Friday 25 September 2015

Obscure but Useful Quotes


‘To resolve any problem, just sit down and talk.’ (Dalai Lama)
‘About war.’ (GCC)


famous quotes* 

* possibly
Note: i may sign off as GCC or, equally, and for no particular reason, SG. 
#psycandy #psybanksy #clutchypaw #ideacape #ideastudio #spaceghostza


‘ I ought to read, I ought to laugh, This selfie is my autograph.’ (SG)

Fail. Note to self must get the stick.


<antiquotes>


‘Victory to the most deserving’ (Bonaparte)
‘With the biggest gun’ (GCC)

‘The more confident we are, the more intuition works through us.’ (P. Neery)
‘Like a good curry’ (GCC)

‘Courage in danger is half the battle.’ (Plautus)
‘The other half is pretty tricky though’ (GCC)

‘It’s a great ability to conceal one’s ability.’ (F. De La Rochefoucauld)
‘What ability?’ (GCC)

‘Do what you like and like what you do.’ (Unknown)
‘Do be do be do’ (Sinatra)

‘Our world is as big as our outlook.’ (Unknown)
‘And faster if you use Outlook Express.’ (GCC)



'Nitrous Oxide is funny.' (GCC)
‘Actually, it’s a gas.’ (Agent Smith)

[Thanks to Agent Smith for having tabled the correct element in correcting that quote]

‘The chain smoker never sees himself as smoking a chain, only a cigarette.’ (Shraga Silverstein)
‘The collective noun for a hookah is ‘brothel’.’ (GCC)

‘If the only tool you have is a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.’ (Abraham Maslow)
‘There is no problem so complex it can’t be solved with a hammer.’ (GCC) (Nailed it!)



‘We went at it merrily, hammer and tongs,
with vigour we set about righting the wrongs
My trusty hammer me nowt shall fail
All bear I the marks from tooth and nail.’ (SG)

Another selfie fail. Not easy when you're busy flying, okay

<random>


‘You owe me R200 for that joke’ (Coenraad)

‘I read your text when I looked at my phone.’ (Michi)

‘If you can’t sleep because you’re thinking about work, then you should work. If you pass out, then that’s what you were supposed to do.’ (Kyle)

‘Now you say something stupid’ (Michi)

‘Be alert. Your country needs lerts.’ (GCC)

‘Chance favours the prepared mind.’ (GCC)



<AFD>

 (All Fall Down)


‘It was not me, it was the beer.’ (GCC)

‘I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, violence, or insanity to anyone, but they've always worked for me.’ (Hunter S. Thompson)



‘Alcohol is like love. The first kiss is magic, the second is intimate, the third is routine. After that you take the girl's clothes off.’   (Raymond Chandler)


<deep>


‘Keep your friends close, your enemies closer if your aim isn’t very good, keep lists telling you what to keep and above all, know the difference between plummeting and free fall.’ (GCC)

 

‘Terminal velocity sounds like a terrible illness, but it’s actually a bicycle shed in France.’ (GCC)

‘Option Paralysis - The tendency, given unlimited choices, to make none.’ (Douglas Coupland - 'Generation X')

‘When your life flashes before your eyes, make sure you have lots to watch.’ (From a Virgin Atlantic advertisement 'Grim Reaper' 2009)

‘Through the cracks of confidence leak the truth.’ (GCC)




‘We all think in language. The quality of our language therefore determines the quality of our thoughts.’ (GCC)

‘In electing to automatically trust or like people, I refuse to subscribe to the urban dogma which breeds the opposite sentiment.’ (GCC)

‘If you surprise yourself, you surprise everyone else.’ (GCC)

‘Dogs like a call to action, and prefer short names such as ‘Kill’, ‘Maim’ or ‘Attack’ - or, at a push, ‘Disarm Assailant’.’ (SG)

‘Working with electronics is like driving a car. It’s best if you’re fearless, reckless and in denial.’ (GCC)

‘We are all increasingly binary. Being alive, writing code, playing a game, driving fast, being a vampire… either you prevail, or you die.’ (SG)





<subtext>


‘Forgiveness is  pretending to abandon your principles temporarily to appear marginally more admirable to anyone other than yourself.  Nobody admires that.’ (GCC)

‘Tolerance is patience wearing the cloak of stupidity.’ (GCC)

‘IQ is a misnomer, it does not exist. We are all equally intelligent even if our brains are wired differently. Einstein was bright with math but failed at life, so average it out and we’re all on a par.’ (GCC)

‘Conquest’ and ‘Empire’ are the delusional dreams of civilizations which consider the systematic suppression of indigenous people their unconditional birthright. ’ (GCC)

‘Virtual battlegrounds are no less real than physical war. The cost of virtual triumph is unguarded information.’ (GCC)



‘Civility, purity, morality and prosperity are as likely to be used by a society to project an image in the same manner a sexual predator uses the robes of a priest.’ (GCC)

‘The marks of a healthy society are measured by incidents of civil unrest and the proportion of the population either incarcerated or homeless. An advanced society is as likely to be prosperous as it is talented at propaganda.’ (GCC)

‘In any conflict,  both sides see themselves as good and their enemy as evil. So ‘good versus evil’ is meaningless, albeit patriotic.’ (GCC)


'If you want it badly enough, it will be yours. The trick is to want it badly enough.' (GCC)
 



"I can picture in my mind a world without war, without hate
and i can picture us attacking that world
because they'd never expect it"

 - Spaceghost



"If you ever catch on fire,
try to avoid seeing yourself in a mirror
because then you'll really panic"
 - GCC



"I truly hope that one day
we can put aside our fears, our prejudices
and just laugh at people"
 - GCC

<fast food>


‘McDonalds has proven it’s possible to have indigestion and malnutrition at the same time.’ (MAD Magazine)

‘McDonalds know the gherkin (pickle) is unpopular but they need to keep their customers alive.’ (GCC)



‘Fast food is laziness dressed as convenience.’ (GCC)




<superheroes>


‘It’s difficult to keep white spandex this clean, but that’s just a part of being a superhero. If it was dirty, or black, then I’d have to change my profession from ‘superhero’ to ‘baddie’. That’s just far too much paperwork.’ (SG)

‘If defence fails, attack.’ (SG)



‘If attack fails, attack again but with better planning.’ (SG)

‘Do not touch the spandex I just had it dry-cleaned.’ (SG)


<robots>


‘GET OFF MY LAWN!’ (Thundercleese)

'Blackmail is such an ugly word. I prefer extortion. The 'x' makes it sound cool.' (Bender B. Rodriguez)

'..... Do smoking and drinking make me cool? Of course they do! What about committing crimes and violence? Again, the answer is yes.' (Bender)

 




That's all for now, folks. Feel free to quote me on any occasion, and in return I will emphatically deny everything. That's instinct for ya.






television and video test patterns

Sundry video and television test patterns, star targets, gradients and moire charts for checking frequency, resolution, broadcast fidelity, color fidelity, shape integrity and to identify the station when it was not broadcasting programs. Some test images included teletext information including time and date.


Optical monochrome Telefunken Test Card, T05, early 1950's

Philips PM5644 television test pattern, early 1970's

Okay, this one came from an episode of Space Ghost Coast 2 Coast (Adult Swim, 1990)


Variation of the Philips PM5544 television test pattern


SMPTE color bars—common NTSC test pattern



"Indian Head" test pattern - introduced in 1939 by RCA New Jersey as part of the RCA TK1
monoscope (laid into a camera tube, as opposed to a physical card shot by camera)
...



From Wikipedia: the classic Indian Head test card, late 1930's




PM5544—common PAL test pattern, from South Africa in the 1980's


NBC-affiliated TV station test cards for WHO and WNBT in Des Moines and New York, 1941-
   


ETP-1 test card from 1979



Earliest static tuning image I could find, from 1929 (BBC, 30 lines)



RCA/NBC test card from 1938



BBC2 test pattern, 1997



BBC 'Rehearsal' test pattern, 1969



BBC Test Card F BBC One, 1967 (Also ITV, TCN9 and Sveriges TV, TCX, SBC ~ 1970's)
The BBC Test Card F was used around the world, often with center image replaced.

BBC Test Card F, BBC Two, 1967 (625 lines)


BBC Trial Slide 1, 1969



Early German test card, date unknown



W2XB Schenectady test card, 1928



ITA Test Card, UK, 1955



BBC 'Ponce' test card from 1969



Collection of BBC tuning signals, 1937-1956 (Top left is Test Card E, 1964)



Early test pattern from W3XE Philadelphia, 1932 (later WPTZ, now KYW-TV)




Russian test card 0249 , 1965






Swedish Television test card, date unknown



BBC Trial Slide A (TCF) date unknown



BBC tuning signal, 1937



SMPTE color bars, 16:9



TVW7, Perth, 1959




Channel 3 test pattern, Philadelphia, 1951