There’s a US blogger called Ken Rockwell (above). He’s well known as a man of rock solid opinions and strong recommendations. Yesterday he ran this headline:

28 January 2016, Austrailia Day

Yeah, like the 5 July 1774 is Independance Day in the Unoited States, eh Ken?

I emailed him quick smart and he’s fixed it.

I’ve actually spoken to him before, in 2012 I think. He used to work in TV engineering like me and worked for Tektronix at one stage, so I was keen to talk.

But what I got was how much his kids liked the Wiggles, and it became apparent that that’s all he knows about Australia, as evidenced by the headline above. Each time I tried to tell him that Australia produces top class TV equipment too, he just raised Paul Hogan or the Wiggles again. I got a bit angry after a while and sent him a list of the things Australia doesn’t do, which includes torturing people, bombing neutral countries, executing people including under-age and the mentally retarded, invading other countries, and so on and so on. There the conversation ended.

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Another sleepless night last night, the first for about a week. I dunno why it happens, I took valerian at about 9pm but I still felt alert when I went to bed at 1015pm. No sleep came. I got up about 1230am and had a cup of chamomile tea while browsing the news, and felt sleepy by 2am, but still no sleep at all, all night. I’m a bit sleepy now at 0845am and I’ll crash soon. Lucky I don’t have to go anywhere.

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This is so crazy and frustrating. Yesterday early, before 7am, ABC radio news ran an item about a drug that’s been found to fix Chronic Lymphocytic Leukaemia, CLL. That’s what I’ve got, so I was pretty interested.

When I got up, I looked on the ABC News web site for the item. Nothing. It was gone from the radio news as well. I searched the ABC site, including the health section. Nothing. Later, I posted a question on the ABC News Facebook page. It disappeared to be moderated, but it’s stayed disappeared. No answer was forthcoming. Frustration rising!

Then SBS ran their own item on their news last night. This time they named the drug, Veneto… something, and the Walter and Eliza Hall Institute as the research facility that found it. Exciting stuff. I couldn’t catch all the details but I thought, no worries, I’ll find it on the web.

So just now, Friday morning, I’ve looked on the Walter and E… web site for their news item – nothing. I looked at SBS’s web site. Nothing. I did a search on leukaemia, but all it produced was a months old item about kids’ leukaemia.

What is going on?????!!!! It’s my poltergeist, I reckon. It’s tricking me, making me hallucinate about TV items. What on earth is going on?  All I can do is more Googling. I’ll let you know how it goes.

PS: FOUND IT! https://www.thermh.org.au/news/breakthrough-therapy-gives-hope-new-leukaemia-treatment

The drug is venetoclax. I remembered the first part because veneto = Venice. As usual, it’s only a trial and I’ll bet the treatment will be available “in about 5 – 10 years”, after I’m dead.

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The first UltraHD BluRay player has been released (in the US, around May here) by Samsung. UltraHD? This is 4K resolution, meaning 3840 pixels wide by 2160 high, four times the resolution of Full HD. It means gloriously detailed pictures, with absolutely no pixels visible.

Everything you wanted to know about 4K (heh heh).

Of course you have to have a 4K TV to display them, and there are plenty of models on sale now. It’s the next step that the TV manufacturers needed to get people to upgrade and buy new TVs. But until now, there’s been no 4K UHD material to show on them, except stuff you shoot yourself if you have a 4K capable video camera. I have and I do. I can play my material here on the PC on my 4K computer monitor, but that’s it. My TV is only (only) Full HD.

One point is that because the pixels are so fine, you don’t have to sit so far away from the screen so as not to see them. This matters to me – I can’t sit more than about 2.5m from the screen.

I think it might be time to buy the LG OLED 4K TV receiver I’ve mentioned before. Soon.