Posts filed under 'Talkback Emails'
An email to 2GB’s Glenn Wheeler
G’day Glenn
I’m very glad that you’ve brought back the generic readings and psycho predictions this week. I laughed all the way through it last week. It reminds me of the crazy woman at the other place, except that you’re much much MUCH more interesting and entertaining.
Have a wonderful week Glenn. I see televisions in your future on days starting with M, T, W & F.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
February 6th, 2011 at 12:36am
An email to MTR 1377’s Steve Price and Andrew Bolt
Hello Steve and Andrew,
Regarding your discussion on today’s show about learning a second language at school, I have to agree with you based on my own experience.
From Kindergarten through until Year 6 at my primary school in Canberra I was taught Japanese (both culture and language) and by the end of it I was no closer to speaking Japanese fluently than I was when I started, despite the ACT government flying in Japanese women to act as assistant teachers every year.
By the end of it, I was able to count to ten in Japanese, as well as pronounce a few letters of one of their alphabets, say half a dozen words and sing a song which the Japanese teacher made up.
In Year 7, when I had the choice of studying Japanese or French (we were allowed to drop languages in favour of other subjects from year 8 onwards), I stuck with Japanese as there seemed to be no point in changing. I passed the first test of the year as it was a revision of the last seven years of work, and then failed every other assessment item of the year except for one test where the teacher mistakenly gave me the answer sheet and didn’t recognise her handwriting when she marked it.
The whole experience was a giant waste of time which would have been better utilised studying history, a subject which seemed to be glossed over very quickly and with minimal detail.
Best wishes.
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
February 1st, 2011 at 12:45pm
An email to 2UE’s Mike Jeffreys
Good evening Mike,
The statement from the refugee advocate that you had on a short time ago, that he supports hunger strikes as long as the people engaging in them don't continue with it to the point of causing harm to themselves, seems like a bit of a contradiction to me. Surely the point of a hunger strike is to threaten to continue to the point of life-threatening hunger or thirst, so as to play on the compassion of the people against whom you are protesting. Going on a hunger strike until you're a bit hungry just seems like a waste of time, and good way to save the tax payer a few dollars on the food bill.
And those first two callers after 10 o'clock…you sure can tell that the moon is ripe tonight. Very nicely handled by you though Mike, I'm always amused when callers try to bait you and don't understand that you're subtly getting them back.
Have a great night.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 19th, 2011 at 10:24pm
An email to 2GB and MTR’s C Team: Mark Levy, Chris Bowen and Trevor Long
Good evening gentlemen,
I do remember the pen licence quite vividly because I had to qualify for mine twice!
In year 3 my teacher insisted that we had to prove that we were capable of writing neatly in order to use a pen. My handwriting, whilst legible, was an incoherent combination of upper and lower case letters, so for example all of my As were in lower case, all of my Es, Qs and Rs, were in upper case. My teacher hated this, but eventually allowed me to use a pen when I started writing the occasional upper case A in the correct spot.
In year 4, my teacher refused to let anyone write in pencil because it was too faint for him to read.
Then in year 5 I had my year 3 teacher again, and she made everyone re-qualify for their pen licence.
Mind you, she was a tad odd. According to her, Sorbolene Cream solved virtually every problem known to man, and muting your television while recording with your VCR would prevent the recording from having any sound…and she kept reminding us of it.
Enjoy your evening. I hope to hear y’all again soon!
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 15th, 2011 at 08:22pm
An email to 2UE’s John Kerr
Good morning John,
I just heard you mention that it's two years since US Airways Flight 1549 landed in the Hudson River. That time really has gone quickly. That was a truly amazing bit of flying by Captain Chesley Sullenberger and his crew, and it was wonderful to be able to hear a good news story about a plane's unplanned return to earth. It is rare that an unexpected landing like that turns out so well, and it's a real credit to the Captain and his crew. Do you think that, in years to come, that landing may come up as a question in TV Quiz Shows?
I remember where I was when the news of that started to come through on the radio. I was driving back to Canberra on the morning of the 16th, which was of course the afternoon of the 15th in New York. It's funny how there are some news events where your exact location and what you were doing at the time can stick in your mind so vividly. I find something similar with talk radio in that I will often remember what I was doing or where I was when a particular discussion was happening. For example, I remember being on a dirt road just outside Canberra one morning when Mike Jeffreys interviewed Doctor Harry Cooper.
Also I would like to thank you John for playing Simon And Garfunkel's "Baby Driver". That's a wonderful song and, like you, I hadn't heard it for ages. Many thanks indeed!
Have a wonderful day!
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 15th, 2011 at 12:38am
An email to 2UE’s John Kerr
Good morning John,
You were asking for suggestions for names for Princess Mary's newborn children a short while ago, and mentioned that she wants Australian names for them. Well I was thinking that we could have a bipartisan political contribution based on our current political leaders. The boy could be named "Kevin Anthony" after our Foreign Affairs minister and our Opposition Leader. The girl could have the slightly sillier name of "Julie Julia", after the deputy-leader of the opposition and our Prime Minister. I will fully understand if you think this might not go down so well with Her Highness.
Also you asked about TV personalities who we wish were still on television. When you mentioned that the late great Adriana Xenides was born on this day, I was reminded of how I miss Rob Elliott who hosted Wheel Of Fortune after John Burgess and Tony Barber. I was a bit young for Baby John, but I fell in love with Wheel when Rob hosted it. He seems to have disappeared from TV since then…I don't suppose you know what he is up to these days?
Have a wonderful day John, and I hope you have a great time at the Tamworth Country Music Festival.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 9th, 2011 at 12:30am
An email to 2GB and MTR’s C Team: Chris Bowen, Trevor Long and Mark Levy
G’day boys,
I’m not a fan of cold pizza but I have a bit of a dilemma when it comes to reheating it. I don’t really want to heat it in the microwave and have it go all soggy, but I don’t really want to wait for it to reheat in the oven, so usually I end using the microwave, not enjoying the food and remembering to use the oven for the next few occasions.
And as for game shows, Wheel of Fortune was the best. It was so good that I carried it through to my school classes, making the wheel out of a glue stick and driving my teachers nuts. I was absolutely fascinated by The Price Is Right back in the late ’90s and wouldn’t miss an episode. As for kids game shows, Time Masters in the mid ’90s with Andrew Daddo was my favourite, although I think I’m the only person who remembers it because I only ever get blank stares when I bring it up.
Have a great night guys!
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
Update: Another correspondent has emailed The C Team suggesting that reheating a pizza by placing it in a frying pan, straight from the freezer, is a good quick way make sure it’s still hot and crispy. Seems like a good idea to me. End Update
January 8th, 2011 at 06:45pm
An email to 2GB’s Mike Williams
Good morning Mike,
Just a quick thought on this nuttery of putting GST on foreign online purchases…the only way that I can see that the government could implement such a tax is by levying it on everything which is bought overseas and imported, regardless of how it was bought. Otherwise anybody could claim that they ordered the items on the phone or by mail and avoid the tax. As such, the tax would also apply to goods which the retailers are importing, which would increase their costs and they would pass those costs on to us, the customers, which would completely negate the advantage which they are trying to claim through this tax.
The retailers clearly didn’t think this through and are simply trying to be lazy by inventing a “problem” for the government to sort out, rather than putting in the effort to be more competitive and appealing to Australian customers.
Have a great day.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 6th, 2011 at 02:24am
An email to 2GB’s Mike Williams
G’day Mike,
I’m with you to an extent on the public holidays. For people who work Monday to Friday I can see a point in having the public holidays held over to the next weekday, but for people like me who work on a seven-day rotating roster, I think it’s nuts.
Case in point, the Christmas weekend. I was rostered on from the Tuesday before Christmas until the Thursday after Christmas, meaning that I worked on Christmas Day, Boxing Day, and the two weekday versions of the public holidays on the Monday and Tuesday. I get public holiday rates for all four days…this makes no sense to me whatsoever. I don’t mind the extra pay, but I really can’t see any logic in paying me for four public holidays when there were only two public holidays.
Surely the extra public holidays should only be there for the people who didn’t have to work on the real public holidays.
Have a great day!
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
January 3rd, 2011 at 01:38am
An email to 2UE’s Stuart Bocking who is filling in for George and Paul, along with Tracey Spicer
Hi Stuart,
In regards to your story about being breath tested twice in the space of five minutes, I once had an occasion where I was breath tested three times in half an hour, one of which happened just around the corner from the last one.
Much like you I protested that I’d “just been tested a few moments ago” on the third one. Their reply “well, you’ll be able to pass this one then”. They also told me that if I go home, they’d stop testing me.
Have a great day, and say hello to Tracey for me.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
October 31st, 2010 at 01:14pm
An email to 2GB’s Glenn Wheeler
:
Good evening Glenn,
I hate receiving emails which just start with “Samuel” and have no “dear” or “hi” or whatever…to me, such emails feel like the person sending it is angry and about to spend the whole email barking instructions at me.
If I’m in the middle of a long email exchange with someone, I might drop the introduction all together and just have the body of the message with no names or salutations, but I’ll try to avoid just using the recipient’s name as the introduction…unless I am genuinely unhappy with the recipient!
I hope you’re keeping well. You’ve been looking well on The Morning Show of late.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
July 24th, 2010 at 10:42pm
An email to 2GB’s Andrew Moore who is currently calling the match between the Warriors and the Storm
G’day Andrew,
It sounds like the vuvuzelas have found their way to the NRL. Good! They grew on me during the world cup, and I’ve been suffering withdrawal symptoms ever since. When will you be giving Blocky and the Big Marn a vuvuzela each?
Have a great night!
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
July 17th, 2010 at 06:25pm
An email to 2UE’s Stuart Bocking
Good evening Stuart,
I was watching Julia Gillard’s appearance on the WA edition of Today Tonight when she ruled out September 25 as the election date, and I agree with you, she ruled it out because the election will have already been held by then. The date I’m hearing from a few people who should know is August 28, and the word is that she will visit the Governor-General next weekend to make it all happen.
She might also be at the MCG on AFL Grand Final day, and as a Bulldogs supporter I’d like to see her on the ground as a player. She is the secret weapon…all that she needs to do is stand there and recite her immigration policy announcement speech of the other day, and before you know it everyone will have fallen asleep, allowing her to kick the only goal of the match. It’ll be a great day, the Dogs first premiership since 1954…and Julia will have finally done something which I can agree with!
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
July 8th, 2010 at 10:06pm
An email to 2UE’s Stuart Bocking
Good evening Stuart,
I was most intrigued by your discussion with the lady about how she remembers her licence number and expiry date, but you don’t remember yours.
I remember my licence number and expiry date (although from the sounds of it, ACT licences have easier to remember numbers which don’t contain letters, unlike NSW licences), but I think it’s more a force of habit than a matter of willingly remembering it. I say this because I have remembered the number and expiry date of my Visa Debit card for years, simply because it’s easier to remember it than to have to pull it out and check every time I use it. The three digits on the back of the card change every time the card expires and is replaced though, so it takes me a little while to remember that each time.
I think remembering my licence number and expiry date came from remembering other cards. I also think it’s a useful thing to know just in case I’m ever pulled over and have misplaced it, as I can recite the details and hopefully waste less of my time and that of the police.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
July 6th, 2010 at 10:37pm
An email to 2GB’s Jason Morrison who is presenting his show live from Parliament House today.
G’day Jason,
My immediate reaction to Julia Gillard is that we finally have two parties which have clearly defined and different ideological standpoints. Apart from the point of illegal immigrants, it is clear that Labor is left and Liberal is right…it’s been ages since we’ve been able to truly say that. People actually have a choice now.
Julia may have been appointed by the right-wing, but only because Kevin Rudd was sinking the ship…it is still the same team, but one which will now run with clear left-wing policies on things like global warming and workplace relations.
I say bring it on. This type of clear difference is what this country should have more of.
Regards,
Samuel Gordon-Stewart
Canberra
June 24th, 2010 at 03:25pm
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