Archive for December 4th, 2008

2CC and 2CA are streaming!

2CC and 2CA are streaming at long last, and the sound quality is pretty good.

2CC are currently streaming in Windows Media Audio 9.1 format at 32 kbps, 22 kHz, stereo 1-pass CBR which is more than ample for talk radio, and sounds a lot better than most other talk radio webstreams in the country.

2CA are doing even better with a Windows Media Audio 9.1 stream at 128 kbps, 48 kHz, stereo 1-pass CBR. I’m quite happy with this sound quality too.

At this stage I can see mentions on the 2XL and SnowFM websites of streaming, but the streams aren’t working for me at this time.

None the less, I’m very happy that I can now listen to 2CC and 2CA from outside of Canberra without hooking a radio up to a computer at home and running Shoutcast. Very happy, and I’ll treat it as an early Christmas present. Thank you Capital Radio Network!

Samuel

2 comments December 4th, 2008 at 07:20pm

The Petrol Price Cycle

It’s still a mystery to me.

An hour ago, unleaded petrol was 99.5 cents per litre at Caltex Weston, now it’s 115.9 cents per litre. An increase of 16.4 cents per litre.

At least it coincided with a fuel truck arriving to deliver fuel.

Samuel

1 comment December 4th, 2008 at 04:18pm

He should teach Business Studies

It’s a pity that this teacher is a maths teacher, because he would make an excellent Business Studies teacher:

Tom Farber gives a lot of tests. He’s a calculus teacher, after all.

So when administrators at Rancho Bernardo, his suburban San Diego high school, announced the district was cutting spending on supplies by nearly a third, Farber had a problem. At 3 cents a page, his tests would cost more than $500 a year. His copying budget: $316. But he wanted to give students enough practice for the big tests they’ll face in the spring, such as the Advanced Placement exam.

Hmm, it’s a basic problem of business, what we want to do costs this much, but we don’t have enough funds to cover it…what can we do to cover our costs? Tom’s solution was ingenious.

“Tough times call for tough actions,” he says. So he started selling ads on his test papers: $10 for a quiz, $20 for a chapter test, $30 for a semester final.

San Diego magazine and The San Diego Union-Tribune featured his plan just before Thanksgiving, and Farber came home from a few days out of town to 75 e-mail requests for ads. So far, he has collected $350. His semester final is sold out.

Not everyone is convinced of the merits of the idea though

That worries Robert Weissman, managing director of Commercial Alert, a Washington-based non-profit that fights commercialization in school and elsewhere. If test-papers-as-billboards catches on, he says, schools in the grip of tough economic times could start relying on them to help the bottom line.

“The advertisers are paying for something, and it’s access to kids,” he says.

About two-thirds of Farber’s ads are inspirational messages underwritten by parents. Others are ads for local businesses, such as two from a structural engineering firm and one from a dentist who urges students, “Brace Yourself for a Great Semester!”

The school doesn’t seem to be worried though, hinting that there are limits as to who can advertise.

Principal Paul Robinson says reaction has been “mixed,” but he notes, “It’s not like, ‘This test is brought to you by McDonald’s or Nike.’ “

One can only hope though that the New South Wales government don’t get any ideas, because a statement like this:

To Farber, 47, it’s a logical solution: “We’re expected to do more with less.”

Because if they do, then we might see entire schools being built out of advertising billboards as they try to find money to plug their never-ending budget holes.

Samuel

December 4th, 2008 at 03:42pm

I don’t see the problem

You may have heard the story about federal MP James Bidgood who witnessed a newsworthy event yesterday, took photos of it, and reportedly sold them to the media, with the money going to charity.

The event in questions was a protester setting himself on fire outside Parliament House. The opposition and sections of the media have jumped all over Mr. Bidgood for his actions, but I really can’t see the problem.

If a newspaper photographer had been there, or a television camera crew, or even if I had been there with a camera, there would have been footage and/or photos. The photographer or camera crew would have taken the pictures back to the newsroom for their News Director to decide if they wanted to publish it, whilst I would have taken the photos home and published them here on this blog.

People sell photos of newsworthy events to the media all the time, so I can’t understand what the problem is here.

Joe Hockey, a man for whom I have a great deal of respect, has been the loudest critic of Mr. Bidgood…frankly Mr. Hockey, pull your head in, and ask Julie Bishop to actually answer a question the next time she appears on Lateline.

As for Mr. Bidgood. He has apologised for his actions (unnecessary in my view), but I will be writing to him to support his actions. What he did was attempt to bring the truth to the public, and it’s nice to see a politician doing that for a change.

Samuel

2 comments December 4th, 2008 at 11:36am


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