Dedicated to my late brave, beautiful and silly mummy, Debra Ross. I love you mumster.

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Category archive for television

Because archives are so much easier than having just hundreds of posts on the home page. I learned that the hard way.

New Ruby Website

2006.10.26 – 14.58

Ruby Website

I just browsed the Ruby website today, looks very polished now. I remember just a few months ago going there and they still had that boxy, text based page.

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By Ruben Schade | Also posted in programming, software | Comments (0)

Opening DAA Files On A Mac

2006.09.11 – 19.44

PowerISO

The *.DAA file format is a type of proprietary disk image created using the PowerISO program for Windows. DAA stands for Direct Access Archive. Unfortunately the only way to open these files on Macs is to install PowerISO on a Windows box (or Windows emulator on your Mac) and convert them to ISO files.

It’s downright silly and utterly pointless that such a format exists I would think, it just makes life more complicated! ISO files are good enough I would have thought.

If I’ve said it once I’ve said it a thousand times: proprietary file formats are evil. Microsoft Office files, these DAA files… they’re all evil!

Sorry if you’re disappointed by the lack of good news, but I thought I’d share my experience to prevent similar frustration.

UPDATE: A lot has changed since I created this post two years ago. Without me realising it there’s been a fantastic conversation going here, and since 2006 there have been some utilities created to read DAA files. View the comments for more info.

Cheers! — Ruben

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By Ruben Schade | Also posted in apple | Comments (55)

Michael Johnson’s Celebration of English Humour!

2006.09.09 – 18.14

Great reading if you love English comedy ;).

Nursing my sore ribs after too much Brit humor
By MICHAEL JOHNSON of TheColumnists.com

Michael Johnson In Celebration of English Humour!

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By Ruben Schade | Also posted in funny | Comments (0)

The Mary Tyler Moore Show

2006.09.07 – 18.03

Mary and the imfamous hat throwing in the opening!

What a blast from the past; just surfing around Wikipedia I came across the article for The Mary Tyler Moore Show!

Mary Tyler Moore is an American television sitcom that aired on CBS from September 19, 1970 to March 19, 1977. It was one of the most critically acclaimed shows—and one of the most beloved—in television history, as well as a breakthrough for leading female characters in television, due to the single, career-minded title character played by Mary Tyler Moore.

Possibly one of the best shows the United States has ever exported. Too bad it was filmed before my time so I couldn’t have watched it in its heyday :(.

Link: Mary Tyler Moore on Wikipedia

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By Ruben Schade | Comments (0)

9/11 Programme on Channel 9

2006.09.06 – 23.35

Here in Australia I’m in the process of watching 9/11 on Channel 9, perhaps my other Aussie buddies are watching it now too. Possibly one of the most moving shows I have ever seen, I am completely speechless… I can’t think what else to say.

9:30 pm Channel Nine Adelaide
9/11 (130 mins, Rated: M)
Genre: Documentary

For millions of people alive today the most significant political event of their lifetimes will be the destruction of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001. Combining dramatic reconstruction with the testimonies of survivors, victims’ families, emergency workers and city officials, this major television film captures the minute-by-minute events of a single day in history.

EDIT: Just finished watching it. My entire attitude toward the tradegy has competely changed, I had no idea the towers collapsed so slowly. I’m not religious so I can’t say my prayers are with those affected but I can say my thoughts are.

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By Ruben Schade | Comments (0)

Sailor Moon Season One DVD Reviewed

2006.08.31 – 18.17

Like Speed Racer and Dragonball Z, I remember watching Sailor Moon as a kid getting ready for school first thing in the morning on Agro’s Cartoon Connection when we lived in Brisbane. Whatever happened to that show? They screened (unfortunately) the english dub.

Anyway one of my favourite blogs to read Need Coffee (the name originally drew me to it!) posted this review regarding the first original uncut season on DVD:

One of the truly interesting things about this series is that Usagi, while annoying at times, is so imperfect. How tiresome is it to have only perfect heroes all the time? Usagi is a clutz, doesn’t do very well in school, and is more than a little silly; she prefers shopping and playing video games to saving the universe, but that’s what makes her so approachable as a heroine. She’s normal.

In short, if you’re a Pretty Soldier Sailor Moon fan, this set is an absolute must-have. If you’ve never quite gotten into this show before, then check it out now; the inclusion of the missing dialogue and scenes make the whole thing more intelligible, though no less fun. There’s something here for many kinds of fans, from romantic comedy to science fiction or even mystery. From middle aged men to young girls, there’s just something about Usagi and her friends that appeals to people, once they give her a chance. Even if this show stays in the “guilty pleasure” category, let Tuxedo Kamen, Luna, Rei, and the rest take you for a very wild and action-packed ride.

Sailor Moon Season 1 Uncut DVD Review

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By Ruben Schade | Also posted in anime | Comments (1)

The Anti-Football League

2006.08.28 – 10.38

AFL (Australian Football League) and NRL (National Rugby League) here in Australia are the lamest excuses for sport I have ever witnessed. If I wanted to watch barbaric testosterone overcharged jocks in tiny shorts lunging at each other and groping I’ll watch wrestling thanks. And its all anyone can talk about here!

Fortunately I’m not alone:

The Anti-Football League is an Australian organisation that pokes fun at the obsession with Australian rules football. It was founded by Melbourne journalist Keith Dunstan in 1967.

The movement still has a strong band of loyal sympathisers and supporters, and since June 2006, a website. The chief qualification for membership is not an active dislike but a disinterest in football, a desire to spend one’s time and conversation on other things.

Anti-Football League

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By Ruben Schade | Also posted in sport | Comments (1)

UniSA: Low Repeat Viewing for TV Programs

2006.08.27 – 22.07

A recent study by researchers at my university has discovered some interesting facts; potentially disturbing to the media companies; regarding the television programme viewing habits of the average person. I was surprised.

While ratings for certain television programs might be fairly steady, with about the same number of people watching each week, researchers at the University of South Australia have discovered that week-to-week it is largely different people watching the program.

For example, in the US only 30 per cent of the people who watched a program one week had watched it in the previous week, according to the Director of Ehrenberg-Bass Institute for Marketing Science, Professor Byron Sharp. “Seventy per cent of its audience in any week did not watch it the previous week,” Prof Sharp said.

“We tend to overestimate our loyalty for lots of things so when someone says ‘I always watch that program,’ they mean when I am watching TV, and not watching something else!”

“For example, we can’t predict which fast food outlet or which bank people will go to but we can predict how many people will go there and how often, and how many will go regularly and how many will go occasionally if we simply know the market share of, say, McDonalds. This is the sort of fundamental knowledge being discovered at the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute,”

UniSA: Low repeat viewing for TV programs

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By Ruben Schade | Comments (0)