Samuel's Blog

Archive for April, 2006

Samuel’s Coffee-Cup-O-Meter

Saturday
4 x Standard Mugs (1 Point Each) = 4 Points
Total = 4 Points

Samuel

3 comments April 16th, 2006 at 01:00am

Mark Carmody leaves the horticultural airwaves

Many Canberrans would be familiar with Mark Carmody, host of 666 ABC Canberra‘s gardening show. Mark has been hosting this show for many years, and has been a welcome addition to many households on a Saturday morning, but he has decided to hang up the garden microphone, and ride off into the distance, on a riding/driving tour of Australia.

Mark’s ABC predecessor and current host of the 2CC gardening show, David Young, wished Mark well on his journeys, and paid tribute to him this morning.

I suppose this means that people who are after wireless horticultural advice will turn over to 2CC from 7am-9am every Saturday and Sunday to hear the excellent “David Young’s Garden”. I’m a long-time listener to David’s show and I think David has a very relaxed manner of dealing with things, which is the perfect way to start the day. I’m sure that Mark’s listeners will agree with me once they make the switch.

For the record, the ABC website offers the following information about Mark:

Mark Carmody

Gardening

Even if you’re not a gardener, you’ll enjoy starting your weekend with Mark from 8.30am each Saturday morning.

Mark has over two decades of gardening experience, including being head gardener at The Lodge during the Fraser and Hawke years, and at the Tindal Air Force Base in the Northern Territory.

He currently works for the Department of Urban Services and his formal qualifications include a Certificate of Horticulture from the Canberra Institute of Technology and an Associate Diploma of Science (Horticulture).

Best of luck Mark, I hope you enjoy your journey around Australia, I know many Canberrans will miss you, and you can rest assured that David Young will do an excellent job picking up all of those questions that would have been directed at you.

Samuel

3 comments April 15th, 2006 at 08:25am

Easter Saturday

It’s Easter Saturday, and once again from Nattie & I, Happy Easter.
Easter Cross

Samuel

4 comments April 15th, 2006 at 07:02am

Samuel’s Blog Year In Review: February 2006

February started off with me enrolling at CIT, which turned out to be a slightly more frustrating experience than expected. The next day I stumbled across some underground cabling work, which would be the start of a long series of posts about it.

I had a dream involving vicious cats

I explained my reasons for leaving a website called The RiotACT, and continued documenting the underground cabling work.

2GB newsreader Rowan Barker returned to work after recovering from a random stabbing attack.

Somebody tried to gain access to my Gmail account.

I then announced my schedule for my first day at CIT, which doubled as the day of 2CC’s outside broadcast from the grand opening of the new Bunnings store in Belconnen.

Nattie enjoyed a bone (she does it quite often, but it is hard to photograph).

The underground cabling continued, and I got a video of a horizontal directional drilling machine in action.

I had a dream about a lion, a professor and John Howard.

Then it was CIT/2CC/Bunnings day, it started off with my trip to CIT for my first class, had a cafe review in the middle, and concluded with my trip to Bunnings Belconnen, where 2CC were holding an outside broadcast as part of Bunnings’ grand opening celebrations.

I made my views on the “Bali Nine” issue perfectly clear.

The website was temporarily plagued with popups from a third party service provider.

The Canberra Capitals won the Womens National Basketball League.

John Kerr celebrated his 64th birthday, whilst network stations suffered satellite induced problems, I rang John to wish him a happy birthday and had a special Musicians Of The Week award in his honour.

I released Samuel’s Persiflage #3.

Bigpond blocked Gmail temporarily. This was acaused by their use of seriously flawed spam filtering techniques.

I noticed that standards had dropped at Campbell High School since my time their.

I had an interesting conversation with a correspondent.

Internet Explorer’s insistence on not following standards caused me all sorts of headaches in getting rid of those popups.

The select group of Summernats enthusiasts who insisted on ridiculing my opinion of Summernats had a few mildy legible words to say.

I proposed some changes for the better in the laws behind drivers licences.

I thought about the possibility of 2CC launching some podcasts.

I discovered the reason for the underground cabling.

And a bus fare scammer proved beyond all reasonable doubt that he is a scammer.

That’s February, March is up tomorrow morning, and then we will have the 1st birthday of Samuel’s Blog!

Samuel

April 15th, 2006 at 07:00am

Samuel’s Coffee-Cup-O-Meter

Friday
5 x Standard Mugs (1 Point Each) = 5 Points
Total = 5 Points

Samuel

April 15th, 2006 at 01:00am

Happy Easter!

To those of you who celebrate Easter…Happy Easter from Samuel & Nattie.

Also a quick reminder for those of you who may have missed the announcement, Samuel’s Persiflage #4 has been released.

Samuel

12 comments April 14th, 2006 at 07:02am

Samuel’s Blog Year In Review: January 2006

January started off with a customary “Happy New Year” message from me, and a recording of my phone call to George Gibson who was filling in on 2GB at the time.

Then we had the final Schnappi update.
Schanppi the little crocodile

After a good suggestion from a reader, I added next and previous post links to the site.

Summernats came to Canberra, and was certainly not the problem free, family friendly event that the organisers insist on advertising it as. Before this sets off another round of local car entusiasts getting angry at me, I have no problem with car enthusiasts who are sensible and obey the law…I just have a problem with the minority who are utter morons.

I showed you my 2005 Santa Photo.

There was a visit from a possum.

Somebody going by the name of “pintail” accused me of being selfish for not linking to everyone and everything that links to my blog.

I made some predictions about the direction of IT in 2006.

SBS stopped using the services of Robbie McGregor for their voiceovers.

Daniel Gibson made his first appearance on this website in a video where he was showing off one of my works of art.

Wayne Mac released the highly awaited book “Don’t Touch That Dial, Hits ‘n’ Memories Of Australian Radio”

This blog became a proud member of PANDORA, The National Library of Australia’s Internet archive.

Samuel’s Persiflage #2, which featured an extensive interview with Wayne Mac was released.

One of the few sensible things ever written about the Australian Blog Awards was written.

I got my copy of Wayne Mac’s book.

One of the worst vulnerabilities ever found in a Microsoft product, the WMF Exploit, was finally laid to rest.

The Canberra Times had their sales increased by CIT.

James Goodwin left 2UE for WIN News.

Australia Day rolled around.

John Kerr returned from holidays, and so did John Laws.

Larry Emdur joined Channel Seven and Wheel Of Fortune.

I had a busy weekend, and announced the return of Samuel In Dolgnwot.

Changes were afoot at 2CA and 2CC.

That more or less sums up January…and with the February summary coming tomorrow morning, we must be getting very close to the birthday of Samuel’s Blog!

Samuel

April 14th, 2006 at 07:00am

Samuel’s Coffee-Cup-O-Meter

Thursday
6 x Standard Mugs (1 Point Each) = 6 Points
Total = 6 Points

Samuel

April 14th, 2006 at 01:00am

Samuel’s Persiflage #4

It’s been a long time between drinks (or so they say), but Samuel’s Persiflage returns with episode number four, the April 2006 edition, which is now online. There is also a low quality version for the bandwidth impaired here.

I start off by welcoming everyone back and explain the absence of last month’s episode, before launching into a brand new feature…The Persiflage Puzzle! To play along at home all you need is a pen and paper, or a text editor. It’s very similar to hangman but with a few important differences, as I explains during the show. The puzzle for this episode has four words, the first word has three letters, the second word has six letters, the third word has seven letters and the last word has six letters. I then draw the first set of letters out of the hat and put them in to the puzzle.

Then it’s time for the first guest, so I have a chat with the gentleman of radio, John Kerr, about pirate radio, something John is very proud to have been involved in back in the mid 1960’s. This is followed by a couple odd news stories, and another look at the Persiflage Puzzle.

Then it’s on to the feedback segment, and there is plenty of it. All listeners are invited to send in more feedback, both in written and audio format. As per usual feedback can be sent to podcast@samuelgordonstewart.com, or leave a comment below.

We have another quick look at the Persiflage Puzzle.

Due to popular demand, the next guest is Mrs. Sylvia Gordon-Stewart (Mum). Many people have sent me emails asking for more information about her, so she has agreed to come on the show and tell you herself. Nattie joins the show during this. Mum helps with the next look at the Persiflage Puzzle, and both Nattie and Mum stick around for some odd news stories.

I then wrap up Samuel’s Persiflage #4, give you the answer to the Persiflage Puzzle, and inform you that next month we will be chatting with the National Library of Australia.

The Samuel’s Persiflage #4 file itself is available here, and is 1:09:15 in length (63.4MB) at 128kbps stereo. The 128kbps format was decided upon because it produces a very good sound quality, and doesn’t “flatten” any music used in the podcast. I do, however, acknowledge that this is just unreasonable for dial-up, so a 16kbps mono file is also available here. The sound quality isn’t as good, but some people like it. The low quality version is 7.92MB

For those of you who are using podcast software to receive your podcasts, the feed can be found here and if you are using iTunes you can subscribe to Samuel’s Persiflage by clicking here.

Podcast related questions and comments can be sent to podcast@samuelgordonstewart.com or left in the comments section of this post.

Samuel

7 comments April 13th, 2006 at 11:42pm

The Proof Is In The Pudding

During the latter part of my time at The RiotACT, I started to suspect that Johnboy (one of the many admins) didn’t like me. I have previously documented the reasons why I left RiotACT, and I won’t go over that fiasco again, but it was interesting that, despite clear evidence to the contrary, Johnboy denied that he didn’t like me.

I made the point as clearly as I could after he lambasted me for agreeing with him, one of the many things I said was:

The pattern I have seen lately is that you have had this somewhat blanket “Anti Samuel” view on everything…I’m not sure when this started or why, but I would be interested to know what I did that has turned you against me.

Johnboy replied with:

I don’t have an “anti-samuel” view. I despise the rhetorical style of commercial talkback radio. It is inherenetly dishonest and as long as you use it I’m going to have problems with it.

I wasn’t going to bother raising the point again, as the evidence was clearly favouring my point, but it is interesting to note that Johnboy has stopped denying that he doesn’t like me. In fact only a short time ago he posted the following as a comment on a Spin Starts Here article about my Year In Review posts.

sam would be OK if he was just in his bubble. But he’s not.

He’s writing letters to the efitor, he’s always calling up talkback radio, and he’s pushing for a staggeringly cruel and intolerant society forced to be just like him.

In Sam’s world Eddie and Lawsie are to be respected and disrespect is terminated.

That’s just one reason why he needs to be held up to constant ridicule.

I have no problem with Johnboy disliking me, and I take no satisfaction from it, in fact it is quite disappointing considering that we were once online friends. I’m just glad that he has finally admitted it, and stopped the pointless denials.

The really good thing here is that, as far as I can see, this closes the last open section of the “Samuel & RiotACT” chapter. I’m glad that I can finally put it all behind me, knowing exactly where everyone stood on the matter.

Samuel

29 comments April 13th, 2006 at 01:23pm

Dancing Power Lines in Ainslie

Another strange dream, this one takes place near a park in the suburb of Ainslie, where I walk along a busy path. There are a lot of powerlines above this path, and the other people started talking and pointing to the powerlines, when I looked up I could see that the powerlines and power poles were dancing.

Thankfully no sign of Daryl Somers, his current TV show or an SMS poll were in sight.

Samuel

1 comment April 13th, 2006 at 12:45pm

Bus Enthusiast Dream

I had a very odd dream the other night, for some reason I met one of the bus enthusiasts from the Bus Australia website, and he drove me to Tuggeranong to see the busses.

I don’t remember much of the detail of the dream, although I do remember us getting lost near Tuggeranong and then following a bus to the Interchange.

Samuel

April 13th, 2006 at 12:27pm

Persiflage Update

The moment you’ve all been waiting for…Samuel’s Persiflage Episode 4…will be online later today, possibly tonight, just in time for Easter.

I can tell you that it will contain a new feature which will appear a few times during the episode.

Hopefully this will mean a return to monthly episodes, I certainly hope it does.

Samuel

25 comments April 13th, 2006 at 09:10am

Samuel’s Footy Tips

Alrighty then, as the AFL starts tonight, it’s time for another round of my footy tipping.

AFL Round 3
Saints V ~~Lions~~
~~Cats~~ V Hawks
~~Blues~~ V Swans
~~Eagles~~ V Tigers
Demons V ~~Crows~~
~~Bombers~~ V Bulldogs
Power V ~~Dockers~~
Kangaroos V ~~Pies~~

NRL Round 6
Roosters V ~~Broncos~~
Sea Eagles V ~~Dragons~~
~~Rabbitohs~~ V Bulldogs
Raiders V ~~Warriors~~
Tigers V ~~Sharks~~
Knights V ~~Cowboys~~
Panthers V ~~Storm~~

Samuel

4 comments April 13th, 2006 at 08:06am

Samuel’s Blog Year In Review: December 2005

December was another eventful month, and it started with the John Kerr’s New Day Australia Christmas Cruise.

Having slept through the previous afternoon to ensure that I would be awake through the night and early morning, and therefore get all of my final preparations done, I was on the computer in the hours leading up to departure. This gave me ample opportunity to inform you that Firefox 1.5 had been released and provide you with a post containing the final weather update, and a couple webcams overlooking Sydney Harbour.

It is worthwhile pointing out that I was heard on 2CC quite a few times that day. Firstly on John Kerr’s show in the wee hours of the morning, then on Mike Jeffreys’ breakfast show from a public phone at the Jolimont Centre, then on Mike Welsh’s drive show by mobile from the Cruise catamaran, and then again on John Kerr’s show…all in the space of 30 hours.

Unfortunately my review of the day surrounding the cruise was delayed by a storm in Canberra dropping a tree on my roof.

I did eventually get around to writing my review of the Christmas Cruise, some of the highlights included:
It was a lovely day in Sydney

The Lady Rose arrives

Lunch

Even the skyline was lovely

John Kerr, Anastasia & Me

A lovely view

Afternoon tea

Seven News Studio

Bus, bus, bus, bus, bus…

A Sydney train

Coffee at Central Station

And some videos:

Lots of people enjoying themselves
John Kerr has a dance

I then got around to documenting the tree falling on the roof, thankfully it was a rotten branch and it shattered and only caused minor damage. The evacuation meant that my family and I spent the night at the nearby Olims Hotel in a “Superior Room”.

Nattie spent the night with a neighbour as Olims don’t accept pets, the neighbour has a cat and I’m informed that she had a fun night. We met Nattie and the neighbour the next morning on the median strip across the road from the house.