Archive for May 19th, 2006
As Nattie and I went for our Wednesday evening walkies we passed by a location where leaves were in the process of being cleaned up (whilst Autumn is pretty, it sure is messy). As I didn’t have the camera with me (it rarely comes out on walkies), and the light was fading anyway, I decided to come back the next day (yesterday, Thursday) and take photos.
When I got around to visiting the location in Reid again, I noticed that the leaves were still in their little neat piles, and I could hear the sound of leaf blowers in the distance.
The scene reminded me of one of the animated scenes in “Monty Python And The Holy Grail” where seasons change rapidly, and a tree is used to demonstrate it.
Anyway, on with the story, the leaf cleaning people had parked their vehicles on one side of the block. Judging by one of the vehicles they intended on mulching the leaves. The business dealing with the leaves appeared to be BurHor Horticultural Services (PH: 02 6238 1930).
On further inspection there was a great big pile of leaves inside the block.
Some of the people involved seem to take the dust factor of leaf blowers seriously…in some cases to the extent where they look like robots or aliens. (I can understand their need to cover up though, as a hayfever sufferer I know that leaf blowers are a cause of hayfever).
Overall they appeared to be doing a good job, but I had other things to do, so I left at this point and did what I needed to do.
And before you ask, yes there does eappear to be something wrong with the camera…I’m still trying to work out exactly what has happened.
Samuel
May 19th, 2006 at 03:37pm
The picture below is of a fridge magnet sent out to all (or at least most) homes in the ACT by the ACT Government a few weeks. The fridge magnet was part of a set of literature outlining the current water conservation efforts, procedures and rules in the ACT.
The reason that I am showing this to you, is not to highlight ACT water conservation, but to bring to your attention a government document which is written is plain english (I’ll excuse the “high-pressure low-volume cleaner” as I think they have well and truly drummed the meaning of that term into us in other publicity campaigns). Not only does this document outline the rules in place in the ACT in a very clear and straightforward manner, it also adds little pictures for quick reference and to add context to the text. Contact details and the people behind the production of the magnet are also clearly identified.
I must say that this is a darn sight better than the Chief Turnip’s incoherent babbling from a few weeks ago.
I will be nominating this fridge magnet for an award in the “Plain English” category of the Plain English Campaign awards.
Samuel
May 19th, 2006 at 12:49pm
2CC’s “voice of reason” and 2UE/2CC afternoon host John Stanley has signed with Southern Cross Broadcasting until the end of 2008, which means that he will most likely continue to host “Afternoons with John Stanley” until the end of 2008. (That being said, if John Laws retires I wouldn’t be overly surprised if John Stanley takes over after a short period of Tim Webster filling in).
The thing that makes this story more interesting is that, during the regular segment with resident money expert of the afternoon show, Paul Clitheroe, just after the federal budget, John presented Paul with a hypothetical scenario about a person who seemed to match John’s own description, contemplating retirement, but wondering whether or not he should put it off for a few years, after taking into account the superannuation tax break announced in the federal budget. Paul suggested that it would be a good idea…and lo and behold a short time thereafter the news emerges that John Stanley has agreed to stay with 2UE and parent company for another couple years.
Coincidence? I think not.
Samuel
May 19th, 2006 at 09:13am
This week the NRL has a shorter round to accomodate for the State Of Origin in the middle of the following week. I’ve never understood this as the State Of Origin teams are selected based on the best performers from this year, but the teams that get a week off are drawn up in the schedule the year before the competition. In my view it should be all the teams getting the week off, or none of the teams getting a week off.
These occasional shorter rounds and the fact that the AFL and NRL have a different number of matches, are both the reasons that I opted to use a percentage based scoring system rather than a “number of correctly tipped matches” system.
Anyway, on with the tips.
NRL Round 11
Roosters V Rabbitohs
Knights V Raiders
Warriors V Tigers
Bulldogs V Sharks
Sea Eagles V Storm
Panthers V Eels
AFL Round 8
Hawks V Demons
Tigers V Crows
Dockers V Kangaroos
Magpies V Cats
Bulldogs V Swans
Power V Lions
Blues V Saints
Bombers V Eagles
Samuel
May 19th, 2006 at 07:49am
