Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Quiet Tuesday

Tru Calling is on the SciFi daytime rotation today! This would have worked better if I had told you about it before it happened, but I completely forgot.

I also almost forgot that Eureka is on this evening. There will be three solid hours of it: one rerun episode from last season, the episode from last week, and the all-new, never-been-shown-before episode, which, this evening, is What about Bob? What a wonderful addition to Tuesday evening!

On Friday, the SciFi Channel will be showing Doctor Who on it's daytime rotation. Especially not-to-be-missed, are Tooth and Claw (which shows the beginning of Torchwood), and School Reunion (where Sarah Jane comes back). For all you people who are getting psyched up for the Olympics or Ravelympics, don't miss the episode entitled Fear Her! It involves the 2012 Olympics.

Well, I found out why I can't get closed captioning on channel 50 (ABC Family) through Comcast. Part of what they were claiming was right, and part of it was wrong. And part of what I was telling them was right, and part was wrong.

With standard definition TV (NTSC in the US), the CC is imbedded in the information for the picture. If the CC is imbedded at the network level, if you have a TV that gets CC and it's turned on, it has to appear if you're getting a picture at all. That's what they were trying to tell me, and they were right about it. It's something that should be absolutely foolproof, no matter what. But they found a way to mess it up anyway.

High definition TV (ATSC), is so compressed to get a HD picture up there at all that they don't have room to embed CC into the picture. So it goes along with the sound. It can be displayed by any HDTV, but a standard TV hasn't got a clue and can't display it.

Comcast is broadcasting ABC Family on two channels. Channel 50 is supposed to have the SD signal, and 245 is supposed to have the HD signal. Can you see where this is going?

Right! They have the HD and SD channels switched! I was tuning in to 50 to get the SD signal and CC, but was getting the HD signal (which displays, but at SD), which doesn't have the CC embedded in the picture, and can't be displayed on my TV.

I called them today, and hopefully it will be fixed soon for all those people out there who haven't done a computer search on CC.

But I figured it out in time to see the last half of Middleman with CC, and then set the DVR to record the whole thing! It's wonderful! They throw in so many in-jokes for SF fans! At one point, Wendy and the Middleman are using code names over their radios, and one of them is "Gatekeeper" and the other is "Keymaster." Needless to say, the episode is about ghosts! It's a new favorite program for me. If you missed it, by the way, it'll be on later in the week a couple of times. Check your TV guides.

I'm still looking at cables for the shoulder of my Celtic sweater, and I should be swatching soon. I was trying to figure out how I was going to get the cable to start and how to turn the knitting so that half of the cable goes down the front and half goes down the back, and then I realized that I don't have to turn it. All I have to do is run the cable elements off the edge as I did on the hood, and will do on the buttonloops. Then just stop knitting and put the end on a stitch holder.

I need a cable with four individual strands for the shoulder, and then it needs to separate and two strands will go down the front, and two down the back. I'll add a short bit of I-cord that will go directly across the shoulder and be picked up at the edge in front and back. I could even weave it through the shoulder cable. This is going to be neat!

I'm going to put up a page within the next few days for the Celtic sweater. It will be just the beginning information right now, and I will add to it as I design it. So you can see the design process, too. Watch for the link to it in the sidebar within the next few days.

I will also be putting up a tiny ad for Designs Toscano in the sidebar. I love that company! I got some of their small gargoyles as a Christmas present one year, and I love them!

Have a great day!

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Addition:

I have some early information about the Celtic sweater up. You can get to it by using the link in the sidebar.

I still need to make charts for the parts that are already done, and get them into the right places, not to mention the parts that I will be swatching and charting for the Ravelympics before it starts.

Be patient.

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