A Taste of Homeless Talk

My favourite writer for homeless talk has to be Luke Jentile. He writes the opinion column “Burning Point.”
I agree with the burning bit. Possibly his writing desk is on fire, so he needs to write the article in quite a hurry.
Though, so far I haven’t been able to figure out the point.

Here’s a little extract from his latest offering:
“Then there is this rotation and revolving of the planet, which makes us count the time, but we can’t be accurate because we found this universe already existing for billions of years.”

Another superlative scribe is Dr Lebeko Lebenya with his “Afrikan Wizdom” column. Did you know that Tim and Buktu established the University of Tim-Buktu in Mali, Western Afrika (sic)?
And were you aware that the Roman Army was also known as The Crusaders?
Or that one can “give out” wisdom?

Thank god for the good Doctor Lebenya.

The Little Giant Pansies

Hopefully there is a god, because if not then no-one knows why I have taken to playing with little men again so long since my childhood.

Once upon a time, small boys would play with toy soldiers. Arguments would ensue over whose toy soldier had shot/maimed/blown-up the others’, and because of a lack of clearly defined rules it was impossible to establish when the toys would shoot straight, and how much damage they’d cause if they did hit a target. In the end, certain of the boys would resort to smashing other boys’ little men with hammers, or something else equally cruel and unusual.

Jump to the future, where the little boys are now men, but still want to play with little toy-soldiers. The boy (now a man) who had all of his little men smashed all those years ago creates a game of little men, and calls it ‘Necromunda’ — although this might not be the way he spells it.
Overcompensating for the past injustices, he makes the game rules excessively complex and quantifiable. Everything is given a number. Everything is given a score. Everything must be measured. Everyone must roll dice.

Now, the little men move around the table and fight, as they did when he was a boy. Except now, everyone must measure distances and roll dice.
Want to move your man? Measure how far he can go.
Want to shoot at another little man? Measure how far he can shoot.
Roll dice to see if he hits. Roll dice to see if the hit man is wounded. Roll dice to see the nature of the wounded man’s wound. Roll to see if your man spasses-out. Roll dice to see if he runs away. Roll dice to see if his gun jams. Roll dice to see if his gun explodes. Roll dice to see if he falls off a building. Roll dice to see if he falls down. Roll dice to see if he gets up.
And modifiers. Add or subtract modifiers to the dice rolls depending on things ranging from the little man’s religious beliefs to whether the little man stepped in dog-shit that morning.

But no-one came out with hammers to contest a decision because everyone measured and rolled. And there was peace in the land (except for the ruthless violence the little mans committed upon one another).

Except, when I roll I don’t get the numbers I need. I have a gang of little men now, and they all run away or fall over without fail. That is what my dice rolls tell me. Run away! Fall over!
Three times they have been defeated in a most pathetic fashion.

The other little boys men that I play against have suggested that by naming my gang “The Giant Pansies” I have rattled their self-confidence. Giving each individual little man names like Binky, Fluffy and Loo-Loo may also not be helping.

In order to encourage my little men to be their best, I have bestowed upon them ego-boosting titles (with the exceptions of the Juves who have received titles, but not particularly ego-boosting ones. They must earn better names in battle).

Hence forth, the Giant Pansies will be known as:
The Giant Pansies of Destruction

And they will consist of:
Binky the Belligerent
Fluffy the Fornicator
Loo-Loo the Lumbar Puncture
Cutie the Crucifier
Giggles the Garotte
Chuckles the Chilblain

The juves will be known as:
Bobo the Bland
Squidgy the Squeamish
Jingles the Jehovah’s Witness

Now nothing can stand in their way!

--

DME Filing System

I visited the Department of Minerals and Energy (DME). I needed to
locate certain Environmental Management Programmes (EMPs) and extract
information from them. None of the EMPs are digitised.

They have a static self-organising filing system.
The “self-organising” bit means that the files are placed on the
shelves in random order, and one then waits for organisation to evolve
by itself. The “static” bit means that nothing changes.
Yes, a static self-organising system is oxymoronic.

I’m actually being unfair. The files aren’t on the shelf in random
order. Each file is actually numbered. It’s just that no-one working at
the DME could tell us how the file numbers linked up with any other
information regarding the mines we were interested in. Needless to say,
the newer files were not given any numbers.

Fun times!

That’s Just Not Cricket

Today’s ODI between Sri Lanka and South Africa was blessed with radio commentators. I listened to these guys while I worked and I’m pretty sure they were stoned. They laughed a lot at mundane things. That’s as sure a sign as ever.
Somehow the topic of music came up, which obviously just isn’t cricket, and is an indication that these guys were not focusing. Yet more evidence to support my hypothesis.
The South African commentator mentioned Johnny Clegg, and explained how he was one of the first white men to perform traditional African music. In an effort to understand fully, the Australian commentator asked, “Kind of like Eminem?”

Um. No. Not like that at all.

The Non-excuse

Travelling around Europe is no excuse for not posting anything here. Not that anyone has actually complained.
Still, the excuse is that internet connectivity is terrible in the UK, especially compared to the superlative offerings in South Africa.
No no. That is also a lie.

It is because the UK was actually invaded by the French, and everyone is forced to talk in French, and I cannot speak French.

Ok. The real reason is that there is a fire burning at the oil refinery near Essex, and the black smoke is reducing visibility — thus the data packets can’t see where to go and keep on getting lost.

If you still don’t believe me, that would be perfectly reasonable and probably indicate that you are still quite sane.

Today is not a good day

Today I considered pouring a cup full of hot coffee (straight out of the kettle) on to my forearm.
The test would be to see whether I could hold my arm in place and resist the reflex to pull it away from harm.
The next trick would be to ignore the first-aid recommendation to shove the burn under cold running water. I’m pretty sure I’d end up with an exciting scar to show my grandchildren.

Some deeper instinct stayed my hand.