The Apollo 8 mission was the second manned mission of the program, this was the first mission to leave earth orbit and travel to and orbit the moon. Astronauts Frank Borman, James Lovell and William Anders were the first humans to escape the gravity of a celestial body orbiting the moon 10 times. This was a very impressive step in the moon landing program, they orbited the moon to prove they could.

The Apollo 8 mission was a highly important mission as this was the first mission to move past the gravitational pull of the earth and enter lunar orbit. The Apollo 8 crew were the first humans to view the dark side of the moon hence the Speedmaster Apollo 8 is named after this important mission.  The watch design views both sides of the moonwatch with the near side represented by a laser etching of the movement through the skeletonised dial, the far side is viewed through a display caseback. The case is black ceramic fitted with a sapphire crystal with a 50 metre water resistance rating.

Some would argue there are way too many special or limited edition Speedmaster models with Omega cashing in on their NASA ties. Well of course this is the case, Omega is going to milk the NASA connection. It has been argued that the Apollo 8 is the best of the special editions and while I am not a fan of skeletonised dial, this edition is interesting to me. I would suggest this is one of the better limited edition models, they are extremely difficult to get hold of, not too many Omega boutiques is offered this limited edition model, so they are snapped up pretty quick.

I hear people refer to a certain cohort of females as mail order brides. This is a disgusting term but so frequently used that has become part of the social language. In Australia, this normally refers to a woman of Asian heritage in a relationship with a local male, predominantly white, but not always. I wonder why people are so judgmental, it really has nothing to do with them.

This doesn’t even take the age differential into account although a fourty year age difference does raise questions whatever the cultural mix. These snide remarks don’t even take into account the actual citizenship of the female or even the country of birth. I have seen plenty of examples of Asian women born in Australia to immigrant parents with a white partner.

You only have to listen to their accent and terminology, a local dialect and language mannerisms should be a pretty strong indicator. Regardless, such an attitude is basically racist in nature. These females from a different ethnic background are a lower social order and inferior to them. Naturally, this form of advertising certainly doesn’t help the perception.

Their biases are without foundation as many of these females come from affluent and close nit families who save hard to offer their daughter to gain an Australian tertiary education. As an example many females from Asian nations come to Australia to undertake study at university or higher education institution.

During their studies or social outings they meet and are attracted to a local guy, they could even be introduced through friends, who really cares how they meet. The internet is now a socially accepted tool to meet people in the electronic age, not everyone goes to the dance anymore and nightclubs aren’t a great option. So who cares about how people meet? As long as they are happy.

For my retirement, I am planning to spend my time between Australia, Europe and Southeast Asia. Perth winters are cold and rainy, I was considering an endless summer retirement with part-time work in Perth and trips away.

I expect to have a very active retirement, the early years at least before injuries and age take their toll. Retirement planning isn’t purely financial, it involves lifestyle and scuba diving, sailing, mountain biking, hiking and trekking, kayaking and climbing are the pastimes I will be exploring. Sailing around the Mediterranean, the South China Sea, the Andaman Sea and through the Indonesian archipelago are the expectations I am seeking. Sure, these activities cost money but within reason, life experiences are worth every cent.

Reverse racism, there is no such thing, racism is racism and you encounter it almost everywhere you go around the world. When I am in a foreign country, there is usually a local name for a foreigner and there is normally a name for a white foreigner.

For me, it is not a big deal, you just learn to deal with it. You get targeted, no problems, that is all part of the travel experience, both positive and negative. What annoys me is when I hear the term reverse racism, it reeks of apologist bullshit as if only white people can be racist. Sure, I understand that European countries colonised the world and there were terrible conflicts and abuses. But also keep in mind that non-European countries were constantly trying to invade Europe with both victories and defeats over the period.

While the Europeans were generally victorious as they tended to be technically superior, they understood that if they were not offensive in foreign lands, being defensive in your own land was not a great strategy. Somehow I feel people are now becoming apologist for being victorious as we all know there is no race that is superior/inferior to another. Europe was invaded and plundered over the centuries, they got their act together and colonised the world to protect their empires – I really don\’t see that as racism.

Researching the TAG Heuer Kirium watch that was given to me led me to the conclusion that I had a later version Formula 1 series. This model was added to the Kirium range in 2002 and ran until the end of the series.

The Kirium was initially launched in 1997 and came to an end in 2008. Strangely, working in an engineering office, I am the only one at my work who doesn’t actually follow the Formula 1 championship.

The Kirium was designed by noted watch designer Jorg Hysek replacing the 4000 series of which I was never really a fan of either. However, the 4000 series had formed the mainstay of the mid-range watch segment for TAG Heuer since first released back in 1990. The digital/analogue version I own sports a much darker digital readout that the picture suggests. In fact, I struggle to read the the digital readout and have unsuccessfully attempted to turn it off, even before this I can’t say I’m a fan or the Kirium styling.

The Kirium graphics indicate the digital version can be controlled by the two press buttons that took me a while to work out due to a problem with the new movement. The initial Kirium models released utilised the six TAG Heuer features of 200 metres water resistance, a screw-in crown, the double safety clasp, a uni-directionel bezel, a sapphire crystal glass and luminous marking.

I had always thought the Mercedes hands formed one of the six features of a sports watch that TAG Heuer had pursued, I was incorrect on that count with the later Kirium models not featuring Mercedes hour hand. TAG Heuer is fairly famous for it’s high end marketing including the use of brand ambassadors; notwithstanding, McLaren Formula 1 driver David Couthard fits right into the Heuer motorsport heritage.

Needless to say, the TAG Heuer branding is also heavily criticised for expensive celebrity endorsements, so I could never work out why such a large watchmaking business needs to resort to such endorsements. I can’t say I really go for such marketing, that doesn’t change my perception of the brand. Yet, all the major brands have celebrity endorsement, so that argument doesn’t hold much weight either.

I walk around and I am surrounded by so many stimulants, my mind is busy and I have so many topics to write about. I take my tablet with me pretty much everywhere and I have a list of possible blog posts saved in Google Drive.

If I see something I believe is interesting, then I jot down the base title of the post and come back to it later. Based on current totals, I have more than three pages of topics listed to write about. Sometimes I am able to write a complete post, other times I can create a blueprint of what I want to portray in text. I really enjoy writing, to my mind, blogging is a pure example of creative writing.

Then based on current totals, I have more than 700 posts in various stages of completion sitting in drafts. The problem is I forget about them and they get pushed back and I then forget about them. I changed the way I loaded posts, I now schedule one year of posts into the interface. Sometimes, these posts are topical and their relevance is lost as time passes. Due to my employment status, I began to load up 12 weeks of posts in the scheduled folder and they are published on the Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday cycle, so posts are published automatically when I am away.

I was beginning to hate Google docs on my tablet, I was unable to access and update documents as the program wasn’t updating. The ideas behind Google docs are very good, we are just seeing problems in execution and I hope they get it sorted soon enough because for the best part – I like it. I don’t have a mobile plan with data, so I would work offline and update when I joined a WiFi connection. The program doesn’t always open, especially if it hasn’t been opened and updated online for a while. So when I try to work offline, I become highly frustrated as I want to write and I can’t.

The huge advantage of Google docs is the ability to collaborate, as the document is stored online, multiple parties can open the document simultaneously and work live on the document. You have the ability to edit, track changes and share with selected users – a great application. I would love Google docs to create a fix where the program wouldn’t crash and the documents, spreadsheets and presentations are available offline without issues. Once they get that sorted, Google Docs is going to be a pretty decent platform.

When I read comments on social media with commentators remarking about trickle down economics and how it has never worked, how it will never work and how it is designed by the rich to make the rich richer and the poor poorer.

So when I read a comment or tirade about trickle down economics, I pretty much know this individual has probably never taken an economics class. Much less macro-economics and is just parroting some dribble they heard from someone else supporting their left-wing political views who has never studied macro-economic policy.

I\’m not saying supply-side economics is not without its criticisms, but give me a well researched and articulated argument without resorting to butt-hurt emotional names. Nor am I stating that I am the authority on macro-economic policy as I am not an economist. Now, I know there is are warring factions on macro-economic policy based upon individual’s personal political views. Supply-side economics focuses on reducing the barriers for producing goods and services by decreasing regulation and reducing taxes.

According to the theory, consumers benefit by the reduction of prices increasing the opportunities of full employment in response to the stagflation, that is simultaneous high inflation and high unemployment that Keynesian theory was unable to solve. Supply-side economics generally opposed Keynesian economic theory and the failure to tackle the problems associated with stagflation – that is simultaneous high inflation and high unemployment.

Keynesian theory is interesting as British economist John Maynard Keynes argued aggregate demand, and not supply determined economic activity calling on fiscal and monetary policy to counter recessions. Notwithstanding, Keynesian economic policy was successfully implemented countering the laissez-faire failures of the great depression of the 1930s when the economy didn’t rebound as expected.

Even more interesting is Keynesian fiscal policy includes increased government spending, tax cuts or a combination of both. As such, the standard Keynesian response to a recession is a fiscal stimulus to increase total demand as they argue a leakage from the demand side exceeds investment.

Then an injection to the economy in the form of increased spending restores the equilibrium. A criticism of increased spending is increased taxes to support such spending. If increased spending is financed by increased taxes then reduced spending is the likely result. If increased spending occurs with tax cuts then the budget deficit increases and eventually taxes have to rise or increased borrowing occurs driving up interest rates.

In Australia, a large number of working households receive more in government benefits than they pay in tax with 40% of all households and 30% of working households paying no net tax. Both supply-side and aggregate demand models generally include tax cuts initially with the tax cuts viewed from totally different perspectives.

Interestingly, as tax rates are progressive in many countries, or known as marginal tax rates in Australia with a greater percentage of tax paid as income increases. The concept is based on the ability to pay with lower tax rates for lower income earners and higher tax rates for high income earners. The whining about tax cuts making the rich richer and the poor poorer really doesn’t stand up to scrutiny.

What a disaster this trip was, I paid too much for a ticket to a destination that I really didn’t want to go. It would have been easier to just cancel the ticket, take a loss on that cost and not go. Instead, I pushed on with the trip and lost out big time.

As I was preparing to head to the airport, I received a job offer but we still had to work out remuneration. I ended up stuck in the poor part of Mactan Island in the Philippines and although I had notified them that I would have limited communications, business needs certainty and that cost me. This was a poorly constructed application, this was not a recruitment agency I wish to ever use again.

That being said, I went through a recruitment agent that I found to be less than professional. They must place people otherwise they wouldn’t have a business but based on my observations, I really don’t see how they generate revenue – they are really that bad. The recruitment agents are supposed to perform a through check of the candidates they put forward, I had to provide all the effort for the recruitment agent, they did no background checks at all.

The financial consulting industry is a tricky industry for consumers, we all want financial independence but the unscrupulous advisers who remain in the industry damage personal finances.

In Australia, government regulation has forced advisers to gain tertiary qualifications in finance and financial products. This is a pretty good initial step, but more needs to be done to rebuild confidence in the financial services industry. Like the law and accounting industries, professional associations should be empowered to register advisers, maintain registration through ongoing education with the ability to sanction members for violation of standards.

Needless to say, professional qualifications are the first step in registration, an industry examination should be required. A reporting mechanism for misconduct needs to be implemented where members of the public can make reports of poor and unethical behaviour. The industry association would have to require individual membership for registration along with corporate membership for organisations to adequately represent the industry. Only this way could the registration board generate sufficient funds to operate effectively.