I have been watching Wimbledon and getting increasingly irritated by screaming female players. Many release ear-piercing shrieks when they hit the ball. The guys don’t do it – to their everlasting credit.
Now some enjoy hearing the women shriek – they find it somehow arousing. Well, I find it plain annoying. Mind you, there are other sports where people grunt and squeak. The shot putt and discus are two examples from track and field. Then there is weightlifting. Strangely, it is absent from boxing.
Imagine if it crept into women’s golf!
Apparently at least one female tennis player is ranking over 100 decibels. Do they play better as a result of screaming? I think not. However, some of the greats do scream - Serena Williams for one.
Here’s hoping they ban it. I like the sound of racquet on ball.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Smoke gets in your eyes ….
Not being a parent, I won’t enter the debate on the merits or lack of a so-called light smack. However, being a linguist, I will enter the debate on the wording of the so-called referendum coming up.
Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?
You would have to be pretty thick not to see that you can drive several truckloads of manure through this loaded wording.
Consider if you will, alternative versions:
Should a smack as part of bad parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?
Somewhat loaded the other way don’t you think?
So at least a more neutral version might have been selected
Should a smack as part of parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?
Well one could go on: but the wording as it stands is simply untenable.
Secondly, the information we have been given from the Elections people does not tell us the alternatives. Is don’t know included? Or is it a yes/no affair?
However, it does appear from the the elections website that it is simply a yes/no affair. A serious flaw.
Well, what we have in the end is $9,000,000 up in smoke.
Should a smack as part of good parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?
You would have to be pretty thick not to see that you can drive several truckloads of manure through this loaded wording.
Consider if you will, alternative versions:
Should a smack as part of bad parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?
Somewhat loaded the other way don’t you think?
So at least a more neutral version might have been selected
Should a smack as part of parental correction be a criminal offence in New Zealand?
Well one could go on: but the wording as it stands is simply untenable.
Secondly, the information we have been given from the Elections people does not tell us the alternatives. Is don’t know included? Or is it a yes/no affair?
However, it does appear from the the elections website that it is simply a yes/no affair. A serious flaw.
Well, what we have in the end is $9,000,000 up in smoke.
Wednesday, June 10, 2009
I am on top of the world looking down on creation …..
I was sitting on the bus this morning and watching the world unfold in the same way it does every weekday morning. It was like watching a movie and I felt quite separated from it all – even seeing my own sitting on the bus as part of the movie. It was a delightful moment of detachment – of sheer objectivity. I couldn’t help but laugh and found it hard to wipe the smile off my face.
The question that came to me … where will this all be … 50 years from now? The fact is we tend to take life far too seriously. A lot of things are necessary but hardly any are important.
At their deeper levels many of the great world religions speak of the impermanence of things. Paul in 2nd Corinthians speaks of the “form of the world passing away”. Likewise, John in his second letter says “the world with its cravings is passing away”. The Buddha is reported to have taught the transitory nature of the world. I think both Paul and John’s words can be taken to mean not only a final passing away of the world but also a constant passing away at every level. Quantum physics points to the impermanent and uncertain nature of things at the micro-level. The positions of electron afterall can only be given as probabilities.
The problem then is being sucked in to the illusion of stability and permanence. Clinging to stuff that by its very nature cannot last. The challenge is (as always) to let go and let God. It is a call to transcend the world and see things for what they really are – necessary for the moment, but unimportant, in that they cannot last. Jesus put it this way… “you are in the world, but not of it … ”
May there be many more moments of detachment that bring a real belly-laugh in the midst of the “turmoil” of life.
The question that came to me … where will this all be … 50 years from now? The fact is we tend to take life far too seriously. A lot of things are necessary but hardly any are important.
At their deeper levels many of the great world religions speak of the impermanence of things. Paul in 2nd Corinthians speaks of the “form of the world passing away”. Likewise, John in his second letter says “the world with its cravings is passing away”. The Buddha is reported to have taught the transitory nature of the world. I think both Paul and John’s words can be taken to mean not only a final passing away of the world but also a constant passing away at every level. Quantum physics points to the impermanent and uncertain nature of things at the micro-level. The positions of electron afterall can only be given as probabilities.
The problem then is being sucked in to the illusion of stability and permanence. Clinging to stuff that by its very nature cannot last. The challenge is (as always) to let go and let God. It is a call to transcend the world and see things for what they really are – necessary for the moment, but unimportant, in that they cannot last. Jesus put it this way… “you are in the world, but not of it … ”
May there be many more moments of detachment that bring a real belly-laugh in the midst of the “turmoil” of life.
Thursday, June 4, 2009
When you walk through the storm ….
It was a relay executed through the most horrendous of Wellington storms – that relay I spoke of just yesterday…
Thousands have texted me. Tens of thousands have emailed. They want to see the team that won the great Ekiden walk relay and sealed the New Zealand Championships. It was, I must confess a glorious combination of youth and experience as you can plainly see. It was a team that combined all the greatest human attributes: speed, courage, tenacity, canniness, beauty , a common sense of decency and an enormous appetite for subway sandwiches:
The story of this glorious relay shall the good person teach his son or daughter;
whiles any speaks
So you see it is true after all!!
Some things that happened for the first time seem to be happening again ….
Diseases that have happened before are happening again. Only now in the early 21st century, they are named and monitored. They scientifically assessed. Their DNA is stripped naked. Data is amassed and analysed. Statistics are produced. Panic-ridden parameters are presented. Infectious vectors are plotted. It is Swine flu - the second coming. Its algorithm has been plotted. This time the flu has been named and shamed. A massive illusion of control has been created. The question remains: in what way is this flu any worse than the myriad of flues (or is it flus) that have past our way in years gone by? Yes, there have been exceptions (1918). But there seems to be nothing about this current strain that is causing people to die in their droves. Indeed, aside from Mexico, the death rate is surprisingly low for a flu pandemic.
One has to ask: what other agendas are at work? What regulatory controls and surveillance mechanisms will arise to further empower the increased governance of ordinary folk? I am not usually inclined towards conspiracy theory. But, you know sometimes I wonder ….
And the drug companies – could this be big bucks or what? Now guys how shall we ditch that maasive stockplie of Tamiflu?
One has to ask: what other agendas are at work? What regulatory controls and surveillance mechanisms will arise to further empower the increased governance of ordinary folk? I am not usually inclined towards conspiracy theory. But, you know sometimes I wonder ….
And the drug companies – could this be big bucks or what? Now guys how shall we ditch that maasive stockplie of Tamiflu?
Wednesday, June 3, 2009
Walking my baby back home ....torn between two lovers!!!
It was the National Race Walking Road Relay Championship. It was the Ekiden Relay held in Lower Hutt on May 24th. Yours truly was in the winning team: Racewalking Auckland (A Team). Chuffed was I to get a lovely medal. Chuffed also was my Mum in the Rest Home to see her boy-child (one of two) finally achieving something in his athletic career. She did really break into a chorus of “Walking my baby back home…”
The relay was held on a sublimely awful Wellington day. Planes had been turned back at the Airport. Our team barely arrived in-tacked in the capital to lay their all on the line for the dear old club.
However I did walk twice that day - for i am a walker with multiple personalities.
At 10 am I donned the blue uniform of Racewalking Auckland and did my thing over 7.2 km.
Later, I donned the black uniform of my beloved Calliope and did my thing again over 5 km.
The relay was held on a sublimely awful Wellington day. Planes had been turned back at the Airport. Our team barely arrived in-tacked in the capital to lay their all on the line for the dear old club.
However I did walk twice that day - for i am a walker with multiple personalities.
At 10 am I donned the blue uniform of Racewalking Auckland and did my thing over 7.2 km.
Later, I donned the black uniform of my beloved Calliope and did my thing again over 5 km.
By the finish I was indeed a spent force.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
The old grey mare she ain’t what she used to be …
Now Cadburys are at it. Instead of increasing prices they are downsizing. The king size bar used to weigh in at 250 gm. That’s what they were at Woolworths but a month ago. (Watch this link disappear). The new cardboard wrapped variety (coming to a shop near you) weighs in at 200gm folks. Hot on the heels of the downsizing of cheese and washing power (which is supposedly more concentrated) – pull the other one eh what?
So the scam is don’t increase the price – reduce the size. In fact, it is both prices increased with sizes decreased. The shopper had better be a good maths student!
Of course the price will be initially lower until all the old stock is phased out and then it will return to the old prices for what used to be King Size.
Should King Size now be called Queen Size?
So the scam is don’t increase the price – reduce the size. In fact, it is both prices increased with sizes decreased. The shopper had better be a good maths student!
Of course the price will be initially lower until all the old stock is phased out and then it will return to the old prices for what used to be King Size.
Should King Size now be called Queen Size?
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
You’ve either got or you haven’t got style …
I thought Colin Meads had it. But now he is going for the big SIR. Of course being a “good kiwi bloke” (an egalitarian sort), he insists it is not for him. It’s for the people who asked him to become a SIR (don’t you know). It is for his friends. It is for his wife. It is for the IHC, so he can get more money.
Ho .. ah hum
Cut the crapola Colin. Just fess up that you like the idea of being call Sir Colin Meads, even if you say you don’t. If that’s your game, fine! But don’t be so flaming disingenuous. As they say, you can’t have you cake and eat it! You want to be a SIR and still retain your stature as a “good keen kiwi bloke” then be honest. “I just kinda like thu ideya of bein a SIR”.
Sorry no deal. It is not the SIR business that gets me. It is the disingenuity.
Talk about identity politics!
Ho .. ah hum
Cut the crapola Colin. Just fess up that you like the idea of being call Sir Colin Meads, even if you say you don’t. If that’s your game, fine! But don’t be so flaming disingenuous. As they say, you can’t have you cake and eat it! You want to be a SIR and still retain your stature as a “good keen kiwi bloke” then be honest. “I just kinda like thu ideya of bein a SIR”.
Sorry no deal. It is not the SIR business that gets me. It is the disingenuity.
Talk about identity politics!
Friday, May 1, 2009
Tammy, Tammi, Tami's in love ...
Who sang the song and in what movie? Winner gets a free dose of expired Tamiflu! Oseltamivir phosphate is just the thing to buck you up!
How does Nu Zulun stop the spread of the “killer” flu? Well, we become the only country in the world to make Tamiflu available over the counter at the chemist. But you have to present with symptoms. So we invite all those with raging fevers, hacking sore throats and non-stop coughing to congregate in their masses at the local pharmacy to collect their dose and meanwhile infect all the other shoppers and the beloved pharmacist.
We stay come out wherever you are! Bring your infection and spread it on the buses and in shops.
Oh, and perhaps some of you, the panicky among you, can also queue up, pretend you have symptoms and get your supply. Go for a run before you arrive at the chemist so your face is red. That will get your pulse up too - a key feature of a fever. Better still, wear a mask and cough intermittently. In fact, some of you would be better of with a mask all the time - flu season or not.
"You seem fine my dear"
"Oh no, I feel so awful ... it's a swine of a fever"
The end result – chemist shops shut all over the country due to pharmacists down with the flu (whatever variety) after continual, repeated exposure.
The chemist shop could become an incubator for all kinds of diseases to mix and co-habit as fever stricken patients descend in their hordes.
Well done Nu Zulun! Clever idea.
How does Nu Zulun stop the spread of the “killer” flu? Well, we become the only country in the world to make Tamiflu available over the counter at the chemist. But you have to present with symptoms. So we invite all those with raging fevers, hacking sore throats and non-stop coughing to congregate in their masses at the local pharmacy to collect their dose and meanwhile infect all the other shoppers and the beloved pharmacist.
We stay come out wherever you are! Bring your infection and spread it on the buses and in shops.
Oh, and perhaps some of you, the panicky among you, can also queue up, pretend you have symptoms and get your supply. Go for a run before you arrive at the chemist so your face is red. That will get your pulse up too - a key feature of a fever. Better still, wear a mask and cough intermittently. In fact, some of you would be better of with a mask all the time - flu season or not.
"You seem fine my dear"
"Oh no, I feel so awful ... it's a swine of a fever"
The end result – chemist shops shut all over the country due to pharmacists down with the flu (whatever variety) after continual, repeated exposure.
The chemist shop could become an incubator for all kinds of diseases to mix and co-habit as fever stricken patients descend in their hordes.
Well done Nu Zulun! Clever idea.
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Come flu with me, lets flu, lets flu away ....
Flu is a swine of a thing at the best of times. Is swine flu the past tense of swine flies? Every night a news reporter deposits themselves outside Rangitoto College to stake our claim to fame as one of the first nations on the planet to have imported this “deadly” virus.
Trouble with this sensationalist reporting is that it may create the boy-who-cried-wolf mentality. I would call for more measured reporting, or else we may end up saying “there you see ... it amounted to a hill of beans just like the bird-flu panic”.
Sensationalist reporting: Flu victim becomes international celebrity. It all started with this particular pig. If 300 die, it will affect the economy to the tune of 235 million dollars. On a scale of 1-6 (the pandemic scale) it is a 7. One sneeze is all it takes to infect 1000 people around you. Pigs and birds get together to create a pig of a bird flu… a swine of a bird flu …
Meanwhile ... its back to stockpiling Tamiflu and masks …
Trouble with this sensationalist reporting is that it may create the boy-who-cried-wolf mentality. I would call for more measured reporting, or else we may end up saying “there you see ... it amounted to a hill of beans just like the bird-flu panic”.
Sensationalist reporting: Flu victim becomes international celebrity. It all started with this particular pig. If 300 die, it will affect the economy to the tune of 235 million dollars. On a scale of 1-6 (the pandemic scale) it is a 7. One sneeze is all it takes to infect 1000 people around you. Pigs and birds get together to create a pig of a bird flu… a swine of a bird flu …
Meanwhile ... its back to stockpiling Tamiflu and masks …
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)