Author: kiusau

Life is full of surprises. Still, you can quit at anytime, if you have grown weary of their outcome. For, after all, survival is but a first step; it is a primitive instinct that does not distinguish us, humans, from other animals. Accordingly, if it is all that you can achieve in life, do not be surprised that others treat you like an ordinary animal. Alas, if it is all there is left, and you have grown weary, it is good justification to depart. Before you go, however, look deep inside and determine if you are not the cause of your own demise. For, in the end, society owes you nothing, and even your parents are likely to forsake you, if you have not been grateful. Have you said thanks for all that you have received, and have you given in return for all that you have taken? John F. Kennedy once stated "Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country". Obviously, he was not thinking of taxes, but the help that he would require to become an effective president. Little that is great can be achieved alone. Then too, it takes great leaders to motivate society and move it forward in a manner that will pave the way to a better tomorrow. The world is in need of good leaders. Maybe you are one of them in disguise. Indeed, no one owes you a living, but if people see you struggling they are apt to lend a hand. Just do not be afraid to reach out. And, do not quit, if nothing is given in return. For, many people simply do not care, and you must not let them get you down. You have a right to your own life and the pursuit of your own happiness, so do not be afraid to claim what is yours. Just do not take what belongs to others, if it not without their permission or obtained in fair competition. And, cry out when you have been cheated, but only if there is something to be gained from your cries, for few people like a cry-baby. Be judicious, strategic, and select your battles wisely. Do not waste your time with trivial injustices, for we all make errors, and we are all, therefore, subject to the injustice of others. It is the very thought of exercising my freedom of last resort that keeps me alive, for it is the comfort that I can put an end to my suffering at any time that allows me to endure enormous pain. It is what gives me the courage to fight for what is right without fear of losing. It is a powerful freedom that you should never surrender! Just do not make pain your goal, or you will surely finish a loser. Then too, never place pleasure over goodness and know to distinguish between the two. In liberty, Roddy

A Kept Promise

The additional eye-candy that holds the interest of users and pulls them ever closer to the substantive content of a webpage is now in place.

Try any of the avenues of approach listed in the last entry and click on either Click and Listen or Discover more … whichever is suitable given the user’s approach.  Hidden content now become visible and visible content can be easily hidden at the user’s will.  These function are especially useful to users who visit the Grammar Captive Weekly Podcast webpage via a smart-phone.

By next week, it is expected that the Grammar Captive Weekly Podcast webpage will be fully integrated into the Grammar Captive website.

Handwork and patience are becoming increasingly manifest.  Have a great weekend!

Roddy

A Leap, a Bound, and Many Tiny Jumps Forward

We are nearing the point where the Grammar Captive Weekly Podcast development page will be integrated into the Grammar Captive website as a completed functional component.  Recent major upgrades include:

  1. Installation of jPlayer — the jQuery widget with which users will be able to download and listen to Grammar Captive podcasts while on the Grammar Captive webpage.  For the moment you can only download music.  Try it, anyway!
  2. Installation of jsSocials — the jQuery widget with which users will be able to share easily Grammar Captive podcasts with their friends.
  3. Users can now access the same podcast from four different avenues of approach:
    1. A third-party podcast host page selected by Grammar Captive — e.g., iTunes, Stitcher, Libsyn, etc.
    2. Via a friend’s entry into the user’s mailbox or shared social media account.
    3. Under the Chronology subheading of the navigation bar that will include all podcasts ever produced by Grammar Captive.
    4. Under any of the direct selection options offered under the subheadings Concept, Form and Use, and Technique.
  4. And, all of the underlying PHP, MySQL, Javascript, HTML, and CSS structure and mechanics required to make these two widgets and several avenues of approach work smoothly within the Grammar Captive framework.

What is left is additional formatting and the direct selection of something other than a proxy podcast.

Simply do not forget to click wherever it says Click and Listen and make sure that you send a link to a friend!

It has been another great week at Grammar Captive!  I surely hope that yours has been equally productive.

Roddy

What a Short Night’s Rest Can Accomplish!

Or, better late than never.

Pull up any podcast from any point of navigation and discover the related podcasts.

  • A third party podcast host page (Proxy Link)
  • A podcast found in one of the following lists in the navigation bar:  Technique (Linear Analysis, Clausal Analysis, Socratic Inversion) or Chronology.
  • A podcast discovered under the Concept or Form and Use subheadings in the navigation bar.

The formatting is not yet complete, and still there is no real data, but the technology is now in place — the fruit of two and one half additional weeks of study and experimentation with the grammar of MySQL.

Roddy

Somewhat Short, but Still Significant

The Click and Listen pages, although still not complete, are now available in the Concept and Form and Use sections of the navigation bar.  For a sample display perform the following steps:

Step One:  Click on Grammar Captive Weekly Podcasts.
Step Two:  In the navigation bar find the phrase Form and Use, and click on it.
Step Three:  Find the phrase Podcast Index, and click on it.
Step Four: Hover over the section called Nouns and Noun Phrases, and click on the subtitle The Noun and Its Uses.  Where before the subheading disappeared, a Click and Listen page now appears.

Early this week the missing information regarding each podcast’s referenced podcasts will appear on all Click and Listen pages.  The referenced podcasts are important insofar as they will give listeners the ready opportunity to listen to other podcasts closely related to the one they just heard.

Roddy

An Unintended Visible Outcome

What is cool about working with others who speak the same language as you is the relative ease with which highly useful knowledge can be exchanged.

In a casual introduction with one of my new office neighbors I discovered a relatively simple fix to a seemingly impossible problem — specifically the inclusion of a meta tag that tells the browser window to adjust  to the size of the user’s view port.

Using this tag along with several minor adjustments to accommodate its effect  has left the ever developing Weekly Podcast webpage with an amazingly functional responsive design with little loss of aesthetics.

Mind you, this is not the promised visible outcome that I still hope to achieve by the end of this week.  It just sort of happened along the way.

Roddy

 

Database Refurbishment Complete

In order to realize the Grammar Captive Weekly Podcast webpage four data tables are required.  These tables provide information not only for the RSS feeds and Weekly Podcast host page, but also the Seven Gates newsletter.  Important is that all tables act in unison and on user and developer command. These commands include the handling of new podcast information, the updating of old podcast information, the cross-referencing of all podcast information, and when necessary even podcast deletion.

Hopefully by the end of this week there will be something both visible and highly useful.

Roddy

Another Step Forward

The Galvanize motto, the physical home of Grammar Captive for the past two months, is “Learn, Work, Grow”.  Maybe it is a take-off on Justin Bieber’s “Bigger, Better, Stronger”.  Or, maybe it is just the magic of the number three!  Who knows?  In any case, I display the Galvanize motto proudly on the back of my hooded pull-over wherever I go.

This week was primarily about learning, as the MySQL JOIN and UNION statements, although simple in and of themselves, quickly become more complex when you try to combine them with AS, WHERE, and IN statements.  In any case, it has been an eye-opening week into the depths of the grammar of MySQL, and I am finishing this week off with an overall of the column definitions of my podcasts’ two primary data tables.

Special thanks, this week, to W3Schools forums and my colleagues at Galvanize-Seattle.  This up-coming week should result in a very nice surprise.

Roddy

HTTPS Access Now Available!

I nearly forgot!

Grammar Captive is now accessible over a secure network.  This means that you can now type https://www.grammarcaptive.com rather than http://www.grammarcaptive.com and still access the same website, but with secure access to every page — not just those for which your private information is requested.

It costs Grammar Captive just a little more, but I am just as afraid of government and thieves as you.  By the way, the number of users using the https protocol has tripled since it was first introduced three months ago.

Roddy

Winter Has Arrived in Seattle

On Friday I watched from my window at Galvanize (nudge.online’s most recent home) in Pioneer Square as snow fell.  Of course, it did not stick, because Seattle is rarely cold enough even for there to be ice.  In contrast, everyone is waiting for Grammar Captive to warm up and keep its promise of free podcast content.  Please be patient, for we are nearly there!

Last week we added a listing and pagination feature for the podcast categories of Clausal Analysis, Linear Analysis, and Socratic Inversion, as well as a similar feature for all categories of podcasts according to their order of publication — namely, Chronology.  Further, work was begun on the podcast categories of Concept and Form and Use.  As the podcasts in these latter two categories contain  more refined content, a different sorting technique must be applied: podcasts will be selected individually with links to other closely related podcasts.

All of the above is to make it easy for users to find what they want quickly and easily, and in a manner that is conceptually conducive to further study and exploration.

In light of the above, a new credit was added for Flavius Matis and Bilal Akil.  It was simplePagination that made the pagination of the new listings possible. If you want to learn more, look for simplePagination under Credits in the Grammar Captive navigation bar.

Also, a new Thank You note has been added for private students who pay with PayPal or PayPal’s credit card options, but who do not participate in the more regularly scheduled webinar series.  Cool is that, when you click on Roddy’s image you return to the Grammar Captive host page in such a manner that the pop-up windows do not reappear.  The assumption is, of course, that you have already seen them and do not want to see them again.  Then too, if you want to see the slide show, either again or for the first time, without having to reload the page, you can simply click on Roddy’s image again after the page has opened and the show will reappear!

I will do my best to complete the sections on Concept and Form and Use this week, but there can be no guarantee, as I am still new to MySQL as I am new to just about everything else with regard to web development.

Once this aspect of the Weekly Podcast host page is complete, I will integrate the host page with the Grammar Captive main page, whereupon the task of bringing podcast, newsletter, and subscription together in one smooth motion will be undertaken.

As of yesterday the United States have quit the practice of Daylight Saving time  for another year.  So, please be aware of the one hour shift if you are not in the Seattle time zone.  Already scheduled students can keep their old time, but not yet scheduled students will have to adjust to the new.

Have a great week!

Roddy