Off Topic – Daves Computer Tips

The Surprising Facts About TV Licenses

Marc Thomas — Tue, 05 May 2026 05:44:35 +0000

In my naïveté, I always thought the UK was the only place on Earth where a TV license was enforced. But no, around two-thirds of European countries require you to pay for a license, as do many countries in Africa and some in Asia. In the UK, the TV license is used to partly fund the BBC, a publicly owned corporation, and it’s strictly enforced, as I remember only too well from my childhood.

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Are You A Slave To Technology?

Marc Thomas — Mon, 20 Apr 2026 04:44:50 +0000

We live in a leafy suburb of Buenos Aires, very close to the Rio de la Plata (River Plate), and opposite us is an excellent cycle path that is used by both cyclists and pedestrians alike. Every weekend, I would see hundreds of cyclists zooming past our front door, and for years told myself that I should be doing something similar, especially being the wrong side of 60. So, in December…

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Does Anyone Remember Telex?

Marc Thomas — Mon, 16 Mar 2026 04:03:47 +0000

My first proper job in 1979 was with a Canadian shipping line, Cast Containers, which ran a North Atlantic container service between Antwerp, Montreal, and the Great Lakes. On my first day, I was thrown into a small office with a phone, a copy of the Yellow Pages, and a notepad marked ‘TELEX’ with sections such as TO, FROM, and MESSAGE for me to fill in. My job was to cold call manufacturing…

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Would You Climb Everest Or Sail Around The World?

Marc Thomas — Tue, 10 Mar 2026 04:04:41 +0000

This is way off-topic, but poses some interesting questions. Recently, I’ve been watching YouTube documentaries about mountaineering in the Himalayas, most notably the 1996 disastrous Everest expedition and the controversial 2008 K2 team climb, which also ended with fatalities. What struck me about both of these expeditions was that nature has a habit of showing us who’s in charge…

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Print Your Own Organ Donor Card

Terry Hollett — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 05:02:51 +0000

Way back in 1999, I decided to become an organ donor. I don’t know if you have to register anywhere officially. You can check with your state or provincial government website. In Canada, we have a program called “MCP – Medical Care Plan”, so we don’t have to declare bankruptcy with every visit to the doctor. We do have to renew our cards every few years, and we can register as organ donors by…

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Another Top 5 Horror Picks

Terry Hollett — Wed, 29 Oct 2025 04:03:43 +0000

With only a couple of more weeks before Halloween, here are my 5 top picks from YouTube for the best short horror videos. Actually, this would be the second list after the original published here. My Top 5 Short Horror Picks From YouTube 2025 I usually prefer stories with a supernatural twist, rather than just slasher flicks. Descriptions are from YouTube. 1. Greed & Gore After a…

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My Top 5 Short Horror Picks From YouTube 2025

Terry Hollett — Thu, 16 Oct 2025 04:01:47 +0000

With only a couple of more weeks before Halloween, here are my 5 top picks from YouTube for the best short horror videos. I’ve bookmarked a few videos over time, so there might be another 5 coming very soon. Descriptions are from YouTube. 1. “Rejected” In “Rejected,” a short horror parody, three twisted tales of macabre horror unfold, all linked by an antiquated digital camera from 1997.

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Happy Labor Day!

Richard Pedersen — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 13:28:29 +0000

Happy Labor Day! Enjoy a safe and happy holiday. From everyone at DCT …

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1989 Was A Momentous Year – How Was It For You?

Marc Thomas — Mon, 04 Aug 2025 04:18:38 +0000

I’m currently watching “Turning Point: The Bomb and the Cold War,” a nine-part Netflix documentary that explores how two world superpowers changed the course of history. With over 100 interviews and archival footage, this remarkable documentary takes us from the probability of the Nazis developing atomic weapons in the 1930s to the present-day war in Ukraine, with its echoes of the Cold War.

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Who Are We Really Creating For?

Marc Thomas — Wed, 23 Jul 2025 04:03:15 +0000

With Google dominating the advertising and SEO sectors, this is a question that I have frequently been asking myself of late because many of the titles of YouTube videos and tech articles scream clickbait. But more than that, most websites need advertising revenue to survive, and that includes tech sites such as DCT. I write about topics that grab my attention, either in an amusing way or that may…

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What’s Your Favourite Racing Movie Or Series?

Marc Thomas — Mon, 02 Jun 2025 04:14:13 +0000

Whilst I thoroughly enjoy arcade racing video games such as the Need for Speed series, Forza Horizon, Forza Motorsport, GRID, and others, I’m always looking for exciting racing thrills on the big screen. My favourites are those based on fact, although the car chases in some memorable Hollywood films are hard to beat – The French Connection springs to mind. Rally racing doesn’t get much…

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Are You A Grammar Nazi?

Marc Thomas — Thu, 24 Apr 2025 04:04:38 +0000

I confess to being a stickler for correct grammar, but whether that makes me a grammar Nazi is not for me to say. There’s no doubt that the standard of our languages has fallen dramatically in recent years, and I’m not just referring to English. This could be down to poor education or the influence of instant messaging, mobile phone use, and social media. For example, spoken English is one thing…

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What Have You Watched Recently?

Marc Thomas — Wed, 23 Apr 2025 06:45:04 +0000

We’re spoilt for choice nowadays when it comes to viewing entertainment, and if your thing is free videos, there’s a lot of choice, including YouTube, Dailymotion, Vimeo, and others. However, where I live, most streaming subscriptions are priced for the third world, so the likes of Netflix et al are often well below $10 per month. Anyway, here’s what we’ve been watching.

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Floppy Disks – Those Old Memories

Dick Evans — Thu, 06 Mar 2025 05:10:56 +0000

I know I am dating myself but I programmed computers a while back that used 8-inch floppy disks. They were called floppy because when you held one side they would actually bend. The most common size held 80 KB of data. That does not seem like much but was much more than an 80 column punch card. Our old keypunch equipment was replaced with ones writing to floppies instead of punch cards.

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