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Author: Adam Russell

The ‘Butterfly Effect’ Voting Strategy for the Undecided and Disenchanted

Posted by | Jun 8, 2014 | |

“Does the flap of a butterfly’s wings in Brazil set off a tornado in Texas?” – Edward Lorenz 1972    I wrote the original blog post on the ‘Butterfly Effect’ Voting Strategy before the Federal Election of 2013, thinking about this from the electors’ viewpoint: a light-hearted view on how we might approach our voting choice from the jaundice and ennui that most people felt about politics and the candidates on offer. At the time I didn’t think much about the possibility of candidates or parties gaming the system, although in hindsight.  Although this did (at face value) produce the outcomes that the ‘Butterfly Effect’ Voting Strategy espouses, little did I imagine how significantly the cynical exploitation of the electoral and parliamentary process by numerous small parties would only deepen my disgust. As of today, it would seem the thought below is very true: “Every country has the government it deserves” – Josephe de Maistre,  Lettres et Opuscules Inedites (1851) vol.1, letter 53 (15 August 1811) Chaos Theory and Electoral Processes The “Butterfly Effect” voting strategy gives a lowly ranked party/candidate a chance to be promoted above other candidates and so not be eliminated first in any preference distribution. They become a recipient of preference distributions, not the provider. This provides the opportunity for the “Butterfly Effect”, i.e. an unexpected outcome beyond the individual power of your vote. Is...

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Quotes by Gough Whitlam

Posted by | Jun 7, 2014 | , |

Introduction Very few people of my age will have a neutral view of Gough Whitlam.  To many, he was an inspiring figure who rebooted Australia for all Australians in 1972 after 23 years in a conservative wilderness. The Dismissal of his government in 1975 was a polarising event, the effects of which lasted many years. I’m surprised that, for a man so gifted in the English language, that there are so few publicly curated quotes. The ones below are those that I could find, and most sites contained only a handful. Quotes “No parliamentarian could tell his electors that he was too ill to be the leader of the party but was well enough to look after their interests in the parliament” — Gough Whitlam –  QuotesDaddy   “Well may we say “God save the Queen”, because nothing will save the Governor-General! The Proclamation which you have just heard read by the Governor-General’s Official Secretary was countersigned Malcolm Fraser, who will undoubtedly go down in Australian history from Remembrance Day 1975 as Kerr’s cur. They won’t silence the outskirts of Parliament House, even if the inside has been silenced for the next few weeks … Maintain your rage and enthusiasm for the campaign for the election now to be held and until polling day.” — Gough Whitlam, On hearing the proclamation dismissing him from office, which ended with the...

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Quotes by Tony Abbott

Posted by | May 31, 2014 | , |

Introduction I’ve scoured the internet for the many sources of Tony Abbotts speech and writing, and all the quotes (335 in total) are included verbatim as I found them.  A small number of quotes were found many, many times on different websites: in honour of serendipity, I’ve only referenced the first site on which I found the quote. If you have any issues with the accuracy of the quote, by all means let me know via comment.  I’ll update my copy.  But you should probably also let the original source know as well. Tweeting I’m also tweeting these (many in modified form) with the hashtag #abbottquote In order to fit them into a tweet, many have been shorted or edited. I’ve tried to use standard forms with these edits, as follows: ellipsis (“…”): indicating where a word or words have been removed for brevity.  The intent is not to change the overall meaning of the quote.  In many cases I’ve used a ‘short ellipsis’, i.e. “..” for space. Square brackets: (“[ ]”): that contain words that paraphrase some of the actual words in the quote.  This is usually done for space reasons, but sometimes to add equivalent context (say when a quote comes from a multi-sentence paragraph, and a proper noun from a previous sentence is referred to with a pronoun in the quote. Disclaimer I’m not an Abbott...

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Quotes on Teams and Teambuilding

Posted by | May 25, 2014 | , |

Various Quotes on teams and team-building drawn from all over the web (source acknowledgements provided).  Visit these sites for other quotes and to support the authors. “A single arrow is easily broken, but not ten in a bundle.” — Japanese proverb –  “30 Top Team Building Quotes” – Leadership with You   “It is amazing how much people get done if they do not worry about who gets the credit.” — Swahili proverb –  “30 Top Team Building Quotes” – Leadership with You   “A team is more than a collection of people. It is a process of give and take.” — Barbara Glacel & Emile Robert Jr. –  “30 Top Team Building Quotes” – Leadership with You   “None of us is as smart as all of us.” — Ken Blanchard –  “30 Top Team Building Quotes” – Leadership with You   “No man is wise enough by himself.” — Plautus –  “30 Top Team Building Quotes” – Leadership with You   “Interdependent people combine their own efforts with the efforts of others to achieve their greatest success.” — Stephen Covey –  “30 Top Team Building Quotes” – Leadership with You   “The ratio of We’s to I’s is the best indicator of the development of a team.” — Lewis B. Ergen –  “30 Top Team Building Quotes” – Leadership with You   “One man can be a...

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Coups, Rebellions and Uprisings in Thailand Since 1902

Posted by | May 22, 2014 | |

Like many people I’ve been watching the events of last couple of days events in Thailand since the declaration of martial law on 20th May.  I’ve also been reading many back stories about the number of Coups or similar events.  I’ve been a little bemused on the actual number of these events, mainly due to the difference in data that is reported by various outlets. Some say 18 previous coups, and some say 12 successful and 8 unsuccessful.  Others report 15 and some report less.  For something as significant as an attempt to change the government, it’s a bit odd that a common and repeatable count cannot be reached. “Often, when somebody asks “how many coups have there been in Thailand?”, the final number that is cited is 18 but I fear that this may be a product of force of habit rather than hard number crunching.”  Nicholas Farrelly in “New Mandala” – (see Acknowledgements and the Reference tables later in this article) So I’ve been doing some digging, researching on both English Language and Thai  Language websites and other reference materials. Summary In summary I’ve found a lot more events than the numbers that are usually published. Overall, I’ve found evidence of Thirty-Eight (38) Coups, Rebellions, Popular Uprisings or Regicides since the beginning of the 20th Century.  Consisting of: Twenty-Two (22) successful events that resulted in removal or...

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