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Many people use words that are not in any English dictionary (although when a new word comes into common use, it can be added to an official dictionary). Here are some examples.

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Prepone

This is supposed to be the opposite of Postpone, but there is no such word. You bring forward a meeting, not prepone it.

Updation

IT outsourcing companies love this word. The verb “to update” cannot be turned into a noun. Use two or more words to describe what

Softwares

Software is a collective noun, like the weather. It is never plural.

Upto

This word is very popular in India but it is not correct. It should be two words, up to.
Do you know of other examples?

DMR-EZ48V recording from an external device

23 February 2020

Ash Nallawalla

SEO No Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

If you, like me, have a Panasonic DMR-EZ48V VHS and DVD writer combo device, you will have had experience in copying from VHS tapes to DVDs, or vice versa. It’s a great way to dispose of old, grainy home videos that were saved on VHS tape. Such devices were hard to find some years ago, so if you find one on eBay or elsewhere, then get one.

What do you do if you have an external video playing device with content that you wish to burn onto a DVD? In my case, this was a Foxtel IQ2 set-top box.

Let me save you some frustration, if you have tried and failed.

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Likely Problems

You might want to guess your way to copying to DVD, assuming you have a suitable cable for the purpose. I did and failed. I won’t confuse you with the methods that failed, but they all involved filling up the DVD before the content had finished playing, or the recording stopped after a couple of minutes for reasons I will never know.

If you cannot find the original manual, you’ll search for one online – big mistake! Panasonic uses the same model number for different countries and can offer different features. For example, the manual I found online showed front panel slots for a USB drive and an SD card. My unit has no such slots. Not surprisingly, the instructions for copying from an external device did not work for me.

Longer recording time on a fixed recording surface comes at the expense of quality, i.e. sharpness, so you want to set the upper time limit to something just longer than your source video. So let’s come to the solution, assuming your device is identical to mine (bought in Australia).

Steps to copy:

Step 1: Connect the AV cable to both devices.

Connect the external device to the front panel AV input – I used the Red-Yellow-White cable method, which is not as sharp as an S-Video cable’s capability. I used the front panel to avoid rummaging at the back of the recorder.

Step 2: Choose the Function Menu

Step 3: Select “To Others”.

On the Function menu, choose the last option, “To Others”. Next, select “Flexible Rec”.

Step 4: Choose Flexible Rec

The Flexible Recording menu enables you to set the maximum recording time. In this example four hours was slightly longer than the 3+ hour source video.

Step 5: Start copying.

Click “Start” and simultaneously start playing the external video source. That’s it. When the copying is done, use the “To Others” menu to reach “DVD Management” and then finalise the DVD so that it can play on other DVD players such as your computer or a DVD player.

Captain Phirozshah Byramji Bharucha, DSO

25 February 2019

Ash Nallawalla

India No Comments

Reading Time: 2 minutes

On Facebook I read the following post:

“Col. Phirozshah Byramji Bharucha, who led the 14th Ferozepur Sikh regiment in the grueling hard fought key Battle of Gallipoli during World War I in 1915. While the 1981 Mel Gibson movie “Gallipoli” glorified the heroics of the Australian battalions during the Gallipoli campaign, the reality is that the fiercest, most difficult first wave of attacks to gain ground on territory held by the enemy was led by the gallant Sikhs under Col. Bharucha, which then cleared the way for the Aussies to advance. In doing so, the brave 14th Sikh front line battalion suffered a 80% casualty rate. “

The wrong person. — This is the wrong person being attributed to this battle.

Being an Aussie of Indian extraction, having served in the RAAF as an officer, I am always interested in the under-documented role of Indians at Gallipoli, so I began to read up on the King’s Own 14th Ferozepore Sikhs, which fought at the Battle of Krithia, with a loss of 80% of its strength, with only three Indian officers surviving. I was intrigued how an Indian doctor attached to a regiment could have “led” it.

Captain Heerajee Cursetjee

Yes, there was a Parsi doctor with the 14th Ferozepore Sikhs , but it was Lieutenant (later General) HJM Cursetjee, DSO. (Link here). His great grandfather’s statue in Bombay is best known as “Khada Parsi”. A detailed account of his service life is at the British National Army Museum. Do check it out.

Yes, Lt Cursetjee also earned a DSO and he was the Parsi with the 14th King’s Own Ferozepore Sikhs, but a different Parsi also with a DSO to his credit has been incorrectly identified with Gallipoli.

So where was Captain PB Bharucha during WW1? He was in the Indian Expeditionary Force “D” in Mesopotamia (link here, Page 4) (also here, Page 440). He was later a prisoner of war (link 1 here) (continued here). He did fight the Turks, but in a different theatre of war. He was indeed the first Indian to win the Distinguished Service Order. I salute his service.

So here is a corrected image below that should be shared if you want to attribute the right person.

Wrong words