That is an interesting statistic about young people being less likely to use their annual leave than older people. I fit in to that age group and I would have to admit that I don't, at this stage, intend on using my entire annual leave entitlement this year, and I also quite happily worked on the Canberra Day public holiday and will be working tomorrow on Good Friday. I personally like working on public holidays and keeping the days up my sleeve for when I might actually have some use for the day off.
To answer the question the surveyors had about how happy young people are at work, well I enjoy working quite a lot, mainly because I'm not the kind of person who really enjoys being idle. Even when I'm not working I often try to find work to do…or invent work to do, no matter how frivolous the work may be! (Imaginary game shows are hardly serious work).
Also, you might be interested to know that at the service station across the road from my work, unleaded petrol has jumped nine cents per litre in the last 24 hours. If this is part of some normal discounting cycle as they claim, they must have lost an awful lot of money for the three days this week where the service station was full and petrol was ever so much cheaper.
One more thing, I think the Iranian president has started a good thing with his Easter gift of giving back things he doesn't own…if only other people would follow his lead, imagine how many borrowed items would suddenly be returned.
With Easter this weekend, the football starts a day earlier than usual and therefore you get my tips a day earlier than usual.
NRL Round 4 Rabbitohs V Bulldogs Roosters V Broncos Knights V Storm Cowboys V Tigers Eels v Raiders Sea Eagles V Warriors Panthers V Titans Sharks v Dragons
AFL Round 2 Lions V Saints Tigers V Swans Eagles v Magpies Cats V Blues Power v Kangaroos Bombers v Dockers Bulldogs v Crows Hawks V Demons
Well I agree 99% with Prof. Lance Endersby's views on global warming, the only thing I disagree with is that I think we have had some, small impact, whereas he seems to think we've had none.
But on the whole, I agree with him about the current warming being a natural phenomena and part of a lengthy global and solar cycle, and carbon dioxide being an essential part of the eco-system.
I do know of one way that we can prevent future warming though…and that's to get rid of the sun. Probably not a very productive move though.
I'll send you an email with my Footy Tips a bit later on.
Earlier this week I commented that 2UE’s Middawn producer, Abe, was missing from the radio station and was possibly the latest 2UE presenter to be moved on after I got used to them…as it turns out Abe was just moving house, and is now back at work.
It’s great to have him back!
Incidentally, I think Paul Makin will be on tomorrow morning, but John Kerr will handle Good Friday. (I say I think because, whilst I’m certain, I can’t be sure).
And just on the topic of petrol prices…well the petrol station across the road from my workplace here in Canberra has been full-to-overflowing since at least 4pm. Unleaded petrol there is 120.9 cents per litre. I suppose everyone is trying to refuel before the price rises later in the week in the lead-up to Easter.
I think the idea of doing random drug tests in junior sport is a good idea…you probably wouldn't get many cheats until the older teens, but it might help instil in to the younger ones a fear of getting caught.
Also, just on the issue of the Golden Point in the NRL, it's an interesting concept, but I think it could be improved. I think it would be better if when the game goes to golden point, both teams get one competition point, and then the winner gets an extra point. If they can't sort it out after ten minutes it's a draw and nobody gets the extra point.
Oh, and I finally had a decent round of NRL tipping…5 from 8, pity about my 3 from 8 in the AFL!
Kris McKenzie, 2CC/2CA newsreader and 2CC fill-in host is leaving for Melbourne. Kris is among the best newsreaders the Capital Radio Network have had in recent years and I would be lying if I didn’t say he is one of the radio people I truly admire and have a great deal of respect for.
Kris will be sorely missed by his fans here in Canberra and surrounds, but I’m sure his move to Melbourne will be very successful, and I wish him all the best for the future.
I will have to check my archives for some audio of Kris’, but in the interim I do have a tiny sample of Kris from when he was reading the news prior to Mike Frame starting a show from Bunnings Belconnen. It’s one of the videos I haven’t yet moved to the Flash based video system, so you get to choose from four formats…MPEG4, Quicktime, Windows Media or Real Media.
Kris can be heard finishing off the weather before the voiceover. That being said, it’s about a second long so you might want to wait until I have a chance to find something more substantial.
I can put up with Clive Robertson not being on 2UE’s middawn shift as I like Paul Makin, and they both do a good job…but what happened to the middawn producer Abe? There was a “Ben” there this morning…I hope Abe was just unwell or taking some time off and will be back soon as I think he is the best middawn producer they’ve had in ages.
Why is it that every time I get used to a middawn producer 2UE change them?
I completely forgot about this yesterday, it’s the monthly feature where I pull an old article out at random with the help of a random number generator and the post IDs produced by WordPress. This month we’re going almost all the way back to the beginning!
The morning of the first day of the LCA
April 18th, 2005 at 08:19am
To the tune of “The Twelve Days Of Christmas”
“Twas the morning of the first day of the LCA
And Samuel is happy today.
The days of the Linux conference are here
And I live rather near…”
OK OK I’ll stop singing…but it is official, I live 20 minutes away from LCA by foot.
Today I plan on spening most of my day at the Security Miniconf which should be quite good, I might also try and meet up with an old work colleague who is running one of the other miniconfs.
Samuel Gordon-Stewart reporting for Samuel’s lcaLIVE
You should properly read Caz’s most recent post. She did not say she was quitting blogging. She said that she and I were both withdrawing from TSSH permanently and handing it over to contributor Tealou, who will run TSSH as a forum from now on. I think Tealou already has the keys to the domain name and is backing up the moving van to shift on in, as it were.
Sadly for those who wish us harm, we will be back elsewhere – in a slightly different form and with a different focus in a short time.
Despite the timing of the post, we are dead serious. You’d be an April Fool not to take us at our word.
Caz has been posting in the past couple of weeks but she and I were both missing a few weeks back while she was laid up in hospital and I was otherwise occupied with the house and the kids. Again, examine the site and have a read before you criticise.
And in fairness, son, when Caz has withdrawn (temporarily) from blogging, she has done so under duress and always with the promise she shall return. Read back to the posts immediately following those death threats last year to confirm the truth of my words if you do not believe me.
As always, love your work. Don’t you go changin’.
Love and kisses,
The Hack.
You mean all I had to do was ask and somebody would send in another letter? Why didn’t anybody tell me that a few weeks ago?
This is your chance to set the agenda on Samuel’s Blog, all you have to do is send a Letter To The Editor to letters@samuelgordonstewart.com. Your letter can be about almost anything, and it can be from any part of the opinion spectrum, as long as there is some point to your letter. I don’t have to agree with your letter, but I am moderating, so the usual no defamation etc rules apply. For more details click here.
I suppose it has something to do with today being Sunday, and the likelihood of me seeing many people on a Sunday being rather low, but April Fools Day is almost over and it hasn’t been overly noticeable.
That being said, there were a few good jokes today. Harold Borton from London (who wrote the only Letter To The Editor to date…you can write one too letters@samuelgordonstewart.com) tricked 2UE’s John Kerr this morning. He claimed that a London radio station near the bottom of the FM dial was rebroadcasting the 2UE webstream, that John should add London to the list of cities he does weather forecasts for, and offered to give details of the station in case 2UE wanted to follow it up and have the illegal rebroadcasting shut down. John put the email aside so that he could find out from the engineering staff if such a thing was possible.
Harold later sent in another email to inform John that he had been fooled, but that he would like to see a 2UE relay station in London.
Over at The Spin Starts Here, Caz has announced that she is quitting blogging (again), that the site will be turned in to a forum (screenshots available of the forum as “evidence”) and that she will start another blog in a few months with a different focus. Unfortunately Caz, I don’t believe a word of it, although the week long lead-up of having “The Hack” post instead of you to make you appear distant and uninterested was a nice touch.
Correction: I was overly cynical and fooled myself. Caz and The Hack are actually leaving The Spin Starts Here and it seems that my words touched a nerve. I apologise to Caz and The Hack for any undue stress or concern that my cynicism may have caused, I especially wish Caz all the best with her health problems, and I hope their next venture works out the way they want it to.
Slashdot have got news (via german tech-site heise.de) of Mozilla Foundation suing Microsoft over the introduction of tabbed browsing in Internet Explorer Seven. Makes a good headline, but it falls apart in the detail. Mozilla didn’t invent tabbed browsing, and people working for companies don’t usually get the intellectual property rights to their work, which completely destroys the notion of an ex-Opera developer now working for Mozilla giving Mozilla the patent.
One that did catch me out was Gmail Paper…Google printing your emails and photos for you, sticking ads on the back in big red letters, and delivering them. I started to become sceptical when I couldn’t find any answers to my questions about whether or not Australia is part of the print-and-deliver program, or where I need to enter my address. It became very flimsy when I discovered that there was only one page of information…Google love to spread everything out over pages and pages and pages…and the Beta User Testimonials (since when do Google run Beta programs without telling anyone?) absolutely gave it away, especially this one from Mayumi M., Associate:
“Now that I have Gmail Paper, I understand the difference between labels and folders. I had one message with two labels, but when I tried to stick the paper version into two filing cabinets at the same time, it just wouldn’t go.”
Still, they tricked me at first, and well done to them for it.
Of course Mike Frame had a good one last year on 2CC’s Saturday morning show when he announced that the government were going to have a $1000 handout to the long term unemployed so that they could enjoy life a bit (or something to that effect). The great thing about radio is that even if the majority of people realise it is April Fools Day, you will still get a flood of callers who want to scream their lungs out over the silly idea…Mike played with the first caller for a while before getting him to check the calendar.
So, did you play any good tricks on people or have some tricks played on you? If so, I’d love to hear about them in the comments below.
This week the award goes to country/comedy singer and 1960s television host Roger Miller, and the feature song is Engine Engine Number Nine.
Engine, engine number nine
Comin’ down the railroad line
How much farther back did she get off?
Old brown suitcase that she carried
I’ve looked for it everywhere
It just ain’t here among the rest
And I’m a little upset, yes… tell me
Engine, engine number nine
Comin’ down the railroad line
I know she got on in Baltimore
(Whoa-oh-oh-oh)
A hundred and ten miles ain’t much distance
But it sure do make a difference
I don’t think she loves me anymore
I warned her of the dangers
Don’t speak to strangers
Did by chance she find new romance?
Warmer lips to kiss her?
Arms to hold her tighter?
Stirring new fires inside her
How I wish that it was me instead
Of he that stands beside her
Engine, engine number nine
Comin’ down the railroad line
I know she got on in Baltimore
(Whoa-oh-oh-oh)
A hundred and ten miles ain’t much distance
But it sure do make a difference
I don’t think she loves me anymore
I don’t think she loves me anymore
I don’t think she loves me, I don’t think she loves me anymore…
It hardly seems like a week since the last poll started, but apparently it is, and therefore it’s time for a new one. I did promise that I would give the political polls a rest for a little while, so here is one which I’ll be interested to see the results of.
I feel that the following poem sent in to John Laws by Glen Peacock of Newcastle during the week is appropriate.
There once was a man named Morris,
Who had trouble keeping a promise,
He took City Rail,
And of course it did fail,
But we’re voting him back into office!