The election of a new government changes the direction of the country, we all know that. What destroyed the election of the previous government was the slow rollout of the vaccine and women’s issues. The Albanese government is unlikely to be better, but this is really all about perception. We had a decade of poor governance, the liability finally caught up with the government. Scott Morrison was now a liability for the Liberal Party after winning them another unexpected term at the previous election.

So we have a new federal government, Federal Treasurer Jim Chambers is eyeing off superannuation as a large pool of money to fund their agenda. But hang on, this is our money, not government funds. Of course government funds are taxpayer money, they just control our money, but this is different again, this is saved money. From what I can determine, Jim Chambers is a dickhead, it is hard to put a positive case forward for him. He is known as Grim Jim, never anything positive to say.

So, with the rest of the government, where does this leave us? Penny Wong is a natural fit as Foreign Minister, she is good. There is Bill Shorten as former Opposition Leader, he is a liability if ever there was one. Tanya Plibersek was kept in the background during the election, she was always seen internally as a liability. We are already seeing the pushback from energy prices that add further expenses to the cost of living pressures and inflationary forces.

So I think Grim Jim just needs to get on with it, stop blaming the previous mob and provide some solutions. I am sure he will target superannuation savings early in the term so the incumbent government have maximum time to turn around the outrage before the next election. This will involve forcing superannuation funds to invest in their nominated projects, we will see lower returns. If these projects were offering great returns, they would already be investing in these schemes.

The Citizen Tsuyosa collection is an interesting addition to the Citizen line. Whilst Seiko is the premium Japanese watchmaker, Citizen has some models that are really getting some attention. Looking at classic designs, the luxury steel sports watch is dominated by the Gérald Genta designed AP Royal Oak and the PP Nautilus, VC Overseas Automatic and Chopard Alpine Eagle XL Chronograph.

The integrated bracelet design is very 1970s vintage inspired, what I think citizen does well is imitate, not innovate. They have looked at the classic integrated bracelets of the 1970s and added some bright and colourful dials. In this respect, the dial colours remind me of the recently upgraded Rolex Oyster Perpetual. Once again, imitation is their strategy here, not innovation.

The stainless steel case is 40 mm, I reckon this is a decent size as 42 mm is a little big for most wrists, so the 38 mm to 40 mm dial sizing seems to be about right. The recessed crown at the 4 o’clock position is interesting from a styling perspective. The chamfered bezel suits the style, it is simple yet elegant, let’s not over complicate things here. Yes, this chamfered stainless steel bezel is more likely to scratch, but this is life.

The NJ0150-81E reference is the black dial, NJ0150-81L is blue, NJ0150-81Z yellow and the NJ0150-81X is green. For my tastes the yellow dial is the most interesting as blue and black dials are pretty much what every watchmaker produces. The green dial was so 2021, people still desire a green dial, but I have previously asked how long this trend will continue.

The Calibre 8210 Miyota movement is an in-house movement, this has 21 jewels, beats at 21,600 vph and has a 40 hour power reserve. Interestingly, the unfinished movement is visible through the display caseback, not the greatest finish for a watch movement. But one cannot be too critical at this price point, it is an opportunity for Citizen to improve their finishing in the future with increased and improved automation.

The rounded three link bracelet is unusual, I immediately think of the semi-circular President bracelet of the Rolex Day-Date, this is not a design I have ever been drawn to. What Citizen are doing here is pulling designs from a number of different sources and combining these styling cues from a number of watchmakers into a single steel sports watch.

So now that I have checked out the NJ0150-81Z specifications online, it is time to head into a jewellery shop to try one on in person. I have not done this yet, so I have no real idea of the finish or the quality of manufacturing. The Citizen Watch Company is in no way a high-end watchmaker, what they do well is mass produce reasonable quality automatic timepieces at a very good price.

For around a $550 retail price, I need to set appropriate expectations. It is all about wrist feel for me at that particular price point. What I don’t want is a flimsy and lightweight watch on my wrist, I do like the feel of a heavier piece on my wrist, I don’t like a bracelet that rattles on my wrist or pulls hairs on my arm. The clasp must be functional and not bind up or pop open, the watch with its yellow dial is a casual timepiece worn with a t-shirt and shorts or denim jeans.

The Vacheron Constantin Overseas Automatic is an iconic timepiece design by Jörg Hysek, the Overseas Automatic is a stainless steel sports watch with an integrated bracelet. Vacheron Constantin is the oldest of the holy trinity of watchmakers along with Audermars Piguet and Patek Philippe, yet Vacheron Constantin is like the poor cousin.

The Overseas Automatic was released in 1977, the reference 222 Overseas Automatic featured a 37 mm tonneau-shaped case and saw blade bezel. The reference 42040 remained at 37 mm and still featured a tonneau-shaped case, integrated bracelet and Maltese cross fluted bezel. The reference 42050 had a 35 mm case with the references 42041 and 42051 receiving calibre upgrades.

The steel sports watch style was inspired by Gérald Genta with the Royal Oak in 1972 and the Nautilus in 1976. Vacheron Constantin, the oldest of the holy trinity of watchmakers turned to Jörg Hysek famous for the Breguet Marine, Tiffany & Co Streamerica and TAG Heuer Kirium. Hysek built a reputation based on the Vacheron Constantin 222, but was really instrumental in more than dozens of designs.

For a long time, the Overseas Automatic was the forgotten steel sports watch from the holy trinity of watchmakers. For my tastes, I really didn’t like the Reference 222, the current models are more my tastes. Whilst the watch collecting community went silly for the Royal Oak, Genta then did again with the Nautilus ensuring Patek Philippe stayed at the top of the watchmakers pedigree. The Overseas was really the forgotten steel sports watch until just recently, the demand from the unattainable Nautilus and Royal Oak pushed Overseas prices up.

So we are in the era of online disinformation; really, this is absolutely amazing. Considering we live in an age where the average person has access to more information than kings and queens had in the past. 

I log onto my social media accounts to read the news, my newsfeed is set up with leading media organisations from around the globe. I like to think I read from a variety of news sources to gain an overall view, I certainly do not log onto sketchy sites that are ultra right or left wing. I am aware certain news sites are centre, or centre left or right with some organisations pushing either further left or right on the spectrum.

So how have we descended into the lowering of collective intelligence? How has the internet provided the means for fuelling conspiracies and blatent mistruths? The question I ask is who should control the flow of information? Currently, content on the internet is mostly uncontrolled, with the exception of arms dealing, pedophilia and other illegal activities, the internet is mostly unregulated.

Yes, there is the dark web, but for the best part, most of us have no idea how to connect to the dark web. Murders, mass killings and other crimes are uploaded before being taken down. There have been a number of instances where mass shootings have been live streamed, there are war crimes and sexual assaults shared online. Whilst these cannot be grouped into misinformation, the very nature of these uploads are extremely disturbing.

I can go online and follow neo-nazi, white supremacist or radical Islam sites with ease. I can find bomb-making sites, how to create illicit drugs or how to steal motor vehicles. Then we have certain organisations dedicated to creating misinformation to the state funded Wuamo, North Korean Bureau 121, and Iranian cyber warfare unit.

We have the flat earth society, Elvis is alive, Area 51 and fake moon landing groups. If I hear another person with absolutely no scientific background cite the Van Allen belts, no stars viewed in the photographs on the lunar surface or the crinkle on the US flag on the surface, I might just send Buzz around to smack them in the mouth.

I have set up my newsfeed with news outlets from around the world with Reuters, the BBC, The New York Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal, The Australian, The Bangkok Post, The Straits Times, Al Jezerra, Nikkei Asia, Bloomberg Asia, The Jakarta Post, The Sydney Morning Herald and The Times. I try to read news from different locations and differing points of view.

So how did all this online disinformation form? There are times news outlets report news and they also provide commentary, the editorials are interesting and allows readers to form opinions. There are columnists that pursue a specific agenda, I get that, you read their article or blog and then review it for inconsistencies. At university, we did a unit on applying critical thinking to news media.

Pistol and Boo were the most famous dogs in Australia for a time for all the wrong reasons. We have some great woofs from blue healer cattle dogs, red cloud sheep dogs and border collies. All highly intelligent working dogs, these working dogs possess all the sought after attributes of a highly agile working breed.

Famous Western Australian police dogs included Rumble, they were media personalities, they grabbed plenty of crims, and they could be bought out in crowds. The movie is about Red Dog, the red cloud kelpie from the North West Pilbara region of Western Australia. The woof who played the part had a huge personality, poor Koko, he died at age 7, well before his time.

So, back to Pistol and Boo, the less than intelligent terriers of Amber Heard, they were snuck into Australia by Hollywood A-listers Johnny Depp and his wife Amber Heard on their private jet. When it was found out the dogs were not authorised to enter Australia, all hell broke loose – and rightly so. These dogs were snuck into Australia on a private jet, Depp and Heard bypassed Australian Customs and Quarantine and these two dogs bypassed all Australian biosecurity measures.

Whilst some attempted to argue that these could be the most pampered dogs in the world, the potential risk they posed to Australian dogs, and wildlife in general is amazing. We know the pampered pair [Depp and Heard] know little about potential diseases, we do not know if a vet inspected the dogs and performed the required tests for disease, we have to take their word for it.

Talk about carrying on like a pair of over paid, over privileged, spoilt celebrities, they personified the arrogant Hollywood elite who believe the rules do not apply to them. So when the story broke, they were indigent, they thought they could just apply their Hollywood status and the problem would mysteriously disappear – no chance.

So when Nation Party [Country Party] leader Barnaby Joyce took aim at Depp and Heard, he was protecting the interest of farmers and graziers. He was not letting this pair out of his sights, he had them cornered, the Hollywood A-list status wouldn’t cut it with him. I am not a fan of Barnaby, but in this case, he was right. These dogs had to be removed from this country or they would be euthanized, this was the correct course of action.

I think Barnaby handled it ok, he gave Depp and Heard notice, the dogs were to be removed from Australia, if they did not comply, then the dogs would be seized and then euthanised. This was not the first move, they were given options, remove the dogs at their expense or else. They were given sufficient time to make arrangements, they had more than enough notice. They tried it on, their feeble attempts failed and Pistol and Boo jetted out of Australia and back to the United States.

I was interested to hear that the Philippines was described as ground zero for online disinformation. After all, the political situation in the Philippines is usually pretty dire, so it came as no surprise that political interference in the news was occurring. The Duturte government was tough on crime, or so they claimed, the Duterte government was involved in numerous extra judicial deaths and a lack of process that led to the deaths of numerous innocent people.

The Duterte government was pretty forward in meeting with social media companies to develop an election winning social media strategy. This was a highly effective strategy targeting the under-educated masses and bombarding them with disinformation programs that were shared between the highly connected population. Facebook was a leading distributor of misinformation, even assisting the Duturte government to set up programs to distribute government propaganda.

So now we have had a change of government after Duterte’s six year term is up, it was returned to the Marcos family ruling the Philippines. My attitude is you get what you vote for, the downfall of the previous Marcos regime saw Ferdinand and Imelda along with their children flee the country for exile in Hawaii taking their ill gotten fortune with them. This was really the development funds for the people of the Philippines, the country still lags the development of other Southeast Asian nations and it is my guess they will continue to under-perform whilst these regimes maintain power.

I received from my uncle my grandfather’s gold Omega Seamaster that had been stored in his safe since his death in 1982. I was under strict instructions not to sell this timepiece, but as an avid watch collector, there was no chance of that.

The gold Omega Seamaster Geneve was gifted to my grandfather in 1971 for his 25 years of service to Tubemakers of Australia. At the watchmakers, they popped the caseback off to inspect the automatic movement, it was a Calibre 565 with 25 jewels, an automatic movement. There was some moisture entering around the crown, it was well and truly dry now, the rotor was loose and contacting the case, there were some markings inside the case caused by the contact.

The case was 18k gold plated to a depth of 40 microns, I will have the case refurbished, a new hesalite crystal, new crown, and the case polished. The bracelet was in poor condition, this is a gold-plated link bracelet with an elastic retainer. When I learned this was not an original Omega bracelet, I had an opportunity to ditch it for a black leather strap. I like the black and gold strap/case contrast, this will now be my formal dress watch.

The caseback is inscribed with a reference to my grandfather’s 25 years service to the company. He worked there until 1978 where a hand injury caused by an over-zealous crane operator crushed his hand. He enjoyed his 5 years of retirement, but I feel he probably wanted to work on longer, he was an old style blue collar worker.

So, this vintage Seamaster is being refurbished to a new state. My grandfather, who was incidentally a watchmaker by trade, should be pretty happy with this. The story is the timepiece, it is not mine to sell, I am purely the current custodian of this family history. The reference 166.200 is a 1969 model, my job is to research the timepiece and relate it back to my grandfather. Naturally, I am pretty happy to receive a gold vintage Omega Seamaster, this will mostly stay in my safe but will come out for special occasions.

I have an enormous backlog of either half written posts or posts just sitting in the draft folder and forgotten about. This was one of these posts titled How will the end of QE affect us? Well, that time is well and truly over, instead of just dumping the post, I decided to revisit and rewrite the post from a number of years back to determine if QE has helped lead to worldwide inflation.

I correctly predicted QE would lead to inflationary forces, quantitative easing was a massive stimulus to add liquidity to financial markets by pouring money into economies. Firstly the US and then Europe then followed by China, Japan and finally Australia. We have a strong financial sector in Australia that is heavily regulated, this may lead to some inefficiencies in boom times but protects the major financial institutions during periods of instability.

This really began with the global financial crisis and has just expanded from there. Whilst technically Australia was not too badly affected by the 2008 US debt saga, the liquidity issues still caused issues for us, just not to the same extent as the US and Europe. The US subprime fiasco really burdened banks and financial institutions with highly risky debt instruments that with the benefit of hindsight was always going to implode.

So now what happens? The US along with most other advanced economies have wound up their stimulus packages. The Australian domestic stimulus package was easily dwarfed by what the Chinese undertook, we indirectly benefited from their growth. Likewise, we will likely suffer when their economy slows down, Chinese excess supply has been diverted to their Belt and Road program.

I have been writing about how quantitative easing for a while now. I have been looking at what central banks are doing in the United States, Europe, Asia and now Australia. We have suffered from low wage growth, this has been hampered by a lack of productivity growth and efficiency. This was then supercharged by the covid stimulus spending as economics worldwide shut down and non-essential workers were paid to stay home.

Yes, there is a Russian invasion of Ukraine, the ongoing zero covid policies of China, related supply chain issues, European energy issues caused by Russian gas rationing combined with the excessive covid stimulus packages. The whole world was caught up in a massive money printing exercise starting with QE. These increased financial inflows disrupted normal currency movements and created an enormous demand driven building bubble that drove up the price of commodities and labour. I reckon despite economist’s predictions, we will not be seeing the soft landing we were promised in 2023 and we could see a worldwide recession.

So, what did we learn from the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014? What we learnt was that Russia saw western nations as weak and divided. Sure, some countries made a few grandiose statements and that was about it – nothing to worry about. The Kremlin was basically given a green light to invade after the debacle of Crimea. This follows the western diplomatic messaging after the invasion of Georgia in 2008 and Chechnya between 1999 to 2009.

Putin took control of Georgia, then Chechnya before sending in a contingent of special operations forces and Spetsnaz GRU to Crimea without insignia known as the little green men. Apparently they were very polite and made no attempts to integrate into daily Crimean life, they did not initially seem all that disruptive. What they did seize control of Crimea pretty much unopposed, then they turned their attention to the Donbas region supporting a Russian led separatist movement.

Between then, Russia had operations in Syria supporting President Assad and the destruction brought upon the Syrian people was despicable. The Russian policy of destruction to subdue a population by turning their cities into rubble will not work this time. Finally the international community has taken action to censure Moscow and applied harsh sanctions against this authoritarian regime.

The size of the country, the size of their military and the size of their economy does not correlate, they are not a superpower and may soon not qualify for membership of the G20. The best primary action against the Russian invasion of Ukraine is financial sanctions, NATO is not involved but closely monitors the situation militarily. NATO nations led by the US supply weapons to Ukraine allowing the country to defend itself, whilst still trailing Russia in overall terms of weapons and manpower, they are a far more effective military.

Vladimir Putin, the despot President of Russia has illusions of being viewed in history as a self styled Peter the Great. Fortunately, Putin is anything but a great conqueror, Vlad is a pathetic little despot that has taken Russia from a G20. Sure, Putin has a large military to draw upon, this is neither an efficient or effective military. Apart from strengthening NATO with Norway and Finland joining, NATO no longer fears the Russian military.

So, where does this leave Russia? Well, there are deaths and people maimed, a Russian soldier accessing their medical system would be concerning, at least a Ukrainian soldier has a chance of survival. I have seen photographs of Ukrainian soldiers wounded and killed in action, these are hard photographs to view, these are not great photographs. What the Russian soldiers have been recorded doing to Ukrainian civilians is disgusting, they actually deserve this treatment when they return.

Putin thought he could splinter Europe, he believed he could place NATO under pressure and the infighting would dissolve the NATO alliance. That did not happen, NATO expanded right up to his northern border, if Putin feared an invasion through the Russian southern European border, he now has to contend with NATO at the northern European border. Putin is not a leader of people, nor is he a master strategist and he has proved he lacks the military nous. What Putin has shown the world is he has set up an internal facing fascist dictator bubble with a military arranged to quell internal uprising.