Micheal Farmer

In the episode I reminisce about gaming in the early 1990’s. I discuss Alex Kidd in Miracle World while simultaneously mulling over how I first got my Sega Master system 2.

This brief audio segment provides commentary on the current state of affairs in regards to humanity’s battle against man made climate change. It also reveals the authors perspective for the future if nothing changes. But don’t panic!

Current Attitude: Optimistic
Current weight: 71.4 kg
Current record attempt: 7 days.

Well, that’s seven days down the vegan rabbit hole. It’s a start. That’s for sure. However I am already starting to crave simple pleasures such as cheese. Did I mention how addictive this stuff is? It really is no wonder they use cheese on mouse traps to lure mice to their deaths. If someone set up a trap with a huge block of cheese in it I would probably be a victim to a cheese laden trap as well. The science of cheese addiction is as follows. One of the compounds to be found in cheese is an opioid. Yep, you heard me correctly. While it is not identical to the opioids that one can find in the opium poppy, yes the same one used to make heroin, casomorphin is mildly addictive and lives up to its morphine derived name. How’s that for a piece of strange yet true knowledge? It really is no wonder why cheese sandwiches and pizza sounds so good right about now! I need to get my fix man! I hope I don’t suddenly relapse during the night, I could see myself at four in the morning holding up a hot dog stand demanding that the cook give me all their cheese other wise I’m gonna flip out man! Perhaps I’m being a little over the top. And than again, from what science has to say maybe not. Na, I definitely being over the top. So, why does casomorphin exist in cheese I hear you skeptically asking? Well Cheese has casomorphin in it because milk has casomorphin in it. And milk has it in it because cows evolved in such a fashion as to release it into their milk. The evolutionary benefits of casomorphin was to keep baby calves on the tit. It’s addictive as it is beneficial to young calves. As one bloke so adequately put it. “Cows milk is baby-calf growth fluid”. Just to put it out there for the world to hear it’s apparently the reason why you grow man titties of you drink to much of it. And here I was becoming so proud of the fact that I had finally grown a handful. Awkward…
And that’s it for day seven of my vegan experiment.
Quick note. Three nights ago was the first time since my last vegan attempt begun that I experienced “the night munchies”. Night munchies! What’s that? I hear you ask? Well, that’s basically what happens when a new vegans body is craving anything to replace the lack of animal products. It’s also a vegans way of saying that I plowed through half a packet of plain potato chips without any remorse what so ever.
Cherrio! Mmmmm Cheerios….

Current weight 71.3 kg
Current attitude: Optimistic
Current attempt record : 1 days.

The first time I attempted a plant based diet was a shock to the system. My body simply didn’t know what the hell was going on. I had grown up my whole life eating meat, drinking milk and loving cheese. In fact my love for cheese bordered on an addiction. As it was to turn out this analogy wasn’t far from the actual truth. This cheese addiction I will perhaps discuss in another episode. One of the biggest issues I found going Plant Based was the constant struggle to find what foods I could eat and which foods I couldn’t. Going to the shopping centre had quickly become a deep dive into ingredients lists. This process of picking over foods had quickly become slow and tiresome. You will find yourself saying “It was supposed to be easy. Simply don’t eat meat or animal based products”. But, when you attempt to be more plant based you will quickly discover that a lot of processed foods have animal based products in them, even the ones you would least suspect! In fact, the more effort you put into trying to avoid animal products the more time shopping will initially take. There is good news though, like all things, the more you practise something the quicker it becomes to do something. So over time you come to know which items you can eat and which ones you can’t. Oreos for example are vegan. Who would have thought? So, without understating it in any way, starting out as a vegan will be initially difficult. Well, it was for me anyway. Now on my fourth attempt at being plant based I find it a lot easier. The obvious truth is, I have been here before. After all, this is not my first animal free rodeo. During the previous attempts I was fortunate enough to have developed some habits that have never changed. For example, for the majority of my life I drank my coffee with a dash of cows milk. This is simply no longer the case. Those days are over. Now whenever I get a coffee it is a flat white on soy if I am out. And a shot of coffee with a dash of oat milk if I am at home. This practise continued whether I am trying to be plant based or not, it’s what I have come to call a plant based hangover. It’s something that has remained with me from previous attempts. Now if I could just get all the other eating behaviours to fall in line with my coffee drinking habits I would be set.

Day one of attempt 4 at being vegan. The struggle is real.
Current weight. 71.75 kg
Current attitude. Pessimistic
Current attempt record. O Days.

Here we go again! I have once again decided to try going vegan. This will officially be my fourth attempt. You would think that after three previous attempts at being vegan I would just give up. But no. I’m stubborn and I don’t give up so easily. So why do I keep trying? Well because I don’t want the world as we know it to end. It’s that simple. If the science is to be believed and I believe it should be, if we continue on our current consumerist trajectory than humanity doesn’t stand a chance. Science proves this. And to be honest it doesn’t take a genius to work this out. The real question should be, why do I keep failing at being vegan? Now that’s a little more complicated than one would first think. Transitioning to vegan is not straight forward. It’s a battle but it’s a battle that I believe is worth fighting. Man made climate change ain’t gonna fix itself and if I need to make an example of my self to help contribute to a solution than so be it. Now, you too know that I’m trying. I would appreciate it if you helped keep me on track. Before wrapping this little conversation up I would like to say the following. Trying to be vegan is initially hard because of our past behaviours. So that’s what needs to change. Changing ingrained behaviours is never easy. The problem I have is that I have grown up eating meat and cheese and the fat of the land. Separating myself from the memories I have made while eating animal products is the problem. Sunday night roast is a good memory, Sunday morning bacon and eggs is a good memory but if I don’t help to change the world, the way we currently live will be exactly that, a good memory. This isn’t political, the only outcome I hope for is that I finally stay vegan. I would also like to share something that was, to me at least, a little disturbing. I have had a recent thought that I can’t shake. It played out as follows. I imagined a future where I am much older than what I am now. My own grand children are around and they keep asking me one question. The question is as follows. “If you knew climate change was happening than why didn’t you try to stop it?”.
This is my declaration stating that I am trying. I acknowledge climate change is real and I endeavour to do my best to stop it in its tracks. Perhaps this train of thought is a little over zealous but what else can I do? This blog is a start, being vegan is the next logical step.

This is the review of Nomadland stating Francis McDormand and directed by Chloe Zhao.

On this episode I take the time to share my thoughts on The Mosquito Coast TV series now available on Apple TV. Spoiler! It’s actually worth watching!

The Saltwater Chronicles. Preface.

This is the objective. It’s simple. I love finding things of value. I always have. I have often found myself wondering how big Buisness gets started and the answers are often more than not very simplistic. The main reason, I discovered over time, was that big Buisness is successful is because they have something people need or the have something people perceive as something they need.
For example. Apple produces and sells electronic consumer products that customers perceive they need, they don’t really need them, it’s more of a want then a need, so it’s a perceived need. However K and C the company behind table salts around the world produce something we need and that is salt. Yep, Simple salt. Before you start pounding comments into the comment bar with your disagreements about humans actual need for salt it must be stated that without salt humans die. There, I said it. That’s a fact. Did you know that the Aboriginals of Australia had to mine rock salt from the earth in the middle of the Australian Pilliga forest in order to survive? Mind you they were at least 1000 kms from the sea so they had to get their salt intake from wherever they could get it. This included the Salt bush, which was another source of salt for the aboriginal people. Salt bush was simply picked from the plant and chewed, it tastes salty for anyone wondering…. So there’s two examples of humanities struggles to fulfil its’ need for salt. Another is possibly more well known. Are you familiar with a man by the name of Mahatma Gandhi? Well, he lead a mission across India in the 1930’s to harvest sea salt from the ocean

X-men Apocalypse. Also known as How the Professor lost his hair.

The only time I had heard anything about Apocalypse was when I was recording another podcast I once hosted. The podcast was called Offtrack’s Podcast and my fellow cohosts and I were living up to the namesake, we were thoroughly Offtrack. Somehow we had ended up on a discussion regarding the after credits scene of X-Men Days of Future past when my weakness was revealed. I had never heard about Apocalypse. And that, my friends is the only time I have indeed heard of Apocalypse… I got berated for my lack of knowledge, lost some serious geek creed and have since never lived it down. As such the only reason I want to watch X-Men Apocalypse is so I can learn who the fuck Apocalypse is. It’s a little late but better late than never right?!?
It should be mentioned that my expectations have flatlined for this one. I feel as though this could be a good waste of two hours of my existence. But anyways, it’s time to press play.

The man loves his Egypt. Anyone who knows me knows this. I love Egyptian History, especially Ancient Egyptian History. So the opening scenes to this film were a pleasant surprise. They were also jam packed with clever action sequences and booby traps. I love booby traps, the unseen mechanics of these hacks of sand and earth have always fascinated me ever since watching Raiders of the lost Ark and golden afternoon sessions of Ducktales. Straight up this film gave me enough to satiate my desire for adventure, I thus decided to hang in there for the ride just to see where it would take me.
First up it must be said that Apocalypse is one unfortunate looking fella. Not sure how he got his head but he should have left it in the sand whence he was born. However! Head aside, he does have an interesting back story. Legend has it that he’s s as old as humanity and has links to the four horsemen of the Apocalypse. Yep, he’s that Apocalypse…. As a mutant of the old earth he had the freaky ability to be able to transfer his consciousness from one person to the next so just as he is about to cark it he transfers into a new body and whammo! He’s good as new. However somewhere along the way he figured out that if he simply transferred his consciousness into that of a mutant he would take control of their powers thus inheriting them as he went. So technically speaking over time he become a mutant collector harvesting powers as he ventured across the landscape. Interesting fellow, no doubt about it.

So what happens when this talented mutant gets unleashed upon the earth in the 1980’s? Well, that’s what this movie is all about. Well that and the back story regarding the underlying divisions that run deep throughout society of the 1980’s. This film works well as an analogy of the numerous divisions that exist throughout the world today as well but basically put, this is the story of one mutants quest to press the refresh icon on his search browser.

Now I’m not gonna lie, the film is a little hyperactive. It sadly suffers from the same faults that a lot of recent super hero films do but as hyper active as this film was in places there were a couple of enjoyable highlights. The first highlight, truthfully also a welcome comic relief to the darkness of Apocalypses very presence was the Quick Silver scene. This was simply an absolute joy, as they nearly always are. So was the Quicksilver reveal. Turns out he’s got daddy issues. All I know is that one day he’s gonna work out that he is indeed the only X-men who is able to time travel and than the shits really gonna get knocked into 12th gear!!!

The many expectations of Mandy.

🤟

Prior thoughts.

Well, the cover of the DVD certainly makes me interested. The inspiration it draws from the Sam Raimi’s Evildead is uncanny and I like it. It also stars Nicolas Cage so that’s a bonus, the film will therefore have at least a spark of hope to it, in fact this film has my expectations higher than usual. I was actually looking forward to watching it!

Fleshed out review.

The entire movie was dream like even somewhat nightmarish. The use of colour is interesting to say the least. The colour palette is that of the cosmos with different shades of purples which does a great deal to help direct the psyche of viewer to feel as though they are indeed watching a nightmare. And for good reason.
The use of story telling is of particular quality. One story, shared earlier on in the film has a tendency to stay with you. In fact, the story is so detailed, peculiar and horrific that one has to wonder if it was indeed a fictional story or if it was perhaps something that had happened to the author of the film Pano Cosmotos as a child.

The underlying fear of cultism that existed throughout 80’s rings true within the film with many hints at satanism peppered throughout. To top off the uneasiness of the movie the villains of the film ride around in a creepy Scooby Doo van typical of the time period. The use of clever trick photography makes the films visuals trippy in places. But it’s not enough to save the film, especially earlier on.

What are the differences between a DSLR camera and a mirrorless camera? Micheal attempts to explain!

First of all I have one thing in particular I would like to say about the situation with Game Stops share price and that is, wait until Monday comes...

If your up for a laugh you should check out Game Stops stock price come Monday morning, in particular, you should check it out shortly after the New York Stock exchange opens. My guess is that the price of Game Stop Shares will collapse under the weight of its own success. But hey, I’ve been wrong before, so who knows?
At close, as of today, the price for one share of GME was $325.00 USD. What’s so interesting about that, I hear you asking. Well, it helps to keep one simple fact in mind. That fact is as follows. Only a month ago the price for one share of GME was around nineteen US dollars a share. So, what’s up? Why did the price suddenly sky rocket to 325 dollars? Well, it wasn’t because of some amazing news released by the company, you can be sure of that. What happened was as follows.
One month ago a subreddit was created under the Wall Street Bets page on the sharing site Reddit. The post was created in response to the discovery that 160% of all the money in GME stocks was short sold. Why would someone create a page in response to this discovery? That would be because they want to see the financial world burn! After all, short sellers are not the most popular people in the market.
You see short selling means that someone has burrowed stock from a broker. Than they sell the stock quickly and take the money to their money caves. Meanwhile, the broker is still waiting for the stock that was borrowed to be returned, that’s part of the deal. The idea is that, if you short sell, you sell the stock, you stash the cash, you wait patiently for the price to continue to fall, you than re purchase the stock when it’s cheaper and than return the stock back to the broker. If the short sell is completed correctly you should be able to return the stocks to the broker and keep the difference of the trade. You should profit, so should the broker.
So, what’s wrong with this trade tactic?
Well, for starters, short selling is basically a way to bet against a companies success. The only reason you would ever perform a short sell is because you strongly believed that a companies share price was going down and would continue doing so for some time to come. Short selling is the polar opposite of the normal reason to buy stocks. Hoping that a company is going to fail is good for a laugh but it is evil. There’s no doubt about that. Keep in mind that thousands of jobs may be on the line if a company does fail. With that clarification it’s apparent that wanting a company to fail is plain and simply the wrong attitude to have. But, it’s not illegal and for that reason, neither is short selling.
So, in early January it was noted on reddit that an army was being created to go to war with Wall Street. This army was created with one purpose in mind and that was to drive the price of GME through the roof. You see, the more people who can be convinced to buy into a stock results in the demand for said stock to increase which results in the share price increasing, which than again results in the demand for the stock to increase. The whole event has turned into a snake eating it’s own tail. So what’s the goal of this attack? Well, in response, this rising price will put pressure on short sellers to close their positions before they lose too much money. The last thing a short seller wants to do is to buy back a short sold stock for higher than what they paid for it, keep in mind that the stock still needs to be returned to the broker at some point. The sale must be completed no matter what the cost and there are heavy penalties for failing to do so.

The main differences between the DJI mini 1 and the DJI mini 2 are as follows. The camera resolution on the Mini 1 is 2.7 k while the camera resolution on the DJI mini 2 is 4 k. The improved camera resolution of the DJI mini 2 greatly increases image quality.
The other difference is the fact that the DJI mini 2 is lighter than the DJI mini 1. The fact that the new mini 2 is lighter than the mini one is important to drone operators as the flight regulations, in many countries, change once you go over 250 grams. For example, in some countries, it is illegal to fly a drone heavier than 250 grams, for commercial purposes, without a license. The DJI mini 1 and mini 2 both stay below this weight limit but the mini 2 is the lighter of the two. This allows users to add reflective stickers onto the device without risking going over the weight limit.
The DJI mini 2’s camera also has a 4 times digital zoom where as the mini 1’s camera has no zoom feature at all.
The mini 2 can also shoot photographs in both JPEG and in RAW format, while the mini 1 is only capable of capturing JPEG images. The ability to shoot RAW photographs gives the user the freedom to process and edit their own images at a later point in time.
Another substantial difference between the mini 1 and the mini 2 is the fact that the mini 2 operates using DJI’s Ocusync technology where as the mini 1 operates using traditional wifi technology. Ocusync allows the DJI Mini 2 to fly with a transmission range of 10 kms or 6 miles whereas the traditional wifi that is utilised by the mini 1 only allows the mini 1 to operate with a transmission range of 4km or 2.5 miles.
Another benefit of the mini 2 is the fact that it has greatly improved wind resistance when compared to the wind resistance capabilities of the mini 1. The mini one is safe to operate in winds up to 28 km and hour or 17 miles an hour while the mini 2 can operate in winds up to 37 kms or 22 miles an hour.
Simply put, the DJI mini two is better than the mini one because it has better camera resolution, lower weight, better transmission capabilities, better wind resistance and it also has a digital zoom.

My adventures with body boarding, as a kid and as an adult.

Ever since I could swim in the ocean I have always enjoyed body boarding. As a kid I remember going to the sandy beaches of the Fraser coast and body surfing whenever we were afforded the time. Every once in a while there would be a man on the beach hiring out body boards. With a little effort we could sometimes convince my mother to cough up the dollars to hire one. My brother and I would often share a hire board but every now and then we were given the cash to hire one each. The days we succeeded in convincing my mother to hire a board for us were the days that we progressed from body surfers to body boarders. Those were the days. The value of the board determined how hard we used them. Because of these hire time restraints it felt as though we squeezed every ounce of fun out of the boards. We would wear ourselves ragged chasing waves knowing all to well that each wave we missed was truly a missed opportunity. We truly valued the time we had to use them and as a result we were always sad to return them. At times this was something the hire man could clearly see and it played well with his empathetic side as every now and then he would grant us another half hour to enjoy them once more but this time it was for free. Enjoy them we did and than we would travel back to whence we came. I can still recall the sense of loss as we drove away from the beach. I would watch out the back window of the car As the coastline retreated into the distance. I would continue to watch until I could no longer see it. As the last glimmer of the sea vanished from my view I recall having a realisation come over me. I would find myself struggling to come to terms with the fact that it could be twelve months before I got to see it again.
I also recall driving the 6 hours back inland to our home town wishing we could stay at the beach forever. As we completed the journey we would often stop at small towns along the way. My brother and I, still caught up in our beach mana, would quickly find ourselves browsing the magazine shelves of the local newsagents looking for body boarding magazines. Once we found a magazine that suited our desires we would flip through the pages fantasising about the next time we would be in the water with the waves once again. Then we would have to load back into the car and return to our inland home once more. We would try desperately to hold onto the memories of our body boarding experiences by wearing our board shorts and talking of our board experiences with our country friends. But the dreams of being body boarders would soon fade as the reality of our circumstances set home. We were not children of the coast. We didn’t own body boards. We lived on a property surrounded by galvanised burrs, we were Glasser St kids of the outback. The only waves we ever saw that far out into the country were those of the boats that passed along the water of the muddy McIntyre and we were lucky to see them.
After 37 years of living in the outback of Australia I finally escaped. It took a pandemic to force the move but it did finally happen.
So having this view of boards and board hire it is little surprise that I still value body boarding to this day. In fact, now my six year son has developed a taste for body boarding and this has reignited my passion for the sport. I have finally got the opportunity to stay at the beach. I don’t need to travel back inland to go home. I live on the coast and feel I will remain here forever.

I went to the effort of travelling to my local tech shop to buy a video capture card. The purpose of this capture card was so my son and I could capture good quality gaming footage as well has have the ability to have face capture and mic commentary capture included in the footage.
After much deliberation we left the store with a 3rd Earth Media streaming pack. The pack itself seemed like good value. It had a mic, a boom arm for the mic, the capture card, one hdmi cable, a USB c to USB a cable as well as a ring light and a stream camera. The gentleman who assisted me was certain I now had everything I needed to video capture with style. I even told the gentleman who served me that I would be happy to be his lab rat. I have since eaten my words. Being the lab rat is a horrible experience.
As I started to removed the capture card contents form its box a feeling of dread came over me. It was immediately evident I had made the wrong decision. Everything in the box was cheap to the touch but I thought I would perceiver and continue onwards, after all I was keen to get setup, so was my son. After fighting with the cheap mic boom for a good twenty minutes we finally had the kit together. We were good to go. Except we weren’t, what followed for the next three hours was one drama proceeding the other. We would gain video footage but than lose audio playback in the recording. We would fix and than we would gain audio recordings only to have the video feedback freeze up. We would fix and have both video and audio feedback returned only to lose the mic volume completely. This went on for hours. Every time we thought we had caught a break our hopes were dashed to pieces until it got to the point where I thought an aneurism was almost upon me. Still aneurism free I had finally come to the conclusion that it was time to return this accursed item to the depths from whence it came. It was a peaceful transfer of power. I simply traded the gear in for the Elgato HDs+. Problem solved.
Lesson learnt. Don’t be cheap. Buy Elgato. Ditch 3rd Earth.

Hi and welcome to Tecomogamic! On this special episode I will be discussing an extraction technique that has been practiced for millennia. This process was something ancient peoples discovered more than a thousand years ago and is one of the most fundamental basics of modern chemistry. Welcome to the world of alchemists, wizards, witches and chemists.

If you had the chance to travel back in time to the dark ages you might be fortunate enough to stumble upon someone that we would today consider an alchemist, wizard, witch or Druid. Make no mistake, these people were the odd ones out. They collected knowledge as a hobby and practiced their newly discovered arts in their spare time. As a result of this experimental attitude these strange ones discovered and lost vast quantities of knowledge. One such snippet of knowledge is as follows.
Did you know that you can extract a valuable compound from wood ash? This compound has many valuable uses. First and foremost it is an important ingredient in the making of Castile soap or any soap for that matter. It can also be used for extracting nitrates from bat guano that can than be used in the manufacturing of gun powder. This compound can also be used for making a flux for glazes on ceramics and for lowering the melting point of ores to extract metals.
This compound which can be extracted from wood ash is called potassium carbonate also known as potash.
Welcome to the foundations of modern chemistry.
Listen and I will tell you how to obtain this compound.
The first step you are going to want to do is to collect some hard wood. The harder the wood the better. Soft woods such as pine will also work but bear in mind that you will retrieve lower quantities of Potassium Carbonate from wood ash if you choose to use soft woods.
Once you have collected a good quantity of wood you will need to get a good hearty fire going. All the wood needs to be consumed in the fire leaving only charcoal and fine white wood ash. The charcoal can be placed to the side and used for other purposes such as water filtering or used as a primary ingredient in the gunpowder itself. The white ash should be collected by screening the charcoal from the ash. A window screen will do the trick. Simply place the screen on the opening of a bucket, now pour the entire fire contents over the screen. Shake the screen to filter the ash into the bucket below.
Now that you have separated the fine white powder from the fires’ remains it is time to fill the bucket with water. Rain water is best but any water will be fine. Keep the white ash at the bottom of the bucket and fill with water. Now stir the contents and allow the mixture to settle. This settling will take some time. Once it has settled the potassium carbonates will have dissolved into the water. Now you can pour off the water into a pan and allow the sun to evaporate the water. The other method is to put the water into a pot and boil off the water. This is more energy intensive but will be much quicker. If you choose to use wood as the heating source you can now save the ashes from that fire to extract more potassium carbonate. In the world of wizards, witches and chemists everything has value. After all, nothing is free in water world. Once you have boiled or evaporated the water off you will be left with a fine white powder at the bottom of the pan, don’t worry, this isn’t the ash that we started with, this is something else. This is the potassium carbonate you are looking for. Congratulations, you have just completed your first extraction and now have one ingredient for making soap and two ingredients for making gunpowder. The first compound you received was the charcoal from the wood you burned, this can be kept for many useful purposes. And the second compound you have collected is the potassium carbonate extracted from the wood ash. Look at you go, you have just passed your first lesson of wizarding, witching or chemistry.

Hello there and welcome to Frissoncast. On this very first episode I have decided to take you down digital memory lane. Every now and then a musician discovers a tune that could have easily been played unrecorded for centuries. It is my personal my opinion that the piece of music I am about to share is one such example. It feels as though it has been transported unadulterated through space and time, such compositions allow the listener to contemplate what the world could have been like when the tune was perhaps first played.

I have discovered over the years that the heartbeat to many movies and video games is undoubtedly the soundtrack. Take away this heartbeat and many films and games would fail to have the same impact they once did. As with movie soundtracks, gaming soundtracks can sometimes work their way into your soul for life and this song is no exception.
In the early 2000’s a video game was released onto the Nintendo 64 console. This game was non other than The Legend of Zelda, Majoras Mask. This was an epic game in all senses of the word. In fact it was such an epic undertaking that it is one of the very few games that I have never finished. It remains in its own special place, perhaps never to be completed. It is one of those rare experiences that hasn’t yet come to its conclusion and I am simply not ready to end it any time soon.
This remix of the original theme titled Clocktown is produced and performed by Theophany but was originally composed by Koji Kondo . Theopanys version was released in 2012 and is quiet simply breath taking and overwhelming at times. Crank those headsets up and enjoy. If you are familiar for Majoras Mask you may find yourself reminiscing deeply for the next 6 plus minutes, if not prepare to be transported to a medieval village.
Welcome to Clocktown.

PlayStation 5’s are now available to preorder! If you know where to look...

If you’ve found this article then you are amongst the oncoming hoards of gamers who are asking the same question. Where the bloody hell can I buy a PlayStation Five?”.

So, thanks to @novasensei (as reported by Games Radar) The word is out! Physical disk edition PlayStation 5’s are temporarily available in Australia!
Insiders have detailed that they have indeed received emails from the head offices of a certain well known company explaining that there is indeed a small number of Playstation 5’s available to preorder as of the 15/01/2021.
Now the rush is on to get your hands on one. So what’s the the name of this fantastic retailer that has finally received a batch of the freshest consoles I hear you eagerly asking? That would be none other than JB HiFi. To order a PlayStation Five you will need to go in store, in person. The purchase needs to be paid for in full on the day of the preorder. But be quick, stock is extremely limited and if you do not act fast you may miss out for another few weeks or months. Keep in mind that this preorder is for the physical disk PlayStation 5 not the digital PlayStation 5. There is still no word on when these will be available for order.
JB HiFi is currently not accepting online preorders, nor have they advertised the fact that these consoles are available. I repeat. To preorder you will have to go into the store in person and ask for the console from the head of the games department. It doesn’t get much more promising than that!

After much deliberation I finally decided to bend the knee and watch Servant on Apple TV+ And what can I say other than it has its claws in me deep.
I have always found M Night Shyamalan’s work interesting and this is no exception. It is dark, gloomy, broody, atmospheric and very entertaining. The production value is blatantly obvious from the opening credits through to the end credits. Time and care have been taken to extract the most entertainment from each frame.
The mystery surrounding this show is enduring and it’s clearly more than enough to keep me seated for three straight episodes. I must say, this is a rarity these days indeed.
The synopsis must be summed up with utmost care. It is as follows. A wealthy couple hire a mysterious girl to help care for their new born boy. The job is not without its perks which include being able to live in the impressive home the couple own as well as cash in the hand payments and food.
The husband is a chief to chiefs while the wife is a news anchor on the local Television station. Wealth and the wealth gap is a clear theme in this show from the get go. So is servitude.
As the story unravels the viewer is left questioning everything. One of the more prominent hooks of this show is its ability to make you question who is playing who. The shear brutality of it at times is its other.
The photography is superb, visual evidence would seem to suggest that the cinematographer has worked in the food industry at one time or another. The way in which the story is kept in the dark is another trick that is well utilised throughout the show. Darkness seems to be trying to consume every frame displayed.
The underlying story rests on the frailty of each of the characters back stories. Each characters history is as deep and mysterious as the next.
Story telling has always been one of M Nights Shyamalan’s strong suits as had his grasp of what a great idea is. This is what makes this show carry itself so well. A great idea with a great story, filmed well and presented with care equals a great viewing experience. Servant is simply highly recommended viewing.

So, where are all the PlayStation 5’s? That’s the question everyone is asking and also the question that that apparently no one has a straight answer for.
Simply put, if you have been looking to buy the PlayStation 5 than you may be better off holding out for the PlayStation 6 at the rate all this nonsense is proceeding.
Official sources indicate absolutely nothing of any value other than that some time in the future the elusive console will be available for purchase. Amazon has cut its last tree of hope down with no further information in regards to PS5 consoles except that they have plenty of PS5 accessories, hmm I wonder why that would be... Big W, EB Games and Harvey Norman have also continued to have nothing to offer.
But still, there are a couple of rays of hope for those desperate enough to follow through. The good news is that eBay still has plenty of disk edition consoles available, providing you have taken the time to preorder a good quantity of lube for the reaming you’re about to receive if you bite the pillow and purchase one. For example you could be looking between $1600 and $2000 to get your hands on one. I even seen one desperate seller with a price tag of $10000.00. Who the hell would pay that?
Many people are of the opinion that eBay console scalpers have been beating a dead horse for far too long now and that perhaps it is high times that legislation is changed to stop scalpers in the first place. Whatever the case Scalpers seem to be getting away with it as eBay sales are still proceeding. And than there’s a little known website called Exspansys, that at the time of writing this article still had stock of the digital versions of the console. The good news with this site is that the reaming you will receive for buying one isn’t quite as savage as that offered by eBay. For example you can buy a digital version of the PS5 console from exspansys for $1279.99 whereas eBay Australia currently has absolutely no stock available in the digital versions at all. There is still the possibility that you could purchase a digital console from the United States, providing you pay a premium for it, as well as fork out for the shipping costs. The latest figures seem to suggest that you will pay anywhere between $1200 AUD and $1400 AUD.
If anything changes in regards to preorder or release news I will be sure to keep you updated.
It is best to keep in mind that all current news sources seem to indicate that it could be a couple of months before any good news surfaces in regards to the next preorder wave. In having said all this It could be some time yet before we see the PS5 back on shelves.

The iPhone 12 is fantastic. It is by far the best smart phone I have ever owned. But it is not without its limitations or flaws. There is one obvious flaw that deserves mentioning.
When I first received the iPhone 12 I was a little confused. You see, I already knew that I wasn’t getting a charger with it, we had been told this by Apple and it was written on the box (although it should be said that it was in small print, in fact it was in really small print). Where the real confusion set in was after I pulled an included USB C to lighting cable from the box that I could not use with any of my previous USB A chargers or portable chargers for that matter. Immediately I thought, I can fix this, adapter. A simple adapter should have been able to fix all my problems but it wasn’t that easy. You see getting a USB C female to USB A male adapter is not a simple task, especially in store. Perhaps on the fancy internet you can get one but good luck finding one on the very same day you need to charge your iPhone! Without even knowing it I had been baited and hoodwinked.
What was the reason behind this decision? Everyone has their theories. Apple stated that the reason they left the charging device out was because of its efforts to help reduce the company’s carbon footprint. Some people are not convinced this is the case. Out of interest I recently found myself watching a video on YouTube arguing that the real reason Apple left out the charger was simply money. This is not a bad argument and I agree that having to buy a new charger is a pain when it comes to this version of the iPhone. But the problem is somewhat of an illusion. Just because Apple includes the USB C to lightening cable doesn’t mean you have to use the USB C to lightening version of the cable. The fix is quite simple. Take your old cord, that you were previously using with your previous iPhone, and use your old charger to charge your new device. It won’t charge it as fast as the new USB C chargers could (20 watt charger needed) but it will still charge your device. And there you have it. Problem fixed.
Unfortunately this doesn’t help people who have never had an iPhone though, nor does it help you use the cable provided. And that’s the real issue. Apple has mislead costumers into thinking that they need a USB C charger after they were told by Apple in the new iPhone presentation that they didn’t need a new charger at all. There’s no denying it, this is simply one of the poorest and deceptive decisions Apple has yet made. It’s a marketing trick and a behavioural trick. The user has been hoodwinked into thinking they need a new charger while at the same time they’re told they don’t need one at all.

My attitude toward this issue can be best described by Gollum who said “sneaky little hobbitses. Wicked, tricksy, false!”

What could be better than an iPhone 12 for my birthday? That would be an iPhone 12 Pro Max of course. Thanks to my gorgeous wife I was fortunate enough to be on the receiving end of this amazing gift! Thanks needs to be given where thanks is due and now that I have given thanks to my goddess great gift giving wife I can move along to my early thoughts on the iPhone 12 Pro Max.
For perspective purposes I believe that should firstly mention that the phone I was utilising previously was the iPhone XS Max. I had been a user of the iPhone XS Max for over three years and it was, to put it mildly, quite simply an amazing device. If it wasn’t for the gift of the iPhone 12 Pro Max I would have probably held onto the XS Max for another couple of years. Although, it should be said that the XS Max was beginning to wear a little thin. For further perspective it should also be noted that I am an extremely heavy user of the iPhone. Now, when I say I’m a heavy user, I mean to say that I use my device continuously all day, even while at work. Over the years the iPhone has become a vital research tool that I find I cannot live without.
The overall initial transfer experience from the XS Max to the 12 Pro Max took several hours to complete (account logins etc took up the majority of the time). But the initial set up of the iPhone 12 Pro Max was quick and easy. For example, the majority of the data accidentally transferred from my iPhone iCloud backup as I passed through a 5G hotspot on my way to work. My mobile data clearly showed this, a warning flashed up as I parked, “you have used 80% of your available data with 23 days left in your billing cycle”. I was surprised by both the excessive consumption rate and the speed at which the transfer had happened. Gone are the days of setting up each iPhone as a fresh device. This was the old way. Now I can safely say that transferring a 512 GB device from one to another can happen without hiccups using the 5G network to get the job done quickly. Happy days indeed.
After having set up the device I began to play around with the newly improved camera features. The wide and ultra wide angle lens options was something I was looking forward to using in particular. After all, having the ability to get more image in your image is never a bad thing. Finally I could capture moments of action against grand back drops without having to sacrifice perspective. The wide and ultra wide lens are fantastic but the 12 Pro Max’s camera really shines in low light settings. This is a feature that most users will not even have to consider while operating the device as it happens automatically and when it does occur the difference between previous iPhone models is simply outstanding. This low light feature utilises lidar technology to better enhance areas of darkness as well has help to improve the auto focus in low light settings. The results of a low light photograph on an iPhone 12 Pro compared to the iPhone XS is extremely obvious. The iPhone 12 Pro camera is without a doubt one of the biggest advancements of the device yet. But I say yet because there is a development that is bigger still. The step up from 4 gigabytes of ram to 6 gigabytes of ram makes for a massive improvement in the phones ability to handle multiple tasks at any given moment. It has also improved many other aspects of the device such as giving the users the freedom to do just about anything web based any where you can get a decent cell phone connection. For example, I am a self confessed smart phone zombie walker, also known as a smombie, who likes to write and walk at the same time. Better yet you could say that I am a smombie developer as I enjoy walking, writing, developing and publishing all on the go. There is simply no better experience that the iPhone 12 Pro has to offer other than the ability to utilise web publishing apps on foot.

Thinking of buying the new homepod mini? Listen to this first. You won’t regret it .

If you have experienced this issue, you will no doubt understand how frustrating it can be to have a disco in your computer room after the lights are off. I mean, if a disco is what your after, than fine, flash away keyboard! But you shouldn’t deny that fact that you may risk having an epileptic fit if you continue to ignore that fact that your Corsair keyboard needs some love!
Here’s how you fix those annoying flashing white lights on your Corsair keyboard.
Step 1 - unplug the keyboard from the USB slot it is using.
Step 2 - With the keyboard unplugged, press and hold the escape key.
Step 3 - With the escape key still pressed plug the keyboard back into the USB slot.
Step 4 - continue holding the escape key until the keyboard display flashes.
Step 5 - while still holding the escape key unplug the keyboard and release the escape key.
Step 6 - plug your keyboard in!
Now the unintentional disco has ended and your keyboard should be behaving normally.

Hi all and welcome to the very first episode of Can Do! A fancy podcast regarding a not so fancy hobby!

First up! This is over due. What have I been doing these past four months since my last post I hear you ask? Well, heaps actually.
First of all, I bailed on my South East Queensland existence and made my way north. I have since had four different jobs ranging from landscaping to salesperson. I have finally finished settling into my new home with my wife and children. I have finally found new walking tracks and have only just begun to explore the area around me! The possibilities here are endless! And yes, I have found the local cans dispensary.
My can investments have fallen to the way side due to the fact that I needed to cash them in to make the big move. I have been left with no choice but to start again. So here we are. New Year, new can adventure.
Today I made my way to the can dispensary and cashed in a small harvest. First thing that should be noted is that the can dispensary in Bundaberg is toats molates or as the cool kids would say, totally heckers.... It’s busy, and noisy, and smelly but still popular. Mostly the experience I have had visiting the dispensary has been a pleasant one with only one exception. I had one old man push in front, I tolerated it as he looked like he could use all the help he could get.
In total I collected $12.20 from my haul.
So, as of today I have a total of $12.20 cents. That’s 122 units collected and cashed.
I still have all my silver I bought using the previous cans but I am not going to count these in this years tally! I am starting fresh! Any new gold or silver bought with this years can money will be included but not last years hoard, that has since moved into the family treasury.

While walking I have found plenty of cans to harvest. But also while walking I have noticed I am far from the only person harvesting bottles and cans in Bundaberg. But that’s the way the can crumbles I guess, there’s nothing wrong with a bit of healthy competition. Perhaps I will need to get up early, after all, the early bird gets the great northern bottle.

If you happen to enjoy my ramblings about can harvesting please give this episode the thumbs up and subscribe!

Until next time Cheers!

SD cards are formatted in regards to the file allocated table system chosen by the manufacture of the device.

What size SD card can my Zero-X Pulse drone take? Find out