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

We are off to the airport this morning. We spend the rest of September in Sri Lanka and then a week in Hong Kong on the return trip . Our flight departs at 10:15 am but we can easily get there in time by taking public tranit. We'll SkyTrain to 22nd station and then get the first #100 bus. It goes directly to YVR in Richmond.

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Over the next five weeks, my postings will be erratic. I shall continue to create an entry each day, but I may only be able to publish occasionally. I know there'll be no wireless at Jay's house. When we're out and about, I may have the chance to connect.

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To prove the point, our plane's leaving this morning but we won't arrive in Colombo until nearly Monday! We're in the air to Hong Kong for 13 hrs and 44 mins. Then, after a four-hour stopover, we'll fly another 7 hrs and 25 min. We stop in Bangkok but won't disembark. What this shows is there will surely be no entry posted tomorrow! Therefore, I'll leave you with a few related links:

Colombo Weather

43,700 Photos of Sri Lanka

Official Sri Lankan Tourist Board

Daily News (English Newspaper)

The Island (English Newspaper)

Online Shopping for Lanka Products

Blogged Account of Our 2-Month Trip in 2004

Labels: travel planning

I was inspired by this morning's inclusion of a viewing box. As well as a graphic, one can hold a piece of text too. I have decided to add a story that has helped to define me. I loved science fiction, even as a kid. I struggled with Asimov, but found Ray Bradbury's writing style approachable. We used to have Prize Speaking when I was in high school. I don't think I ever did especially well but when learning something by heart, it stays there. To be more accurate, it stays in one's head, I guess.

I have already placed one of these memorized stories in this blog. It is Poe's The Cask of Amontillado. I recall trashing an entire section of that wonderful tale while in front of an audience. I'm sure I could do much better nowadays!

Now, I'd like to add this Bradbury classic.



Use the scrollbar in order to see the entire text.

Labels: literature, sci-fi

September 1, 2003 did not seem like an especially auspicious date. I had no idea, when discovering blogger.com, I'd be developing a new, long-term addiction. Little did I know on that evening, I'd become slave to the creation of daily entries here. Yet, it happened and has clearly become a part of my routine. In fact, for every one of the last 1096 days, I have posted something in my eJournal and images.

(If your calculator comes up a day short, don't forget that in 2004, we had an extra day due to leap year.)

I'm not sure if I've written anything valuable over this span of time. I'm not able to demonstrate how useful it has been for either readers or me. I don't even quite know what keeps me at it.

But continue .. I shall!


Use the scrollbars in order to see the entire image.

Labels: blogging

Yesterday, I downloaded the release candidate of Windows Vista. Why not? This is the fun part of computer ownership as far as I'm concerned. If I didn't like the thrill of taking things apart and tweaking them, I'd probably run the Mac OS. This action has caused me to consider how computer software is changing.



Once upon a time, a web browser was just for displaying static information and images. As proof of new directions, just a few days ago Flickr mashed up with Yahoo maps. How fun to drop my personal photos onto a world map! Although a small but exciting improvement, it really highlights the significant changes taking place. One of the versions of the upcoming Windows Vista boasts an improved way of organizing digital images. I'm sorry, but with the likes of Flickr that is already an outdated paradyme. Those functions are arriving at my operating system too late.

Why would I want to organize on my own machine, when I can upload and organize my collection on the Internet? The hot, live implementation means I can access my images wherever I roam. The idea is nice to be able to locate a specific photo from a group of thousands. That is something that an operating system could do. Yet, that is something that Flickr is already doing better for I can link the data to a web page or through email. The PC hasn't been a lone device for many years now.

This is the frightening thing for Microsoft and other traditional software producers. In the future, I will assuredly be buying fewer boxes of shrink-wrapped software to operate on my own CPU. Rather, I will find myself storing and manipulating my data within Web 2.0 applications. This gigantic shift in focus means that Windows Vista may well be the last important operating system upgrade from Redmond. And there's one thing you must know in order to fully appreciate the depth of my viewpoint: I've always loved Microsoft!

Labels: Internet, opinions, software, technology, Windows

I've always appreciated popular music but have never been a fanatic. Of course, during one's formative years, music may occupy a more important place in life. If I'm an example, knowledge of what's hot decreases during one's thirties and forties. I will admit nowadays I've been catching a top 20 video program on a local television station. Much of what's being played now is quite interesting. Additionally, because of the visual element, there's something to experience even if one doesn't find the music engaging. It's just that, for the most part, I've not the energy to even bother learning the new artists' names.

In addition, there seems to be too much variety out there. I am a bit thankful that I grew up before the invention of mp3 players. My generation was forced into homogeny. Music was just a backdrop to events. The radio taught us what we should like. My most favourite songs were ones I learned when my friends and I ran a summer arcade. With the old jukebox, people actually paid for the privilege of selecting something to listen to. That meant everyone within earshot was also forced to experience the same artists. Now, listeners select and tote around their own, individualized audio experiences.

I chose this topic today because the other evening I was listening to an album I wanted to mention. The particular one I'm discussing is very logically organized. I would suppose that kids no longer listen to an entire album in order and I suppose we did only because it was too difficult to skip a track on a phonograph.

Regardless, I was impressed with Styx. Earlier I mentioned the term 'formative years' and this group fits the bill exactly. Their Grand Illusion was released in 1977 which is when I graduated from high school. Cornerstone came several years later. The album that sounded so good the other night was Paradise Theater. It made its debut in 1981. I completed college the same year.

Even though a quarter of a century old, the music rocked in .wma format through my computer's HDA Xplosion card and out to my aging Onkyo home theatre system in DTS. You might even say it was The Best of Times.

Labels: Mediaplayer, music

Are you familiar with the meaning of the title? Sometimes I wonder exactly where I get these sayings from. I think a lot of language comes from one's roots. It can be influenced either the geographic location, or the specific family one grows up with.

I think my dad may have used the phrase above. What I was attempting to communicate in the title is that I recently fell down. I was just going for a walk and tripped on some steps near a church of Carnarvon Street. It's very odd that stumbling and hitting the ground is embarrassing. You'd think there'd be many emotions one could feel, but why shame? Anyway, I looked around and saw that nobody had seen.

My pride was intact but I still scraped my knee a bit. It was the type of wound that as I kid I got when I fell off a bicycle. I don't think I've skinned a knee in probably thirty-five years! It didn't bleed a lot, but I knew there would be a fairly large scab.

This fact made me appreciate the human body. Isn't it grand that a body heals? I mean many of us would be a walking basket case were it not for our ability to automatically repair ourselves.

Labels: feelings

Join the proud Canadian Forces.

(Our message is kindly brought to you by China.)

Labels: humour

I'm a big proponent of mashing up but until the other week, I didn't even know what it was. I've discovered the term can be classed as a characteristic of Web 2.0 services.

In a word, it is simply the re-use of data in another service-oriented web application. I find the whole hype of Web 2.0 interesting but I see parallels to pre-Internet days and the various applications of old, dial-in BBS systems. Sometimes new inventions seem like nothing more than old ideas wrapped in new terminology. Anyway, when I combine Flickr and blog data, it's called mashing up. Cool, eh? Someday I'll even get around to writing on the hullabaloo of tagging.

Today, I wanted to promote my New Westminster community on Flickr. I am happy to see that twenty-four other users have joined my group. Members can dump their favourite photos of New Westminster, BC into this common area. Click the screen shot above and see what's there today.

Labels: BBS, Flickr, New Westminster