My article for the December 2024 edition of “The Local” is now out. This month on the Royal Crown Hotel in Adamstown, that opened 150 years ago in December 1874.
Note: The Local is taking a short break and will not be published in January 2025. It will return for the February 2025 edition.
While preparing a household budget today for the next calendar year, I was somewhat shocked to discover that my Microsoft M365 subscription for next year was jumping from $109 to $159, an increase of nearly 50%. A bit of research showed that the price jump was due to the introduction of AI capabilities (branded as Copilot) in the suite of Office products. I have no use for these AI functions, and was somewhat miffed that I was going to be slugged for features I’m never going to use.
The good news is that it is possible to revert back to an M365 subscription without the AI, and avoid the inflated price. The process to do this is slightly non-obvious. You have to …
Just to demonstrate how pathetically useless AI is, I asked Microsoft’s Copilot to “generate an image of an evil corporation sucking money from unsuspecting consumers”, and this is all I got. 🙁
The exhibition period for the proposed new basketball stadium on Wallarah and Blackley ovals is now open closed.
Now is the time to formally submit your opposition to this project going ahead on this site, that will result in the loss of vital green space and existing sporting facilities.
Submissions must be made by Monday 11 November 2024, at the NSW government planning portal, on the Hunter Indoor Sports Centre project page.
Update, 4 November 2024: I have completed my opposing submission on the project planning portal. In summary I have three principal objections:
You can read a PDF of my full submission.
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The project to build a new basketball stadium on Wallarah and Blackley Ovals has now been listed on the NSW government’s Major Projects Planning Portal. I had a quick skim through the available documents, and two things stuck out.
Firstly, the Scoping Report has a section on Community Engagement, that has a list of stakeholders that Newcastle Basketball has “undertaken consultation with to inform the project planning.” Conspicuously missing from this list are the two groups that will be most negatively impacted by the project.
I am at a loss to decide whether these omissions are due to incompetence, error, conflict avoidance, or deliberate action to keep the community in the dark.
The second item that caught my eye, was in the “Heritage NSW Advice on SEARs” document, which states that “the site does not contain any known historical archeological relics.” During World War 2, the site of Wallarah Oval contained four gun emplacements, as shown in the 1944 aerial photograph below.
As recently as 2014, aerial photographs show parch marks that hint that some remnant of these gun emplacements may still be under the surface. The extent and significance of these remains is uncertain.
Update, November 2024: After the initial writing of this blog post, additional documents were made available on the project portal, including “Appendix HH – Historical Archaeological Assessment” which does include details of the WW2 gun emplacements, which apparently were dummy guns.
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In what seemed a colder than usual August, the budding of my mulberry tree is significantly later this year compared to last year.
Sheesh! After closing down the Lambton Post Office in Elder St in 2023, I discovered today that Australia Post has removed my local mail posting box in Morehead St, leaving just a bare circle of dirt to commemorate an organisation hurtling towards non-existence.
