Generalist degrees in Australian Universities
August 31, 2006It seems that generalist skills have found some sort of favour amongst our senior educators. Well, lets hope so anyway!
Deakin just announced plans to aggressively market its double-degrees to students in order to meet the demands of business, who are seeking more rounded graduates.
via theage …
The move is also a response to Melbourne University’s graduate school plan, under which students study a generalist undergraduate degree before completing a professional graduate qualification.
Deakin vice-chancellor Sally Walker said combined degrees helped students become broadly educated lateral thinkers rather than narrow specialists.
Oh no, not the Mac!
August 31, 2006After a serious ‘crash’ the PowerBook is now out of action. Looks the problem is hard drive related, and unrecoverable using the standard restore methods, including a re-install. The fear and dread of data loss subsided quickly once I remembered I did a backup less than two weeks ago. Thankfully.
But, what about getting it fixed? Wouldn’t you know it … my warranty expired just two weeks ago! I spoke with the lovely folks at Apple and they said that they will still honour it if it turns out to be hardware related! Now that’s service! So, its off to the shop with the PowerBook folks, probably for a couple of weeks due to the workload created by the battery recals. I’m lost without it already.
So, I’m eating humble pie at the moment, and copping plenty of slack from colleagues in the process.
Update: After trying to mount my hard disk as a target disc via a firewire connection to Marty’s iMac, I decided it was time to bit the bullet and send it into the shop. Donna dropped it in this morning and guess what? It was fixed before morning tea! I have absolutely no qualms about recommending the service guys at the Apple Centre in Ivanhoe, they really looked after me well! Thanks guys you’re legends.
Creative Mind at Work
August 29, 2006
I know, I’ve been quiet. I’ve been meaning to write this post for a week, but just never got to it.
This time last week I attended a breakfast seminar run by my local (Banyule) Council. The keynote speaker Jason Clark, is the founder of Minds at Work, who–according to the promo–are a commercial collective of professional thinkers hell bent on changing the world!
An engaging, entertaining and interesting talk, Jason focused on how to harness and encourage creativity in the workplace, and used audience participation to facilitate and lead the discussion. Personally, I would have liked him to spend more time talking, introducing concepts and discussing his experience, whilst spending less time on the group activities. However, I would recommend that if you get the chance to attend one of his seminars that you take it, even if it is just to get out of routine for a day.
You never know, you just might learn something!
Memorable Quotes - Shuryu Suzuki
August 21, 2006As a ‘knowledge worker’ I’ve long held an interest in the field of knowledge management. I came across this quote from Shuryu Suzuki, which puts forward an interesting perspective on the meta-subject of knowledge. Food for thought! …
“We are in danger of being buried under all of our accumulated knowledge. It’s like trying to survive without going to the restroom.”
The Winter Blues
August 8, 2006We’re in the midst of winter down under, and despite popular belief, it does get cold–bitterly cold–in Australia. I can’t remember a winter this cold in Melbourne. Not that it’s bad. Most days have been clear and the sun has managed to break through the clouds, providing some respite from the frosty winds. The flip side of this mild weather is that with the rains having staying away, there is serious drought in many areas of the country.
Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve been struggling to shake a mild, but annoying head cold. Apparently there is a flu-like virus, for which the recovery period is 4-5 weeks. I guess I’ve had it. My only consolation is that I’m on the right end of the bell curve–thankfully!
I often wonder about the effects of the weather on our moods and states of mind. Having lived in Australia most of my life, I have been blessed with mostly warm, sunny weather. In contrast, I was born in the UK where the weather is overcast and bleak for a much longer period of the year. This stark contrast between the weather, also explains the different culture and way of life we experience in the Southern Hemisphere to that of the North.
I’ve often heard people say that “there is no such thing as bad weatherâ€, and taking this approach seems to me to be a positive mindset. However illogical though, the weather can have an effect on how we feel. I didn’t know this until recently, but this condition has actually been defined as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or more commonly, Winter Depression.
From an experiential perspective, I find that the shorter days and lack of sun definitely have an impact on my energy levels and although this period of hibernation allows the body to rest, I long for the warmer days and the rejuvenation of spring.
