Posts filed under 'Bizarreness'
This time last week Nattie and I were having a walk from our house to Civic Video in Braddon to return some DVDs. The DVDs were not due back until the Monday, but as that was Christmas day we took them back a day early.
We decided to take a longer way home, which involved passing the newsagent near the corner, about halfway up Lonsdale Street.
There was a woman standing outside the newsagent (probably about 65 years old, looked a bit like the woman in the pensioner’s insurance ads…just with more exagerated glasses and makeup) staring at one of the newspaper billboards. As we walked past she turned around, started waving her arms in the air and exclaimed at the top of her voice “Ooooh Aaaaah Glenn McGrath…who cares?”, she then repeated herself in a more muffled way a couple times and I struggled to contain the laughter that was trying to force its way out.
She walked off around the corner, and Nattie and I followed at a distance as we were going that way too…just after the corner she encountered a couple who looked like they were going out for lunch, and started the whole performance all over again…the couple walked away very quickly in a state of shock (she must have less than a metre in front of them when she started), as Nattie and I left the scene I called out to her to wish her a Merry Christmas…it might have been the most amusing and strange thing I had seen all day, but it certainly put a smile on my face, and I thought she looked like she could use someone to wish her a Merry Christmas. She echoed my Christmas sentiments.
Samuel
December 31st, 2006 at 10:28am
A random Internet conversation I seem to be having right now:
[4:15:09 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: hello
[4:15:53 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: hello
[4:16:15 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: what’s up
[4:17:35 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: well I don’t know, you wanted to talk yesterday and I summed you had a reason for it
[4:20:10 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: yes I just want to get a freind out of my country
[4:21:28 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: ??
[4:21:49 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: I see…you’ll have to forgive me, but I am a bit cynical about people who want to talk to me via instant messenger services like this one when I don’t know them and they provide minimal information in their initial request.
[4:22:15 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: I am sorry but I am not the best person for your quest, but I wish you all the best in your search. Have a happy new year
[4:22:32 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: the same to you
[4:22:43 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: how old are you?
[4:22:46 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: 19
[4:23:42 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: can you send me your pic please?
[4:24:13 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: No, but if you google my name you can find a few dozen of them
[4:24:39 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: real?
[4:24:44 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: yep
[4:24:51 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: ok
[4:24:57 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: let me do it.
[4:25:04 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: ok
[4:28:58 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: I got dem, but I don’t believe is you.
[4:29:21 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: How would you like me to prove it?
[4:29:56 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: I have an idea…the first result when you google my name…why don’t I copy this conversation to that website?
Update 4:57am: Unfortunately the conversation continued, after which I blocked the unusual gentleman who was obviously not going to end the conversation without a blocking.
[4:30:19 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: oh that’s true
[4:30:39 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: ok let me trust you
[4:30:56 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: hmm, what are you
[4:31:03 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: OK
[4:31:06 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: It’s there now
[4:31:34 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: last time I checked, I’m human.
[4:31:49 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: are you a star?
[4:32:04 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Not really
[4:32:15 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: tell me now
[4:33:14 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: No, I am not a “star”. I am an Australian blogger who attratced a bit of attention last year when a popular Australian website decided to ridicule me
[4:34:13 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: wel, I undurstand
[4:34:25 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: that’s good
[4:34:36 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: yeah.
[4:34:50 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Any reason why you wanted my picture?
[4:35:04 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: just to see you
[4:35:20 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: i like pictures
[4:35:30 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Oh OK, fair enough…I like pictures too
[4:35:44 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: Do you want be a friend of mine?
[4:36:10 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: I have freinds who liv there
[4:36:20 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: in Obart
[4:36:43 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: As I think I said earlier (perhaps I didn’t get to the point earlier), I rarely have time to chat, I don’t think it would work out
[4:37:10 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Hobart is a nice city…on a different island to me though
[4:38:22 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: ok.
[4:38:28 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: God bless.
[4:38:35 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: you too
[4:38:38 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: bye bye
[4:38:51 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: bye
[4:39:49 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: sorry , could you find a g.f for me?
[4:40:06 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: or a freind of your island
[4:40:30 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: um, well I’m not a dating service
[4:41:10 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: I suggest that you just keep adding random people to your contact list…surely at least one of them will be your friend
[4:41:32 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: I don’t tha’s a good anwer.
[4:41:44 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: How many have you added so far? 5000? 10000?
[4:42:09 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: How many for you?
[4:42:22 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: 8
[4:42:35 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: 9 if I include you
[4:43:03 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: includ now me
[4:43:19 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: why?
[4:43:40 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: bcause I wanna be your freind
[4:44:26 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: That’s very nice and flattering, but for the third time, no.
[4:44:40 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: why not??
[4:44:58 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Because I’m just not interested
[4:45:28 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: why you no interested?
[4:46:05 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Because generally I rarely have time to chat
[4:47:16 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: Oh, I think that can the reason for you to include I
[4:48:06 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: huh?
[4:48:23 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: hehe
[4:49:31 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: This is a joke to you isn’t it?
[4:51:12 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: I don’t think, maybe you.
[4:51:36 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Well obviously you don’t think…
[4:52:17 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Anyway, I must go, it has been an unusual experience chatting with you…enjoy your friend and picture hunting, but I think you’re looking for a girl friend the wrong way.
[4:52:21 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: Goodnight
[4:52:25 AM] KWIZERA Bruce says: just what you think
[4:53:18 AM] Samuel Gordon-Stewart says: This must be payback for calling random spammers in your country and wasting their time in the same way they waste everyone elses
Hooray for random people who want to talk about nothing (I wonder if he would have tried to sign me up to some “find the love of your life” spam distribution scheme if I had kept talking to him?).
End Update
December 30th, 2006 at 04:30am
I was checking the Australia Post website last night to see if there would be any last minute Saturday delivery runs like there were last year, only to find this pearl of wisdom under the heading “Our latest news”.
For trading hours and delivery services over the Christmas/New Year period, please call 13 13 18 during business hours.
I suppose the out of hours answering machine just says “We’re not here, call back when we are”.
Thanks Australia Post, very helpful of you to have that message on the website after the final definite trading day before Christmas.
Samuel
December 23rd, 2006 at 08:59pm
I spotted this potentially alarming article from The Guardian, the start of which reads as follows:
Five billion years on … disaster awaits
Astronomers have captured a vision of the cataclysmic fate which awaits our solar system in about five billion years’ time.
Among the dot points to save people from having to read the article is:
Astronomers foresee end of our solar system
Just wondering, but when and why did astronomers decide to stop pointing their telescopes at the sky, and start pointing them at crystal balls? Or have they just decided to change an “n” to an “l” and be astrologers? The latter would be cheaper, you don’t need a telescope, you can make things up if you want, and if you’re really nuts you might even get an international newspaper syndication deal.
Samuel
December 23rd, 2006 at 06:52pm
“Tis the season for loopy characters…tra la la la la, la la la la”
It looks like I’ve been turned into a Wikipedia article for the second time, and much like last time it’s a load of tripe. I will be proposing that it be deleted.
(Update 11:46PM: The article has been deleted despite a protest without explanation from its author “Sabiby”. End Update)
Samuel gordon stewart
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
[1]Samuel Gordon Stewart [2]is a notable blogger of small fame in his home city of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Through his massive web-site updated many times a day containing often peculiar writings of his day to day routine, dreams, letters to politicians, Canberra news and his now strained relationship with Bradley Murdoch, all written in a confusing style jumping between first and third person, along with his pod cast Australian Independent Radio [3], numerous cartoon series [4]and hilarious and often vicious insults and criticism his blog attracts and posts, Samuel Gordon Stewart is often mentioned on many web-sites, has won Australian blogging awards and has gained fame on more main stream local media. Media such as AM1052 2CA, FM104.7, The Canberra Times, Prime News, and various other smaller community media publications and broad casts regularly give mention to Samuel or publish/broadcast comments from him. Through continued mention in the media, his large numbers of letters to the editor of many local papers being published, and word of mouth publicity, Samuel Gordon Stewart has gained local fame to be a cult hero in the league of other well known Canberra personalities such as Limestone Lizzy, Northbourne Nattily, or Civic’s Crocodile Man.
Links: https://samuelgordonstewart.com/
http://www.grods.com/proud-to-be-samuel
Saint Samuel Gordon Stewart first martyr of RiotACT
Sources: The Canberra Times: Friday 2nd of June 2006, Monday 26th June 2006, Wednesday 13th August 2006, Tuesday 21st November 2006
The Queanbeyan Chronicle: Tuesday 7th March 2006, Thursday 6th July 2006
The Tuggeranong Chronicle: Friday 15th September 2006
Thanks to anonymous writer “hello” for the heads-up, even if I think you are the author of the article.
In more exciting news, “the ginger bread man” is back, with another fake email address.
From……: the ginger bread man
Email…..: samsmum@samuelgordonstewart.com
Url…….:
………………………………………………….
Subject…: oh sammy, sam, sam…
………………………………………………….
you do remember me dont you sammy?
how is mr hat? still alive? i havent seen him in any photos of you?
but i have seen you and your cute doggy walking atop mount ainslie at dawn.
can u guess who i am?
As I said in response to your last email, I can think of a few people that you could be, all of whom I had minimal contact with, and haven’t seen in years…I suspect that most of them have matured slightly beyond your level of maturity though.
Hat is fine, living a peaceful retirement in a cupboard.
Perhaps I have forgotten mentioning a dawn foray up Mount Ainslie with my “cute doggy” (how good are you at research, what is his/her name, gender and breed?), but to the best of my knowledge I have not mentioned it, which leads into your next question:
can u guess who i am?
My psychopathic stalker? The Suffolk Strangler? Oh, wait I know, you’re the paranoid coin eater from Neptune.
Are you having fun continuing something which wasn’t funny in school? Bullying was hardly funny then, don’t expect me to find it funny now.
Samuel
December 19th, 2006 at 08:39pm
It’s been a while since I had enough material for a post about the strange things people write about me.
Last week I wrote an email to Stuart Bocking explaining various aspects of my health, this was a follow-up to a phone call I made to Stuart the morning before when I couldn’t sleep (I can’t remember most of that call now).
The banned former contributors to this site who inhabit BrownNoiseUnit decided to expand on that email, making extensive use of their perverted imaginations along the way.
Stuart, I love you in a more-than-a-friend way. I want to tell you things I tell no one else. I want to fall asleep on your shoulder, take long walks in the rain, and gaze deeply into your eyes over the rim of my Nescafe Kenjaro cup. Oh Stuart, how I long to show the sights, sounds and smells of Kairnbra! Coffee at Civic, a croquet at Kingsley’s Chicken, a stroll in the late afternoon past a construction site! Just you, Nattie, a radio, the camera and me.
Stuart, I think of you all the time. Even when I am not listening to your breakfast shift, your voice is forever in my head. Sometimes I just lie on my bed, close my eyes and let the memory of your voice take hold of my whole being.
I have to go now, Stuart. I will call you as soon as I get off work. If I don’t get through I’ll send a text, and if you don’t have your phone on you I’ll email. What’s your home number again?
Anyway, if for some silly odd reason we don’t link up, I’ll be in the cafe across the road from where you work. I’m the one with the binoculars and the anorak!
I yearn for you tragically. Have a great weekend! I’ll be listening (and watching!)
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Kairnbra
Admittedly I find the whole thing quite amusing (and a tad disturbing), but, if I was a deranged lunatic, it might be something I would write…I think the only reply I would ever get would be the police charging me with stalking or harrassment, and a court order banning me from going anywhere near a radio station, or making any contact with anyone who works in radio…there might even be a clause banning me listening to the radio.
The blatently obvious bottom line though is that Stuart hosts a show on 2UE, I along with many other people contribute to that show as a caller and an emailer, yes I would like to meet Stuart one day, I gather that the feeling is mutual as he invited me to his Christmas function (an invitation I had to turn down due to work commitments), but it doesn’t go any further than a penpal type friendship.
I accept that some people try to stereotype me as a stalker, but that notion is so far from the truth that it is amusing.
Moving on, and someone who I probably went to school with sent this email via the contact form (with a fake email address too)
From……: the ginger bread man
Email…..: gingerpubes@samuelgordonstewart.com
Url…….:
………………………………………………….
Subject…: u dont kno me sammy but i kno u
………………………………………………….
ive been watching u for a long time sammy, and the time has come for the rape and pillage of “bagland” i plan to conquer this wonderful land and keep it for myself.
I can think of a few people who this could be, thankfully most of them matured beyond that point by the end of year 8, obviously some didn’t.
For the record, it was “Bag”, not “Bagland”, and at varying stages there was also “Locker”, “Desk”, “Pencil Case”, “Rabbit Land”, “Dog Land” and “Samuel Land”. And seeing as the world hasn’t changed for “the ginger bread man” in at least the last six years, and probably more, Pencil Case contains a rather large army led by the fearless Commander Ruler, and will be backed up by The Book Of Wisdom (aka a dictionary which makes a good projectile).
Ah memories, thanks for the walk down memory lane, ginger bread man.
Update 4:35PM 17/Dec/2006: I think this effort from Chuck A. Spear is worth a mention.
Good Morning The Beige Baron
Submitted by Chuck A. Spear on December 16, 2006 – 2:15am.
Good Morning The Beige Baron err The Beige Lunatic.
Since you have the flu, how are the aches, pains, and general zombieish feelings? I have been mixing my medicine with coffee. If I whinge this much at 19, what will I be like at 69?
Always and forever
SGS
Reminds me a little bit of a Beatles song:
Will you still need me, will you still feed me, when I’m 64?
End Update
Samuel
December 17th, 2006 at 02:26pm
Whilst browsing various websites last night I came across a curious ad in which your mouse cursor battles a pencil, and the pencil ultimately wins with the statement “The pen pencil is mightier than the mouse”. I clicked on the ad and was taken a Staedtler promotional website called Take Note, on which you can send and receive short handwritten notes.
It’s an odd little website, but it’s a bit of fun too. Basically you have some options, send a note to yourself, a friend or a stranger, receive a note from a stranger, view a gallery of the best notes, or read what the whole thing is all about.
When you write a note, it is apparently handwritten and posted by Staedtler to the person of your choice, or to one of the people who have registered to receive a note from a stranger.
So I have conducted an experiement, I have sent some messages based on the random quotes on this website. The note to myself is “Apparently if people are going to have to eat the plates we will need more of them on the lawn”, and the note to a stranger is “When The Money Comes Out of The ATM, Scream “I Won! I Won!””. I have also registered to receive a note from a stranger.
The aims of the experiment are to see if the note to myself arrives, see if the stranger makes contact with me, and see what random insight I receive from a stranger.
It’s a funny little website, and is certainly worth a look…I’m not entirely sure that Staedtler will acheive their aim of promoting the “personal, powerful and insightful” handwritten word, but good luck to them, it is a very clever bit of advertising and has certainly got my attention.
Again, the website is http://www.takenote.com.au/
Samuel
December 12th, 2006 at 09:54am
It just occurred to me…Samuel’s Persiflage has a strange track record when it comes to people and the jobs they have.
In May (well it was actually April when I recorded the interview) on Samuel’s Persiflage I interviewed the National Library’s Director of Digital Archiving, Margaret Phillips. By the time July rolled around Margaret had retired.
Last month, November, on Samuel’s Persiflage the first guest was Paul Blunt, co-host of 2CA’s breakfast show. As speculated a couple days ago, and now confirmed, Paul will be leaving 2CA on December 22 and will be moving to the Gold Coast.
I do hope this is just a mere coincidence and not a Persiflage Curse…although if it is the latter, I think it can be explained by John Stanley’s curse losing it’s effect…it must be transferring to me.
For those of you who don’t listen to John Stanley on 2UE and 2CC, people interviewed on John’s show, particularly in the entertainment industry, seem to be involved in “flops” shortly after appearing. Television shows have been known to be cancelled shortly after the ratings plummet after being on John’s show. People often get voted off reality television programs after John interviews them. It’s a long-running joke, and recently the “curse” hasn’t been having its usual effect.
Of course, now that John’s away, his curse has struck his fill-in presenter…
Samuel
December 11th, 2006 at 11:50am
Here are just a few news stories which are just a tad amusing.
New South Wales Opposition Leader Peter Debnam wants to sell New South Wales Lotteries for about $800 million to help fund the $1 billion water strategy (whatever that may be). Sounds reasonable on the surface, but dig a bit deeper:
NSW Lotteries has sold lottery tickets since 1931. Last year it sold tickets worth more than $1.1 billion, and paid out about $662 million in prizes. Its lotteries have helped to pay for the Opera House and the Harbour Bridge.
That’s a $438 million profit last year, not bad.
Mr Debnam said the privatised company would still be required to pay annual lottery duties of almost $300 million to the Government, and might be required to pay additional taxes to offset the company tax it would begin paying to the Federal Government.
Take out the lottery duties and the profit drops to $138 million per annum, even less once you take out the federal company tax and the state based “additional taxes”.
I’m not a tax expert, so I’m not going to try and calculate what these taxes might cost, but once you take away the operating costs (staff, ticket paper, dedicated communication lines between sales terminals and head office, commissions payable to agents etc etc etc) as well, it’s really not a very profitable company.
Somehow I think Mr. Debnam’s $800 million money grab is either sheer optimism which should never have been mentioned in the company of a journalist, or a blight on Mr. Debnam’s economic credentials.
Based on this multiple, NSW Lotteries, with earnings of $38.6 million this year, could be worth as much as $800 million. But the Opposition expects it to have a much lower value.
Thankfully Mr. Debnam dosn’t think he can get $800 million for the company, but that still leaves the question of why he mentioned the figure in the first place.
***
The Victorian bushfire crisis has engulfed a mountain by the name of “Mount Terrible”. Not surprisingly, journalists are having fun with it, saying things such as “it’s living up to its name”.
I would like to know why it was named Mount Terrible. Did the person who named it have a bad experience there? Or did they know something we could have used before the bushfire crisis?
***
From our good friends at the “funny news presented in a serious manner” Ananova News agency comes the news that a job centre in the UK has banned Christmas decorations in case they offend the unemployed.
Job Centre bans Xmas
A Job Centre has banned Christmas decorations – in case it offends the unemployed.
Area manager of South London Chris Nicol says he doesn’t want to upset benefit claimants who can’t afford tinsel.
His staff are not happy about the decision, reports The Sun.
One worker said: “All the shops and offices around us are happily putting up their Christmas decorations but ours are in the cupboard.
“Most people have complained about the lack of decorations. The twinkling lights and tinsel always seemed to lift people’s spirits. Now we are all glumly sitting in the dark in case someone takes offence.”
Mr Nicol refused to back down and added: “It’s about considering the feelings of people who might not to be able to afford Christmas.
“Because of their circumstances they might not have decorations at home. I don’t think they should have their noses rubbed in it by walking into a Job Centre. I haven’t heard that staff are unhappy but it is impossible to please everyone.”
Not surprisingly, the story has been doing the rounds on talkback. Some of the highlights:
Mr. Nicol: “It’s about considering the feelings of people who might not to be able to afford Christmas.”
Stuart Bocking: “Since when has anyone been able to afford Christmas?”
Mr. Nicol: “I haven’t heard that staff are unhappy but it is impossible to please everyone.”
Mike Jeffreys: “Especially if you’re an idiot!”
Samuel
December 11th, 2006 at 07:29am
I thought Save The Ridge were dead and buried…I was wrong. I thought that having Gungahlin Drive near completion would spell the end of anti-Gungahlin Drive protests…I was wrong. People against Gungahlin Drive will not use it when it opens…just wait, I’ll be wrong.
Today the ACT Government is holding a public walking tour of part of Gungahlin Drive, Save The Ridge are going to “peacefully” gatecrash the event, presumably with megaphones and banners.
Save The Ridge are a cunning mob, they know they no longer have the numbers to mount any sort of protest, so they “urgently” enlist the help of various “Save xyz School” groups, claiming that the money being spent on the Gungahlin Drive Extension is being diverted away from schools, buses etc. They forget a couple important points:
- Budget: It may have been a bad one, but Gungahlin Drive was in there
- Those peksy court costs: Those agonising years of stalling in the courts by STR cost an awful lot of money…and helped to blow out the cost of the road
I don’t know what they expect the government to do…unbuilding the road would cost more money so that doesn’t help, cancelling the road would be an utter waste and leave a large mess…but might provide a poorly placed dragway (could offset aeroplane noise if the Tralee development goes ahead).
The horse has bolted, it’s won the race, and is about to receive the trophy, but for what it’s worth, Save The Ridge are having an encore comedy performance. Enjoy the press release (emphasis as per the press release).
WHAT: Community Rally to Protest the Opening of the First Stage of the Gungahlin Drive Extension and the Negative Impact the Massive Cost Overruns have had on the Public Transport, Education and Community Sector
TIME AND DATE: 10am, Sunday 10 December
WHERE: Gungahlin Drive Extension junction with Ginninderra Drive
(parking at the GDE site office, off Masterman St, Bruce. Transport is being provided between there and the start of a community walk)
ASSISTANCE: STR needs the URGENT community support to assist with leafleting, letterboxing and postering. Please email info@savetheridge.org.au or call Paul Oboohov on 0417 048 217 to volunteer some time.
OTHER HELP: SPREAD THE WORD!
ABOUT: The first section of the Gungahlin Drive Extension (GDE), between Ginninderra Drive and the Barton Highway, will be officially opened by the ACT government on Sunday 10 December. The ACT government has scheduled a community walk / cycle at 10am on the GDE between Ginninderra Drive and Ellenborough St to “celebrate the opening”, see http://www.gde.act.gov.au/__data/assets/word_doc/41409/CommunityWalkEvent.doc
The Save the Ridge Committee invites you to attend a peaceful protest at this event, to make the following points:
* The cost of the 9km GDE, one of the most expensive non tunnelled single lane roads in Australia’s history, is being recouped partly through the closure of 39 schools in the ACT, as well as a raft of cutbacks including scaled back ACTION bus services, library closures, social programs cut, reducing ACT Government employee superannuation entitlements from 15.4% to 9% and significant increases of government taxes and charges;
* The GDE is being built at a time of trend petrol price rises not seen since the early 1980’s. With massive increases in petrol demand in some of the world’s most populous developing nations, cheap oil is a thing of the past and nationally climate change issues are now near the top of the community’s concerns. Like the Australian Government, the ACT Government has taken almost no action on the issue. An important first step would be a significant investment in an electrified rapid transit system with a commitment to power it through green energy purchases. With no carbon emissions, this would make significant progress on improving the Territory’s per capita greenhouse gas emission profile;
* According to Canberra Times reports (Canberra Times, Dec 2), until recently the GDE construction has used almost 0.5 (approx. 0.41)% of Canberra’s potable water supply at a time of unprecedented water restrictions. It will continue to require water, but from a new greywater source. The cost of this appears to be the Government reneging on the promise to rehabilitate 20 sportgrounds for community use due to their being insufficient available water because of the drought;
* The GDE has come at an incalculable environmental cost with the destruction of significant linkages in Canberra’s high conservation value urban bush. The ACT Government’s rhetoric of suggesting it will become the first capital city in the world to achieve environmental status under UNESCO (Canberra Sunday Times, 3 December 2006) is farcical with the wholesale vandalism of Kaleen Grasslands, Bruce/O’Connor Ridges and Black Mountain Reserve. Numerous studies by university researchers have found Black Mountain Reserve to be a world class area for biodiversity, the position advocated by STR and supported by world class members of the broader scientific community since the 1990’s;
* Community members and experts recognise that bush regions ACT Government have preserved are so small and fragmented, that the richness of their ecology is not likely to be sustainable in the long term. This is largely due to the threat to fauna when migrating between areas and from domestic animals. The Government’s proposal for the fossil fuel based Belconnen to Civic busway is another example of how little value these pockets of bush have to the ACT Government and how they are only perceived to have value if they can encourage further construction activity along the corridors; and
* The ACT Arboretum site will now be the final home for almost 200,000 cubic metres of unnecessary GDE fill that was trucked in from various construction sites around Canberra to build the GDE. After it has already arrived, it was determined that there was already a surplus of fill on site and this fill was not necessary. In addition, 170,000 cubic metres of soil from the site will also be sent to the Arboretum to permit further construction of the road. Almost 400,000 cubic metres of soil will now be relocated to the Arboretum site. This farce is characteristic of the repeated failures throughout the entire GDE planning, approvals and construction process.
Placards will be available, but if you wish, please bring one of your own. A placard and banner making workshop will be held at 2pm on Saturday 9 December in the Rocks meeting hall. Please come along and help create a range of interesting statements.
Speakers include, but are not limited to:
* Alex Pollard, ACT Peak Oil;
* Meredith Hunter, ACT Greens candidate for the seat of Fraser; and
* Allan Lohe, former Save the Ridge Chairperson
If you can suggest any additional speakers, please contact Paul Oboohov on ph 0417 048 217.
More information may be found on the STR website, http://www.savetheridge.org.au
We hope to see you on Sunday.
The Save the Ridge Committee
Blast…I should have saved that one for Friday…would have made a good Friday Funny.
Samuel
December 10th, 2006 at 06:11am
It’s rapidly becoming an annual annoyance, and this year is bound to annoy more people than usual, as the bean counters at Macquarie Bank who recently purchased part of 2UE’s parent company have waved their magic wand and the afternoon show has disappeared into a timewarp.
Apparently it will return when “Voice of reason” John Stanley comes back from holidays (happy honeymoon John), although I think we can all be forgiven if we don’t hold our collective breaths on that one.
Unfortunately, to make the afternoon show disappear, you have to fiddle with the rest of the schedule, and as such the weekday schedule has changed, and forced a lot of network stations to re-record their promos, and assign staff new shifts at very short notice.
The new weekday schedule looks like this:
New Day Australia: previously midnight-5:30am, now midnight-6am (*)
Breakfast: previously 5:30am-9am, now 6am-10am
John Laws “morning show” (or Tim Webster): previously 9am-midday, now 10am-2pm (*)
Afternoons: previously midday-3pm, now non-existent (*)
Drive: previously 3pm-6pm, now 2pm-6pm
Sports Today: previously and now 6pm-8pm (*)
Nights: previously and now 8pm-midnight (*)
(*) denotes syndicated (networked) programmes.
I can’t say that I’m surprised that this kind of thing can happen at 2UE, they have managed a couple similar minimisations of staff numbers in the last 12 months or so, firstly with a weekend schedule change which went from a multitude of programmes to a mere 4 programmes of six hours each, and then with a mass sacking of producers, newsreaders and others.
Although I’m not surprised that it can happen, I was a bit surprised that it did happen, mainly because less than ten days ago I was informed who would be filling in for John Stanley until he comes back from holidays.
The last week has been an “experiment” on 2UE, with a one week presenter shuffle while Mike Carlton and Peter Fitzsimons went on holidays a week earlier than everyone else, and 2UE tried things just in case Fitz didn’t re-sign with them for next year. The change saw John Stanley and Steve Price co-hosting the breakfast show, Glenn Wheeler filling John Stanley’s shoes on the afternoon show, and Murray Olds holding the Drive Show fort for Steve Price, it looks like Stuart Bocking has been allowed to test the daytime waters, filling in for Glenn Wheeler this weekend (a job which is supposed to be done by John Mangos…perhaps he is another victim of the cost cutting).
Before John Stanley went on breakfast duties I sent him an email wishing him all the best for breakfast and his holiday, in which I said something about hoping that Steve Liebmann would be filling in for him. I promptly received a reply from his executive producer, Kate (sorry, I don’t have the email in front of me, and therefore I don’t have her full name), informing me that Glenn would fill in for a week, and then Murray Olds would fill in until John gets back. I then replied to Kate wishing her all the best for her holidays if she was having any, informed her that I was looking forward to having Glenn on for a week, and that I don’t get along with Murray all that much, but I will get used to him after a little while. I also asked Kate to say hello or woof to her three-legged dog Flash for me.
On reflection, I can only hope that the schedule change is not designed to help me avoid Murray during my lunch breaks…don’t get me wrong, he irritates me and I have been known to send long angry emails to him arguing against things he says, but I still like him for one reason or another, and I can’t help but feel sorry for him as he has just lost a six weeks or thereabouts hosting position.
I suppose I should be happy that 2CC’s daily dose of local content just jumped from 6.5 hours to 8 hours, but it is going to be very strange having Mike Jeffreys on until 10am, and Mike Welsh starting at 2pm…I’m almost certain that I’m going to forget the schedule has changed and assume that they have satellite issues at least once.
Actually I thought I was hearing things when I heard a Drive Show promo during John Kerr’s New Day Australia on Saturday morning which said that the drive show runs from 2pm-6pm. I ruled out “hearing things” and the promo being incorrect when I heard it the second time, I instead thought that I must be going mad…but as a source said to me “So no, your (sic) not going crazy. 2UE is.”
Of course, the “Tim Webster, weekdays from 10am-2pm” promo proved beyond all reasonable doubt that 2UE are nuts, you would have to be nuts to move your most sought after network programme. Somewhere in the order of 65 stations have just had to rearrange their schedules and staff, and are probably seriously reconsidering their contract with Southern Cross Syndication…I bet the advertisers aren’t pleased that the ads they booked for the first hour of John Laws/Tim Webster are now in the final hour of the preceding show. Advertisers between midday and 2pm will either be incredibly pleased at the larger audience, or bitterly annoyed that they are being associated with the Laws brand.
In some ways it is quite funny that this schedule change will take effect when Mike Jeffreys returns on Monday, I hope he has been informed that he won’t be required on-air until 6am, and will have to stay on-air until 10am. Mike, in my experience, can use a nap by about 9:30 so it will be an interesting show.
Apparently it will all go back to normal when the voice of reason returns and waves his reasonable wand…I can only hope that Southern Cross don’t pay out his “end of 2008” contract before he gets back from holidays.
Samuel
December 9th, 2006 at 10:46pm
From spammer “Julian” (almost certainly not his real name):
“If we wanted we could have made the url invisible, but we decided that would be too confusing”
Not to mention that I wouldn’t have been able to submit all my personal details to you via a webform if you had.
Samuel
December 4th, 2006 at 12:50pm
It must have been International Loopy Spammer day yesterday. For some reason I received the same bit of spam five times…the exact same email to the exact same email address five times.
The spam in question was titled “[TKO] : your (eBay) account could be suspended” and was, not surprisingly, a bogus email about an eBay account being suspended. Unfortunately these spammers aren’t very bright, they have copied various aspects of eBay messages, but not very well.
For example, there is no “from” or “reply-to” address, and as such these emails, which slipped past the spam filter somehow, landed in my inbox, and not in my eBay folder…there are further dead giveaways in the email itself.
eBay sent this message to member of ebay
Your registered name is included to show this message originated from eBay.
Hmmm, surely my eBay username should be in the first sentence then.
The links are very amusing, most eBay scam emails have links to real pages on eBay…these scammers managed to link to Yahoo Mail’s login page instead, and include faulty javascript redirects to the actual eBay pages, they even managed to have the fualty javascript redirect on an ebay.com link point to ebay.com.au
The link to “update your user account details” (which basically means “give us all your personal info so we can commit identity theft”) comes from a “respond now” button, which in a real eBay email would take you to eBay’s message centre, but in this case is the only working link, and takes you to http://madahbahana.org/signin.ebay.com
madahbahana.org is registered to something called the “Indomarching Group” in Jakarta, which for a while was using the website to “sell” fake university degrees, unfortunately in the last 24 hours or so the website has been destroyed and now only returns “403 forbidden” messages…which is a pity because I would have liked to see how bad their attempt at emulating a real eBay page was.
For the record, I received the emails yesterday at 6:06am, 6:09am, 5:41pm, 5:43pm and 6:11pm.
The headers from one email show that a php script at zvvurk.nl on behalf of 125.160.82.205 sent the emails, and the people responsible used Microsoft Word to write the emails…they really are dumb.
Update: Since writing this post I have received another one of these emails, it came in at 9:14am. End Update
Samuel
October 16th, 2006 at 12:51pm
I received an odd email on the Samuel’s Persiflage email address yesterday…have a read…
From: administrator@pod-planet.com <administrator@pod-planet.com>
To: podcast@samuelgordonstewart.com
Date: Oct 15, 2006 7:51 AM
Subject: Your Podcast Was Added to Pod-Planet.com
Hello From Pod-Planet.com!
Your Podcast Was Added to Our Directory.
Dear Podcaster,
Congratulations! A fan of your Podcast added your RSS feed for Samuel’s Persiflage to the Pod-Planet.com Podcast Directory! Pod-Planet.com is quickly becoming the hottest Podcast directory on the Web. Use our site to post or subscribe, rate or sell (coming FY07) Podcasts.
Although your Podcast has been added to our Directory, you may want to go in and categorize your Podcast in our taxonomy so that Users can quickly and easily find your Podcast by category.
In order to categorize your Podcast, you simply need to create a free account on our site. Once your account is created, simply click ‘My Administration’ in the toolbar to view and categorize your Podcast.
So far so good, it all sounds very nice, a random podcast directory has taken the time (even if a robot took the time) to let me know that I’m in their directory…the emails takes an interesting turn though…
All we ask in return for being listed in our directory is for you to add the Pod-Planet.com badge to your Website. The badges for Pod-Planet.com can be found on our badges page, and is depicted here:
It is important to note, that for security purposes, your email address in your Podcast feed must match the email account you specify during the registration process or you will not be able to categorize your Podcast.
Once again, congratulations on being submitted to Pod-Planet.com.
Pod-Planet.com (A Subsidiary of BerkeleySoft, Inc.)
http://www.pod-planet.com
Uh huh…a listener, or probably more likely a BerkeleySoft employee or robot has added me to a random podcast directory, and because of that I have to add an advertisement to my website.
A whois search shows that pod-planet.com has existed since March, but other research shows that these emails have only started in the last couple days…has BerkeleySoft wasted a heap of money on yet another pointless podcast directory and decided that they should embark on a semi-spam advertising campaign and trick a bunch of egotistical podcasters into advertising pod-planet in a bid to save their ailing investment?
I don’t know why I remember the name BerkeleySoft, but if memory serves me correctly, in a previous incarnation they were responsible for “The Learning Company” brand, which sold old software titles for $5 (I’ve got a copy of Microsoft Golf 98 from them around here somewhere, purchased sometime around 2002) and included various bits of invasive and buggy software with it. I might have them mixed up with someone else, but the name rings a bell, and for bad reasons…just can’t quite put my finger on it.
I’m not going to sign up on their website, and I don’t care if they de-list Samuel’s Persiflage, but the next episode of Samuel’s Persiflage looks like it will have a theme of “Tricks, Scams and Cons”, and I might just record a phone call with them where I probe them about their spammish practices…I’ve got a couple Australian ISPs I would like to probe the same way about other topics too.
Samuel
October 16th, 2006 at 09:10am
Yesterday at work I was installing a network printer on two computers, and decided to use the same peice of paper for the test page from each computer, the effect was quite interesting.
(Click to enlarge)
Samuel
October 13th, 2006 at 07:12am
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