Category: General

Monday morning sucks, and yet it’s good all at the same time.

There’s usually nothing much good to read in my Bloglines subscriptions, and that sucks, because it’s still Sunday night in the States.

But the fact that I’ve got nothing much to read is actually a good thing because it frees up time to do other things, like to write posts about Monday Morning because there isn’t much else to write about this morning.

Conversely Saturday morning sucks as well. Its Friday night in the States and the blogosphere is always busy on a Friday, and yet I don’t work full time on the weekend. It’s family time. It’s time for she who must be obeyed to force me to clean the house…and she has to force me, I despise cleaning. Perhaps one day I’ll be rich and famous, or even have a regular income again, and I’ll be able to get a cleaner in. We use to have cleaner come in once a week to do all the stuff I hate doing, like mopping the floors, scrubbing the toilets etc.., and then I went into the full time blogging game and we had to discontinue the service, it wasn’t economically sound to keep her on. Touch wood that this might change again in the future.

Todays philosophical thought.

Does your collective wisdom and experience mean diddly squat when no body believes you?

Is it futile in trying when those parallel to you or above you won’t accept facts because those facts are inconvenient to their overall picture of how things should be?

Is it futile trying to persuade the unpersuadable? do you as a consequence accept that you have no place in which to make input that will be listened to, or do you take your bat and ball and leave, seeking greener pastures elsewhere?

Is a key sign that all is lost one where the answer to your questions in relation to a wanted outcome or issue is inevitably no, and yet others act without even asking the question to start with and with no actual consequences to these actions?

Is doing the “right” thing, discussing things prior to action, and by association seeking permission, a flawed concept in modern business practice? Do those who inevitably win the day those that don’t play by these rules? Indeed, are these rules dead?

Food for thought.

Scoble points to Bold Moves, and online video blog produced by Ford aimed at employees, investors and influencers.

It’s bloody amazing.

It’s candid, it’s frank, and it’s honest.

Indeed, having watched the current video on the site (episode #10) I feel like I’ve just woken up and watched the start of a revolution in corporate America, or for that matter, the start of a world wide revolution in the way corporations do business.

Sure, one could look at it as spin, and in a way it is, but it’s good spin. It’s good because it’s actually honest. There’s no fluff here, there’s no trying to gloss over the bad in marketing new speak that is so typical of large corporations.

The one quote that stood out more than anything else in the video came from Mark Fields, Executive Vice President, Ford:

I want everyone in the organisation to know the reality, the good things that are going on in the company, and the bad things that are going on. The way to keep people motivated is to keep them informed. People can deal with the truth.

Jeezus. OMG. I’m lost for words.

Why couldn’t I have had a boss like Mark Fields in a number of organisations I’ve worked for in the past that were imploding from within. People respect the truth, even when it’s not pretty. Corporate newspeak that avoids negatives at all costs is a cancer on business. Mark Fields just gave us a cure.

Kudos to Ford. Like Scoble I’m rooting for you, even if the Falcon is a poor quality car.

Tags: Ford

My latest weekly column at The Blogging Times. And yes, I’m quite serious, and no, it’s not PC BS, god, anyone who knows me knows how anti-PC I am (indeed, I think I regularly make my business partners in b5media blush), but just because I’m anti-PC doesn’t mean that I think that people choosing to discriminate against people with vision impairments is fair when it is quite the opposite.

Ok, it’s probably not cool to laugh about the dead, but this is a little funny (from Fark):

Tags: Steve Irwin

Here’s an interesting question: should Steve Irwin get a State Funeral. Despite some of his more annoying characteristics, there’s little doubt that as a man Irwin did far, far more than many others in the past in promoting Australia abroad, and after all, we’ve given them to people far less worthy than of one than Steve Irwin. Personally I’d reckon yes.

Update: Steve Irwins family was offered a state funeral, looks like they might turn it down according to this story at news.com.au

Tags: Steve Irwin

It’s the lead story on CNN:

but then again, how sh*t is Google News, lead story links to the Steve Irwin dead story at American political blog Wizbang:

Fox News:

BBC…ok, not main story, but top 3:

Tags: Steve Irwin

Steve Irwin dies, and Aunty can’t handle the bandwidth, another reason why the Government should allow ads at abc.net.au:

Got into a bit of a debate on another blog the other day (sorry, cant remember where), where I defended the Sydney Morning Herald online against claims it’s become too tabloid and full of crap. Steve Irwin died what..about 2 hours ago as I write this, news.com.au went straight to the story with top headlines + the feature graphic, smh.com.au still has a picture of Cairlin Hill, billed as Australia’s new YouTube Star in it’s featured spot. Compare and contrast (as at 1:45pm AWST):

news.com.au

smh.com.au

Australia’s own clich?É?í?Ǭ©d gift to the world, Steve Irwin, is dead, killed in an accident doing what he loved best, interacting with deadly wildlife, in this case, a Sting Ray that seems to have taken offence to his presence. Indeed, it’s not hard to image Irwin saying “crikey” as his last word as the stingray barb went through his chest.

Like many Australians I found Steve Irwin annoying. He portrayed a view of Australians to the world that gave Americans in particular the impression that Australians wrestle with crocodiles and say “crikey” at regular intervals. Of course, whilst this caricature was not a true representation of a typical Australian, Steve Irwin was a character in his own right, he was passionate about many things, preservation of our wildlife, and of course, Biosecurity on the Customs ads that pollute our television sets. To his credit he managed to build a world wide fan base where many have failed before him. For many in the world, he put Australia on the map.

Perhaps most sadly of all, he leaves a wife and young children behind. Of course, through many appearances (notably on a Wiggles Video) his daughter is well known to many Australians as well, and today she has lost her father.

I’m sure I’ll be joining many Australian’s today in sending my heartfelt condolences to his family. For all his annoying attributes, Steve Irwn was a trooper, a man who stood by his convictions and truly built a name for himself. He may not have been perfect, but he will be remembered as a man others can only aspire to be, for in his celebrity he continued to remain a true Australian, one who remained humble despite the trappings of fame, and remained loyal to our nation.

Tags: Steve Irwin, Crocodile Hunter