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

Being such a global warehouse of images makes Flickr a common resource for those working on projects.  All uploads can be restricted in a number of ways, but I choose not to do that.  I occasionally get requests for the use of particular pictures.  The image of the elephant in this entry was taken during the 2004 trip to Sri Lanka.  Just yesterday, I got this nice note asking permission for its use.  Of course I am happy when something I've 'captured' is useful to others.

Hello Dennis,

My name is Steve Lane. I am Keeper (Curator) of Natural History at the Herbert Art Gallery & Museum in Coventry, UK. I am currently working on an exciting and innovative Permanent Exhibition called 'Elements'. The Gallery themed around the four elements. earth, air, fire and water, will run for around ten-fifteen years and it will be a multi-sensory celebration of natural objects and landscapes. Creative interactive content will feature throughout and the exhibition will be particularly attractive to the main target audience - people with disabilities. Interactives will include experiencing bird songs through sound, vibration and associated visual moving images. Visitors will also be able to create their own sculpture and land art using sea-shore debris and create and record their own landscape music using a range of natural instruments. Fabulous sea shell and mineral collections will also be displayed in the space.

Entrance to the Gallery and to the Museum as a whole will be free. The Museum operates as part of Coventry City Council Local Authority. It is a non-profit making service.

I am currently sourcing images for the gallery. All photographers whose work is included will be acknowledged and credited within the Gallery space. They will also be invited to the opening of the Gallery.

I am particularly interested in the photograph displayed on the flickr website of the elephant 'Big Tusker'. I would like to make the connection between the tusks in the photo and tusk shells from the indo-pacific oceans. I am therefore enquiring if you would be happy for us to use this image in the Gallery space and if so, how you would like to be acknowledged.

I look forward to hearing from you,

Kind Regards,

Steve Lane (Keeper of Natural History) UK, 02476 785313

Labels: Flickr, flora and fauna, sharing, world

I need to make an additional entry today to do a little further testing.  I found a cool plug in for Writer called Flickr4Writer.  It allows easy inclusion of a Flickr image into a post.  As a trial, I'll post a photo taken from Hyack Square in downtown New Westminster.  Eighth Street runs up the hill.

The term Web 2.0 apps is a rather well-worn concept by now but it may be unfamiliar to readers of this post.  Briefly, a Web 2.0 site contains user generated information that can be re-used across different sites.  Using Flickr and Blogger together is an example.  Being able to drop a YouTube video here would be too.

The thing I like about this shiny Windows Live Writer is that it sort of covers up all the 'mechanics' under a common interface.  One might not need to know what's going on 'under the hood', so to speak.  I cannot help but see this as a future trend . . . (by Microsoft?)

Labels: blogging, Flickr, New Westminster

This is a test of using Windows Live Writer as a method of publishing an entry.  Yesterday, I installed the Windows Live Toolbar and, frankly, this is the only piece of software which intrigues me in the least.  Honestly, I don't think die hard computer enthusiasts are going to abandon Flickr, or Google Earth for the pale imitations that Windows Live offers.  The options do integrate well though, and this might make things easier for an average, non-geeky, computer user.  That doesn't describe me, I guess.

This interface is very Vista-like and quite interesting with lots of potential tools and plug-in modules.

I'm mainly interested in this program as it will allow one to make draft entries when offline.  This, potentially, could be useful during our upcoming trip to central Europe.  I will most probably bring along my seemingly 26 lb. laptop, but I cannot be assured of universal, free wi-fi.  During past extended trips, I've had to keep daily accounts with a word processor and later copy and paste into blogger.com after getting on the Internet.   If I can use Writer to complete entries with photos, then it'll make documenting travels a hell of a lot easier.

Labels: blogging, Eurotrip 2005

As well as thinking about our travel plans which start a week from today, we've been interested in following others' exploits. Jay has spent a great deal of phone time catching up on the travel of some family members. His sister, sister-in-law, and nieces visited Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. It was their first time away from Sri Lanka and therefore exciting for them. Jay's brother is working in NYC. His wife and girls have very recently completed a new house near the family's present house. So all the gals went to meet up with a friend of Jay's brother who now lives and works in Malaysia. He travelled with them for much of the time. It is quite a journey between Bangkok and Singapore on buses. They enjoyed the time and chance to see how other people live.

Cell phones and land lines between NY, New Westminster, and those countries were buzzing following and reporting their progress. In contrast, when I first went to Sri Lanka, in the mid-1980's, phone lines hadn't even yet come to their neighbourhood. Things do change.



This picture was taken last year in Sri Lanka and shows Jay with a neighbour boy, his neices, sister-in-law, and younger sister.

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On another note, related a bit to communication, I got this email from a student yesterday:

This is Dalyn from one of your previous Comm 0004 courses. I just wanted to thank you for everything, I have been accepted into full time day school for Broadcasting/Televison. I am so exited that I am finally pursuing my dream. The skills I have learned in the two Comm courses have given me great confidence. Keep up the good work, Mr. Hurd!

Dalyn

I immediately sent a reply which thanked him for taking the time. A little gesture, such as this, can make it all seem worthwhile!

Labels: students, telephone, world

Jay and I sponsor a World Vision kid whom we were fortunate enough to visit during our last trip to Sri Lanka. That was exactly a year ago! He's ten years old now. We try to make sure to correspond regularly.

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September 5, 2007

Dear Isuru,

We wanted to send another letter to you. Although we are in Canada today, it was exactly one year ago that we visited you. We think you have probably grown bigger in one year!

In a previous letter, we sent you a photo of our visit but cannot remember exactly which one. We’ll put another in with this letter and hope it’s not a duplicate. There are also two other pictures taken here in Canada.

One shows Jayantha in a small park with the city of Vancouver in the background. You can see the edge of the water because it is a port city. Lots of big ships carry products to and from different Asian countries. The second picture shows Dennis behind a group of students he taught this summer. In order for these people to study courses well, they need some more practice studying the English language. Most of them have come to live in Canada from many different countries.

This year we will not be travelling to Sri Lanka. Instead, we are going to spend a few weeks visiting some central European countries. In fact, we fly into Germany in only one week. You can check on a world map or globe and find Austria and Hungary as those are some places we’ll visit too.

In your last letter you said that you liked all your school subjects. We hope you still do. Is there one that you like the best? What time do you have to arrive and when do you get to leave? Also, how many other students are in your classes? Who are your best friends and what are their names? Maybe you can tell us some of these things in your next letter.

We hope your grandmother and all family members are healthy and fine. Please give all of them our greetings and respect. Be good.

Labels: world, World Vision

Yesterday, I praised the Internet for increasing my abilities for travel planning. Now, however, I'm worried that its ease of use is poised to make Jay and I less spontaneous travellers.

Labels: Eurotrip 2007, Internet, travel planning

How come it doesn't seem like science fiction?

If you'd told me, when I first went overseas in 1981, that in a bit more than 25 years, I'd be able to sit in my underwear at a flat screen in my living room and plan a vacation with a mouse, I'd have probably thought you were nuts. Maybe that's because I wouldn't have been able to picture myself as a 48 year old or collaborating with a mouse. Moreover, I'm pretty sure I would not have understood about connections to multiple websites that can contain more information than travel brochures could've ever aspired to.



I am fairly confident that I would also not have been able to fathom reserving hotel rooms at the YMCA or buying bus tickets simply by typing a Mastercard number. We just did a bit of clicking for 15-day Euroline bus passes that'll begin later this month. Although the whole trip will last three weeks, we were able to squeeze a majority of the longer hauls into that time frame. We will purchase shorter segments like Munich to Salzburg and Zurich to Munich as single tickets from there.

How'd we ever get by without the Internet?

Labels: Eurotrip 2007, Internet, travel planning

I'm already exhausted and it's not even noon. For some reason, I ended up clearing out a lot of old paperwork. In fact, I just threw away a garbage bag three quarters full of old bills and receipts.

I suppose this is one consequence of living in one place for so long. In the past, we'd never approached anything close to the nine years spent in this apartment. Frequently moving (and even changing countries) was an excellent way of getting rid of clutter before too much of it collected in one place. There's another major factor at play here though. When I first started working here, I created a company. My first job was contract teaching, so I functioned as a BC business. The advantages were for tax purposes as many job-related expenditures were deductible. Consequently, I kept copies of everything during the first years. Every paper clip and transit ticket were accounted for. Even after closing the business accounts, I still kept up this habit.

Going through the junk was a bit of a diary as things were much less paperless in the late 90's. All contracts and pay slips used to come by mail. I kept the cashed cheques as proof of payment. Many of those accounts, and even credit cards are no longer used. I went though much of the well organized binders just to pull out any especially interesting receipts. I discovered a few things. For example, computer equipment used to be much more expensive. I once spent $140 for a CD Writer but today they're about $35.

I feel a little lighter, emotionally, without so much useless paper around. It was plain silly to have some of the stuff. The user's manual for an old, tube TV wasn't crucial as we threw away the television itself last year. I did copy the original receipt before tossing it out though. The 14-year old 'cash memo' was interesting as it contains more than English.

Labels: Dubai, errands, television