A Collection of Daily Wisdom by Dennis Sylvester Hurd since September 2003.

In 1956, it was a big-budget SciFi film. Some of the effects were, indeed, ahead of their time. Because I spent yesterday afternoon watching the DVD, I now know that people in space were using realistic lazer guns long before Star Wars. Of course I grew up with TV's Lost in Space, but how would I have known their faithful robot was a rip off of glass-covered, solenoid-head Robby? Even Star Trek creator, Gene Roddenberry, stole the concepts of "beaming" and "teleporting" from here. I guess the film's mildly-annoying electronic music was a real innovation as well. The most dated aspects of the film are the lone girl's dresses and the crew's chauvinistic attitude towards her.



Speaking of old things, this movie starred Leslie Nielsen (left) as Commander Adams. I generally think of him from Airplane! or the Police Sqad series. He was okay in this movie, but I still would rather think of him being funny. My goodness, Leslie's one Canadian-by-birth who's surely been kicking around Hollywood for a while!

Labels: movies, sci-fi, stars

This is an original link to a blog entry but it's no April Fool's joke. I pity Laura K. Pahl attending Lewis University for the rash of unexpected and unwanted attention. (Her name and university have now been changed to false ones on the original site.)

The topic is of interest to me as an educator. Additionally, this also shows the ubiquitousness and power of blogs and lightening speed of Internet time. The saga started with this:

Laura K. Krishna is a Plagiarist.

And you can keep up to date with the fallout:

Threads Continuing the Topic.

Labels: Internet

Q) What's something that we all do but seldom publicly admit?

A) Type in our own names and do Internet searches.

I still remember when Yahoo first started pointing to web pages with my name around ten years ago. A whole decade later, I'm still listed and there's much more of me (literally too.)

That's neither here nor there though. What is important is that if I continue to add people from my past to this blog, then eventually they'll show up as visitors. (This has happened to a number of you and you know who you are!)


WHO'S IN THIS HIGH SCHOOL ERA SHOT?

Back row, left to right: Richard Kelly, Christopher Ellis, Joel Thomas, and Candy Winn Fuller.
Center: Gifford Swanson.
Bottom row: Catherine Harold, and yours truly (Is mouth always open?)
Half Hidden: Marla Binzel (Sorry, this was Bret Wirta's camera work.)

Labels: Bret, camera, Joel

It seems as though a long time has passed since I was in front of my overhead projector. I struggled to Burnaby last Wednesday. I made it through the morning with a bit of coughing and my voice didn't disappear completely.

My COMM 0004 class only meets three days per week. So, as luck would have it, we had off Good Friday. In addition, the Monday which follows Easter is a stat holiday in Canada. This means it's been a full week since I have taught.

Although there would've been nicer ways to spend the time off, I am thankful for the break. You see, I needed the entire time to shake off a severe case of the flu. I slept and took a lot of medicine. I guess it really couldn't have worked out any better.

Now, I'm raring to go. Stand back students ... because the fireworks are about to begin!

Click here to see my present and future BCIT photos on Flickr.

Labels: BCIT

This is a repeat entry. Last July, I included the same live shot of Vancouver Harbour and Stanley Park. Sometimes once is not enough. During suitable hours you should be able to get an idea of what the weather is up to. We're at UTC/GMT -8 hours. Oh, and daylight savings time kicks in next weekend!


You should see an image by a Port of Vancouver cam.




Wait, there's more! To see a live shot of the dust that collects on the back of my computer monitor, click the thumbnail photo.

Labels: Stanley Park, Vancouver

I think it was termed Subjective Value in Economics class. Bear in mind back when I was in college, there were probably fewer theories.

The basic premise was that objects do not have have an inherent value and that any worth springs completely from people's desire for them. People's needs change over time and by circumstance; therefore, stronger desire would prompt a greater worth for that individual. For example, if you were stranded in a desert, dying of thirst, you'd certainly value a container of water over another filled with diamonds.

Keeping this in mind, there are some examples of common household products that do not seem to follow suit. First of all, I love bleach. I love regular gallon-jug-sized liquid bleach. It seems to me to be terribly underpriced at $1.25. The container alone is worth that. If bleach suddenly increased to $6.50 a bottle, I'd still buy it. Secondly, I think those little bottles of hydrogen peroxide are worth more than $0.75 Just watching the H202 bubble on a fresh cut or wound is worth the price of the whole bottle. Also, although bothered by excessive ear wax for 46 years, for the first time, I put hydrogen peroxide in my ear to unblock it. It worked very well and the bubbling sensation was really rather fun!

Maybe I should go find a new hobby.

Labels: money, opinions

It has come. This is what's been missing during so much of 2005.

Don, thanks for the get-well message. Does this look familiar to you? What if it were still stitched to a light-blue, short-sleeved shirt? Use the slide bar to view the bottom half.

Labels: Don