendi Murdoch in the pink jacket laying the big right hand on the idiot trying to throw a cream pie on husband Rupert at some sham hearing into the phone-tapping scandal.

This is not to defend the phone tapping etc.  But in all this outrage, not much is being said about the journalists who actually committed these acts.

Where was the moral compass of these journalists?

Journalists like to preach about their morality when it comes to protecting the identity of their sources – then they can become very self-righteous.  If they were indeed instructed by their superiors to do these acts, why didn’t they refuse on moral grounds?  At what level of immorality or criminality does their conscience kick in?

But you really have to hand it to the politicians – setting up an inquiry that will allow them to go to any lengths they please – with parliamentary privilege, so that they can tell the electorate that they are protecting them from the evil media…

is it just me…

or does this annoy you also:

You know those bumper stickers on the back of cars asking “how is my driving?”, right?

Well, the phone number to call is so small on the sticker that you actually have to rear-end the car to be close enough to dial the number, while you are driving…  to complain about…

The driver that is so bad that they caused you to rear-end them…

ummmmm

as the name suggests, this blog may become the vehicle to express random thoughts and observations on what is happening in our world.

lots of links to interesting articles or stories from around the world, and plenty from the Middle East.

and maybe some links to interesting or funny websites.

if anyone actually reads this, comments are welcome – and will only be edited in extreme cases of abuse.