Yesterday I reported that it was Rob Elliott’s birthday, during that report I mentioned something about it being hard to find videos and/or photos of him on the Internet at the moment…this was a brainfade, and Malcolm made sure I knew all about it with this short email
Rob Elliott Videos……….YouTube
Thanks Malcolm! A search on YouTube for Wheel Of Fortune proved quite fruitful, and I now have photos and videos of Rob Elliott at his best, hosting “Australia’s favourite game show (cue audience) Wheel…Of…Fortune!”
First up here we have Rob Elliott introducing contestants on a 1997 “Celebrity Week” episode of Wheel, the contestants are Ross ??? (anybody know who he is?), Tempany Deckert (Selina Cook/Roberts on Home and Away) and Andrew Daddo (various Channel Seven gameshows and lifestyle programs, currently a reporter for The Great Outdoors). I don’t know what the person who uploaded this video was thinking, they’ve split it in half and cut off the start of the show, and the part of the second round.
None the less, this shows what a fantastic compere Rob Elliott is.
And here’s part two!
We also have a poor quality video of Rob Elliott in March 2000 giving away a major prize with the mystery wedge…notice the nice set? I think it was their best.
I did promise photos…well they’re just screenshots from the video, but they might as well be photos.
Rob Elliott always came across as a jolly, happy man
Rob Elliott with Tempany Deckert
Rob Elliott with “Ross”, Tempany Deckert, Andrew Daddo and the Wheel Of Fortune (Update January 31, 2012: Reader Phil has informed me by email that the “Ross” in this picture is Ross Higgins, known for his role as Ted Bullpit in ‘Kingswood Country’ and as the voice of Louie The Fly, among other roles. Thanks Phil! End Update)
Yep, I’d be giving them odd looks too Rob.
I hope you had a great birthday Rob…what are you doing these days anyway?
It just keeps getting worse for the embattled Department of Immigration…this time they’ve managed to delete just over 4,900 records of Australian citizens currently travelling overseas, effectively locking them out of the country until the data can be manually re-entered from paper.
Sources inside the Department of Immigration have informed me (and subsequently verified) that the records were lost late last week during routine staff training. Staff were being trained in the use of a system for managing records of Australians who are currently overseas (and possibly others), and were using dummy records for training. Near the end of the day, on a day late last week, the Immigration official supervising the training went home, leaving a mostly trained trainer in charge. Sometime around 5:10pm one of the trainees entered some data incorrectly and asked the trainer for assistance, the trainer advised them to press the delete key, the trainee subsequently queried this advice by asking “are you sure?”, to which the trainer said “yes, press the delete key”.
According to sources, when the delete key is pressed on this system it does not ask for confirmation, and pops up a message when it has completed the task. On this occasion it is believed that the cursor was in the wrong location because the system whirred away for a little while before popping up a message stating that it had successfully deleted 4900 or so records…unfortunately very few of those were dummy records, and most of them were real records, and without them, people in those records are unable to re-enter the country.
“What about backups?” I hear you ask…this system doesn’t have them…apparently it is a deterrent to people playing around with the system…more like a very tempting chaos creator if you ask me.
Immigration are working on restoring the deleted data from other systems and from paper at the moment, no disciplinary action is likely as this was a genuine accident, but procedures are being reviewed.
It is unknown how many people have been affected as they attempted to re-enter the country.
ACTION management have decided to go back to the drawing board over their proposed driver shift changes. The move comes amidst credible rumours of sudden and surprise strike action being planned by the Transport Workers Union.
ACTION management had proposed a system based mainly on split shifts, which would have seen a large reduction in the number of middle-of-the-day bus services, and a drastic increase in the number of hours bus drivers spend at work. The shifts were rejected by drivers at a recent stop-work meeting, but ACTION management stubbornly refused to accept no for an answer, and subsequently offered the same shifts on a non-negotiable basis.
The Transport Workers Union and ACTION bus drivers were understandably annoyed at this, and credible sources inside ACTION claim that the Transport Workers Union were planning a surprise and sudden strike, to take place this morning. This would have involved TWU officials blocking the depot gates, and turning drivers away as they arrive for work, effectively stopping all bus services for the day. This plan is unconfirmable due to the very nature of the rumoured industrial action, which has previously been suggested publicly, and drivers subsequently threatened with fines equivalent to multiple days pay if they carried out the action.
It is believed that ACTION management got wind of the rumours, and decided to retract the shifts and negotiate with the TWU. At approximately 2:30pm yesterday, an announcement was broadcast to drivers via ACTION’s two-way radio system that the shifts had been withdrawn, and negotiations were continuing.
The proposed shifts would have seen the majority of drivers on split-shifts, where they would have been expected to be at work by 6 or 7am, drive busses until about 10am, then sit around at the depot for a couple hours just in case there was “special” work to be done, this would then be followed by an unpaid break of a couple hours, and then drivers would be expected to drive until about 6pm or later. This would have the effect of ruining ACTION’s family-friendly atmosphere, and pose a safety risk with drivers being required to be awake for more hours in the day. It would also have slashed middle-of-the-day services (ie. 9:30am-3pm) to the bone, stranding the people who rely on the bus services for transport, especially elderly people and shift workers.
Drivers may also have been alternated between day time split shifts, and night shifts, a move which may have resulted in even more driver fatigue as drivers may have struggled to adjust to constantly changing rosters.
Under the proposed changes, Flexibus (known here as Flexichaos) would have been replaced with normal route services, possibly the only sensible move in the proposed changes.
At this stage it is unclear what the 6 person ACTION management comittee (who have replaced former CEO Peter Wallace, and apparently have never been bus drivers) will come up with in their next offer.
As I write this, we are only seven short hours away from the exact monent, five years on, that the first plane hit the World Trade Centre in New York, on a fateful day which has since been known as 9/11.
On this particular occasion, I have decided to hold all the posts which I had planned, and instead post this tribute to the victims of 9/11. I have deicded to have a special 9/11 Musicians Of The Week award, as I think The Seekers, and their song “We Shall Not Be Moved” are a fitting tribute to all who were killed, injured, or otherwise affected by the terrible events of 9/11.
On this day of reflection, I wish all of the survivors all the best, and mourn for those who did not survive.
Samuel
Well I’m on my way to heaven,
We shall not be moved.
On our way to heaven
We shall not be moved,
Just like a tree that’s standin’ by the water side,
We shall not be moved.
We shall not, we shall not be moved.
We shall not, we shall not be moved.
Just like a tree that’s standin’ by the water side
We shall not be moved.
Well we’re on that road to freedom,
We shall not be moved.
On that road to freedom
We shall not be moved,
Just like a tree that’s standin’ by the water side,
We shall not be moved.
We’re brothers together,
We shall not be moved.
We’re brothers together,
We shall not be moved.
Just like a tree that’s standin’ by the water side
We shall not be moved.
Lord, we shall not, we shall not be moved.
We shall not, we shall not be moved.
Just like a tree that’s standin’ by the water side
We shall not be moved.
Lord, we’re on our way to heaven,
We shall not be moved.
Lord, on that way to heaven
We shall not be moved,
Just like a tree that’s standin’ by the water side,
We shall not be moved.
We shall not, we shall not be moved.
Oh, we shall not, we shall not be moved.
Just like a tree that’s standin’ by the water side
(Whoa, just like a tree that’s standin’ down by the water side)
We shall not be moved.
Original Story 3:07pm
2CC have just broken the news (citing Sky News as a source) that motor racing legend Peter Brock has been killed in a racing accident.
More news as it comes to hand.
Samuel
Update: 3:13pm
Still unconfirmed, but more details, apparently the car hit a tree and knocked it down. Brock had a co-driver, condition unknown. End Update
Update: 3:30pm
2CC news is reporting that police have confirmed the death. News conference shortly. End Update
Update: 4:06pm
Looks like it is all confirmed now…I do have to wonder what will happen to the “have lunch with Peter Brock” competition that some shed company has been running during their television advertisements…I hope they pull the ads quick smart.
2CC’s 4PM news confirmed beyond all reasonable doubt that Peter Brock has died in a single vehicle accident and his co-driver is in a stable condition. I’ll let news.com.au fill in the other details (I just wish they would stop using the 3:05pm timestamp on their article…their first note appeared at 3:07, and the latest update was much later than that.
MOTOR racing champion driver Peter Brock has been killed in a racing accident in Western Australia.
The Confederation of Australian Motor Sport (CAMS) said in a statement the accident occurred at about 1.50pm (AEST).
Sixty-one-year-old Brock’s co-driver, believed to Mick Hone, has been taken to hospital in a stable condition. CAMS said it will conduct a full investigation into the incident.
In the meantime, CAMS and event officials are working with the relevant civil authorities.
“On behalf of the motor sport community, CAMS offers its sincere sympathy to Peter’s family and many friends,” the statement said.
Targa West is a tarmac special stage rally.
Brock was a dominant figure in Australian motor sport, winning the Bathurst 1000, Australia’s most prominent domestic motorsport event, a total of nine times through the 1970s and 80s.
He won six Bathurst 1000 wins in seven years, including his victory in the 1979 event, which he won by a record six laps.
He retired from full-time driving in 1997.
Since 1997, he had made two return visits to Bathurst in 2002 and 2004 and returned to top-level touring car racing as a team owner of “Team Brock” in 2002 in the V8 Supercar category.
A year later he sold his share in the team to Kees Weel.
In recent years, he occasionally competed in various motorsport events such as the Targa Tasmania.
John Stanley just announced on 2UE that the Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, has died after being stung in the chest by a stingray, whilst filming an underwater show of some sort.
I suppose an accident was bound to happen eventually, but this is sad and tragic news none the less.
Rest In Peace Steve
Update: The Courier Mail has the following to say:
Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin dead
September 04, 2006 02:14pm
Article from: The Courier-Mail
THE Crocodile Hunter, Steve Irwin, is dead.
He was killed in a freak accident in Cairns, police sources said. It is understood he was killed by a sting-ray barb that went through his chest.
He was swimming off the Low Isles at Port Douglas filming an underwater documentary and that’s when it occured.
Ambulance officers confirmed they attended a reef fatality this morning at Batt Reef off Port Douglas.
2UE have also added that he was 44 years old, and was pronounced dead upon arrival to hospital. End Update
I didn’t hear it myself, but I received a phone call from a reliable source around 9:40 informing me that John B1_B5 spoke to Tim Webster (who if filling in for Lawsie) on the John Laws Morning Show at around 9:10.
Congratulations to Charity (one of John Kerr’s and Stuart Bocking’s listeners, and also an occasional submitter of Friday Funnies) and her fiance Steve on the birth of their first baby, a girl by the name of Crystalee.
Crystalee was born early on the morning of Wednesday August 30.
The fuss and hooplah about swooping magpies which always seems to rear its head at this time of the year never ceases to amaze me.
Admittedly magpies do swoop other creatures which they perceive as a threat, but it is worthwhile looking at it from the magpie’s point of view. The magpie is a parent, it is raising children (baby magpies), and the area surrounding the tree containing the nest is the magpie’s territory. Most of the creatures which pass by the tree are of little concern as they don’t appear to pose a threat, but some do, for one reason or another, register as a threat to the magpie.
One magpie near where I work will swoop cyclists, but not pedestrians or cars or umbrellas or dogs or anything else…just cyclists. One can only assume that this magpie was, at some stage, nearly run over by a cyclist, and now perceives bicycles as a threat.
This behaviour is recognised in the academic community…Andy, in a comment over at The RiotACT, explains this quite nicely. (It’s just a pity that the article the comment is attached to insinuates that ABC Local Radio had the news of Liberal MLA Vicky Dunne’s concerns about the effect budget cuts will have on magpies first at midday on Wednesday, when in fact 2CC had the news on Tuesday).
magpies learn… some post grad, or somethin, at CSU, demonstrated with a couple of people. they’d walk through a magpies territory, and just keep goin.
the other guy, he’d eye off the magpie, and seem threatening to it.
3 years later, same group of people, magpie continued to attack the guy that was threatening, but not the other ones.
I know that there are quite a few magpies in the area where I live, and I am always courteous towards them. If they are walking around on the grass, I will walk on the other side of the footpath and give a pleasant “hello” to the magpies. If I am taking Nattie for a walk in an area where there are magpies, I will keep her away from them.
The way the magpies begin to trust people is quite noticeable, there are magpies near where I live who will move away from many people, but will not be in the least bit bothered if I am walking close to them.
I have never been swooped by a magpie.
In most cases, if you are swooped by a magpie, it is worthwhile thinking about your own behaviour…do the magpies flutter and fly away when you walk past them? do you ride a bicycle near magpies? Of course, in some cases the magpies are just being overly territorial, but in most cases, there is some justification for their actions. They feel threatened for some reason, and feel a need to protect their children.
Magpies live in urban areas because we built our urban areas on their native habitat…we don’t have to give the land back to them (that would just be stupidity), but we should be courteous towards them and try to understand why they do the things they do.
Magpies are lovely birds, they deserve our respect and courtesy.
In semi-related news, I would like to publically congratulate and thank John Laws for providing a voice over to the RSPCA in their latest series of television advertisements, featuring a sad little busking dog.
Ye gods, it’s a year since John Laws turned 70…a whole year…how is that possible? Who sped up the calendar?
Anyway, Lawsie is 71 years old today, so happy birthday Lawsie!
Last year, when Lawsie turned 70, I tried to ring in to wish him a happy birthday, but I was about the 750,000th person to call in so they (Lawsie’s producers) added my name to a list of well-wishers, I also sent him a birthday card. I remember I spent most of the morning listening to Lawsie, I even sent him an email. John Williamson also dropped in to Lawsie’s studio to sing a few songs.
I remember walking across the Dickson Playing Fields about a week after Lawsie’s birthday, and people were still greeting him with birthday messages when they rang up to talk to him.
I’ll be at work for most of Lawsie’s show, but I remembered to send John a birthday email…I sent this at 2:36am whilst listening to Lawsie’s former exectutive producer Stuart Bocking, who is now the host of New Day Australia.
Happy 71st birthday Lawsie,
I can’t believe it is a whole year since your last birthday…I remember where I was when John Williamson invaded the studio, and where I was when I left a birthday message with one of your producers.
I hope you have a great day John, and I hope that back of yours isn’t causing you too many problems these days.
Later this week I’ll be completing another photographic tour of the Section 84 developments, but before I do that, I have some interesting information. It would appear that the Canberra Centre section of the developments are nearing completion, and various stores are moving in, and having utilities set up.
I have it on good authority that JB Hifi will be moving from their current location near the Civic Bus Interchange, into a new store in the Section 84 developments.
Also, it would appear that the stores in the City Markets will start moving into the new section in September or October.
Also, those of you who happen to use the Canberra Centre car park, you might like to know that the main office on level one, above the City Markets, has moved about twenty metres. The move was completed over the weekend.
Stay tuned, more information and photos are coming a bit later in the week.
This morning at 9:30 the Reserve Bank Of Australia will announce their decision on interest rates, their decision, according to analysts, is most likely to see a rise of 25 basis points (0.25% for the humans amongst us)…but I doubt we will see this.
In my view, the citizens of this country are having a hard enough time managing their finances without the reserve bank adding an extra cost to everything. The ever increasing price of petrol and produce (amongst other things) are causing many prices to go up, and this is putting too much pressure on the economy for the Reserve Bank to put rates up.
Putting rates up is a move the Reserve Bank can use when we are spending too much money, not when we can’t spend any more.
I suppose it is up to the Reserve Bank, and somebody from there is smirking right now as they read this, as the decision was taken yesterday, but if they want the tabloid affairs television programs to have a field day with “The bank stole my house and forced me to live in their basement” stories, then that is their choice.
I won’t be near a radio when Lawsie makes the announcement at 9:30 (probably by crossing to a reporter), but I should find out around 11am when I have a break from work.
It has certainly been interesting to watch the latest middle east crisis develop on the news from all the way over here in Australia, but it is even more interesting to here directly from people in the middle of it all over in Israel.
This week’s You Are The Guest podcast (episode 49) is an absolute “must listen” for anybody who wants a better understanding of the current conflict, or just wants to hear about what’s happening from people who are right there on the spot, and have lived there for many years.
This week Bill Grady interviews Charley and Carol from Israelisms Podcast, and it is compelling listening. If you listen carefully you can hear some fighter jets flying overhead around the 26 minute mark.
The show notes from Bill Grady:
Charley and Carol from Israelisms Podcast are back and give us an amazing insight to what is going on in Israel during the current war with Hezbollah. You’ll find out what your not seeing when you watch the American and international news networks, who’s is covering the war the best and who is the worst. Charley and Carol also describe how worthless the U.N. is, what everyday life is like since the war started, how they see the connection between Hezbollah, Syria and Iran, and why you shouldn’t be considered a civilian if you have bombs in your basement. Charley and Carol also have a special message for Americans and to our listeners around the world. Charley and Carol ask me what is my favorite rock group of all-time, what daytime talk show host I would like to interview, and who I thought did the best news interviews.
I’ve received an interesting tipoff from an extremely reliable source…it would appear that ASIO (The Australian Security Intelligence Organisation) recently apprehended a man they suspect of emailing bomb threats from a Canberra Internet Cafe.
My source had this to say:
recently a man was apprehended in the Barracks for emailing bomb threats to places regarding him wanting Big Brother to be taken off the air
I will stress that at this stage it is only alleged that the aprehended man emailed bomb threats, also for those of you who don’t know, The Barracks is a LAN Games/Internet Cafe in Civic.
I suspect that this was a lengthy operation by ASIO as it would be very odd for them to just swoop suddenly and catch somebody after a single email. Hopefully the operation has proven to be worthwhile.
Regular readers would know that I’m not a fan of Big Brother, but I respect the right of others to watch and enjoy it, and I strongly denounce the alleged acts of the apprehended man.
