IDR99940 CANBERRA RADAR IS U/S UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. ANY INCONVENIENCE IS REGRETTED. 17/1135Z
The good news is that it is only the web interface for it which is offline, the radar itself is working perfectly, and feeding images to the Weatherzone website. The radar image on the Canberra weather screen (the weather reports on the right of screen take you there) is quite abysmal, but their dedicated radar page is quite good…just turn on borders and it all makes sense. One small pointer though, their idea of “Canberra” is the airport, not the city. If you turn on roads, the city is located roughly at the intersection of the purple road leading west from the airport, and the thick purple road heading north/south.
Update 3:58pm: Upon further investigation, it looks like the Weatherzone site is just using the last data it had available, and that is from 8:20pm last night. Looks like the Sydney radar is about the best we have available, and its coverage of this area isn’t all that good. It can pick up rain in Canberra, but it can’t see it coming. End Update
Update 4:09pm: The Wagga Wagga radar has a pretty good view, but the New South Wales composite radar is arguably the best view. The combination of the Sydney, Wagga Wagga and any other radar that just happens to pick up Canberra on the outskirts of its view seems to handle the job that the Canberra radar did. End Update
Have you noticed that this is appearing on buses again?
What about the big competitions? They’re either underway or about to start…these things can only mean one thing, Canberra’s first ratings period of 2007 starts today and runs for four weeks, ending on March 17. Results are due out on Thursday March 29…but don’t hold your breath!
I haven’t really been paying a huge amount of attention to stations other than 2CC in the last couple weeks, so I don’t really know what they are all doing in terms of competitions. The Mix 106.3 website indicates that they are using the (very tired) secret sound to give away a holiday. The FM 104.7 website says nothing, ditto for 2CA. 2CC have a new website (with about half a dozen errors which I’ve submitted to them for correction), but it makes no mention of their “take the cash or the holiday” promotion. It does, however, indicate that the Capital Radio Network’s webstream project is still on track to happen…eventually…
The local ABC…well who cares, if they, as a non-commercial station are allowed into the commercial radio ratings, and their entry is being funded by taxpayers, then all the community stations should be funded by the government as well…otherwise ABC, but out of the ratings.
Anybody looking for a positive comment about the local ABC station should see their website’s guestbook, which often features the same bloke making trivial positive comments multiple times per day…especially during the ratings period.
Back to the 2CC bus ads for a moment, last time they were used 2CC had a good ratings result, but last time they were used they were up-to-date. Two of the people on the ads are not currently airing on 2CC (Stan Zemanek and Ray Hadley), one of them won’t be back, and the other won’t be heard until the second last day of the ratings period. I suspect that this is the reason why the ads are only on a very small number of buses, and probably won’t be seen ever again (expect on the wall of the 2CC studio). Dr Karl Kruszelnicki and Mike Welsh in the 2CC Studio
Update: 5:11am 22 February 2007: CORRECTION: The ads being used this year do not contain the face and name of Stan Zemanek. I apologise for any inconvenience my error in reporting may have caused. End Update
As for who will win…well it’s hard to see much changing, FM music on top, AM talk following, and AM music somewhere. I think Mix 106.3 will come out slightly ahead of FM 104.7 (the two are currently tied in first position), Local ABC will stay in third but 2CC will continue to close the gap. About the only surprise packet this ratings period will be 2CA, currently last, but with a format close to one that has carved out a niche for them in the past. Ideally they will at least get ahead of ABC Classic FM, but with no promotion of themselves, I do have to wonder if anybody knows that they have a new breakfast show and a good format.
And despite all of that, best of luck to all involved!
We’re back to the serious polls this week after the fun we had last week…and this week’s poll is a very serious question.
(results)
Feel free to discuss the poll subject in the comments below. You need to be a registered member of Samuel’s Blog to comment, but anyone can vote. The system will attempt to prevent you from voting more than once, and whilst it might not always be able to do that, I request that you only vote once.
Disclaimer: This whole thing is wildly inaccurate. Rounding errors, ballot stuffers, dynamic IPs, firewalls. If you’re using these numbers to do anything important, you’re insane. That being said, I do try to keep the results fair and accurate, and I try to prevent abuse by unscrupulous voters, but I can’t make any guarantees.
Now for the results from last week’s poll.
If you were a tennis ball, would you rather…
Be battered by professional tennis players at a tennis tournament
There’s quite a spectacular storm happening just west of Canberra at the moment, unfortunately it seems to be slowly moving away from Canberra, but the lightning is quite spectacular none-the-less…some of the strikes can even be seen from here. The view from Belconnen must be quite extraordinary.
Paul Makin tonight between 6pm and Midnight on 2UE. Paul proved to be very good at the “down memory lane” type of programming which Saturday Night Live thrives on, during his stint on New Day Australia. This probably means that Clive Robertson is back on New Day this week.
In just over an hour from now, defending WNBL Champions the Canberra Capitals will be taking on the Sydney University Flames in the WNBL Grand Final.
Last year the Capitals defeated the Dandenong Rangers 68-55, but that might not be enough this year as Sydney Uni (who are the minor premiers) have defeated the Capitals in three of their four encounters this season.
It will most likely be a closely fought match, with Canberra being the number one defensive side this season, and the Flames being the team to win the most regular season matches. I’ll have a half-time and a full-time update (Update 4:14pm: And a quarter time and three quarter time update End Update), but for those of you who want more, ABC TV are covering the match live from 4pm Canberra (and Sydney) time, Sportradio.com.au have live online coverage, and the WNBL website will have live scores and stats (apparently…no link yet though).
Quarter Time: Sydney 20 lead Canberra 19 Half Time: Sydney and Canberra 39 all Three Quarter Time: Canberra 50 lead Sydney 45 Full Time: Canberra 73 defeated Sydney 59
Due to a Microsoft server error on the WNBL live stats page killing their live score service, I’m going to take over. Live: Canberra 73-59 Sydney Full Time
(This concludes live scores…match details to follow)
Match details filed 6:18pm: There’s not much for me to say and I’ll leave the nitty gritty to another journalist (it’ll appear below), but the bottom line is that the match was, as expected, close. Sydney seemed to have the upper hand in the first half, but Canberra’s status as the number one defensive team of the season paid off, as they managed to practically shut down the Flames’ offence in the second half, especially the last quarter. Sydney played well, but Canberra were just too good. Congratulations Canberra! End Update
Match report courtesy wnbl.com.au: Caps go back-to-back
The Canberra Capitals have won back-to-back defencejobs WNBL championships following their 73-59 win over the Sydney Uni Flames at the Penrith Sports Stadium today.
An unanswered 15-point run from the Capitals in the fourth quarter laid the foundation for Canberra’s fourth WNBL title and Coach Carrie Graf’s fifth championship ring.
163cm Canberra point guard Nat Hurst scored an equal game high 15 points while five other Canberra players – Abby Bishop, Kellie Abrams, Donna Loffhagen, Tracey Beatty and Tully Bevilaqua – contributed double figures.
For Sydney Uni, Nat Porter scored 15 points while retiring legend and former Opals captain Trish Fallon finished with 13 points.
202cm Canberra centre Tracey Beatty was named the Grand Final MVP courtesy of her 12 point, 12 rebound, 3 assist and 3 blocked shot double-double.
Graf, who was also was named Coach of the Year, attributed the win to her teams dedication and hard work.
“This goes out not only to this team but every player I have ever coached,” she said.
“The players make me the coach I am.”
While Sydney Uni coach Karen Dalton put the loss down to a misfiring offence.
“I think the better team won on the day,” she said. “They shot the ball better than us and that’s what it comes down to in these games.
“I don’t think we responded very well offensively. Our offensive execution in the second half wasn’t fantastic.
“I think we gave up to many offensive rebounds, missed alot of foul shots and we just didn’t execute offensively and get the ball into the right people’s hands enough.”
The opening tussle for the ball immediately after the jump ball signaled both teams’ intentions which continued through the first quarter with eight fouls being called during the first three minutes.
Flames key forward Nat Porter opened the game scoring with a free throw.
Retiring legend and former Opals captain Trish Fallon proved why she is regarded as one the Australia’s greatest female basketballers, netting nine points in the quarter with her trademark composure.
Flames coach Karen Dalton had to inject Georgia Woodyard in earlier than normal after Eva Afeaki tallied two quick fouls in those opening minutes.
From there, both sides traded baskets, with Porter was given the task of defending 202cm Canberra tall Tracey Beatty.
Tully Bevilaqua subbed off two minutes remaining and with scores level at 13-all, her replacement, energetic guard Nat Hurst drove to the basket, collected the foul, dropped the basket and finished of the free throw for the three-point play.
But it was Fallon, in her 251st and final WNBL game that kept the Flames in touch with Canberra, who held a 20-19 quarter time lead.
Alicia Poto started the second quarter with four straight points, while the rest of Sydney Uni’s offensive threats warmed up and the Flames took 28-26 lead forcing Capitals coach Carrie Graf to call a time out.
The Flames maintained their attacking play with Eva Afeaki driving the lane for four second quarter points and allowing Sydney Uni to establish a 33-28 lead with four minutes remaining.
However, Canberra responded with a Nat Hurst a 3-point basket, a Kellie Abrams steal and basket to reduce the score to 35-34 before Hurst went to the free throw line and regained the lead by calmly netting both attempts.
A Michelle Musselwhite 3-pointer leveled the scores at 38-all, before both Kristen Veal and Kellie Abrams sunk one free throw each to leave the halftime scored at 39-all.
By halftime, both Sydney Uni’s Nat Porter and Canberra’s Nat Hurst had scored 10 points each while Fallon had nine points and Bibby eight points.
3rd quarter
Beatty opened the scoring in the second half, netting a jumper before Nat Porter was fouled and duly sank her two free throws to level the score at 41-all.
The best defensive team in the league got to task and shut down the best offensive team in the league. The Capitals restricted the Flames to just six points for the term.
Interestingly, it was the third quarter during the major semi-final two weeks ago that Sydney Uni kept the Capitals to just six points.
Tracey Beatty nailed a four-foot jumper before a Jess Bibby free throw pushed the Capitals out to 45-43 lead.
Some outstanding hustle and movement from 18-year old Abby Bishop illustrated the Caps desperation, jumping on the ball and forcing a jump ball but Sydney Uni got the ball back as they had the possession arrow.
With three second remaining in the quarter, Tracey Beatty netted a jumper to give the Capitals a 50-45 three quarter time lead.
Nat Porter led all scorers with 13 points while Beatty had tallied 12 points and eight rebounds.
A Michelle Musselwhite free throw opened scoring on the final quarter before Sydney Uni turned to Mrs. Clutch Trish Fallon.
34-year old Fallon went on a six point scoring run to give the Flames a 52-50 lead with 7:01 remaining.
However, consecutive three point baskets from the inspirational Tully Bevilaqua and feisty Nat Hurst and another four points from captain Kellie Abrams gave the defending champions a healthy eight point, 60-52 lead with 4:17 remaining.
And the Caps didn’t stop there, scoring another five points through baskets to Abrams and Bevilaqua – for 15 straight points – to open up a championship winning 65-52 lead.
Musselwhite dropped two free throws to reduce the margin to 13 before Eva Afeaki registered her fifth personal foul and was out of the game.
Nat Porter dropped another two points to make the score 56-65 while another free throw from Musselwhite reduced the margin to 65-57.
An Alicia Poto foul sent Donna Loffhagen to the line, who re-established the 10-point margin.
A steal and assist from Tully Bevilaqua and two easy lay-ups from Donna Loffhagen pushed the score out to 72-57.
A final two free throws from Musselwhite moved the score to 59-72 before Nat Hurst sank a free throw of her own to give the Capitals a 73-59 victory.
The win gives Coach Carrie Graf her fifth WNBL championship and unfortunately for Fallon she retires one win short of going out a championship winner.
Canberra 73 (Hurst 15, Beatty 12, Bevilaqua 12) def.
Sydney Uni 59 (Porter 15, Fallon 13, Afeaki 8 ) at Penrith Sports Stadium
Whoops, nearly forgot…Blue Warning for the ACT and a severe storm warning from the Bureau of Meteorology.
If you need assistance with storm damage, give the SES a call on their new number, 132 500.
Based on the weather radar, Canberra is only going to get light rain…Stuart Bocking, you missed again! The drenching rain is supposed to fall in Canberra please.
Mike Williams, the poor sod who had to put up with psychic Sharina for three hours every Sunday, has left 2UE.
His replacement is not yet known, although I am hoping that Murray Olds gets a permanent shift out of this…not that I would want him to have to put up with Sharina, but I’m sure he would enjoy the other nine hours of Mike’s shift.
Update 5:08pm: Thanks to regular contributor Albona, who seems to read the 2UE website more carefully than me, we now know that Dale Sinden and Simon Foster, who until last weekend had an hour and a bit segment on John Kerr’s show, now have their own “At The Movies” program from 6pm-8pm on Sundays. Unfortunately Sharina has an extra hour and will be heard from 8pm-Midnight on Sundays. The Saturday night host is still unconfirmed. End Update
Update 12:34am 17 February 2007: Looks like Spencer Kirk is taking back his old job of dealing with Sharina. End Update
Update 5:00pm 17 February 2007: Radioinfo’s Ian McRae is reporting that Mike left over a pay dispute. Mike wanted more (and who can blame him…I’d want more if I had to listen to Sharina’s drivel), but Southern Cross Broadcasting continued their cost cutting. End Update
What drives me nuts is the way some shopping centres (some Westfield's in particular), when they page someone over the intercom to go to the information desk, actually tell you which shopping centre the information desk is in (ie. the one you're standing in). Do they really think that if they page someone, that person will rush off to the information desk of a different shopping centre?
Recently I have been thinking about the potential Hawk-Eye, the technology used to decide contentious line calls in Tennis as well as used by Tennis and Cricket broadcasters, has in deciding difficult scoring decisions in the AFL. Hawk-Eye, with its ability to track the ball would be able to detect a player touching the ball, as its path would change, as well as follow the path of the ball in case it were to sail over the posts.
I was going to contact the AFL with these suggestions, but thought that I would contact the people responsible for Hawk-Eye, British company Hawk-Eye Innovations, first to see if they thought it would be possible. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a reply with half an hour, I was not pleased by what I read though.
We have spoken to the AFL and Channel 7. It is not something we are going to pursue at this stage.
This indicates to me that Hawk-Eye is capable of doing what I suggested, but for some stupid reason which the AFL and Channel Seven are aware of, will not be used. I can understand the AFL not wanting to take part just yet…they are always slow to adopt technology. I don’t want to see video replays introduced into decision making in AFL, and I’m glad they’ve kept that out, but ignoring the speedy, accurate Hawk-Eye astounds me. Unlike video replays it produces a result almost instantly.
As for Channel Seven, perhaps they don’t want to invest in extra gadgets for something they will only broadcast two matches of each week. Perhaps if the AFL hadn’t gone for the big bucks of the Nine/Ten/Fox consortium years ago, and still had Seven as their only broadcaster, we would be seeing innovations in broadcasting. Unfortunately the fragmented broadcasting landscape we currently have is not conducive to progress.
I suppose, at the very least, we know that when faced with a choice between money and progress, the AFL will chose money. Strange for a sport that has tried so hard to kill off the suburban nature of the game by moving all the Victorian clubs into a few grounds in an effort to make it look modern. I do have to wonder how the game will survive in the future if it continues this way, it’s a good game, but if it continues to make decisions which will do more harm than good, I can’t see the fan base expanding.
Weeks go by, but decisions on the 8pm-Midnight shift seem no closer.
The Sydney Morning Herald had an amusing article on Monday about this, they claimed that the candidates are baulking at the $100,000 per year supposedly being offered for the job, which is a quarter of the income Stan Zemanek was getting from the shift. If pay is the main reason for the delay, then I think we would have a decision by now, as pay negotiations would be a bit quicker, and a complete disagreement would surely see more people being “road tested” in the role.
The other suggestion in the article, and probably the best laugh I’ve had in a while, was the peculiar notion of 2UE wanting a duo in the role…that isn’t too outlandish, but the names were. Stuart Bocking and Clive Robertson (the two have completely incompatible styles…the studio or the planet would probably melt if that duo came to fruition) or Murray Olds and Murray Wilton (the odds of 2UE actually giving Murray Olds a permanent shift are almost zero for some unknown reason…he is wasted there, and why would Murray Wilton leave 2GB if the pay is supposedly being baulked at?).
Did the Sydney Morning Herald feel like some “creative journalism” (aka, they made the story up)?
Judge for yourself…towards the bottom of this article.
As for what is really happening at 2UE…well Paul Makin still doesn’t have his own 2UE New Day Australia intro (although they did make a new generic intro), but he has received a very warm welcome from the listeners. I am hearing rumours that he will be trialled on the 8pm-Midnight shift at some stage in the next few weeks. Other than that, 2UE’s non-daylight programming is a mystery.
A few weeks ago I reported that Humphrey B. Bear may have been about to change television station. Well today I am very pleased to be able to bring you the news (if you haven’t already heard it elsewhere) that Here’s Humphrey will soon return to the screen with new episodes.
Channel Nine, who apparently only had the rights to repeat Humphrey’s episodes three times, and only had a few weeks left of repeats, have signed a new contract with Adelaide based Banksia Productions for more new episodes. Unfortunately I can’t find any details of how many episodes have been agreed to, but having Humphrey back with new episodes is good news none-the less.
…and generating electricity from the hot air of politicians!
In all seriousness though, most talkback presenters take a few days for me to even consider calling them…Paul took minutes. I’m very impressed with Paul Makin, he has a natural knack for news, and presents enthralling newstalk programming. It’s great to hear some good newstalk overnight on 2UE again, as it has been lacking since Stuart moved (apparently temporarily) to the 8pm-Midnight shift. He is also a good listener, and seems willing to give everyone their chance to speak their mind.
I would be very happy if Stuart Bocking were to permanently take over the 8pm-Midnight shift, which seems to suit him, and Paul Makin were to take over weekday New Day Australia. Abe can also stay on as producer as he has been doing a great job with Clive Robertson and Paul Makin.
Anyway, I chatted with Paul just after the 1am news. I provided a suggestion about introducing a secondary water network for “grey water” so that we can more easily reuse our water. Paul and I seemed to hit it off and we had a bit of a laugh…I hope Paul gets a permanent shift on 2UE. Incidentally, the recording also contains possibly the last Ken Sparks voiceover still in use on 2UE…the generic New Day Australia intro for when the host doesn’t have their own. (Unfortunately Kris McKenzie recorded 45 seconds of weather rather than 30 seconds, so he talks over the intro).
2UE have picked up some talent in Paul…and his sudden appointment to the 2UE ranks instead of using Clinton Maynard or any other fill-in presenters indicates to me that we must be very close to a decision on the 8pm-6am timeslots on 2UE.
Clive Robertson is apparently busy this week, so Paul Makin is filling in on New Day Australia for Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday morning. John Kerr will be back on Friday, and next week remains a mystery.
Paul Makin
Paul has been a journalist and actor for many years, and was a host on Adelaide’s commercial talk radio station 5AA from 2001-2003. Long term 2UE listeners would remember Paul as the reporter on the scene of the Granville train disaster of January 18, 1977.
I’m not overly familiar with Paul’s work so it will be interesting to see how he handles middawn talkback.
In my school years, especially the last four, I had a habit of producing very polished assignments…in other words, I always paid careful attention to the presentation of them. One big reason for this was that, whilst presentation had its own marking category and was worth a few points, it also seemed to affect the teacher’s impression of the work, and therefore the rest of the marks. I also don’t like handing in messy work!
Anyway, on some assignments I would go right out of my way and do something special…something well and truly beyond the requirements of the assignment. Usually that did not pose a problem, but sometimes it required a bit of negotiating with the teacher. One such example was an assignment for my electronics class in year 10 (2003).
The assignment was to make a three to five minute speech about something electronic. Easy enough, just about everything is electronic these days it seems. At the time the Spring Racing Carnival in Melbourne was well and truly under way, and the topic I chose was the photo finish camera…the device used to decide the outcome of races, for both horses and humans.
I quickly realised that a lot of the topic would be much easier to explain with animations and video, and decided that I would make a video myself. It didn’t take long to convince the teacher that this was a good idea, on the condition that I appeared on camera, and my voice could be heard for most of the film.
Actually, it’s not the original video, but it’s as close as I can find. The original video, unfortunately, was not backed up prior to an urgent Windows reinstallation in 2004. I thought it was in one folder, but it wasn’t, and it is now gone forever. The “original” file above is the video from the Video CD I created for the assignment. I didn’t have a DVD burner at the time, so VCD was the best option. The VCD was subsequently copied to VHS tape as the school’s only DVD player was on a different floor and was already booked on that day.
A few interesting facts about the video.
The segments where I appear on screen were recorded in Campbell High School Library’s video viewing room during lunch time. It was recorded on three separate floppy disks using the school’s digital camera. One of my friends, Mirnes Huseinovic, was kind enough to donate some of his lunch time to be the cameraman.
The example of a photo finish being created was supposed to only run through twice at a much slower speed. It was doing so in the preview window, but Windows Movie Maker didn’t render it correctly!
I didn’t spot the “should have been blurred” bit of one of the Ancient Olympics photos until after creating the video.
The Ancient Olympics voting information was one of the few things I learnt in year three when the Atlanta Olympics were taking place.
SBS Sport were very very helpful. They remembered that a race had recently been run in the US with a very close finish and were able to point me to a website with video footage.
I got an “A” grade for this assignment.
As you may be able to tell, I’ve done a bit of work to refine the flash video encoder settings. I came to the conclusion that the flash video does not need to be the highest quality copy of the video in existence, as I have an original copy for that purpose. The embedded flash video needs to be small enough to play on most internet connections, but large enough to have acceptable picture quality. As such, videos with a 4:3 frame and 25 frames per second are being rendered at a frame size of 320:240 and a video bitrate of 336kbps (kilobits per second). The audio is being rendered in mono, at a sampling frequency of 22050 Hz and 48kbps.
The Flash Video format has further file compression associated with it, and as such the resulting videos have a combined bitrate of approximately 360kbps. Still too big for streaming on dial-up, but workable for most other connections.
