An Important Source of Political and Economic Freedom

The English language has become the world’s premier lingua franca. There are a variety of reasons for its dominance; foremost among these are political and economic.

During the course of World Wars I and II the British empire changed hands. Where before the British pound had reigned, today it is the US dollar. This was not the way intended by America’s founding fathers, and the world should be loathe to follow in America’s footsteps. For, as a nation the American people have abandoned the principles set forth by their founding fathers.

Look not to America for world leadership, look to its founding documents and the writings of those who founded America. For therein lies the notion of political and economic liberty and the essence of good government to the extent that any government cans be considered little more than the necessary evil understood by America’s founding fathers.

Happy July 4th!
Roddy

Installation of New Introductory Video Complete

The technical integration of Grammar Captive’s new introductory video has been realized and work on the automated generation of Grammar Captive’s RSS feed has begun.

In order to see the new video simply click on the “captive” on Grammar Captive’s landing page at www.grammarcaptive.com.  Many thanks to Richard Wu at Precarious Heights for his superb cinematic creation and promotional effort on behalf of Grammar Captive.

Roddy

Podcast Tables Are Readied

Once the structure of a table is created the code necessary to fill the table with the form data must be written and tested. This task has now been completed. With one click the data from three distinct form fieldsets is loaded into three separate MySQL tables.

Next up is the creation of a corresponding automated podcast feed. Before the code for this task is initiated, however, Grammar Captive (GC)’s new introductory video will be integrated into the GC landing page. The code to achieve this integration is already underway!

Roddy

Podcast Feed Data Entry Form

In order for Grammar Captive to succeed it must be easily accessible no matter one’s geographical location, technical preference, and interests. As RSS feeds are cross-platform XML data files that can satisfy many different hosts simultaneously, it is important that the data contained in each be accurate and consistent across episodes or editions.

As there are many popular sites, each with its own set of specifications, it is also important that each host receive data that is both accurate and timely. To these ends I have created an offline form that insures that the data received by Grammar Captive’s online database is both accurate and up-to-date. This form automatically tracks each episode by number, creates a security code (guid) for each podcast transmission, calculates the length of each podcast in milliseconds, and sets the date of each publication in the format required for an RSS feed. In addition, the form automatically captures the link of each newly created podcast and transforms it from a relative localized link to a public absolute link appropriate for RSS feed distribution. Further, data that does not change from podcast to podcast is automatically entered.  Also, empty boxes for special feed instructions are left open and easily filled. Finally, there is a built-in mechanism that prevents any data from being sent to the data base until all required data has been entered, and that informs the data entry person about what data is missing.

This was a major task including 45 separate XML data entries that should yield many future benefits.

Roddy

MySQL Database

After several weeks of research and experimentation with the ins and outs of data base management, file manipulation, and RSS feed creation I have completed structuring the first table of the Seven Gates weekly newsletter.
In addition, the channel and item elements for the weekly podcasts have been selected, formatted, and are ready for uploading to Grammar Captive’s MySQL database.

Eventually two separate RSS feeds will be created: one for the newsletter and one for the podcasts. Different feed formats including RSS 2.0, RDF, and ATOM will be created and modified according to their respective hosts.

Everything will be automated to the greatest degree possible.

The new scheduled launch date for both the newsletter and podcasts is September 11, 2017, or thereabouts.

Roddy

Video Shoot

In an effort to improve the quality of Grammar Captive’s introductory video Grammar Captive has partnered with Precarious Heights. Soon the current video will be replaced with a new one, and you will not have to download the entire video before watching it.

In the meantime the development of Seven Gates, Grammar Captive’s automated weekly newsletter and podcast feeds continues forward. With three different ways to produce a feed and an entire new language the task has been more daunting than originally anticipated.

Roddy