HOLLYWOOD still clings to the hugely unpopular regional coding system that is supposed to stop people in Europe and Australia watching movie DVDs intended for distribution only in the US. The object of the exercise is of course to allow Hollywood to release movies in the US before the rest of the world. The practical result is that many DVD players sold in Europe and Australia are 鈥渉acked鈥� so that they defeat regional coding and can play imported North American discs.
A British video magazine we know recently received a review copy of a movie called Assassination Tango, from MGM鈥橲 people in the UK. But it would not play on the magazine鈥檚 office player. Closer inspection showed that it was the US version, regionally coded to stop it playing in Europe.
Does this mean that the European wings of the Hollywood studios are now routinely equipped with hacked players and assume that everyone else has them too? If so, do their bosses in Hollywood know this?
Advertisement
THIS correspondence is now closed. When we reported on googlewhackblatt 鈥� single words that produce precisely one hit in Google 鈥� we were working on the assumption that if we, as heavy users of search engines for nearly a decade, had found only two in all that time, they must be very, very rare.
But Sarah Brennan quickly found 鈥渟upernumerality鈥�, which definitely looks as though it should be in much wider use. Likewise, Adam Braithwaite鈥檚 鈥渞ehalogenisation鈥�, which has the unusual distinction of generating a different googlewhackblatt when the s is replaced by a z. Neither do we understand the unpopularity of 鈥渁lapacoid鈥�, which, thanks to Roderik Koenders, we now believe means 鈥渇ox-like鈥�.
Jim Pearson came up with the wonderful 鈥渨admatilt鈥�, a strong woollen cloth placed on the floor of magazines to prevent damage to gunpowder barrels 鈥� and a word he used daily during his military service as an ammunition examiner.
We didn鈥檛 specify what language the word had to be in 鈥� in retrospect a mistake, given the erudition and/or cunning of Feedback readers. So we鈥檒l allow Michael Kello his 鈥渉ayoyah鈥�. It鈥檚 on a sign that he passes every day in Australia, and it turns out to be a greeting in a dialect of Dutch. Then there鈥檚 Dudley Irish鈥檚 鈥渮eaught鈥�, an obsolete Scots form of 鈥測acht鈥� that poses similar problems to those struggling to pronounce the language.
Enough. No more. Someone will be along in a moment to start a website and you can send them there.
THANKS to Rob Fletcher, who has alerted us to the following indisputable statement on page 15 of the recent biography of James Watson, Watson and DNA, by Victor K. McElheny: 鈥淚t also helped that Jim was not an only child. He was close to his sister Elizabeth, called Betty, who was two years younger than him, and remained so throughout her life.鈥�
PETER GROVES鈥檚 son has a watch with the words 鈥�100 metres water resistant鈥� written on the front. As he understands it, 鈥渨ater resistant鈥� means you can splash the watch, in the bathroom for example, but should not immerse it completely. So he found himself pondering how a watch can be casually splashed at a depth of 100 metres. What is the difference between that watch and his, which is only water resistant to 50 metres?
Were careful tests perhaps conducted in submarines and down mines? Possibly. But Feedback suspects the origins of the quote lie elsewhere. Could it be that it has been chosen as a marketing slogan because it鈥檚 meaningless, and hence impossible to refute? Outlawing these, like meaningful and false ones, might be a bit draconian 鈥� perhaps it should simply be compulsory to label them: 鈥渃ontent-free claim鈥�.
THE Australian New Muslims Association in Lakemba, New South Wales, is apparently doing well, Keith Lapidge noticed the other day. Looking through an article on the Sydney Morning Herald website, he discovered that 鈥渢here are, on average, about two people a fortnight converting to the faith at the centre鈥�.
Lapidge had just one small question about this: why not one a week?
THOMAS Hutchins was impressed by Astronomy magazine鈥檚 coverage of last month鈥檚 transit of Venus 鈥� especially the helpful image of the sun with a dot superimposed on it where Venus would be at 1.45 am, US Eastern Time.
FINALLY, with so much attention being paid to not squandering resources here on planet Earth, it鈥檚 good to know that there are people out there who also care about the fate of the sun. Julie Miles bought a solar-powered calculator recently that, she was assured, would switch itself off after a few minutes of activity in order to 鈥渃onserve solar energy鈥�.
鈥淏eware that moment of inattention!鈥� cautions a sign beside the road observed by Julia Coward. She wonders if it is referring to the moment when drivers are reading the sign