I remember the time when boys would call me at home on the ye old landline which proceeded with rushes of scarlet and the hopes that mother wasn’t listening in from the other room as cordless phones weren’t the order of the day. Back then, it was rather simple,

“Hi Marta, it’s ###, do you want to go to the movies on Saturday?”

It’s fair to say what a 16 year old wanted to do while at a movie.

In wake of a social media technology, the point has come when we’re deciphering everything down to the very last ‘ey ‘ (OMG, does the wink mean I’m in???)

In the world of Facebook, it’s the innocent looking poke that once caused the confusion. Initially used as a method of reminding friends that you’re alive, it’s has been translated into the most potent of connotations. The amount of feeling behind that one little poke can vary immensely which what made it so exciting. But as soon as the butterfly-feeling of a good-looking love interest poking you rose, it lost its momentum and element of gratitude.

It led me to pose the following question, after being dumped via MSN chat, propositioned via SMS, poke-flirted until oblivion on Facebook, what is the next social media romantic tactic? C’mon, I’m waiting.

Completely disregarding ‘Ute-gate’ as it’s so last week (excepting Turnbull’s popularity dropped from his legal-eagle evidence gathering skills) it’s become customary to and I wanted to pay respects to both the late Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett. Both epitomised their respective cultures and became icons of their times. Despite controversies and illnesses, neither will be forgotten.

Last night on Rove, Bruno aka alias of comedian Sacha Baron Cohen made an interesting comment about our Prime Minster Kevin Rudd. He called him ‘cute.’ It got me thinking about the power of looks in politics and I’ve compiled my top 5of past and present leaders I think are attarctive. Like them or loathe them, in my opinion they have that je ne sais quoi which is attractive.

5. José Socrates – Portugal
Firstly, his name is Socrates, which is cool and secondly he looks like a young Dustin H from ‘Graduate’ era. Kind of McDreamy.

4. Nicholas Sarkozy
He’s French, mais oui. And I’m not going to act all British and hold that against him. He also pulled Carla Bruni (but then who hasn’t?)

3. Henry VIII of England
Not only has he been portrayed by Jonathan Rhys Meyers, but the man broke away from conventional religion and formed his own faith and imperialistic rule based on his own desires. A man with a strong will is hot.

2. Barack Obama
Perhaps I’ll appear to be a bit la-la if I say that this guys woos with his words like men should. His books are well written and his rhetoric and presence is compelling.

1. Vladimir Putin
Russian gangster who makes his own rules plus voted Russia’s Best Looking Man which is remarkable for that part of the world.

An incredibly kindred Sol
On May 26, Former Telstra CEO Sol Trujillo warmly thanked Australia for his experiences at Telstra and the handsome addition to his retirement fund by way of commenting on our nation’s “backward” attitudes. Poor Sol, he felt like he was “stepping back in time” when in Australia.

According to Telecom TV, Mr Trujillo leaves Telstra operationally strong but strategically weak. A contentious point of Mr Trujillo’s tenure at Telstra was Telstra’s bungling of the bid to build and operate Australia’s National Broadband Network. Whether the Telstra bid was intended to fail in order to bring the government into line with what Telstra thought was best, or whether it was a genuine mistake may never be known – but a botch it was indeed.

What I believe nailed the figurative coffin for Mr Trujillo was the radical nature of this attempt to thwart Canberra which failed miserably. While Australians are generally appreciative of creative ‘larrikin’ nuances in opposing bureaucracy, it needs to be done by someone who lives ‘larrikin.’ Unfortunately Mr Trujillo doesn’t and wouldn’t want to.

Another major achievement of Mr Trujillo’s was when Telstra’s share price dropped from A$5.07 to A$3.18 and over A$15 billion of shareholder value was apparently destroyed.

Mr Trujillo was the first native born Hispanic-American to serve as CEO of a
Fortune 150 company.

Mr Trujillo has provided policy, trade and economic advice to international
and domestic governments, academic institutions and think-tanks including:
Governor of the World Economic Forum, trustee of Boston College and UCLA’s
School of Public Policy, director of the Tomas Rivera Policy Institute, and
trade policy advisor to the Clinton and Bush administrations.

He is now gone and not likely to come back anytime soon. Farewell amigo, you will be sadly missed.

Dough’s aim: cure Somali population (9)

sterilisation: > 9
cake < 9

So far no progress, will keep trying.

As this is the first post, I think it prudent to explain the title a little. I’m currently studying PR and it’s mind-boggling how intricate the area can be. We’re learning some of the tricks of the trade, but I’m learning a lot outside the classroom as well.

Position papers are nifty little things that help present an organisation or individual’s opinion on an issue. They can also to incite open dialogue regarding an issue, and counter another organisation’s opinion. The idea behind them is to convince the audience that the opinion is worth listening to.

I found that it’s handy to include in the position paper:

Factual Knowledge – to gain credibility
Statistical Inferences – interpretation and examples of an accumulation of facts to back up the argument
Informed Opinion – opinion developed through research and/or expertise of the claim; to appeal to the intellectual lot
Personal Testimony – personal experience related by a knowledgeable party; to appeal to everyone else
The position paper should be targeted at an audience (more of that later) as people process information differently.

Demir Dokic is like the wog* father I never had; disciplining his daughter when deemed necessary, able to protect himself, colourful language, thinks the whole world’s out to get him, threatening to blow up the Australian Embassy in Serbia, you know the way.

For those of you who don’t know him, Demir Dokic is the estranged father of Australian tennis player Jelena Dokic. Jelena returned to professional tennis is great form at this year’s Australian Open (good on you!). Her old man’s something of a non compos, to put it fairly.

What goes on in his head has confused Australians for a while now. He’s like that American dad who forced his 9 year old son to start bodybuilding and claims that he’d be “nothing’ without his father’s help.

I think Demir would be great on television in something like “Expel my Family,” or “Aussie Towers.”

Poor Steve Brumby. His constituents are really up ‘that kind of’ creek in the west right now. Veteran Labour MP George Leitz, was found to have “extremely close” links with the council majority while Theo Theophanos exercised some political muscle over the relocation of Cairnlea Park.

Premier Brumby has said that the behaviour of the offending Brimbank Council members was “an affront to democratic processes,” but hasn’t so far given any of the the boot.

Position papers, Premier Brumby?

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* this term is used affectionately, as blogger’s origin is mixed European, aka ‘white wog’