Posts filed under 'General News'
New copyright laws are set to be passed in Australia which will legelly allow people to copy music to MP3 players, record television and radio programmes, and even dub VHS tapes on to DVD, provided that it is done for personal use.
The changes would also grant more copying powers to educational facilities for non-commercial use.
news.com.au has more on the story.
Home recordings to be made legal
From: The Sunday Telegraph
Linda Silmalis
May 14, 2006
MUSIC fans will be able to legally record their CD collections onto iPods and MP3 players under a raft of proposed changes to Federal Government copyright laws.
Taping TV and radio programs and using copyright material for parody or satire will also be legalised as part of the reforms.
And in a move expected to be welcomed by artists, the Government plans to introduce new enforcement measures to combat piracy.
The changes are part of a major overhaul of copyright laws to be announced today by Attorney-General Philip Ruddock in response to millions of Australians who effectively break the law every time they reproduce copyright material for personal use.
The key changes relate to the recording of copyright material from CDs, audio tapes or vinyl records onto an MP3 player or home computer.
Under existing laws, people copying material risked being sued by the copyright owner.
For someone who had copied their entire CD collection onto an MP3 player, the damages could, theoretically, be in the thousands.
The reforms will also mean people can legally dub old VHS cassettes onto a DVD. However, the Government is still reviewing whether to extend the exemption to recording DVDs onto other devices.
Other exemptions will relate to the use of copyright material for non-commercial purposes by schools, universities and libraries.
The Government wants to crack down on those who are using the material to make a profit or causing significant losses by distributing other people’s property.
The new penalties will include on-the-spot fines, while the Government will also make it easier to establish copyright piracy in legal cases.
UPDATE 5:10PM:
The announcement has been made, and seems to be more or less what was said above, however one thing stands out at me, and that is that the statutory cap on licence fees for recordings played on the radio has been removed. I haven’t checked the exact details of this, but if it is as it sounds, then this will mean radio stations may face higher costs. Whether or not advertisers will be willing to cover the excess is a mystery.
From The Age:
Govt eases digital copyright laws
May 14, 2006 – 5:49AM
Australians can legally record TV and radio programs and transfer material from compact discs to mp3 players under new copyright reforms.
Federal Attorney-General Philip Ruddock said the significant copyright reforms would make laws fairer for consumers and tougher on copyright pirates.
“Copyright is important and should be respected,” Mr Ruddock said.
“That is why the government is updating our laws to keep pace with technology.”
Under the new laws, it will now be legal for people to tape their favourite television or radio programs for viewing by family and friends.
But recordings must not be sold or hired nor played at school or to public audiences.
“These are commonsense amendments which will maintain Australia’s copyright laws as the best in the world for the benefit of our creators and other copyright owners,” Mr Ruddock said.
The reforms also legalise format-shifting of material including music, newspapers and books onto iPods or mp3 players.
Copyright material also will be able to be used for parody or satire.
Mr Ruddock said the laws would provide new enforcement measures to combat copyright piracy including on-the-spot fines, proceeds of crime remedies, a change in presumptions in litigation to make it easier to establish copyright piracy.
“Everyday consumers shouldn’t be treated like copyright pirates,” Mr Ruddock said.
The government also has removed the statutory cap on licence fees paid by radio broadcasters for using sound recordings.
“There is no reason why a statute should determine what the rate should be for music played on the radio,” Mr Ruddock said.
The Phonographic Performance Company of Australia (PPCA), which represents Australian recording artists and record labels, welcomed the new reforms.
PPCA chief executive Stephen Peach said the government should be congratulated on the decision to allow recording artists fairer returns on their music.
“We have felt strongly for some time that artists and labels were not receiving a fair return from commercial radio,” Mr Peach said.
Samuel
May 14th, 2006 at 02:01pm
As Australians would almost certainly be aware, and people overseas probably aware of as well, trapped tasmanian miners Brant Webb and Todd Russell have been rescued. In total they spent 14 nights underground in a small cage, and remarkably were able to walk out of the mine, with beards being the only obvious sign of their time underground. Lawsie made the comment this morning that it looked like they had just done a normal day of work.
The amazing skills of the rescue team (which consisted partially of other miners) should be praised for the amazing work that they did. Certainly it took some time, but that was a minor concern after they managed to get a supply tube through to them. The supply tube gave them virtually as much time as they needed to safely get through the rock, without unduly risking the lives of Brant and Todd.
Brant and Todd were in high spirits when they left the mine, and even “clocked off” on the mine’s status board. They are expected to be able to attend the funeral of fellow miner Larry Knight later today.
I know the point I’m about to raise is a minor issue, which is why I have left it to the end of the article, but just as I said to Mike Jeffreys on-air at 8:07am, I would like to thank 2CC for delaying the 6am news so that they could continue their live coverage of Brant and Todd coming out of the mine. I was very pleased to hear this, and I think it shows a healthy committment providing news when it happens, regardless of what the schedule might say they are supposed to be doing.
Samuel
May 9th, 2006 at 10:06am
Chuck A. Spear has sent in another song which starts out as another remix of the original Samuel’s Persiflage intro, and turns into a song. It’s not really my style, but I thank Chuck for the effort and hope that some of you enjoy it.
Samuel
May 8th, 2006 at 11:59am
It is 7:15AM, which means Melbourne was in the midst of radio history exactly one week ago when 3AW changed frequency from 1278kHz to 693kHz. The changover was (apparently) done by AFL legend Ron Barassi by flicking a large yellow switch on the top of a big black box with wires attached.
Unfortunately I fear that the switch was more of a press event than anything else, as the changeover semi-occured before the switch was flicked. Here is what was heard on 1278kHz
Ross Stevenson: “Throw that switch”
(Sound effect)
Ross Stevenson: “Ross Stevenson”
John Burns: “John Burns”
Ross Stevenson: “Welcome you to the new age on 6-9-3”
Whilst on 693kHz the following took place
Ann Gilding: “You know Andy there’s just one thing I’d like to do, just one more time before we move to 1278”
Andrew McLaren: “I hate to think Ann”
Ann Gilding: “Can we play a Magic 693 jingle just one more time?”
(Magic 693 Jingle)
(Silence)
Ross Stevenson: “Throw That Swi…”
(Silence)
Ross Stevenson: “Ross Stevenson”
John Burns: “John Burns”
Ross Stevenson: “Welcome you to the new age on 6-9-3”
None the less, the changeover was interesting, and the technicians obviously only had one chance to get it right. If it had been me I would have tried to get 3AW on 693kHz starting with the sound effect. I suspect they did too, but not to worry, it all worked out in the end.
Magic 693 ended with the song they came to life with, “Magic Moments” by Perry Como. The man who played the song when Magic first went to air, Artie Stevens, said that “it was a significant thing to finish with”.
With thanks to Robert “Wombat Lover” I am able to bring you some audio of the changeover.
Firstly we have the last minutes of Magic 693, the changeover, and the first minutes of 3AW 693 (10 minutes 13 seconds, 4.3MB, Click here to download)
Next up we have the first topical discussion on 3AW 693, a discussion about the Fremantle V St. Kilda inaudible siren fiasco, and the first 3AW news on 693, which features a story about the changeover, including the audio from the 1278 version of the changeover. (9 minutes 45 seconds, 4.1MB, Click here to download)
Magic 1278 came to life, not at 10am as promised, but at 10:05:16 when the ad break between the 3AW news and the Magic 1278 weather started, the Magic 1278 weather started at 10:06:01, and the Magic 1278 intro featuring a potted history of Magic 693/1278 and Olivia Newton John’s “Magic” started at 10:06:37. The download for this features 3AW using Auld Lang Syne as their goodbye to 1278kHz, 3AW News, the Magic 1278 intro and the Magic breakfast hosts dropping in on the morning host for a little chat. (17 minutes 15 seconds, 7.2MB, Click here to download)
So there you have it folks, Australian radio history recorded on Samuel’s Blog, and therefore the National Library of Australia’s PANDORA archive.
The final radio ratings containing Magic 693 and 3AW 1278 is due out tomorrow (the survey period ended on the Saturday prior to the changeover), and the first ratings containing Magic 1278 and 3AW 693 is due out on Tuesday, June 20 (the survey period started yesterday), and I will endeavour to bring you both.
Samuel
May 8th, 2006 at 07:15am
It is 7:15AM, which means Melbourne is in the midst of radio history. Melbourne’s two Southern Cross Broadcasting radio stations, 3AW and Magic (3EE), are swapping frequencies.
(Update 9/May/2006: Google seems to be directing people to this page, so I should probably inform you that you can find audio of the changeovers on 1278 and 693 on this page)
Right now at 7:15AM, Melbourne’s top rating radio station, 3AW, is operating on two frequencies, its old 1278kHz and its new 693kHz, whilst Magic (3EE) has temporarily disappeared. At 10AM, Magic (formerly of 693kHz) will take over the 1278kHz frequency, leaving 3AW on 693kHz, effectively completing the changeover.
So, 3AW was:
And is now:
Whilst Magic was:
And is now:
(Thanks to Chuck A. Spear for his assistance with the new 3AW logo, but they came good on their website so I used their larger version).
This probably has everybody outside Melbourne thoroughly confused, why on earth would Southern Cross Broadcasting want to fiddle with frequencies? Well allow me to explain.
The higher end of the AM spectrum is, for one reason or another (perhaps John B1_B5 can enlighten us here), more susceptible to electromagnetic interference, and as such, 1278kHz is virtually inaudible in areas of Melbourne’s CBD, and at various locations where reception is extremely important, such as the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for their AFL coverage, whilst 693kHz is easy to receive everywhere. As such, it makes much more sense to move Melbourne’s top rating radio station to a frequency where it can be heard everywhere, and move a dwindling station to the less useful frequency.
Thankfully this isn’t a surprise to anybody who has paid any attention to Melbourne media in the last month or two, as it has been advertised and promoted quite heavily, with 3AW being given prominence (probably due to its popularity). One such example would be this press advertisement.
.
At midnight, both 3AW and Magic updated their websites. 3AW updated their logo and changed their flashing “we’re moving” graphic to a flashing “we’ve moved” graphic. Magic also updated their logo, and performed an update to the text on the front page of their site for the first time in a long time, making reference to a format change.
Magic 693 has entered a new and exciting phase in its history, shifting to 1278 on the AM dial.
From 10am Monday May 1st Magic 693 has become 1278 – The New Magic, playing The Best Songs of All Time.
This is our most significant change since the station launched on March 26th 1994, and we’re sure you will enjoy 1278 – The New Magic every bit as much as Magic 693.
Our new website is currently under construction with a host of new pages and features, and will be up and running in the very near future.
You can always tell that a station is having a format change when they use the word “New” to describe themselves.
3AW and Magic have also swapped open line numbers, with 3AW starting to use their new number during the AFL yesterday as a marketing tool to help advertise the frequency swap.
3AW talkback can now be reached on 96 900 693
Magic competitions can now be reached on 9696 1278
The frequency swap has the interesting effect of segmenting the Melbourne AM dial in a similar manner to the Sydney AM dial, with talk at the lower end and music at the higher end. This is the new AM lineup in Melbourne.
- ABC Radio National 621 (Talk)
- 3AW 693 (Talk)
- ABC Local Radio 774 (Talk)
- Sport 927 (Talk)
- ABC NewsRadio 1026 AM (Talk)
- SEN 1116 (Talk)
- Magic 1278 (Music)
- 3MP 1377 (Music)
I will offer some free advertising advice here, hopefully 3AW will consider it. The number “3” is perfect for this situation as it rhymes with the end a number of things related to the frequency swap, as such I am thinking that 3AW could have simplistic advertising along the lines of:
News and Entertainment on 3AW
Now in the CBD on 693
And also
3AW Football
MCG 693
This would work very well on voiceovers, especially the latter one if they were to set up a stand outside the MCG. I can just imagine them now, standing outside the MCG running a loop of promos before the game featuring highlights of their previous AFL coverage, each promo ending in “3AW Football…MCG 693”. They could even hand out frequency locked radios if they wanted to. I think I’ve just stumbled on the best way to promote their AFL coverage now that it can be heard at the MCG, I’ll be sure to send them an email suggesting it.
A slightly different phrase “3AW Football, at the G on 693” could be used during the commentary of AFL matches for the first weekend. Rex, Clinton & Tony would have no trouble slipping that one in.
This is history in the making, I am looking forward to hearing the recordings to see how the 7:15 changeover was handled by both stations, and how Magic resume at 10AM.
3AW’s website can be seen at 3aw.com.au
Magic’s website can be seen at Magic693.com.au, although they have registered Magic1278.com.au and will undoubtedly move in soon.
Samuel
May 1st, 2006 at 07:15am
Caz from The Spin Starts Here has announced her retirement from blogging. She says that she has made this decision because in the last few weeks she has
received some extremely nasty and threatening emails directed at my family – including my baby daughter. I have not published the contents of all of these communications, but let’s just say I have reason to be concerned by them.
Caz also says that
In the process an innocent woman has been targeted and “identified” as me on another site with “anonymous” folk people threatening to “pay her a visit”. I can’t tell you how disturbing that is – and I’ve had to contact the woman in question explaining what has happened and why she should be careful. Let’s hope she doesn’t think I’m a crackpot.
I doubt that anybody who has been on the receiving end of one of her campaigns (for lack of a better word) will be surprised that she receives threats, I personally (and half-heartedly) threatened her with a defamation lawsuit last year when there was an extensive campaign against me, and I can’t really say that I’m surprised that somebody snapped and started “real” threats, but the two are in very different categories, and the threats of physical violence are quite simply appalling.
I do think that Caz has brought this on herself to some extent by under estimating what enraged and annoyed people are capable of. Some of the things she has written have been quite nasty, vicious and demeaning, so I doubt that anybody can be honestly surprised that she has received a lot of hate mail, but there is an important difference between hate mail and threats of physical violence.
Let me take you back to the time when I was at the centre of her flamethrower of attention. A lot of nasty things were said about me, but they were only words. Sure it hurt for a while, but at the end of the day I realised that it wasn’t the end of the world, life would go on, and I would eventually leave the spotlight and carry on with my life. Ultimately this meant that somebody else would become the poor sod in the middle of her flamethrower, and that made me a bit nervous, as I realised that the entire purpose of her online presence was to annoy one person or another. Caz probably took things a bit too far, and she eventually landed on the inevitable person who would reach the end of their tether and do their best to inflict pain and misery upon her.
I’ll admit that I have had communications with people who are very annoyed with Caz, I think it comes with the territory…it’s just what happens when you’ve been “featured” on her site, it’s a club of sorts, but I have had no knowledge of any person actually threatening harm against her or her family, and if I had known about it I would have done what I could to prevent it.
No matter how nasty some of the things Caz wrote actually were, I don’t think she ever intended to make people feel miserable, she may have desired to portray it that way to her audience (in much the same way as Big Brother seems to drum up interest by having controversy), but I don’t think she ever intended to inflict misery. She was probably very naive to think that people would see it as a joke when they were on the receiving end, and it is probably a good thing that she is stopping, but I think it is agreeable that the means to the end were not desirable.
To explain my point more clearly, I will bring up something I don’t think I ever mentioned to anyone. Regular readers of her site might recall Troydanger having one of his phrases misinterpreted as a death threat against Caz’s baby late last year. Well following that Caz and Troydanger exchanged emails, and Troydanger informed Caz that I had received threats of physical violence after being featured on her site. After that, Caz sent me the following email:
Dear Samuel,
I don’t do this kind of thing every day, but I am writing to you to apologise if you have received any real threats as a result of my post on TSSH.
You may be aware that my baby received a death threat from Troydanger this week. After contacting him about this, he told us he had heard from you that you yourself have received such threats from TSSH readers. If this is the case I apologise as it was never my intention. It does not excuse Troy’s behaviour either though.
I have to say my opinion of you has changed since I wrote my original post. In the comments on that first thread that started everything, you came accross to me like one of the many radio wannabes we had hanging around when I worked at 2CC many years ago, who quite frankly were annoying. There was one boy at the time in particular – about your age – who used to come in all the time and would tell staff that he was “going to take my job away from me” etc. I thought you might be like this boy, but I was wrong. You seem to genuinely love 2CC. I honestly don’t understand why – they tend to treat staff similarly to what you have blogged about your previous employer doing to you – but so be it.
I would never have posted about you if you hadn’t put up that original post on your site, but I think it’s important for people to have a right of reply, as I am sure you would certainly agree. We were only taking the piss out of you to start with, and there was never meant to be any malice in that.
That being said, after reading your blog since then you have kind of grown on me, and you seem like a nice kid. I think you’ve handled everything really well and with maturity. The readers seem to love you too (most of them, but hey, not all of them like me either) and who would have thought you’d become a celebrity? I’ve never seen anything like it in the time I’ve been blogging. I don’t know about you, but when you get past the weirdness of it, it’s actually pretty cool that they can’t get enough Samuel.
If you’re ever in Melbourne (the Australian coffee capital) we’ll shout you a cup of the city’s finest.
Caz.
As I said earlier, Caz probably brought this all on herself to some extent, but that doesn’t excuse the threats of violence against her. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad that there won’t be anybody receiving her flamethrower ever again, but I think there would have been much better ways to sort this all out than to have people threatening Caz with physical violence.
I understand that quite a few of my readers will be surprised to see me semi-defend Caz, and I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you turn on me now, but I’ve been honest about my thoughts and feelings on this matter, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters.
Samuel
April 25th, 2006 at 09:54pm
Today is ANZAC Day, those of you within the countries that commemorate ANZAC Day will be well aware of its importance. Those of you who don’t might like to read the Wikipedia article about ANZAC Day.
I think the best way to briefly summarise what ANZAC Day is about is to bring you the opening paragraph of the Wikipedia article:
Australia and New Zealand commemorate the ANZAC Day public holiday on the 25th of April every year to honour the bravery and sacrifice of the members of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZAC), and of all those who served their country.
The poem “For The Fallen” (circa 1914) by Laurence Binyon is very appropriate for this occasion, and the fourth verse is usually read during ANZAC Day services.
With proud thanksgiving, a mother for her children,
England mourns for her dead across the sea.
Flesh of her flesh they were, spirit of spirit,
Fallen in the cause of the free.
Solemn the drums thrill: Death august and royal
Sings sorrow up into immortal spheres.
There is music in the midst of desolation
And a glory that shines upon our tears.
They went with songs to the battle, they were young,
Straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow.
They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted,
They fell with their faces to the foe.
They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
We will remember them.
They mingle not with laughing comrades again;
They sit no more at familiar tables of home;
They have no lot in our labour of the day-time;
They sleep beyond England’s foam.
But where our desires are and our hopes profound,
Felt as a well-spring that is hidden from sight,
To the innermost heart of their own land they are known
As the stars are known to the Night;
As the stars that shall be bright when we are dust,
Moving in marches upon the heavenly plain,
As the stars that are starry in the time of our darkness,
To the end, to the end, they remain.
May you all have a solemn and dignified ANZAC Day.
Update (11:07PM): Chuck A. Spear has sent in some photos of the dawn service in Melbourne. (Captions provided by Chuck)
Weary Dunlop. Looking fresh at 7am.
Dawn Service @ Shrine of Rememberance.
On my way to Gunfire Breakfast at Governor Generals.
Senator Stephen Fielding from Family First doing a video blog. I kept interrupting him so he had to start over about ten times.
Samuel
April 25th, 2006 at 01:43am
As you would probably be aware, Nattie & I went down to the lawns in front of Old Parliament House on Sunday morning for the final morning of the 2006 Canberra Balloon Fiesta. This was something Nattie & I had been planning on doing ever since the “Circus of the air” hot air balloon festival around Canberra Day. Normally the Balloon Fiesta is held in the week leading up to Canberra Day, but this year it was moved to the autumn school holidays as an experiment.
Anyway, at 5am I got out of bed, after having no sleep but instead listening to John Kerr on 2CC whilst keeping warm with a hot water bottle. At about 5:15 I gave John a call and had a chat with his lovely producer Leonie, before having a chat with John.
At 5am it was about -2°C, and it warmed up slightly to hover around the -1°C – 0°C mark for the next couple of hours.
At 5:35 Nattie and I left for our walkies, and by 6am we were walking along Commonwealth Avenue, which is a little bit ahead of where we were last time we walked to the hot air balloons. Unfortunately John’s show ran into the news and there wasn’t any time for him to play “Good Morning Good Morning”, so I sang it anyway.
As we crossed Lake Burley Griffin on the Commonwealth Avenue bridge, we stopped to look out over the lake. It was still quite dark, with just a little bit of light in the sky, but the camera did a good job of “over exposing” the image to produce a brighter picture.
The Carillion was also looking good.
As we got closer to the Balloon Fiesta, Nattie could smell the breakfast being cooked, and started to pull harder on the lead in an effort to get there quicker. We arrived at the event and heard Mike Frame acting as the master of ceremonies, and walked over to the stage to say hello to him. After that we went to the food tent and got some breakfast. We chose the bacon, egg and toast breakfast, with a cup of coffee.
Nattie decided that we weren’t leaving the food tent to sit down at a table unless she got some food first, so the food on the plate in this photo is already depleted of some bacon.
Nattie and I shared the bacon.
I ate the egg, but Nattie insisted on having some toast. She also insisted on licking the plate when we were finished.
By this time the balloons were starting to be inflated. Some balloons were unusual shapes, and this one had a cat on the roof (that will make sense when you see the balloon in later photos).
Mike Frame was still acting as master of ceremonies.
Nattie was looking back towards the food tent.
Mike Frame was having his maiden hot air balloon flight, so Nattie and I followed him over to the area near where his balloon would take off from, and we watched the many balloons inflating.
The “Liberty” balloon is the one with the cat on the roof.
This photo is rather interesting in that we have two inflated hot air balloons, some inflating hot air balloons, plenty of bystanders (including Mike Frame bottom left, and new MLA (Member of the Legislative Assembly) Andrew Barr bottom centre), Mount Ainslie in the background, and the dome of the war memorial directly below the peak of Mount Ainslie and just poking up above the roof of the car.
The Click Photo balloons was the first off the ground.
As the balloons continued to inflate, Mike Frame and Susan (I’m not sure of the exact relationship, although I’m sure I’ve heard Mike mention her name on 2CC) posed for a photo. Mike is holding a Canberra Balloon Fiesta mug.
The Liberty Financial balloon started to hover just above the ground. It appears to be harder to get cube type balloons off the ground.
It floated around for a while, and seemed to be heading in the general direction of the pond in front of Old Parliament House, thankfully there were plenty of balloon staff on hand to guide it away from the pond.
The cat seemed happy on top of the Liberty Financial Balloon though.
Mike Frame’s balloon was inflated and almost ready to go.
Mike Frame entered the basket.
Other balloons continued to inflate.
Mike Frame seemed quite happy to have a chat whilst waiting for the balloon to take off.
More balloons took off.
The Liberty Financial balloon finally got off the ground.
Nattie was keenly looking on.
One of the balloons seemed very happy. (The John Stanley “Accentuate The Positive” Balloon perhaps?)
The Bumble Bee Balloons inflated.
Mike Frame in a moment of madness, pretending to be very nervous, as the balloon started to take off. New MLA Andrew Barr is behind Mike Frame.
Up, Up and Awaaaaaaaaay….
Mike Frame can be seen in this photo looking back towards the lawns of Old Parliament House.
Of course there were plenty of other balloons taking off.
Including the bumble bee ballons, which tend to fly together.
There was certainly no shortage of balloons…they just kept popping up everywhere.
It was about 7:15am, and Mike Frame gave David Young a call on 2CC’s “David Young’s Garden” programme. David lives in Yarralumla, and Mike said he could see David’s house, he also tested out his “Frame in the Plane” traffic reporting ability by correctly indentifying Parliament House. Incidentally, Mike was in the Doma Hotels balloon. People in Canberra may recall that Doma Hotels did some skywriting a couple years ago. Between 7am and 8am the temperature rose to 1°C.
More balloons appeared, this time it was a windmill balloon.
And the bagpipe player.
A clearer photo of the windmill.
The bagpipe player seemed to match the building behind it.
Ye gods…more balloons…
Balloons do look good amongst the autumn foliage.
The windmill balloon took off.
And flew directly overhead
Nattie and I then started to walk home, whilst listening to David Young’s Garden on the radio. As we reached the Commonwealth Avenue bridge we saw some of the hot air balloons. Unfortunately the lens had some moisture on it, and part of the camera strap in front of it, but if you look to the left of the middle lamp post you will see a red and white hot air balloon, with another balloon above it, which looks a bit like a “patchwork art” balloon.
And a few more.
The Doma Hotels balloon was flying over Yarralumla.
Lake Burley Griffin was evaporating…you know its cold when you can see the moisture in the air at low altitude.
A short time later the Doma Hotels Balloon came down in Yarralumla, maybe they really did land in David Young’s Garden! Of course it is also possible that they merely floated at low altitude before taking off again, but it appeared to be down from where Nattie & I were on Commonwealth Avenue.
Nattie and I got home around 8am. Nattie went back to bed, and I had a cup of coffee.
Samuel
April 24th, 2006 at 01:07pm
The Easter Bunny was very good this year (thankyou Mr. Bunny), and brought some very nice Easter Eggs from Alpha Confectionery (and another egg from another company, although it hasn’t been unwrapped so I don’t know who it is).
I must admit that until now I had not heard of Alpha Confectionery, which in hindsight is a shame as they make some lovely chocolate. The Easter Egg boxes contain one large egg, and four chocolates, the eggs that we have came with either Apricot or Plum filling chocolates.
So far everyone in the household has had one Plum Royale chocolate, and they were absolutely fantastic. The plan originally was to have two chocolates each at morning tea, but the plum chocolates were so smooth and rich and lovely that we couldn’t really eat another one straight away, firstly because it is nice to retain the taste in memory for a while, and secondly because they are just so satisfying.
These are dark chocolates and contain no dairy or nuts, they are also an Australian product.
The nutritional information is also quite interesting.
These are such lovely chocolates that I could not resist taking another photo.
Once again, thankyou Mr. Bunny, these are an excellent choice, and I thank you. I just hope that Supabarn start stocking more Alpha products as they are very very good.
I’ve had a couple requests for information about Nattie’s Easter food, and I can inform you that she had a smoked bacon bone, which she has been enjoying.
Seeing as there is so much chocolate flowing today, it might be a good idea to have a look at some rules of chocolate (Thanks to Irene in Brisbane for sending this through to John Kerr this morning, and prompting me to do a Google search for it).
- If you’ve got melted chocolate all over your hands, you’re eating it too slowly.
- Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.
- The problem:
How to get two pounds of chocolate home from the store in a hot car.
The solution:
Eat it in the parking lot.
- Diet tip … eat a chocolate bar before each meal. It’ll take the edge off your appetite, and you’ll eat less.
- If calories are an issue, store your chocolate on top of the fridge. Calories are afraid of heights, and they will jump out of the chocolate to protect themselves.
- If you eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, you have a balanced diet. They counteract each other very nicely
- Money talks … Chocolate sings beautifully!
- Chocolate has many preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger. Therefore, you need to eat more chocolate.
- A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one place. Now, isn’t that handy?
- If you can’t eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. But if you can’t eat all your chocolate, what’s wrong with you???
- If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated. You can’t let that happen, can you?
- Put “eat chocolate” at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you’ll get one thing done.
Samuel
April 16th, 2006 at 05:16pm
It’s Easter Sunday, and I hope the Easter Bunny has been good to you. He was good enough to send us a publicity photo, we’ll see about the eggs later.
Happy Easter! (again)
Samuel
April 16th, 2006 at 07:02am
It’s Easter Saturday, and once again from Nattie & I, Happy Easter.
Samuel
April 15th, 2006 at 07:02am
To those of you who celebrate Easter…Happy Easter from Samuel & Nattie.
Also a quick reminder for those of you who may have missed the announcement, Samuel’s Persiflage #4 has been released.
Samuel
April 14th, 2006 at 07:02am
People who shop at Supabarn, IGA, Shoprite and some other stores would be well aware of “Black & Gold”, one of the many generic in store brands which offers products at generally lower prices than their “brand name” competition, other such generic brands are “Savings” as seen in Coles and some independent stores, “No Frills” as seen in Franklins, and “Home Brand” as seen in Woolworths.
These generic brands often cut down on costs by having very simple, and distinctive labeling, which is usually almost entirely text based. Black & Gold are currently in the process of changing their labeling from their old distinctive “yellow label with black text” design, as seen here:
To this newer design which contains a new coloured logo, a new slogan “Value you can trust”, and a picture which demonstrates the item:
It is quite possible (and probable) that Black & Gold have already made the transition to the newer labeling on all of their products and it is just taking time for the stores to sell off the old stock. I will miss the old simple label design, but the new one is a refreshing change, and gives Black & Gold a slightly more elegant appearance.
It is a good thing that they didn’t remove the yellow background from their labels, as stores would have been fielding complaints from people irate at not being able to find their favourite yellow-labeled products, and would have had to waste staff time pointing people to the new colour scheme.
Samuel
April 7th, 2006 at 03:41pm
As many of you would be well aware, Eddie McGuire is the new CEO of Channel Nine, when he took on the job, there was much speculation about whether he would continue presenting television shows or not, and we then found out that he would not be.
We have previously seen Eddie on this website giving away a million dollars for the first time, which was a peice of Australian television history unto itself, and I think last night’s episode also fits into that category, as it was a momentus occasion in the history of Australian Television.
Last night was Eddie McGuire’s final episode of “Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?”, and there was a special tribute to Eddie throughout the show, with a highlights package at the start, a voiceover introducing him “for his final episode”, and then a big tribute at the end of the show.
I have videos of this tribute online, and have listed them in quality order from highest to lowest. The multiple formats should be enough for compatibility for everyone. There were a couple minor hiccups in the middle of the video, which appear to be WIN Television’s fault, but nothing major.
Windows Media Video (WMV) 24.3MB
Real Player Video (RM) 23.5MB
MPEG-4 (MP4) 23.6MB
Quicktime Video (MOV) 24.0MB
After wrapping up proceedings from the night, and not mentioning who the host will be next week, Temptation co-host Livinia Nixon dropped by to present eddie with some gifts.
It’s not every day you get to kiss the boss on national television, with his wife in the audience!
There’s also a bottle of something, probably wine or champagne.
Eddie runs through some statistics of his time hosting the show
And they are:
- 292 episodes
- 623 contestants
- 6,808 questions
- Eddie said “Lock it in” 6,510 times
- Given away $28,595,000
Eddie used to joke about giving away the bosses money…I guess it is no fun when you’re the boss and you’re giving away your own money!
Eddie then showed us the picture Livinia gave him
and was given a standing ovation
Eddie’s wife and son were in the audience
And Eddie gives us a final salute goodbye.
The Samuel Salute is a rare honour, but today I salute Eddie McGuire with the Samuel Salute, for excellence in his 7 and a bit years hosting Who Wants To Be A Millionaire. Well done Eddie, may your time as Nine CEO be rewarding and successful.
Samuel
April 4th, 2006 at 03:00pm
My backyard is a place which some small gecko lizards have decided to call home. They were first spotted about a year ago, at which time there were probably two or three, and have since multiplied. Baby lizards have been spotted a couple times, but overall the lizards like to live in the nice leafy and plant covered sections of the backyard (which is most of it). I have been waiting for a good photo opportunity for a while, and was very pleased to get one on Sunday afternoon, when one of the lizards spent a bit of time on the garden path.
Nattie is, for the most part, at peace with the lizards, although she does occasionally try to chase one, but they manage to scurry off under the vegetation before the “big furry monster” gets to them. Nattie probably looks like some kind of big furry monster to the lizards.
Samuel
April 4th, 2006 at 09:08am
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