Ah, the Newspaper …

When you pick up a newspaper, what do you read first?

Front page?
Local News?
Sports?
Obituaries?
Business?
Editorial?
Homes?
Movie guide?
or … perhaps … the Comics?
Even as newspapers shrink (classified ads, in-depth stories, pages, profits, staff), we still take our local daily, the Halifax ‘Chronicle Herald.’
There is still a tinge of discovery as we pluck it out of the box and unfurl the front page, to check the banner headline.
This news junkie also consults their on-line and e-editions several times per day, with alerts from them, and from CBC News, CNN, BBC News and NPR News.

A Great 'Small Town'

Small towns come up often in conversation, and are highly regarded ... in nostalgia.
Or, on the other hand, they get ‘a bad rap.’

The usual line goes: It was great to have been brought up in one, until … oh, until that day you felt the world (read ‘big city’) was passing you by.
Then, you couldn’t wait to get out and see the world!
For example, check out the biting lyrics in Paul Simon’s, ‘My Little Town,’ from 1975. Simon has stated that the song is not autobiographical; instead he says that it is about "someone who hates the town he grew up in. Somebody happy to get out."
But, I’m going to avoid nostalgia and praise a small town: Antigonish, N.S.
Recently, my wife underwent surgery at St. Martha’s Hospital, and I spent a week in town for support during her recovery.
I stayed at the nearby ’Maritime Inn,’ which has a room which is handicapped-equipped.
All I can say is in summary, the staff (as well as other townspeople) were great!
You notice right away that everyone seems to know everyone else,

TED Talks

One of the most fascinating Internet podcasts that I have run into is, ’TED Talks.’

The format isn’t fancy: ’TED Talks’ shows just one person talking for about 10 to 15 minutes, while standing alone on stage (perhaps with a minimal slide show) in front of an audience.
However, the subject matter is on a concept that might change the world, or as they state, ‘to stir your curiosity,’
The main attraction is simply that the talking is being done by many of the world’s brightest ’thinkers and doers' — in such fields as technology, psychology, sociology and literature.
My advice is to check out ’TED Talks’ on your computer, or better yet, get the App on your choice of platforms (I prefer the ‘video’ version, but please get the ‘audio’ if you listen while driving or walking).
It’s for those of us with eclectic interests.
And, be ready to be impressed!

My Favourite Podcasts

We may now be known by the podcasts we download!
I am a proud ‘news junkie,’ and I enjoy learning about all aspects of computers. (But don’t get me started on the terrible waste of time and resources on video / computer games!)

My downloaded podcasts reflect my tastes, and I really enjoy my daily walks while listening to good discussions on a headset on topics political and digital.
Here are a few that I proudly share:
— ‘Click:' BBC World audio, (Although there is a totally autonomous video version.) Tuesdays.

The Genius of Wayne and Shuster

For several decades, the works of Johnny Wayne and Frank Shuster highlighted Canadian comedy, first on radio and then on television.

They began on CBC radio during World War Two, and then made the leap to CBC Television in the 1950s, until the mid-1970s.
Their form of comedy, branded 'literary comedy,' was also featured on their record 76 appearances on the CBS top-rated Ed Sullivan show'.
My favourite sketches include:
1. 'Rinse the Blood of my Toga,’ (their debut on the CBS show in 1958), is a spoof of the 'Dragnet ' detective series,

Coding and Logical Thinking

As a retired teacher, I try to keep up with the trends in education. The main idea it has taught me is: ‘bandwagons’ come and ‘bandwagons’ go.

Today's topic: 'tech literacy.'
It seems that every school board, education ministry or country feels that it is lagging, and being left behind in tech literacy, so this time, the Brits have decided to do something about it.
Not long ago, schools were encouraged to make laptops available to each student, in an effort to get all of them computer literate. And then along came the iPad and other tablet successors, and the students would be using them to begin studying computers.
However, these efforts were usually introduced on a piecemeal basis, for certain grades in certain jurisdictions,

Radio . . . and Me - 32

In the 1960s, when wanted to relax, I could listen to WQXR, the quiet, 50,000-watt classical music station from New York, ‘way down on the right side of the AM radio dial.
ID: ‘This is the radio station of the New York Times, WQXR, New York.’

There it was, a quiet spa on 1560, amid a sea of loud rock ’n’ roll stations: WMEX, 1510 Boston, WKBW, 1520 Buffalo, and WPTR, 1540 Albany.
Quiet, too, because they had commercials, usually read by the duty announcer, but … without jingles!
And, of course, as they were owned by the New York Times, they had excellent hourly newscasts.