Samuel's Blog

Samuel’s Blog Weekly Poll: New South Wales

The weekly poll is back, hopefully this will be the last political one for a few weeks.

Clearly the majority of people in New South Wales believe Morris Iemma is the best choice for the job, but given the track record of that government, one does have to wonder how bad people thought the state would be under a Debnam Coalition government.

As for me, well earlier in the week I was tipping a minority Iemma government, then I shifted to a minority Debnam government…wrong on both counts!

Samuel

8 comments March 25th, 2007 at 12:51am

Who Will Win?

Good afternoon Glenn,

In many ways it is a pity that we don't have Centrebet here in Canberra as I'd love to put a few dollars on Peter Debnam to win tonight…I just think he'll scrape over the line with a minority government.

I am a bit surprised that, given how personal the election campaign has been so far, Mr. Iemma hasn't visited Mr. Debnam's electorate, and Mr. Debnam hasn't been to Mr. Iemma's electorate, to convince everyone to vote for their party instead. Could be hard work in such generally safe seats, but it would certainly be funny to watch on the news!

Now we just have to wait and see…will New South Wales get fixed or head in the right direction, or will the Greens get their wish and secure the protest vote?

Enjoy the next four years!

Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

11 comments March 24th, 2007 at 02:59pm

Election Night

Hi John,

Good luck with Steve Price tomorrow night, feel free to play "election survivor" and vote him off if you think it helps!

Best wishes,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

1 comment March 23rd, 2007 at 02:30pm

Hello Samuel

Hello to Samuel Gordon Stewart Walig of Norway, and parents Jankees and Katrina. It was very nice to hear from you the other day, and it sure looks cold in that photo you sent!

Best wishes (and I hope it warms up soon),

Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

1 comment March 23rd, 2007 at 12:38pm

Murphy’s lesser known laws

This week’s Friday Funny comes from Irene in Brisbane.

MURPHY’S LESSER KNOWN LAWS

• Light travels faster than sound. This is why some people appear bright until you hear them speak.
• He who laughs last, thinks slowest.
• Change is inevitable, except from a vending machine.
• Those who live by the sword get shot by those who don’t.
• Nothing is foolproof to a sufficiently talented fool.
• The 50-50-90 rule: Anytime you have a 50-50 chance of getting something right, there’s a 90% probability you’ll get it wrong.
• If you lined up all the cars in the world end to end, someone would be stupid enough to try to pass them, five or six at a time, on a hill, in the fog.
• If the shoe fits, get another one just like it.
• The things that come to those who wait will be the things left by those who got there first.
• Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat all day drinking beer.
• Flashlight: A case for holding dead batteries.
• The shin bone is a device for finding furniture in a dark room.
• A fine is a tax for doing wrong. A tax is a fine for doing well.
• When you go into court, you are putting yourself in the hands of 12 people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.

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 March 23rd, 2007 at 10:03am

Samuel’s Footy Tips

After a pretty poor start to the season last week, it’s time for another (hopefully better) round.

NRL Round 2
Cowboys V Roosters
Dragons V Knights
Panthers V Bulldogs
Rabbitohs V Eels
Raiders V Storm
Titans V Sharks
Warriors V Broncos
Tigers V Sea Eagles

Samuel

March 22nd, 2007 at 11:42pm

Spambot replies to itself

Ah the perils of automation. I’m sure we’ve all stumbled upon those peculiar spam emails where slabs of various books are intertwined in an effort to get an image about what you should do on the stock market through the spam filters, but one in particular has outdone itself.

This morning, amongst the other spam in my spam folder, was a message from “Qgpkarate quake” titled “Be an grandniece”…the first line appears to be a reply to the title:

“Never, madam,” cried he, affronted in his turn: “never, I assure you. “

Samuel

1 comment March 22nd, 2007 at 02:16pm

What drives me nuts

Hi John,

What drives me nuts is the way so many places turn their air conditioning as far down as possible. For example, on Monday when the temperature was below twenty degrees here in Canberra, I went in to a shopping centre which was at least four degrees colder!

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

7 comments March 22nd, 2007 at 01:29pm

Cyclone Katy Strikes West Belconnen

And here’s the aftermath…

Katy Gallagher was the minister for education when the decision to close Ginninderra District High School and not listen to the public was made, so therefore she is the minister responsible, and given the way the demolition site looks like it has been hit by a cyclone, and the way Katy Gallagher seems to be able to make a mess of just about any portfolio, she is now officially known as Cyclone Katy.

Samuel

1 comment March 22nd, 2007 at 09:33am

Spoiled For Choice: Who’s Covering The New South Wales Election

Summary of webstreams:
2GB (Real Player and Windows Media)
2UE (Windows Media)
ABC2 TV (Windows Media)
ABC Local Radio Sydney (Real Player and Windows Media)
ABC NewsRadio (Real Player and Windows Media)

The media isn’t leaving this Saturday’s New South Wales election to chance…quite the opposite, there is almost too much live coverage!

ABC television will, as usual be conducting their coverage on their main channel in New South Wales and the ACT, as well as ABC2 Digital (including a webstream – thanks for the link Tim!) for those in other areas. The other television stations will undoubtedly have updates throughout the night.

But radio is where the choice becomes quite mind boggling, ABC Radio see a need for two separate coverages. 702 ABC Sydney will lead the network for ABC Local Radio across New South Wales, naturally this will be streamed from their website as well…but NewsRadio will have their very own national coverage, completely separate from ABC Local Radio, and also with its very own webstream. I can see a reason for both networks to cover the election, but I see no good reason for them to have their very own coverage teams.

The ABC 702 coverage will be headed up by Tony Delroy and his guests (including the retiring president of the NSW Legislative Council Meredith Burgman and former Liberal MP Stephen O’Doherty).

NewsRadio’s coverage will be run by Russell Powell and long-time state political reporter Steve Chase.

Over on the commercial networks, 2GB are seriously shifting Alan Jones, making him start at 5pm to cover the election. He will be joined by Industrial Relations Minister John Della Bosca and Opposition Transport spokesperson Gladys Berejiklian, and don’t be surprised if you hear Jason Morrison, or probably more excitingly for some of the readership, James Goodwin. I can’t confirm that, but I have my hunches and I would be very surprised if James doesn’t have a role in the coverage. Naturally their webstream will also be in service.

2UE and whatever stations usually take Saturday Night Live with Paul Makin will instead hear John Stanley and Steve Price from 6pm, and until a result is known (sounds like one of those “free drinks until the first goal” offers doesn’t it?). They will be joined by Labor Party heavyweight Stephen Loosley and former Liberal leader Kerry Chikarovski plus current Labor Minister Eric Roozendaal. Naturally they, just like everyone else, will have reporters in the Tally Room and other places, and their webstream will be in full swing.

“But wait, there’s more!”

Macquarie Regional Radioworks‘ network of stations (the one run by Macquaire Bank, not the 2GB/2CH network of a similar name) will also be covering the election, but not to the same extent. Gold Coast News Director Greg Henricks and Philippa Mooney will have regular updates from 7pm in the NightMix…they are effectively doing it the commercial television way…normal programming plus updates.

Naturally many stations will have post-election wraps on Sunday morning…including a special edition of ABC Radio’s “AM” program at 8am. Actually, I get the feeling that it will be the topic of choice on talk radio in and around New South Wales until at least Tuesday evening.

Samuel

4 comments March 22nd, 2007 at 06:27am

Jones for Jail?

Sydney radio station 2GB’s Alan Jones could face up to $5500 in fines and a year in jail next month when he is sentenced for naming a child witness involved in a murder trial.

The Daily Telegraph and 2GB’s parent company Harbour Radio also face the prospect of a $5500 fine.

Jones has been found guilty of illegally naming a juvenile involved in a court case when he read out a Daily Telegraph article which named the witness in July 2005. Deputy Chief Magistrate Helen Syme rejected Jones’ defence that he thought the Daily Telegraph had permission to name the witness.

Radioinfo is reporting that between Alan Jones and Ray Hadley, Harbour Radio are facing more than a dozen court cases.

Unfortunately, due to the way some people on here like to carry on whenever Alan Jones is mentioned, plus the fact that this is still before the courts, comments will not be enabled for this article. You can, however, submit comments for approval by emailing them to me.

Samuel

March 21st, 2007 at 07:06am

Server Migration Status

Today is the day as you probably already noticed at the top of the page. The server migration is underway, and there will be no new content appearing until after it is completed.

Here is a rough timeline and status of events:
[DONE] Backing up data from old server

[DONE] Uploading data to new server

[DONE] Replicate email settings

[DONE] Lock Comments on old server and disable plugins

[DONE] Move database from old server to new server

[DONE] Installing up-to-date WordPress on new server

[DONE] Redelagate domain and begin domain propagation (Domain is now propagating as of 6:26pm GMT+11. You should start to see the new site within the next few hours.)
Update: Apparently the domain delegation didn’t go through on any of the three occasions I tried it on the Bluehost control panel…something to do with my domain not having been transferred to their registrar system yet. I have called them and domain propagation is now officially underway as of 10:13pm GMT+11. Sorry about the delay. End Update
Further Update: As of 10:16pm, a.gtld-servers.net (one of the big boss servers of the .com domain) knows where the new server is! End Update
Another Update 10:54pm: Most Australian ISPs have now picked up the new server. TPG’s DNS servers are next updating at about 1:30am and look like they might be among the last in the world to do so…good thing I have other DNS arrangements in place right now! (TPG transparently proxy, so I am being forced to use another Internet connection). End Update
Yet Another Update 1:32am: DNS has now propagated to TPG’s servers, and it looks like they were at the tail end of the cycle, so anybody utilising at the very least a semi-decent DNS server should be seeing the new server now. End Update

[DONE ON NEW SERVER] Enable plugins and comments.

[IN PROGRESS] Post-transfer cleanup and maintenance, see any problems? Email me if you do. I have some file permissions to fix but otherwise it’s looking good.

The data transfer isn’t a huge issue as this is merely the images, mp3s etc which are linked to in various articles. The only thing that is of real concern there are the Blix theme files and plugins…once they have copied across everything should be fine.

Things that will make a noticeable difference are locking comments and disabling plugins…during this time the website may look very strange. Depending on exactly what order everything happens in, you may see a generic server migration page on the new server after I transfer the domain across. As long as everything goes roughly to plan, everything should be up and running by about 10pm (Canberra time, GMT+11) at the latest It’s done! Just waiting for DNS to propagate now.

Links may also appear broken after domain transfer as I will have to force a rebuild of the mod_rewrite rules which handle all of the addresses on this site (just about everything here is a virtual link). Update: Fixed on new server. End Update

If you have any concerns or questions during the transfer, please feel free to email me…due to email settings replication, no emails will be lost during the migration.

Samuel

8 comments March 20th, 2007 at 09:47am

Samuel’s Footy Tips Results

Well that was a shocking start, 2 from 8 (25%)…can’t say I didn’t warn you!

Next week when there is something to graph, the graphs will return for another year.

Samuel

4 comments March 20th, 2007 at 09:12am

Radio Review: FM 104.7

Oh this will be fun…a review of a station with a playlist filled with music which doesn’t come close to my tastes.

This review is of FM 104.7 from 2pm-3pm on the 27th of February.

• 2:00pm: No surprises…it’s a song I don’t recognise and seems to contain a fair bit of yelling.
• 2:02pm: Announcer informs me that we are having an “ad free 50” and that a song from the television show “Ugly Betty” will be on soon…then he takes a call about a desperate and dateless ball which the station is promoting, possibly even running…the background music doesn’t help me understand the caller who is on a poor quality phone line. Three bands participating in the night are named and I only recognise one of them.
• 2:03pm: Hmmm, this station is voicetracked (more or less automated) as the call ends just as the vocal section of the song starts…song is passable, much better than the tripe on 666 ABC Canberra, but I wouldn’t have a clue who is singing it.
• 2:06pm: Promo for breakfast show and ad free 50 (9 seconds)
• 2:06pm: That tune sounds familiar, “Let Me Entertain You”, the chorus is the highlight of the song as the rest isn’t very melodic. It’s the best song so far though.
• 2:10pm: Promo for Skyfire (13 seconds), overlaps the vocals of the next song, somebody isn’t paying attention to their automation.
• 2:11pm: I’m not entirely sure that the music in this song has any relation to the lyrcis, or that the singers are capable of singing…something about closing (devine references) doors…I think.
• 2:13pm: And there I was thinking an ad free 50 would be fifty songs without ads…instead it’s just fifty minutes according to this promo. (5 seconds)
• 2:14pm: I’ll take a guess at the title of this song being “slave on a minimum wage”…it’s a strangely catchy repetitive techno piece…there is definitely no singing involved in this song.
• 2:16pm: A competition to give away tickets to Skyfire.
• 2:18pm: At long long last we have a song introduction…couldn’t quite catch the name of the band, but the title was “How to save a life”. This band were either drunk or under the influence of some other substance during recording as I fail to see how anyone could slur that many words in such a short amount of time…the transcript would be amusing “aartosayaliff…”.
• 2:21pm: Another ad free 50 promo (9 seconds).
• 2:22pm: This song sounds familiar, not that I can work out most of the lyrics, does anybody even listen to lyrics any more? If so, why do so many bands make it so difficult? I have absolutely no idea what the song is, and I have no idea why I recognise the music…random collection of noise as far as I’m concerned.
• 2:25pm: Station ID (4 seconds).
• 2:25pm: This is WIN Television’s favourite song…Pink’s Stupid Girls. WIN have a bunch of time fillers called “WIN Presents” which are basically mini-documentaries about songs, unfortunately I have spotted that particular episode at least four time in the last few weeks between WIN News late Edition and the start of Quizmania.
• 2:28pm: This station loves the promos…ad free 50 promo (9 seconds).
• 2:28pm: Song with poorly forced fake accent…the lyrics would be understandable if they weren’t drowned out by the music.
• 2:32pm: Back to the Skyfire competition, caller doesn’t win the tickets to Skyfire, but does get a pass to Questacon…they must have been desperate for sponsors. Also going in to the draw for a whole heap of things including a twelve month pass to the currently “closed indefinitely due to storm damage” Dendy Cinema.
• 2:35pm: This song is by “The Sugarbabes”, if you can call it a song.
• 2:38pm: Station ID (3 Seconds)
• 2:38pm: I think this song is supposed to be by “Evermore”. It amazes me how many songs so far have contained references to body parts and various things which can be done with them, most of which are commonly promoted in spam emails.
• 2:42pm: Promo for Skyfire (13 Seconds)
• 2:42pm: Ad break: Very long Skyfire promo, Canberra Comprehensive Car Care Centre, Club Lime, Telstra Shop, Planet Max, Flight Centre, Broadcast Services Australia, Lenocks Volkswagen, Matisse Hair and Beauty, Tralee Housing Dvelopment, and a strange promo for FM 104.7 SMS…doesn’t tell me why I should send them a text message though. (5:50)
• 2:47pm: Another song, more of those references…rap, I think I’ll pass.
• 2:52pm: Song ends, announcer says goodbye and starts a song by a group with an explicit name (references again), the music is stolen from something else but I can’t work out what.
• 2:54pm: Ad break: Promo for 104.7 webstream, ANZ Frequent Flyer Visa Card, ACTSport’s Clubsport winners (or something like that), SOHO Designs, Night and Day Locksmiths, Murrays Coaches, Gen Tech Automotive, House of Heroes, The Funny Shop. (4:12)
• 2:59pm: Intro for “Nige’s radio Show” followed by “Nige” previewing the show.

And that’s where the hour finishes…no news in that hour, that’s a worry.

Statistics
Advertising: 10 minutes and 57 seconds
News: None!

Summary
News: None in the hour, it might have been run before 2pm and after 3pm but I wouldn’t know, and I find the lack of news disturbing. There wasn’t even anything to suggest that the station might have a news bulletin, there wasn’t even a mention of the temperature!
(0)

Talk: There wasn’t much, but the talk that was there sounded good, nowhere near as rushed as it did on Mix 106.3, although it was obvious to anybody who takes notice of these things that the hour was voicetracked. The presenter was friendly and got along with the two callers quite well…not so sure that he knew much about the music though as he barely mentioned it.
(3.5)

Music: Not even close to my tastes, I don’t think there was a song in there that I would listen to if I had the choice, but I’m sure it was of interest to the majority of the target demographic (I’m part of it but you wouldn’t know it). I’m also concerned about the amount of references to various body parts and things you can do with them. I’ll give them one star for effort, and another for doing better than 666 ABC Canberra.
(2)

Overall: Whilst I didn’t really enjoy any of the music, I wouldn’t run away screaming…for most of the hour it was a pleasing noise which surprised me. The ad free 50 idea is interesting, but I have to wonder if it comes at the expense of the news. I wouldn’t voluntarily listen to this station if given the choice after what I heard here, but it’s not too bad.
(2)

Samuel

6 comments March 19th, 2007 at 12:19pm

Sidebar Shenanigans

Last week I mentioned that Internet Explorer 6 was not rendering this website correctly. This is not an uncommon problem with WordPress blogs, but is by no means confined to them, they are just more likely to have the problem as they generally employ a column style layout with a sidebar.

Unfortunately Internet Explorer 6 (and previous versions) doesn’t handle overlapping columns, so whenever things in the main column stretch over in to the sidebar, Internet Explorer 6 decides that it doesn’t like things overlapping, and moves the sidebar to the same spot horizontally, just below the main content column. This happened last week (and for part of the week before) when I wrote an article with a very long title. That length of title isn’t a problem, but when it is all one word it is.

There is no solution to this problem as IE6 is a standards-ignorant browser, but there are workarounds, one is that I could ensure that nothing overlaps, and that’s not going to happen and wouldn’t help with other sites anyway, the other is that you don’t use Internet Explorer 6 and earlier…IE7, Firefox, Opera and Safari don’t have the problem, and are all better from a security standpoint than IE6 anyway.

Samuel

March 19th, 2007 at 10:39am