Wednesday 11 May 2016

Back to some quotes….

Albert Einstein was a German-born theoretical physicist. He developed the general theory of relativity. One of his discoveries was the succinct equation: E=mc² – Energy equals mass multiplied by the speed of light squared. It was the first time that a scientist related energy to mass, that energy and mass can be related. Einstein’s work is also known for its influence on the philosophy of science. Certainly, his quotes are comprehensive and humane!

“Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I’m not sure about the universe.” 

“I am enough of an artist to draw freely upon my imagination. Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” 

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.” 

“Logic will get you from A to Z; imagination will get you everywhere.” 

“Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving.”

“When you are courting a nice girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.” 

“A clever person solves a problem. A wise person avoids it.” 

Albert Einstein

Monday 2 May 2016

Every so often, our apartment neighbours have discards of their furniture or belongings. Usually they place them down outside the main foyer with an eager note: “Free to a good home!” Sometimes, the object is snapped up – sometimes it languishes for a week or more!

Today, I was walking from Mt Cook to Adelaide Road down a set of steep steps. Right in the middle, there was a fridge. There was a post-it note attached: ‘Free Fridge – Please Take’. Hmmm – I not sure whether this person has the right idea….

 

Friday 29 April 2016

An aphorismic comment from one of the great thinkers in human society: Aristotle.

“We are what we repeatedly do.
Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.”
– Aristotle

Should I say more? I think not!

But, when we WANT to change, that is another matter.
Some people cut their hair when they have a radical change of their circumstances / environment / situation. Unfortunately, in my case, that is not possible! Maybe I have to ‘cut my hair’ figuratively, not literally – another physical dramatic change. Maybe a tattoo? Or shave my beard? Or wear a beret ALL the time.

Thankfully, my excellence is exemplary, and I don’t have to change anything (…ahem…)

Monday 25 April 2016

This blog has a story behind it.

When my wife and two best friends went to China in 1997, the first place we went to after Hong Kong was Wuzhou, the biggest snake repository in the world. We went out for dinner that night. It was remarkable having no English at all – no sign, ads, directions …  at least Hong Kong had SOME sign in English. (Actually, the only English characters I saw in these few days was a stand of apples in grocery store. They said: ‘Product of New Zealand’!)

The shocked waitress hightailed it, but another patron came over to us saying that he had travelled in the USA and he can translate things for us, if we wanted.
We picked our meals: three entrees from a sideboard, four mains, four desserts and four cans of drinks. The entree I selected was an interesting, gnarled root-like object. I was convinced that it was pickled ginseng roots. I prepared myself to enjoy this vegetable delicacy – but it was actually boiled and preserved chicken feet. Actually interesting – reminiscent of pig trotters! This image has been with us since that time.

So, when we pass the sculptures outside of the New Zealand on Air and the New Zealand Film Commission building on Ghuznee Street, we see them as enormous chicken’s feet!

Wednesday 3 February 2016

BMD again – the remarkable mural-makers in the capital (and elsewhere.)

This is a good example of their ‘hive’ work. There are 62 animals, all cats (I think!). They are tumbled about each other in four clumps (with two separate individuals felines) and it appears there is water about them, a ocean.

But the 62 cats have made a new landscape.

I thought it was two islands with a alligator or serpent rising up in the ocean and a mermaid-maiden surveying the scene.
But, as second glance, I see that the situation is more mundane, or more risque.

In fact it is a girl bathing.
She has a bemused expression. Her ponytail is dabbling in the water and her hand is rising up out of the water. One ‘cat’ is escaping – maybe a thimble? a cast-off plaster? or a severed finger?
Her knees are out of the water too.  And apparently the two ‘separate cats have some sort of ripples’ in the bath. OK – they are nipples.

BMD, as I have explained, is basically two artists, but I see that have a following or maybe apprentices too – this mural is signed by BMD and YGB?
This mural is facing the wall of the Hannah’s Apartments at the north end of Leeds Street.

Sunday 17 January 2016

Today is my birthday …. 57 years old.

In the scheme of things, 57 years is not a long time. Macaws – the parrot, not the All-Black– can live for 80–100 years (hopefully Richie could exceed that too?) Tortoises can live for 190 years and tuataras can exceed 200 years. The kauri tree (Agathis australis) can live for 1000 years and the redwood tree (Sequoia sempervirens) can live for 1,500-1,800 years or more.

On the other hand, large dogs have 10-12 years on the planet, koalas have 7 years, chameleons only have a lifespan of 1 year, and drone ants have a life cycle of 3 weeks.

So 57 years is pretty good!

I recall a cartoon in a magazine.
In heaven, a man was being interviewed by St Peter in his office. St Peter reviewed the man’s record.
“Unfortunately,” St Peter’s declared, “you were quite wicked so I can’t recommend for your reincarnation as a human.”
He pondered for a while. Then he looked up to the man and announced decisively, “You are coming back as a mayfly. Have a nice day.”

31 December 2015

On my holiday, several weeks ago, I came across some remarkable and inventive things.

We were travelling across Highway 4, west of Mt Ruapehu, and there was at least three sculptures on the side of the road: one in National Park, one in Owhango I believe, and one in Taumarunui. They were like driftwood sculptures, 2-3 metres high – but I not sure that ‘driftwood’ is the right term. ‘Driftwood’ would not be in the local scene. Maybe it was ‘deadwood’ –  but that is a unfortunate name seeing the sculpture were representations of animals.

One was a kiwi – and some graffiti knitters coddled the kiwi neck and beak with swaddling clothes! It was Christmas Time after all.
One was a tyrannosaurus rex – a fearsome beast indeed.
But the main street in Taumarunui was my favourite – a extinct giant moa. In fact, the scale of the moa was accurate – they normally browsed on food about 2m off the ground and if they leaned back and stretched out their necks, they could pluck food as high up as 3m.

What amuses me about this sculpture was the commissioner and the name. The commissioner was the Rotary Service Club in Taumarunui and the name of the sculpture was ‘The Rotary Moa’.

For the uninitiated, the ‘rotary mower’ was a lawn motor with a rotary action – a fixture in many, many homes in New Zealand in the 1950-1990s. I suspect, many are still operating! The pun is doubled: the ‘Rotary’ being the Service Club, and the ‘Moa’ is a pun of the machine.

Classic!

6 December 2015

On July 22, I wrote a blog about a mis-attribution. A quote ‘from’ Nelson Mandela was not actually authored by him. In fact, the writer was by Marianne Williamson from her book ‘A Return To Love’ (1992).

Another mis-attribution…

He said, “Try to learn to breathe deeply, really to taste food when you eat, and when you sleep really to sleep. Try as much as possible to be wholly alive with all your might, and when you laugh, laugh like hell. And when you get angry, get good and angry. Try to be alive. You will be dead soon enough.”

This quote, often attributed to Ernest Hemingway, but not actually by that curmudgeonly author. It is in fact by William Saroyan, an Armenian-American writer best known for his Pulitzer-winning play, The Time of Your Life (1939).

‘Be in the Moment’ is a commendable doctrine, but this quote is more direct.
‘Be in the Moment’ is like a tap of your shoulder. This quote is more like a falling brick on the head.

4 September 2015

One more from the repartee book ….

At a London social gathering in the 1930s, Winston Churchill and a number of friends were embroiled in a lively discussion about the roles of men and women. At one point, an outspoken woman blurted out, “By the year 2100, women will rule the world.”
Churchill thought for a moment and, to the delight of the assembled guests, said: “Still?”

Dr Mardy Grothe from Viva La Repartee.

1 September 2015

If you are prudish, squeamish or machismo-challenged this quote may not be to your taste.
Truman Capote was a brilliant writer but not physically impressive. His hair was thin, not much over 5 feet tall, decidedly non-muscular, and had a high-pitched voice — but admire the quick-wittedness of this author.

[Truman Capote] was drinking one evening with friends in a crowded Key West bar. Nearby sat a couple, both inebriated. The woman reconized Capote, walked over to his table, and gushingly asked him to autograph a paper napkin.

The woman’s husband, angry at his wife’s display of interest in another man, staggered over to Capote’s table and assumed an intimidating position directly in front of the diminutive writer.

He then proceeded to upzip his trousers and, in Capote’s own words “hauled out his equipment”. As he did this, he bellowed in a drunken slur, “Since you’re autographing things, why don’t you autograph this?”

…Capote’s soft, high-pitched voice [delivered] the perfect emasculating reply:
“I don’t know if I can autograph it, but perhaps I can initial it.”

Dr Mardy Grothe from Viva La Repartee.