I woke on Sunday morning and opened my computer to check the news. To my surprise I learned US President Donald Trump ordered an airstrike on Iranian nuclear facilities. So Trump had given the ok to Operation Midnight Hammer forgoing a diplomatic solution.

At this point details were sketchy, what I learned was a mission had taken place and the US aircraft had left Iranian air space without detection or interception. The US flew B-2 Spirit bombers of the 509th Bomb Wing from Whiteman air force base in Missouri, this is the only air force base in the US. All 19 B-2 stealth bombers are based at Whiteman, although the B-2 may be temporarily based at Diego Garcia or Guam for short periods.

There was deception with a group of B-2 bombers flying towards Diego Garcia with transponders active as a decoy operation. The strike group of seven aircraft flew with complete radio silence from a different direction with multiple mid air refuelling and had escort aircraft at different times. I was astonished at the number of aircraft used in the mission and the degree of coordination required. Much of this information was learned from the Defence Department briefing and I would be interested to learn how much real information was omitted.

Prior to entering Iranian airspace, US submarines in the region launched tomahawk cruise missiles towards air defence targets. The B-2 strike group dropped 14 GBU-57 bunker-buster bombs were dropped on the Fordow and Natanz sites. Two GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrators [MOP] 13,600 kg tungsten tipped gravity bombs are carried on each B-2 bomber. The Esfahan site was hit with cruise missiles only causing extensive damage. This is the first time the GBU-57 has been used in combat with the US claiming the bomb can travel 60 metres underground on the first charge before detonating although I would expect these specifications to be conservative.

I have seen Alpina for sale in smaller retailers in Perth, Singapore and Manila. This is not a well known Swiss brand that has a high degree of brand awareness and brand recognition. For me, it is a little difficult to review as I have a hard time trying on models in showrooms. Founded in 1883 by Gottieb Hauser as Alpina Union Horlogère, Alpina has been around for a significant timeframe that should carry some degree of prestige at least.

The case shape is extraordinary, the cushion shaped case design is symmetric, the round flat screwed brushed bezel accentuates the case shape yet maintains the Gerald Genta inspired design of an integrated bracelet architecture. The bezel screws have a triangle centre that resembles the Alpina triangle. The angled lugs are designed for an integrated bracelet; however, a rubber strap works well on this occasion. I have learnt the drawbacks of a less than stellar bracelet on more value orientated models, so a rubber strap interests me on these sports models.

The dial is reversing interlocking triangles, the applied index markers with a double marker at 12 o’clock. The red triangle on the second hand offers good contrast on the dial, the straight index markers work well with the angled chapter ring. The second markings on the chapter ring free the dial from clutter. The Alpina name, logo and Geneva/date reference under the 12 o’clock marker are clean, with only an automatic marking under that hand pivot.

The power plant is a SW200, a Sellita 26 jewel automatic movement with 38 hour power reserve beating at 28,000 vph with an Alpina rotor. Since the Swatch Group limited the availability of ETA movements to non-Swatch Group watch manufacturers, Sellita movements are fast becoming industry standard. Sellita provides a number of movements with a varying degree of finishing, typically Sellita provides a dedicated rotor to allow viewing through a display caseback.

The reputation of Sellita has improved dramatically, I tend to believe this was a poorly conceived strategy by Swatch management, they have offered Selitta the opportunity to increase market share and increase brand recognition. The increased sales has allowed Selitta to offer improved versions with quality advances. This is a reasonable quality movement built on ETA architecture that has an ease of supply with no restrictions, it was inevitable that Sellita would seek to unseat ETA at some stage with quality improvements and greater brand recognition.

Whilst Tissot is an entry-level Swiss watch brand, they have some pretty decent products. Whilst I prefer their vintage inspired timepieces, they have some pretty good contemporary designs. I really like the hand wound movement, the lack of a rotor offers an excellent view of the movement, this is the ETA 6498-1 with 17 jewels, a solid mechanical movement.

The Petite Seconde is an excellent example of a 1948 vintage inspired timepiece. I saw some pictures online, so I decided to check out what they had to offer. There is an exhibition caseback to view the hand wound movement. The ETA 6498-1 automatic movement is well finished, I would argue better than standard Tissot automatic movements. My father has a Visodate with the Swatch Group ETA 2824-2, the winding rotor is Tissot but the finish is reasonably standard.

I have an Everytime Swissmatic and the display caseback shows a very low-cost and highly ordinary automatic movement with what am guessing is black plastic bridges. The general finish of the much cheaper Everytime Swissmatic is ordinary at best. The overall finish of the Petite Seconde is much improved, one has to appreciate this vintage timepiece is set at a higher price range and an unfair comparison shouldn’t be made. I am looking for a decent dress watch, very different from the usual dive and tool watch I normally wear.

At home I have a Nespresso machine, it is an easy way to make a reasonable quality coffee without the need to dispose of coffee grounds. My first real coffee machine was a 15 psi DeLonghi manual pump coffee machine, I loved it for 15 years and when it was starting to get a little old I moved it down to our weekend house. So my DeLonghi manual pump coffee machine still gets a run on the weekends I am down the house.

The machine came with some complimentary illy coffee pads, I believe they were pretty common in Europe but a little difficult to source in Australia. I managed to purchase some coffee pads, they were not the right size for the dedicated holder and did not work as well as I expected so I gave away the idea of coffee pads. At the time I was purchasing locally produced Brazilliano coffee and was pretty happy.

We could not source illy coffee in Perth, the David Jones department store imported the coffee but the cost was outrageous so I limited my illy coffee consumption to trips to Europe or South East Asia. Ironic really, it was easy to source in Asia and not in Australia, fortunately, this would not last forever.

First the major supermarkets carried both ground and whole illy beans, this competition halved the cost of illy beans and people started to appreciate the intense flavours. Finally, illy Nespresso pods were released in Australia and this changed my buying habits. No longer did I need to go to a Nespresso shop to purchase their coffee pods, I could just pick up some illy Classico at my local supermarket, pop them in the machine and have quality coffee at home.

I opened my self-managed superannuation fund way back in 1994 after being totally dissatisfied with the high fee, low return privately managed retirement fund environment. Even to close down and transfer my benefit into my self-managed superannuation fund was going to result in a significant fee based on a percentage of my balance. My old style 1980s era superannuation account was set up to benefit the adviser and not me.

I made a bad decision as an eighteen year old but was able to atone for my mistake as a twenty five year old. Not that a self-managed superannuation fund is cheap to administer. It is 2016 and I haven’t yet taken the financial penalty and transfer my existing funds into my self-managed superannuation fund, the market is in a down turn and against all contemporary advice, I am trying to time the market.

I also maintained a private superannuation fund as the fees were too expensive to warrant exiting early, I also had an industry fund as required by my employment conditions supplementing my self-managed superannuation fund. Running a self-managed superannuation fund is not a cheap option, you need a balance exceeding the average industry fund to see any benefit at all. The advantage of the self-managed superannuation fund is you control your investment mix, you can make investments and you decide on your level of return and ultimately your future.

I didn’t want to join the crony club, I believe in values and personal accountability, so this was never going to be the group I was going to compromise myself to become a part of – not at all. Not that I care, I have options and I am now in and out of this establishment. No longer do I have to put up with these kinds of annoyances. What I can say is, I never compromised myself, I never partook in the activities to become a member of the crony club.

I can safely say I wasn’t compromised, this is essential to equip myself for my next roles. There are opportunities available, you can’t be aligned to misappropriation of government funds, misusing government resources or abusing public privileges. In that regard, I can hold my head high, my personal actions were above workplace standards. I was the only member of the staff who had the knowledge and ability to maintain private sector skills and was freely able to move between various sectors.

The preamble to the laws of cricket is the preamble, the spirit of the game. Ok, so there are laws, better known as rules, so the umpires make their decisions based on the laws of cricket. So when we see the Alex Carey stumping of Jonny Bairstow, it was within the laws of the game and rightly given out. All the spirit of cricket does is undermine the rules of cricket.

So let’s take a look at the spirit of cricket as published by the MCC, let us see how the MCC fared here.
a) Did MCC members show respect to the players forced to walk through the Long Room? No.
b) Did they respect the authority of the umpire? No.
c) What about creating a positive atmosphere? No. Show self discipline even when things go against you? No.
d) Congratulate the opposition on their successes? No.

So who is complaining about the spirit of the game again? Oh, no leg to stand on here.

1) Respect is central to the Spirit of Cricket.
2) Respect your captain, team-mates, opponents and the authority of the umpires.
3) Play hard and play fair.
4) Accept the umpire’s decision.
5) Create a positive atmosphere by your own conduct, and encourage others to do likewise.
6) Show self-discipline, even when things go against you.
7) Congratulate the opposition on their successes, and enjoy those of your own team.
8) Thank the officials and your opposition at the end of the match, whatever the result.
9) Cricket is an exciting game that encourages leadership, friendship and teamwork, which brings together people from different nationalities, cultures and religions, especially when played within the Spirit of Cricket.

The Tissot Seastar 1000 Reference T120.407.37.051.00 is a 1000 feet [300 metre] rated dive watch, not to be confused with 1000 metres depth rating. The naming is a little misleading, apart from the US, the rest of the world works in metres and not feet and until I looked at the dial a little more closely, I thought it was 1000 metre rated. Every professional dive watch is now rated to 300 metres of water resistance. 

The 43 mm case is 316L stainless steel with a black PVD coating, screw-down crown and screw-in case back, this is a serious dive watch that looks the part and also is up for the task. The latest interaction of the Seastar comes with the Powermatic 80 automatic movement that can be viewed through the display caseback, this is a solid and proven ETA movement upgraded to Tissot specifications.

The all black case, dial, bezel insert and strap with white highlights really work, the black rubber strap is well suited to this watch. There is Super-LumiNova® on the hands and index markers. I do like the round index markers on the dial with straight markers on the major numbers. The date at 6 o’clock adds to the symmetry for the dial, all-in-all, I think the all black Seastar really works.