Category Archives: Misc

IMDB going English

Posted on June 23, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Sometime in the past few days the Internet Movie Database appears to have changed from using the original non-English names for many foreign movies. Il buono, il brutto, il cattivo is now Sergio Leone’s The Good, the Bad and the … Continue reading →

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Old, old music

Posted on March 29, 2010 by Stephen Dawson

Got a yen to hear some acoustic recordings? That is, music from the early decades of the 20th Century when musicians sat before a horn attached to a cutting stylus. No electricity involved, except possibly to power the motor of … Continue reading →

Posted in Analogue, Misc | Leave a comment

Pentax K100D digital SLR and Sigma EF-500DGST flash gun

Posted on November 21, 2006 by Stephen Dawson

It was recently time for a retirement. Back in September 2000 I purchased a digital camera as an aide in my writing work. It was an Olympus C-3030Z. Three megapixels, decent quality optics, it cost around $2,000. Since then it … Continue reading →

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Andre Norton dies, aged 93

Posted on March 24, 2005 by Stephen Dawson

When I was in my final year of primary school (aged around 11), I applied for a bursary (a kind of small scholarship). A teacher asked me about my reading habits and suggested that, for the purposes of winning the … Continue reading →

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The Onion speaks on religion

Posted on January 7, 2004 by Stephen Dawson

Back from a Christmas Holiday with the family, my attention is drawn by my brother to this highly amusing and disconcertingly accurate satire on DVD aspect ratios in The Onion. Worse, in my view, than ‘full screen’ renditions of widescreen … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc, Video | Leave a comment

Final Japan Installment

Posted on October 13, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Thursday last week in Tokyo was my last day in Japan. In the morning we went to the Panasonic Centre, which is largely a high tech display of Panasonic products, technologies and visions for the future. A fair bit of … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc, Travel | Leave a comment

Clean calls

Posted on October 3, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

What happens when you put a Nokia 6610 mobile phone through a washing machine cycle? Um, it stops working, as I found out yesterday. Pulled it apart and left it in front of an electric heater for a few hours, … Continue reading →

Posted in How Things Work, Misc | Leave a comment

Hey, I’m famous!

Posted on October 1, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

The editor of Appliance Retailer, to which I contribute, sent me down a tape of a show called ‘Wired’ on an Australian pay TV channel, TVSN (Television Sales Network) in which the wired-expert, Carla, was talking about MP3. She quoted … Continue reading →

Posted in Misc, Portable | Leave a comment

Australian radio and TV stations

Posted on September 21, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

If you want a list of all Australian radio or TV stations, including their frequencies and power outputs, these are available on the Australian Broadcasting Authority Website. In particular, for radio go here, and for TV go here.

Posted in DTV, Misc | Leave a comment

Keeping off the radio

Posted on September 18, 2003 by Stephen Dawson

Perhaps it was a mistake, but today I turned down doing a radio interview. Seems someone over in Western Australia had published an article on this most exciting topic: cleaning your hi fi. I had to ask for clarification from … Continue reading →

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