One of Carla’s best friends from Brasil is visiting us for the next 10 days. Once again we get to put on our tourist hats and venture down town London to pick some of it’s many ripe offerings. Grand buildings, theaters, restaurants, museums, parks and bars are some of the things on the itinerary. Of course, the party hat is neither never far away when guests are visiting.
Washing machine fixed and that is very pleasing. The joy of clean and warm socks in the morning will be here again. How I have missed you and your humming my big, white and heavy friend.
Work has been tough the past week with long hours and frantic typing. Well, it has to be done.
Month: September 2003
Internet Is Shit
Something to reflect upon:
“Give an infinite number of monkeys typewriters and they’ll produce the works of Shakespeare. Unfortunately, I feel like I’m reading all the books where they didn’t. I can’t wait for the day when the internet makes me rejoice in its possibilities again. But right now, it’s shit.”
http://www.internetisshit.org/
How to connect your Plasma TV
A plasma screen is really a computer screen and thus not as easy to connect to your video units as a traditional TV. After a lot of researching and browsing and asking, below I have summarised how to do it.
Ranging from lowest quality to highest these are various video signals that a Plasma TV should handle. Since you have invested in an expensive TV you should really try to use RGB quality or above:
- Aerial antenna.
- Composite video. Usually one single cable with yellow connectors
- S-video lead. Is usually a black lead that actually carries the video information on two separate leads.
- RGB SCART. Carries the information on 3 separate leads (red, green, blue).
- (Progressive) Component video. Also carries the video on 3 separate leads but has more bandwidth for the signal due to better use of colour space.
- DVI. Digital video from a computer
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Just do it
- Identify which of your video devices can do RGB out. Your digital TV, sky digital, DVD player, PlayStation 2 and Xbox should be able to do this. Your VCR will not
- Get enough SCART leads that are fully wired to support RGB and connect the devices to each other, resulting in one SCART
- Get the RGB to Plasma VGA converter form The Media Factory. This will convert your SCART contact to a VGA contact with correct synchronisation signal that your Plasma TV needs. Expect a cost of £125
- Get a good quality VGA lead. Around £50
- Connect the devices that do not support RGB with S-video or composite in the worst case
- Use a cheap SCART switcher if some devices lack a second SCART socket
Theoretically you should be able to us a SCART-to-3 or 5 leads converter and plug this into your Plasma TV. The problem is that Plasma TVs require a stronger synchronisation signal than most SCART carry so even if you find a Scart-to-5-RCA lead it does not guarantee success.
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My case
One progressive DVD player that connects straight to the Plasmas BNC contacts. Playstation 2 via Sky and a second satellite receiver to a SCART switcher, via the above mentioned RGB to VGA converter and then to Plasmas VGA contact. Composite and S-video leads connected to a video switching amplifier for easy connecting of portable video sources, e.g. camcorder and digital camera.
Update 28/01/04
The comments are now closed. Please post any new questions in the forum.
Crime in progress
SARCASM ON
On way to work today there was a surprise for people cycling through Kensington Gardens (London, UK). On the 100m path between a car road and a cycle path in the park, a civil police car was waiting. I saw a crime in progress, a lady cycling on her way to work, and it was swiftly dealt with by the police. The lady was stopped, pulled aside, interrogated and handed a penalty. Now this is really great, knowing that police resources are well spent.
SARCASM OFF
Another more serious crime is a retired lady that for some reason is not able to afford housing and is forced to sleep/live in a pedestrian subway. She might not have any family or friends left but she is definitely let down by a state that is not able to provide a shelter for the less fortunate.
Low light (night) photography
Night shots are characterized by low light. The camera shutter needs to be open for prolonged time to get enough light for a proper exposure. The drawback is that there is risk for blurred photos if your camera is not steady enough.
One common tricky scenario is a foreground (FG) object, e.g. a person, in combination with a back ground (BG) view, e.g. a night time city sky line.
Below are some easy steps that that will let you take better night shots.
Polish wedding in Zakopane
Congratulation Mr. and Mrs. Blog Improvements
This blog needs the following (and some):
- New graphical layout (php includes)
Provide link to Google translation for ge, fr, it, pt. See Taran 🙂- No pop-up for comments. Use same page as individual entry
- List of notable entries, prolly drop down
Drop downs for date and category archiveRecent comments, users and names and article names on main pageObscure email addresses(mt feature actually)- Random photo on first page
add personal info (cv, biography). Me not like blogs without thisadd contact form (email form, mobile)List Archive by categoriesRemove links that open in new windowDevelop small application that recognises visitors by their IP and presents personal messageCheck for Google search term in referal and recomend articleUse redirection via local file for external links (anti-spam meassure)
Sony Ericsson HBH-35 vs HBH-60
Sony Ericsson HBH-35 HBH-60 blue tooth mobile phone
After stepping on my HBH-60 blue tooth mobile hands free, I had to look for a new one. I had been very pleased with the HBH-60 but a new product was on the market, a new version of HBH0-30, the HBH-35.
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| HBH-35 | HBH-60 |
Unsolicited (scam) postal mail
What is up with all the scam letters lately? The ones that claim you have won a large sum of money or a luxurious holiday.
Yesterday Carla received a new one. It pretended to be a parcel notice from Canada so I opened it. “You have won a Sony digital camera worth £599 or another item. Just send in £25 processing fee and £5 administration fee and you will receive your digital camera or another item.
En route to work
(En route)