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 recently had a customer come into the store who was looking to buy a shortwave radio. I was immediately stumped. Shortwave? Isn’t that the same as AM and FM radio I asked myself.

Nope and no are the answers to this question.

The lady continued while my mind congested, a congestion that was a direct result of a lack of self confidence that any new sales person, who has found themselves out of their depths has sure to have had experienced more than once in their careers. “I used to travel to the Phillipines and Japan and I could listen to the BBC in England and I could also listen to radio stations in New York”. I was stumped, either this lady was bonkers or I didn’t know what she was talking about. Everyone knows that AM and FM radio stations are hard to get at the best of times, there’s simply no way of hearing a live broadcast on the other side rod the world, or so I thought. Turns out it was my lack of knowledge, the lady was correct, shortwave radio used to be a popular format that would allow listeners to hear broadcasts from all over the world? So what happened? Why did this format largely vanish from the earth? Well, the truth is, this format hasn’t vanished. In fact all major international radio broadcasters still broadcast in shortwave radio formats. The only problem being is that you need a special type of receiver to be able to listen to them and for that you will need to know where to buy them from. You see, they are hard to get, but not impossible. I found that if you’re r looking to buy in store today, that Jay-car in Australia was one of the better options for acquiring this mysterious device. Radio shack in the United States is another. They are decently valued as well, one set in Australia was selling for $34.95. Now that’s a bargain! The quality of the product is probably something left to be desired but at least they sell them. There are other options as well. Tecsunradios.com has perhaps the best variety of Shortwave radios available as does Amazon and if all else fails there’s always EBay.

Taking the time to learn this new information lead me down a rabbit hole into the spooky world of something called number stations. Number stations are short wave broadcasts that sometimes contain a segment of music followed by a series of numbers. These numbers are said to represent something of value to the receiver whom the broadcast was designed for. In other words these broadcasts are for people you would prefer to remain anonymous, who would prefer to transmit encrypted data thousands of miles anonymously. In other words, these are spy broadcasts that anyone can listen to provided you stumble upon the broadcast frequency itself and than they vanish. Just like the spies who sent them in first place.

Turns out I may need to get my hands on one to learn more. Shortwave radio is simply fascinating and as a matter of fact, so are number stations.

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.

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.