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

The writ was dropped so everybody's gearing up for provincial elections in British Columbia. As we're going to be out of the province on May 17th, we've already completed our 'alternative absentee voting'.

As well as the general vote, there's a referendum on electoral reform. If the voters of British Columbia vote in favour of the new electoral system, government is required to introduce the legislation in sufficient time for the new electoral model to be in place for the May 2009 general election. If passed, instead of just marking one 'X', a voter may rank the candidates in order of their preference with a '1', '2', '3', and so on. The votes are then counted like this:

Single Transferable Vote Animation

There's not been lots of information about it and, unfortunately, surveys say that most voters don't know much about it. I think it's a worthy experiment in democracy. See what bloggers are saying.

Labels: government

Labels: New Westminster

For a while I was ticking movies off my list by director or actor. Now, I've moved to viewing by genre and at present it's Film Noir. Nowadays, when you say a 'Hollywood ending' it means a feel good, trite wrap-up where all comes up roses. It's nice to see this hasn't always been the case.

This snippet of dialog is from Hollywood Blvd. (1950) and it's between William Holden and Gloria Swanson.

Joe Gillis: You're Norma Desmond. You used to be in silent pictures; used to be big.

Norma Desmond: I AM a big. It's the pictures that got small.

Labels: movies, stars

Last July, I first showed the ability to connect my old Compaq iPaq to my Garmin GPS. Believe it or not, I don't think we've ventured on any sort of 'road trip' since then. We have had vacations, including several months in Sri Lanka, but no times where I've driven over 100 kilometers away from this apartment!

So I am looking forward to our trip down to see Lynne and Joel next week. I've loaded a set of three files converted from Microsoft Streets and Maps into my pocket version. Now with the GPS on the dashboard, my iPaq will show exactly where we are along our journey. Imagine being able to accurate know one's location within three metres as one flies down the highway at 120 kph!

Even more amazing is the fact I could exit into any town and watch our progress on named streets in the unknown location. I can also toggle on or off 'Points of Interest' at will. These include places like rest stops, restaurants, and even hospitals. A quick connection with the web site downloaded all current highway construction information. We're ready to head out on Tuesday although I would've known where to go without any of the technology.


Out in the 'boonies' there's not much detailed information.

Labels: GPS, Joel

The weather's continuing to give us a taste of summertime; therefore, I was enjoying a stroll in Queen's Park in New Westminster, BC. When walking around the quiet setting, one might not be aware of how important the area has been.

New Westminster existed initially as the capital of British Columbia and Queen's Park was part of Colonel Moody's original plans for the city. If interested, you can find a very brief historical overview halfway down a page created for my now defunct balcony netcam.


This main photo was taken yesterday, but the insert is from the year
1905! Please find the original photograph and its accompanying
information at www.nwheritage.org.

Labels: New Westminster

Yesterday was one of those days where going for a walk was almost manditory. The weather was so fine there really wasn't any other option! I took my camera and snapped pictures along the way. I am testing shoes to see which pair will prove good for walking around New York, New York in May.

This was taken down at the foot of 6th Street at the river's edge. (Click the little picture to load a larger copy of the image in a new window.) This is where the future, New Westminster waterfront development will take place. Although, we risk losing a bit of the south-west view from the balcony, it will be worth it to have a more accessible and beautiful area just a few blocks away.

Labels: camera, New Westminster

... is worth 1000 words, then here's a novel.


Or view a smaller selection of my images this way.

In order to work with databases, one needs lots of data to track. That seems obvious enough, yet today I realized I've never even opened Microsoft Access on this computer. Granted there's probably less need as specific applications seem better suited to manage data. I fondly look back at days of teaching myself the difference between a field and a record though.

I first started working with a database when I had to manage lots of student data. In order to keep track of grades, I designed a record-keeping system for a newly-established a military training environment. It seemed amazing that I was able to throw all sorts of data into the program and get customized reports out of a dot-matrix printer! Finding this example is what gave me the inspiration for today's blog entry. It was in a collection of 1989 data.

Computers do everything nowadays except slice and dice; however, I occasionally feel as though they were more magical and intriguing back in DOS days.

Labels: software

... on Mame.

No, this is not Nichole Kidman in a black and white shot. In order to understand and appreciate the motion picture arts, you have to do a little homework.

Yesterday afternoon, I picked up the DVD copy of Gilda (1946) from the New Westminster library. The gal singing in arm-length evening gloves is Rita Hayworth. This is what the boys back from WWII went to see.

It had a a sophisticated script with lots of surprisingly adult innuendo. There were gay references, quite closeted but obvious. I still suffer from an ill-conceived impression of old media thinking it is all filtered in the same way as the unrealistic 1950's version of America and the world. However, if one steps back a bit further, more enlightened and bohemian material abounds.

The ending of this flick was a bit of a disappointment, but I cannot say enough about what a great job the experts are able to do in restoration! Black and white can be amazingly expressive when a copy is cleaned up and clear. The scenes are a year shy of turning 60 years old but they surely have held up a lot better than flesh and blood.

Labels: movies, stars

I often get people surfing by and saying hello. Sometimes they did a search and came across a phrase that was included in the blog text. Recently people have been coming in through image searches too.



This may have been an Italian restaurant. The one I'm thinking of was across from a hotel near the airport. No, on second thought, I'm pretty sure this was at a hotel in Bur Dubai. As well, I should add complete names so all these smiling people will find the blog when looking themselves up during a search.

It was a Christmas lunch away from Dubai Men's College of the UAE Higher Colleges of Technology. Brits really make a party out Christmas. That said, I do notice Christmas crackers in local Canadian stores at that time of year.

I'm including this picture today as I recently heard from a colleague from Dubai days. Suzie, in the pink hat, is sitting at the far end of the table and I'm on this side of her. We'd not been in contact for a decade or so. I got an email out of the blue with a her new (to me) married name. Most startling, she was writing from Mississippi. I can only imagine what will happen to her formerly cute accent now!

Labels: Christmas, Dubai