The abduction of Naama Levy occurred just over a year ago, she was 19 years old at the time and stationed at the Nahal Oz kibbutz surveillance base near the Israeli/Gaza border barrier. What was known is Naama was taken across the Gaza border and into the tunnel system. A year on, we do not know if Naama is still alive, how she has been held if she is alive and her potential state of mind after this harrowing experience.

What we can clearly see that Naama was beaten, she is covered in blood and bruises as she is pulled out of the vehicle across the Gaza border. We can clearly see she is bleeding into her pants, there would not be too many arguing she has not been brutally sexually assaulted. A year on, Palestinians are still dying in the fight to free the hostages. Hamas does not want to release women, the world will then know what happened to the women during the October 7 invasion and the continued sexual assault of the women held captive. The Palistinian apologists who support terrorism really have no answers for this brutality.

I began writing this post about two years before Covid-19, so I decided to scrap the original post and start again. This is a little unusual, I don’t like totally rewriting but this was worth revisiting. When face-to-face classes were suspended at universities, colleges and schools, students were required to continue their studies at home. This worked ok for the richer first-world nations, the outcomes for students in developing nations were unbelievably compromised.

Vocational education and training along with higher education had been slowly transitioning to online classes. Workplace based training and development has been pushing the technology constraints, unfortunately, state government colleges have failed to embrace technology. University students have the option of online or face-to-face classes so university students can optimise their time.

Mining companies have been utilising online site inductions for some time now, for me it is far better than losing a day of site time, I don’t mind doing the online site induction in my own time. Sure beats a three day face-to-face induction as I can race through the mundane information and just concentrate on what I don’t know.

As a learning and development graduate in 2014, I was exposed to current technology and practices. Whilst six years has passed, some of the systems we learnt used better technology than we use now, we didn’t have Zoom, although we had a video collaboration program.

As Zoom took over, despite its inherent faults, it was an instant success. Google released their premium service Meet, Cisco Webex had already been used by businesses for some time. For business, this was a natural progression as they were already using conferencing programs. Collaborative programs are now so common in business, it is not unusual anymore, people just accept it, so it is really well suited for learning.

Facilitators with no online experience were forced online, this led to poor outcomes for students and trainees. The learning content was outdated, not suited for online delivery and poorly constructed. Instructional design is mandatory for quality student outcomes, any educational and training institution not employing instructional designers treats their students with disdain.

What worked was organisations with online learning expertise, experience and processes. There is nothing wrong with online delivery for many courses. Whilst MOOCs were well received early, the clientele was mostly post-graduate learners and not new learners. They are motivated and well suited to online knowledge-based delivery as they have base knowledge, skills and abilities who are seeking to unskilled. As we move to more flexible delivery methodologies, online delivery is both a cost and time effective mode of delivery.

I have never flown Delta before, after reading about this, I don’t think I would much like to fly with them. Surely they had the opportunity to stop what was going on, this is disgusting behaviour, what were these people thinking? In such circumstance, do the crew have the power to restrain these people as they are creating a unhygienic situation, this is a safety issue and has ramifications for all the passengers.

So what happened, the parents of the child didn’t want to take their child into a toilet. So what did they do? They laid newspapers on the airline seat and let the kid defecate on the seat. Of course the smell went all through the cabin, I am glad I was not on that flight, they showed no concern for any other person on the flight. I ask myself, what goes through their minds? Although this incident occurred back in 2014, this is something you don’t forget. Unfortunately, this was not the first incident of this occurring, so you have to ask, is this normal behaviour?

The flight was from Beijing to Detroit, that would have been a long flight, forget about eating on that flight. Whilst Chinese social media lit up, they have a point, these people did embarrass the country. This happens all the time, maybe not this exact incident, but people misbehave and bring a country into disrepute with other travelers. I just hope I am never on an aircraft where this type of incident occurs, at the very least, they should be charged and banned by the airline for any future travel – that should be a serious ban.

I have been asked what the button at the 10 o’clock position actually did on the Omega Seamaster series of dive watches. It was a fair question so I thought about how I could explain to my work colleagues who really didn’t comprehend the complexities of helium in diving. I had heard of the helium escape valves on the Rolex Submariner dive watches and how the professional divers preferred these dive timepieces.

The purpose of the helium escape valve is due to the molecular structure of helium gas, the gas is 2.63 lighter than air. During deep decompression dives greater than 60 metres, various helim mixes are utilised with commercial divers spending extended time at depth. During the dive (compression) phase divers are at depth, they enter and exit a diving bell that is held at the same pressure as the surrounding water pressure. During the dive phase, the lighter helium gas is able to penetrate the seals and enter the timepiece.

During the decompression phase, the surrounding air pressure is reducing [gradually] allowing the gas absorbed in the diver’s bodies to diffuse out. The pressure differential between the surrounding pressure and the watch case can cause the crystal to pop out. To prevent this occurring, there is an internal valve that is either automatic [Rolex] or manual [Omega] allowing the gas to escape. This allows the pressure to equalise ensuring no damage occurs  to the timepiece.

Whilst this is a  requirement for commercial saturation divers,  professional divers such as dive instructors, dive guides or technical divers have no requirement for the helium escape valve but this remains a feature of professional dive timepieces. Even for most commercial divers, the helium escape valve is not required as depths and durations do not require such extended decompressions on the ocean bottom. Really this is more marketing than mechanics.

I walked into Mazzucchelli’s Jewellers in the Karrinyup Shopping Centre in Perth’s northern suburbs to purchase a Tissot PRS 516 for my nephew’s eighteenth birthday later in the year. I enquired about the Tissot PRS 516 and the TAG Heuer Formula One quickly discounting the wrist feel of the entry level TAG Heuer Formula One for the more robust feel of the Longines Conquest.

For not a whole lot more, I was able to upgrade to the Longines Conquest. I believe the Conquest is a much better option even if the Tissot PRS 516 is a chronograph inspired by classic 1960s motorsport. The Conquest I chose for my nephew is a three hand model although a chronograph is available, the dial of the three-hand model is clear and uncluttered. Later when I discussed watches with him, he did not like a chronograph as the dial is too busy.

The 41 mm stainless steel case is water resistant to 30 Bar [300 metres] and fitted with a screw-down case-back embossed with the Longines winged hourglass logo enhancing professional level water resistance rating. The large screw-in crown is protected with a crown guard that is fitted externally. The three-piece H-link bracelet is stainless steel fitted with a triple safety folding clasp keeping the bracelet lines clean, the bracelet is pretty top notch.

The black lacquered dial is polished with Arabic numerals at the 12 o’clock and 6 o’clock positions and hour markers around the dial with the date window positioned at the 3 o’clock position. The silver polished hands and markers have a luminous coating allowing low light reading of the dial. I really enjoy the chambered bezel adding to the minimalist look of the Conquest, dating back to the original release in 1954, this timepiece isn’t over complicated. A scratch resistant sapphire crystal is treated with multiple layers of anti-reflective coating on the underside.

I chose the the L157 quartz movement as my nephew is young and wont fully appreciate the engineering of mechanical movement plus the servicing costs of a mechanical movement are a little prohibitive for a young man starting out on his life journey. A quartz movement better suits his stage of life, the accuracy of the quartz movement is fantastic and he won’t need to be continually resetting the time as I hope to find him an apprenticeship and he shouldn’t wear a wrist mounted watch in the workshop.

The private sector is set up to offer performers opportunities, the private sector is a different monster entirely. I see individuals excelling in the private sector, I also see talented, but ethical individuals going nowhere in the public sector. This is the culture of the organisation, the culture requires talented individuals with drive to question their decision to join government institutions and I think it is fair enough. The old rule of talent moving to the private sector and plodders moving into government still holds true.

Not only is remuneration better with salary, bonus and conditions, it allows the motivated to excel. In comparison, the sheltered workshop attitude of the government reinforces the differences between private enterprise, with the emphasis on enterprise and government employees dragging the chain around. The term leadership is bandied around, I really don’t see a lot of leadership in government organisations, I do see a lot of toxic behaviour though. 

So, where does this leave us? How does government businesses become more competitive? It starts at the management level, the performance management process is the foundation of exacting workplace performance. The non-performers need to be exposed, they need to be evaluated and feel the pressure to perform, if not, maybe it is time to move them on. Naturally, they need to be given the opportunity to improve, but if not, then find someone who will.

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.