I would like to take a moment to wish everyone reading this blog a very happy and safe Easter, regardless of whether you are observing the religious significance of the weekend or simply treating it as an extended set of public holidays.
I hope that the weekend is pleasant for you.
Samuel
Add comment April 6th, 2012 at 07:20pm
Those of you who have been reading this blog for a long time may recall that in 2008 I briefly experimented with Twitter and, after a few days, closed my account as I deemed it to be a waste of my time. At the time, this was true…Twitter held no value for me. Of course, at the same time, neither did Facebook, and yet now I don’t think I would be able to function without Facebook (or at the very least, the withdrawal symptoms would be difficult for a while).
For Facebook, this changed for me in either late 2008 or early 2009, I don’t really recall which of those times it was, when a growing number of overseas friends meant that it was easier to stay in touch that way. Since then, Facebook has grown for me in to both a news source and a limited creative outlet. Unfortunately it also causes me to stretch myself a bit too thin. I am much busier now than I was in 2009 and, as much as I might try to write something of substance here on a regular basis, it just doesn’t happen as much as it should…frankly, I don’t have the time, so I opt for the easier option of writing a quick opinion on Facebook and then neglecting the blog.
It is not ideal, but it would be safe to say that Facebook has become a mini-blog for me, with a limited audience. There are some benefits to this as not everything that I write on Facebook is intended for a public audience, but there is a downside too. Despite the fact that I am not paid to blog (not even by “Big Oil”, despite my views on mythical man-made global warming…but if anyone from “Big Oil” wants to send me a cheque, I’ll gladly accept it), and despite the fact that I am busy enough as it is, whenever I let this blog sit silently for a few days, I feel guilty, and I feel guilty because I feel that I am letting you, my handful of loyal readers, down. I feel worse about this because I know that I’ve posted some thoughts on Facebook which I would have liked to blog about, but I never got around to expanding the Facebook thought bubbles in to meaningful blog posts.
This, for me, is where Twitter comes in…or at least, might come in. I have a small following on Facebook, a slightly larger following here, and potentially some people I would like to follow on Twitter. I can integrate Twitter with this blog, and Twitter with Facebook, whereas I can not easily integrate selected posts from Facebook with this blog…and given the way facebook like to mess with settings on a regular basis, I don’t really think that will ever be viable. So, to me, it stands to reason that if I can share my small thought bubbles both on Facebook and on this blog by sharing them on Twitter, and I can gain a new stream of information in the process, it may very well be the right thing to do.
That said, I am still a wee bit skeptical of the whole thing. It annoyed me last time, and it didn’t get off to a good start this time when my name was one character too long to fit properly and I had to drop a space to make it fit. I’m also not convinced that I can make my thoughts fit in to 140 character bursts (I used to struggle with the character limit on Facebook when that existed, and that was much larger than Twitter’s limit), but I’m going to give it a go and see what happens. If it works out, then it will solve a few problems, and bring this blog back to life in the process.
I still intend on maintaining this blog…that won’t change…and I won’t be letting Russian guests write more blog posts than me (you should see the column she submitted this week…if there’s a sentence structure in there, I can’t find it, so I’ve sent it back for clarification and hopefully I’ll receive a publishable version for next week), but I will also be sharing my little thought bubbles here as daily digests of my Twitter activities. If all goes to plan, that should auto-publish at about 9pm Canberra time, or 9pm UTC if the Twitter Tools plugin is as insane as it was the last time around. You can also follow me on Twitter @Samuel_SGS and I’ll see about adding one of those sidebar doohickey-thingamabobs.
At the very least, this should be an interesting ride. Hopefully a valuable one, but only time will tell on that one.
Samuel
3 comments March 13th, 2012 at 03:37am
It is now official. Julia Gillard has won the Labor leadership ballot by a margin of 71 to 31. It’s a convincing victory and should be enough to shut down the Kevin Rudd party-damaging machine for a while.
This gives Julia the comfort of knowing that she has the support of the majority of her party, and the ability to quash concerns among the independents that she might not be able to have a stable government.
The questions now though are twofold:
1. What will Kevin Rudd do. He promised to move to the backbench quietly, but will he? That’s not exciting or important enough for his liking…I expect to either see him bide his time on the expectation that he will challenge again next year, or he will go to the crossbenches and hold some sort of influence with one of the deciding votes of the parliament.
2. What will happen to the Kevin Rudd supporters, especially the ones who walked in to the caucus room with him? If Kevin stays in Labor, then I expect his supporters to be shuffled out of important positions. A cabinet reshuffle might not be a bad idea anyway.
An exciting day, that’s for sure, but did it achieve anything useful? Probably not.
Samuel
Add comment February 27th, 2012 at 11:20am
The media are all gathered outside the caucus room. I’ve been flicking between TV stations and was watching Nine for a while. During that time, they had a shot of the media gathered outside the caucus room with a Seven reporter (update: it was Alex Hart) prominently in the foreground of the shot, on the phone to someone.
Whoever he was on the phone with must have told him that he was on the rival network as he stopped, turned to the Channel Nine camera, smiled, and waved.
Samuel
Add comment February 27th, 2012 at 10:32am
This was supposed to be yesterday’s second announcement.
Back in the middle of November (photos say November 13…I thought it was the day before that), there was an addition to my household. A little Jack Russell puppy who we named Pebbles.
Pebbles was only tiny at the time, and Nattie wasn’t quite sure about the idea of another dog moving in, but she seemed to tolerate Pebbles’ presence at first, and then slowly got used to the idea that the little dog was not “just visiting”.
Pebbles has grown quite a bit in the few months that she has been here, and when she isn’t running around with a toy or chewing on a bone, she enjoys a cuddle…or climbing on a person to lick their ears.
Over time, Nattie and Pebbles have become friends. It has taken some time and Nattie has made her authority clear more than a few times, but they quite like each other now…even if Pebbles is a bit more fond of Nattie than Nattie is of Pebbles.
Even though they get along, the difference in personality is stark. Nattie, at nearly 12 years of age, is more interested in relaxing than playing, while Pebbles is still a puppy with a seemingly endless supply of energy.
Here is a video of Pebbles playing on Friday night while I was listening to the AFL.
(Video not working? Click here to download it)
Patience is not Pebbles’ greatest strength. We had to wait quite a while when we went up to see the “good doctor” for her latest vaccinations, and she wasn’t in any way interested in sitting still.
(Video not working? Click here to download it)
If you’re wondering, the main reasons for getting a puppy were so that
A) Nattie would have a bit of doggy company in her senior years.
B) The puppy would grow up with another dog, hopefully reducing the anxiety of being separated from the rest of her family.
We took months to make the decision, and we could not be happier. Pebbles is a great addition to the family, and even Nattie seems a bit happier since Pebbles arrived.
Woof!
Samuel
February 21st, 2012 at 05:43am
Today, the 19th of February 2012, marks the 70th birthday of Radio 2UE’s current longest-consecutively-serving presenter John Kerr. There are one or two others who started before John, but they have worked elsewhere in the interim.
John’s current stint started in 1994 when he took over 2UE’s overnight syndicated program New Day Australia. John hosted the weekday edition of the show through until the end of 2005, and in 2006 took over the weekend edition of New Day Australia. John has occasionally filled-in on the weekday edition of the program since then and, until last year, regularly covered the Christmas Day 6am-midday shift. It is my understanding that John’s current contract provides him with certain lifestyle benefits while absolving him of the requirement to fill-in on other programs. John retains a loyal audience, despite not having as many affiliate stations as he did back when he was on the weekday show.
John has this weekend off, and I think he has next weekend off as well, which is great for him but unfortunate for me as it means that I can’t wait on hold for an hour and a half to wish him a happy birthday. I’m sure that John is having a wonderful break though, and it’s really fantastic that 2UE are able to give him time off for such a momentous occasion.
I have a present for John which I think he will really like, and I will be sending it to 2UE this week. There really is no point in sending it too soon as he won’t receive it until he next drops in to the 2UE studios, and I see no point in having certain foods which form the present spoil before he gets to them.
A very happy birthday John!
Samuel
(file photo: John Kerr at a listener lunch at Liquidity Restaurant in 2007.)
February 19th, 2012 at 03:14am
Just in case you happen to be the one person who is likely to try to visit my photo gallery today (it doesn’t get much traffic any more, one or two people a day at most), please note that it is currently offline for maintenance.
I’ll say more about this later today when I’m done. For now, you can try to visit it if you like, but much of it will be working sporadically for the next little while.
Update:The photo gallery is now back online. There are one or two minor changes, but I’ll address those in a separate post as, although the changes from a user perspective are small, the changes from the backend are not.
Samuel
January 31st, 2012 at 05:43am
Good morning and Merry Christmas to all (and to all a good night if that happens to be your timezone).
I would like to wish you all a very merry and safe Christmas, and a joyous new year filled with many good things. Before we reach the new year though, I would like to offer you a Christmas present.
Over the years there have been many adaptions of the Twelve Days Of Christmas, but by far the best in my opinion is a BBC production titled “And Yet Another Partridge In A Pear Tree” starring Penelope Keith as the lovely and increasingly bewildered recipient of the many gifts of the twelve days of Christmas.
It is a comic delight, but it is also rare. Although the BBC do have it available to stream on their website these days, it has never been offered for sale to the general public, and the number of people on the Internet looking for an MP3 version of this marvellous production is nothing short of extraordinary. Today, as a gift to you, I offer an MP3 download of the best version of the Twelve Days Of Christmas in existence. Enjoy!
Audio clip: Adobe Flash Player (version 9 or above) is required to play this audio clip. Download the latest version here. You also need to have JavaScript enabled in your browser.
Merry Christmas from Samuel, Nattie and Pebbles (who? The long-awaited announcement will explain this shortly…although who knows what the definition of shortly is on this blog).
December 25th, 2011 at 07:31am
i was afraid that this would happen. Qantas have cancelled flights (including mine) in Canberra this afternoon.
My backup plan of a bus or train leaving Melbourne around 7:20am wasn’t able to be enacted as my flight was not cancelled until after that time, so I have had to enact my other backup plan of hiring a car. The joys of needing to be back at work at 5:30am tomorrow.
I chatted with Luke Grant on MTR 1377 this morning after 7:30 and he suggested that, seeing as I travelled to Melbourne to see Andrew Bolt, Andrew should drive me back to Canberra. I don’t think Andrew agreed because I didn’t get a call from him after his spot on MTR.
Oh well, as chaotic as this trip is, it was well worth it. Many thanks to the Institute of Public Affairs for putting on last night’s evening.
Before I go and work out where this car rental place’s CBD office is, here’s a photo of me with Andrew Bolt. I suspect that I should have used the flash.
Samuel
2 comments June 21st, 2011 at 09:39am
As mentioned earlier today, Alan Stock was a panellist on the ‘Great American Panel’ on the FOX News show ‘Hannity’.
While Alan didn’t blind everyone with one of his shirts, he did bring in one of his noticeable ties, a Rush Limbaugh tie.
Here’s some screenshots.
If you missed it, Hannity will be repeated in a bit under two hours from now, with Alan’s segments on in about two and a half hours from now.
Samuel
June 10th, 2011 at 12:09pm
Good morning to all the good folk of Young, listening through 2LF.
Welcome to my intermittently avid blog. There’s not much on here this week, and thanks to work commitments, there might not be much new content on here for a couple days. My “plan” to write at least something of substance once per day failed quite miserably this week, so I’m aiming to start afresh on Sunday, when I won’t be tired from being forced to sit through bits of overseas weddings between bits of domestic football. I’ll see if I can find the time to sneak in some interesting comments before then…but regardless, you can look forward to a full week-in-review on Sunday.
Thanks to Rob Harrington for inviting me on to 2LF this morning. I wish the good people of Young a lovely weekend.
Samuel
April 29th, 2011 at 07:48am
West Coast will be too good over in the west. They’ll beat Melbourne with ease.
The rest of my tips will follow in the morning, after work.
Samuel
April 28th, 2011 at 03:44pm
In terms of rambling dreams, this was one of the strangest I’ve had in a while. It started as I walked past the window of the house of an elderly lady in my neighbourhood. She was staring out the window, looking quite fearful of the world. I stopped to check on her and asked her what was wrong.
“Look!” she shouted while pointing at her lounge, “They stole a cushion” she continued before sobbing. I looked, and a cushion was indeed missing, so I vowed to track down the culprit.
Just then, a group of three young men arrived claiming to have information about the cushion theft. I joined them as we set off and caught a bus.
Once on the bus, which had windows which could not be seen through, with the exception of the front and rear windscreens, I walked over to the health care desk which occupied a space about half way down the bus on the left hand side, and told the lady at the counter that I wanted to pay my monthly fee. She informed me that I had not paid for the last twelve months, but I would be able to pay the normal monthly fee and be covered for this month, which I promptly did. The young men that I was with objected to this, stating that it was not fair that I could avoid paying my dues for a whole year and still expect to be covered. I agreed, and said that if I was in charge, I would have myself pay the outstanding fees or go through a full physical examination if I only wanted to pay for the current month.
After this we got off the bus and entered a football stadium where we ended up on a stage and the music for the national anthem started. I started singing the national anthem in my falsetto opera, reaching notes that I have not reached since primary school. After the anthem, there was an applause and the dream ended.
I had the radio on while I was sleeping and a few ANZAC Day services were on the radio while I was asleep, so it’s possible that this is what caused the national anthem to be a part of it, but the rest of it…I have no idea.
Samuel
April 25th, 2011 at 03:15pm
This was written in reference to a giant Easter egg which took up an entire chair. This was after I wrote “the Easter chicken is to the Easter bunny what the elves are to Santa”.
I’ll let you be the judge…
Samuel
April 21st, 2011 at 03:59pm
This week’s award goes to Broken Bells, and the feature song for the week is the rather intriguing (bordering on spooky) October.
Interestingly, last week my iTunes told me that I hadn’t played the song since October…while I think it was just a bit befuddled, it was a situation which I immediately rectified as this song is far too good to leave it unplayed for such a length of time.
So you showed me ’round your town
To hell again and back
I love the certain way
You made all the friends that you depend onI know it might seem odd
Kid, you’re not the only one
I remember myself as a lonely child
So I was
And you’ve got me wrong
You’ve got me…Wrong just seems so right
’til the spark of morning light
And all those searching eyes
Do they scald your tender mind?Remember what they say
There’s no shortcut to a dream
It’s all blood and sweat
And life is what you manage in between
But what you don`t know
Is you’re too young and eager to love
Seething,
I see you’re about to get into the ditch that you opened up
(aah…)Wrong just seems so right
’til the spark of morning light
And all those searching eyes
Do they scald your tender mind?So the stars alight
And leave you behind
You want it so, and I…
I come by light of an autumn moon
Sister you know enough
But for now just let it go
Don’t run, don’t rush
Just flowThrough the give and take you had to learn
How to cross the coals and not get burned
But you’re really just a little girl
Playing in the park ’til the sun goes downSometime you want to rise
One did it’s our desire
No doubt you think
You braided your own hair so you’re all grown up
Should you want to cross the line
Which way do you want to fly?
Pretend that love can help you find your way
But you’ve got me wrong
Yeah you’ve got me wrong
Samuel
April 10th, 2011 at 06:33pm
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