Today CVC Asia Pacific (65% owners of Stella Group, parent company of Stella Hospitality Group) annoucced that they’ve negotiated a financial restructure with UBS. This is great news for Stella, especially following rampant speculation in the press about the financial health and viability of the company. I’m excited to see official statements flowing into the mainstream media, hopefully this will stem the tide of unwarranted press and we can get on with business.
Category Archives: News
Everything Is Relative
I came across a snippet of information regarding ComCast, the United States largest cable TV and second largest internet provider – they are about to place limits on their clients internet usage.
As you can imagine, after having competitively priced, very fast all you can eat internet for a long time – the change has been received as though it was the end of the internet and after all, a heavily restrictive 250Gb per month is outrageous!
To contrast what ComCast clients are about to receive, most broadband users in Australia pay a little more for their internet, it is 1/10th the speed and the overwhelming majority of people survive on a plan that offers less than 50Gb per month.
After having lived through the notorious 3Gb Cap from Telstra in the late 1990’s, Australian broadband users were happy when competition entered the market and provided better value plans. While we’re happy we’re not being limited to 3Gb and can get up to 50Gb at a moderate price, ComCast clients are screaming foul play that they are being pulled down to a measly 250Gb per month.
Pamela Anderson, PETA & Publicity
Pamela Anderson is in Australia this week for a brief stint in the Big Brother house. I learned quite a few things about Pamela Anderson that I didn’t in her time in the house, for instance she is a strict vegetarian and an advocate for PETA.
As I’m trekking to work each morning, I listen to 102.9 Hot Tomato with Luke and at the moment a shifting set of co-hosts while they re-establish their morning crew. The current female that is on the morning show, made a statement that she doesn’t feel that Pamela Anderson is really a supporter for PETA because she accepted the job for Big Brother, however KFC are one of their major sponsors.
The discussion continued and Luke’s point of view was that it was a job, regardless of who was supporting/sponsoring the show. He felt that she has, in his terms, serious ying yang, because even though KFC sponsor the show, she was willing to put her case forward. The female said she shouldn’t have taken the job and that should have been her form of protest.
I don’t agree with that at all, I think she would have received orders of magnitude more press because she took the job, pressed her point and created a media feeding frenzy. Consider for a moment if she had turned the job down, if it even made the evening news, it would have been a one line quip that Pamela Anderson was asked to enter the Big Brother house but turned down the role due to conflicting interests in sponsorship. There wouldn’t have been more said about it and it certainly wouldn’t have been mentioned repeatedly.
What do you think, should she have taken the job and in which case do you think would have gathered more press ?
Kevin Rudd & The Australian Labor Party Victorious
After quite a long pre-election lead up, the 2007 Australian Federal Election was held today throughout Australia.
In previous federal elections, my vote has been in favour of the in power Liberal Party, however 2007 is a time for change in my eyes. For the first time in my voting history, I have cast a number 1 vote in favour of the Labor Party and am backing Kevin Rudd to lead the country forward.
For the last eleven and a half years, the Liberal Party have been in the drivers seat, which has by and large done great things for the country. While the coalition has had it’s successes over the last decade, it’s also had its share of failures. I believe that the Australian Liberal Party have been in power for as long as they have, not necessarily because they had better policy all the time – but that they haven’t had any real opposition.
In 2007, the Australian public have had an alternative to the coalition – it came in the form of Kevin Rudd and the Australian Labor Party. It has probably come as a surprise to many of the Liberal Party constituents that as soon as the valid alternative was provided, that the Australian people have swung so strongly in favour of it.
As I mentioned earlier, I was among the people who have swung their vote to the Labor Party. If you’re wondering why, for me is has become quite simple; I don’t think any political party should be empowered for as long as the Australian Liberal Party have been. If you’ve stayed with your historic voting pattern or swung your vote in either direction, what was your motivation for the Australian Federal Election of 2007?
Toowoomba Man Impaled On A Tree Branch
That was the headline on the five o’clock news tonight and it isn’t something that you hear every day.
When the actual news item was covered in full, I find out that it was from an abseiling accident. Next up they mention that it happened on Mount Tinbeerwah, followed by it being a 27 year old male and that he was from Toowoomba. All of these things start to hit a little close to home as a bunch of my friends regularly go hiking and abseiling in that neck of the woods. When the video footage starts rolling, who do I see laying flat on his back being winched into a helicopter other than one of my best friends.
After talking to another mate on the phone tonight, I find out that Anthony was abseiling down a 100m face on the mountain at pace. What he didn’t realise was that there was a branch of some sort sticking out from the cliff face that he couldn’t see coming and at great pace, he essentially ‘sat’ onto the branch. The branch was approximately an inch thick and it entered him through the groin and exited through his stomach. Incredibly, Anthony says he didn’t realise exactly what had happened at this point and could feel the stick in his pants but didn’t think anything of it – so he continued to abseil the next 50m to the base of the cliff face!
Nearly as soon as it happened, thanks to the miracle of modern technology – they were talking to him at the base of the cliff face and called through to 000 for assistance. In a very short amount of time, the emergency services were on scene and providing first aid while the Energex Rescue Helicopter was en route.
Anthony was flown to Nambour Hospital where he underwent various scans and ultimately surgery. At this stage, we’re told that while it was very serious it looks as though he might have escaped relatively unscathed.
Update:
After going into surgery yesterday afternoon, Nambour Hospital have confirmed that the surgery was successful. The branch has been removed and in an amazing act of good fortune, it has missed all vital organs as it passed through his body. To my surprise, he is already up and about but will remain in hospital for a couple of days for monitoring, to make sure that no infection takes place. I think a lottery ticket or three are in order.
Coverage:
- http://www.abc.net.au: Man impaled on tree in abseiling accident
- http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au: Abseiler impaled on tree
- http://www.news.com.au: Abseiler impaled on tree branch
- http://www.smh.com.au: Man impaled on tree
- http://www.theage.com.au: Man impaled on tree in abseiling mishap
- http://www.thedaily.com.au: Abseiler survives impaling, Impaled and lucky be alive
- Courier Mail: 1, 2