When you are diving on a charter vessel and the dive team set a 60 minute maximum dive time, I ask myself “why do people flaunt such rules?” Why do they care so little about everyone else’s dive experiences to serve themselves?

Even worse, diving from a tender and the whole dive crew surface and are waiting in the tender except for just two divers. People are sitting in the sun, they might need to use the toilet, lunch or breakfast might be served and just two people are holding the team up. This is a common courtesy but some people are so self-centered that they believe everybody should wait for them.

It is really not good enough and everybody else shouldn’t be so polite as to not bring up this issue that is inconveniencing everyone else. Maybe it is time to start punishing such blatant self-serving behaviour with missed dives, bans or extra costs. I also understand the economics of the situation, the dive operator needs to look after its paying customers and you need to talk to people in a respectful manner and also respect the other customers who have also paid the wages of the dive staff.

I’ve started to follow Russian punk music group Pussy Riot, not so much for their music but for their political activism. They are playing a high stakes game, they are under some deep pressure – I understand it is their own doing.

They are bold, that’s for sure, taking on the Russian political establishment is not for the faint hearted nor is making statements about Vladimir Putin. They have been thrown in prison, not just overnight either, they had a reasonably long stint. Whilst I don’t necessarily agree with their tactics, throwing a punk prayer in a Russian Orthodox church, I thought that was a little disrespectful.

Then after crashing the soccer pitch during the world cup protesting wearing fake police uniforms activist Peter Verzilov was flown to Germany after he was allegedly poisoned where he lost his sight and ability to speak, you apparently don’t mess with the Russian authorities. So now they are going to receive some compensation based on the court’s ruling – I wonder what is next.

What will it take to stop people rummaging through overhead lockers when an aircraft is to be evacuated? This is pure selfishness, they are placing the safety of the other passengers at risk for their personal possessions. This has to stop, what is more important, human life or material objects – the airlines and authorities have to get serious to prevent this from occurring in the future.

Options include, a locking device on overhead lockers in the case of emergency, this would add weight to the aircraft and could be locked from the flight deck. When the seat belt sign is on, the overhead lockers are secured electronically. This would require retrofitting all overhead compartments with some from of central locking.

However, as some safety equipment is stored in the overhead lockers, this would necessitate either special overhead compartments reserved solely for safety equipment or other designated spaces throughout the cabin designated for the storage and easy access of safety equipment. Maybe a fine that is expensive enough to act as a deterrent for passengers who exit aircraft with their personal belongings needs to be implemented by both the airlines and authorities is required. Passengers must follow the directions of the flight crew, precious time is lost when self-centred people open the overhead lockers to grab their personal possessions.

It is difficult enough during a normal disembarkation with people taking what would be considered an eternity to grab their belongings. During the safety briefing, passengers are informed that failure to comply will result in a fine for any person leaving the aircraft with baggage and belongings once an evacuation order has been directed – it’s that simple.

Firstly the airlines have to enforce the one bag 7kg limit that meets size requirements with all other baggage to be checked in. If a person attempts to board an aircraft with baggage that doesn’t meet the requirements, then they should not be allowed to board. This directive must be required by relevant authorities so that non-compliant airlines are also held accountable. This wouldn’t be difficult to enforce because the obligation is to protect people’s lives, personal property comes second.

So tumblr. has announced it is banning adult content and porn on December 17, whilst plenty of users on the social network are up in arms, I will be happy. They didn’t really ban porn, they have just been more cautious in what is posted.

I am still unsure if tumblr. will retrospectively remove unsuitable content as that would be a major undertaking but I’m sure algorithms can be written. I am finding people are unhappy; however, so many people are leaving the network as their accounts are bombarded with questionable content. I find out parent company Yahoo! will act as child pornography was found to be circumnavigating the site’s filters. It takes considerable effort to edit and remove content as a user, I am happy for followers to leave if they clean up the micro-blogging platform.

I was wandering around the Shangri La mall in Mandaluyong and I was pretty interested in the Omega and Rolex stores alongside each other when I chanced upon the Panerai store.

As I wandered in and spun around I was immediately taken by the black & white nautical photographs hanging on the wall. Not only do I love sailing photographs, I really love old time yachts powered up hiking into the wind with their abundance of sail area. This is a style and branding suiting my interests, this is a brand I feel comfortable with. I already knew that Panerai was a brand exclusively supplying the Italian navy, only recently expanding to the luxury items market.

The retail assistant was very knowledgeable, she knew her product and very enthusiastic to run me through their range. I had planned for a quick look around the store with the possibility of trying on a single timepiece. Sure, she is commissioned based and working in sales but I felt she exceeded her job description.

Sales staff are normally pretty vary of time wasters and I was up front that I wouldn’t be purchasing today. You normally expect a degree of disinterested service and minimal effort, this is to be expected with the current short-term views to retail. Whilst I wasn’t in the market for a Panerai timepiece that day, when I am ready, I know where to go and who to speak to.

Online learning has many advantages over traditional classroom learning environments for select subjects. Naturally, not all subjects and disciplines lend themselves to online learning strategies, business and management is one such subject – business theory is easily disseminated online. Adult learners are highly motivated, so this is a major benefit for universities.

The biggest disadvantage of online learning strategies is the lack of networking opportunities and inclusion factors. After I completed my online MBA that was pretty much it, I flew down to Adelaide to pick up my certificate at the graduation ceremony where I had never met any of my classmates. My plan was to network with my classmates that I had never met, swap business cards and speak of potential opportunities, business ideas and industry news. I never met up, networked or discussed opportunities with any class mates or university staff, it was very disappointing.

Whilst not meeting one class mate or academic staff connected to my MBA education eventuated, what I immediately noticed was every body just stood around in their graduating groups. I quickly learnt these groups were filled with face-to-face graduates who all knew each other through shared class time and experiences, no doubt many were now friends out of class.

As I stood in line waiting for my academic robes, I listened to these graduating students discuss their work placements and new employment opportunities arising from their study. A number had picked up state government positions whilst the rest were employed in private enterprise. My post-graduate education experiences were vastly different to their under-graduate studies and job network.

While I searched for my classmates, none of whom I actually knew, these were just names from our online interactions. I was expecting the university to organise groupings led by the academic staff, none of the academic staff were present, this was disappointing. I walked around introducing myself, I had identified the faculty colours but met not one person I knew.

I am glad I came down to Adelaide a few days early to sightsee with my father, I had planned to quickly fly down, attend the graduation and immediately return home. I’m glad I chose to look around Adelaide and surrounds, we had a fun time over five days and this wasn’t a wasted trip after all. I liked Adelaide, I pretty much stayed in the city, whilst we went out to a few suburbs, it was really a city trip and I was fine with that.

Leading into December, Jacaranda season is in full bloom, but we don’t expect this to last all the way to Christmas. Jacaranda season runs from late spring to early summer and we all love the purple, the streets come alive.

Jacaranda trees are not native to Australia, the sub-tropical tree is native to Central and South America and have been here for about 150 years. Seeds were transported to Australia among other countries by seafarers, the jacaranda is pretty much an international tree now. In Perth the trees are deciduous, they look terrible in winter stripped of leaves and foliage but this time of year the explode in colour bringing plenty of Christmas cheer, just a shame it never lasts all the way to Christmas.

I note with increasing interest the inclusion of units in business and management courses requiring completion of business ethics, sustainability and the effects of globalisation on society. The business world is taking corporate social responsibility very seriously – this is a fantastic outcome.

Viewing course overviews at a number of universities; as a signatory to PRME, that is, Principles for Responsible Management Education, the steering committees consist of the United Nations Global Compact, Association of MBAs, Association of Asia Pacific Business Schools and other professional associations – this apparently is taken very seriously in the academic community.

Corporations such as Enron, Arthur Anderson, WorldCom, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns collapsed spectacularly on a worldwide basis. While more specifically in an Australian context Bond Corporation, Qintex, HIH Insurance and the One.Tel communications corporation all committed corporate fraud – that is one part of the ethical framework business must adhere to.

To meet the rigors of sustainability, employing an ethical strategy observing ethical principles need to embed the concept of triple bottom line into business activities. The corporate world is involved in development, major corporations have a role to play in sustainable development, aid programs and social inclusion.

Is it just me or is the Rolex DateJust an old man’s watch? Nearly thirty years ago I purchased a fake Rolex off the street in Kuta, Bali and I reckon even now I wouldn’t be paying full price for a DateJust. Naturally, the DateJust is the quintessential Rolex, released in 1945, this timepiece is pretty much the workhorse of the Rolex range. The innovative DateJust was named after the date just jumped at midnight to the new numeral instead of the slow sweep over a number of hours as had been the case. The jubilee bracelet, cyclops over the date and oyster case pretty much guaranteed the DateJust would become a modern day classic.

Possibly what skewed my view of the DateJust was the fact that I thought this just couldn’t be a real model because it looked so ghastly. I actually thought it was a run of the mill fake watch with just a Rolex crown logo attached to it; you could imagine my surprise when I found out this an actual model. I just wanted a fake Rolex to bring home for a bit of a laugh for friends and family; naturally they saw straight through my guise and my joke watch didn’t get as many laughs as expected. Needless to say, I had no idea of the Rolex line although I was well aware of the branding but I had never seen one in the flesh.

I don’t actually think I would have had the same reaction if the first fake Rolex I came across was a Submariner, a GMT Master, an Explorer or a Cosmograph Daytona. What I really hated was the serrated, or what Rolex describes as fluted bezel, the gold and silver jubilee five-link bracelet let a lot to be desired and I didn’t much care for the cyclops over the date. Rolex uses 904L and 18 ct gold for both the case and bracelet, the describe the metal combination as Rolesor, The monobloc 41 mm middle case has a screw-in crown, a screw-in case-back and is rated to a depth of 100 metres.

The COSC chronograph certified 3235 Rolex in-house movement falls within a -2/+2 second a day precision. The winding is a bidirectional self-winding perpetual rotor with a paramagnetic blue paracrom hairspring and a power reserve of 70 hours. Needless  to say, the DateJust doesn’t come cheap due to the engineering that went into the in-house movement and manufacture of case and bracelet. But unfortunately, the DateJust will forever be in my mind, maybe unfairly, an old man’s watch easily replicated throughout South East Asia.

Having picked by my High Sierra overseas traveling bag via reward points from my credit card use sight unseen, I have had an excellent run from my points purchase. I am aware many travel bloggers write about their old backpack in order to secure some form of sponsorship from a manufacturer or supplier. I have no such sponsorship nor am I seeking any deals, I just like what this manufacturer produces and I am happy to acknowledge their excellent range of traveling bags.

I always recognise a High Sierra bag as the luggage rolls past on conveyor belt, they are of heavy duty construction, well made with plenty of pockets and partitions to separate your belongings. The problem I find with the bag is that the heavy construction also adds weight and when I am on my dive holidays carting my dive gear around, I get pretty close to my luggage weight limit – that’s my only issue.