Polls are a great way to gauge public opinion on issues.

Searching for issues that relate to the Heads or even the Shoalhaven in general doesn’t bring up too many - but if you have one that we should all be made aware of - why not let me know? I’m more than happy to add another poll (or three) to the site!

Issues that are more general in nature are fine too - the economy, supermarkets, petrol prices, the council, government (state & federal) are all things that we have an opinion about. If you can write a short article about an issue that you are hopping mad about (or just have a strong opinion) - contact me or use the RapidWriter to publish it straightaway. If you let me know what the poll question should be and some possible answers as well that would be great.

Current Poll:

Results of previous Polls.

How do you view more local development?

1. Great. The more the better! Total votes: 23
2. Ok, but I’d like to know exactly what’s planned. Total votes: 36
3. Very cautiously the place has character as it is. Total votes: 28
4. No way! Leave well enough alone. Total votes: 18
Total Voters: 106

Want to know if there’s a new article here?

Last modified on 2009-05-26 13:39:19 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I’m asked this question a fair bit lately : Can you send out a newsletter so we know when a new article is published on the website? The short answer to that is ‘no’ - I simply don’t have time to do this.

I had experimented with a subscription manager that allowed people to sign up to be notified - but, you guessed it, it is a huge target for site spammers, so I binned that idea.

Then it struck me. RSS. It’s built in to the site and if you use Firefox it is simple to just subscribe to the RSS feed, hold the mouse cursor over it and the latest articles are listed for you without you needing to visit the website. Simple. Of course, I reckon it’s easier to just make the site your homepage (or add it to your homepage tabs) - that way, everytime you open your browser it’s there for you!

How do you subscribe? Easy - scroll down to the very bottom of any page here and press the little grey Feed button that looks like the one above. As I mentioned before, RSS feeds work best in Firefox because after you click the button it asks if you want to subscribe to the feed. Answer ‘yes’ and then just save it to somewhere handy - I put my feeds on the Bookmarks Toolbar so they are easy to get to.

Then, just ‘mouseover’ the feed link and ‘hey presto’ a nice list of the last 10 articles appears. Click on any and the article will open on this website for you to read.

Who’s Got Talent?

Last modified on 2009-04-15 10:12:32 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

I haven’t been quite so impressed this year with Australia’s Got Talent, but the pommie show has as usual come up with some quite amazing acts this year and two are YouTube sensations.

Firstly, Susan Boyle made a wonderful first impression on the judges and tonight on the news was the hugely funny ‘Stavros Flately’ act.

Neither of these videos can be embedded  - but if you want to watch them, here’s the links to them.

Britain’s Got Talent : Susan Boyle singing I Dream A Dream

Britain’s Got Talent : Greek Irish Dancers ‘Stavros Flately’

Remember Connie Talbot aged 6 from the 2007 series singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow? It still sends shivers up my spine! Here she is :

Myna Birds : Watch Out!

Last modified on 2009-05-12 01:37:13 GMT. 0 comments. Top.

The Shoalhaven City Council will host the Southern NSW regional Indian Myna Conference on 13 May 2009.

Guest speakers from Australian National University, Blacktown City Council, the Canberra Indian Myna Action Group and the Collaborative Research Centre for Invasive Animals will join with staff from Shoalhaven City Council to provide information and ideas on how to effectively remove Indian Myna birds from the city.

Shoalhaven City Mayor Councillor Paul Green will open the conference. “The Indian Myna birds is an insidious pest animal,” Clr Green said. “It has been known to remove and displace native Australian birds from the environment where both birds are living. We have many small groups in our community who are using slow methods to remove the Indian Myna birds from their communities. This conference will provide good information on how to best combat this invasive species.”

Our local Men’s Shed has already been busy making Myna bird traps and has made over 60 to date.

If you want to find out more, this council website page has links to Myna bird information.