By all accounts Mark Carmody was very good at presenting the gardening show on 666 ABC Canberra, but he is really quite dreadful when it comes to the weather…it really does come across as an audition for the book reading role on Play School. He talks down to the audience, and insists on cluttering the weather reports with useless information about which newspapers are produced in which towns, and what movie he was reminded of when he woke up this morning and looked out his window.
Mark has taken over as the weather presenter from John Ringwood. John retired on the same day as WIN Television’s newsreader Peter Leonard, and I commented in the linked article that:
Rumour has it that 2CN’s (666 ABC Canberra for those of you not familiar with the callsign) garden expert will take over as the weather presenter. That might sound odd, but considering that last night they presented a five minute editorial from federal political editor Jim Middleton as news, no change in that place would surprise me.
Clearly I was wrong because Mark Carmody retired in April last year and his return to the airwaves did surprise me. It would appear to have split the ABC audience as well, as his return has prompted a mixed reaction on the ABC Canberra guestbook.
I personally found John Ringwood’s style of presenting the weather with the facts, and only the facts, as quite mundane, however I liked it. When John read the weather, it was clear and concise. Unfortunately Mark Carmody is being given free reign over his script and is producing garbage. His interactions with Virginia Haussegger are forced and completely unnatural, his weather presentation is cluttered and unclear, and the ABC would have been much better off doing the same thing WIN Television have done…have the newsreader present the weather from the news desk. I’m certain that Virginia would do an excellent job presenting the weather.
And if they must have Mark Carmody on the air and can’t ship him off to the Play School set…well they could easily move him to Stateline and give him a two or three minute weekly gardening segment, similar to the one David Young presented on Ten Capital News before it was axed. I’m sure Mark’s scripts would work much better in that kind of segment.
Incidentally, in case you didn’t spot it towards the end of the video embedded above, take a look at the following image. Does anything strike you as odd?
On the left of screen is a 2CC microphone.
I suppose it’s not really odd, but it was rather amusing.
Yesterday whilst performing a rather mundane task in the laundry, I noticed that a political flyer had been thrown (probably quite rightly) in to the recycling bin. As I had nothing better to do whilst monitoring the mundane task being conducted by a household appliance, I picked up the flyer and read it.
I was shocked. A person who wants me to elect him in to government so that he can make the world a better place (or so they all claim), has posted a flyer out to just about every house in the electorate which, amongst other things, talks about how he can improve education, and yet the flyer is riddled with errors.
One typographical error might be excusable, maybe even two, but this flyer is just laughable.
(Click the picture to enlarge)
Amongst the errors:
Some examples of how this year’s federal benefits our local community includes:
There’s a missing “budget” in there.
This builds upon the $36.7 billion on personal tax cuts
I’m sure that’s supposed to read “of personal tax cuts”.
A commitment of $58.8 million to improve Constitution Avenue and the Russell roundabout will workers heading toFyswick and the Russell defence complex.
I could have been certain that Fyshwick had a “h” in it…unless Troy knows of a new secret suburb. The rest of the sentence is also quite interesting.
Both the University of Canberra and the ANU will benefit from the $5 billion Higher Education Endowment Fund that will finances new research facilities.
But will it finances me?
A $103 million program will provide risk assessments and treatments for those at high risk of developing type Type 2 diabetes.
“type Type 2 diabetes”? That must be a new medical condition.
The real question here is, how can I trust someone who doesn’t bother to check his own mass mail outs for errors, to run the country and not make such fundamental errors whilst doing so?
I am forwarding a copy of this article to Troy Williams and will invite him to comment.
Update: Troy Williams was courteous enough to comment about an hour after I sent him an email. Troy’s reply is in my view very reassuring, as he appears to be very interested in the concerns, no matter how trivial, of the people in his electorate. Troy’s reply follows:
Dear Samuel
Thanks for your e-mail and the problem was identified immediately after distribution. The problem was at the technical end when a draft was sent to print rather than the approved version and as a consequence we have reviewed processes.
I have received considerable and favourable feedback from this brochure and others, largely indicating that it has been the message and not the vehicle that remains important. The reality is that many in our community are sick of being taken for granted by the current Labor member who suddenly becomes active in an election year, then goes quiet for the following years. One person dubbed him the “Missing Member for Fraser” due to his inactivity.
There are serious issues to be debated in this election and I welcome your participation in this debate.
It’s now official, Melbourne Cup Day is a public holiday in Canberra, and has been named “Family and Community Day”.
Needless to say I am bitterly disappointed by this, and will be writing a letter to the MLA responsible for this travesty, Andrew Barr, to express my disappointment.
I’m not going to repeat my reasons for being disappointed about this right now, but I made them very clear in an editorial I wrote in April.
There appears to be some rather large and interesting storm activity around the Canberra region at the moment. The weather radar indicates that there is plenty of storm activity heading towards Canberra with some rather heavy rain to accompany it.
The storms also appear to have somewhat more powerful lightning strikes than usual, as they are completely disrupting AM radio signals rather than merely adding some crackle to them.
Update: Apparently the vast majority of the storm affected areas from Gungahlin through to Goulburn (and probably west towards Tumut). The Gungahlin Weather Centre has some interesting photos of the hail at http://www.gungahlinweather.com/photos/photography.htm End Update
Here is a letter I have delivered to Ainslie Primary School for Julie Mayhew, one of my music teachers during primary school. I’ll let the letter explain the story.
Dear Ms. Julie Mayhew,
I don’t know if you remember me or not, but I was one of your students during my primary school years from 1993 to 1999, and I certainly remember you.
I am writing to you today to congratulate you on the Highly Commended honour you received in the 2007 National Awards for Excellence in School Music Education, it was very pleasing to hear that you are still teaching music, and even more pleasing to find out that you won, or to be more precise, earned an award for doing so.
I was listening to the 6am news on 2CC a couple weeks ago when the news first came through, and I remember thinking when they introduced the story “I wonder if this is a teacher that I know?” When I heard the rest of the story and heard that it was about you, I jumped straight on the phone, and expressed my congratulations to you during 2CC’s breakfast show.
As I think back to the annoying little rascal of a kid I was during primary school, I find it hard to believe that anyone found the patience to teach me…that, coupled with the fact that you were (and obviously still are) a brilliant music teacher, makes me incredibly pleased that you have received this recognition of your work.
I congratulate you on this award, and your magnificent efforts in teaching music, and I wish you all the best for the future.
I’m also privileged to be able to bring to you a report on the party WIN held for Peter following the bulletin, filed a short time ago by former WIN, and now 2GB, reporter James Goodwin, for which I thank him immensely.
At the end of the bulletin, past and present colleagues filled the WIN boardroom to reminiscence and share a drink with Peter. Channel 7’s Samantha Armitage and former weather presenter Tony Lynas were among those who flew in especially for the event.
There were a few brief speeches, New South Wales News Director Stella Lauri thanked Peter for his commitment to WIN, Jessica Good spoke on everyone’s behalf when she said how much she’d miss Peter, and Peter’s long-time on-air partner Phil Small had everyone laughing with his witty speech, peppered with many “in-jokes”.
Peter was overwhelmed by the number of people who came to wish him all the best in his retirement, and spoke with affection about the “terrific people he’s worked with”.
One of the highlights of the night was turning on the television in the boardroom and watching the ABC news and then Stateline. People were speechless when Stateline opened with Peter in the chair and saying “Hello and welcome to Stateline, I’m Peter Leonard”. It was all a friendly joke and a nice tribute to Peter. The laughs continued when Peter threw to a story “about me”.
One of Peter’s farewell gifts was the original WIN Television flag that flew in front of the Kingston studio. By the end of the night the flag was filled with everyone’s signatures and well wishes.
As promised, here is a copy of the letter I will be delivering to WIN Television this afternoon (and hopefully be able to deliver to Peter Leonard in person).
Dear Mr. Peter Leonard,
I am writing to you to thank you for doing such a marvellous job as the newsreader on WIN News here in Canberra for as long as I can remember, and to wish you all the best in your retirement.
For as long as I can recall, you have been reading the news on WIN Television, and because of that you have been a constant and reliable part of my life.
News, as you know, is a vital part of our society, and relies on trustworthy people to deliver it. The fact that you have been warmly welcomed in to peoples’ homes every night for years is a testament to the trust and respect that people have in you. You have worked hard to earn that, and you deserve it.
I’m sure that very few of us will ever forget the way you, and the rest of the WIN News team, turned up at the WIN studios on the day of the devastating 2003 bushfires. None of you had to do this, but you did so because you all felt compelled to cover this terrible and extraordinary event, on a day that you weren’t even scheduled to be on the air.
Your commitment to delivering quality news and information to the Canberra and Queanbeyan community is something I greatly appreciate and thank you for, and I’m sure the rest of the community do as well.
I will greatly miss you. As I said, you have been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, however you truly deserve a wonderful retirement, and I wish you all the best for your retirement. I hope it is as relaxing and productive as you desire.
Canberra won’t be the same without you reading the news each night, however I’m sure that Jessica Good will continue the great tradition you have been a part of.
Incidentally, I had a conversation with your former 2CA colleague John Kerr on the weekend, during which I mentioned to him that you are retiring. He said that he would send you a message, however I know that John can sometimes forget these things, so in case he didn’t get around to sending you a message, I would like to let you know on his behalf that he also wishes you all the best in your retirement.
Thank you for everything you have done for this community, you have been, and always will be, one of my idols.
Your Sincerely, with the best possible wishes for the future,
As many of you would already be aware, WIN News’ Canberra newsreader Peter Leonard is retiring at the end of tonight’s news following 16 years with the station. WIN television are putting on a special news bulletin to farewell Peter, the basic format will be the same except the news after the first ad break will be replaced by the sport, and the usual sport slot will be replaced by the weather, and the normal weather slot will be replaced by a tribute to Peter.
Jessica Good will be taking over as the primary newsreader next week, however no weather presenter has been appointed. It is expected that Jessica will read the weather from the news desk.
That reminds me, I need to pass on a message to Peter from his former 2CA colleague, John Kerr.
ABC Canberra’s television weather presenter John Ringwood is also having his last bulletin tonight. Rumour has it that 2CN’s (666 ABC Canberra for those of you not familiar with the callsign) garden expert will take over as the weather presenter. That might sound odd, but considering that last night they presented a five minute editorial from federal political editor Jim Middleton as news, no change in that place would surprise me.
I met John Ringwood once outside the ABC studios in Dickson and we had a rather lengthy chat. He seems like a gentleman, and I wish him all the best for the future. (Apparently that will involve some parliamentary reporting…maybe he could replace Jim Middleton).
Incidentally, I’ve been informed that prior to moving to WIN Television, Peter Leonard was the weather presenter for the ABC…which makes tonight’s events even more interesting.
Also of interest, it’s 2GB news director Ian Ferguson’s last day with 2GB. He is moving to a senior role with Sky News. 2GB current affairs director Jason Morrison will take over as news director until a replacement for Mr. Ferguson is found.
Later today I will publish the letter I have written to Peter Leonard…I intend on delivering it to WIN’s studios in Griffith Kingston (why do I always get those two suburbs confused?) this afternoon.
Video Ezy in Weston Creek was robbed yesterday afternoon.
The report I have received indicates that the large male offender managed to barge through the locked front door of the store shortly after it closed for the day, whilst the two female shop attendants were finishing up their end of day procedures.
The offender got away with $225 in cash.
At present I don’t have a description of the offender other than him being rather large, and I normally wouldn’t report on such a robbery here, however the fact that the offender managed to barge through the locked front door of the Video Ezy store makes him potentially more dangerous than your average robber, and the story a lot more interesting.
Anyone with information is urged to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000
Update:
Here is the press release from ACT Police:
ACT Policing is investigating an armed robbery at the Video Ezy store in Weston last night (July 15) around 10pm.
The offender initially knocked on the door of the closed store requesting access to hire a movie. When the staff declined to let him in, he produced a knife and kicked the glass door, gaining access to the store.
The offender then threatened the two female staff members with the knife and demanded cash. He is described as male, Caucasian, approximately 30 years old, 168cms (5’6”) tall wearing a dark jumper and pants.
Witnesses last saw the offender leaving the area on a bicycle.
Police would urge anyone who may have seen this male in the Weston Creek area around the time of the offence, or who may know the identity of the offender to contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
2CC interrupted programming a short time ago to report that ACT Police have locked down and evacuated part of the suburb of Charnwood due to finding explosives in a house. I didn’t get all the details, but I’ll keep an ear out for further information.
Update 2:05pm: According to 2CC’s 2pm news, one person has been arrested and a dozen houses were evacuated in Saywell Place, Charnwood. End Update
I was going to run this story yesterday but never got around to it.
Daylight Saving in Canberra will be extended by a month, starting next year, according to a press release from Chief Turnip Stanhope (I reserve the right to dislike him).
Next year Daylight Saving will start on the first Sunday in October and end on the first Sunday in April the following year, which is an extension of about about a month (although the difference would be slightly different each year) over the current system where it starts on the last Sunday in October and ends on the last Sunday in March.
This will make Daylight Saving a bit more sensible as it will be closer to having an equal amount on both sides of the summer solstice.
I do have to wonder how much further it will be extended though. Will it eventually grow to the point where it exceeds half a year? Which would effectively cause our official timezone to be an hour ahead of its current location, and the non-Daylight Saving period to be called “Daylight Wasting?”
I hope it doesn’t grow again, although I fear that it is inevitable, and we will see it happen some time in the next decade.
A few weeks ago I was asked to help test a new Canberra based website, CanberraRoadWatch.com, so I had a poke around, did a bit of testing and provided some feedback. At that stage I didn’t know how close it was to public release, so I wasn’t entirely sure if my first impressions would still be accurate when the site was eventually ready to go live.
Yesterday I was informed that the site is now live, so I had another look. There have been a few modifications, but ultimately it is still much the same as it was when I was asked for feedback, which in my view is a good thing.
The website is essentially a “dob in a bad driver” site, something that has been done a few times before, but this one is different, mainly because it is by far the most straight-forward website of its type, and as the name implies, is focussed solely on Canberra. The main benefit here is that a simple website which focuses on one area is much easier for users to navigate the site and do whatever they need to do quickly and with minimal fuss, and without the burden of being inundated with information about people in cities on the other side of the country.
When you visit the website you are greeted by a short list of recent reports, and information on how to report an incident, plus links to a page where you can search for incidents involving certain number plates or locations, and another page where you can sign up to the CanberraRoadWatch monitoring service.
In many ways I think the monitoring service is probably the best feature of the site, especially for businesses with company car fleets (although as I’ve mentioned previously, the ACT Government’s car fleet seems to have been immunised against the road rules). The potential here for vehicle rental businesses is considerable.
Obviously the monitoring service has other uses too, such as monitoring the driving habits of new licensed teenagers, keeping tabs on people you lend your car to, and possibly even monitoring people you are investigating for whatever reason (hello private investigators…and perhaps ASIO).
I think the main benefit of this site is that people won’t want their car listed on there, so hopefully will behave sensibly…it may take them getting listed a few times, but with any luck, CanberraRoadWatch.com may help to make Canberra’s roads safer, and that can only be a good thing.
It’s that time of the year again when the debate over whether or not we should allow private use of fireworks in Canberra during the Queen’s Birthday Long Weekend manages to rears its ugly head. It’s a debate with extremes, and regardless of the outcome, a large number of people would not be happy.
I’m personally not a fan of fireworks, they don’t interest me and I don’t feel any need to play with them. The mass public displays (such as those seen on New Years Eve) also don’t particularly interest me. That being said, I don’t think banning fireworks is the right decision, many people like fireworks and use them responsibly, it’s the minority of people who don’t that are the problem.
As it happens, most of the concern over fireworks revolve around fireworks which are already illegal. It has been suggested that these fireworks which are illegal here, may be being imported from the Northern Territory where the restrictions aren’t as tight. A black market clearly exists for fireworks, and in my view banning private fireworks outright will only strengthen the black market. The problem may be reduced, but the problem, rather than being mostly confined to a few weeks each year would become a year-round problem.
Of course there is also the issue of people who are using fireworks relatively sensibly, but manage to set fire to nearby grass or bushland. This stretched the fire brigade to the limit on the weekend. A solution has been suggested for that as well, and that is that the government should designate various places (such as public ovals) as firework zones, and ban them everywhere else. You could then have the fire brigade and ambulance on standby at these venues.
The idea has some merit, it would certainly reduce the strain on the emergency services and may even turn the fireworks into a more interesting community event than the current situation where everyone lets off their own fireworks in isolation. The issue with this plan is insurance. The government, by sanctioning places as fireworks zones, would invent an insurance issue, and naturally the cost of insuring such an event would be quite considerable due to the risk involved. Sadly all it would take is one idiot burning their arm or injuring a child and the whole idea would come crashing down.
If you can’t limit the fireworks like that, you could have a public display and ban private fireworks. It solves a lot of problems, much like an outright ban would, but it brings with it the same black market issues. I wouldn’t rule out a public display as an option, but it would be a bit superfluous seeing as banning private fireworks isn’t overly practical.
The option that I like is a better regulated option. Rather than having the fireworks on sale in every business that can be bothered getting a permit, for the entire week before the long weekend, you restrict it to a handful of specialist fireworks importers, and only allow them to sell the fireworks on the day that fireworks will be allowed. Then you restrict the fireworks to one night between 6pm-10pm, and only allow people who have applied for (and received) a permit purchase the fireworks, and then only in regulated quantities. The restrictions may seem onerous, but in my view, it would be the best way to stop the overly abundant abuse of fireworks. You could still have a public display on another night under these circumstances.
The fact of the matter is that for the next few weeks people will continue to let off fireworks, either because they innocently have some left over, or deliberately purchased too many fireworks so they would have plenty left over. Catching these people is nearly impossible due to the fact that once they let off the fireworks they scamper, and the police have no way of finding them.
The current system isn’t ideal, and I don’t think an outright ban is either, but I think the compromise solution I have suggested here would be a reasonable compromise for both extremes of the annual argument.
1.45pm WTF? We had the whole office outside in the cold mate, very unimpressed….. Whats the story samual?
Well, 1:45pm was accurate when I left for Mt. Ainslie…unfortunately the time blew out to about 2:15. There were an awful lot of very cold people on the top of Mount Ainslie, and worse yet, due to the altitude of the plane, it looked just like any other plane to the naked eye.
That being said, the cameras picked it up pretty well, and Channel Nine (who seemed to be the only television station up there) may have some good footage on their news bulletin tonight.
I’ve cropped those images so that you can actually see the plane without squinting, however you can get a slightly larger version if you click on them.
As quickly as the plane came, it went again. One quick lap of Canberra was all we got. Mind you, it was that far behind schedule that it’s probably not even back in Sydney yet.
So, to all of you who froze because I was relaying the 1:45pm time, I apologise…I hope you have a heater nearby, I know I need one.
