information insights

Recommissioning my 1981 Honda CX500B motorcycle

micheal — Sun, 24 Feb 2013 09:35:06 +0000

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

micheal — Sat, 23 Feb 2013 03:41:30 +0000

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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My friend the moggy

micheal — Sun, 06 Jan 2013 11:35:45 +0000

Consider this world of ours. It is very strange. Not just because it is big and blue, hanging in the inky depths of space like a bowling ball that forgot to fall to the ground. This world is also strange because of the people hanging precariously on that thin crust of a surface. Let us ...

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

micheal — Tue, 06 Nov 2012 23:17:45 +0000

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?

micheal — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 13:39:56 +0000

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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My very disorganized desk

micheal — Tue, 23 Oct 2012 20:07:52 +0000

A book from the library. Stats textbook. Nurofen for phd induced headaches. Empty wallet. New external battery case for my HTC phone. Site plans for a proposed upcoming renovation. Glasses tool because the little screw keeps falling out of my glasses. A snapshot of my life right at the moment. Sigh. But at least I ...

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Scrivener to Word Visual Basic Formatter – Converting Scrivener to Word with Style

micheal — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 14:22:43 +0000

So I have said previously that one of the issues I have had with using Scrivener to write with is also one of its strengths: Scrivener doesn’t do formatting. It separates the formatting of the word from the writing of the word. The idea is, you write your Great Australian Novel in Scrivener, and then ...

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Total Recall Remake – a Science Fiction Geek’s Review

micheal — Sun, 02 Sep 2012 00:53:36 +0000

So I thought I’d post up my review of the Total Recall remake. Since I’d gone to all the effort of writing it on my Facebook. This film had a lot to live up to, with the predecessor film having starred the perennial Arnold Schwarzenegger. On its own and without referencing the original film, the ...

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DevonThink Pro for PhD

micheal — Mon, 30 Jul 2012 22:48:19 +0000

Well I have been promising for a while to write a blog post on DevonThink. On the details on how to use it and manage information. This… is not that blog post. This is an interim short post on DevonThink and why I replaced Evernote with DevonThink on the Mac. But just a quick note ...

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Academic Writing Tips that work for commencing RHD and PhD students

micheal — Tue, 29 May 2012 23:16:50 +0000

Yesterday I reviewed a doctoral consortium paper for a fellow phd student here at UQ. I thought I might as well put some of the comments I made up as a blog post. I want to be sure I just document up some tips or advice for students writing their first doctoral consortium paper. For ...

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