Samuel's Blog

I’m a “serious freak with major issues”

It’s been a while since anybody wrote an email to me quite like this one!

From……: Steven Oldes
Email…..: radio.god@hotmail.com
Url…….:

………………………………………………….
Subject…: What the hell?
………………………………………………….

What the hell is this site all about? I think you are serious freak with major issues

Thanks Steven!

Samuel

5 comments November 10th, 2006 at 12:44pm

Immigration

This week’s Friday Funny is sourced from Peter FitzSimon’s column in the Sun-Herald Newspaper.
A Kiwi was hoping to emigrate to Australia. Upon his arrival in Australia, he was questioned by a customs officer, “What is your business in Australia?”
“I wish to immigrate” was the Kiwi’s reply.
The customs officer then asked “Do you have a criminal record?”
Confused, the Kiwi then replied “I didn’t think you still needed one.”

Do you have something you would like to contribute to Friday Funnies? If so, email it to smoothwallsamuel@gmail.com. All contributions welcome!

Samuel

2 comments November 10th, 2006 at 10:33am

Cat

G’day Lawsie,

Sorry to hear that you had to put your lovely little cat to sleep…I’m sure you did it for the best reasons, and I know that it is very very hard, but hang in there buddy, you saved your lovely little cat from agony and pain and that was a very humane and loving thing to do.

I know that I wouldn’t want to ever part with my little doggie Nattie, but if it was a choice between a painful lingering end, or a reasonably happy end, I know which one I would choose.

Just have faith that you did the right thing, and take your time to grieve.

Best wishes,

Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

3 comments November 10th, 2006 at 10:30am

John Stanley’s Wedding Card

By request, here is the “card” I faxed to John Stanley on Wednesday to congratulate him on his wedding. John spent the first few days of the week in Melbourne with his new wife on a Melbourne Cup honeymoon. John and his wife will take an overseas holiday as a second honeymoon later in the year.

(Click to enlarge)

Samuel

8 comments November 10th, 2006 at 07:44am

What drives me nuts

Hi John,

While you were away Steve had a moment where I should have taken on the role of pedant…so I’ll do it now instead. During Tuesday’s TV ratings, Steve mentioned that Seven had a certain amount of dollars for a show instead of viewers…he must have been thinking about the Melbourne Cup at the time.

I hope you got the wedding card I sent by fax (the one with the drawing of you and your new wife at the Melbourne Cup).

Have a great day,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

(This email is ineligible to win any prizes due to me winning some DVDs on New Day Australia a couple weeks ago).

3 comments November 9th, 2006 at 11:30am

Telemarketers and door-to-door sales

Good morning John,

The call you had on just after me this morning about telemarketers has really struck a chord with me…my mobile number, like most, is not listed in the phone book, yet somehow Telstra’s sales department which carrier I’m with and seem to enjoy ringing me to try and get me to change to them. I don’t mind them ringing, and having worked in a Telstra Call Centre (not sales thankfully) I understand what the people go through and I try to be nice to them…but they have no right…none whatsoever to know which carrier I choose to be with. The telephone network needs to know so that calls can get through…but Telstra sales, when I am not a Telstra customer, should not have access to that information.

To Telstra’s credit, the girl on the phone was very nice when I said that I am happy with my current service and let the call go…but I’m still annoyed with Telstra for what they did.

About those door-to-door sales…well you might recall that in April (or maybe it was May) one of the jobs I applied for saw me whisked away to the other side of Canberra following a door-to-door sales rep around before I could find out what the company did. Incidentally this bloke was trying to get people to change electricity and gas provider, and wanted to see people’s bills…the tactics and mind games they use are scary…I particularly like their trick of telling you that a lot of your neighbours are changing company and they don’t want you to miss out, but they can’t tell you who has changed due to privacy laws, and the offer expires as soon as they leave.

I have a tip for you John…most companies do not run their own door-to-door campaigns, they employ one of a handful of agencies to do the work, and these agencies build up a bit of a database of houses to avoid…the way to get on that list? Be rude or get angry with them…I know it’s unpleasant to do, but it’ll get you on the blacklist quicker than you can say "I’m not interested".

Also, I won a couple John Wayne DVDs on Flicks and Things in your absence…are 2UE Promotions using super glue on the parcels these days? I had to attack the package with scissors to get the darn thing open…and it’s a good thing I didn’t win your Melbourne Cup sweep, because the DVDs came with a letter stating that I’m ineligible to enter competitions for 30 days.

Have a great morning John, and a big hello to Charity, Irene, Johanna, Georgie, and just in case he is listening at this hour, Craig who runs a wonderful cafe in Dickson.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

5 comments November 9th, 2006 at 01:00am

The technology we’ll see in a couple years to replace 3G and Telstra NextG

Attempt number three! This is an email I sent to 2CC’s Mike Jeffreys yesterday.

Good morning Mike,

Well, just as you suspected and Ian Peters avoided, there is a technology poised to make 3G (aka Telstra NextG) obsolete. The name isn’t as catchy (High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, or HSDPA) but I’m sure Telstra’s marketing people can think of something…”NextG-SuperPlus” perhaps?

Anyway, it’s basically the same offering as 3G, just faster and better integrated with non-phone devices, and much like 3G was years ago, HSDPA is being rolled out in other countires long before it is even a blip on our shores.

Business Week have an article on it at http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/nov2006/tc20061106_875720.htm?campaign_id=bier_tcv.g3a.rss1106k which I have copied in below.

But, as the technology people at Slashdot have noted (http://hardware.slashdot.org/hardware/06/11/06/141207.shtml ), this is just one of many such technologies…still, I’m more than happy with a phone which makes a ringing noise and doesn’t have a colour display or take photos or check my emails.

Have a great day Mike,

Regards,
Samuel

High-Speed Wireless Dreams
HSDPA may finally deliver a small piece of wireless utopia. We tear down a PC card that can help make it happen

by Arik Hesseldahl
Technology

* Next Generation Computing
* Coping with Data Centers in Crisis
* Building a Better Computer
* The Computer of the Future Comes in Walnut
* A Quantum Leap in Data Encryption

Story Tools

* post a comment
* e-mail this story
* print this story
* order a reprint
* digg this
* save to del.icio.us

Just when it seemed that the overused wireless catchphrase “3G” might finally fade from memory, new technologies are starting to emerge and stake their own claim to the post-3G zeitgeist. For years 3G, or “third generation,” denoted some future wireless utopia where voice, data, and video would all merge into a wondrous amalgam, marked by snazzy phones that do everything perfectly—and fast.

But there’s a new wireless utopia, and again, it’s about merging voice, data, and all the other stuff at even faster speeds. One of them is known as High-Speed Downlink Packet Access, or HSDPA, and it has started appearing on wireless networks operated by companies such as Vodaphone (VOD) in Europe and Cingular Wireless (a joint venture of AT&T ( T) and BellSouth (BLS)) in the U.S. Meanwhile, South Korea’s Samsung has started building HSDPA-ready phones.
PC Cards

The technology promises wireless speeds as high as 3.6 Mbps but in practice will be much slower than that—fast enough, though, to make wirelessly surfing the Web and downloading music and video worth the effort. That will make it ideal for wireless Internet access on a PC, and manufacturers have started to release PC cards for just that purpose. There are already scores on the market.

Market research firm iSuppli recently took apart one of those cards, the E620, manufactured by Chinese electronics giant Huawei and found that in addition to running fast, it doesn’t cost all that much to make. Vodaphone sells the E620 card in Britain for a price equivalent to about $272. The components inside the card cost about $73, while manufacturing costs amount to about $6 per unit, says iSuppli analyst Andrew Rassweiler.
Chips Ahoy

And while Huawei is certainly making a decent profit given its costs, the big winner in the HSDPA business appears to be wireless chipmaker Qualcomm (QCOM). Of the $73 in component costs inside the card, more than $40 worth of chips come from Qualcomm, Rassweiler says. “We’ve been looking inside other cards and some handsets that are HSDPA-ready from LG Electronics and Samsung, and we’re seeing the very same Qualcomm chips every time,” he says. The same set of Qualcomm chips appear in Samsung’s SGH-Z520 and LG’s Chocolate KU-800, the second version of LG’s music-playing phone (see BusinessWeek.com, 9/5/06, “Easy Listening on LG’s Chocolate”).

“Qualcomm for years has had the CDMA side of the wireless business sewn up for itself,” Rassweiler says. “Now it’s looking like with HSDPA, its influence on the wireless industry could increase.” Other companies building HSDPA chips include Texas Instruments (TXN) and Broadcom ( BRCM). Motorola (MOT), Siemens ( SI), and Sierra Wireless (SWIR) are all building HSDPA cards.

Other chips inside the card include Flash memory from Samsung, a USB controller from NEC (NIPNY), and power controller chips from Anadigics ( ANAD) and AVX ( AVX).

ISuppli has forecast shipments of 917,000 HSDPA devices this year, and expects shipments to increase to 87 million units a year by 2010.

Hesseldahl is a reporter for BusinessWeek.com.

Samuel

November 8th, 2006 at 02:07pm

US Elections etc

Good morning John,

Well this will be a busy day for the newsroom…the interest rate announcement this morning, and then counting starts for the US Midterm election around 11am Sydney time (7pm Eastern US)…it will be interesting to see how that all turns out…I don’t quite understand their system myself, but it will be interesting to follow anyway.

At this stage it looks like I should be able to make it to your Terrigal luncheon, and if I do I’ll be staying in Sydney overnight. I’m sure you remember my trip to and from Sydney in the one day last year…it was fun but it’s not something I would like to repeat.

I suppose I should mention the Melbourne Cup…my horses didn’t do much, but I got second prize in the sweep at work, and it was a bit of fun for a Tuesday. It’s the first Tuesday in a couple years that I haven’t been at home for the cup.

Interestingly, it rained in Canberra yesterday, something which seems to becoming a Canberra tradition for the Melbourne Cup…I clearly remember the rain on Melbourne Cup day in Canberra for the last few years.

Have a great morning John,

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

1 comment November 8th, 2006 at 12:00am

Work Sweep

Yay, I got $14 for coming second in one of the sweeps at work…not bad for a $2 investment…covers some of my $23 investment ($16 TAB + $2 Work Sweep + $5 Dad’s Work Sweep) for the day. I still don’t know how I went with the sweep at Dad’s work, I’ll find out tonight.

I think this is my last Melbourne Cup post for now, full results of my activities tonight and some posts to catch up on tomorrow.

Gambling problems? Phone Lifeline Canberra on 13 11 14 or your local gambling support service.

Samuel

11 comments November 7th, 2006 at 04:23pm

Melbourne Race Eight

Updated and rewritten for “correct weight” final dividends

1st: Polar Bear (Win: $3.00) (Place: $1.50)
2nd: Lancettier (Place: $6.40)
3rd: Dr. Nipandtuck (Place: $3.20)

Quinella: $35.80
Exacta: $53.50
Trifecta: $613.40
Running Double on the Melbourne Cup and Race Eight: $47.50

Unfortunately I took a quinella in this race and got first and third…oh well.

Correct weight, results now paying! Gambling problems? Contact your local gambling support service, in Canberra that’s Lifeline on 13 11 14

Samuel

6 comments November 7th, 2006 at 03:59pm

Melbourne Cup Finishing Order

Here is the complete rundown of who came where in the Melbourne Cup

1st: DELTA BLUES
2nd: POP ROCK
3rd: MAYBE BETTER
4th: Zipping
5th: Land ‘n Stars
6th: Mahtoum
7th: Yeats
8th: Activation
9th: Mandela
10th: Glistening
11th: Kerry O’Reilly
12th: Railings
13th: Headturner
14th: Short Pause
15th: Dolphin Jo
16th: Art Success
17th: Dizelle
18th: Geordieland
19th: Tawqeet
20th: On A Jeune
21st: Demerger
22nd: Ice Chariot
23rd: Zabeat.
Scratched: Efficient

Samuel

November 7th, 2006 at 03:48pm

Melbourne Cup Interim Results

I hope you had a grain of salt handy, because my tips did nothing!

Update 3:24pm: Correct Weight! Results now paying! End Update

2: Delta Blue (Win: $17.50) (Place: $5.50)
12: Pop Rock (Place: $2.10)
23: Maybe Better (Place: $3.90)

Quinella: $41.30
Exacta: $91.80
Trifecta: $1100.40

Results are interim and are SuperTAB results (Victoria TAB, ACTTAB etc), NSW TAB and UNITAB results may vary.

If you have a gambling problem, contact your local gambling support service, which in the ACT is Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Samuel

11 comments November 7th, 2006 at 03:20pm

Melbourne Cup Tips

Have you got your grain of salt ready? Yes? Good! You might need it considering what I said last year before the Melbourne Cup.

I have to agree with most experts who say that Makybe Diva will not win. It was fairly obvious in my view that she wouldn’t be scratched, but she won’t win. Don’t get me wrong, I think she is a very good horse, but I just don’t think she will win.

Perhaps that is best forgotten…I did manage to pick the horse which came second, so it wasn’t a complete disaster.

This year I am tipping four horses in no particular order, hopefully they will be the first four across the line.

3: Railings
5: Geordieland
11: On A Jeune
20: Glistening

I’ve also picked up Yeats in John Kerr’s New Day Australia sweep, I’m in a sweep at work and don’t know which horse I have yet, and will probably be in another sweep by mid-morning.

I also have three tips for the race following the Melbourne Cup

1: Roman Arch (Update 9:25am: It’s Scratched…sorry)
2: Polar Bear
13: Dr Nipandtuck

Update 9:25am: On my way into work today I stopped at an ACTTAB agency (Hello Margaret…good to see you again after all these years) and put a two dollar boxed quinella on both races, costing $12 for the Melbourne Cup and $2 for the next race (I’ll explain that if you like). I also placed a 50 cent place bet on the Melbourne Cup costing $2. This is where I found out that Roman Arch is scratched, and running on my policy of not changing a bet, continued the bet with the remaining horses.End Update

Channel Seven will have full coverage of every race and associated events at Flemington, hosted by my favourite television sport personality Bruce McAvaney. Southern Cross Syndication are the exclusive distributor of the Melbourne Cup to commercial radio (other than the racing stations) and I will probably listen to 2CC’s relay of it, possibly while watching Channel Seven and checking the delay.

For those of you who are nowhere near a radio or a television, Sport 927, 2KY, ACTTAB Radio, 2UE, 2GB and many others all have webstreams and will all be covering the race, which gets underway at 3pm. Of those, 2UE and 2GB will likely have a surrounding program, whilst the others will have mahy other races to cover before and after the Cup.

If you have an account with the NSW or Victorian TAB, you can watch the race live online via Sky Channel.

And of course, if you have a gambling problem, contact your local gambling support service, which in the ACT is Lifeline on 13 11 14. Of course the best advice is to avoid a gambling problem in the first place by following the simple rule of “only bet what you can afford to lose”. Lifeline also have a bunch of information and advice on gambling problems here.

Good luck!

Samuel

17 comments November 7th, 2006 at 01:35am

John Kerr’s Back!

The title says it all really…welcome back John!

Samuel

5 comments November 7th, 2006 at 12:09am

Thanks Sally Rose

I would just like to take a few moments to thank Dickson College Board Chair, Sally Rose, for her hard work over the last few months in the Save Dickson College campaign. Sally, as many of you would have heard reported on Friday, quit her job in order to be able to dedicate enough time as needed to the campaign.

On Saturday afternoon I presented Sally with a certificate of appreciation and a box of chocolates, presumably on behalf of the Dickson College community. Sally’s work, amongst many others, has been invaluable, and whilst I’m sure she wanted nothing more than to present an extremely convincing argument to the ACT government, I think it is only fair that her, and everyone else who contributed, be recognised in some way.

Submissions relating to the ACT government’s “Towards 2020” potential closure of 39 schools plan have now closed, but the campaign is not over, it is important that the government continues to hear “noise” showing that the community is concerned, and was not just producing endless press releases during the submission process. This means that feedback about the submission process, and events showing the importance of the 39 schools in question must continue over the coming weeks.

Dickson College will be celebrating its 30th birthday on Friday November 17 between 4pm and 7pm at Dickson College. Sally Rose will be on 2CC’s drive show at about 3:10pm today to talk about this wonderful event, I’m sure that, at some stage in the interview, the fact that Dickson’s future is looking bright with enrollments up considerably, will be mentioned, as the future is just as important to the celebrations as the past.

Samuel

1 comment November 6th, 2006 at 09:52am