Author: Chris

Teacher. Blogger. Podcaster. Asks way too many questions.
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9/11 + 5

I just watched the most amazing documentary on the 9/11 attacks from 5 years ago. It was just called, simply, 9/11.

It was on TV last night, and had a bunch of footage that I’d never seen before. Considering the huge amount of press coverage that the attacks got when they first happened, and how well documented the events have been since then, I was surprised to find that there was still such a large chunk of footage that I’d never ever seen before.

The documentary was made by two French filmmakers that were actually making a doco about a young firefighter who had just joined the FDNY. They’d been following this guy around, fimling and getting to know the other fireys for a few months and had been taking their cameras out on shoots to local fires, etc. They just happened to tag along when the guys were called out to attend an unknown event on the morning on 9/11, not really knowing what they were in for. Turns out that one of the filmmakers got caught up in the foyer of the building with all the NY fire chiefs during the main part of the disaster. It was a real insiders view of events.

Our recent visit to Ground Zero was an amazing experience and made the events of five years ago so much more real. As I say, I’d never seen any of this documentary footage before, and found it to be quite compelling viewing. Well worth a look if you get the chance.

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Dropping like Flies

What on earth is going on back in Australia??

First I awoke the other day to the news that Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, was killed. I’m amazed at the response here in Canada and the USA. I can understand the outpouring of emotion back home is Australia, since Stevo was a well known and mostly well liked bloke who did good things to promote the environment and wildlife. Despite the way Irwin often came across as just a bit too over-the-top, he was absolutely passionate about what he did and that showed through. Even if he got on your nerves a bit, he was still the real deal… a genuine Aussie bloke that was just excited about life. Such a shame to lose him like that.

It has been amazing though to see the way that his death has been mourned and reported here in North America though. I had no idea he was so well known and loved by so many people outside Australia. There have been endless news stories about the incident since it happened, and current affairs feature were still talking about it days after it happened. I’ve heard it mentioned on the TV and radio here numerous times… a surprising amount of airtime actually. Just goes to show what a great job Steve Irwin did of promoting Australia. Vale Stevo.

And then today I heard the news about Brockie. OMG, I couldn’t believe it. Peter Brock was one of the most well known racing drivers in Australia. Nine times winner of the gruelling bathurst race, Brockie was the undisputed King of the Mountain for many years. He’s another one who is just a fair dinkum, down to earth, good bloke. To have him die in a targa – a minor rallying event – is just unthinkable. He was a major promoter of road safety, did heaps of great charity work and you just couldn’t help but like Peter Brock. Australian motor racing has lost a legend, and the Australian people have lost a great Australian. You’ll be missed Brockie.

Let’s hope things don’t really happen in threes.

Oh, and Germaine Greer…  why don’t you pull your head in and piss back off the UK.  You’re talking shit.

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Just a thought

I want to see if this works.

It’s a voice recording made in GCast, a web based podcasting tool. Since Edublogs don’t appear to support podcasting, I’m curious about ways to create/store an audio file somewhere and then link to it from inside the blog post. What intrigues me about GCast is that you can create the recording for free using a telephone. Just call the phone number provided and enter your PIN, then record you message. Hmmm, interesting. What can we do with that idea?

The dial in number is US based, but I suppose you could always Skype it. Otherwise just record locally with Audacity and upload the audio file to GCast as usual.

It’s not technically a podcast if you just link to it like this, as there is no RSS feed involved, but it still has possibilities.