Subject: (exotica) Re: Sony Minidisc Mains adaptor
A bit more tech talk on power adaptors:
> i found one in the house, which although it had the right plug bit wouldn't
> work ... checked the polarity and voltage was correct but only got a
> strange clicking noise ... Phil, what make of adaptor do you use?
You must match not just the voltage & polarity but the current as
well. Many items like powered speakers, etc. draw more current than
say a radio. Current requirements/ratings are given in milliamperes
(ma) for small devices. The usual problem is not enough current
rather than too much, at these low voltages. You may never match
exactly but on a device with a motor you may be most likely to notice
problems if the match is incorrect (vs. say speakers).
Brian Karasick
Physical Planner
McGill University
Montreal, Canada
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------------------------------
Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 09:55:55 -0400
From: nytab@pipeline.com
Subject: (exotica) [obits] Dallas Bower,Stanley L. Dritz,Thomas Durden
The Associated Press
Thursday, Oct. 21, 1999; 5:15 a.m. EDT
LONDON ûû Dallas Bower, a pioneer television producer who also worked in early radio and cinema, died Monday. He was 92.
Bower began sound recording in radio when broadcasting was a novelty. He moved to cinema and then to television, where he became the first producer of drama and opera for the British Broadcasting Corp.
He also directed feature films and documentaries, and was associate producer of Laurence Olivier's 1944 film "Henry V."
One of Bower's first jobs was to record the soundtrack for Alfred Hitchcock's 1929 film "Blackmail" for British International Pictures. That year he also recorded the first all-talking British film, "Under the Greenwood Tree."
Bower was appointed to the BBC Television Service in 1936. During World War II, he made propaganda films as an executive producer in the government's Ministry of Information.
Stanley L. Dritz
NEW YORK (AP) û Stanley L. Dritz, who popularized the zipper and other sewing products as part of his family's business, died Saturday in White Plains, N.Y. He was 88.
As president of John Dritz & Sons, Dritz raised the consumer appeal of a hookless fastener he had first seen in England. He made the fastener, commonly known as the zipper, out of plastic and rustproof metals.
It was one of the hundreds of sewing aids found in his company's catalog, which also included the seam ripper and the electric scissors.
Dritz was born in New York City and joined his father's business after graduating from college. He was president in the 1950s and 1960s, and the company was sold upon his retirement.
Thomas Durden
BAY CITY, Mich. (AP) -- Thomas Durden, who wrote the lyrics to one of Elvis Presley's early big hits, ``Heartbreak Hotel,'' has died at age 79.
``He wrote a lot of good music that is out there. It's just that `Heartbreak Hotel' is the famous one,'' said his stepson, John
White.
Durden, who died Sunday at his home in Houghton Lake, met Presley as a result of the song. Presley called him ``sir'' and sent Durden Christmas cards to show his appreciation, White said.
Durden co-wrote ``Heartbreak Hotel'' with Mae Boren Axton of Nashville, Tenn., who died in 1997. For reasons never explained, Presley also was given writing credit even though it was the work of Durden and Axton.
Durden was born in Georgia and grew up in Florida, where his older brother had a musical influence on him. Durden had a good voice and a special talent for playing the steel guitar, which he refined throughout his life, White said.
In 1956, Durden was single and performing with a band in Jacksonville, Fla., when he came across a newspaper account of a man who had committed suicide, White said.
The man left a note that said, ``I walk a lonely street,''and Durden used it as the basis for ``Heartbreak Hotel,'' which begins:
``Since my baby left me
``I found a new place to dwell
``down at the end of lonely street at
``Heartbreak Hotel.''
Durden continued to write and perform music, playing with Nashville legends like Johnny Cash and touring with Tex Ritter, White said.
He moved north to the Houghton Lake area and lived there for about 40 years. He performed with bands in northern Michigan, and their sets always included his hit song, White said.
In a 1982 interview, Durden spoke of the impact ``Heartbreak Hotel'' had on his life.
``I wish I had 12 more songs just like it,'' Durden said. ``It
has paid the rent for more than 20 years, but you can't get rich writing songs unless you have a lot of big ones.''
(SALT LAKE CITY) --
The world's oldest living zoo gorilla has died in the Salt Lake City zoo at the age of 50,leaving behind a cat named N'Jina. The entire city is mourning the death of Gorgeous, who was captured as an infant and spent most of her half-century at the Hogle Zoo. Gorgeous seemed to be doing fine after losing her teeth to a gum infection this month. She found dead in her cage over the weekend, apparently from old age. Although she was blind in one eye, Gorgeous lived a good 15-years longer than most zoo gorillas. To keep her company as she got older, her keepers gave her the kitten as a companion. For the past six years, Gorgeous and N'Jina have been inseparable.
BANGKOK, Oct 15 (AFP) - Thailand's top snake charmer was killed by one of his cobras after it turned on him during a show, reports here said Friday.
The three meter (10 foot) cobra sunk its teeth into 59-year-old Lod Pramuang's right leg, as he performed a boxing routine with the snake, the Bangkok Post reported.
Lod swallowed a dose of herbal medicine after finishing his snake charming show in the northeastern province of Khon Kaen, but his condition deteriorated and he died later in hospital.
NEW YORK (AP) -- A man building shelves in his apartment to store cages for his 12 pet pythons died when he fell off a ladder and
onto a drill, police said Monday.
The drill bit penetrated the right side of 36-year-old Thomas Giacometti's head Sunday night, police spokeswoman Theresa Farello said.
Giacometti's brother, who shared the basement apartment, discovered the body and called police.
- ------------------
Anatomy of a Genius
The Man With the Golden Arm, Psycho, Vertigo, Anatomy of a Murder, and
on and on and on. Great movies with great graphics by Saul Bass. This
is a media-rich homage page and labor of love. And I really want
those fonts used on the site!
World Wide Web: http://www.Saulbass.co.uk/
- --------------------
StonerSound
StonerSound is an interesting automatic music app that is free. Authored by Andrew Plotkin, it is perfect for low level ambiance of a psychotronic nature. This is critical when you can't bear the conversation coming from the nearest cubicle any longer. You will need a Mac with System 7 or later and the QuickTime musical architecture. The perfect soundtrack for when you roll your eyes back and start whimpering, "I hear those voices again." World Wide Web:
Here's a helpful series of applications that let you surf the Web at work and not get caught. There's an instant spreadsheet which can be loaded on a dime, sound files to fool your coworkers that can make it sound like you're hard at work - typing, talking on the phone ... whipping .... yes, whipping, even whipping and typing! There are also tutorials for useful boss-deceiving techniques.
Don's Boss Page -- http://donsbosspage.com/
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