Recommissioning my 1981 Honda CX500B motorcycle

And now for something completely different. I bought this bike about three years ago; it came with my ‘good’ Honda CX500.  All good old motorbikes have nicknames – mine is The Ambo (on account of a white barn-door fairing it used to have). Now, Honda CX500s are fun animals.  They started in about 1978 (this one’s …

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Round-table discussion: Effective social networking in the public sector

I was invited to facilitate a round-table discussion on effective social networking in the public sector for CPA Australia at their International Public Sector Convention on 21st February 2013. These notes derived from that session.  I have formatted this discussion as an article, and it is available h here for download:  20130221 Roundtable Notes.pdf.  Please feel …

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So – why does the US hold its elections on a Tuesday in November?

I am just preparing for tonight’s Rostrum meeting and decided to mention that pesky United States election thing. I found this discussion on Election, which as an avid follower of US politics I found interesting – and intriguing.  As it is currently Tuesday in the United States (that whole time zone thing means it’s actually …

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Work Life Balance: What if I told you doing insane hours is not the same as doing your PhD?

And so today I am here to talk about work-life balance in your PhD. Work-life balance is one of the ‘seven deadly sins’ of academe. The PhD is the worst kind of study for work-life balance. More than any other form of study, the PhD requires hard work without direction and hard work without deadlines. …

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