The use of aerial drone warfare devised by Ukraine using commercial and military drones will change land warfare. Not only are drones used for reconnaissance, they are used to drop ordnance on moving targets such as tanks, armoured vehicles, missile launchers, troop carriers, command posts and troops in trenches are not safe.

Whole units are dedicated to drone warfare, there is reconnaissance, tank and armoured vehicle warfare, and anti-troop warfare. The sight of drone operators dropping grenades through open tank hatches is great viewing, then the cook off begins. Turrets from tanks are launched into the sky in a spectacular fashion, Russian tank design is at fault here, NATO design requirements prevent these violent outcomes.

Now the Ukrainian military was able to engage in counter-drone warfare during their incursion into Russia. Despite being initially behind in drone technology and warfare, the Russians were able to regain lost initiative and secure drones from Iran and other allies. The Russians were then engaging in drone warfare against Ukrainian forces, reasonably effectively as well. Now Ukraine has once again regained the initiative with technological advantage and innovative tactics. Drone warfare will continue to evolve with further innovations pending.

What we have learned is warfare has inextricably changed, drones are used for both surveillance and armed missions. There is hardly an offensive manoeuvre performed without knowledge by the defending army. Even Russian defensive positions are attacked by Ukrainian kamikaze drones, every time they stick their heads up out of the trenches, they are unsure of whether a grenade will be dropped on them. Russian soldiers routinely surrender to drones, they drop their weapons and follow the drones back to the Ukrainian position.

Ukraine does not have a functional navy, but has neutralised the Black Sea Fleet through the clever use of missiles and kamikaze drones. Ukraine is the smaller nation, they have to make do with less so have to be very careful how they employ limited resources. The Black Sea Fleet was launching cruise missiles on civilian targets, this included hospitals, civilian infrastructure and residential apartments. Russian targeting is not so bad that they accidentally hit these structures, they are targeted with precise coordinates inputting to systems.

Why have dive certification agencies held out so long in teaching dive computer use to entry-level divers? The answer is simple yet stunning. Dive certification agencies derive their income from dive training materials, diver certification fees, dive centre and resort membership fees, dive instructor and divemaster membership fees and instructor certification evaluations.

Dive certifications are the largest source of revenue followed by dive training materials and guess what, dive tables or an electronic version of a table is sold by the dive certification agency. These agencies derive no income from the sale of dive computers and have historically shown little interest in promoting dive computers.

The dive centre or resort on the other hand generates a large portion of their income from equipment sales and wants to sell as many dive computers as possible, now we have a situation where goals are misaligned. This is slowly changing, dive centre and resort owners are placing pressure on certification agencies to change their approach and standards to support dive operations.

Seriously, do regular divers actually dive without a computer these days? Sure, there will still be the resort diver who dives once a year and doesn’t own their own equipment who may still use tables but more often than not they will follow a dive guide who plans and manages their profile for them. Dive tables are designed for square profiles, how limited is such an approach? Why make the effort and steam to a beautiful wall, sloping reef or wreck and then limit yourself to such a restrictive profile when the computer divers are making long multi-level dives seeing so much more of the site – you just wouldn’t.

Once considered reckless, the notion of solo diving was not only discouraged, self reliance was actively taught. Technical Diving International was the first dive certification agency to issue solo diving certifications. People are solo diving anyway, I began solo diving with a little over 10 certified dives, I used to ask – why all the drama?

The solo diving course teaches divers to become self-sufficient and not rely on their buddy to make their dive safe. The solo diver needs good navigational skills, self-awareness, reasonable physical fitness, solid decision-making and they carry an alternate air source for redundancy anyway. This way, the onus is on the individual diver to plan and execute their own dive and not rely on someone else to do it for them. I still can’t understand what all the drama is about?

There were worldwide scenes of fat women fighting over toilet paper in Australia. It is disturbing to say the least, but one has to ask, where are all the groceries going? There is an irony where Australian supermarket shelves were stripped and the groceries sent overseas to China in sea containers, we were in the midst of a pandemic and the profiteering was disgusting.

There have been scenes of buses with trailers showing up in country towns and stripping local supermarkets of all groceries. There was discussions that groups were shipping groceries to China and elsewhere by stripping Australian shelves causing shortages in a time of a national emergency. We have a virus that started in a market in Wuhan, the authorities covered it up allowing it to escape to the world. Chinese New Year came along, people went on holidays because they care only for themselves and now this was a worldwide pandemic.

The Prime Minister thanked the Chinese community in Australia, no problems with that. However, it is claimed to be a very self-centered where busloads arrive and strip supermarket shelves, they have no shame when it comes to profiteering in a pandemic. Instead of being civic minded, this is what has become the new norm in Australian society. Considering that this whole pandemic started in China, you would have expected the Chinese community in Australia to be doing their very best to be seen as good citizens – apparently not. Somethimes, it has to be more than making a personal profit, it has to be ethical decision-making.

Initially, I was under the impression that the Omega Speedmaster Professional was the only timepiece certified by NASA for spaceflight. Whilst some research proved that to be technically correct, the Bulova chronograph made an outing on the wrist of David Scott during the third Apollo 15 moonwalk without being NASA flight certified.

Apparently, Mission Commander David Scott wore his Speedmaster on the lunar surface during his first and second moonwalks but during the second moonwalk before the crystal mysteriously popped off forcing him to wear his personal backup Bulova chronograph for the third moonwalk. It just happened to be a coincidence that Scott’s Speedmaster failed, but fortunately a he bought his personal and specifically designed one-of-a-kind Bulova so was able to wear that as a replacement. There was a suggestion that the contract should be awarded to an American manufacturer and not a Swiss company.

Bulova allegedly attempted to utilise their White House contacts to seek favourable concessions to allow the contract to be awarded to their timepiece. However, Omega was the only timepiece to pass the tests, Bulova was not even considered in the initial selection so the Bulova timepiece could be considered a stowaway not meeting test criteria. As Scott’s Bulova chronograph timepiece was private property and not the government issued Speedmaster and property of the US government, he was able to retain his moonwatch as official timepieces had been donated to the Smithsonian Institute for display. As private property, Scott was able to sell his Bulova chronograph at private auction in 2015 for $1.6 million – that’s a pretty tidy sum.

An absolutely ruthless weapon has appeared in Ukraine, a drone that dispenses molten metal onto Russian positions. Known as dragon drones, the drones are attacking established Russian positions in wooded areas forcing them to flee. If the molten metal does not get you, there is still the fire caused by the material.

The thermite drone is flown over Russian positions and the thermite is dropped on the forested areas and through open tank hatches. This is a white hot mixture of aluminium powder and iron oxide burning at around 2200 degrees Celsius – nasty stuff. Firebombing is not new, Dresden and Hamburg in Germany, Tokyo was firebombed by napalm and Vietnam had napalm used extensively.

Thermite is not banned in warfare, whilst the use of thermite is banned on civilian targets, legitimate military targets are accepted. Other forms of incendiary weapons include napalm and white phosphorus. The psychological factors, thermite burns through most materials, if you get burned with thermite it can burn through skin, muscles, tendons, ligaments and even into bone. The rehabilitation is long and painful lasting months leaving huge physical and psychological scars.

The Ukrainian push into Russian territory continues, no one is really sure of the strategic goals, sure, we all speculate but no one knows for sure. I am seeing a trend, this will be much longer than anticipated incursion. I initially thought this would be a foray into Russia to shake them up, then a strategic pullback, this is not the case, as we are learning – this is way bigger.

What we do know is Ukraine has pulled defensive troops and equipment out of the Donbas region to engage in this spectacular offensive. As a consequence, Russians have been forced to flee the Kurst region, some are headed north to the major cities Moscow and St Petersburg, Putin cannot hide this from the population any longer.

I suspect with winter approaching, this offensive has been brilliantly timed to cause Russian refugees fleeing the fighting into temporary accommodation just as the Russian winter approaches. As Ukraine drives deeper into Russian territory with drones targeting energy resources, the loss of energy transmission decreases. This will force the western Russian population into energy shortages in winter. No longer can troops or equipment mass on the border with any degree of safety, Russian airfields are being hit deep into Russian territory – they are no longer safe.

Putin ordered the special military operation, aka the Ukrainian war without provocation and turned a 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine into a 2024 Ukrainian invasion of Russia. In the four weeks of the defense of Russia, Putin has been unable to stop or turn back the Ukrainian invasion forces. What Putin did was launch missiles, troops and aircraft into Ukraine from behind the safety of the Russian borders.

The NATO aligned countries had prevented Ukraine from using supplied weapons directly against Russian territory. Another red line had been crossed, Putin was bluffing and NATO countries must now be emboldened, all the posturing that prevented NATO from acting decisively has now vanished. Had NATO acted properly, this war would now be fought on Ukrainian terms if it was still going at all. The NATO mistakes has cost the brave Ukrainian forces dearly in terms of lives lost, wounded and incapacitated and equipment.

I can’t really explain why old style watches are so popular today, it may be because many online kickstarter businesses are popping up with internet stores with watchmakers wanting to show that they have been there for the journey. It may be because people believe the style back in the early to mid twentieth century was superior, fashion does reinvent itself. It may even be because people feel greater workmanship was built into these timepieces. I suggest watchmakers are happy to manufacture re-editions of a popular line because that is what the watch community wants. They are responding to the customer’s needs, I am sure market research is leading them to this conclusion.

Clearly dive watches can’t really go back to the early twentieth century, scuba diving really became popular based on the adventures of Frenchman Jacques Cousteau and his crew on board the Calypso. Maybe you feel like you are part of the discovery of the oceans, vintage watches are big business now, many people are purchasing second hand watches on online platforms such as ebay, Chrono24 or even auctions. All of a sudden, your grandfather’s watch was valuable, who would have known the watch the old guy wore daily was now a collector’s item – was the old guy really that cool?

The 42 mm Heritage Diver is a re-edition of the 1960s model, the advantage of a re-edition is a sapphire crystal may be fitted such as in the case of the Heritage Diver providing scratch resistance for the crystal. The watch doesn’t have 40 or more years of wear and you don’t expose large sums of money to potential fraudsters if you are purchasing online. I love vintage watches but I don’t want to part with my cash hoping that the person will send what I paid for; or worse, the watch is a fake or frankenwatch. This is a watch that has been either modified or serviced with non-standard components.

Once watches become vintage, you don’t want to take them diving because if they flood you have just destroyed a perfect vintage timepiece. After I had a 1967 timepiece refurbished at a watchmaker, he informed me that watches over 40 years of age shouldn’t be immersed anymore as they do not rate the water resistance anymore. The powerplant is the L633 self-winding automatic movement vibrating at 28,800 VPH providing 38 hours of power reserve. The three hand model shows hours minutes and seconds, the dial is a little busy with long minute markers; however, this is what people want and this is a popular rerelease.

I think the carelessness of smokers is causing pollution to our oceans; whilst the issue of plastics in the ocean has gained widespread media attention, cigarette butt pollution is much less documented.

I recall a conversation with an American guy I was diving with Indonesia; whilst this was some time ago the principles remain undiminished. He had previously been diving on the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, he explained the strict rules to me. He had been smoking on the boat and flicked his cigarette butt into the water, much to his surprise he was made to jump in the water and retrieve the rubbish he had just thrown into the ocean.

He told me he thought it was fair enough after he had time to think about it. Here he was diving in a pristine destination and the potential to spoil it had just been averted. He hadn’t really thought about the consequences of his actions and I am guessing the manner in that he was asked to retrieve his rubbish had a large bearing on his new attitude. I think that was fantastic, he now holds a greater awareness of ocean pollution and he did spreading the word.

I sometimes laugh when people start listing individuals who do not hold university degrees who have succeeded in business. Yeah, sure there have been individuals that have been successful in business such as Richard Branson, whilst Richard has a well documented case of dyslexia, Richard hires top notch people to run his businesses when he is piloting a speedboat across the Atlantic Ocean or taking a balloon trip.

Tech entrepreneurs like Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Michael Dell, Larry Ellison, Mark Zuckerburg and Steve Jobs all dropped out of university and succeeded in business – true. These are guys who attended some pretty major American universities; successfully applying to these institutions indicates high level intelligence and academic application, they were already at the top of their game.

The question is, how many engineers, management majors, marketing majors and accountants do these entrepreneurs employ? Guys like David Karp of Tumblr, who sold the company to Yahoo Inc for $1.1 billion. Bill Gates may not have completed his college degree, he was however admitted to the prestigious Harvard University. So too was Mark Zuckerburg, his company now employs over 7000 people – you can bet he employs suitably qualified people.

So while Mark Zuckerburg may not have completed his studies at Harvard, you know he is employing people from these institutions. Not only that, he has now joined the board of China\’s Tsinghua University School of Economics and Management. This could only mean, these guys rate university education highly; after all, they are employing graduates from these very schools they attended themselves.