King Arthur [John Howard] And the Round Table

As previously mentioned, the climate debate is going to hot up here in Australia. The main stream politicians are jumping on board. Our esteemed leader John Howard has just announced an enquiry into climate change. He has set up a business club as a sort of round table affair where very well heeled captains of industry will help determine our global future from an Australian perspective.

It seems like only yesterday that John Howard didn't see any problems with global warming, in fact it was a totally unproven piece of hokey pokey, peddled by the lefties and the Greens who didn't like the way capitalism did business.

As previously mentioned now that some prominent elderly business men have decided to adopt some green credentials, the likes of King John will come on board and make a shit load of political mileage out of climate change and global warming. He won't take any blame for delaying this decision for the best part of a decade. He won't admit to being influenced in his cabinet by good mates, he had made ministers for energy and mines, who actually owned coal mines. He won't apologise for blaming his inaction on the loss of Australian jobs if he signed Kyoto. Which in fact is probably the opposite outcome if we do nothing to curb global warming.

All you can say is the canny old bugger, managed to get another 10 years of top price coal sales while he ignored the greenhouse gas emissions. Now he will get as much credence for seeing the 'Green' light.

I'm sure he hopes to wrong foot the Labor party and the Greens in his pursuit of the Statesman credentials he hopes he will be remembered for.

Cause his involvement in the war in Iraq surely shouldn't.

Here's a link to a great little video, called [Wont get fooled again ] made I think while the Americans were having their Senate elections.
Woof.

Forgetful

Forgetful, I was sitting here wondering what I had on my mind to write and realised I had forgotten the subject entirely, I had it on my way to work and now I am here it has gone. I know it included something with numbers in, that's all that comes back to me right now.

While sitting here I also realise I have forgotten to shave this morning. Did all the normal stuff showering etc. but somehow skipped the shaving bit. I'll let you know when I remember these things.

This reminds me of an article I read about getting older and getting cross with ones self about forgetting things. In the vain of I am forgetting simple things therefore I am becoming senile and dementia is setting in. The positive thought that came out of this rather depressing realisation was this.

We forget things all our lives, when we are younger it doesn't matter, and we don't beat ourselves up about it. But when we pass 50 we start to panic and think it is a new occurrence, and we are heading down the senile one way street. This is not true for most of us, it is just that we forget things like we always did. In fact we remember heaps of things and we have 50 years of memories to look after. So by the time I remember what I was going to write about I will of had a hundred more things to remember.
Woof.

Global Warming

At the end of the last century we had the millennium bug. Yes we all caught the millennium bug. Whether it was real or imagined or real with a lot of spin, we may never know.

Once the year 2000 arrived we all got on with our lives never to think of it again. But you should of heard the noise it made in the lead up to that fateful day. We were so paranoid that disasters would happen, aeroplanes would fall out of the sky, people thought their life savings would disappear from their bank accounts etc. etc. As a world community we spent billions of dollars on fixing the problem. I think it was the first time I saw figures in the billions to describe a fault fixing budget.

Now you may wonder what this has to do with Global warming or Climate change.

Finally the main stream press, politicians, community, are taking notice of this problem. For the first time right wing middle to old age white men are being converted and because they are in powerful positions we will now be presented with their idea, of what changes are required to fix the problem.

But first we will get noise. Lots of noise, it will get so loud that we will be fed up with it with in the next few years. Elections will be fought over it, schools, work places, manufacturing, third world economies, all of these will be made to be accountable to treaties and international agreements. There will be everything from the benign to the extreme. And all will get their representation in the media, school newsletters, mission statements, retirement plans, you name it, it will affect it. The industry around this will be bigger than Ben Hur, and all because it has become the issue/cause of the 21st century.

Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem with cutting back on consuming carbon fuels and most of the related addictions to modern consumer based society. I just don't think we will work out constructive ways to do it. We will all jump up and down and make all that noise. Have a hundred and one opinions and get very little achieved. We will probably pass the buck and the blame onto whoever is weaker than ourselves. We will have environmental spies, dob in a neighbour, already exists over some issues this mentality will get worse, or better considering your point of view.
You probably see where I am coming from, I will expand more as the noise gets louder.
Woof.

The editing Pencil

I have just upgraded to the new beta blog. At the same time I have changed my computer to a newer one. I am running virtually the same xp system and viewing this blog on firefox. But some how I have lost that little pencil that enables you to quickly edit your blog when viewing it as a blog page. I have checked security settings and firewalls etc. etc.
I have even written to the blogger team, to no avail. Does anyone know how I can get that darn pencil back to edit my blogs.
Apart from that have a nice Melbourne cup and I hope your horse wins.
Woof.

New Blogger

Hi Anna went over to the new beta blog this morning, so no excuses re comments etc. Time does fly and we are already thinking about camping up on the farm again. 2 hours of daylight saving I think I remember that but I thought it was during the war. Hope all goes well.
Woof.

Climate Change

Well now we have it, climate change is the big thing for the 21st century and if we don't do something about it we will be in strife.

The places that I think of, that will cop the raw end of the deal are the islanders around the world. Their homes have been under threat for many years, what with cyclones and occupation by colonial powers. So I feel for them in the coming years with rising sea levels, most affecting them.

I also think of the animals that live at the extremes of our planet. The Artic and Antarctic mammals. They need the cold conditions to live their lives, they need ice and snow.

Our type of democracy in the west has evolved with quite a different mind set to the one we need now. It has been one of expansion and always getting bigger and better. Now we have to think about getting smarter and smaller. For the first time in a long time the next generation will possibly experience a lesser standard of living. They may well start to have a shorter life span, have less variety in their diets and travel not in cars for much longer.

The great experiment in human industrialisation had a 200 year time span and is now in decline. There still exists a few people who have never known the lifestyle of the modern era. Unfortunately it is their environment that will be diminished by our global warming.
Woof.

Summer Time Has Arrived

Summer time has arrived as in we have gone onto daylight savings. [is it saving or savings?]
This brings about a problem here in Australia, we have some states that don't want to have longer evenings. They come up with some fanciful ideas as to what happens if you do have daylight savings. Just this last week the Premier of Queensland said, 'People will suffer more skin cancers if we introduce daylight savings'. And he was serious. It is usually the more northern states like Queensland and Western Australia, who worry over the introduction of daylight savings. Where as the most southerly state Tasmania, loves it so much they start a month earlier than the mainland. Back to some of those comments, usually uttered by politicians who want to win rural votes at the next election.
The curtains will fade quicker.
The cows wont want to give milk. Or
The cows don't want to come in to give milk.
I am sure a dedicated observer could around this time of year come up with a shopping list of complaints. Cause it is this time of year that the topic is addressed, with boring repetition.
So I promise not to retell all this next year, though I might let you know when it ends. Just to keep you all watching this space.
Last word on Day light saving.
In the U.K. during the second world war, I was told they had 2 hours of daylight saving. It stays light until at least 9 pm with one hour just imagine with two. Living in the north of England or Scotland and waiting for the sun to go down, so you can go to bed.

Woof.

The SBS reply

This the letter I received back from the TV station SBS. They just don't get it, re quality of broadcasting being about a viewing experience.
Woof

SBS has taken this course of action following a great deal of
consideration and investigation. It was not an easy decision to make,
but the alternative was far less palatable. SBS could continue with its
current format, but its ability to commission quality Australian
productions and to purchase the world's best films, television
programs and sporting fixtures would become more and more restricted due
to limited Government funding and the prospect of diminished advertising
revenue as a result of competition from Pay TV, the Internet and other
media.

SBS obtains about 80% of its funds from Government. But in the May
budget SBS suffered a $3m shortfall in its appropriation for this
current year (excluding digital transmission and distribution costs) and
received no extra funds at all for program making.

The remainder of SBS funding comes from advertising revenue. Even
though that amount is relatively small, it is vitally important revenue
that goes exclusively to the purchase, commissioning and production of
programs.

Under its Act, SBS is obligated to operate in an efficient and
cost-effective manner and, importantly, it is required to actively
pursue funding opportunities independent of Government funding.

Since 1991, SBS Television has broadcast a maximum of five minutes of
ads per hour between programs and in natural breaks. This is far less
than the average 13-15 minutes of advertising permitted on the
commercial television networks.

Until now, SBS has broadcast up to five minutes of ads as well as
several minutes of program promotions in a single block between
programs, meaning 6-10 minutes would elapse before the next program
began. During this time, we consistently lost more than 50% of our
viewers. They would simply change channels or switch off.

With smaller audiences, SBS's advertising rates (already well below
the commercial networks) had to be reduced still further. The result has
been a curtailment of our program-making capabilities because less money
from ads means less money for the commissioning and the production of
original programs.

Under the new format the maximum of five minutes of ads per hour still
applies, but the ads will be spread across the hour in three separate
breaks, each containing 90 seconds of commercials. In half-hour
programs, there will be two 60-second commercial breaks.

This will restore true commercial value to SBS's ad breaks. By
placing short ads within programs, when SBS reaches its peak audiences,
our advertising rates can be increased. We estimate that this will raise
at least $10m in the first 12 months of operation. All of this
additional revenue will go into program making and the commissioning of
programs from independent Australian producers.

With this extra revenue we will launch a one hour news program in
January that will expand our coverage of international and national
news. The bulk of the additional funds will go to the commissioning of
quality Australian drama, documentaries and other programs.

By dramatically reducing the time between programs, we believe SBS
audiences will be encouraged to stay, especially because the in-program
breaks will include program promotions about forthcoming programs. It is
important that information about other programs on SBS reaches the
largest possible audience. Currently these messages, in the form of
promos, are lost in the middle of lengthy and cluttered breaks between
programs. Too often our audience tells us they would have watched a
particular program "if only I had known it was on". The placement of
promos in a more accessible place helps overcome that communication
failure.

We understand your concerns regarding in-program breaks, but these
changes will enable us to continue to provide our viewers with the
highest quality and most diverse programming available on free-to-air
television in Australia.

Yours sincerely,

A letter to SBS TV

Dear SBS comments,

With regard to the placement of advertising during the programmes you

show.

I have been trying to work out why it is wrong and doesn't fit in with

your image and format. I think I have found the answer. It is relatively

simple, but could also be a bit obscure, so therefore be missed by the

programmers.

Most commercial television stations show programmes made for and therefore

design to fit the commercial format. Story lines, plot, action, etc.

can easily be molded into the commercial format. Most sports fit this

category to. They have been very successful on commercial tv.

Commercial tv stations often have complaints when they show a

film or a serious piece of television because they can't get the mix

of programme and advertising to work.

Here lies the essence of your problem of showing adverts during

programmes. The viewers are expecting a higher quality of

broadcasting, even if many programmes have been made with the

intention of showing them on commercial tv, the quality of production

and the feel [often European] doesn't lend it's self to the

Americanisation of advertising. The insensitivity of the advert break

is an intrusion that can be tolerated when the subject matter has been

made with a commercial feel to it's production. EG sport, soapy, lifestyle. But

not when the subject matter is hard hitting drama or in depth reporting

with editorial comment.

When SBS started putting adverts in between programmes it

fitted well into that time slot, that informs and at times instructs

the viewers, about programme rating and content. The placement of

adverts during a show, does not fit into your style of programmes or your station

image.

In conclusion you have a small audience share, they are by and large

a select demographic group interested in your programmes. [Not just

couch potatoes]. If you don't respect them they will not respect you.

With thanks

Woof.

Mick Donalds

Just heard a report on the news that McDonalds is going to update it's interiors to encourage the punters to remain longer in their "restaurants". The voice over [an American] kept saying the Mick Donalds. Does that mean we are all going to eat a Mickers instead of a Maccas?

The professor [there is always a professor] to give expert commentary, said the young adults, who are the demographic group that McDonalds wants to attract. Eat out a lot and want an eating/dining experience. Isn't that an impossibility at a McDonalds?

The McDonalds I have visited are some of the saddest eating places I have experienced.

Woof.