Category: signs of the times

Get a job

I saw this tableau on my way home last night… nobody around it.

I believe it is now widely accepted that telling a homeless person to “get a job” is unhelpful and inappropriate.

Is it more or less hateful to throw down a textbook on multivariate data analysis?

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Metaphysical help 5¢

I’ve done my share of consulting engagements where the deliverables were poorly defined, but this shop seems like it might be operating at a whole different level.

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Communist Propaganda

  • Mostly, Vietnam seemed like other developing countries I’ve been to, which isn’t actually all that many.
      • Things seemed grubby and chaotic, and I didn’t understand how things could work, but they basically did.
      People really want our money, which makes sense because they obviously need more than they have. Still, nobody stole anything or menaced us.
  • But one thing stood out for me, since this was the first real People’s Republic I’ve been to… the propaganda billboards displayed around town. They were caricatures of themselves, as if they’d named their intelligence officers Boris and Natasha.
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    Ngockin aroung Ngunguru

    We are up north this weekend visiting ex-boss Tom at his family farm in Tutukaka. But the hotel there wanted way too much for a room, so we found an Airbnb in Ngunguru, the ngext towng over. Pronungciation has beeng a topic. There’s no hard G, so no gurus in Ngunguru.

    Anyway…

    Ngunguru sits on an estuary. There’s a few hundred houses, a mix of second homes, retirees, and some people who make the commute into Whangarei. Pretty sleepy.

    The next morning we went for a walk around. Despite there being nothing to see, we saw a lot…

    The jandal fence.

    The time capsule.

    A whole series of funny little ant-themed pictures on the sidewalk.

    The blue car that drove off the road.

    A funny sign at the golf course and sports complex clubhouse.

    And more. Would you want to spend your remaining time here? I don’t think I would, but it’s always a nice surprise to find some of the “more than meets the eye” stuff that surely exists everywhere.

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    Cryptic-mas

    I know a lot of what I publish in this blog is cryptic, idiosyncratic, an inside joke. Sorry not sorry for that. I like that kind of thing.

    This little whiteboard was in the window of a construction site — well after Christmas — and even I found it to be especially mysterious.

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    Hu’s on first

    – Hey I saw this shop for lease down in Newmarket. It would be perfect for your shop. And the agent is my friend Ken. You should call him.

    – Cool, i will. Ken who?

    – Right! Do you know him? He’s so great.

    – I don’t know. What’s his last name?

    – Hu.

    – Ken, the agent.

    – Like I said, Ken Hu!

    – You said he’s your friend.

    – …

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    What’s your sign?

    Two handwritten signs, each intriguing and disturbing in its own way. Above, the Moonies offer a path to enlightenment (but it probably only works if your true self believes what they tell you to). Below, a glimpse into the problems lurking in leafy privileged suburbia.

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