Last night I watched a piece of highbrow fluff on the ABC – The Worst Jobs in History – the Dark Ages. I usually like watching Tony Robinson – best known as Baldrick on Blackadder – but I found this program profoundly irritating. At a time when most people livedContinue Reading
A law firm in NZ has won an award for work life balance. The interesting thing about the award was that the person interviewed as being an example of someone helped by the firm’s policies wasn’t a parent; she was a 25 year old training for an Ironman triathlon, whoContinue Reading
I was talking to a colleague the other day about his children. They’re in their teens. He said that the single biggest issue he and his wife argue about is how to deal with their affluence. Not only is the whole of society enormously richer than we were thirty yearsContinue Reading
I was born (in the UK) a few days before the Israeli six-day war broke out and my mother was born (in London) a few days after the retreat from Dunkirk. So we’ve got a bit of history, in our family. Chatterboy was born here in Australia on September 13, 2001. Although it didn’t feel asContinue Reading
I went for a bike ride on the weekend – across the Sydney Harbour bridge. The harbour bridge bike lane is the only way for a bicycle to cross Sydney Harbour Bridge without dismounting or cycling in 80 km/hr traffic until you get as far west as Concord Road (20 kmContinue Reading
The AFR, once again, has an article reflecting my current obsessions in Corporate Woman. The headline; “it’s time to find alternatives to the 12-hour day” says it all really. It’s an extended quote from Lynn Wood, a successful executive who is now a corporate director with a “portfolio career” reflecting her desireContinue Reading
The Economist has an opinion piece this week on the death of the newspaper. In it, there’s a very rosy view of the difference the citizen journalist makes to the availability of news: In addition, a new force of “citizen” journalists and bloggers is itching to hold politicians to account.Continue Reading
Last weekend, I went to see 49 UP – a fascinating documentary made in Britain that has filmed people every seven years from the age of 7. I first saw the series when it was 28 UP – which makes me feel old itself, but it didn’t have quite as bigContinue Reading
I came across this story from Savannah – an accounting firm who has decided it makes business sense to shorten the working week. And they are a firm who serves clients! Said the managing director: “We have always said that our people are our most valuable asset. We believe thatContinue Reading
Terence Tao, a 31 year old Australian who is a maths professor at UCLA, has just won the Fields medal for mathematics. Its been described in all the articles I’ve read as the mathematics equivalent of the Nobel – not quite, from what I can see – just as rare (fourContinue Reading