Samuel's Blog

Samuel’s Blog Weekly Poll: Vote 1 Samuel?

Originally posted Monday, September 17, 2007
Update: This poll has received a fair bit of attention from regular readers of this blog, the Canberra media (2CC in particular), and the people of Canberra, and as such I have decided to bump this back up to the top of the page. I will do so again on Friday. End Update

I thought I might have a bit of fun with the poll this week. Last night I was reading various documents on the Australian Electoral Commision’s website, and discovered something which surprised me…candidates for elections can only be nominated after the writs have been issued. It’s logical when I think about it, as the nominees can only be confirmed as eligible to vote after the rolls have closed (which occurs at 8pm on the day the writs are issued), however it did correct my belief that candidates had to nominate prior to the writs being issued.

This got me thinking about whether or not I would have something to offer the electorate of Fraser as an independent candidate at the upcoming federal election. Admittedly, the chances of me actually unseating the current Labor member for Fraser aren’t great, but it is fairly obvious that I have a lot of views on a lot of subjects, and I think I could make a useful and interesting contribution to parliament.

So, the question this week is:

At this stage it is purely speculative. I’m not asking if you would vote for me, and I haven’t even decided if I want to stand for election. That being said, I think I could make a useful contribution, so I would like to know whether or not you would like to see me stand for election.

Now, last week’s poll:

No surprises there!

For a list of all previous results, see the Weekly Poll Results page.

Samuel

11 comments September 19th, 2007 at 06:43pm

Windows Help not included in Windows Vista

Among the annoyances that I keep finding in Windows Vista is this little gem. The Windows Help application (WinHlp32.exe) is not included in Windows Vista. This is the program responsible for opening 32 bit .hlp files, used in such applications as Microsoft Office 2000, which I prefer over the current incarnation of Microsoft Office for a number of reasons. Trying to get help from such a program brings up the rather unhelpful window shown on the right, the most infuriating part of which is, that applies for the help tooltips (pictured below) where you click the “?” button and then click on an object to get information about that object.

Officially 32 bit .hlp files are obsolete and have been replaced by other help formats, and so it makes sense that they wouldn’t be supported any more…until you find out that the even more obsolete 16 bit .hlp files are supported as Microsoft decided to ship WinHelp.exe with Vista. The logic behind this decision is impossible to comprehend, however it does appear to be a rather strange and cynical attempt to force Vista users to upgrade to newer versions of various Microsoft products by making the old ones “troublesome” under Vista.

Thankfully WinHlp32.exe can be downloaded and installed from http://support.microsoft.com/kb/917607 which will restore the full functionality of Windows Help (third picture), but I do have to ask Microsoft whether or not it was really worth breaking the “help” function of many existing applications for the sake of saving about a megabyte in a 10GB operating system? No? Well, then they must be trying to make people upgrade.

What a nuisance!

Samuel

2 comments September 19th, 2007 at 09:03am

Canberra Radio Ratings #2 for 2007

Late last week Nielsen Media Research released the results of the second survey of radio listeners in Canberra for 2007. For the last few ratings I haven’t managed to produce a statistical analysis of the ratings due to the amount of time it takes, however this time I have gone to the effort of putting all the ratings results since 2005 in to a spreadsheet, this not only allows me to automate the calculations required for the analysis, but also allows me to create graphs. As such, you can expect much more interesting ratings results from me from now on.

So, without further ado, the ratings.

666 ABC Canberra have clearly cemented themselves at the top of the ratings (congratulations to them…but I really can’t understand why…if the audience want to listen to the ABC, Radio National is much better, and if they’re not fussed about whether the station they are listening to is an ABC one or not then 2CC is the best talk radio station in Canberra in my opinion), 2CA are making an impressive comeback, and ABC Classic FM are losing ground quickly. 2CC have now lost ground for two consecutive surveys (although I have been informed that Mike Frame’s weekend programs are rating between 14% and 16% in their timeslots, and are the highest rating programs of any 2CC presenter, local or otherwise). FM 104.7 did much better than their sister station Mix 106.3, and JJJ continue to gain.

It is quite interesting to see how the leaderboard has changed over time (Excel refused to reduce the Y axis range to “1 to 10”).

I think it is quite interesting to see the segmentation of the market between the talk and music stations, and how it changes over time.

There are five music stations and four talk stations in Canberra, so it is also interesting to see the average rating of each station in each category.

ABC and Commercial audiences.

There are five ABC stations and four commercial stations…therefore the averages of the stations in each category.

And probably my favourite category comparison…the battle of the bands.

FM might still be winning, but this is the second consecutive gain for AM!

The averages based on four AM stations and five FM stations.

So far the date for the first survey of 2008 has not been announced.

4 comments September 19th, 2007 at 06:30am

Surprise Surprise Gotcha

Channel Nine are currently running a program titled “Surprise Surprise Gotcha” which plays elaborate practical jokes on people of some note, usually celebrities or people who work in the media. The television guide describes it as follows:

Welcome to the world of Surprise Surprise Gotcha. Matt Tilley and Jackie O host a surreal world of hidden cameras, where illusion becomes reality. It’s stunts, stars and strings where unsuspecting celebrities play the lead role without knowing it!

I think they meant “stings” rather than “strings”, but the promos for this show have been running for most of the week and I’ve been trying to work out why the show seemed familiar. It turns out that this is a new series of a show that was on during the 1990s (or possibly 2000) under the name “Surprise Surprise”. Tonight they will be replaying one of the stunts they played on Livinia Nixon with the assistance of Ed Phillips where they locked them in a phone booth. I’m glad they will be replaying that stunt as it is what jogged my memory about the show.

It is a very entertaining show and I am looking forward to the rest of it.

Samuel

7 comments September 18th, 2007 at 07:53pm

Every Car Stolen Dream

Time for the other dream I had the other night.

In this dream I was living in a building which looked just like my workplace, but happened to be up the other end of the street from it. I walked downstairs to check the mail and noticed a red piece of paper sticking out of my letterbox. At first, thinking it was advertising, I came close to discarding it, but for some reason I started to read it:

“Dear Sir/Madam,

I apologise for the inconvenience but I have stolen every car in Canberra.

Have a good day.

Your friendly international terrorist”

I then went inside and rang the police, who said that it was “terrible” and would give us all helicopters as a replacement.

Another strange flu induced dream.

Samuel

2 comments September 18th, 2007 at 07:24am

Clive Robertson Cooking Up A Holiday In My Kitchen

One of the few benefits of the flu is the amount of sleep it allows me to get during the day when I usually have better dreams, and I had two good ones yesterday. I’ll share one with you today, and the other one I will save for tomorrow.

In this dream I am in my kitchen making myself a cup of tea with one sugar and no milk. As I take out the tea bag and turn around to place it in the bin I notice that 2UE’s Clive Robertson is standing at my kitchen bench stirring a plastic cooking container. I decide to ask Clive a question which has been on my mind for a few days…is he going on holidays soon? So I walk over to him and ask the question, and instead of answering it, he starts to tell me all about the rice he is cooking.

Clive’s story is interrupted after a minute or so by two men standing on the other side of the bench, Channel Seven’s Bruce McAvaney and Dennis Cometti, who both start commentating Clive’s cooking efforts. They both get very excited when Clive puts the rice in the microwave oven, and become increasingly excited as the microwave counts down, and are both absolutely ecstatic when Clive “wins” the game by taking the cooked rice out of the microwave.

After this Clive drinks my cup of tea and the dream ends.

I’m sure Clive will be disappointed that, once again, he is appearing in the dreams of a male.

Samuel

3 comments September 17th, 2007 at 02:49pm

Good Morning John Stanley!

Good morning Mr. Stanley,

Ever since the time you did that marathon shift where you filled in for John Laws and then ran your own show as well, I have considered you to be a very likely candidate to take over Lawsie's job when he retires, and this morning you have proven it by being the first 2UE presenter to run in to the studio when he was confirmed as running late.

The last time I recall hearing anything like this was when the late Stan Zemanek was running late and somebody filled in for him for a while…and if I remember correctly Stan hosted some of the show from a mobile phone.

And don't be so sure about there being no spelling tests for radio announcers. I clearly remember you putting your listeners through that torture earlier this year with that agonising spelling competition where you had a whole of heap of illiterate callers ring in and try to spell words. The success rate was about 5%!

Have a great day John. Hopefully today isn't another double shift for you.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

3 comments September 17th, 2007 at 09:27am

Petrol Excise

After hearing a mildly dubious phone call to John Kerr on 2CC this morning, I have sent the following email to Tanya Plibersek MP, the Labor member for the federal seat of Sydney and shadow minister for human services, housing, youth and women.

Dear Ms. Plibersek,

I am writing in relation to call to 2UE’s overnight program (relayed through a number of other stations) at about 1:30 this morning (Monday September 17, 2007) in which the caller claimed to have received an email from your office stating that, if Labor are elected to government, you plan on increasing the petrol excise by six cents per litre.

I must say that I find this claim quite extraordinary, and I am wondering if it is accurate. Do you plan on increasing the petrol excise by six cents per litre, or any other amount for that matter?

Please note that I am publishing this email on my website at https://samuelgordonstewart.com/2007/09/petrol-excise and intend on publishing your reply unless you explicitly request otherwise.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

Email: samuel@samuelgordonstewart.com

Postal Address:
PO Box 1272
Dickson ACT 2602

Mobile: xxxx xxx xxx

I have blotted out my mobile number in this reproduction, however I did include it in my email to Ms. Plibersek. I look forward to her reply.

Samuel

September 17th, 2007 at 08:49am

Samuel’s Musician Of The Week

A couple weeks ago when Mike Frame was filling in for Mike Jeffreys on the 2CC breakfast show I received an email from someone who would prefer to remain anonymous, asking if I knew the artist or title of the song Framey played at the start of his show each day (and tends to play just about every other time he is on the radio). At the time I didn’t, but as it was something I had been wondering for a while I decided to investigate for them, and after jotting down some lyrics and doing a bit of research I was able to come up with the artist and title.

To that end, the musician of the week this week is Australian country music artist Wayne Law, and the feature song is Two Ton Chance. Wayne has a website, but I must say that I found his accompanying MySpace page to be a tad more interesting, especially considering that it contains the full version of the song.

Incidentally, it is just over ten months since I last linked to a MySpace page, and that was also in a Musician(s) Of The Week article.

Well, eight short seconds is a long, long time
when you’re sittin’ on a Brahma with hurtin’ on it’s mind
But it’s the last chute on this run and you’ve got to make it pay this time
Gate busts open
Blow or spin
You’re getting’ dizzy
He keeps turnin’ in
And you’re prayin’ that the man will find the buzzer sooner this go round
Hold on for dear life
This ain’t no way
To make an easy livin’ but I like it this way

Lord I love it
This crazy show
I’ve always dreamed of ridin’ rodeo
I’ve had some wrecks and I’ve been broke inside
But more than once I’ve drawn the money ride, yeah
I stake my dreams on this wicked dance
And I let it ride on a Two Ton Chance

There ain’t no way of tellin’ which way is up
No trouble findin’ the quickest way down
And that grease painted crazy,
He’s the best friend you’ve got out there
The crowd’s a riot
The judges score
Hey cowboy
This is what you came for

Lord I love it
This crazy show
I was born to ride the rodeo
I’ve had some wrecks and I’ve been broke inside
But more than once I’ve drawn the money ride, yeah
I stake my dreams on this wicked dance
And I let it ride on a Two Ton Chance

Lord I love it
This crazy show
I’ve always dreamed of ridin’ rodeo
I’ve had some wrecks and I’ve been broke inside
But more than once I’ve drawn the money ride, yeah
I stake my dreams on this wicked dance
And let it ride on a Two Ton Cha-ya-ance

Samuel

September 16th, 2007 at 06:02pm

Noise

Good morning John,

This morning I find myself mildly annoyed by noise…noise which is emanating from the general direction of Civic and floating over to my house. It sounds like some sort of dance party, and I have had the misfortune of being able to hear it quite clearly for the majority of the night. It is certainly not loud enough to stop me from going to sleep, but it is an incredibly annoying noise none-the-less, and the fact that I can hear it in the background whilst trying to listen to you driving me up the wall.

The fact that I would have to completely close my bedroom window and effectively restrict the airflow of the room in order to get some peace and quiet is irritating.

I am feeling a bit better today, however I am very tired and will be going to sleep shortly.

Have a great day.

Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

5 comments September 16th, 2007 at 12:28am

Flu

Good morning John,

I'm having an absolute shocker of a year…this time around I've managed to catch a gastric flu. In the last day or so I had a really awful 28 hour period where I felt awful and couldn't keep any food or drink down. In fact since lunch time on Thursday the only food I've been able to successfully eat is a bowl of tinned peaches and a croissant with cheese…and those were a few hours ago due to cravings.

I still feel pretty awful but at least the sore throat is gone…I can put up with headaches and the various other mildly disgusting symptoms…but I can not stand having a sore throat.

By the way, did you see any of the AFL final last night. It was an absolute thriller, the first AFL final to go to extra time in years. Collingwood ended up defeating West Coast by 19 points, but without a doubt it was one of the best matches of the year.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

5 comments September 15th, 2007 at 01:28am

What Drives Me Nuts

Good afternoon John,

What drives me nuts is cafe staff who insist on gossiping instead of serving customers while I'm waiting in line during a half-hour lunch break.

And the person last week who complained about toast gave me a good laugh.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

2 comments September 13th, 2007 at 02:28pm

Kate Carnell

I wasn’t really paying attention to Nine News tonight, however it grabbed my interest when a very familiar voice appeared. It was the voice of ex-ACT Chief Minister Kate Carnell making a comment about a proposal to give overweight people with chronic illnesses money to attend weight loss programs.

Apparently Kate Carnell is the chief executive officer of the Australian General Practice Network these days. It’s good to see that she is doing well.

A short time later Nine reporter Allison Langdon mentioned “chronic hillnesses”, something I can only hope no human ever develops, as I think we have enough hills and mountains on the planet as it is.

Samuel

1 comment September 12th, 2007 at 06:30pm

Donating Blood

Good evening Stuart,

I listened with some interest to the interview you had with the lady from the red cross. I can only hope that the red cross people are a bit more precise than the woman who took a sample of my blood for medical purposes a couple years ago. It was bad enough that I had to provide blood when I'm not keen on needles, but the first time she tried nothing came out, then the second time the blood stopped half way through, the third time time she couldn't get any blood, and the fourth time she finally got the whole amount she needed, and I fainted while she was doing it!

Incidentally, you can add me to the list of people who have never voted for the Labor Party, and also to the list of people who have never voted for the Liberals. That being said, as this coming election will be my first vote, adding me to those lists probably doesn't say much.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

5 comments September 11th, 2007 at 09:29pm

WIN News Permanently Moves to 6:30

You may recall that I reported last week that WIN Television pushed WIN News back to 6:30, and decided to take Nine News live at 6pm. At the time they were advertising it as an effort to provide the best live coverage of APEC.

Well, the weekend painted a different light on the situation. A look at any online TV guide shows WIN News has permanently moved to 6:30 just about everywhere, and even more interestingly, Nine and WIN announced that they had settled their ongoing syndication fee dispute on Friday, one day after their sudden change to the news. How it will affect WIN’s ratings is hard to say as WIN don’t broadcast in metro areas where ratings are actively reported.

The press release didn’t make any mention of WIN’s deal with Seven in South Australia, so I suppose we will have to wait until mid-October to see if they make the change to Seven programming. The only thing we can say for sure is WIN’s attack on Nine’s market share forced their hand.

It would also appear that the new deal between WIN and Nine may see the reintroduction of shows such as Mornings with Kerri-Anne to the WIN network. WIN removed Kerri-Anne from the network and replaced her with their own pre-recorded talk show “Susie” a couple months ago as part of the dispute.

Samuel

3 comments September 10th, 2007 at 07:33am