Archive for August 14th, 2010

Greenies and Socialists cause bridge collapse

The RiotACT brings word that the Gungahlin Drive Extension’s 2nd stage bridge, which is currently under construction, has collapsed on to the Barton Highway.

Thankfully nobody has been seriously hurt. One person was trapped and had to be freed with up to ten people being taken to hospital. (Update: In one breath the Emergency Services Agency says that there were no serious injuries, and in the next says that “The injuries range from limb to suspected spinal”. That sounds pretty serious to me.)

I’m sorry, but I can’t mince words here. Regardless of what may or may not have happened on-site, I have no doubts that the people ultimately to blame for this ar e the loopy greenies and socialists from Save The Ridge, the very people who caused delays and massive budget blowouts in the original GDE construction, which effectively prevented the second lane each way from being built at the time. If it weren’t for these people, the bridge in question would have been built at least a couple years ago, and would therefore have not collapsed during construction today.

“But it could have collapsed back then!” you say? Well, no, I don’t agree. Data from Darren Giles’ Gungahlin Weather Centre (which is closer to the bridge collapse than the Bureau’s airport measuring devices) shows that over the last few years we have had:
2006: 366.8 mm of rain
2007: 499.0 mm of rain
2008: 503.2 mm of rain
2009: 390.2 mm of rain
2010: 328.8 mm of rain to the end of yesterday (225 days of the year, which once extrapolated to a full year gives us 533.39 mm.

This makes this year our wettest of the years in which construction has been undertaken on the GDE. Rain can severely affect the integrity of setting concrete, and it is reasonable to say that, had the bridge been built in a previous year, it would have had less chance of being adversely affected by rain. Therefore, the delays caused by Save The Ridge are to blame for this bridge collapse.

Just another reason why we can’t let people like this be in charge of important infrastructure projects.

Samuel

4 comments August 14th, 2010 at 04:49pm

To answer the question about the election poll and other election stuff

I’ve received a number off odd emails over the last week, the oddest of all was, oddly enough, sent to the old Editorial Echoes email address. Among this bunch of odd emails, there was one with a sensible question which probably deserves a wider audience for its answer.

The question was about why the current poll, which I said would be reset on a weekly basis until the election, has not been reset yet. It’s a good question…the simple answer is that between ten straight days of 5am-ish starts, recovering from the flu and a myriad of other projects, it simply fell by the way side. I remember it on Wednesday, by which time it would have been pointless to reset it…so the poll can run until Friday night now.

As for the interviews with local candidates…I haven’t sent out any requests yet, and I won’t be sending any. The reasons above are the main reason for this, although I should note that one of the lovely symptoms of that wonderful flu was that I lost most of my hearing for a week or so. I wasn’t able to get around to conducting interviews over the last couple of weeks, and I won’t have time this week.

To the person who was upset by this in said email, I’m sorry…I’d love to vote again as well, but alas it’s not going to happen.

Speaking of elections, on election night my attention will be split between the election and the Sydney Swans V Western Bulldogs AFL game. I do intend on blogging about the election through the night, however it won’t be as thorough and as regularly updated as it was for the last federal election…until full time in the AFL anyway!

I start work rather early in the morning on election day, and again the day after that, so with the election day blog posts which will need to be written on the Friday night, plus the election coverage, I dare say that I’m going to have an election weekend in which I get very very little sleep. I can only hope that the result will make it worthwhile.

Samuel

August 14th, 2010 at 04:13pm

Casey and Heather’s new KDOX show starts Monday

Or for those of us on this side of the world, Tuesday at 2am. I’ll be up, and I hope that you will be too!

As noted last month, former KXNT hosts Casey Hendrickson and Heather Kydd have found a new home on rival station Fox News 1280 KDOX. Since then, the details of their new show have been announced. They will be occupying the 9am-11am timeslot Monday to Friday, up against Rush Limbaugh on KXNT and a tape-delayed version of Glenn Beck on KDWN.

Casey noted in a podcast last month that, while the competition will be tough as they are two of the biggest names in American talk radio, the duo are confident that they will be able to overtake at least one of their competitors in the ratings fairly quickly. The podcast makes for quite interesting listening if you’re interested in the state of the Las Vegas radio market.
[audio:http://caseythehost.podbean.com/mf/web/nfyxx/kdox.mp3]

Casey also noted in the podcast that one of the reasons for him and Heather choosing to go with KDOX instead of some of the other stations which made them offers, is that KDOX have a viable plan to launch themselves to the top of the talk ratings. One of the parts of this plan came to life rather spectacularly yesterday.

Until yesterday, all talk stations in Las Vegas were on the AM band. In other markets, some talk stations have launched FM simulcasts which have helped to improve their ratings. KXNT announced a few weeks back that, from this coming Monday, they would launch a simulcast of their 840AM signal on 100.5FM, and have been promoting this as Las Vegas’s first FM talk station…well, very quietly, KDOX have been planning the same thing for a while and bought an FM translator a few months back for the tiny price of $100. Yesterday, they launched their FM simulcast on 102.3FM, beating KXNT by a matter of days, and making KXNT’s promotion of being the first FM talk station redundant.

KDOX promotional graphic
KDOX promotional graphic featuring station personalities (L-R) Dr. Laura Schlessinger, Laura Ingraham, Jeremy Wayne, Roger Hedgecock, Rusty Humphries, Heather Kydd and Casey Hendrickson. It is the first time Casey and Heather have appeared in a KDOX promotional photo, having previously appeared at a handful of KDOX events and outside broadcasts. Image credit: Summit Media Broadcasting.

Having an FM translator is arguably more beneficial for KDOX than it is for KXNT as KDOX, being a Class D AM station, is virtually inaudible at night when its daytime 5,000 watt signal is reduced to a mere 28 watts. The FM signal will broadcast at a rate of 99 watts 24/7. KXNT on the other hand will be aiming to increase their weekend audience by running sport coverage on their FM station instead of their current programming, which will continue to air on their AM station.

The battle for dominance of the talk market in Las Vegas appears to be hotting up considerably…and I’m looking forward to Casey and Heather’s return to the airwaves from 9am-11am Monday (2am-4am Tuesday Canberra time) which, with any luck, will bring the majority of their existing audience with them. The show will stream live from the KDOX website.

Samuel

August 14th, 2010 at 06:34am


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