Contingency Planning - for when Plans go Awry!

What do you DO when your car runs out of gas? What do you DO when you have bought out the store and suddenly realise you left your wallet at home? What do you do before you cross the street? What do you do before leaving home when the weather forecast is heavy showers?

On automatic pilot you have solutions to these situations, because you encounter them every day. However if you analyse what you really do it becomes interesting as you are actually using "contingency planning".

This is where you take as many of the possible things that go wrong or have a negative impact on you and then assess the risk of those things happening. Risk being the likelihood of the event happening and the level of the likely impact from none to major damage being caused.

Since almost everyone can handle contingency planning almost like breathing in their everyday life it comes as a rude shock to find how few people transplant this everyday management technique into their working lives. It is almost as if the moment they step through the front door of their work places all of the common sense things that they do outside the work place are carefully left outside the door only to be picked up again when they step out of the work place.

Contingency planning is part of the part of the formal planning process and it is as applicable to tactical as to strategic planning.

Since crises are bound to occur in any organisation whether it is well run or not it is just as well to be prepared for the worst and then breathe a sigh of relief if the worst does not happen!

Developing a plan for dealing with something that can go wrong BEFORE it happens is thus an excellent idea. The very worst things you can do in a crisis is have a panic attack because you have NO idea what to do when the dreaded thing happens.

Training people in procedures to be followed and then actually pretending that a crisis is happening and then putting the plan into operation to see how people would cope with it as a practice run is also a sound idea - after all practice does tend to make you perfect.

With frequent repetition you tend to get a better outcome if and when the feared event happens.

Do not expect your plan to match the crisis exactly. It never will. Allow yourself to be flexible in your responses but within some known parameters. The KISS (KEEP IT SIMPLE STUPID!) principle usually applies here. The more complex and detailed you make some contingency plans the greater the risk that your people will follow it to the letter and so miss some opportunities to be creative and flexible.

Above all else involve people in commenting on the dry runs by asking them what they thought of the experience and whether they could see something they would do differently to get a better or more useful outcome. Their creativity in response to situations can be the most successful way of improving your planning and future responses to any crisis.

Staff do not trust their senior managers

"The vast majority of HR professionals believe that their staff do not trust senior managers, according to a new poll that is only the latest to highlight the poor opinion most people have of the leadership of UK firms.

A poll on the HR Gateway website found that an overwhelming eight out of ten feel that employees do not believe what top management tells them about the future plans and direction of their firm.

Only 15 per cent of the poll of 270 respondents thought that that staff trusted their senior management." says Management Issues.com

Pete's Points

What a surprise and why stop at the UK?

The person who suggested this poll must have been a consultant wanting a fat fee for a friend or for his own company. The person agreeing to provide the money must have been a senior manager desperate to prove that the 360 degree feedback process he/she had just engaged in was WRONG!

When we lose sight of the fact that middle managers' jobs should be in MANAGING others and not being too busy to do their own jobs because they are doing work which used to be DONE by others, before there was some 'right sizing' or having to "do more with less", then we may have a chance of finding staff who trust their senior managers again.

It is all too often that we find that some people, at or near the top of the pecking order, preach one thing then do exactly the opposite. Leading by example? You bet and people are following in droves!

When there is congruence between what is said and what is done many people may start to believe and trust again.

Until then there is simply no hope of that happening!

Elections in the Ukraine

I wonder if there have been secret communications between President Putin of Russia and President Bush about elections in general.

If I were Putin I would tell Mr Bush not to make too many inquiries about the elections in the Ukraine where exit polls suggested that the opposition leader would be elected and instead the one supported by Russia somehow wangled a win. After all a similar story has been going around about the recent American elections, hasn't it?

Audit of Regional Grants

Wednesday November 24, 08:41 AM

"The Federal Opposition has called for the auditor-general to probe funding decisions made by the government under its Regional Partnerships program.

Concerns have been raised that much of the $100 million program was earmarked during the election to be spent in seats held by the Nationals or in former Nationals seats held by independents."

Pete's Points

It is amazing that voters have not yet managed to get the 'right idea' from the certainty that anyone in government is more likely to spend money on those electorates that are either marginal or in the hands of their opposition.

What is the right idea?

Make more electorates marginal!

If you watched the last elections - whether they were here in Australia or in the USA no one really gave a damn about those places that were known as a 'sure thing'. They were allocated to the party that traditionally wins them and the focus of all attention was on those electorates that were uncertain, where voters do NOT vote blindly for one party or another but actually make a choice based on what the parties or the candidates from those parties are actually going to do for them.

In line with the notion that is being used here in Australia by the government in respect of people in the community in receipt of welfare payments, called Mutual Obligations, maybe this is the only way we can get governments to undertake their obligation to us as citizens and taxpayers, by forcing them to take an interest in us, rather than always someone else who has been smart enough to keep them guessing about who they vote for.

Disability Pensioners to go back to work

Wednesday November 24, 10:10 AM – from Yahoo News

“Govt 'determined' to move disability pensioners into work

The Federal Government is considering a system of coercion and incentive to get disability pensioners off welfare and into the workforce. The Government says a six-month pilot program to encourage disabled Australians back into the workforce or training was a success. Workforce Participation Minister Peter Dutton says the pilot showed that a combination of coercion and incentive can help get disability pensioners back to work. "What we've shown is that for the majority of people there is a willingness to participate, to look for work," Mr Dutton said. "For those people we think aren't there legitimately then we've got to try and adopt some coercion and that's unfortunate in the minority of cases."

Pete's Points

Why does this direction of the newly elected government surprise anyone? What does being a Disability Support Pensioner mean?

In the past, when it was called the "Invalid Pension", we knew with considerable certainty that the recipient was at least 85% permanently incapacitated. Following a review, there was a decision made to move to a more medical model which emphasised the level of residual capacity for employment which remained for people.

From that moment on, it was a foregone conclusion that at some point there would be a decision made, when the political situation was right, to require people to exercise their residual capacity. This trend, to assist people from receiving welfare payments into employment began some years ago with the introduction of similar assistance for Sole Parents and then of course the introduction of Mutual Obligations as a mainstay of government policy.

What is a little puzzling is that many people in the community have always thought that with the tightening of the model, the people who were eligible for the Disability Support Pension were those who did not have a capacity for work remaining after their accident or illness.

As the number of people leaving the work force grows into the expected flood arising from Baby Boomers going into retirement and/or falling ill as they age, there is a pressing need to reduce the amount of money being sucked out of the welfare system into pensions of one kind or another and there is certainly a need to bring expertise and experience back into the work force generally. Hence the emphasis on superannuation leading to self funded retirees, the encouragement of older workers to stay in the work force and of course the encouragement of as many people on welfare payments as possible to return to the work force.

Palestinians Say They Want Democracy

By KARIN LAUB, Associated Press Writer Nov 20 2004

RAMALLAH, West Bank - Freed from Yasser Arafat's one-man rule, Palestinians say they are eager and able to build the first real democracy in the Arab world, despite the dangers lurking on the road to Jan. 9 elections.

"Now it's real competition, the possibility of winning is there," said pro-democracy activist Mustafa Barghouti, a physician considering a presidential bid.

Pete's Points

"Pro democracy activist"? You have to be kidding!

Barghouti is currently serving a jail sentence in Israel for terrorism.

Poppyseeds cost man his license

From Ananova

"An Austrian driver has lost his license because he failed a drug test after eating a dish containing poppyseeds.

Wolfgang L, 39, had his license withdrawn when a test showed traces of morphine in his urine.

But he denies drug abuse, saying he had recently eaten mohnnudeln, an Austrian speciality consisting of noodles, poppyseeds and fruit."

Pete's Points

There is only one question I have to ask, did he feel any pain when his licence was revoked?

Here is an item for people in the Northern Territory

"Beer can insulation

A Russian man who collects beer cans has turned his collection to practical use.

He is using them as insulation after his wife told him: "Either the cans go or I do", reports Pravda."

Pete's Points

I guess the only down side to this information is that you can't use NT Stubbies, but then again, glass can be a good insulator too, can't it?

Entrepreneurs and Dyslexia

The Management Issues Blog on 18 November 2004 reported the following:

"Virgin's Sir Richard Branson, Amstrad's Sir Alan Sugar, Body Shop founder Anita Roddick, Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers and media magnate Ted Turner are all highly successful business people. And they are all dyslexic.

But now research has found that far from being a hindrance in the business world, having difficulty with words can be a positive advantage.

A study carried out at Simfonec, the Science Enterprise Centre based at the Cass Business School in London, has found that entrepreneurs are five times more likely to have dyslexia than people at managerial level."

Pete's Points

What an interesting finding!

I wonder what the results would be if we tested a much larger group of entrepreneurs? Would we find that success in schooling had very little to do with success in business? If so, then how would this impact on the current mind set that it is only by improving our education that we can find gainful employment and enjoy a satisfying life style?

Has the current method of schooling got it wrong?

Should we be seeking to retain and embellish "childlike" as distinct from "childish" behaviours?

Bullies in the work place or Victims of 'doing more with less'?

In recent years there have been more and more organisations in both the public and private sectors that have had to 'do more with less'. Within the private sector, this appears to be the direct result of the expectations of shareholders wanting greater profits and Boards and CEOs, if for no other reason than the maintenance of their remuneration packages, working hard to cut expenditure, improve productivity and hence profitability. In the public sector, there is a form of madness that has imbued various governments around the world, that requires the privatisation of public institutions and bringing them within the ambit of private enterprise management. In parallel with this thinking, there has been a bold attempt to introduce private enterprise management techniques to public service agencies, without the realisation taking place that they are NOT working on a 'for profit' basis and have functions in the delivery of services which bear no resemblance to the private enterprise model. It is simply amazing what ideology will do to common sense.

However I digress.

The results of this massive attempt to improve the bottom line by means of improved productivity has had a number of positive and negative effects.

Among the positive effects have been increasing company profits and hence dividends to shareholders or in the case of the public services that do remain, a lowering of the overall costs in the expanded services. Indeed in the Australian Commonwealth Public Service, agencies have for years had to endure an annual saving of 1% of their operational costs by improving productivity. In 2005 this will go up to 1.25%.

The reality for managers on the ground is that the Government expects the agencies and departments to undertake new business each year which is added to their existing work loads and sometimes actually gives them money for the additional services they are required to provide. They also take back 1 to now 1.25% of the total allocation, in the expectation that these organisations will be able to continually improve their productivity and so off set the imposed burden.

To some extent the governments have been wise to go down this track. It has meant that the use of technology to automate what were essentially expensive manual processes has taken place. It has enabled the wholesale removal of one of the more expensive items in the budget, for example, people, from remaining on staff. It has also increased the stress levels on the staff who remain. This outcome is a direct result of the 'doing more with less' philosophy and the introduction of technology.

Prior to the introduction of electronic messaging, for example, a letter could take about a week to produce and to send to another organisation or part of the same organisation. This was not inefficiency, but merely the technology available at the time. Someone had to hand write the letter, then it had to be sent to a typing pool, then it had to be returned for vetting and if any errors were found returned to the pool for correction and then the mail took at least a day or so to get from one part of the organisation to another and if the Postmaster General (now Australia Post) was used it took longer to get messages to other parts of Australia much less other parts of the world.

Today with email, a message can be composed as quickly as the author can type it and be in the recipient's hands within minutes of its completion. There is then the expectation that a return message will wing its way back to the original sender within a similar time frame. The volume of such interactions and the speed with which they take place can improve productivity but it also places greater stress on the individuals involved.

The stress for staff within organisations has been demonstrated in a variety of studies, it is also exemplified in recent revelations that Australians are working harder than many of their counterparts in other parts of the world some working 70 - 80 hours a week.

Combine this known stress with the fact that while wages are going up prices are outstripping the wage growth, a taxation system that leaves Australians as one of the highest taxed people in the world and a consequent need to have both of the adult members of a nuclear family working just to be able to pay the bills. Housing is said to be less and less affordable for many people, personal indebtedness has increased alarmingly enough for the Governor of the Reserve Bank to alert the government to its possible consequences and research on the levels of illness as reported to Comcare and other agencies is on the rise.

If we can accept that there are three main stressors in life, workplace stress, occupational stress and personal stress, then we see that we have been creating a society in which all three levels of such stressors have been increasing over time.

Studies in the 1970s and 1980s focused on the stress that was being experienced by personnel involved in emergency response areas, firemen, ambulance officers, policemen and so on. These studies also indicated what might have to be done to assist these people to remain in the work place and to continue to function in an adequate way. As the stress levels in the work places other than those being occupied by emergency workers have increased, I wonder if the findings of those earlier studies would now apply to other workers whose stress levels have increased to levels that are similar to what those workers were experiencing?

The level of attributed bullying in work places has, I would suggest a direct correlation with the increasing levels of stress that have become common place in many work areas and also with the lack of funding and time which is available to provide staff with the necessary training and/or supervision that they require so that they can perform their tasks at a competent and less stressed level.

As early as 1998, Rowe Trapp, writing in "The Independent", discussed bullying in the work place. He mentioned research in the USA that showed that lesser actions than shouting , threats and/or physical abuse can prove to be quite devastating and costly to the enterprise. A University of North Carolina study for example, described the following behaviours:

• accusations of lack of knowledge
• undermining credibility in front of others
• demeaning notes

The research found that:

• 53% of staff lost time at work worrying about the incident;
• 43% contemplated changing jobs (with 12% actually doing so);
• 37% believed that their commitment to the organisation had declined as a result of the incident;
• 28% lost time at work avoiding the instigator;
• 23% reduced their work effort;
• 10% reduced the amount of time that they spent at work

While there is no doubt that there are some managers and supervisors in the work place who really are bullies, it would be illogical to assume that the majority of people who come into the supervisory or managerial roles suddenly become bullies.

If we look to some alternate explanation then we are likely to find it in the increasingly stressful work place and the expectations that are placed on people especially through unrealistic performance appraisal contracts. Unrealistic because there are many employees who come to their new positions unprepared by either training or experience or learning on the job and so are unable to perform to the levels which have been set. Their situation is of course not improved by the fact that the requirements for ever increasing productivity gains mean that there is neither the time nor the resources available to enable them to acquire and practise the skills that they require nor is there time for adequate mentoring and/or supervision. In combination with financial and other stresses at home the situation where what appears to be bullying happens. This may, on further examination and exploration of the circumstances turn out to be nothing more than an inappropriate response to the high levels of stressors present in the work environment.

Professor Christine Pearson has suggested that there are five key response that can be used in such cases:

1. clarify expectations in regard to interpersonal dealings and establish explicit codes of conduct;
2. watch closely for patterns of inappropriate behaviour;
3. document deviant incidents and take account of inappropriate behaviour in evaluations;
4. deny instigators further influence over people;
5. mandate counselling if deemed necessary.

The solutions suggested may work well in a number of instances. In others though, I am afraid that they may well be labelling victims of stress as perpetrators.

It would be my view that until there is greater recognition that the overall stressors in and outside the workplace have risen to such an extent that it is likely that previously well balanced and moderate individuals can fall victim to the stress and experience behaviours that are less than desirable as coping mechanisms. Inappropriate coping mechanisms of course.

Once we recognise the underlying cause and factor in the overall cost of dealing with such consequences of stress, I believe that simple "protection of the bottom line" will force senior managements in organisations to seek ways of reducing the stressors for their employees.

Google Introduces New Research Tool

Thu Nov 18,12:35 AM ET as reported by AP

"MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. - Online search engine leader Google Inc. is setting out make better sense of all the scholarly work stored on the Web.

The company's new service, unveiled late Wednesday at http://scholar.google.com, draws upon newly developed algorithms to list the academic research that appears to be most relevant to a search request."

Pete's Points

This is a service worth trying it eliminates most of the spam among hits and gets you some really reputable information when you need it quickly.

Are we a schizophrenic society?

The Australian government has a recent history of managing the finances of the country into surplus and maintaining its reputation as the highest taxing government in the history of this country.

While they practice a form of fiscal responsibility, their constituents are a living a very different lifestyle from the government that they elected.

Australians, by and large appear to be living well beyond their means, with the statistics indicating a debt of considerable proportions for every man, woman and child in the country.

I wonder how this works. As a community we live on borrowings and increase our debts while electing a government that reduces its debts and preaches and practices fiscal responsibility?

Could it be that there is a desire to have in place a well healed government that can bail out the unwise investor if all of his/her investments come crashing down?

Sounds plausible, until you realise that it is the same group of people who want the government to temper the amount and extent of its welfare commitment.

So maybe they are just gamblers - albeit in stocks, shares and property no to mention horse racing, football and of course lotteries.

Sounds plausible until you realise that the same group wants the government to ban gambling on the Internet and want to see a reduction in the number of slot machines in clubs.

I can't see the sense really.

The Garden

While in the garden the other day, I noted that the intense period of the drought that we have experienced in Australia over the last few years, has led to my lawn becoming a dust bowl with individual tufts of grass. In addition, some trees and shrubs have also turned up their toes due to the lack of moisture.

As the grass turned brown and then disappeared, so did my interest in taking preventative action against weeds and other garden pests.

Suddenly we had a little rain. There was a burst of green growth. What grew? Weeds and more weeds! I had no idea that they could spring up from nowhere, so quickly.

Today, just a few days later, they seem to represent the dominant life form in my garden. I suspect that there will be only one way to deal with them - merciless extermination. Then my garden will once again take on the look and feel that I have designed.

I wonder if my thinking about my garden applies to the macro world that I live in?

Under the tyranny of Saddam Hussein the level of crime, the potential for insurrection, was kept under control. Saddam was merciless with the "weeds" in his garden. He would poison them, gas them, cut them down in their prime and even practice some forms of genocide to try and prevent them from gaining even a foothold.

Those that responded to the efforts of this 'gardener', those that pleased his aesthetic senses were rewarded and nurtured.

As the USA invaded the country, ostensibly to remove what we now know were the non existent weapons of mass destruction, they removed the "gardener". The groups that have been repressed for ages have suddenly grown quickly and flourished and want to throw out the invader and take power.

As we watch the destruction of Fallujah, it is interesting to speculate whether the behaviour that accompanied the tyranny of Saddam, will become the behaviour of the USA? Will they also treat the people of Iraq as 'weeds' and mercilessly eliminate any opposition to their view of how the 'garden' should look?

No doubt, as in the USA, there will be bushes (pardon the pun) that not only survive, but thrive. Alas all those who do not fit into the new vision are likely to be considered as "weeds" in this American garden and will need to be eliminated to promote the growth and well being of more useful 'plants'.

After all, the well being of the average American, his/her requirements for health care, education, housing and an adequate income does not appear to be high on the agenda of the current administration.

The Staple of Life

When visiting the USA some years ago my partner and I arrived in Washington DC at the Dulles International Airport, obtained our hire car and then headed off for Chesapeake Bay via the "beltway' or the ringroad that circles that town. As we were ambling along we both realised that the wonderful airline food had vanished, we were hungry. Being used to travelling we decided to call in to the first shopping opportunity and purchase some bread, a tomato or two perhaps some ham or other smallgoods which might be available and make a sandwich which we could have on the way.

Fortuitously, or so we thought at the time, we went past a convenience store and purchased the items we wanted. We then continued our drive to a lovely spot overlooking a wonderful water view and proceeded to make a sandwich. Imagine our surprise, or perhaps I should say horror, when in biting into what looked like a most inviting meal we bit into the equivalent of sweet, fair floss textured bread. Our immediate response was to stop and examine the pack containing the bread. I mean it looked for all the world like regular white sliced bread, nothing special mind, nothing to really get those juices flowing, nothing that would remind you of the smell of freshly baked bread straight from the baker's oven, but just ordinary bread of the sort you usually buy in a supermarket. The label did not suggest anything out of the ordinary, but the nutrition information on the back of the packet sure did. The contents contained 4 different starches, quite a few preservatives, sugars of two kinds and above all else, and this was the proud boast on the packet, "NO NUTRITIONAL FIBRE".

We just looked at each other and then back at the label and then back at each other again with disbelief growing with every instant. The staff of life had not only been tampered with but had had all of the goodness taken out of it to be replaced by chemicals, starches and sugars. Only in America, the bastion of capitalism and of democracy and of freedom of choice, could you find on sale the rubbish we had just purchased. It had never occurred to us that something as simple and basic as bread could be tampered with to such an extent.

In thinking about it, we began to ask questions and to compare and contrast our experiences in Europe, from which we had just come and of course with Australia, our home.In many European countries, as well as Australia of course, the phenomenon which began in the USA, namely supermarkets and malls is becoming endemic. As these large chains use their superior purchasing power they can dictate the nature of the products which they are prepared to take on their shelves, in much the same way as McDonald's purchasing power has dictated the planting of the long large potatoes that make such wonderful fried potato straws that are served when you in fact DO 'want fries with that.' The buying power of McDonald's is so large that potato farmers are forced to either not do business with this group, and so lose money, or grow the sort of potatoes that they want. In the end it is the consumer, who used to be able to have a choice of many varieties, before the advent of this chain, who suffers. Still this is what capitalism is all about - market forces.

It is the same with bread. The types of grain which are planted, in the USA in particular, are now coming more and more to be part of the genetically modified varieties which provide the farmer with a more bountiful harvest and/or greater resistance to pests and/or some other desirable (read economically beneficial) properties. Species which do not have the same level of output or resistance are abandoned. Biological diversity suffers as do the consumers who now generally are able to buy only bread from a lesser number of wheat or other grain species. Mind you I use the word 'suffer' lightly as many would suggest that they have never had it so good.

In a conversation with my father in law the other day, a man who is retired on a fixed income, it emerged that his view of one chain of supermarkets which has produce at considerably lower cost than any competitive supermarket chain is the only place where he now goes to shop. "Anyone who shops elsewhere has more money than sense.' is his view of things. Of course in his situation he is absolutely correct. If you can buy a loaf of bread for a dollar why on earth would you pay four times that price in a bakery for a different kind of bread? I mean it's just bread - right? Wrong!

In our travels around Europe we noticed a fightback against the ubiquitous pap that is being served up in the supermarkets. In France, in Germany, in Austria, in Belgium, in Italy there are small local bakeries who make their living producing items that bring back the smell and taste of the 'good old days'. Their bread does not disintegrate into dry breadcrumb material in the first few hours after baking. Nor is it anything like the cotton candy that was served in America. It is bread that can still be called the staff of life. It is crusty on the outside and the texture of the inside will be firm, moist, tasty and filling.

We have found that bread is not the only produce that regularly fails the taste test. A tomato grown ripe on the vine simply exudes a smell and a taste that is incomparable. It is sweet and tempting and not tasteless and odourless as are the products sold in most supermarkets. These are ripped from the vine when they are still semi green and 'ripened' on their journeys from wherever they were picked to the markets where they are sold. Anyone who has purchased tomatoes, apricots, peaches, plums indeed virtually any fruit directly at the place where they are grown and managed to get them when they are ripe will know instantly what I am talking about. These fruits and vegetables are simply so delicious that after them the supermarket offerings are almost offensive.

Yet more and more people are falling into an economic trap which forces them to buy their supplies in supermarkets. As the number of people who can still afford to buy the better quality products decreases so too does the opportunity to have really fabulous food unless you can pay astronomical prices for it.

Is this progress? Is this what being part of a developed country has led us to? Working 70-80 hour weeks just to be able to survive?

If our American experience with the staple of life is any indication, then sadly, we are heading into a future where having taste buds will be irrelevant and where the joys of cooking 'from scratch' will be relegated to museums. Instead we will see either "out of the box" cuisine or like some properties in the city these days, apartments without kitchens, proudly advertising the fact that the owners of those properties would not be seen dead having to undertake domestic duties when there was so much to eat out or to take away.

Renting Intellectual Property?

"Microsoft alum Nathan Myhrvold so strongly believes intellectual property is the next software that he's studying for the patent bar exam. His company, Intellectual Ventures, doesn't actually make anything - only patent attorneys roam the hallways. Myhrvold isn't the only true believer. Microsoft, Intel, Sony, Nokia, Apple, Google, and eBay have contributed to a $350M bankroll which the firm is using to buy up existing patents that can be rented to companies who want to produce real products." as reported by Slashdot.org

Pete's Points

If the people in these organisations are thinking of buying up intellectual property and then 'renting it out' to others then perhaps it is time that ordinary folk like you and me started to realise that our intellectual property is worth big bucks.

In short instead of giving away our information like internet surfing habits and shopping habits maybe it's time we started to charge those collecting this information for the priviledge. After all, they add their costs of finding out information and targeting their advertising etc. on to us in the form of upgraded charges.

I suspect that the person who can figure out how to block such searches and send the requestor a bill for the opportunity to pick our brains will make a fortune and will certainly have my support.

Water at last!

"The Snowy Hydro Corporation says $3.8 million is being spent to allow water to be sent back down the Murrumbidgee from where it will eventually be piped into the ACT's storages, which have been under pressure from the drought."

Pete's Points

It is nice to know that the water that is captured upstream from Canberra in the Snowy Mountains to generate electricity is going once again to be released back into the Snowy and Murrambidgee rivers so that people can have water to use and so that the ecology of the rivers can once again return to something like the normal flows which were restricted by the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

New Program for Indigenous Australians

Thursday November 11, 05:36 AM AAP

"Aboriginal communities will soon have behavioural "contracts" with the federal government covering health services, education, dole money and other benefits, it was reported.

Families and communities will be rewarded for ensuring their children are washed, clothed and attending school, The Australian newspaper said. . . . .

Under the program, the communities would enter "contracts" with Centrelink officers in Indigenous Co-ordination Centres, federal-funded regional health agencies."

Pete's Points

I am absolutely certain that this initiative will be welcomed by those in the community whose view is that millions of dollars have been spent on indigenous communities in Australia without seeming to achieve any real change in the circumstances of the people who are the target of this funding. These people will say that the levels of health have not significantly improved, housing is still an issue, levels of abuse of alcohol and petrol sniffing are still considered to be a major problem.

This point of view fails to consider the following, is the payment of welfare to anyone in this country something that arises as a consequence of an entitlement that has been created through government policy? If it is, then adding conditions for one part of the Australian community and not another, would tend to smack of discrimination. Or am I missing something?

Sunbaking to Make Your Car Body Stronger

"CSIRO scientists have discovered a new process which could soon lead to the production of aluminium cars and planes that get stronger the longer they are left to 'bake' in the sun.

Dr Roger Lumley of CSIRO Elaborately Transformed Metals (CETM) says the new process involves curing, or age-hardening, aluminium to a point where the curing process can be completed by exposure to sunlight rather than in a furnace.The discovery arises from CSIRO's work in light alloys and advanced metals.'We found in the course of this work, that if the high-temperature aging process used to strengthen aluminium components, such as castings or motor vehicle body panels, is interrupted and the material is allowed to undergo secondary aging at ambient temperature, the material became 20% tougher', Dr Lumley says."

Pete's Points

Assuming that we have manufacturers who really want to build stronger and safer automobiles and aeroplanes we could actually have vehicles that improve with age! I wonder what that would do to their re-sale values not to mention insurance premiums?

Restaurateur pigs out on truffle

15:50 AEST Tue Nov 9 2004 Associated Press Reported

"New York restaurateur Francesco Giambelli dished out a record $US41,000 ($A53,800) for a 1.8kg prize Italian white truffle, auction organisers said.

The 85-year-old, who owns Giambelli 50th on New York's East Side, beat off an unnamed opponent in Moscow to claim the truffle, the largest ever to be sold at an auction, auction director Davide Paolini said."

Pete's Point

It appears all is well with American capitalism after the elections.

We can all be re-assured that the sanity of the world is intact, when a fungus (albeit a large fungus) is worth what some human beings can only earn in a whole year.

Then again, it appears that the former bastion of communism is not far behind since it was in the bid for this tid-bit.

I wonder how many people the price of this fungus could have fed in what are referred to as Third World countries around the world?

Bon appetit!

Is this a vision of what comes next?

Last Update: 09/11/2004 05:26 Iranians had key role in Hezbollah drone launch By Ze'ev Schiff, Haaretz Correspondent

"Iranian experts on unmanned airborne vehicles (drones) from the Iranian Revolutionary Guards took part in the launch from Lebanon of a Hezbollah drone that spent several minutes over northern Israel this week"

Pete's Points

Is this the start of the next adventure in the Middle East? Sometimes the sort of provocations which are reported in the Israeli press represent the first of many little items that end up being considered "intolerable" by the Israelis and lead to a strike on one or more targets by the Israeli military. In this little item from Haaretz, there is already mention of the Syrian troops in Lebanon, and the Iranian involvement with Hezbollah. I just hope that this does not mean that the planning for action in either of these countries by anyone is taking place.

Students fold new shelters for homeless

"Students at a Rome design school have come up with a folding cardboard home for use by street people, the Quasar Institute says.

Institute director Orazio Carpenzano says that the relatively lightweight "living box" has been inspired by origami, is easy to stow when folded and made without scissors or glue. . . " reports ABC news.

Pete's Points

In an environment in which there is a huge debate about whether or not housing is affordable or not for many people in our communities these design students have come forward with an 'answer'.

They have to be kidding - right? Apparently not! The shelter, which costs around $20, has been shown to various Christian charities and may actually be considered for emergency use.

Rainfall fails to lift ACT water supplies

ABC News reports:

Heavy rainfall over the past few days has again had little impact on Canberra's water storages.

More than 30 millimetres of rain has fallen on the national capital this week.

But ACTEW's water manager, Aspi Baria, says no significant measurements were recorded in either the Googong or Cotter dams.

"Over the last three or four days, we had 30ml of rain in the Cotter catchment and poor Googong has had about 15 or so," she said.

"So there hasn't been that significant a rainfall in there.

"Because the ground was reasonably dry that hasn't translated into a larger infill into the dam," she said."

Pete's Points

It is interesting to note that when the Googong dam was built the designers all knew and stated that they expected this reservoir to last until around 1995 when the expected population growth would require additional supplies.

The planning and building of a dam takes around 10 years. Thus at some point around 1985 action should have been taken to plan and build a new dam in anticipation of the demand that was already known and predicted. No such planning took place and discussions only commenced on a new dam in the last year.

Let's all give thanks to those Ministers and senior public servants who are responsible for the thirst that both our plants, animals and of course we tax payers seem to be experiencing.

Work Place Stress?

"Workplace stress is the biggest cause of sickness absence in the UK, resulting in 13.4 million lost working days each year, a new study claims.

A report by Henderson Global Investors Sustainable & Responsible Investment (SRI) team says that almost one fifth of the UK’s workforce suffers from high stress levels.

The research, released to coincide with National Stress Awareness Day, calculates that stress costs employers in the region of £400 million a year and society as whole an estimated £3.7 billion.

The TUC, meanwhile, claims that stress levels in UK workplaces are on the rise, with six out of ten employees complaining that they are stressed while at work, a two per cent increase from 2002.

According to the TUC, the main reasons for stress at work are excessive or increased workloads, changes at work, staff cuts, long hours and workplace bullying."

Pete's Points

In recent ILO studies Australians have been shown to be among the hardest workers in the world - indeed by comparison the people in the UK could be considered 'layabouts', so if they have 'stress' that causes the sort of damage that has been found just imagine how much more damage there is here!

As for the "work place bullying" I have to say I am not impressed. In my experience most of the people who complain about "work place bullying" are the layabouts who have been spoken to by a supervisor telling them to get off their fat posteriors and do some work or be assisted with their career development. Obviously they do not appreciate being told that they might actually need to do some work to earn their remuneration so they resort to lodging a complaint about their boss and his/her bullying.

I am sure that there are genuine cases out there, they are NOT in my experience frequent enough to warrant inclusion in a study unless you naively believe everything you are told.

The American Elections

While the TV networks have technology which would make the most eager power user somewhat green with envy, the machinery by means of which people can elect their President are many and varied across the USA and seemingly grossly inefficient.

Stories of people standing in line for up to nine hours to await their opportunity to cast their vote is more reminiscent of the style of voting that recently took place in Afghanistan.

Whoops, were they using American machinery?

Home alone syndrome hurts humans

Associated Press reported Tuesday November 2, 06:06 PM

"People living alone are more likely to suffer mental and emotional problems because, like cows and dogs, humans crave social interaction, a researcher says.

Dr Bill Metcalf, a sociologist at Queensland's Griffith University, said humans were social, or herd, animals that from birth had an intense need to belong to a group.

He said the growing trend towards single household living was creating lonely, isolated people who were less likely to feel as valued and secure as those living in groups.

"Community living is a natural phenomenon - it's like breathing and sex and eating," Dr Metcalf said.

"When we are not in community we suffer the way that a cow or a dog suffers if it's deprived of interaction."

Pete's Points

I think I have just been insulted! I would not have minded being compared with a horse, but being likened to a cow or a dog (presumably also female)?

Nay. (or should that be neigh?)

It's just a little too much!

States attack Nelson's university plans

Associated Press reports on Tuesday November 2, 06:43 PM

"State governments, academics and unions have united to attack plans by the federal government to seize control of universities.

Education Minister Brendan Nelson has outlined a series of wide-ranging university reforms the government wants to push through parliament once it has majority control of the Senate next July."

Pete's Points

It's started! They won't actually have control of the Senate until next July and they have already started to re-map the face of the country.

So much for "honest John's" promise not to abuse his powers.

There was no discussion about the Commonwealth taking over charge of universities from the states in the discussions leading up to the elections thus the government does not have a mandate for what it is proposing.

Is this an abuse of power or simply part of a non core promise - like the GST and so many other promises?

Hanson cashes in, Democrats cry poor

From the Associated Press Tuesday November 2, 07:04 PM

"Pauline Hanson is the big individual winner and the Australian Democrats major collective losers in the funding allocations from last month's federal election. . . . ."

"Despite failing to get elected as a Queensland senator, former One Nation leader Ms Hanson pockets almost $190,000 for her efforts.

Ms Hanson, who stood as an independent alongside her sister Judy Smith, only entered the election race three weeks before polling day and made few campaign appearances.

But she still received around 100,000 votes and her funding payout easily exceeds that handed to her former party, which was paid $53,404."

Pete's Points

I wonder if anyone knows that I actually was at one of those public appearances in Maryborough?

Suddenly there she was, with a minder and some people from the Channel 7 News.

As I walked by, I heard a strange strangled cry which sounded like: "AAARGH!" and realised that it was coming from me.

I think that now Ms. Hanson has been more than well remunerated by the Australian Tax Payers. All I know is that I would have to work a darn sight longer than three weeks to make that kind of money!

In addition to the money she has obtained from her electioneering, she is also getting funded, no doubt for appearing on TV as a celebrity dancer.

Democracy is really weird sometimes! Or more to the point, "Please explain!"

What is THE PERFECT chairperson?

"The pefect chairperson is someone who always knows how to welcome attendees, thank speakers, approve the minutes and call for agenda items. In every other respect he/she adds no value."

A friend of mine sent me this in an email today and I simply cannot find any fault in it.

Anyone else care to comment?

Centrelink continues its crawl towards desktop Linux

Centrelink continues its crawl towards desktop Linux: "Thursday October 28 ZDNet Australia

By Munir Kotadia, ZDNet Australia

Centrelink, the Australian government agency responsible for distributing social security payments, is expecting delivery of Novell's Open Enterprise Server technology early next year -- another step on the organisation's path that seems to lead to the ubiquitous deployment of Linux.

Peter Gunning, Centrelink's national manager for infrastructure architecture, told ZDNet Australia that Centrelink is investigating various combinations of hardware and software to find the best possible solution in terms of manageability, security and efficiency.

According to Gunning, Centrelink's long term goal is to consolidate the organisation's multitude of operating systems onto a single platform -- or as few as are absolutely necessary."

Pete's Points

Watch this space.

Considering that this organisation pays out over A$55 billion to welfare recipients in Australia and has millions of transactions per day, any adoption of Linux will be of great interest to corporations around the world and will no doubt also be of interest to Microsoft.

Weapons Remain Unaccounted for in Iraq

By WILLIAM J. KOLE, Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Austria - "From the deserts of the south and west to the outskirts of Baghdad, Iraq (news - web sites) is awash in weapons sites — some large, others small; some guarded, others not. Even after the U.S. military secured some 400,000 tons of munitions, as many as 250,000 tons remain unaccounted for."

If this information from Associated Press is correct then the following questions emerge:

Who sold Iraq the munitions? Could it, by any chance, have been the USA?

Given the level of insurgency within Iraq, when will it occur to the military who are part of the occupying forces, that this amount of equipment is what is what makes it possible to undertake the bombings which are happening?

Assuming that this level of understanding is being reached, when are the authorities going to secure the sites and prevent the insurgents from being able to access them?

I find it difficult to believe that information about these sites is not available to the Americans following their interrogation of all of the high ranking officials that they captured in the aftermath of their attack on Iraq.

Are people dying needlessly because of incompetence or stupidity?