Ready for a rout?

This is an aerial view of Brisbane, looking north.   In the fold of the river is the area known as Kangaroo Point, where OZ lived for a few years.   The big round thing is The Gabba – which is short for Woolloongabba, the suburb where it’s located.   Our Cricket season traditionally starts at The Gabba – the first test of the year is always played here. Continue reading “Ready for a rout?”

18th Photographic Competition Result

Right then

There was a strong chance that this whole thing was going to go seriously pear-shaped when Bearsy posted the first non-entry within a day of my setting the competition. I was minded to go back to reset the rules by saying that it did not have to be your own work and that the closing date was one minute after his entry appeared. Continue reading “18th Photographic Competition Result”

What I do when I’m not on my holidays Part 3

What might this really important stuff be, then? Before we get onto that, I’d like to talk about some of the fun stuff. A good part of my time is taken up by the continuing battle against illicit traders – counterfeiters and smugglers. Not that I am a policeman, my role is to gather information and make sure the right people get it. It is often the case that different branches of the authorities in the less-developed markets operate on the old Soviet principle of hoarding information for the supposed advantage it might bring them – Customs don’t talk to Police, the Financial Police don’t talk to the Criminal Police… It is also often the case that I, and by that I mean of course someone in a role like mine, talk to all of these people and can help whoever seems most likely to make use of the information to put it all together and take some effective action. Sometimes, if I achieve a really good relationship with a policemen or customs officer or something, I get to ride along on raids and seizures and watch – from a good and safe distance, of course – while some of the Rsholes, (‘scuse me ladies*) are reeled in.

The really important stuff, though, happens in the office. I have to start explaining why with a statement of the blindingly obvious, the security manager can’t be everywhere at once. Every employee, as King Agesilaus of Sparta is often misquoted as saying, has to be a brick in the wall. The security manager has to manage security not by managing, but by influencing. He or she has to be able to take a full part in business meetings at all levels, to put together a business case that stands up to often clinical examination by the finance, marketing and corporate relations types and, I always insist, has to be accountable. Some of the stuff I do sometimes has to be confidential, never anything illegal (- as I’ve said before, I work in some places where you really, really do not want to see the inside of a gaol,) but sometimes not the sort of thing you would discuss in polite society. Whatever I’m doing though, I must be able to account for it to someone in authority, if not the whole board. So accountability is important, and so is a demonstrable ability to contribute to the bottom line. Continue reading “What I do when I’m not on my holidays Part 3”

The cold equations.

I read this story, lo, these many moons ago, (about 600, plus or minus,) and came across it again, as you often come across stuff, when googling something else. I shared it with my children and my two daughters confessed to squeezing out a little tear, as did I when I first read it – hey, I was a sensitive lad once, before life knocked a few rough edges on to me, like, ‘Hey, if you have to knock someone down, the last thing you want to do is let him get up again, you prat.’ But I digress, it’s still a haunting little tale even after all these years. It was written by a Tom Godwin and appeared in ‘Astounding,’ or ‘Amazing,’ or one of those good ol’ pulp fiction sci-fi mags – sadly missed in these days of eBooks, Kindles and whatnot – though I read a lot electronically these days, everything to its place and a Kindle’s place is not next to a roaring fire on a rainy winter afternoon with a glass of something smooth, mellow and golden…but I digress, again. The story is now public domain, so no copyright issues. I hope some of you might enjoy it as much as I did. The Cold Equations, by Tom Godwin

How would you say it?

I had just published my November Winner post when an impassioned cry shot down the corridor from Boadicea’s study, “You’ve made a spelling mistake; you’ve left an ‘i’ out”.

With the aplomb born of certainty, I strolled into her sanctum and replied smugly, “No I haven’t.   There are only two ‘i’s in miss-chee-vus”.

“No, no,” she insisted, “miss-chee-vee-us has three ‘i’s.”

This is an error which has been perpetrated and perpetuated since the 17th century.   Indeed, in South London and Surrey where Boadicea and I were raised, the latter pronunciation was commonplace, and it was only as a result of an uncomfortable encounter with my prep school headmaster that the correct version of both speech and spelling were etched into my young brain.

Mischievous has no correlation with devious, or any other words in -ious, but many assume that it has.

I wonder how many of you might say “miss-chee-vee-us” in an unguarded moment? 😀