Looking over the Omega Diver 300 series, the Omega twenty-two year association with the James Bond franchise has brought about some limited release watches. Dedicated to the role of product placement, the Commander series is one such timepiece. But really, I’m not sold on a watch based on a fictional movie character; at least with the TAG Heuer Senna series, Ayrton Senna was a brand ambassador before his tragic death.

Omega had the chance to design something special, the white face is different to the existing series, the scalloped bezel is standard Diver 300 with ceramic insert. I have never been a big fan of the NATO strap but on this occasion I think it works, the colour scheme is related to the military insignia. What really irks me is the 007 counterweight on the second hand; to my thinking, this is really crass and this single feature prevents me from ever purchasing this timepiece.

Unfortunately, the 007 also spells LOO when the secondhand moves through a portion of the arc when the secondhand is inverted; an engineering oversight if ever I have seen one. The date has a red 7 numeral with the remainder of the date numerals coloured blue, this is somewhat pretentious in my view.

The display case-back allows the wearer to view the partial in-house 2500 co-axial movement; I say partial as the 2500 is designed on the base ETA 2824-2 movement within the Swatch Group. As such, the technical aspects of this timepiece is identical to any Diver 300. The standard Diver 300 is fitted with the solid laser etched case back.

After years of flying with Singapore Airlines, I have finally cracked Elite Silver, yet apart from some baggage tags and a flashy new membership card, I really don’t know what this status upgrade gets me.

So some research is in order, what exactly is Elite Silver? For starters, you get a 25% increase in Kris Flyer miles. As this status is time based, a further 25,000 Kris Flyer miles added to your account results in an automatic 12 month extension but I’m yet to find out if this gets me entrance to the SilverKris Lounge, priority boarding or priority check-in? Checking the Singapore Airlines website, I couldn’t really garner any further information. Regardless, I’m happy to get a 12 month access to to Elite Silver status so I guess I’ll find out on my next flight because I forgot to try it out on my last flights.

Is there any justice in the world? Highly unlikely, you can’t bring a person back to life but maybe those responsible for their death may face prosecution. Police officers Arnel Oares, Jerwin Cruz and Jeremmas Pereda are no doubt hoping the notoriously corrupt justice system in the Philippines will fail to adequately investigate the matter with the Duterte administration supporting the war on drugs.

The police officers are accused of murdering seventeen year old Kian Loyd Delos Santos after dragging the teenager into a dark alley and executing him. It was alleged by the police officers that Kian Loyd Delos Santos endangered police lives drawing a hand gun and firing at officers. President Duterte’s war on drugs has claimed over 12,000 lives and tend to follow a pattern; the alleged drug courier engages in a shootout with police, the police officers are forced to defend themselves and the drug pusher is shot. For a police force with a famously poor aim and marksmanship, they appear to be able to suddenly hit plenty of targets.

The CCTV footage would suggest otherwise, two plainclothes police officers can be seen dragging Kian Loyd Delos Santos into the lane way where he was executed before drugs and a hand gun were alleged to have been planted. There is plenty of corruption in South East Asia, the Philippines is an economic under performer due to the institutionalised corruption. No doubt the officers were unaware of the CCTV cameras and the existence of the footage, their statements don’t match the footage. This may be enough to convict the police officers and suspend Duterte’s war on drugs but don’t bet on it, this is a political program.

I saw the headline flash across my newsfeed, Mother’s Day cards will no longer use the word mum. So the headline took my interest and despite I clicked onto the article and found there was no official push to remove Mother’s Day from our calendar. This is just a UK supermarket selling gender neutral cards titled Happy You Day where the word mother doesn’t appear on the card – ironic.

Scrolling through the comments section, I saw the usual faux outrage, the personal attacks and taunts of snowflake and other barbs plus the usual trolls baiting the susceptible. I read the comments to attempt to gauge the public opinion but I find they are dominated by the same old hacks personally attacking any views different to their own. I  don’t care if they are left wing, progressive, right wing or conservative – you can state your opinion without attacking others.

I had always thought Mother’s Day, and Father’s Day for that matter was some slick marketing campaign designed to get us to part with out cash. To be honest, I never held much credence in Mother’s Day – why be nice to your mother just one day a year? So when I started searching and found that Mother’s Day actually has origins in ancient Greece and Rome – I was surprised.

Whilst Anna Jarvis is credited with founding the modern Mother’s Day in the United States in 1908, this was also an anti-war movement sediment that was promoted by her own mother who had died three years earlier. There were some great ideas with fundraising for charitable purposes such as mothers of poor families and mothers of World War I veterans.

Ironically, Jarvis then fought against the commercialisation of Mother’s Day actually going broke in the process, even the charitable objectives. She dubbed the promoters Christian pirates and was against the notion of the poor mother as she believed charity made them the object of pity. I can’t say I now have a new found respect for Mother’s Day because the crass commercialisation has overtaken the day but at least I know it didn’t start out that way.

Rolex is a brand associated with a multitude of sports from the British Open, Formula One, golf, equestrian and sailing. The Rolex sponsorship of major sailing events supports the branding of their product aligned to sports that high net worth individuals support.

Rolex sponsors major and prestigious regattas and events from the Sydney to Hobart Yacht Race, the Maxi Cup, the Swan Cup, the Fastnet Cup and the Farr® 40 world championship. Rolex is a luxury brand and yacht racing is seen as a rich man’s sport along with golf, horses and tennis; motor racing attracts high net worth individuals. Forget what the Americans say, Formula One is the pinnacle of motor racing. It is not hard to see Rolex advertising is strongly aligned to the very sports its clients support.

When Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull commented on the over-supply of law graduates, he should know, he has first hand experience both as a lawyer and as a businessman. Universities are churning out law students in record numbers and the industry doesn’t appear able to support the number of law graduates – Turnbull is right to be concerned.

Law is an important skill for political leaders, current Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has a law degree, former Prime Ministers Tony Abbott, Julia Gillard, John Howard and Bob Hawke were all law graduates along with hopeful Prime Ministerial candidate and Leader of the Opposition Bill Shorten. Regardless of party affiliation, law is an an important CV filler for a politician. One could argue that that law is important for business, it is an important skill set that may assist board decisions. Senior managers could well comprehend the consequences of their proposed actions and possible/probable repercussions for stakeholders.

Three arguments about law courses and lawyers generally exist, there are:

1. A law course is relatively inexpensive to set up; all that is required is a library of law references with space for as many students that can be crammed into a lecture hall.
2. When a case does go to court, 50% of lawyers will be wrong; this is an appalling failure rate that would not be tolerated in other professions.
3. Regardless of an over-supply of lawyers, competitive forces do not result in the cost of their services reducing, not that I have seen anyway. So much for the marketplace determining their value.

All jokes aside, the question is, do we allocate scarce resources to law courses where graduates have little chance of success in an open market. Law is important, why not better incorporate law units into business and commerce courses; possibly even a major in corporate law, contract management, economics, finance or international business. I hate seeing young people get into to debt at tertiary educational institutes and then lack the employment opportunities to pay back their fees and progress their careers.

In Australia, in many cases a trade is more valuable than most university degrees bar the top degrees of medicine, engineering, science and law. A technical trade is more valuable again providing wonderful opportunities for tradespeople around the country and the dominant feature of an apprenticeship is you get paid to learn.

An engineering trade encompasses the maintenance and repair of mobile plant machinery in engineering workshops and in the field. This is a broad trade involving engines, fuel systems, transmissions and drivetrains, steering, suspensions, hydraulics, low voltage electrics and electronics. People also have the opportunity for specialisation although I have always thought a generalised skill-set offers greater opportunity and earning potential over an extended period.

Plant Mechanics are employed in a variety of industries including open cut mining, underground mining, earthmoving, civil construction, diesel fuel injection, fork lift, elevated work platforms, ancillary equipment, marine, rail, exploration drilling, agricultural equipment, turbines, power generation, cranes and lifting equipment. My background began in civil construction before moving to open cut mining and then onto underground mining and that included short stints in marine, exploration drilling and power generation based in short-term contracts.

For myself, this has been a wonderful trade, I have gained personal freedom, the opportunity to travel, financial freedom and a large dose of self-esteem and self worth. The days of a grease monkey are history as modern machine systems require high level technical skills, diagnostic abilities, problem-solving skills, analytic skills whilst retaining a degree of manual dexterity and hand skills. Despite this, this trade offers wonderful opportunities for women as the trade is less about strength and more about knowledge application.

Miss Dior Blooming Bouquet is a tender floral bouquet that is delicate and light. This perfume is described as a springtime bouquet with a hint of elegant and light woody notes with white musk notes delicately wrapped around this springtime fragrance.

That’s a very complex description that far exceeds my ability to identify individual notes within the fragrance. I just hoped this is what she wanted, Christian Dior is supposed to be excellent quality – I hope I’m right. I purchased a bottle at great expense for my partner and whilst she liked the scent, she was left a little disappointed with perfume longevity.

According to the notes, the fruity top notes of essence of Sicilian orange combine with a tender floral heart dominated by Peony and Damask Rose. What I do know is that when women wear this Dior perfume, I’m told they are unable to identify this fragrance on themselves. I reckon this has to be a positive as men can’t stand overbearing perfume.

However, the complaints I have heard is that this fragrance doesn’t last. As an eau de toilet, this is about right as this lightly scented cologne has a reasonably high alcohol content and as such a weaker concentration than a eau de parfum. I wish I had known this before I purchased this as a gift as it would have saved some disappointment.

Former Prime Minister John Howard stated he admired many things about Americans, however their culture of gun ownership was not one of them. The 1996 Port Arthur massacre was very personal to me, I worked together with the first person to be killed during the mass shooting.

Katie was a young woman full of hope and substance, she had spoken of her excitement of her trip to Tasmania weeks before her trip. She had an outgoing and friendly personality – everyone liked her. Back then, I was a fly in/fly out mining worker getting ready to embark on my first backpacking trip to Europe, my life was full of hope and aspiration as well.

Nowhere written in the Australian constitution is the right to bear arms, if you run an incompetent government, the Governor General has the power to sack the Prime Minister, as Gough Whitlam found out, there is no need to overthrow the government in violent uprising – that’s what the polling booth is for.

Likewise, John Howard was also reminded of the democratic process when his government was relieved of its duties following the 2007 federal election. Both times an uprising occurred, in Howard’s case, as Prime Minister for nearly 12 years (the second longest serving Prime Minister in Australia’s history) the people felt his highly competent government had been in power long enough and it was time for a change.

The people of Australia transitioned power in a democratic manner, there is no requirement to bear arms and overthrow the government. There is a role for guns in Australia from the military, police forces and even farmers who need guns for various roles – the average Australian however doesn’t require a gun.

Torrens University, Australia’s newest tertiary institution was formally opened in 2014 with much fanfare following a flying visit from former US President Bill Clinton. As Torrens University is part of the Laureate network, the university has links to a vast network of universities worldwide with what I expected to be shared resources and synergies. In 2016 Torrens University bought out Chifley Business School in what should have been a positive transaction for students – sadly this was not the case.

I am tending to believe the quality of their teaching and learning just isn’t what I initially expected. I did my undergraduate degree at the University of New England, a well established regional university with an excellent reputation for online education. I had grown accustomed to a quality learning process so my expectations were relatively high. The staff interactions were excellent, we were required to join online discussions and we received marks for mandatory posts on a learning outcome and we were required to provide a minimum number of referenced replies to student posts.

This brought about excellent student interactions and we learnt from fellow students. I had trouble with one lecturer and was dismayed to have him for a second semester directly after I complained about him. Torrens University started well, the client advisor was an American from Walden University in the United States, he was in constant contact with me during the initial stages.

The Americans know customer service and this guy was good; however, it appears he was sequestered for the start-up phase and when he returned to the United States so did the outstanding service. Torrens University utilises the Blackboard learning management system like many tertiary institutions and colleges. So this learning management system is industry standard.

I had previously used the Moodle learning system so a period of adjustment was necessary. However, the Torrens University instructional design processes are well below expected standard I expected. Furthermore, they have not been updated each unit since before the Chifley Business School purchase and we were doing outdated assessments from previous trimesters. That in itself isn’t a bad thing if the assessments are good.

The issues arose from different versions and the dates on the assignments – it was very confusing as you were never sure of submission dates. When you are undertaking multiple units, setting schedules was much harder than it needed to be. The schedule dates in some units were aligned to trimester 1, 2015 and we were in trimester 2, 2016, this made following the schedule almost impossible and complaints weren’t headed.

The lecturers didn’t have access to the learning management system course design and were instead purely learning facilitators, initially some of whom were employed at rival universities. I am guessing a contract was awarded for the initial course design but an ongoing maintenance contract was not costed and instructional designers were not employed on staff.

Torrens University was not utilising hard copy textbooks instead opting for the Vitalsource electronic book; ok, that is an acceptable option. The problem arose after the amalgamation. The learning management system wasn’t updated and the required readings were totally skipped instead just relying on supplementary readings that really didn’t align to learning outcomes.

As the learning management system still aligned to the required reading, I searched online for a free pdf version of the textbook that I shared with my fellow students – not good enough. These courses are not cheap and they initially came with ebooks for study, all of a sudden after the amalgamation, the ebooks were dumped and the course required us to still read certain chapters.

Supplementary readings are exactly that, supplemental information to reinforce an objective and are not core learning concepts. Now they were being used as the main source of learning, the required online interactions really didn’t embed learning and the concepts were really unclear. I won’t complain too much, I received a scholarship that saw me granted advanced standing and a discount on the remaining units that saw the price significantly reduced. One hopes the management really engages in self-reflection and engages in critical analysis like we are told we should do.

All in all I enjoyed the online experience despite the stress, I began with two units per trimester but soon worked out after the second trimester that I was unable to keep up the pace. Instead I only undertook a single unit per trimester. I was able to concentrate on the coursework, even then I struggled as there is plenty to learn. This took me beyond the timeframe of my scholarship but I felt I gained more out of it and there was really no value graduating in the middle of a downturn.