Bureaucracy gone mad!

Tried to transfer a business name for a client today. However, earlier this month the business names register was changed from the states to a central national register maintained by ASIC. As part of the process, each business name has been given a new ASIC KEY - an identifying number - and we need this to deal with ASIC. However, the only people who know this key are ASIC. So we have to set up an account with them (as well as the one we have for dealing with companies) to enable us to apply to them to be told the key so we can then deal with the company name!!

This is crazy enough but I cannot believe we have invented another number. Now a company is likely to have 5 different numbers  for dealing with 2 government departments. They are:

1.     Tax File Number

2.     ABN

3.     ACN (Australian Company number)

4.     Corporate Key (for dealing with ASIC)

5.     ASIC Key (for dealing with ASIC in relation to business names).

No wonder we need so many public servants to keep track of this.

AFL: Time to decide on the Bounce

I think it is time the AFL makes a decision on the bounce. It has been a long traditional part of our game and there are good arguments to keep it. But I think if we are going to keep the bounce, then we need to accept that it won't go straight up all the time.

If we think that a ball going straight up is critical to the contest, then it would make sense to get rid of the bounce and just throw it up. At the moment we have this ridiculous system where we bounce it, but if it doesn't go straight, we call it back and throw it up. So why bother bouncing it in the first place? 

Sports Greats: People who revolutionized their sport.

Walter Lindrum

This is a great topic. We often talk about champion sports people. But there are some who did something that revolutionized their sport:

Simon Anderson - the man who put a third fin onto the surfboard. 

Dick Fosbury - the man who changed the way the high jump was done with the Fosbury Flop

Jack Dyer - invented the drop punt kick in football. This kick is now used almost exclusively in the game.

Walter Lindrum - Became so proficient at Billiards that they changed the rules to make the game fair on everyone else.

Jack Brabham - came up with the idea to put the engine in the back of his racing car, and changed formula 1 forever.

Ben Lexcen - the Americas cup yacht designer who came up with the famous winged keel. A bit like Simon Andersons third fin.

Feel free to add some more in the comments below.