Samuel's Blog

Twitter Updates for 2012-04-18

• @tenbreakfast at the moment when I buy a book from Amazon, it arrives within a few days. I hope Aus warehouse can offer next day arrival. #

April 18th, 2012 at 09:00pm

Twitter Updates for 2012-04-17

• Dear @7NewsSydney and other media. Anders Breivik is not a "right-wing extremist". He is a paranoid schizophrenic with left and right views. #
• Dear media, Anders Breivik did not perform a "far right salute". It closely resembled a communist salute, but he is not left or right. #
• There have been four shootings in Sydney in the last four hours, reports @2GBAndrewMoore on @2GB873 #
• Having finished work, my plan is to have breakfast (bacon, eggs, toast and coffee), then turn on the electric blanket and sleep until noon. #
• @tenbreakfast no, plain packaging of cigarettes will not help. I don't smoke, but I respect the right of the industry to exist and market in reply to tenbreakfast #
• @HeidiHarrisShow answers the rumours with a promotion to Los Angeles, but will @glennbeck lose L.A. clearance? http://t.co/t263GKDu #
• 6.5 magnitude earthquake in Chile. #
• @Jez_1985 Thanks Jez. Nice to meet another Canberra conservative. in reply to Jez_1985 #
• Air Services Aus built a 2nd Canberra Airport radar near Hume a few months back. I'm not having much luck finding a road to get me near it. #
• 7.0 magnitude quake in Papua New Guinea. Quite the day for quakes… #
• @tenbreakfast thanks for the retweet this morning 🙂 #

April 17th, 2012 at 09:00pm

Heidi Harris answers the rumours with a promotion to Los Angeles, but will Glenn Beck lose L.A. clearance?

Over the last couple of Sunday Bits posts, I have noted that former Las Vegas talk radio institution Heidi Harris was on the move, having left her long-time station KDWN. It was unclear at the time whether Heidi was staying in Vegas or going elsewhere, but now that the answer has been unveiled, it is actually quite a big story.

Heidi (pictured) will be taking over the morning drive (6am-9am) show on two stations in California. KRLA 870 Los Angeles and KTIE 590 Inland Empire. Both stations are part of Salem Communications’ conservative talk network, and both stations are being rebranded as “The Answer” in conjunction with the move (yes, now my clunky attempts at fitting the word “answer” in to earlier sentences makes some sense).

This is big news for two, and maybe three reasons. For Heidi, who has been regarded as one of America’s most influential talk radio hosts by her peers for many years, this is a massive promotion, jumping from market number 32 in terms of population size (Las Vegas, 1,650,500) to market number 2 (Los Angeles 10,682,900) and is sure to solidify her reputation among her peers as a force to be reckoned with.

For Salem, this is an important extension of their recent rebranding of New York station WNYM-AM from “AM 970 The Apple” to “AM 970 The Answer”. The rebranding, along with the streamlining of WNYM’s formerly-convoluted schedule of syndicated Salem hosts interspersed among local shows, resulting in more programming being aired live, has allowed Salem to position the station as being not just another talk station in a highly competitive market, but rather as a station which takes a positive attitude of trying to see how issues get resolved rather than just whinge about them for three hours at a time (not that I’m saying that’s what talk radio does, but it does have that reputation at times).

It’s a position which is more in line with Salem Communications’ philosophy (Salem, primarily, is a Christian broadcaster and although its general conservative talk stations are distinct from its Christian talk stations, the general talk stations do carry a “moral code” of sorts) and although it hasn’t helped overall ratings at the New York station as yet (they’ve actually gone down a smidge), it has apparently helped to better engage the existing audience and improve the station’s performance among certain key demographics. It’s not surprising that ratings haven’t changed all that much in New York, but it does seem like a bright move from group Program Director Phil Boyce (pictured) to expand the new branding to other markets, as it’s a point of difference which is likely to do well outside of New York, especially California with its somewhat peculiar overly positive attitude. It could do quite well in Los Angeles in particular where rival station KFI has endured a heap of bad press of late for the negative views express by some of its hosts.

The move could make a third bit of big news. The timeslot which Heidi is taking over is currently occupied by Glenn Beck’s (pictured) syndicated Premiere Radio Networks show. When WNYM was rebranded, it resulted in the timeslots of many syndicated shows changing so as to allow more shows to air live, but no such announcement has been made about the programming lineups on KRLA and KTIE yet, so it’s not known if Glenn Beck’s show will be shuffled back to a later timeslot on delay, or if his show will be dropped completely. If it’s the latter, then that will be massive news, as this would mean that The Glenn Beck Show would no longer be cleared in either of the two biggest markets in the country, New York City (it was dropped from WOR some time back) or Los Angeles.

If the stations keep Beck and put his show on delay, then it’s likely that they will do what WNYM is doing, and cut multiple three-hour syndicated shows down to two hours so that local programming can fit around live & short delay network programming.

All the industry speculation aside, there is one thing I can say with absolute certainty, and that is that Heidi Harris deserves to be congratulated on her move. Good luck Heidi, and have fun talking sense in to those Californians.

Samuel

(image credits: Heidi Harris and Phil Boyce h/t Talkers Magazine. Glenn Beck h/t GlennBeck.com)

April 17th, 2012 at 12:40pm

Anders Breivik is not a “right wing extremist”

An email to 2GB’s Andrew Moore

Good morning Andrew,

I’m a bit concerned by the coverage which the media is giving to the trial of the confessed Norway shooter, Anders Breivik. My concern is with the way he is being portrayed.

It seems that a lot of the media has forgotten everything that we found out about this man immediately after the Norway massacre. As you would recall, we found out that he was a confused paranoid schizophrenic with various views which could partially fit as “right wing” and partially as “left wing” and partially as neither left or right wing.

Unfortunately, now that the trial is underway, much of the media has gone back to labelling Breivik as a “right wing extremist”, which he is not. They have also said repeatedly that he performed a right wing salute in court.

The salute he performed was a raised arm with a clenched fist. It closely resembled a communist salute, but I certainly wouldn’t call Breivik a communist. I don’t know how anyone could have concluded that it was a “right wing salute”.

I just wish large sections of the media would stop labelling this madman, as it does a serious disservice to all of the good, law-abiding right wing people in Australia and around the world to have this madman’s actions incorrectly tied to their world view.

Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra

April 17th, 2012 at 04:27am

Twitter Updates for 2012-04-16

• @markparton I was thinking exactly that. Got coffee and raided the chocolates. That should see me through the remaining two hours of work. in reply to markparton #
• @morrison954 Welcome back Jason. I suppose the last two weeks were unlike any holiday you've had before. How are the dogs handling the bub? #
• @markparton I should be able to handle that. How's the morning treating you today? in reply to markparton #
• @markparton ouch…you need that coffee more than I do. Should I swing by the studio with a large cup of coffee after 7am when I leave work? in reply to markparton #
• @morrison954 stamp duty: can we have installments for rego? I'm waiting to transfer to ACT rego in case I move to NSW and have to pay twice. #
• @morrison954 If I could decide who gets the Gold Logie, I'd award it to @larryemdur. Larry can and does make any show fun. #
• While my car is in for a service, I've decided to spend extra time on buses. Taking the bus I used to catch to college. #
• My goodness! The old regulars aren't getting on this bus. I suppose the MyWay tickets don't allow them to cheat and get a cheap fare early. #
• Just alighted from ACTION Bus 451 (Route 2) in Dickson. Bus is four minutes early. #
• On board ACTION Bus 904 (Route 6, similar to old Route 35). A Renault PR100.2, my favourite bus. I'd love to buy one, but can't drive it. #
• …not legally anyway. And I don't have room to park one. Oh well, it shall remain a dream for now. #
• Oops, my mistake. Route 8 is the old Route 35. #
• Stupid woman jumped out in front of the bus outside O'Connor Shops. Had to rush the milk home I guess. #
• Alighted from bus 904 (Route 6) in Civic. Bus is two minutes early! #
• Um, Al "Resist We Much" Sharpton??? MT @newsbusters: SNL Writer: @seanhannity 'Dumbest Person Ever Paid to Speak on TV' http://t.co/pHAG3k3J #
• Al Sharpton "Resist we much, and much we shall must" or something to that effect is the dumbest thing ever on TV. @seanhannity is insightful #
• Going to pick my car up. Boarded ACTION Bus 878 (Route 2) on Ainslie Ave. Bus is on time. #
• Alighted from ACTION Bus 878 (Route 2) in Woden. Bus is five minutes early. #

April 16th, 2012 at 09:00pm

Saturday Night Live writer calls Sean Hannity dumbest person on TV. Clearly he forgot Al Sharpton

Newsbusters’ Noel Sheppard has an interesting piece today about Jim Downey, one of the writers for Saturday Night Live, a long-running television comedy program which is somewhat noticeable for its left-wing bias, although I will credit the fact that it does take aim at people on the left every now and then as well, just not with the same vigour as it attacks figures on the right.

Noel was braver than I could ever be, and read an entire column in the New York Times. In said column, right near the end of it, Jim Downey made the following comment while discussing his plans to parody Sean Hannity:

I think I’m right in saying that he’s the dumbest person who’s ever been paid to speak on television.

Really? Sean Hannity dumb?? The Sean Hannity who manages to speak in full sentences for at least four hours each and every day throughout his radio and television shows, while constantly asking pertinent and probing questions about the issues of the day, and making insightful observations?

I’m sorry Mr. Downey, but you are wrong. There is no other way to put it. You might disagree with Sean, and many people do which is fine, but he is certainly not dumb. If you want to look at somebody who is dumb, how about the amazingly incoherent Al Sharpton.

“Resist we much”? The Dow went down by 630%??

After watching that and feeling my brain melt with every passing word, I feel obliged to provide you with some sanity. So, by way of comparison, here is the very intelligent and insightful Sean Hannity interviewing the also very intelligent and insightful Mark Levin on Sean’s TV show.

Now, isn’t that better? Makes you wonder what, if anything, was going through Jim Downey’s head when he made that stupid comment doesn’t it?

Samuel

April 16th, 2012 at 10:35am

Robot Dinosaur!

Because sometimes I have a spare few minutes…

I’m thinking that this robotic dinosaur might need to make an appearance in the next season of Samuel In Dolgnwot which, by my calculations, is due next year.

If you weren’t here for the last season of Samuel In Dolgnwot and are wondering what form of insanity has befallen me, have a look at the last two seasons here.

Samuel

April 16th, 2012 at 01:03am

Twitter Updates for 2012-04-15

• @thelistmanager sadly, I think you're right that it could be a very long year for the Dogs. What can they do to improve? #
• “RT @talkthetolldown: @thelistmanager suggests the Bulldogs need to change up the way they are setting up in attack #afllive €ť #
• Terry Wallace ( @thelistmanager) answered my question on-air moments after I asked. I suspect it's just happy coincidence, but thanks Terry #
• The wrong match is a blowout. Gold Coast are being unexpectedly competitive against Essendon, while St. Kilda are flogging the Bulldogs. #
• At Metricon Stadium (Gold Coast), the big screens are taking the TV feed, with countdown clock. Against the rules surely? Thoughts @AFL ? #
• What a surprising night. Both Bulldogs teams lost (not surprising) but the competitive one was the NRL team. Not sure the AFL team turned up #
• Common sense prevails! Doom and gloom merchants fail. RT @NewYorkPost: Japan clears two nuclear reactors for restart http://t.co/Lyr1pTLr #
• @markparton Good morning from Canberra. Look how pretty Canberra is today. http://t.co/7AkyZdjl in reply to markparton #
• Morning in Canberra, with hot air balloons http://t.co/qaPpSm0I #

April 15th, 2012 at 09:00pm

Samuel’s Musicians Of The Week: Duran Duran

Duran Duran get the award this week, by special request and suggestion of Megan Milligan. The feature song is my favourite song of theirs “Hungry Like The Wolf”. According to the archives of this blog, Duran Duran have received this award once before, and on that occasion the feature song was one which does not really rank among my favourite songs any more (Reach Up For The Sunrise), but that could just be due to having been subjected to it fairly regularly of late, thanks to my employment.

So, here is a song which is still in my list of favourite songs, Hungry Like The Wolf.

Dark in the city, night is a wire
Steam in the subway, Earth is a fire
Do-do do do, do do do, do do do, do do do, do do

Woman, you want me, give me a sign
And catch my breathing even closer behind
Do-do do do, do do do, do do do, do do do, do do

In touch with the ground
I’m on the hunt, I’m after you
Smell like I sound, I’m lost in a crowd
And I’m hungry like the wolf
Straddle the line, in discord and rhyme
I’m on the hunt, I’m after you.
Mouth is alive, with juices like wine
And I’m hungry like the wolf

Stalked in the forest, too close to hide
I’ll be upon you by the moonlight side
Do-do do do, do do do, do do do, do do do, do do

High on blood drumming on your skin, it’s so tight
You feel my heat, I’m just a moment behind
Do-do do do, do do do, do do do, do do do, do do

In touch with the ground
I’m on the hunt, I’m after you
Scent and a sound, I’m lost and I’m found
And I’m hungry like the wolf
Strut on a line, it’s discord and rhyme
I howl and I whine, I’m after you
Mouth is alive, all running inside
And I’m hungry like the wolf

(Hungry like the wolf)
(Hungry like the wolf)
(Hungry like the wolf)

Burning the ground, I break from the crowd
I’m on the hunt, I’m after you
I smell like I sound, I’m lost and I’m found
And I’m hungry like the wolf
Strut on a line, it’s discord and rhyme
I’m on the hunt, I’m after you
Mouth is alive, with juices like wine
And I’m hungry like the wolf

Burning the ground, I break from the crowd
I’m on the hunt, I’m after you
Scent and a sound, I’m lost and I’m found
And I’m hungry like the wolf
Strut on a line, it’s discord and rhyme
I howl and I whine, I’m after you

Samuel

April 15th, 2012 at 06:44pm

The Sunday Bits for April 15, 2012

And a good morning on this quite lovely Canberra morning. It is starting to get a bit colder now, but I have to admit to quite liking the way April and May unfold in Canberra. The leaves change colour, the nights become a bit more nippy, and for those of us who are fortunate enough to be awake in the mid-dawn hours, there are some interesting and patchy fogs which adorn the roads.

On this lovely morning I, taking advantage of the windscreen-mounted position of my phone, took this photo of a couple hot air balloons wafting over Commonwealth Avenue.

In this edition:
* Bye bye Bob!
* Canberra is a good place for an international airport
* To Japan’s credit, unfounded fear-mongering does not derail nuclear power
* Mike Huckabee will not be VP
* New brain research leading to better reading skills in school kids
* Is Metricon Stadium breaking AFL rules?
* Heidi Harris to announce her new station on Monday

Bye bye Bob!

As you have probably heard by now, Bob Brown is retiring from politics. The current leader of the Greens in federal parliament will quit his post as leader of the party, and also as a Senator. He will be handing the reigns over to current deputy leader Christine Milne.

In some ways it is nice to see Bob go. One less strange person in parliament pushing an abhorrent wheelbarrow of nutty ideas can only be a good thing, except for one small problem. I see the Greens as being left-wing extremists wrapped up in fuzzy feel-good environmental stuff designed to make them look nicer. They use the guise of being worried about the environment to enable them to push all kinds of socialist and Marxist ideas. Bob Brown, to me at least, is more moderate than the likes of Christine Milne or (I get a shudder down my spine from merely mentioning this name) Sarah Hanson-Young.

Bob Brown is patient, and doesn’t seem to mind how long it takes for him to get his way, and in many ways I think this is what has helped the Greens to reach a point of having some influence in politics. The fact that, under Bob Brown, the Greens have very rarely aggressively pushed their underlying ideas, and have instead made sure that their message is carefully wrapped in pleasantries, is one of the main reasons they have managed to attract voters. They have attracted the people who are uninterested in politics and “like the environment and stuff”; the rusted-on Labor voters who couldn’t support various Labor people but knew that a vote for the Greens would result in Labor government; as well as the true lefties who have quite happily understood the underlying message of the Greens, and have agreed to follow Bob’s lead and not make too much noise, because they know that the majority of Australians want no piece of a socialist country.

Sure, the Greens have been right there every time the Socialist Alliance has held one of its weekly protests about everything, but they don’t go out of their way to publicise it.

This will change under Christine Milne. Anybody who has watched her whenever one of the non-ABC TV stations has given her a platform will know just how forthright (or would that be forthleft in her case?) she is in her support of anything and everything that Karl Marx would have supported. Equally, Sarah Hanson-Young does her bit to whip up the socialist fringe of the country.

This isn’t to say that Bob Brown didn’t have his moments. His repeated attempts to have the “hate media” (read: anyone in the media with whom he disagreed) silenced were a good example. Bob clearly has an angry streak under the surface, and I suspect that 2UE’s Mike Jeffreys may be correct in his analysis that Bob Brown is a very angry man under the surface, but uses that anger to carefully craft a very controlled outward appearance in the hope of getting his own way eventually. Think about it. It really didn’t matter whether Bob was talking about his love of trees, the carbon dioxide tax, or about the latest story in the “hate media”, his delivery was always the same. A continuous monotone hypnotic boredom-fest. I suspect that he was trying to brainwash people through sheer boredom.

It seems to me that under Christine Milne, the Greens will solidify their core socialist voters by being more strident in their advocacy of Marxist views, but will scare off most people in the process. In the short term, this will create waves, but in the long term it should destroy the party.

All that said, if in three weeks time the Greens decide that the Bob Brown approach is better for them, all they need to do is recruit former Obama propagandist press secretary Robert Gibbs, who had the same entirely uninteresting delivery as Bob Brown, with the added ability to never answer a question which he didn’t want to answer, something which dear old Bob never did quite manage to accomplish.

***

Canberra is a good place for an international airport

In other domestic news of late, the subject of Sydney’s second airport is back on the agenda, with Canberra being touted as an option. I like Canberra as an option, but if it happens, I don’t want it to be considered as “Sydney’s second airport”. Canberra Airport should take international flights, especially given Canberra’s status as the capital city of the country. In fact, part of the reason Sydney airport is so busy is because it’s the connection point for many people who are travelling to Canberra from outside the country.

I would also like to see a residential development occur at Tralee. Canberra Airport’s Stephen Byron is opposed to this because it would be under a flight path, but I don’t see this as an impediment. The airport is already there, and therefore anybody who buys or builds at Tralee would be well-aware that aeroplanes may fly over their house, and should therefore be unable to complain about it.

I see both things as being extremely beneficial to Canberra and surrounds, and while I expect to only ever see one come to fruition, it would be nice to have both.

***

To Japan’s credit, unfounded fear-mongering does not derail nuclear power

You may recall all of the fear-mongering after last year’s Japanese earthquake about the likelihood of a nuclear catastrophe, and all of the anti-nuclear activists trying to use it as an excuse to end nuclear power generation around the world. As we know, despite the claims that the death toll would be high and the people who would be afflicted with radiation-related illnesses would number in the many thousands, the fact is nobody, repeat, nobody has died, and a mere 10 people have radiation-related illness.

As such, sanity has prevailed, and Japan are turning some of the nuclear reactors back on.

The Japanese government decided Friday that two nuclear reactors in western Japan are safe to restart, in a major step toward bringing idled plants back online for the first time since last year’s devastating nuclear accident — though local opposition could still prevent a restart.

The decision effectively gives the government thumbs up to a gradual return of nuclear power, after nearly all the country’s 54 reactors — which provided roughly 30 percent of Japan’s electricity — shut down because of damages or for routine maintenance and stayed offline amid concerns about their safety.

(h/t New York Post and The Wall Street Journal)

The Japanese government still needs to convince locals that it’s a good idea, but given how small the fallout has been from the Fukushima plant, especially given the magnitude of the natural disaster which occurred (the earthquake and tsunami), a simple statement of the facts should be enough convince any sensible thinking person that the nuclear power plants are a good and safe option.

***

Mike Huckabee will not be VP

In the wake of Rick Santorum’s unfortunate decision to abandon his run for the Republican Presidential nomination during the week, almost making it certain that Mitt Romney will be the nominee, there was some peculiar speculation that Romney will choose Mike Huckabee as his candidate for Vice President.

Let me tell you right now, that will not happen.

Mike Huckabee, while certainly a plausible person as a candidate, is out of the race for this election cycle. He recently (in the last few weeks), launched a new syndicated talk radio show in conjunction with US radio giant Cumulus Media. The show, which airs at the same time as Rush Limbaugh (the single most listened to talk radio host in the country) has replaced the Limbaugh show on a decent number of Cumulus stations, which is a massive gamble for Cumulus, and is airing on over 180 stations.

Neither Huckabee or Cumulus will be abandoning this show any time soon. Cumulus has way too much riding on this to be suddenly left without a decent show in the midday eastern timeslot, especially seeing as letting Rush go from many of their stations has allowed competitors to air Rush, giving them potentially crushing competition if Huckabee were to walk or flop.

I would rule out Rick Santorum as a VP pick at this stage, but I’m not willing to make a prediction as to who will be Mitt’s running mate if Mitt does get the nomination. What I will say is that it will have to be a solid conservative, because Mitt is not enough of a conservative to enthuse the Republican party’s base.

I just hope some lessons have been learnt from the 2008 campaign. America can not afford another four years of Obama, and another dumb lurch away from the right and to the centre, politically speaking, is the sort of bad idea that could once again see the GOP botch a campaign and give Obama a perfect opportunity to win, despite his terrible polling numbers.

***

New brain research leading to better reading skills in school kids

An interesting story out of Michigan.

New brain research has led educators in New Buffalo to try a different method of teaching kids to read. Instead of teaching just the letters of the alphabet, they are teaching kids to read the sounds in words. It’s having remarkable results. Reporter Ryan Klund from ABC57 News in South Bend, Indiana, has the story:

If you sit in Ms. Selir’s kindergarten classroom you’ll see something, maybe, you’ve never seen before. Every kindergartener is reading a book and pronouncing words that other five and six-year-olds, usually, would never read.
[..]
“It used to be we just thought it was the 26 letters of the alphabet and that’s it,” said Laura Selir. “But there are 44 sounds the kindergarteners all learn.”

“We now know every child can read if taught the right way,” said Erika Milovich, the Instruction Literary Specialist at New Buffalo Schools.

Milovich helped implement the program in ever grade at the school and said that the results speak for themselves.

On state testing this year New Buffalo improved K-5 reading and writing scores, moving into the top three schools in Berrien County. It was the first time New Buffalo made that mark.

(h/t ABC57 News, and also thanks to Casey Hendrickson who alerted me to this story when he mentioned it on his radio show on 95.3 Michiana’s News Channel on Friday)

It’s only being taught in a handful of schools at the moment, but hopefully that number will rise soon as the results are very promising.

***

Is Metricon Stadium breaking AFL rules?

Last night while watching the AFL, I noticed something strange about the way Metricon Stadium on the Gold Coast is putting the vision of the match on the big screens. They appear to be taking the full TV feed rather than a modified version and, consequently, the countdown clock on Seven’s graphics is visible at all times on the big screen.

For those of you not familiar with the way AFL timing works, each quarter runs for 20 minutes of playing time, and events such as the ball going out or someone scoring temporarily disrupt the “playing time”. At the ground, a clock counts up from zero in each quarter and does not stop for these interruptions to playing time, meaning that the players and the crowd can not see how much time is left in the quarter, but instead can see how much real time has elapsed. Most quarters take between 25 and 30 minutes of real time, but can take more or less time.

It is not against the rules for a team runner to pass on a message to players about how long is left in the quarter, and it is common practice for the coaching staff to keep an unofficial record of how much time remains, but it is against the rules for the amount of time remaining in a quarter to be visible.

At many grounds, where a broadcast feed is used on the big screens, the spot on the screen where the time would be shown in normally covered up, however at Metricon Stadium it is not.

I wonder if the AFL have noticed this, and what will be done to fix it?

***

Heidi Harris to announce her new station on Monday

If she’s going to another radio station, anyway.

You may recall that a couple weeks ago I mentioned that Alan Stock had taken over Heidi Harris’ morning drive program on KDWN-AM in Las Vegas, and that there was a rumour going around that Alan’s former station (Heidi’s too, for that matter) KXNT had signed her but not made it public. Well, Heidi has announced that, on Monday, she will be able to make an announcement.

Regardless of where Heidi goes, she has a strong following and will most probably do very well. I wish her all the best, and look forward to her announcement on Monday US time.

***

And that’s all of the Sunday Bits for this week.

Samuel

April 15th, 2012 at 09:48am

Twitter Updates for 2012-04-13

• @NRLgameplan Darwin might be cooler than Townsville, but it's still hot enough to cook a chook! #
• @barryofarrell Welcome to Canberra Barry. It's a shame you weren't here yesterday morning. You missed a beautiful fog. in reply to barryofarrell #
• Breaking news: North Korean rocket has been launched. Looks like it happened 10-15 minutes ago. #
• Rocket was launched at 8:39am Canberra time. #
• Conflicting reports as to whether launch succeeded or failed. #
• US officials say the North Korean rocket broke up upon launch. Call me paranoid, but I'd rather hear that from South Korean officials. #
• From now on, Friday the 13th shall be considered a day of much luck. Bob Brown has resigned from the Senate and as Greens leader. Yaaaaayy!! #
• @JedediahBila @seanhannity I agree. Mark and Sean together always has me in hysterics. Should be more of it. And I'd buy a Sean & Mark shirt in reply to JedediahBila #
• The perfect replacement for Bob Brown would be former Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs. He's just as boring, incoherent and insane. #

April 13th, 2012 at 09:00pm

Twitter Updates for 2012-04-12

• Hopefully this means 7two has the rights to the episodes of The Bill in the Paul Marquess era (2002-2006). That was my favourite. #
• Speculation of Huckabee being Romney's VP pick is rubbish. Huckabee just launched a lucrative radio show on 150+ stations up against Rush. #
• Drudge is running a report from Britain's Daily Mail of the sea level dropping near Phuket. Here's hoping any tsunami is small. #
• Looks like it's a small tsunami. 10-15cm. Hopefully this aftershock produces the same or less. #
• Well this isn't the 2009 episode. The EPG and the TV guide lied to me. #
• AAMI insurance have a competition where they want to hear about one's scariest experience. If I enter, I think my premium will go up. #
• @markparton Morning Mark. I love Canberra's April/May overnight fogs. Have fun at work. I've been having "fun" at work since 11pm. in reply to markparton #

April 12th, 2012 at 09:00pm

Twitter Updates for 2012-04-11

• Michelle Obama's unhealthy menu, and Barack punishing kids for his own (basketball) success. http://t.co/EEIdQSMX #
• Rick Santorum is pulling out of the Republican presidential race, yet Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul, with less delegates, are still in. Weird. #
• So now I'm left in a position of liking Newt slightly more than Mitt, but accepting that Mitt will probably be the nominee. #
• At least Mitt and Newt are both better than Obama. I'm just not so sure that they can excite enough voters to make them turn up in November. #
• @jybyrd420 how many? And where would I a) find this information, and b) independently be able to check it? in reply to jybyrd420 #
• @jybyrd420 So Ron Paul might have more delegates than Gingrich, but less than Santorum, and he's 400+ behind Romney. Hard to win from there. in reply to jybyrd420 #
• @jybyrd420 I'm by no means saying "give up", but that's one hell of a campaign he'd have to wage in order to get the nomination. in reply to jybyrd420 #
• @jybyrd420 I'm well aware of the fact that Santorum's delegates are now unbound. I was merely pointing out the state of play pre-his exit. in reply to jybyrd420 #
• @jybyrd420 The media attention will be an issue, but I hope you're right. Not that I necessarily agree with Ron Paul on various things… in reply to jybyrd420 #
• @jybyrd420 …I just think Romney and Gingrich need to be held to the conservative side, and healthy competition will do that. in reply to jybyrd420 #
• @jybyrd420 You've nailed my dilemma. I have issues with all of them. They'd probably all be better than Obama, but I need time to think in reply to jybyrd420 #
• @jybyrd420 I appreciate your information though. More information is good for me right now…well, after my impending sleep. Thanks 🙂 in reply to jybyrd420 #
• Air Crash Investigations is on in about ten minutes. Tonight's episode is about the plane which landed in the Hudson River in 2009. #

April 11th, 2012 at 09:00pm

Twitter Updates for 2012-04-10

• Hear hear! RT @tessarmstrong: Rex Hunt, Peter Daicos and Terry Wallace doing an incredible job calling this belter of a match for AFL LIVE #
• @morrison954 yeah, we noticed that on Nine at my place. Sounded like some reverb…too distracting so switched to @7NewsSydney in reply to morrison954 #
• @BretBaier Morning Bret, hope you had a great Easter in reply to BretBaier #
• Nattie's in her bed, Pebbles has fallen asleep on a chair, and I'm watching The Bill. http://t.co/x3DVI1B6 #

April 10th, 2012 at 09:00pm

White House Easter Egg Roll: First Lady’s unhealthy menu, and Obama punishes kids for his success

I’ve been flicking through some of the coverage of the annual White House Easter Egg Roll, and while it looks like there was some fun to be had, and most of the coverage was positive, there were a few peculiar occurrences which have been glossed over by most of the media.

My favourite one is an event which seems to have been ignored by almost all of the US media. I know that talk radio gave it a mention, but other than that, I can’t find a single instance of this being covered by the American media…in fact, I’ve had to track the story down in the British press. Before I explain that though, some words from First Lady Michelle Obama at the Easter Egg Roll, courtesy of USA Today:

Over at the “Kids Kitchen,” Mrs. Obama joined “Top Chef Masters” winner Marcus Samuelson and the Today show’s Al Roker to help make shrimp and vegetable tacos.

The first lady discussed the importance of vegetables, telling parents: “If we have (too many) fried chicken and the carb-heavy dinners, the kind we all love, we’re not setting our kids up for success. Veggies aren’t really a choice. We think they are, but they’re not.”

(h/t USA Today)

This was part of the theme for the day, and is an ongoing theme of Mrs. Obama who has an insatiable appetite for talking about vegetables. And yet, as Britain’s Daily Mail reports, the menu on offer could not have been more at odds with Mrs. Obama’s message.

The Obamas welcomed thousands of children and their parents on to the South Lawn this morning to feast on a brunch menu that included waffles, French toast and slurpees.

Later in the day, visitors were offered choices of cheeseburgers, chicken tenders, hot dog and curly fries, egg salad or peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.

(h/t Daily Mail)

I particularly like the Obama Burger. Full of everything Mrs. Obama detests, and yet it still bares her name. The token fruit cup or salad at the end of the burger is amusing, but nothing more than a token gesture to allow Press Secretary Jay Carney to say that “healthy options were available” if anybody bothers to ask him about it.

Away from the menu, the Ego In Chief had his face plastered on the basketballs which were being used for the hoop shooting competition. Keith Koffler, among others, has published a photo of ABC News White House correspondent Jake Tapper holding the basketball.

I would probably refuse to play with a basketball with Obama’s face on it, as I would regard having to see his face for that period of time as some sort of cruel and unusual punishment…interestingly, I may have been right, the ball was used as an instrument of torture, just in a different way to how I would have expected. Back to USA Today for details:

Obama, meanwhile, visited the White House basketball court, half of which was being used for tennis lessons that featured legendary player Chris Evert.

The hoops end featured “Shoot for Strength,” where each shot made by Obama or a guest professional player meant three push-ups for nearby children.

(h/t USA Today)

So, Obama has a victory, and everyone else gets punished for it and has to pay. Sounds like an appropriate analogy for his presidency really.

Samuel

April 10th, 2012 at 08:19pm