AFR Boss magazine had a very interesting conversation about flexible jobs recently. The full transcript is here. It was a moderated conversation between Dr Marian Baird, of the University of Sydney and Mr Stephen Bevan, research director, The Work Foundation. It’s a great conversation, but a few things really struckContinue Reading
Today’s book review is The Long Tail: why the future of business is selling less of more, by Chris Anderson. Originally a Wired magazine article, then workshopped as a blog, it got the biggest response of any Wired magazine, so Anderson decided to develop it as a book. I had beenContinue Reading
I watched Gosford Park on DVD last night. As I think Robert Altman intended, the effect of showing both upstairs and downstairs, and making the people matter, is astonishment at the amount of work that went into maintaining that between-the-wars relaxed country house lifestyle that so many great books usedContinue Reading
Sydney’s public transport has been promising integrated ticketing since before the Sydney Olympics. In a quick google search, I found this summary of where the project was up to three years ago – basically promising that it would be finished by the end of 2006. Here’s an article from the SMHContinue Reading
There’s been a fascinating discussion at Slate (via 11D) about whether Wal-Mart is good or bad for the US. Go and read it, but my take is that at least some of the argument boils down to: 1 Wal-mart reduces prices by driving a hard bargain everywhere, but particularly onContinue Reading
I’ve recently gone from being a PAYG taxpayer (pay tax quarterly, generally get an interest free loan from the tax office for six months for your tax, but in charge of making sure you pay the right amount of tax) to being a PAYE taxpayer (tax is deducted from myContinue Reading
50% of Kathmandu, the clothing company, has just been sold by the founder, Jan Cameron. It made me ponder, in fashion week, just how snobby the fashion press is. Fashion week press is usually accompanied by articles about how Australian designers are just about to make it overseas, and isn’tContinue Reading
A recently published summary of the HILDA survey got a fair bit of press – the AFR and the SMH both did front page stories on Wednesday, and both picked completely different angles. So I had to go back to the source, to see what interesting nuggets I could pickContinue Reading
Ross Gittins has a great column in the SMH yesterday about infrastructure (hospitals, schools, public transport etc), and why it is that the great services end up being provided for the people who can most afford it. I’m a great example – I live in a place where I haveContinue Reading
I’ve moved to a different part of town, and I’ve been noticing that coffee is 10% cheaper there. I’m trying to figure out why that is. I used to be on the fringes of the tourist district, in an area that was full of investment bankers. Now I’m closer toContinue Reading
Designed using Magazine News Byte Premium. Powered by WordPress.