Photography is a fantastic art form; performed correctly, a photograph captures a moment in time for eternity. For a split-second when the shutter is open, time stops completely and an image is captured on a negative or disk. The very nature of a photography lends itself to the recording of time, a fleeting moment that is viewed from a single perspective and then the moment is no more.

I have learned that time is fleeting, you have but only a moment to act and you need to be decisive, there are no second chances. There is so many skills to master, knowledge to gain by formal and informal means to become half competent. There is composition, lighting, shadows, movement, and getting the camera to do what you want. A photographer needs to be proficient with setting up the camera with f-stops, aperture, and ISO. There is the selection of lenses, I have finally received my zoom lens, macro next, I have my tripod as well but I just like wandering around looking for street photography topics.

I can’t say I’m a fan of the Formula 1 series, I checked some older models out at Singapore’s Changi Airport a few years back as a back-up watch and I can’t say I was that impressed. TAG Heuer are manufacturing timepieces based on their strength – motorsport. 

A couple of years later, I looked at the Formula 1 model for my nephew for his 18th birthday. Again, I could see better value in other watchmakers, the build quality isn’t good enough. So what happened? I understand TAG Heuer is looking for an entry-level watch for young people to get them excited – but still. If you want the TAG Heuer name on the dial and bracelet, then you need to back it up. 

TAG Heuer has a long relationship with Formula One, this is admirable, TAG Heuer has very much been involved in F1 for a very long time. The TAG Heuer Red Bull racing sponsorship has been very rewarding for the company. I am sure it has been very rewarding for the Red Bull racing team too, they are a successful race team and this branding is pretty much what TAG Heuer is known for.

I understand the principles behind the entry-level F1 series, this is an aspiring market segment who don’t have a big discernible income, they don’t have the spare funds that more established workers do. However, they are seeking to build a long-term relationship with a younger cohort to win some brand loyalty. I understand the thinking behind this, but if the quality is not there, then they damage the brand. 

The Ukrainian invasion of Russia would be hilarious if Ukrainian lives were not being lost in this offensive. Throughout this war of existence for Ukraine, they have been hindered by NATO inaction and fumbling. NATO has only supplied enough weaponry for Ukraine to not be overrun by the fascist forces of Ukraine, the West has really let Ukraine down through fear of retaliation.

Had NATO not diddled their way through the early stages of the war, Ukrainian forces would have overrun the Russian forces whilst they were in total disarray. Instead, they were allowed to regroup and dig in building multiple lines of defences during the winter months. When Ukraine sought to start their summer offensive, they were forced to wait for equipment supplies whist Russia laid mines, dragon teeth obstacles and dug trenches.

Ukraine could not mount a NATO doctrine combined arms offensive as they did hold air superiority, their ground forces were exposed to defensive actions by a much larger Russian army. Then, when the US Congress led by the Republican party held up supplies, the Ukrainian forces were starved of munitions and supplies. All the gains they made were eroded as they could barely hold on, Russian forces were making advances and Ukraine had not only lost momentum, they were now losing this war.

Donald Trump blamed the Biden Administration for the bungled withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan, but let us look into this further. The Trump Administration set the timeframe withdrawal, Trump was defeated in the polls and the Biden Administration sworn in, instead they were banging on about stolen election when they knew full well they lost the election. The pullout was extended by the Biden Administration but they were really locked in, they could not take an escalation of this conflict to the American people so were forced to meet this [extended] timeframe.

So why did Ukraine invade Russia? Whilst this is a limited offensive, they have made a point. They have undermined Putin’s authority, not only are Russian forces bogged down in Ukraine and taking serious casualties, they cannot defend their own country. They have brought this conflict home to Russia. What we know is Russia stations their troops from the poorer eastern regions on the frontline in Ukraine as cannon fodder, their more affluent troops from the Moscow and St Petersburg regions have more sway, they are more vocal and could place pressure on Putin himself.

Putin cannot let this situation escalate on home soil, so far what we have seen is mass surrender by young inexperienced troops kept well behind the front lines. These surrenders indicate an unwillingness to fight for Russia on Russian soil; these troops know they are better treated in Ukrainian captivity than by their own commanders. This is great for Ukraine, this capitulation cannot be hidden from the Russian people, the Special Military Operation has now resulted in a Russian invasion.

Russians are being evacuated from the Kursk region, they are fleeing from their homes with nothing but their clothes they are wearing. Even the tightly controlled Russian media is failing to quell this story. There is panic in Russia, they know that the nation of Russia is being invaded by the smaller Ukraine, they know that if NATO was to get involved now, western Russia would be quickly overrun.by rampaging NATO forces crossing in from Estonia, further north from Finland and through Ukraine.

The Russian invincibility promoted by Putin is in complete disarray, by now the Russian people are starting to wake up to the fact that Putin the strong man has put the whole country in peril. If the American leadership had any vision, they would be pushing for the the defeat of Russia. So far, all they have done is squandered multiple opportunities. Putin has made Russia weaker, even with Belarus providing a buffer, Finland to the north, Estonia further south and now Ukraine can be the staging country for a Poland led charge.

What Putin will need to do is pull frontline troops and supplies out of Ukraine and redeploy well into Russia. What we know is Ukraine has deployed battle hardened troops to Russia. The Chechen TikTok troops who normally guard the rear to prevent desertion are coming under fire themselves and we are seeing they are neither well trained, well motivated or even remotely competent. What we now know about the Chechen troops is they are not as competent as they claim, they are better known for their uploaded videos and sexually assaulting  Russian troops. 

Watching this unfold is interesting, what is Ukraine trying to achieve here? They want to put pressure on the Russian hierarchy domestically, to reorganise and redistribute Russian troops from Ukraine back to Russia, to hold Russian land for negotiation and put pressure on their supply chains. Ukraine has really rattled Russia here, if they press their advantage hard and the NATO countries do not let them down after being paralysed with indecision, they could defeat Russia here.

Life is a competition, there is no argument, so why the big issues? We compete for scarce resources such as educational opportunities, linked employment prospects, investment choices and business connections. Yes, it is who you know, not what you know that is important. Networking is an important aspect of opportunity creation, this is where you generate chances, this is the forum for generating possibilities.

Whilst we don’t need to drag others down, we can still compete in life and display courtesy to others and treat them in a respectful manner. Yes, there are individuals who are more successful, we need not be jealous of their achievements, we should not measure our success against their achievements and accomplishments. Instead, we concentrate on our own needs and desires, there will always be a more powerful person, faster, smarter and better looking so we just have to set our own targets and achieve our personal goals.

We are all now exposed to this cancel culture stupidity, the rewriting of authors Robert Dahl and Enid Blyton because their writing contains words and sentences that some people find distressing. References to fat and ugly is being removed from the vocabulary because it offends someone – get real. Oompa Loompas are now gender neutral – ha ha.

So I need to ask, what is woke? Are we dealing with a generation of self-absorbed powerpuffs who cannot be exposed to the realities of life? I think not, there are 18 to 25 year old people fighting for survival in Ukraine, they are fighting for their own survival and the survival of their nation. So, I think it is a little disingenuous to call out the millennial generation as weak and pathetic.

Woke is defined as being alert to racial prejudice and discrimination. But what does that really mean? Doing some checking here, woke was also aligned to hip and open-minded. This is an African American term that has gone worldwide, but does that mean you are looking for discrimination everywhere? This could also be interpreted as being conscious to racial discrimination in society in a political and social sense.

This seems to be more of a left – right leaning political sphere. What I view in political references is voters who elect governments tend to move in cycles, we are now in a left-leaning period. Australian federal governments run for 3 years, US governments have a 4 year term so whilst we do see one term US governments, it is pretty rare in Australia with most governments elected for a minimum of two terms so I am expecting to see the Albernese government reelected with a reduced margin. They are now in their second year and receiving a pretty good run in the media, that turns pretty quick so I will be interested to see how they govern in a negative media environment.

Just over a year and a half ago, remember the idiots on social media claiming the Russian forces massed on the Ukrainian border were not a threat to Ukraine. Their idiotic anti-American views fueled by Russian bots shaping social media discussions are easy to identify. Then people get all uptight and argue with these online trolls, these arguments go nowhere of course, they just burn energy and frazzle nerves.

With Russian troops massed in Belarus, it was pretty obvious what Putin was intending, The Russian President sent troops into Crimea in 2014 and then occupied the Donbas region by sponsoring a separatist movement. A positive outcome of this war will be to drive all the Russians out of the Donbas region and back across the border. If the Ukrainians are successful in defeating Russia, then I hope NATO stations a peacekeeping force on the border of Russia to keep the region from being invaded again.

So where to from here? I fully expect Ukraine with NATO assistance to eventually defeat the invading Russian forces ending the military occupation of their country. Once Russia is defeated, I expect the Ukrainian application for membership to NATO to be expedited and Ukraine is fast tracked into the alliance. They have absolutely earned their membership, they stood up to the might of the Russian military despite being an inferior force in terms of equipment and manpower. I think we will see Ukrainian military veterans stationed all over Europe [and possibly further] to train military personnel on tactics and strategy.

At time of writing, Russian defences were holding, the Ukrainian forces had breached thr first defensive line and were making inroads into the second line of defensives. We were looking at around six weeks of autumn before the rains arrived, the mechanised offense would get bogged down when the rains arrive. However, the Ukrainian advance through the minefields had been slow as they cleared the mines by hand instead of committing vehicles to be picked and destroyed by Russian forces.

It was clear to everyone following world events that Russia would invade Ukraine; they had previously embarked on the invasion and annexation of Crimea. There was also the separatist movement in Donbas funded and controlled by the Kremlin. Russian autocrats had pre-planned the invasion of the whole of Ukraine and now they initiated their plan, it was clear to see. What might be funny, since the invasion was launched from Belarus, they might be the ones to come under full Russian control once the invasion of Ukraine stalks and ultimately fails.

Working for a government department that has a significant cyber capability, I am frequently testing both their cyber capability and their patience. Yeah, I make sure I keep them busy monitoring their staff, they know that I know they are watching me, so I make it worth their effort. They follow my blog, I frequently see them checking my LinkedIn status and I would be sure they view my Facebook, Tumblr and Pintrest accounts.

As I know they are cyber stalking me, I post material that raises their eyebrows. I post material that goes right to the limit, but I don’t go over that line. Naturally, there have been internal complaints, but they cannot do anything as I do not identify the organisation. Nor will they push me further, if they were to attempt some form of detrimental action, then that would be a trigger to identify the organisation in an extremely negative way, and I do not identify the organisation. I am not going to do that, we currently float in a state of equilibrium, they do not sanction me and I do not identify them. This works for both of us, we have a stand-off of sorts and that is how relationship flows.

They know I will do more than take the cyberstalking to a public forum should they attempt to discipline me. They know they cannot anyway, a former manager in his wisdom took unnecessary and detrimental action against me as a potential whistleblower for misappropriation of government funds, They know that I am well versed in the Public Interest Disclosure Act 2003 and they know that the Act provides protection for disclosers [or incorrectly identified disclosers]. Despite their poor management practices, they are rational adversaries and they will not risk the case being heard in the Equal Opportunity Commission. As I have not identified them in a public forum, they will just continue to monitor me, and I won’t provide them with the means to take action against me.

When I am out chatting to jewellers, they inform me Rolex is the top selling Swiss watch with Omega coming second, Cartier third, Longines fourth, Patek Phillipe fifth, Tissot sixth, TAG Heuer coming in at around about seventh, Swatch eighth, IWC ninth and Breguet tenth. This was a surprise to me as Rolex is relatively expensive, so I expected high margins and low volumes to dominate the Rolex brand. The artificial scarcity they have created certainly works maintaining their price and creating demand.

Naturally, a couple of places change from year to year with Cartier sometimes getting over Omega in terms of sales volumes. This should change with dedicated Omega boutiques taking on Cartier boutiques in luxury areas. This, I assume doesn’t take into account either the lower end tier with Japanese owned Citizen and Seiko timepieces or American inspired Timex and Hamilton brands that aren’t Swiss manufactured.

We all know the Apple watch outsold the entire Swiss watch industry, they are horrible electronic gadgets that are strapped to the wrist. That being said, smartwatches have their role, plenty of people love technology. Even though Hamilton is now owned by the Swatch Group or the high end A. Lange & Söhne from Germany and the aviation inspired Bremont from England is owned by the Richemont Group they fall within the scope of premium watch sales.

Then there are the serious Swiss watchmakers of Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, Breguet, Jaeger-LeCoultre and Blancpain that don\’t move a large number of units but are highly prized examples of horology excellence. Advertising counts and the large brands spend plenty in advertising and although some of these fine manufacturers are not household names – they are excellent editions to any timepiece collections.

How Mitch Marsh became the most hated player in the Australian cricket team is beyond me, it didn’t help that his brother Shaun was universally hated. Fellow West Australian and allrounder Cameron Green was out injured allowing Mitch to slot into the team and take his opportunity after four years on the sidelines. When Mitch Marsh returned to the Australian team in big trouble, he came in to bat just before lunch, not a great prospect for a number 6 batsman.

The other huge comeback story was Mark Wood who was sending thunderbolts down the pitch at an impressive pace. I was looking forward to Wood’s selection, I prefer a contest between bat and ball and the previous two tests were played on lifeless wickets designed to benefit the Bazball style of cricket. Basically, they prepare a road that is easy to bat on – that is not a great contest and I was not thrilled. Mark Wood had a brilliant comeback, his 5-34 was impressive.

When Mitch came to the crease, Australia was in real trouble at 4-85 with Mark Wood bowling menacingly. This was a great contest and I was really enjoying this match. Even watching from the comfort of my living room, I could see Wood’s extreme pace and his ability to move the ball around. Sure, Wood was finally selected for the lively Leeds pitch as England were not going to reveal him for the first two slow pitches. England won the toss and put Australia into bat on a green tinged pitch, finally a lively deck.

Forget Bazball, what we witnessed was Bisonball, Mitch scored his century from 102 balls using his strength to club the ball around the ground. Mitch played correct cricket shots, he was not playing brash Bazball shots, this was correct batting technique coupled with power. As Mitch moved into the 90s I was getting tired, it was late in Perth and I needed to be up at 6am to head to work, I was jumping up and down when Mitch scored his comeback century. Marsh was eventually out for 118 off 118 balls faced, the Headingly test was won by England and I was not concerned, we witnessed a great test match and England were back in the series.

The 2017 Fermoy Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon is a pretty decent drop, at $99 per bottle it should be. Rated at 95 points by the Halliday Wine Companion. Some gold medals at 2020 Perth Royal Show, 2020 Wine Show of WA and 2021 Decanter World Wine Awards give it some award currency.

This cabernet sauvignon is matured in new and seasoned French oak barriques imparting some creamy oak characteristics. With a potential of 20+ years of cellaring potential, the tannin structure is fine without overpowering this young wine. Despite the cellaring potential, the wine drinks amazingly well now. The 2017 is 100% cabernet sauvignon that is a tad unusual as winemakers generally blend in smaller percentages of varieties to round out a wine. This is a pretty big wine with a 14.5% alcohol content that does not overpower the blackcurrant and boysenberry flavours.