by cameron | Feb 6, 2008 | Uncategorized
Following on from my video this morning about “A War On Democracy”, here’s a good quote from a recent article by Robin Hahnel (a Professor of Economics at American University):
Only Americans who search out the alternative media discover that Hugo Chavez was elected President by a comfortable margin in 1998, survived an opposition-sponsored recall in 2004, and most recently was re-elected in December 2006 with more than 60% of the vote. International observers certified all three elections as fair and square. George Bush, on the other hand, was selected President by a partisan Supreme Court after losing the popular vote in 2000, and won re-election only because enough black voters in Ohio were disenfranchised by a partisan Republican official to keep the Buckeye State in the Republican column in 2004. Few observers believe Bush could survive a recall election today, but of course this basic element of democratic rule is not permitted by the US Constitution. Nonetheless, the only storyline ninety-nine percent of Americans hear remains: Hugo Chavez is a dictator and George Bush is the democratically elected leader of the free world.
by cameron | Feb 6, 2008 | US politics
http://seesmic.com/Standalone.swf?video=5TvZKvFuQf
Watch “The War On Democracy” on Google Video.
by cameron | Feb 6, 2008 | Podcast
My guest today is Jane Mason, a strategy consultant in London who is an expert on using the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator to help teams maximize their potential. We chat about the background of MBTI, what all of the dichotomies mean, how it’s used in a corporate situation as well as ways to use it in your every day life to get along better with the people around you.
I’m an INTP. What type are you?
Become part of the G’Day World conversation.
TPN now has a HQ in Second Life! Add “Cameron Switchblade” to your friends (that’s me). I’d be happy to show you around and help you find your SL legs.
If you’re a member of Facebook, you can ADD ME AS A FRIEND and then ADD YOURSELF TO THE G’DAY WORLD GROUP.
You can show your love by buying me stuff from my Amazon wish list.
If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you don’t miss future episodes by subscribing to our feed and leave us a voice comment!
310
“Fortuitous Bounce” (mp3)
from “Sixes and Sevens”
(Conduit Records)
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Buy at Amazon
<a href="http://redirect2.iodalliance.com/buy_album.php?id=18C5C719F1E0AEB051
by cameron | Feb 5, 2008 | Brisbane, Melbourne
In a move that’s bound to surprise many of you as much as it surprises me, we’re relocating the Reilly family to Brisbane in about four weeks. I know – I’ve had my fair share of fun talking smack about Queensland (and Queenslanders) over the last few years – well, in fact, the last 20 years – and it’s the last place I ever thought I’d move to. Paris? Yes. Manhattan? Yes. Florence? Easy. Brisbane? Not on your life. But there you go, the universe has a sense of humour?
Why are we moving? Well we’d been talking about it in late December because most of our family is up there (all except my sister Anita who is down here in Melbourne and who we are all going to miss heaps) and we thought it would be good for the kids to get to spend more time with their grandparents and cousins. And then, out of the blue, Belinda saw an advertisement for a job in Brisbane which was made for her. She applied for it just on a whim, and was offered it a couple of weeks later. And although both of us love Melbourne dearly, and I’m going to miss my little village lifestyle in Yarraville, it just seemed like it was meant to happen.
Obviously I’m lucky in that it won’t affect TPN at all. I can work from anywhere I have internet access. It won’t affect MODM either, as I’d already planned to launch it nationally this year and will be looking for sponsors for each of the state events. Part of the sponsorship will involve flying me to each event, so I plan to be in Melbourne at least once a month for a few days.
So… I’m looking to buy a house in Brisbane (anyone with real estate contacts please get in touch with me), and recommendations for good areas to live, schools, cafes, cocktail bars, etc. I’m going to get a safari suit, pith helmet, hammock, and that’ll be me for the next few years. I’m going to buy one of those massive freakin’ commercial fans, stick it in the back yard in front of the hammock positioned between two palm trees and beside the pool, set up a little bar with an ice maker for my mojitos, and run my global media company from there. Going to lose 20 kgs, work out, take up surfing, work on my tan.
I moved to Melbourne from Bundaberg in January 1988. My dear deceased father’s last words to me as the car left Bundy were “you’ll be back”. For once in his life, he was right.
by cameron | Feb 5, 2008 | Uncategorized
eMarketer have some new data on podcasting in the US. Good to know we haven’t gone out of business yet. I thought everyone said podcasting was dead?
by cameron | Feb 4, 2008 | Podcast
I’m sure you have all sat in “virtual” meetings at your place of work that would have bored a monk. I remember sitting in on “virtual team meetings” in my Microsoft days when I and other members of the team would be playing each other on XBOX Live while our manager droned on. It doesn’t have to be that way and my guest today will tell you why.
W. Wayne Turmel (aka dubdub) is the host of TPN’s Cranky Middle Manager and Working Week podcasts, as well as a stand-up comedian, author, manager…. and in 2008 he adds a new title to his portfolio – entrepreneur. We had a chat recently about his new business, Great Web Meetings, about becoming an entrepreneur, and other things.
Wayne has a long history as a presenter, trainer and expert in management and communication skills. He has taught Presentation Skills and Sales to Fortune 500 clients in his role as Director of Faculty for Communispond.
Become part of the G’Day World conversation.
TPN now has a HQ in Second Life! Add “Cameron Switchblade” to your friends (that’s me). I’d be happy to show you around and help you find your SL legs.
If you’re a member of Facebook, you can ADD ME AS A FRIEND and then ADD YOURSELF TO THE G’DAY WORLD GROUP.
You can show your love by buying me stuff from my Amazon wish list.
If you enjoyed this podcast, make sure you don’t miss future episodes by subscribing to our feed and leave us a voice comment!
310
“Fortuitous Bounce” (mp3)
from “Sixes and Sevens”
(Conduit Records)
Buy at Rhapsody
Buy at Napster
Buy at Amazon
More On This Album
by cameron | Feb 4, 2008 | Uncategorized
I was just watching John Johnston’s response to my Seesmic video today and it struck me that JJ could actually be Pistachio Disguisey! Am I crazy?
by cameron | Feb 4, 2008 | Podcast, Uncategorized
Over dinner last night, I heard about a scam being run by an Australian bank, where they tell business customers to pay $20 to speed up the processing of cheques they bank. An honest teller finally told this friend of mine, who had being paying the $20 once a week for years, that it was rubbish. The cheques don’t get processed any quicker than they normally do.
This made me recall the number of times I’ve had arguments with tellers when they tell me that it takes 20 days to process a cheque drawn on an international bank. I’ve even banked cheques from GOOGLE and they tell me it takes 20 business days to “clear the funds”. What bullshit. I always ask them if they’ve heard of the internet.
So, I’m researching a podcast on bank scams. Not the Nigerian kind – the Australian kind. If you’ve got a story about unfair, excessive or unlawful penalty fees charged by Australian banks and other financial institutions, or just scams like the international cheque clearing, then shoot me an email. And check out the campaign being run by Choice and the Consumer Action Law Centre on the same subject.
by cameron | Feb 4, 2008 | Video
I finally did my first Seesmic video today. I’ve had an account for a couple of months but haven’t figured out what to do with it. Not sure how useful it is to me yet but if you don’t experiment with these things, you’ll never know. It took me months to work out Second Life and Twitter as well. Hell, I’ve been podcasting for 3 years and I am still trying to figure THAT out. Anyway, here it is. It’s called “On Fidel”.
http://seesmic.com/Standalone.swf?video=FZhZBn6Qid
by cameron | Feb 4, 2008 | capitalism, Iraq, Uncategorized
The world’s largest arms dealer, the USA, which is also the country with the world’s largest arsenal of nuclear weapons (it maintains a current arsenal of around 9,960 intact warheads… how many DO you need to destroy the world?), will spend more that $1 trillion on “defence” for the first time in history in 2008, according to this article in Le Monde. I put inverted commas around “defence” because their current strategy of non-UNSC sanctioned pre-emptive attacks can hardly be called “defence”. It’s a typical PR sleight-of-hand. Let’s call it what it is. It’s an “ATTACK” budget.
As part of this $1 trillion, the US will spend $23.4bn towards developing and maintaining nuclear warheads.
The older I get, the more I read, and the more unconvinced I am becoming that democracy and capitalism contain the model for the future for the human race. If the USA is the beacon of modern democracy, then I believe we need a new system, a better system.
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It is virtually impossible to overstate the profligacy of what our government spends on the military. The Department of Defense’s planned expenditures for the fiscal year 2008 are larger than all other nations’ military budgets combined. The supplementary budget to pay for the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not part of the official defence budget, is itself larger than the combined military budgets of Russia and China. Defence-related spending for fiscal 2008 will exceed $1 trillion for the first time in history. The US has become the largest single seller of arms and munitions to other nations on Earth. Leaving out President Bush’s two on-going wars, defence spending has doubled since the mid-1990s. The defence budget for fiscal 2008 is the largest since the second world war.
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