Well, here is a sneak peak TRAILER of the new stuff in CALL with a special guest appearance! I can actually HEAR the eye-rolls, even when I work remotely! That … is a good thing!
The tech upgrades are complete! Many thanks to Andrew, Marcus, Sophie, Heather, Dan, Adam, Jessica, KC and everyone else! If I forgot anyone, I will ‘Photoshop’ them in later on!
Okay, you might then argue that The Pods at the Front of CALL were another non-disaster upgrade, but …. the screen at the time had broken and well, why not upgrade the back computers to a kind of ‘If you build it, they will come‘ scenario for students. (Spoiler Alert – An ALL TIME FAVOURITE MOVIE of mine! And it worked … Covid started about 3 weeks later! AND CALL also got new furniture JUST BEFORE COVID! And believe me, the old furniture WAS a disaster! Whew!
CALL Facility Large Screens
So THIS current upgrade is unique in that we are getting FAR SUPERIOR STUFF that we did not have before! And those things are …… well, you will just have to wait until the next Bog Blog post. For now, I will include more photos of lots of stuff that has happened in CALL, and the first of the Before and After photos too! And a few random ‘Favourite Bog Blog’ posts at the bottom too!
If not, then go ahead and TELL EVERYONE! The secret CALL Upgrade with lots of new TECH TOYS is less than TWO WEEKS AWAY!!!
The CALL Facility will actually be closed the first two weeks of July (1-5 and 8-12) while the best technical crew on campus brings CALL to the height of upgrades! A long time coming and this will significantly change how CALL can and WILL be used for classes, demos, workshops, orientations, lectures, exams and even drop-in usage! And maybe even MORE uses as everyone discovers that CALL can now do ….. oops ……. almost let the cat out of the bag! You will have to wait or better yet, drop by and talk to me! CALL has had computer refreshes but this time .. is different. CALL did get new furniture and a newer version of The Pods, just before Covid, but this is going to be really cool!
Okay, now for some fun stuff! There are vintage photos of The CALL Facility and even the notorious and infamous …. Lab ‘B’ that I have found. AND some Great Flood photos and even Classic CALL photos. Below are a bunch of mini-galleries, each with a mini-them! Some are so old, that colour had not been invented yet! All this in comparison to various upgrades and the UPGRADE TO COME IN JULY! I will do a blog about that, when complete and we have a Fully Functioning DEATHSTAR CALL Facility! Check them out below in a bunch of Galleries!
The CALL Facility will be completed on schedule You must feel The Pun around you
THE LEGENDARY LAB ‘B’
the night before it was … DISASSEMBLED!
Classic CALL Facility Photos – Pre-Flood!
The Great Flood of 2015!
Vintage & Old Photos of CALL 1989!
CALL During Flood Renovations
Behind the Scenes CLTE Renovations!
CALL FUN FAIR – Meet the Team
Meet the Team in The CALL Facility
And some more cool links from previous Bog Blogs about upgrades and new tech and toys through the years! And don’t forget to recycle boxes, hardware and even food and paper! JUST DO IT!
And … just to end on yet another shameless OAC Bog Blog promotion, yet another Post ending with yet another previous blog on …. PUNS! Please be kind! And if you can’t be kind, then I will just have to make more puns! The choice … is yours!!! The Pun is strong in this one ……
SUPER SECRET…. Surprise CALL STUFF ….. Coming in JULY !!!!
CAN you keep a secret?You better be able to! There just might be some VERY interesting stuff coming to your local CALL Facility, scheduled for the first two weeks of JULY! Just before that though, will be DHSI for the first two weeks of JUNE!
What is DHSI? Well, I will write another post closer to June, but another Super Secret CALL Scenario is ….. click here to see what DHSI is!
But for now, you will have to:
Monitor this OAC Blog!
Make a resolution to be ready for anything!
Station yourself at the ready!
Display your boxes of CALL hi-tech upgrades!
Project the future!
Measure up to … 55″ of PowerPoint slides in every direction!
And if not PP, then switch to a 55″ Keynote instead!
And I am going to go absolutely nowhere! Well, maybe Cobble Hill for coffee and ratatouille in the forest! Or walks on the beach! Or a longshot is Tofino or Alberta! But anywhere I do go, will be very random and very spur of the moment!
I did scale back my OAC posts this past year (September ’22 to August ’23) but still managed some fun posts and pages, as well as some updates and brand new random posts! And I plan on a few more when I get back in September! Who knows how busy September 2023 will be but .. it WILL be busy! I am already taking bookings for JANUARY OF 2024!!! YAY BOOKINGS!
AND ANNOUNCING THAT I HAVE FINISHED 99.99% of the NEWEST CHD JEOARDY –HALLOWEEN the 13th!!! In October and for all our new and returning COOPS
Good luck! And even MORE prizes (Chocolate! Gummy Bears and maybe SURPRISE PACKAGES TOO!) to win and new TYPES of questions too!
And I might also have a new shorter version of my CALL Orientation which will be only about 2 minutes long and less than a dozen slides! Okay, that was hard to do, to keep it THAT short, but I will still keep some Star Trek and Easter Egg elements in there … the usual for this Bog Blog! For a quick sneak peek, but only the working/BETA version, you can download it here in PDF format, or watch it at YouTube in video format! I even kept it shorter than the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds trailer ! But it will still probably change and be even better than it is right now! YAY!
Thanks for all the support and reading all my fun Bog Blog posts and pages at UVic! More to come in September! WOOT!
Everyone stay safe and healthy today, tomorrow and for the rest of the year!
Not to worry . . .
Back on August 28th to prep for
. . . Septem . . . PURR !!!!
And I am going to go absolutely nowhere! Well, maybe Cobble Hill for coffee and ratatouille in the forest! Or walks on the beach! Or a longshot is Tofino or Alberta! But anywhere I do go, will be very random and very spur of the moment!
I did scale back my OAC posts this past year (September ’21 to July ’22) but still managed some fun posts and pages, as well as some updates and brand new random posts – you know the kind- COVID kind of interfered with daily updates as we had TWO years of students coming back to UVIC! The regular ‘1st Years’ and the ‘then’ the current ‘2nd Years’ … who never did set foot on campus during COVID! September 2021 was THE busiest I have ever seen on campus! Who knows how busy September 2022 will be but .. it WILL be busy!
AND ANNOUNCING THAT I HAVE FINISHED 99.99% of the NEWEST CHD JEOARDY – GREG’S PLAYLIST II in September and for all our new and returning COOPS! Good luck! And even MORE prizes (Chocolate!) to win and new TYPES of questions too!
And I will also have a new shorter version of my CALL Orientation which will be only about 2 minutes long and less than a dozen slides! Okay, that was hard to do, to keep it THAT short, but I will still keep some Star Trek and Easter Egg elements in there … the usual for this Bog Blog! For a quick sneak peek, but only the working/BETA version, you can download it here in PDF format, or watch it at YouTube in video format! I even kept it shorter than the Star Trek: Strange New Worlds trailer ! But it will still probably change and be even better than it is right now! YAY!
Thanks for all the support and reading all my fun Bog Blog posts and pages at UVic! More to come in September! WOOT!
Everyone stay safe and healthy today, tomorrow and for the rest of the year!
Not to worry . . .
Back on August 29th to prep for
. . . Septem . . . PURR !!!!
Clearihue has … SECRETS? Well, maybe not … secrets …. exactly! More like HIDDEN GEMS that many students might not know about! So I will list a few of what I consider to be Clearihue’s Hidden Gems! And … Spoiler Alert … the VERY BEST ONE IS AT THE END! [Double Spoiler – shameless product placement on my part!]
The Computer Help Desk! What, how can CHD be a Hidden Gem? Well, why not ask someone … how to get there! We are located in the A-Wing of the BASEMENT of Clearihue! Simple enough, but only 2 stairwells with twists and turns, or ONLY ONE elevator with MORE twists and turns … will get you to the front counter of The Computer Help Desk!
And did you also know there are TWO MORE satellite CHD locations in Clearihue? At the entrance to all the Computing Classrooms in A-wing, first floor and …. in The CALL Facility too! I’ll bet you didn’t know that!
Computing Classrooms! The actual computing classrooms, 1st Floor of A-Wing … AND in the Lower Floor of A-Wing too!. Many students do not know that there are 4 classrooms (3 WIN / 1 MAC) and a Multi-Media (WIN & MAC) alcove for drop-in use upstairs! AND that there are 3 MORE classrooms and Multimedia computers in the basement! Rooms ARE booked for scheduled classroom use, but are fully drop-in outside of those posted times. And when Covid is over, hopefully we can go back to just dropping into the computer labs!
During Covid, all other rooms in all other buildings are unavailable. We strictly adhere to UVIC Covid guidelines in ALL our Computing Facilities and The Computer Help Desk in Clearihue.
Clearihue A102Clearihue A030 (Click photo for more pictures)
And if you have not been to our newest upgrade classroom in Clearihue A030 in the basement of Clearihue, just down the hallway from The Computer Help Desk CLEA037. It is a really SPIFF CLASSROOM!
BEC Bookable Rooms
And it gets even BETTER! Ever want to book a room for a study session or a group project and nothing is available at the Library? Well, check out BEC and their Rooms that you can book! AND THAT INCLUDES A ROOM DEDICATED TO VR TECHNOLOGY! Okay, so technically, not in Clearihue, but let’s call it a HIDDEN HIDDENGEM, eh! Bet you didn’t know THAT!
And there are a few other locations in Clearihue that might warrant a bit of a scavenger hunt on your part ……
Clearihue Corner (CLE B001b)
And this is a highly guarded, super secret, need to know basis location ….. NOT! But it is just as hard to get to as The Computer Help Desk! Either from the pictured elevator in B-Wing, or the stairwells at the groundlevel corners of B-Wing. Spacious, quiet, comfy sofas and plugins too! There are even recycle bins to put your organics, plastics, refuse and paper! BE GREEN! There are classrooms, office space and meeting rooms, so just remember to be quiet and polite in this section of Clearihue please.
CLE B001bCLE B001b
Clearihue Inner Courtyard
What a great hidden gem .. hidden in plain site! Quiet, accessible from literally every corner, with sun and shade for all! Even some steps to sit on for a group lunch! Hidden in plain site! the photo below is actually available as a Virtual Background for Zoom! Oh, and … remember … no smoking anywhere inside Ring Road!
And, I saved the BEST for the last! And no apologies for .. WORKING IN THE CALL FACILITY! Shameless promotion! CALL has been around since the Fall of 1989 … and so have I! I have given countless demos, orientations, workshops, projects and assistance to countless students, staff, faculty and guests. And I am amazed each year how many people DO NOT KNOW WE EXIST! I have done many CALL OAC posts and I have a PAGE that is always available no matter what Post you are reading, listing all the Pages too. It is only current to January of 2020 … because … well … Covid. As soon as we are back, I will update absolutely EVERYTHING!
The CALL Facility CLE A025
What is VERY exciting is that just after everyone started to work from home .. NEW FURNITURE ARRIVED IN THE CALL FACILITY! I wrote a post about it here and a few of the photos are below! Click here to see all the new furniture!
New CALL FurnitureNew CALL Furniture
And could it get BETTER? YES, OF COURSE!
At the back of CALL are 2 new large screen monitors and desk space for 6 people at each one! Want to preview your group project in PowerPoint? Want to watch a movie for class? Want to see your Word document SUPER SIZED? Then use this area!
CALL Facility Large ScreensCALL Facility Large Screens
And CALL has USB headsets, optical media, Dual-Boot computers, study space and … The Computer Help Desk BUILT IN TOO! The CALL Facility is the LARGEST COMPUTING CLASSROOM ON CAMPUS!! And yeah, I have been working there since 1989 and it is SO MUCH FUN! Great learning environment and best of all … GREAT UVic STUDENTS AND FANTASTIC COLLEAGUES AT THE HELP DESK!
True story – a student wandered into CALL one day, asking if she could find a computer to charge her iPhone. I said sure, she could use one of the iMacs for either WIN or MAC or just to charge! She asked what ‘this place‘ was. I then asked her what her degree/major was. She replied ‘Linguistics and Italian’. I told her that CALL was HER lab to use, not only for her courses, but at any time she wanted!
And then she said that she was ABOUT TO GRADUATE AND HER PROFS HAD NEVER TOLD HER ABOUT THE CALL FACILITY!
That definitely qualifes The CALL Facility as a Hidden Gem!
I hope you investigate and look for all these Hidden Gems in Clearihue!
The Computer Help Desk – 3 locations in Clearihue
Computing Classrooms – Upstairs and Down
Clearihue Corner – So quiet
Inner Courtyard – Hiding in Plain Sight
The CALL Facility – You can check out, but you can never leave
UPDATE: This Post will be updated regularly now as a Page “Favourite and Useful Links” with 🔥 NEW 🔥 links in the future!
Every student will have now had a chance to join at least one of their classes via ZOOM, join some Teams, discover Microsoft Office 365, and adjust their schedules and come to the same conclusion that this will be a very, VERY interesting semester!
Full Disclosure: I too am feeling overwhelmed at times! There is strength in numbers, so how about some of my favourite numbers … 99, Pi and Googol(no, not that … Google!) … and have you heard of a … Googolplex?
Not to worry . . .
I am not going to overwhelm you with this first OAC post. I will be updating many of the links below with additional new ones that I hope will be useful. Yes, you can find them at uvic.ca but, this also helps ME with MY favourites too!
So, just a few to begin with and I will randomly and intermittently add more favourites, so check back in here occasionally!
Misunderstood Words or . . . I Do Not Think It Means What You Think It Means . . .
INCONCEIVABLE! And if you haven’t seen where THAT word comes from, then you are in for a treat ……
Full Disclosure: I often, OFTEN, OFTEN, OFTEN misuse and mispronounce words!
Scenes involving The Princess Bride have become iconic, especially any and all of the ‘Inconceivable’ scenes. Words always take on their own meanings, even if tht meaning is literally …. ‘INCONCEIVABLE!”
Rotten Tomatoes gives The Princess Bride a 97% on the Tomatometer! Oh, and do yourself a favour and READ THE BOOK by William Goldman! As good as the movie is, the book is SO MUCH BETTER!
And tomorrow’s post will definitely be a complete 360complete 180!
IrregardlessRegardless of any of my posts, I hope everyone is staying at home, healthy and safe! No misunderstandings about taking care of yourselves these days!
Here are a few more very interesting sites about misunderstood and mispronounced words and a few other fun sites about .. words, comedy and plays on words! That might be another post in the future too!
Please pass the brocolli! I very much doubt that was even close to the first use of language – written or spoken!
But it does pose some interesting questions that have puzzled researchers for many years – what IS the oldest language – written and/or spoken? There are over 7000 currently spoken in the world today. But how many have existed, historically and which one is the oldest?
Currently, about 7,000 languages are spoken around the world. They belong to different language families and their origins date back thousands of years ago. Researchers are still finding it difficult to determine which language is the oldest. However, the earliest written languages on record are the cuneiform script that was discovered in Mesopotamia that dates back to 8th millennium BC. The Sumerian script that started in the 3rd millennium BC was developed for funerary inscriptions because the Sumerians were concerned about their afterlife.
My first guess would have beenLatin, and it IS considered one of the oldest. And then, maybe,Egyptian, with beautiful heiroglyphics. Nope. Definitely the oldest in Egypt itself though!
Surely Greek, ranks right up there too? Nope, but definitely one of the oldest spoken languages in Europe! My coffee buddy, Nik from Folegandros, would certainly argue it is the oldest, but again, nope!
Okay, I am running out of guesses – thus displaying my woeful lack of Archeological Linguistics – even though I did pass Linguistics 100 at the University of Calgary in 1977!
My last guess … it has to be right … is … CHINESE, ! Ah, close, but still not the oldest language!
Okay, I give up … the oldest language is …. TAMIL! And it is still spoken today!
By order of appearance, Tamil would be considered the world’s oldest language as it is over 5,000 years old, having made its first appearance in 3,000 BC. The literature collection in Tamil, which is a classical language, is very vast. It is also varied. Tamil is very much a living language and thousands of newspapers are still published in the language.
It is believed that Tamil started around 2500 BC.
It is still widely spoken and an official language in Singapore, Sri Lanka. In India, first language speakers live in some 34 territories and states, including Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Puducherry, Kerala, Delhi, Gujarat, Goa and Assam
And many other candidates do make the list of oldest known languages, including, but not limited to: Latin, Armenian, Korean, Hebrew, Aramic, Sanskrit, Arabic and Lithuanian.
Each workday (at home!) during this pandemic, I pick a quasi-random topic, usually language related or perhaps math or even computers and I surprise myself each day with what I find out!
I am also slowly adding a few new future topics to discover and one fun topic might be ‘Top 10 Words that are Misunderstood … or …The Princess Bride Inconceivability!” Another future topic might be the exact OPPOSITE of The Oldest Words, the NEWEST WORDS!
Here are a few more very interesting sites about more ‘oldest languages’:
And if you made it this far
In a previous post, I suggested that 
