Category: annoying people

Boing!

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It does finally feel like Spring is beginning to… well… spring. The sun is out, the flowers are budding, the birds are singing. And – if ever there was a sign that the better weather is on its way – I have chosen today to varnish all the garden furniture, ready for the outdoor season ahead.

Well, all the wooden stuff, anyway.

This is the garden furniture equivalent of turning your central heating off in the UK or ordering braai wood instead of firewood down here in Cape Town.

It should be a day for optimism, happiness and positivity. Sadly though, it’s all up against a soundtrack provided by Edwin Knobhead and his Power Drill Orchestra, because the inept builder next door is now running over a month and a half over his already rather lax schedule.
We’re heading towards 6 months now. What joy.

I’m not saying that it’s loud out there, but even my fancy ANC headphones – that’s Active Noise Cancelling, not the dodgy political party – were being overwhelmed. And they are literally meant to actively cancel out noise.

Which is what there is outside.

And so, job done, and tables and chairs actually looking pretty good, I have legged it back inside. Not that the walls of our house are enough to find peace, but it’s more bearable when you try to overcome it with some loud Nemone on 6 Music while banging out a blog post.

In fact, buoyed by the stuff I have achieved in the garden over the past 24 hours, despite facing such aural adversity, I might even bang out tomorrow’s post while I’m at it.

You can read that tomorrow.

Wise Words

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Words from one Jeremy Clarkson, the Marmite of TV presenters.

This is from a column he wrote over four years ago [here’s a PDF of the whole thing if you are interested], but it still rings very true: maybe even more so now than it did then.

And yes, he’s divisive, and his columns are deliberately provocative: that’s how he works. But when the read the quote below, you’ll see that he is calling for unity and common sense, and it would be very odd if you didn’t agree with his sentiments here.

We seem to be annoyed by absolutely everything. Vegetarians are enraged by people who eat meat. Remainers are enraged by people who voted for Brexit. Poor people are enraged when a rich neighbour applies for planning permission to plant a hedge. There’s no tolerance at all. The middle ground has become as alien as Mars. And it’s got to stop.

Everyone. Tories, Muslims, young people, the elderly, migrants, rockers, hip-hoppers, Jewish people, vegetablists, white people, bacon enthusiasts, speed freaks, the fat, the fit, the timid, black people, policemen, Christians, vicars and socialists. If we want to live in a happy country, we’ve all got to come together as one.

And gang up on the cyclists.

You’ve nailed it, Jeremy.

Thank you.

Puzzled

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We’ve been through the whole fracking, renewable power, and oil exploration arguments on here several times, as and when they have popped up in the local news.

But in case you don’t have time to read all of those, then just click through on that third link. And if you can’t even manage that, then here’s a very quick synopsis of my position:

I know we need to move away from fossil fuels, but I’m also very aware that that transition simply isn’t possible overnight: especially in a country where there is next to no money (because of reasons), and keeping the lights on using fossil fuels is difficult enough anyway.
I’m also well aware that each and every one of us uses oil-based products every single day of our lives, and that’s not going away any time soon, either. And that oil has to come from somewhere.
So it does feel all a bit much when people protest about oil exploration or whatever, simply because it’s happening near our shores.

Sure, let’s try to make things better, but let’s be realistic as well.

And then I saw a guy in our neighbourhood with one of these stickers in the back window of his car:

So clever. Can you guess what he’s annoyed about, and who he blames for it? Yes. Me too.

And I was puzzled.

Because the thing is, the back window in question is on a (very well looked after) older model Toyota Land Cruiser. And I’m not an expert, but I’m fairly sure that it’s one weighing about 2.5 tonnes, and with the 4.5 litre V8 diesel engine.

Now, I have no problem with anyone owning whatever vehicle they want; but being a rebellious, anti-Shell activist, while driving around in that particular monster, does seem… well… just a little bit hypocritical.

It’s very much like the lady near our old place who objected to a new cellphone mast in the area in an email with the footnote “sent from my iPhone”.

Of course, Mr Land Cruiser will choose not to fill up at our local Shell stations, but rather one of the much cleaner oil companies like CalTex, Engen (Mobil) or BP, who obviously don’t pump the stuff out of the ground, instead manufacturing it from fairy dust, daisy petals, biodegradable glitter, and the sound of childrens’ laughter.

They walk drive massive dirty cars among us.

On Connections

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Mmm. I haven’t played the NYT Connections game for a while, but while other members of the family were at piano class, I thought that I’d give it a go. And it was while I was doing that, that I found this article by Connections editor, Wyna Liu.

This isn’t a new article: it’s a year and a bit old, but it does make interesting reading. Because it does rather make it seem like Wyna came up with this revolutionary idea of how to make the game work:

There would have to be a mix of categories for the game to feel challenging and satisfying. That’s where the puzzle element could come in: Some categories might be defined by their use of wordplay — palindromes, homophones, adding or dropping letters and words — rather than the literal meanings of the words on the cards. I saw three areas of potential difficulty that could be adjusted: the familiarity of the words, the ambiguity of their categorization and the variety of the wordplay.

But if you have ever watched Only Connect, the TV quiz show which began in 2008, then you’ll already have been enjoying “Connections” as “The Wall” for 15 years before NYT and Wyna began their version.
And they “saw” how to make it harder a long time before she did.

If there is a regular criticism of Connections, it’s that many of the answers are rather America-specific: baseball team nicknames or supermarket mascots; stuff that anyone outside the US wouldn’t know. But although it attracts an international audience, it’s an American site, and there’s ample opportunity for you to learn stuff about America from the internet.

Equally though, there was surely plenty of opportunity for Wyna and the NYT to know that “Connections” already existed. And I’m not saying that it was trademarked or anything – as far as I know, there’s no legal axe to grind here – just that pretending that it was a concept that they came up with… well… that’s a bit much.

Still, I do occasionally go and get my Connections fix. And when I need some more, I go to Puzzgrid, which… er… also pre-dated Connections. And why makes no bones about where it got the idea from (and pops a subtle dig at the NYT):

And why not go and enjoy the original on Only Connect, since it has just begun its 20th series?

Other Only Connect posts on 6000 miles…
Other Puzzgrid posts on 6000 miles…

This B-girl Raygun “protest” theory is clearly nonsense.

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Earlier, someone linked to a huge – s t r e t c h – by local “expert on everything”, Graeme Codrington, in which he explains why Australian “B-girl” RayGun’s atrocious performance at the Olympics was actually just a protest about the “sport” being included in the Games. Here are some highlights (of his theory – there were no highlights in the actual performance).
Please ignore the smugness if you can.

How likely do you think it is that Australia selected a completely useless competitor for the Olympics? Not likely, right? Should this have alerted you to a bigger story, and to do a touch of research before posting? I think it should have.

A quick search will uncover that her name is Prof Rachael Gunn, and she’s a university professor, with a focus on breakdancing, gender and politics. She’s also a really well established breakdancer and has represented Australia at World championships for many years, to much acclaim. Did this give you pause for thought? It should have.

Slightly more research will uncover that she’s recently written an academic journal article entitled “The Australian Breaking scene and the Olympic Games: The possibilities and politics of sportification”. The theme of this paper is a concern that if breakdancing is institutionalised via the Olympics it is likely to lose its very essence. Her argument is that if the sport is forced to adhere to a strict code that gives points for certain elements and is centrally controlled by a body not strongly linked to the sport (like the IOC) it will stop being the sport she loves. Does that information give you pause for thought? It should.

Let’s pause for thought, as instructed. Here’s that paper, written two years ago.

And here’s how Graeme sees her performance:

The most likely story here is that her dance at the Olympics was a supreme expression of what she believes is the essence of her art form: an anti-institutional dance of rebellion and defiance. Could it have been a throw down. A challenge. The judges gave her a zero – and by doing that she was the winner of a dance that is a form of protest.

STREEEEEETCH! But then of course:

I know I am a full-time researcher so this type of info is maybe easier for me to track down, but we should all make some effort.

Eww.

Anyway, I made some effort and I found out that if this was indeed a protest, then it’s a long held gripe that she has. Indeed, RayGun seems to protest in many of her routines, given her Instagram videos.
Here she is… er… protesting in Cyprus, Sydney and the UK with form and style that seem to pretty much match exactly what she did in Paris this week.

Here she is last year, talking about how they’ve had to work hard in Oz to get athletes to the Olympics:

For many traditional Olympic sports, there is a clear pathway for athletes to qualify. For the Australian breaking community, the past three years have been a scramble to get everything in place for the road to Paris. A qualifying event in the Oceania region later this year has yet to be locked in.

“The last three years has been really fast putting all that [infrastructure] in place,” Gunn said.

“It’s been really intense, we’ve had to build a lot, and on top of training and on top of reimagining ourselves as Olympians, [it’s] been really fast-paced the last couple of years. But we are ready, we’re going to get there, and we just need the support now from the Australian public.”

Which is a bit weird, given how much Graeme says she hates the idea.

And here she is extolling the virtues of Breaking being in the Olympics, a whole three weeks ago:

Breaking provides an opportunity to explore the “faster, higher, stronger” ethos of the Olympics in new ways. It shows us that we truly don’t know every point on which the body can spin or launch its weight, the different shapes it can make, or all the ways it can move.

And finally, here’s an interview with her after her disguised protest, in which she disguises it still further…

…by not saying it was a protest at all.

After her performance, the 36-year-old Macquarie University lecturer explained she wanted to leave a creative mark.
All my moves are original. I was never going to beat these girls on what they do best, the dynamic and the power moves, so I wanted to move differently, be artistic and creative because how many chances do you get in a lifetime to do that on an international stage?

It is Genius!

Listen, I know I’m not a full-time researcher, but this type of info was very easy for me to track down, so maybe Graeme should make some effort.

Jeez. The lengths some people will go to to get some attention.

Also, please share this post. Thanks.