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

I'm beginning to understand. It wasn't until I got an mp3 player that I discovered podcasting and how it shifts the whole paradigm of radio. Summarily, a few days ago, I downloaded free TVersity software and I'm beginning to understand the future of television and video.



TVersity allows media to be streamed to my Sony PlayStation 3 via the home network. I first thought it'd be useful as I could listen to any of 8000+ music files through my home theatre system. I'd need not load them via my computer anymore. Of course, also being able to read thousands of personal photo archives off my external drive and display them on the larger, living room Toshiba screen promised to be fun too.

I had never seriously considered video podcasting as promising technology. After all, I'd not want to watch the tiny screen of a portable device, I thought. Now, I realize how useful Internet delivery of broadcasting may eventually become. With a Canadian Internet provider, it's not possible to watch U.S. television over IP. The networks block access. I'm especially disappointed in not being able to participate in www.hulu.com. However, the Internet is going to be a major means of delivery sooner than some might believe. A dozen years ago it was best practice not to create a web page that had over 50K of photos and text. Then, when radio first started arriving by IP, I wondered if we'd ever have sufficient bandwidth for such an extravagance.

I find it a little ironic that I'm enamoured by high definition content via satellite or Blu-ray but that I'm still so willing to watch grainy video on the 42" LCD. This playing around seems so refreshingly pioneering though. Yesterday, being able to watch live television from Sri Lanka was magic, although the teledrama was little better than a slide show of blurry images on the big screen.

I had been very skeptical of those who dismiss the importance of new high-definition discs. These people have written that Blue-ray's lifetime will be limited as the last physical medium. Their proclamation about the immediate future being in downloads seemed so pie-in-the-sky. Haven't those pundits witnessed how much time it takes just to download a movie trailer? I do admit I felt more than a little thrilled when throwing video around the network though. Demand will guarantee broad enough broadband. I'm a reluctant convert.

Labels: Internet, podcasts, PS3, technology, television

We don't go to the movies near as often as we once did. As today was a free day, we went to the Strawberry Hill Cinemas. Because that section of Surrey / Delta has a big Indo-Canadian population, a 12-screen Cineplex-Odeon always runs several, big-budget Bollywood Blockbusters there.

I can't think of a better way to spend a grey afternoon, than in front of a screen showing a bigger-than-life colourful Bollywood movie. This was a bit of an epic film called Jodhaa Akbar. It was set in the sixteenth century with Moghul emperors, a Rajput princess, and thousands on the battlefields.

This film was more historical than typically histrionic. Still, I wasn't disappointed that it had only several musical numbers. There was enough intrigue and drama to satisfy. And clocking in at 3 hours and 30 minutes, Jodhaa Akbar was surely worth the cost of a ticket.

Labels: India, movies, musical

After I wrote yesterday's non-entry, I decided to add the tag, feelings. I really don't know what the difference is between feelings and opinions, but now they're separate. I don't use labels as a means to accurately represent the contents of every daily writing. I just like how I can construct brand-new pages from old information when using them.

Alaska, Alberta, Amsterdam, analog, Bahrain, balcony, BBS, BC Ferries, BCIT, blogging, Bratislava, Bret, briefcase, British Columbia, Brussels, Budapest, camera, Canada, Canada Day, cars, Christmas, complaints, computer lab, Creative Zen, credit card, cruise, Daily Picture Parade, dentist, Don, driving, Dubai, errands, Eurotrip 2005, Eurotrip 2007, feelings, file archives, fireworks, Flickr, flora and fauna, flying, food, Fraser River, futurecast, games, glasses, Google, government, GPS, hard disk, hardware, Hawaii, Hayack, HDTV, Hollywood, Hong Kong, humour, India, Internet, Joel, Kuwait, labels, Laurie, library, lists, literature, London, Los Angeles, maintenance, Mediaplayer, Mexican cruise, Mexico, money, monkeys, mother, mountains, movies, Munich, music, musical, myBCIT, Nepal, New Hampshire, New Westminster, New York City, Niagara Falls, Okanagan, opinions, parade, Paris, passport, Persian, pets, pig, places, podcasts, Portland, Prague, PS3, PVR, Quay, Ranger, relaxing, review, Royal City Mall, Salzburg, San Francisco, Saudi Arabia, sci-fi, searching, Seattle, sharing, Singapore, SkyTrain, software, souvenirs, Sri Lanka 2004, Sri Lanka 2006, staff, Stanley Park, stars, students, Sunapee, Surrey, technology, telephone, television, temple, Thailand, The Harbor Gameroom, The Wizard of Oz, Tim, train, transit, travel planning, Turkey, Vancouver, Vancouver Island, Vienna, Walmart, Warner Bros, weather, weight loss, Windows, world, World Vision, YouTube, zip.ca, Zurich

At the present moment, these are the labels I'm using. The list will undoubtedly change over time. Some may come while others go. You will, however, always be able to find the current listing in my eJournal and image's archive vault. As of today, each one here should display a new page containing the stated content without regard to the date it was originally blogged.

Labels: blogging, labels

I don't feel like saying much this afternoon. This picture I just took somehow strangely represents my feelings at the moment. The day is sort of gray as only days around here can be. I feel neither joyous or sad. However, I am warm, dry, clean, and well-fed. My current class takes the final examination tomorrow. So, I'm rather satisfied with the progress made by so many. Yet, saying the final goodbye always involves mixed emotions. In the back of my mind I am aware that I won't have a new class starting until April 8th. That, if anything, should sort of help form upward turns at the corners of my mouth, right?

Labels: feelings, New Westminster, transit

First, if you'd asked me when I was 20 years old, I would've probably made a guess. In my mind, the only possible meaning for the term fanboy, might have related to a visualization from some grainy, black and white movie I once saw on TV as a kid. The film was set in a bygone era in a far-away land. There was a young, male servant whose sole job was to continuously pull on a rope. This rope was attached to cloth and its movement created a cooling breeze. So that fanboy was essentially acting as air conditioner for a very wealthy king in a very opulent palace.

Okay, I'm an ESL teacher, so a more recent usage with which I've become familiar deals with language. Some of my students use an acronym to remember the coordinating conjunctions of the English language. You know, those are the little words that help things stick together: For, And, Neither, But, Or, Yet, and So. I've been teaching English to speakers of other languages for decades, but I still avoid talking about grammar as much as possible. When painted into a corner, I will default to a descriptive attempt. I simply abhor prescriptive grammarians though. Regardless, I learned the second type of FANBOYS from students who've obviously studied a lot of it.

Most recently, I've run across the term due to a new interest in gaming consoles. The term has probably been around for about 25 years although its widespread use is more recent and has broadened. I have witnessed the rantings and ravings of this type of fanboy on the Internet. Basically, true to the Wikipedia entry, they have been written by adolescent boys who defend a particular console brand or game. Perhaps because of the content they're used to seeing, they are ready to defend their opinions to near death! For example, look at the comments appearing under the story on this blorge.com page. I suppose I should be encouraged by all the flaming just because it's good to see that kids can get so worked-up about anything. You'll have to forgive me though. I bought a PlayStation 3 not because I'm a fanboy, but due to the fact I enjoy watching Blu-ray movies.

Labels: PS3

So far, my cold has turned out less severe than I expected. I feel a tiny bit out of sorts but things are certainly manageable. So, you may have wondered why I didn't get a blog entry posted earlier in the afternoon. The answer is quite simple.

I've been going over some work that I needed to complete. I was checking a batch of Spoken English Assessment placement tests. The tests were given on computers and the evaulation must take place on one too. We, as educators at BCIT, adapt well to changes in technology. I really didn't give it a second thought when putting the CD ROM containing all the audio clips into the disc drive on my laptop. I simply open a Word document that links to the answers and launch the on-page player for each answer. After listening to each, I need to place it within a band which describes the fluency and completeness. It's really easy but it does take a long time. The really amazing part is how all markers end up with nearly the exact same scores at the end. As an instructor, I do love certain types of consistency.

Labels: BCIT

It's been a long time since I blogged about blogging. I thought I might use today's entry just to mention visitor statistics. Although, the numbers are piddling by real site standards, I have seen steady daily growth. Whereas a few years ago, I was lucky to get a more than a dozen or so visitors, nowadays I average more than sixty. I chalk most of this up to expanding Google image searches rather than increased viewing habits by my friends and acquaintances.

Labels: blogging