Free Economics Textbooks

Free online Economics textbooks. Not just one text. Many on a wide range of topics. Game theory is my favorite.

[ Free Books ]

Free Accounting Text Book

Free Online Accounting Text Book. Its covers the basics. So its good if you need to check something...

[ Fixing Mistakes ]

Dime Novels

A massive searchable collection of old time Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfulls.

[ Dime Novels and Penny Dreadfulls ]

USB Apps

A bunch of apps that are worthy to put on your USB drive.

[ USBAPps ]

You may also want to check out www.tinyapps.org they have a collection of very small apps. My favorite is i.ftp.

Gamblers Anonymous

Cornelius Bear filled out an online test. See his responses.

[ The question of Gambling ]

Recovering the Lost Art of Note-Taking

Most students know how to take notes. And if they dont, they quickly realise that they need to learn to or just buy a tape recorder...

But for some tips on taking notes.

[ Click here ]

Carabiner

As an alternative to the binder clip you can also use a Carabiner, aka mountain climbling clip thingy. Now you can actually make use of that clip thing, becuase we all know you dont mountain climb...

[ not just a fasion accessory ]

Pierced Hipster PDA - Tutorial

Learn how to make a pierced Hipster PDA. This actually makes more sense than the binder clip. But it actually requires effort.

[ This is a project not a to-do/action item ]

Banned Books Week 2005 is September 24–October 1

Banned books are fun to read becuase they are forbiden. Sort of like stuff you cant have or cant afford. Well thats not really the same thing. But you know what I mean...

[ BBW ]

p.s. This is not a link to a porn site.

Wolverines Claws

Some dude (with too much time on his hands...) has recreated wolverines claws that actually slide in and out...

[ Nerd Alert ]

Additional Dimension Adjustment Disorder

Additional Dimension Adjustment Disorder, or 3rd Dimensia, is a neurological disorder that strikes the brain and brain related functions of those acclimatizing to improved spatial situations.
Up until the late 1990s, it was commonly thought that 3rd Dimensia was only a disorder for patients dealing with 2-to-3-dimensional crossover. But today, scientists and doctors know better. Be warned: 3rd Dimensia does not discriminate. It can strike anyone at anytime.

[ Are you suffering from ADAD? ]

21 Variations

21 Variations on "They're Coming To Take Me Away, Ha-haa!" All in glorious mp3 format.

[ Freedom ]

Religion Bad for Society

RELIGIOUS belief can cause damage to a society, contributing towards high murder rates, abortion, sexual promiscuity and suicide, according to research published today.

According to the study, belief in and worship of God are not only unnecessary for a healthy society but may actually contribute to social problems.

The study counters the view of believers that religion is necessary to provide the moral and ethical foundations of a healthy society.

[ The Times ]

Advantages and Disadvantages of being an Introvery

Top Ten Advantages Introverts Possess:

10) Work Well With Others, Especially
In One-to-One Relationships

9) Maintain Long-Term Friendships

8) Flexible

7) Independent

6) Strong Ability To Concentrate

5) Self-Reflective

4) Responsible

3) Creative, Out-of-the-Box thinking

2) Analytical Skills That Integrate
Complexity

1) Studious and Smart

[ Top 10 ]

Keeping it all together

If the past few days have taught me its that having to remove the clip from my hipsterPDA was that they could potentialy fly any where. It was quite a nusiance. If you are in an closed enviroment its fine. But out in the REAL WORLD. Its dangerous.

[ Dodging Bullets ]

How To Be Productive Working From Home

Whats the point of being at home if you arent procrastinating... Anyway if you do work at home then you proabably want to be productive. Other wise your home might be a cardboard box.

[ ]

Kick procrastination's ass

Beat procrastination with a short burst of activity (aka dash).

Time based
Unit Based
Combination

[ Kickings Procrastination ]

Running a Progressive Dash

Start with one minuite and go through to-do list. Then two minuites etc...

Finnaly all your small to-do items are done and only thing left is the large items. Also you get to start work on all projects and slowly (minuite by minuite) get larger projects done. But the main reason would be to stop procrastination. And actually get started on work.

But this could be bad, as switching from one task to another could be disorientating and stop the developemnt of flow.

[ tenmins ]

Personal Suck

Ok best to get it out the way first.

HAHAHA


Now. Firtly you must admit you suck. Secondly understand why.

The Why:

"Why do some people find it easy to stay skinny? How come some people can draw anything they see? Why is another naturally a whiz at math? How can one person be so much more effortlessly funny than another? Ask these questions to the people with the skillz and you’ll probably rack up the same answer every time: “I don’t know; it’s just how I am.” And so the rest of us portly, uncreative, arithmetically-retarded, not-funny people stare and stew like the loser in the Charles Atlas ad. “Why can’t I have that come to me so effortlessly?”"

[ More ]

DIY Planner Hipster PDA Edition

a series of 34 organisational and planning templates designed for printing onto index cards (a.k.a., the Hipster PDA). These are a subset of the regular D*I*Y Planner forms, re-designed for the smaller size, and may be used either in conjunction with the full kit or as a stand-alone system. Although chiefly inspired by David Allen’s Getting Things Done, an emphasis has been placed upon tweakability and multiple methodologies.

[ Join us... ] (wipes drool from face)

The Empty Cup Principle

Paying attention and being in the moment seemed like what the masters of anything did when they were being masterful. The best description of the empty cup principle comes from an old Zen story, as told by Bruce Lee.

A learned man once went to a Zen teacher to inquire about Zen. As the Zen teacher explained, the learned man would frequently interrupt him with remarks like, "Oh, yes, we have that too...." and so on.
Finally the Zen teacher stopped talking and began to serve tea to the learned man. He poured the cup full, and then kept pouring until the cup overflowed.
"Enough!" the learned man once more interrupted. "No more can go into the cup!"
"Indeed, I see," answered the Zen teacher. "If you do not first empty the cup, how can you taste my cup of tea?"

[ Very Zen ]

Storyboarding

Storyboarding you day. In your imagination it probably seems like a movie anyway. So why not write about it?


[ Visual Journal..... ]

An Example of story boarding

[ examples good for copying ]

Temptation Blocker

So, have a major deadline looming or ripe opportunity closing and just don’t have time to waste playing Half Life 2 or checking Bloglines one last time? Well then, add Half Life 2 and Firefox to the list of programs you want to block in Temptation Blocker, set the timer for how long you want to block them and then hit the “Get Work Done!”-button.

[ Block Sinfull acts with an egg timer ]

This is so frikin awsome

Web Based Tickler

A web Based Tickler.

[ Its free ]

I still think outlook is pretty nifty. Considering you can make items reacurring etc. and apply coloured lables. Only thing its not online, unless you have your own web server which could host your outlook file... then the possibilities would be endless.

Update: this is so crap, I cant belive I feel for it. But I did. Its basicly an email reminder service... geez

TiddlyPedia

Change the "skin" of your tiddlyWiki.

[ Tiddly Deja Vu ]

GTD: Outlook add-in

[ Downloand ]

Its only a trial...

Omea Pro

Brings a lot of internet information together. EG RSS, IM, Email, Tasks etc. In the context of the last few days its a super app

[ Trying to make Information Enviroment cool ]

The Adventures of ACTION ITEM!

Action Item is a super hero with uniquie ability to manage tasks...

[ Professional Superhero ]

The Tickler Filing System

Basicly a file for each day. And a folder for each month etc...

The advantage of using file folders (instead of the old sales tickler system of index cards or even your calendar) is the ability to store the whole document or piece directly into the file (the actual form that needs to be filled out, the memo that needs reviewing then, the telephone note that needs action on a specific date, etc.)

[ The Full Article ]

They even give examples David Allen is well massive.

What's the next action

This weblog deals with everything GTD and the five phases of projectplanning as written by Dave Allen in his book "Getting Things Done"
I will try to record and publish my thoughts and experiences with this system to really "Get Things Done" in my personal and professional life.

[ Its a blog about getting things done ]

I think its kinda ironic. That a blog is being used to publish information, and if you read the blog, its actually well done and establishs credibility. Apparently a good thing... But a blog is basicly a way to spend perfectly good time.

Couldnt careless anymore

A program made for Linux becuase there was none available (they were all for windows) is now ported back to windows...

[ irony ]

I dont know

Apparently this is also another planner app, its still downloading...

[ I am not Mr. Sad ]

EmacsWiki: PlannerMode

A wiki type planner. Its been setup all you goto do is use it. Fairly simple. Ofcourse if you dont actually have anything to do, looking at all of this planning info is a good way of passing time. Eventualy you may even need a planner to help you organise your time...

[ Wiki planner ]

Actually this is shit. Dont use it. Its crap.

en PimliPoche - • Current Goals, Hotest now, First actions, *Reference data, Routines, Interests and Lists

Another slick wiki type planning website page thingy that you can download and customise. I guess if you setup Outlook properly it could be used similarly. But I guess somethings dont have time limits. And outlook is pretty much time orientated. Also its hard to keep notes. oh wait there is a note function.

Anyway This is free

[ Freedom ]

If you cant find the link its: http://avm.free.fr/apps/En-PimliPoche.zip

GanttProject.org

Open source project planning software. Its quite well developed and actually works. Not that I've used it yet. As its still downloading. But juding by the website I would say its going along pretty well. It was also a recomendation so it cant be bad. We'll have to wait and see.

[ GANTT charts do they really use these in businesses? ]

Imendio: A planner for Linux

Planner is a project managment tool for the Gnome desktop, for planning, scheduling and tracking projects.

[ Planning is fun ]

The Owners Manual for the Brain

1. Our brains are naturally set up to run 25-hour days on average, but
also to hook into ambient light. You can and should wake your body up
with light.

2. You should not wake up before 6AM !

3. Rote memory works best in the morning (6AM - Noon)

4. Your brain hits a low point at a point about twelve hours after the
midpoint between beginning and ending sleep the previous night; this is
the best time for naps, which should be about 30 minutes long.

5. Introverts are creative in the morning; extraverts are creative in
the evening.

6. Hormonal cycles can matter. Women's menstrual cycles are well
known. Testosterone cycles for men are daily and seasonal, high in the
Fall, lower in the Spring and in the evening.

7. If you go to bed at 11pm and wake at 7am, the best times for
learning are 8am, 1:30pm, 4:30pm, and 10pm.

8. Humans average sleep cycles run 90 minutes (ranging between 60 and
120 minutes). So one should sleep 6, 7.5, or 9 hours, not 8 hours, if
you have the average sleep cycle periodicity. You should not wake by
alarm in the depths of REM sleep, because your brain's motor-control
has been de-activated and takes some time to get fully functional.

The source for all this is "The Owner's Manual for the Brain: everyday
applications from mind-brain research", 2d ed., by Pierce Howard. Bard
Press, 2000.

Be Your Own Mentor

In today’s fast-paced working environment companies don’t always have a straightforward plan for their employee’s personal and professional growth. Even if they do, chances are it’s a pretty low priority. To be sure you’re successful and growing in your career you often have to take matters into your own hands.

[ Read More ]

Source: Lifehacker

13 Virtues of Moral Perfection

Benjamin Franklin had a list of 13 virtues. After each day he recorded which virtues he broke. Which was all in pursit of perfection. He later discovered that perfection is not attainable.

[ Ben Franklin
]

Monkeys can type if they had a typewritter or a hipster pda

Basicly more disemination about the hipster/paper pda. For some reason I dont like the term hipster pda. I think I will change to paper PDA or PPDA. hmm...

Well this page is actually about the hipster version (system cards) pda and it basicly has a few templates you can print out.

[ templates ]

Building a Smarter To-Do List

A better to-do list always helps. Mainly because you get the confidence to use a better system. And dont have to keep double guessing your self...

[ Part 1 ]

More Reading

More reading but less than what would normaly be required.

[ Procrastination ]

"Procrastination can drive most of us into a spiral of shame that’s as mundane as it is painfully personal. We know what we should be doing, but some invisible hang-up keeps us on the line. Unfortunately, the guaranteed consequence of procrastination is growth in the scale of the task you’ve been putting off—as well as the anxiety that it creates. All the time you’re putting something off, your problem’s getting bigger—both in reality and in your head, where your colorful imagination is liable to turn even the most trivial item into an unsolvable juggernaut that threatens to overwhelm you. And that means extra stress, more procrastination, and the music goes round." - theres more if you click the link

GTD Short cut

GTD is all about productivity. Well whats more productive then a short cut.

[ Thank those who can read ]

GTD = Get Things Done

GTD is the popular shorthand for "Getting Things Done", the groundbreaking work-life management sytem and book by David Allen that transforms personal overwhelm and overload into an integrated system of stress-free productivity.

A lot of these planning sites use this productivity term and its probably a good idea to find out what all the fuss is about. You know the reason for planning etc

[ the philisophy ]

Some Dudes Blog

Some dude with a blog has come up with the brilliant idea of printing out the "plans" and sticking them in his moleskin notebook

[ The internet is full of knowledge ]

DIY planner The Website

DIY planning website. So much information. Could actually spend hundreds of productive hours looking here. It has a lot of stuff you can print out and is sort of the "main" site on the net atm (that I can find. Basicly it collects lots of the paper PDA stuff together into one convenient location.

[ Which is what its all about ]

Hipster PDA Photo Blog

[ Is there anything nerdier? ]

client side wiki

A wiki that you can downloand and use to keep track of notes etc. Because its a wiki its easily edited. Its works very smoothly. But if you have outlook, whats the point...

[ Wiki Planner ]

The Hipster PDA

Now heres something I already knew about. Using system cards and fold back clips as an organiser. I dont use it for everyday scrap jottings as I think its expensive (occupation: student) Its still very cheap when compared to a normal PDA and I guess its hipster becuase of the "I must use expensive card paper to write down I need get corn flakes"

Its still a good Idea and If you combine it with PocketMod. Starting to build up quite a robost system. Also I think the card would also make it eaiser to write on when you dont have a hard surface to lean on. Plus its card.... (see: D-Postcard).

I think theres a bit of a connection to the people who would even consider this and those moleskin notebooks...

[ Paper Fantasy ]

Pocket Mod

Its a unique way of folding paper to make a mini notebook thingy to keep you organised. And you can print it out with different things like lines or a grid or a shopping list or formulas you use a lot etc. anything and it can fit in your pocket. Best of all its free.

[ Free PDA ]

I've always used squares of paper to write stuff down on. Mainly becuase 1. I dont have the $$$ to buy a PDA and I just think its more convenient. But now I dont have to cut paper. I just fold it. Whoo. As I'm doing a bit of research on this it is evident that I am not the only one who like this approach and now I can improve my current paper system. I never knew paper folding could be so cool.

Already I feel more organised.

Printable CEO Remixed

An extension to the printable CEO, Now in different sizes and a customisable version in excel.

[ Motivated Paper ]

The Printable CEO

Focus, on moving forward in your endevours is important. CEO's know this. They know that they only have on average 2.3 to 2.5 years to be a CEO at anyone company. Therefore being productive is important. Especialy when you get paid in so many zeros it helps you sleep at night....

Not everyone is a CEO and not everyone has a CEO or a "manager" who is driven in this manner. They are just trying to get paid at the end of the week like everyone else.

So I normaly ask my self is this important. Or is it worth doing. Is it going to help me achive my ultimate goal (currently: finnish uni). If this " " is going to help achive this then whats the point in doing it. It actually takes a while to get into this mindset. Fortunately someone on the internet has come up with the Concrete Goals Tracker (CGT (nothing to do with capital gains tax)). It basicly helps you track what you are doing and if it is helping you achive what you are trying to do. This in turn helps you become more results focused and more driven, which is especialy good for your career/job/work etc.

[ Printable CEO ]

Mini Comics

More excitement with a tutorial on how to fold paper

[ Paper is awesome ]

Folded Envelopes

If you are not into envelope and letter folding you may wonder why one should go to the trouble of folding up an envelope when you could just buy one from a stationery store. Well, first off, it is the very nature of hobbies that they tend not to be entirely practical. In spite of that, hand folding letters and envelopes is one of those rare intersections of decoration and practicality, where paper folding produces the satisfaction of making something useful and novel. The folds can be extremely clever in their attempts to reach a number of basic goals: to make the largest possible envelope from a given piece of paper, to latch or remain sealed with out need of adhesive, to meet postal requirements and to be attractive. One of the "Holy Grails" of envelope and letter folding is to create a fold which not only latches, but can't be unfolded--sealing it shut like a glued envelope. No one seems to have managed this feat, so far.

[ Has the internet figured it out yet SPOILDER: probably... ]

Car Cam Project

One cheap web cam + one cheap car = car cam project


[ Very simple project ]

Macgyver News

[ MacGyver specific news site ]

Paper Forest

Paper model are cool, possbily cooler than origami because you arent stuck with just folding. You can cut and glue etc. Folding is obviously the first choice.

Dont knock it untill you've tried it.

[ Origami ]

ReNews

A sustainability magazine about re using stuff. lots of DIY/make type stuff....

[ Reusing is good to help you get less poor ]

Nugatory

Null \Null\, n.
1. Something that has no force or meaning.
[1913 Webster]

2. That which has no value; a cipher; zero. --Bacon.
[1913 Webster]

Null method (Physics.), a zero method. See under Zero.
[1913 Webster]

[ dict.org- null
]

The Lego Clan

Blood
Violence
Revenge
Lego

[ A Jonny Paquette Fild ]

Apple Baby Souffle ala Flambe

1 Live Baby, Alive- 13 Oz.
2 apples
Package of Pie Crust
1 Butter Stick
3 Leaves of Parsley

Preheat oven 450 degrees F. Prepare pie crust in pan. spread butter on the top of crust. Slice apples in large strips. Place apples in pie crust. Slice Live Baby in large strips. Stuff Baby strips sloppily in crust to preserve tastefulness. Cook Souffle in oven for 2 hours. Take out souffle. Light it on fire using butane lighter of some sort. Server with parsley and your choice of whipped cream, and voila! Apple Baby Souffle, ala Flambe!!! Enjoy!"

[ Recipies for Baby Food ]

Emergancy Landing so Fans can Watch soccor game

A chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans pretended it needed to make an emergency landing so they could watch their team compete in the FIFA Under 17 World Championships, officials said Wednesday.

The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed Tuesday near the stadium in Peru's northern coast city of Piura.

"It truly was a scam," said Betty Maldonado, a spokeswoman for Peru's aviation authority, CORPAC. "They tricked the control tower, saying they were low on fuel."

Emergency crews were scrambled ahead of the unscheduled landing by the Lockhead L1011 Tri-Star, owned by Air Rum Ltd., Maldonado said.

The Air Rum plane, which she said was chartered by Gambian President Yahya Jammeh, should have made its approach to the capital, Lima, but instead flew directly to Piura, entering Peruvian air space "without permission."

The passengers were permitted to attend African team's 3-1 victory over Qatar on Tuesday night, she added, but the plane remained in Piura on Wednesday while authorities determined what penalty, if any, to levy against the airline.

[ GOAL! ]

Sushi Pictures

Pictures of "art" in sushi (it was deliberate)

[ Choo choo ]

Pope Can't Be Sued

[ Who does this law realy protect? And should really be getting the protection? ]

Virtualy in Rome

[ View Rome in virtual world of virtual pictures and virtual cgi on the virtual internet. Some say its virtualy unreachable. But those vitualiaians are victims of a virtual desiese called dial up ]

The Young Rich reveals some interesting new directions in the making, and spending, of serious money.

By Tony Featherstone
BRW. 15 September 2005

The BRW Young Rich list has lots of glitz, glamour and gossip on who's worth what, but the real value is the trends that emerge on entrepreneurship and the differences between the Young Rich and the BRW Rich 200. Here are 21 quick observations:

1. Exit signs. The Rich 200 build companies that last a lifetime. The Young Rich build companies they can sell. They think about an exit strategy from day one.

2. Travel light. The Rich 200 own factories, land, plant and equipment. The Young Rich own only what is necessary and outsource everything else.

3. No emotion. The Rich 200 stay with their companies for decades, sometimes generations. The Young Rich have less attachment to their companies.

4. Stay private. A few years ago every fast-growing company talked about listing on the stockmarket. Not any more. Many shudder at the thought of going public.

5. Born global. Most on the Rich 200 made their fortunes here and avoided global markets. The Young Rich are planning global companies from day one.

6. China. The Young Rich are embracing China. This year's highest debutant, Peter Hosking, built his empire by importing cheap power tools from China.

7. Target the tigers. Many companies have retreated from smaller Asian economies, but not the Young Rich. Eagle Boys' Tom Potter, for example, has big plans to take his pizza business to Malaysia, Hong Kong and other parts of Asia.

8. Take on the US. If you want to make it really big in sport, entertainment or fashion, you have to make it in the United States.

9. Avoid crowded industries. The Rich 200 made their fortunes from property, resources and agriculture. Not so the Young Rich. There are some property developers, but the Young Rich generally have a lower representation in traditional industries.

10. Cheap can be good. Some Young Rich have made their fortunes in extremely competitive, low-margin industries. The pizza market is a good example. Hard work is their competitive advantage.

11. Be yourself. Fitness gurus Kerry McEvoy and Rowena Szeszeran-McEvoy ban conventional staff titles. They call their general manager Queen Poobah, the managing directors Head Honchos, and their admin person the Princess of Paperwork.

12. Not enough women. Although there are more women on the Young Rich than on the Rich 200, the representation is still too low. Not enough women are taking their businesses to the next level because they do not get enough support from the government and others.

13. Avoid big companies. If you want to make serious wealth, you have to build your own company. Like the Rich 200, few on the Young Rich have made serious wealth by working for others.

14. 35 is the new 25. The average age of the Young Rich is 35. This sounds young, but many on the list have been building businesses since they were 16. There are few overnight success stories.

15. Build great brands. Boost Juice, Crazy John's, Dodo ... the Young Rich have a knack of building great brands through clever marketing.

16. Go with the trend. Kelli Fox is making millions from astrology, Sonia Amoroso is cleaning up in complementary medicine, and the McEvoys are making a fortune from fitness. Like the Rich 200 , the Young Rich spot big trends and stick with them.

17. Love your staff. When Mark Fawcett moved his manufacturing business from Sydney to near Wollongong, 64 of his staff and their families followed him. The Young Rich know how to share the rewards and develop loyalty.

18. University is not everything. Can entrepreneurship be taught? No, judging by this list. Like the Rich 200, some on the Young Rich dropped out of school or struggled to get through their university degree.

19. Motivation. Emotional impoverishment might drive many young money makers, according to Hugh Joffe, who explores the psychology of the Young Rich in a fascinating feature in this issue..

20. Good karma. Pat Rafter leads the Young Rich pack when it comes to philanthropy, and more on the list are giving to charities.

21. Work-life balance. Many Young Rich complain about working nights, day and weekends. They have no work-life balance. As the playwright Neil Simon wrote: "Money brings some happiness. But after a certain point, it just brings more money."

Job well done
There are many to thank for this year's Young Rich, but first a special thanks to Rich 200 editor Robert Skeffington. After five years of analysing the wealth of Australia's richest people, Robert is handing over the reins to James Thomson, who is off to a flying start with this issue. Robert has done a terrific job on the Rich 200 and was the driving force behind some of our special issues such as the Young Rich and BRW Rich Summer. Robert will help edit the weekly issues of BRW and write more on boards and their directors. Thanks also to art director Justin Garnsworthy, who designed this issue, picture editor Paul Jones, production manager Anna Wolf, production editor Tom Brentnall, chief copy editor Paul Watson and all of our production staff and writers. Once again, they have done a great job under tight deadlines. Our researchers, Christopher Blane, Briana Everett, Emma Marshall, James Williams and Dylan Welch, also deserve mention for their work.

http://www.brw.com.au/freearticle.aspx?relId=15393

--
The information contained in this email and any files transmitted with it are confidential and intended solely for the use of the individual or entity to whom they are addressed. If you have received this email in error please promptly notify the sender by reply email and then delete the email and destroy any printed or other form of copy. Additionally, if you have received this email in error, you must not disclose or use this information in any way.

Miyazaki

On Wednesday, 28 September, SBS screens Ghibli: The Miyazaki Temple. This documentary looks at the growth of Japanese animated cinema through the world of director Miyazaki and his Ghibli studio.

Throughout October, four Miyazaki films will screen on SBS including Laputa: Castle in the Sky 10pm Wednesday 5 October, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind 10pm Wednesday 12 October, Kiki's Delivery Service 10pm Wednesday 19 October and his recent Academy-Award winning masterpiece Spirited Away 10pm Wednesday 26 October.

Weird Food in Japan

Note: no explanation available

[ whales ]


p.s. Square water mellon is wrong

Jessica Alba

Some High res shots of Jessica Alba. Best to probably download them soon as this may be a temporary website...

[ PHOAWRR ]

Giant Bunny Found on Mountain

Gelatin, a group of artists from Vienna, has erected a pink bunny measuring 200 feet in length (about 60 metres) on the the side of a northern Italian mountain.

[ Godzila and the fluffy bunnys 8 ]

[ Pictures ]

An Onion Predicts the Future

Back on the 18th of Febuary 2004 the onion released a prophesy that said that Gilete will introduce a 5 bladed razor. Well its Happened. Gillete (the BEST a man can get) has released a 5 (five (one, two, three, four, five)) bladed razor. However one of the sad things is that Gillete will be taken over by P&G... Its actaully kinda weird. Energizer owns Schick (Battery company has a subsidary that is a shaving company), and Gillete owns Duracell (Shaving companys has a subsidary that is a battery company). But I would recken that Gillete is the bigger company. The old Schick 3D was probably the best razor ever... Only two blades, but it was so much smoother in its operation (conditioning strips I think). The new 4 blade monster grips too much to the hair... which leads to hurty so you have to be carfull when using it. Its just not as smooth. I would try the Gillete razors but I'm still too afraid to move away from the safety that the wires bring.

[ The Onion ]

Would someone tell me how this happened? We were the fucking vanguard of shaving in this country. The Gillette Mach3 was the razor to own. Then the other guy came out with a three-blade razor. Were we scared? Hell, no. Because we hit back with a little thing called the Mach3Turbo. That's three blades and an aloe strip. For moisture. But you know what happened next? Shut up, I'm telling you what happened—the bastards went to four blades. Now we're standing around with our cocks in our hands, selling three blades and a strip. Moisture or no, suddenly we're the chumps. Well, fuck it. We're going to five blades.

Sure, we could go to four blades next, like the competition. That seems like the logical thing to do. After all, three worked out pretty well, and four is the next number after three. So let's play it safe. Let's make a thicker aloe strip and call it the Mach3SuperTurbo. Why innovate when we can follow? Oh, I know why: Because we're a business, that's why!

You think it's crazy? It is crazy. But I don't give a shit. From now on, we're the ones who have the edge in the multi-blade game. Are they the best a man can get? Fuck, no. Gillette is the best a man can get.

What part of this don't you understand? If two blades is good, and three blades is better, obviously five blades would make us the best fucking razor that ever existed. Comprende? We didn't claw our way to the top of the razor game by clinging to the two-blade industry standard. We got here by taking chances. Well, five blades is the biggest chance of all.

Here's the report from Engineering. Someone put it in the bathroom: I want to wipe my ass with it. They don't tell me what to invent—I tell them. And I'm telling them to stick two more blades in there. I don't care how. Make the blades so thin they're invisible. Put some on the handle. I don't care if they have to cram the fifth blade in perpendicular to the other four, just do it!

You're taking the "safety" part of "safety razor" too literally, grandma. Cut the strings and soar. Let's hit it. Let's roll. This is our chance to make razor history. Let's dream big. All you have to do is say that five blades can happen, and it will happen. If you aren't on board, then fuck you. And if you're on the board, then fuck you and your father. Hey, if I'm the only one who'll take risks, I'm sure as hell happy to hog all the glory when the five-blade razor becomes the shaving tool for the U.S. of "this is how we shave now" A.

People said we couldn't go to three. It'll cost a fortune to manufacture, they said. Well, we did it. Now some egghead in a lab is screaming "Five's crazy?" Well, perhaps he'd be more comfortable in the labs at Norelco, working on fucking electrics. Rotary blades, my white ass!

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe we should just ride in Bic's wake and make pens. Ha! Not on your fucking life! The day I shadow a penny-ante outfit like Bic is the day I leave the razor game for good, and that won't happen until the day I die!

The market? Listen, we make the market. All we have to do is put her out there with a little jingle. It's as easy as, "Hey, shaving with anything less than five blades is like scraping your beard off with a dull hatchet." Or "You'll be so smooth, I could snort lines off of your chin." Try "Your neck is going to be so friggin' soft, someone's gonna walk up and tie a goddamn Cub Scout kerchief under it."

I know what you're thinking now: What'll people say? Mew mew mew. Oh, no, what will people say?! Grow the fuck up. When you're on top, people talk. That's the price you pay for being on top. Which Gillette is, always has been, and forever shall be, Amen, five blades, sweet Jesus in heaven.

Stop. I just had a stroke of genius. Are you ready? Open your mouth, baby birds, cause Mama's about to drop you one sweet, fat nightcrawler. Here she comes: Put another aloe strip on that fucker, too. That's right. Five blades, two strips, and make the second one lather. You heard me—the second strip lathers. It's a whole new way to think about shaving. Don't question it. Don't say a word. Just key the music, and call the chorus girls, because we're on the edge—the razor's edge—and I feel like dancing.

[ Reuters ]

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Gillette Co. (G.N: Quote, Profile, Research) unveiled two five-bladed men's razors on Wednesday with a trimmer and even a microchip in one version, aiming to stay ahead of smaller rivals by adding more than just blades.

Gillette hopes Fusion, with five blades on the front and a trimming blade on the back of its pivoting head, will become its leading franchise, followed by Mach3 and Sensor.

Update: Ryan points out that Mad Magazine nailed this one in 1979.

Update 2: Bruce sez, "Saturday Night Live predicted the Mach-3 razor *in their very first episode* in 1975: 'Triple-Trac: because you'll believe anything.'"

[ Thank you Boing Boing ]

New Charachter

[ flap-flap-flap.gif">Drew has created a new charachter for toothpastefordinner. its a seal ]

MASTER.MIND

Its a magazine. Its sureal art mumbo jumbo. Therefore its very cool and annoying at the same time

[ Theres a free extract of the current edition ]

How to Beat Carnes

Not talking about phsical beatings here... Just talking about how to win the games...

[ Must win giant tiger ]

Google Blog Search

Googles Blog search goes live.

[ The Balkanization Continues ]

Hamlet: The Text Adventure

It's so unfair! You're in trouble again, just because you called your uncle - or rather, your new stepfather, Claudius - a usurping git. It's true, though. Your real dad was SO much better than that guy. Too bad he was found mysteriously dead in the orchard a couple of weeks back. Anyway, your mother (who was, incidentally, looking quite something today in a sparse leather number, er...) sent you to your room, and here you are.

Bedroom
You are in your luxurious palatial boudoir, all of ten feet square. There is a four-poster bed, and not much else. A portrait hangs on the wall. An exit leads north.

[ Link to fun ]

Bush Asks for Toilet Pass

[ Didnt need to know ]

The Periodic Table of Haiku

[ Flash backs to highschool... ]

Smiling disallowed in Germany

Germans must now have the "most neutral facial expression possible" in passport photos. From the Associated Press:

Facial recognition systems match key features on the holder's face and work best when the face has a neutral expression with the mouth closed.

"A broad smile, however nice it may be, is therefore unacceptable," the Interior Ministry said in a statement.

[ Say Cheese ]

Tongue-eating bug found in fish

Tongue-eating bug found in fish. In Britain a bug has been discovered that eats the tongue of a fish down to a stub, then attaches itself to become a replacement!

[ Symbiot bugs are bad ]

News corp buys IGN

News Corp. has agreed to pay $650 million to acquire IGN Entertainment Inc., an Internet video game company, the Wall Street Journal reported on Thursday. Citing a person familiar with the situation, the newspaper said Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. beat out Viacom Inc. for IGN.

[ Its called Synergy ]

Massively Multiplayer Games For Dummies

Its filed under sports and hobbies. For some unknown reason I find that ammusing.

[ Teh book for people who only have time to read about being geeky ]

Stolen Webcasts legaly illegal

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO, a UN agency that makes copyright and related treaties, which lead to disasters like the DMCA) is once again considering adding "webcasting" to the upcoming Broadcast Treaty. This would allow a webcaster (anyone who sends you audiovisual material over the Internet) to have a 50 monopoly over what you do with the material you receive from him -- even if he's sending you Creative Commons-licensed work, GPL'ed Flash animations, or stuff that's in the public domain. It would also make it illegal to break any DRM used in connection with webcasting.

[ boing boing ]

I always wanted a Pancho

Threadbared.com was born out of a love of all things vintage (Mary) and all things snarky (Kimberly) (and, um…okay, Mary too). We combined our fondness for vintage sewing patterns with our need to be bitchy and mean and cruel. But since we are nice girls, too nice for that kind of behavior towards real people we can now take our frustrations

[ Thredbared ]

Despite my lack knowledge of clothing (my mother dresses me) I still find this extreamly ammusing |)

MSN + AOL

Time Warner is in advanced discussions to sell a stake in America Online to Microsoft, The Post has learned.

According to two sources familiar with the matter, Time Warner is in talks with Microsoft about selling the stake in AOL and then combining it with Microsoft's Web unit MSN. Under the plan being considered, Microsoft would pay some money to Time Warner for the AOL stake, leaving the two companies approximately equal partners in the venture.

[ Madness. Complete and utter maddness ]

Revolution Controler

Main Controller Features

• 3D Pointing. Sensors understand up, down, left, right, forward and backward.
• Tilt Sensitive. Controller can be rotated or rolled from side-to-side.
• Buttons Included. Has a trigger on its backside, face buttons, and a D-Pad.
• Multifunctional. Has an expansion port which can be used with different types of controller peripherals. Analog stick with two trigger buttons planned for left hand.
• Wireless. Totally wire-free. Currently there are no details on the max distance, source or power, or otherwise.
• Rumble Built-in. Included as a standard in all the controllers.

[ Its sexy time in the pants time! (translation: wood) ]

It sort of reminds me of the controlers they had (have) on singapore airlines entertainment thingy (pre 2000) |)

WWW Balkanization

Karl Auerbach's prediction that the internet is balkanizing into groups of people who only accept traffic from each other took another step closer to reality today. The veteran TCP/IP engineer and ICANN board member has warned of the effect for years.

"The 'Net is balkanizing. There are communities of trust forming in which traffic is accepted only from known friends," Auerbach told Wired last year.

The trend can be seen at various levels. At the user level, where we see bloggers repeating each other in an echo chamber and reinforcing their views; in the middle of the network, where Verizon recently blocking off inbound email from Europe, and it's happening deep down at the packet level too, as a result of the net's background radiation.

But all these may look like an innocent prelude. Google said today that its search engine will respect a new link attribute, "rel=nofollow", which will means its algorithms will not give weighting to the target URL. MSN, Yahoo! and blog vendors said they'll follow suit. It's effectively declaring PageRank™ dead for weblogs, in an attempt to stem the problem.

The problem is the explosion of comment spam, whereby spammers use the open comment sections of weblogs to promote their wares in the major search engines rankings. PageRank™ era, too. Google owed its success in part to the early effectiveness of link maps, but it has since demoted the factor after widespread criticism, and some embarrassing incidents. [More on that at The New York Times and Le Monde]. It's also a major blow to the 'Religion of the Hyperlink', faith in which you can see expressed in phrases like "the uniquely democratic nature of the web", coined by Google. Obviously this doesn't refer to spammers who are voting early and often, and in ever greater numbers.

[ el Reg ]

A Million Nation States of One

A consequence of this wonderful publishing tool is that the discourse has proved to be so dreadful. There's a case to be made for Weblogs as the most anti-social software yet devised. No wonder they're so popular with egotists, as the right to speech without consequences reaches its apogee on the web soap box. Compared to bulletin boards, or group discussions, there's no one to temper the conversation, or steer it to more useful outcomes. There is a lot of posturing, however, in this fragmented world of a Million Nation States of One. And as anyone who has tried to follow "the conversation" across dozens of fragments can confirm, it's the antithesis of coherent discussion. So it's revealing that one site which started as a weblog, and dropped the restrictive format in favor of editorial control and a Slashdot-style system, has become a runaway success: DailyKos.

In the end, it comes down to what we really want from computer networks, and we can start by adding up what we value already. Harmless amusement at work? Probably. Comfortable shopping? Definitely. Hods of "free" porn and music? Absolutely - and we can even begin to pay the artists who create it.

But as an alternative, escapist universe, it was always going to come up short. Any interaction that requires something like 'humor tags' to work was always going to be several steps behind real human discourse. The mooted Google Blog Tab is simply the world's polite way of telling the utopians to take their toys and move along.

[ Google Balkanization ]

T-Shirts

Slightly political T-Shirts

apogee

ap·o·gee Pronunciation (p-j)
n.
1.
a. The point in the orbit of the moon or of an artificial satellite most distant from the center of the earth.
b. The point in an orbit most distant from the body being orbited.
2. The farthest or highest point; the apex: "The golden age of American sail, which began with the fast clipper ships in 1848, reached its apogee in the Gold Rush years" Los Angeles Times.

Need Help Getting Laid

Wingwomen.com is a revolutionary service for men who want to meet women. Every guy out there knows that it is much easier to meet women when you're around other women. Wingwomen.com provide a "Wing Women" to help you have a good time and more importantly to assist you in pick up those girls who always seem to slip through your fingers.

[ Its sexy time! ]

Nag Nag Nag

A JAPANESE woman who hired a "hitman" over the Internet to murder her lover's pregnant wife has been arrested - after she complained to police that he never carried out the killing despite being paid $US136,000 ($177,000).

Police said they had arrested Eriko Kawaguchi, a 32-year-old rescuer at Tokyo Fire Department, as well as 40-year-old Koji Tabe, a self-proclaimed detective who allegedly promised to kill the woman with a deadly chemical.

In January, Kawaguchi found Tabe's phone number on "contract murder" websites and asked him to kill her lover's wife after learning the woman was pregnant, a police official said.

"Kawaguchi is single and has told police investigators that she felt betrayed by him after learning about his wife's pregnancy," he said.

Kawaguchi paid Tabe some 15 million yen ($177,000) for the contract murder but grew suspicious when Tabe had still failed to carry out the killing seven months later.

Frustrated with the lack of progress in the murder plan, Kawaguchi went to the police in July to complain about the scam.

[ What do you mean you wont help me. I KILL YOU! ]

D - Kazumi was on SBS last night. A lot of the film was feel good family crap, but all along you knew some one was gona die. Turned out that everyone but Kazumi dies...

NZ find Black Cocks hard to swallow

It was a bloody silly idea in the first place, but New Zealand's badminton world may finally have to concede that calling the national team the "Black Cocks" really is a bit too strong, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Badminton New Zealand adopted the name a year ago as "a gimmicky label to attract sponsors and fans". It worked to a degree, because the organisation was quickly innundated with cash offers from companies such as - you guessed it - condom manufacturers.

Furthermore, Badminton NZ prez Nigel Skelt confirmed: "At the recent New Zealand Open, crowds were yelling out 'c'mon the Black Cocks'. Whether the team actually adopt the name officially, they're already known as the Black Cocks."

[ Everyone knows shuttle cocks are faster than tennis balls ]

Talk Like A Pirate Day

Arrr... me mateys. September 19 be talk like a pirate day. You scurvey land lubbers better ready, because theres gona be some piliging and talking like a pirate. Not to mention much booty to be captured and ..... arrr I be rambling again. Please except my pardons.

[ Three Days till the voyage begins ]

Jeglamash was rigt

Borat (aka Ali G aka Sacha Baron Cohen) is going to star in his own movie. Hopefully it will include him traveling around the world in 80 days in a time machine...

[ Its Sexy time! ]

DIY: Hubble

[ Make your own intergalactic telescope ]

Spy on hot intergalatic bades light years away...

Fuel Cell Bike

With gas prices soaring and oil supplies dwindling, a lot of people are clamoring for so-called "alternative" vehicles. Some of these people want vehicles that run on sunshine and rainbows, but the majority of folks would be happy with a car that just gets better gas mileage. Gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles are the current hot-item to have, and there's a good chance that a gas-electric powerplant will power most future vehicles.

The CORE unit looks pretty damn cool. Given the overall design of the bike, we can't help but be reminded of the Cyclones of the third generation of Robotech. We can almost envision the CORE unit being powered by Protoculture. Luckily for us, as the CORE unit runs on hydrogen, we don't have to worry about an Invid invasion.

Well, enough of that odd tangent, let's talk about the ENV's performance. The ENV isn't mind-numbingly fast - it takes 12.1 seconds to go from 0-50 mph. Oh yeah, 50 miles per hour is also the ENV's top speed, but Intelligent Energy says that the bike can be engineered to reach higher speeds.

The ENV is designed to usable both on and off the road. The bike has 11 inches of ground clearance, and the suspension travel is supposed to be on par with most off-road bikes. As such, the ENV has the potential to be successful as both a recreational vehicle and as a nimble ride for the city.

Intelligent Energy is talking with various motorcycle manufacturers about putting the ENV into production. It is expected to retail for about $6,000 when sold in limited quantities. If the bike can be sold in greater numbers, you can expect that price to drop.

If saving the Earth on two wheels sounds like your idea of fun, or if you are a science nerd curious about the fuel cell technology used in the CORE, check out the ENV's official site at www.ENVBike.com.

[ Robotech ]

Deadly Bread

Inside a dark room, realistic-looking "human body parts" are stacked on shelves and hanging on meat hooks. The place looks like a mortuary or the lair of a serial killer, but in fact, it's a bakery. What appears to be putrefying body parts are the bread sculptures of 28-year-old art student Kittiwat Unarrom.

"Of course, people were shocked and thought that I was mad when they saw the works. But once they knew the idea behind it, they understood and became interested in the work itself, instead of thinking that I am crazy," said the fine arts masters degree student.

He hopes his realistic artwork will make people ponder whether they are consuming food, or food is consuming them.

"Everyone's life is rushed nowadays, even when it comes to eating," he said. "When we eat, we don't think about our health or safety, we only think of our taste buds."

[ Dont you Just love the smell of bread ]

US accepts UN Aid

The United Nations on Sunday announced the United States had accepted its aid offer and said its staff will be based at the USAID Hurricane Operations Center, where international assistance is being coordinated.

U.N. officials, often criticized by Republicans in Washington, said the world body's teams could be useful in coordinating and setting priorities for foreign aid offers.

[ Well the US is the main funder for the UN... Its sortlike just tapping into an asset they already own... ]

I'm going to fucking kill google

Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer vowed to "kill" internet search leader Google Inc. in an obscenity-laced tirade, and Google chased a prized Microsoft executive "like wolves," according to documents filed in an increasingly bitter legal battle between the rivals.

After learning Lucovsky was leaving to take a job at Google, Ballmer picked up his chair and hurled it across his office, according to the declaration.

"I'm going to f---ing bury that guy, I have done it before, and I will do it again," the declaration quotes Ballmer. "I'm going to f---ing kill Google."

[ Die Mutha Fuckers! Die! ]

Red vs Blue...

Top 10 Movies Mac Guyver Should Have Been In

Kids, you’re living in a generation devoid of any real entertainment. Dick and Dom flick bogeys at each other, Captain Scarlet is now made out of computers and afternoon TV consists of talentless no-marks displaying their ineptitude on a national scale in a desperate bid for their 15 seconds of fame (or failing that, a job offer from Price-Drop TV). Let me tell you about a man who was cooler than The Fonz, who was smarter than Columbo and was more handsome than Face; this was a cat who wasn’t fazed by anything – he averted several wars, saved approximately a billion lives and bedded crazy, boy-band amounts of ass. I’m speaking of course, about the legend that was MacGyver. Despite a TV show that showed off his godlike escapism powers and DIY skills, Mac was cruelly denied a decent film career by the powers that be; therefore, we can only imagine how some of Hollywood’s finest films would have been improved by his inclusion. Today, right here and right now, we continue to live the MacGyver dream and dare to fantasise about an industry rife with MacGyver’s daring deeds...

[ The usual ]

Cheap Funeral Service

Cheaper funeral services are on the way. Redlandshire Council says it hopes to bring more services to Redlandites. The system will work by painting your wheelie bin purple and they'll take away the body for disposal. They are currently trialing this at the Redland Hospital and Nursing Homes across the shire. They also hope that other councils will follow their example.

[ Purple Bin Day ]

Only the Best Bits

THE leader of the nation's first Muslim political party says all Australians should be living under Islamic law dictated by the Koran.
The Best Party of Allah in Australia applied for registration in the ACT yesterday, claiming to provide a political voice for Muslims.

Founder Kurt Kennedy, a Vietnamese-born Muslim convert and candidate in the ACT assembly elections last year, said the party wanted to "implement the laws as stated in the Koran".

"The positive part of sharia law is (about) treating everybody fairly," he said. "I don't think anybody should have any worries about it.

"If they read through the Koran, there's nothing there that will threaten them or threaten their personal life or property."

[ New Holiday: Allah is Happy ]

And We Must Emphisise Every Word We Say As It Is All Important.

When Microsoft's Windows Vista comes out next year, it will have unprecedented protections for content, such as video inside the system, in hopes of foiling would-be pirates.

The new technology, which could go as far as automatically turning off outputs connected to devices deemed insecure, is aimed at persuading Hollywood studios that the PC can be as safe as any consumer electronics device. Microsoft hopes that Windows-based computers will ultimately form the heart of digital home entertainment networks.

Here's what you should know about the new protections inside the operating system and how they may affect your equipment.

[ teh link ]

I think someone needs to tell me why its a good idea to have Windows "automatically turning off outputs connected to devices deemed insecure"?

Top 10 Awsome/Bad Movies from the 80's

Read list below for spoiler of the list

1. Surf Nazis Must Die
2. Breaking and Breakin 2
3. Garbage Pail Kids
4. Class of Nukem High
5. April Fools Day
6. Deathstalker
7. Basket Case
8. 976-Evil
9. Rawhead Rex
10. The Toxic Avenger
11. The Stuff

[ There are actually 11 in the list ]

Lies! All Lies!

When The Daily Telegraph pursued former NSW Opposition leader John Brogden with new allegations of sexual misconduct, everyone was shocked by the events that followed. A Media Watch investigation of the Tele's story has found that it was little more than unsubstantiated slurs being spread by Brogden's political opponents.

[ Its sad that newspapers have to resort to making stuff up ]

p.s. Once again media watch rocks

The SMH also has news

RUNNING OF THE BULL DYKES

DANGEROUS new sport, inspired by the running of the bulls in Pamplona, Spain, is taking college campuses across the U.S. by storm.

Worried officials say the Running of the Bull Dykes has already caused several serious injuries. "And now we're waiting for the first death to happen," says one distraught campus administrator.

Young male students say they get an adrenaline rush when they run from a stampeding herd of stocky, short-haired, mannish lesbians that are whipped into a snorting, bellowing frenzy by alcohol and the liberal use of cattle prods.

"A 200-pound, infuriated bull dyke is nothing to mess with," says one officer. "A man can get seriously hurt if he's trampled by the herd during the run."

[ Lesbo Terror ]

Kazaa: Found Guilty

The court did not order the Kazaa system, which allows users to swap free digital music files over the internet, to be shut down.

However, it did order modifications to the technology to reduce copyright infringement by Kazaa users.

A separate hearing will be held to determine damages in the case.

[ Howzat ]

Yahoo! News Photo

White people - Two residents wade through chest-deep water after finding bread and soda from a local grocery store after Hurricane Katrina came through the area in New Orleans, Louisiana.(AFP/Getty Images/Chris Graythen)

Yahoo! News Photo

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/afp/20050830/capt.sge.cyn78.300805074130.photo01.photo.default-268x384.jpg?x=240&y=345&sig=XFVzW6oiTkp9hr7J.ex3Qw--

Black people - A young man walks through chest deep flood water after looting a grocery store in New Orleans on Tuesday, Aug. 30, 2005. Flood waters continue to rise in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina did extensive damage when it made landfall on Monday. (AP Photo/Dave Martin)

http://news.yahoo.com/photo/050830/480/ladm10208301530

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/ap/20050830/capt.ladm10208301530.hurricane_katrina_ladm102.jpg?x=380&y=242&sig=GHO9i4_aeNXEsJOv2t1OHg--

Society

A foreign exchange student trys to adjust to his adopted country.

[ He also has a mysterious red suitcase ]

Monkeys are smart

Animated animals, quite popular in cartoons. This cartoon is no different. It has animals in it.

[ Animalation ]

Free Music

its back ground music for the internet. You can have it playing in another window, and its sort of like back ground music. Its really weird. Well the music isnt weird, just a bit too happy for it to be considered ambient...

Its like free and stuff

Its a game

in flash

[ its kinda creapy ]

Also check out the other flash animaitons on the site. Funny and good (gunny).

Mind Control

I have never been mind controleded. Thats becuase I wear a hat made out of tin foil. But since you cant get tin foil anymore you will all dance like monkeys for pennys. Not that we have pennys, we have sense in Australia. It might be confusing for some, but thats becuase your not wearing a hat made of tin foil. An alternative to a tin foil hat is the more up market aluminium foil hat. Its lighter, shinyer and you can also use to pack your lunch in. Which wont help your lunch much, because its mostliky dead.

[ I have no pants on ]

Sweet smell of succession

Over the next five to 10 years there will be a tectonic shift in the nation's wealth,

as baby boomers sell or retire from the businesses they either founded or inherited from their parents.

The value of these family businesses tripled in the five years to 2003 to a staggering $3.6 trillion, a study by RMIT University found. Anecdotally, their wealth is still rising on the back of 14 years of unbroken economic growth.

With eight-in-10 owners now aged more than 50 and one-in-five over 65, many will soon try to unlock that wealth.

How this is achieved will not only determine the owner's quality of retirement and the future wealth of their children - it will also have major ramifications for the national economy.

Small businesses generate more than half of the country's employment growth and account for about 40 per cent of private sector output, the RMIT University report's author, Professor Kosmas Smyrnios, told Money.

Most people will be familiar with the adage that the first generation establishes wealth, the second develops it and the third destroys it. Smyrnios cites US academic Kris Frieswick, who argues this can easily be avoided.

Frieswick attributes the rate of failures to the lack of succession planning, the owners' inability to let go, reluctance by parents to choose a successor from among their children, and owners who see no life beyond the business.

Smyrnios says owners approaching retirement should start "working on the business, not in the business" and develop a succession plan about five years before they plan to exit.

"Succession is a process, not an event. It is something that requires medium to long-term planning," he says. "It involves dealing with the structure of the business, the financials and all the issues relating to the successor."

According to KPMG/Family Business Australia's Survey of Family Business Needs 2005, released last week, 30 per cent of business owners plan to retire in the next five years, with another 27 per cent after 10 years.

What is most disturbing, says Philippa Taylor, Family Business Australia's chief executive, is that 34 per cent have no formal succession plan, 68 per cent have not chosen a successor and 27 per cent were unsure of an exit strategy.

Cautionary tales

Graham Connolly, the managing director of the Family and Private Business Advisers Group, says names such as Belgiorno-Nettis (Transfield) and Murdoch (News Corp) should be seen as cautionary tales of what family businesses should not do.

"There are many cases that confirm when generations cannot develop a succession plan, the real beneficiaries are the lawyers," he says. "What a dreadful reward for the time, effort, commitment and passion of the founder or current owners."

Connolly is one of a handful of consultants offering advice tailored to families. He says speaking to all the family members and their spouses - whether they are active in the business or not - about their hopes, ambitions and concerns for the company is crucial.

In the process, he says, all family members understand each other and how they stand in relation to the company. Too many families have been tragically ripped apart by financial disputes. The key to business succession plans is to foresee the problems and resolve them, drafting and adhering to a family constitution.

"You are dealing with the two largest assets that any family generally has - the business they have created and the family they have got," Connolly says. "The problem is that they don't sit comfortably side by side when things get tough or when generation change occurs.

"Family businesses without a constitution where all signatories are committed and have been involved in the process of drafting the document have little chance of it being observed when things go wrong."

Smyrnios says a family constitution outlines strategies and solutions that can be implemented to deal with family-related matters that affect the smooth running of the business.

It includes criteria for joining the business, definition of the roles and responsibilities of active and passive family members, and mechanisms to be adopted for the transfer of ownership and leadership.

"If you don't deal with the emotional family side, it has spill over effects and reverberations throughout that organisation," he says, particularly in the transition from founder to second generation.

Professor Ken Moores, the director of the Australian Centre for Family Business at Bond University, says the process of writing a family constitution also helps to professionalise the company as it focuses attention on the business and its needs.

He says any rules should preserve the unique features of the family business while recognising that it is a professional company. This, in turn, will allow it to be more easily valued (see box, right).

Sale ready

Given that there will be a flood of small businesses on the market over the next 10 years, the experts say owners should always be ready to jump at a good offer should it come along unexpectedly.

This also applies for those who want to sell to their children, as no one knows if and when the proverbial bus will come along.

"It is a good idea to always be prepared because you don't know when the opportunities will come up, like a supply chain operator in your industry with an aggressive acquisition strategy," says Judy Hartcher, CPA Australia's business policy adviser.

The checklist for sale-ready businesses include ensuring that you have a family constitution, the company has been realistically valued (even if it is just a rough figure), and senior management and key staff are in place.

Options

Harry Kras, from the Family Business Resource Centre, says businesses have five basic options when the owner wants to retire: hand it on to the next generation, sell to a third party, arrange a management buyout, liquidation or list on the stock exchange. The last option, he says, is not open to most small businesses due to the sheer size necessary for it to work.

Tim Gullifer, a partner at Deloitte Growth Solutions, offers one more option. He says family business should at least contemplate making use of the hundreds of millions of dollars now in private equity funds and looking for a home.

Within the family

Whether the owner is first, second or third generation, it is highly likely that they have poured their heart and soul into building up the business. In most cases this means that the owner's "retirement savings" are also locked away in the company.

Deloitte's Gullifer says no matter who buys the business, the owners must establish an agreed value. This will protect the parents financially and help instil the child with a sense of the business's intrinsic value.

It will also prevent a feud between siblings who are concerned about their perceived share of the pie.

"If you are selling to family members it is important to get an independent valuation, because if you overvalue it the family member who acquires it pays more than they should," Gullifer says. "Conversely, if you go down the emotional route and undervalue it, it will be to the detriment of the owner and other family members. If you put a figure on the table, a family member can come in and buy it."

The owners will already know if any of their children want to take over the business, thanks to the family conference/constitution.

Once the "new" generation agrees on the price, parents have a number of payments options, Kras says.

The price can be written off in the will, paid out of future profits, or the child(ren) can simply take out a bank loan.

Dominic Pelligana, a partner at KPMG, says if owners opt for future profits, they must have cash reserves to pay the capital tax liability once the sale is made, not when the purchase price is paid.

The Australian Tax Office also says that in any business sale it requires a letter confirming that the company is an ongoing one.

Trade sale

One of the worst exit strategies is simply putting an ad in the paper. Deloitte's Gullifer says this is generally seen as "desperate" and could seriously dilute the firm's goodwill.

A large part of the goodwill that jacks up the final sale price is the company's relationships with its suppliers and customers. Gullifer says if they are not sure if the business will be an ongoing concern, they could look elsewhere - creating risk and uncertainty for any new buyer. A bit of homework could add thousands of dollars, if not hundreds of thousands to the price, he says.

Sellers should quietly compare themselves with others in the sector, value the business, and then compile a list of potential buyers.

"Once they have identified likely acquirers, prepare an information memorandum. This is when the public become aware, so you have to inform your employees," Gullifer says. "The acquirer will also want to talk to your customers and suppliers, so they must be brought in."

But be warned, he says - although suitors may agree to sign a confidentiality agreement, "[these] are not worth the paper they are written on". Connolly says the information memorandum should contain the sale procedure, executive summary of the sale, history of the business, products/services overview, details of the market, distribution and supply arrangement, names of key customers, financial projections and future potential.

Management buyout

This is an increasingly popular method of sale as it allows managers and staff to pool their resources to buy the business.

For larger companies, the employees may have to get the backing of the bank and use the business as collateral.

Connolly says as management usually comprises younger people who already have mortgages and insufficient equity, the majority of buyouts do not add up and often fail to attract even the more expensive senior debt and mezzanine funding.

"However, for those who can achieve funding this choice is highly desirable," he says.

Some owners who want a staged retirement may loan the managers money or pay future salaries as equity in the business.

Liquidation

Hopefully a business will never get itself into the situation where they have no option other than to liquidate the company. However, if this is their only choice, they should consult a compliance accountant, Connolly says.

Private equity

Every month about $3 million pours into investment houses through super funds. Yet the sharemarket is at a high and other investment classes are at best mediocre.

The extra funds still need to go somewhere, and at the moment they are being held by the likes of Deutsche Bank Private Equity, Investco, and many others.

"It's not a difficult process selling to a private equity player," Gulliver says. "Last year I sold a $35 million business in the rag trade to Deutsche Bank. It was funded by two super funds. It [the bank] was looking to cobble three similar businesses together, then exit [through an ASX listing] and make some money on the way" for the super funds.

He says businesses should not be seen desperately knocking on the banks' doors. Instead, the introductions should be made through a corporate finance company, that has a relationship with the private equity fund.

Tax and discounts

For those businesses where the sale and asset mix is below $5 million, there are a number of discounts available.

These include the small business 15-year exception offering a total write-off of CGT liabilities; the small business 50 per cent active asset reduction; the small business retirement exception that provides owners with exceptions if they put the money into superannuation; and the small business rollover. For more information go to http://www.ato.gov.au.

Useful websites

Family Business Australia: http://www.fambiz.com.au

Family Business Resource Centre: http://www.fbrc.com.au

Family and Private Business Adviser Group:

http://www.succession.com.au, http://www.businessmentoring

.com.au.

The final cut

Leo Lucas hates paperwork and book-keeping, so, after more than 40 years of running the family butchers, he decided it was time to get out when the Government introduced yet another piece of regulation.

"I would have been happy to keep on going, but there is so much regulation these days that I just thought it was time to get out," Lucas says.

He founded the family business when he opened a small butcher shop in the Sydney eastern suburb of Randwick in the 1960s. In 1978 he moved the shop to the nearby beachside suburb of Bronte, also buying the large block of land on which it sat.

Over the years Lucas built a ham and bacon factory behind the butchers that during the peak Christmas period would employ about 12 staff.

When Lucas's second-eldest child, David, approached him about taking over the business, Lucas couldn't have been happier. He had been contemplating knocking down the factory and building apartments.

Lucas contacted a succession accountant through the Family and Private Business Advisory Group. He interviewed Lucas, his wife Ruth and David about the planned

sale. He also spoke with the couple's other five children and spouses to gauge their feelings about the purchase.

Lucas says the sale price was negotiated with David as there is no market demand for butchers and, as a wholesaler, there was very little goodwill in the business.

David has since spent about $100,000 updating the factory, and, although he had asked his father to help to train him, Lucas has found he is spending much more time on the golf course.

When the price is right

When even the experts say there is "a lot of art in the science of valuations", you know it's not going to be easy to put a price tag on a business.

The first rule, says KPMG partner Dominic Pelligana, is that it has to be a true valuation. Many businesses may pay private expenses such as, say, school fees out of cash flow. It must be accounted for in the calculation.

After that, the rules become blurry. CPA Australia's business policy adviser, Judy Hartcher, says there is no one method that is used, and which largely depends on the industry.

Differing methods, which can be employed on their own or in a combination, include the capitalised earnings approach, excess earnings method, cash flow method, asset valuation, and rule of thumb method.

Hartcher says due to the complexity, owners should seek professional assistance to determine the price.

One method is to value the business based on two assets: net (physical) assets, which are easy to determine; and goodwill, which is more troublesome to measure.

Net assets are what they seem. Simply take the book value of all assets, remembering to subtract debt.

Goodwill is more fluid and, Hartcher says, in many cases is simply determined by what the purchaser is willing to pay for what they consider the goodwill is worth.

Hartcher warns that owners may confuse their love of the business with its real value.

"A lot of people put their whole life into their business," she says. "It's like having a child, so they can overvalue it, particularly if they don't have an objective look at

what they are actually selling. They should be getting advice about the real value and how they can improve it in the lead-up to the sale."

Professor Ken Moores, the director of the Australian Centre for Family Business at Bond University, says goodwill is the premium that the business commands over and above the fixed assets and is based on the strength of its relationships with suppliers and customers, its market share, and the risks associated with operating in that sector.

Pelligana says for businesses to get an idea of the value of their own goodwill, owners should look at what comparable businesses have been sold for in the market.

Another common method is taking earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation, then multiplying it to generate an economic value, says Deloitte Growth Solutions partner Tim Gullifer.

The snapshot should be of the past three years and the expected outlook for the next year or two.

The multiplication factor, also called a risk factor, which generates an enterprise value, is industry specific. He says to ascertain what your company's factor is, examine sales of similar business in your sector.

Time to go

Kevin Chambers was returning to his usual trans-Pacific plane seat - upper deck, exit row 16K - when he asked himself why he was spending up to 10 weeks every year hocking his company's plastic tags around the world.

Soon after touching down in Melbourne, he spoke to his business partner and younger brother, Ron. They decided it was time to plan for a carefully executed retirement, and quietly put the feelers out for a buyer.

Kevin, 57, and Ron, 52, inherited the plastic tag manufacturing business, Kevron Plastics, in 1975 from their father, who founded it in 1952. Determined to make a go of their chance, the brothers transformed the suburban Brunswick operation into an internationally competitive company. It exports more than 30 per cent of production, topping 35,000 tonnes in the last year the brothers owned it.

"These plastic tags have fed three generations of my family and provided me and Ron with a very comfortable retirement," Kevin says. As with most of the family businesses of his father's era, it was expected that the children would end up running the company. "These days people emphasise developing succession plans, and they are right."

When Kevin told Ron of his desire to retire and work on his golf, the brothers already knew that none of their children wanted to take the business over.

Kevin says it took about two years to find the right buyer, Phil Parton, who runs the company with Paul Metz, who remained as general manager after the sale.

"I'm a great believer in networking, in building the brand - 50 per cent of the price was goodwill and that is very high for a small business," he says.

New Orleans - The Real News

Its an awsome blog which you have probably seen already, but in anycase it deserves D-Recognition. Its really interesting to see how things on the ground are in the area. It sounds quite chaotic and kinda scary. Does anyone know where the police etc are? Shouldnt they be trying to create some law and order instead of wineing about looters. It just seems a little stupid to leave people who are clearly in shock to their own devices...

[ The Interdictor ]

Need more foil

An internal Telstra document obtained by The Australian details the telecommunications giant's surveillance policy, authorising in-house investigators to spy by video surveillance and the monitoring of email traffic, internet records and telephone accounts. Staff monitoring may be conducted only where it is "reasonable" to "manage a business risk" or "investigate suspected misuse of equipment or misconduct", and only when "other investigative avenues have been attempted without success", the document says.

you know the drill [ take your underpants off ]

The Louvre 360

Cant afford to goto france? Now the internet has a 360 degree tour of the louvre. Its pretty neat and old and has stuff in it that is also old. But good old, in the goodoldposh sense of old and good.

[ The buldings a work of art ]

Got alfoil

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA—Executives at Google, the rapidly growing online-search company that promises to "organize the world's information," announced Monday the latest step in their expansion effort: a far-reaching plan to destroy all the information it is unable to index.

[ And dont forget to take your underpants off ]

Creative wins MP3 player patent

Creative said the patent applied to its players, as well as some competing products such as the Apple's iPod and iPod mini.

The patent covers how files on a music player are organised. Creative said it had applied for the patent, dubbed the Zen Patent, on 5 January 2001 and was awarded it on 9 August. It applies to the way music tracks are organised and navigated on a player through a hierarchy using three or more successive screens. For example, this would be a sequence of screens that could display artists, then albums and then tracks.

"The first portable media player based upon the user interface covered in our Zen Patent was our Nomad Jukebox MP3 player," said Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo.

"The Apple iPod was only announced in October 2001, 13 months after we had been shipping the Nomad Jukebox based upon the user interface covered by our Zen Patent."

But Mr Leigh added that Creative was likely to have a hard time to get anything out of Apple as the applicability of patents was often difficult to prove.

[ Its internaly generated so cant capitalise the costs anyway... ]

Anti-rape condom

South African inventor has unveiled a new anti-rape female condom that hooks onto an attacker's penis and aims to cut one of the highest rates of sexual assault in the world.

"Nothing has ever been done to help a woman so that she does not get raped and I thought it was high time," Sonette Ehlers, 57, said of the "rapex", a device worn like a tampon that has sparked controversy in a country used to daily reports of violent crime.

Police statistics show more than 50,000 rapes are reported every year, while experts say the real figure could be four times that as they say most rapes of acquaintances or children are never reported.

Ehlers said the "rapex" hooks onto the rapist's skin, allowing the victim time to escape and helping to identify perpetrators.

[ anti-rape device ]