I've been very neglectful in not telling people who read this blog that my latest e-book, The Mumbersons and the Blood Secret, is now available from Kindle, and Smashwords. I'd love to say it was also available in print, but that's not the case at the moment, although it's a possibility. One of the many options I've explored that haven't quite got off the ground yet.
Anyway, last Saturday the book was uploaded online, and is sitting waiting for people to buy it....
The Blood Secret is the sequel to Grimhilda! the story that began life back in the late 70s, and finally turned into the musical which we presented in Dunedin in 2012. And then it became the book. At the time some of the cast asked when the sequel was going to happen. They were thinking of another musical but such a venture is fairly overwhelming, even with a good team behind you, and so the sequel, now that it's finally arrived, is also in story form rather than musical.
It would be interesting to adapt The Blood Secret for the stage, however: though it has a number of challenges that might be tricky to overcome: a car that changes its colour, skateboarders whizzing around at impossible speed, a huge door that doesn't want to be a door, and something special that wants to remain invisible.
Only a few minor technical problems...!
I'd have loved to have given the four actors Grimhilda! the chance to fly, as they were supposed to do in the script, but in the end the audience had to imagine this. Another production, however, might achieve it. It would certainly add a Wow factor to the stage version. There's one moment of 'flying' in The Blood Secret too, but that would be a challenge even greater than the one in the musical...
Read it and see what I'm talking about!
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Showing posts with label car. Show all posts
Friday, November 14, 2014
Sunday, March 09, 2014
You have to wonder...
I get Google ads alongside my Gmail, something that doesn't bother me in the slightest, because most of the time I barely notice them. (I can read a newspaper and miss most of the advertising.)
But I have to wonder at the the appropriateness of the some of the ads that do turn up. Alongside a poem in an email today were the ads listed below. The poem was about seeing dance in every movement of life, and it's a nice piece by Mitch Roberson called Every Day We Are Dancers. The bit about the two men carrying a huge mirror across the road is particularly neat.
So let's look at these ads, and see if Google has lost the plot or not in its ad placement.
But I have to wonder at the the appropriateness of the some of the ads that do turn up. Alongside a poem in an email today were the ads listed below. The poem was about seeing dance in every movement of life, and it's a nice piece by Mitch Roberson called Every Day We Are Dancers. The bit about the two men carrying a huge mirror across the road is particularly neat.
So let's look at these ads, and see if Google has lost the plot or not in its ad placement.
Thursday, January 23, 2014
Cupmounts
What I could really do with on my computer desk is a cup mount, to hold my cups of tea or coffee that I usually have sitting to one side. A cup mount - like you have in your car. You know?
Except that cupmounts, which sound as though they ought to be the same thing, appear to be a different thing. Cupmounts here are things used to protect both electrical and mechanical equipment from impact shock and vibration. Fitting one of these on your computer desk or in your car might be a bit tricky, since they're intended to sustain weights up to 2,800 lbs - which in kilos is quite a lot 1270 or so (or, if you want to get a better idea of what that is, think of the fact that I'm around 70 kilos in weight - that leaves a lot of kilos hanging around doing nothing.)
I'm sure we're all familiar with these kinds of cupmounts, but we probably never notice them because they're so good at doing their jobs and being modest at the same time.
Except that cupmounts, which sound as though they ought to be the same thing, appear to be a different thing. Cupmounts here are things used to protect both electrical and mechanical equipment from impact shock and vibration. Fitting one of these on your computer desk or in your car might be a bit tricky, since they're intended to sustain weights up to 2,800 lbs - which in kilos is quite a lot 1270 or so (or, if you want to get a better idea of what that is, think of the fact that I'm around 70 kilos in weight - that leaves a lot of kilos hanging around doing nothing.)
I'm sure we're all familiar with these kinds of cupmounts, but we probably never notice them because they're so good at doing their jobs and being modest at the same time.
Sunday, August 11, 2013
Dogs, cats
Because we have several grandchildren, we've tended to have a couple of booster seats somewhere in our car most of the time. These come in handy when the grandchild who lives with us happens to go out in the car with us, or when another grandchild stays overnight and we have to drive him or her home the next day.
The rest of the time, the dog commandeers the booster seat. Or he did until recently when we removed the cover because it needed a wash, and he didn't find the hard plastic to his liking. It's not as if he uses the booster seat to sit up and look out the window. I'm not sure that he'd be able to see out the window even if he did. (Perhaps we should check out pads and seats online to see if we can get him a combination of proper seating so he can actually see out the window.) But when the booster has its cover on he's happy just to lie there, his head hanging over the edge, dreaming - I suspect - of what it would be like if his head was stuck out the window and the wind was making his ears fly backwards behind him.
I have no idea why dogs like to have their heads stuck out the window with the wind making their tongue loll around in their mouth, and their eyeballs thud back into their sockets, and the aforesaid ears (our dog's are particularly long and fluffy at the moment) trailing behind them. As a human, I could endure this for maybe five minutes before the buffeting would force me inside. Dogs seem to be able to handle it indefinitely.
We have a friend who has a dog that's similar in size to ours, and he loves to put his head out the window - in fact he'd have his whole body outside the window if it was practical to hold him at the same time.
Isn't it curious that dogs, which are just as much part of the human fabric of life as cats, love to travel in cars, while cats almost entirely abhor it? From the time our dog was small he would travel in the car happily, and we only have to mention the word 'car' these days to have him scratching madly at the front door trying to get out and race to the vehicle.
Perhaps it would do the tempers of cats good if they'd consent to travel outside their chosen boundaries occasionally. It might get their lazy bodies off the top of the couch where they lie pretending to be invisible. They wait for you to plonk yourself down, and then, just when you least expect it, they delight in giving your ear a good wallop, tearing it open with their claws in the process. This doesn't endear them to humans.
Dogs somehow manage to chew at your hands while playfighting without doing you damage (well, ours does). Cats don't know what playfighting is. We have a cat as well as a dog. We've had cats almost as long as we've been married. Only rarely have they consented to behave in a way that was rational to human beings. Dogs can barely help themselves: they're open, honest, humble, full of integrity, and downright crazy. Cats are just crazy.
Photo courtesy of Public Domain Pictures
The rest of the time, the dog commandeers the booster seat. Or he did until recently when we removed the cover because it needed a wash, and he didn't find the hard plastic to his liking. It's not as if he uses the booster seat to sit up and look out the window. I'm not sure that he'd be able to see out the window even if he did. (Perhaps we should check out pads and seats online to see if we can get him a combination of proper seating so he can actually see out the window.) But when the booster has its cover on he's happy just to lie there, his head hanging over the edge, dreaming - I suspect - of what it would be like if his head was stuck out the window and the wind was making his ears fly backwards behind him.
I have no idea why dogs like to have their heads stuck out the window with the wind making their tongue loll around in their mouth, and their eyeballs thud back into their sockets, and the aforesaid ears (our dog's are particularly long and fluffy at the moment) trailing behind them. As a human, I could endure this for maybe five minutes before the buffeting would force me inside. Dogs seem to be able to handle it indefinitely.
We have a friend who has a dog that's similar in size to ours, and he loves to put his head out the window - in fact he'd have his whole body outside the window if it was practical to hold him at the same time.
Isn't it curious that dogs, which are just as much part of the human fabric of life as cats, love to travel in cars, while cats almost entirely abhor it? From the time our dog was small he would travel in the car happily, and we only have to mention the word 'car' these days to have him scratching madly at the front door trying to get out and race to the vehicle.
Perhaps it would do the tempers of cats good if they'd consent to travel outside their chosen boundaries occasionally. It might get their lazy bodies off the top of the couch where they lie pretending to be invisible. They wait for you to plonk yourself down, and then, just when you least expect it, they delight in giving your ear a good wallop, tearing it open with their claws in the process. This doesn't endear them to humans.Dogs somehow manage to chew at your hands while playfighting without doing you damage (well, ours does). Cats don't know what playfighting is. We have a cat as well as a dog. We've had cats almost as long as we've been married. Only rarely have they consented to behave in a way that was rational to human beings. Dogs can barely help themselves: they're open, honest, humble, full of integrity, and downright crazy. Cats are just crazy.
Photo courtesy of Public Domain Pictures
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Dogs
Some time ago, Richard Beck, who writes a blog entitled Experimental Theology (it was a blog I used to read daily at one time), posted a series on happiness. In one of these posts he wrote that if you're unhappy because relationships seem to pass you by, then there are three things you can do. The third of these was get...A dog or a cat that lives inside
with you. The research is very clear on this. People who have pets,
particularly people living alone, are less stressed, more healthy, less
depressed, and less lonely. Now, I've known about this research for
years but it never really dented my skull. But I get it now after having
become a first time dog owner.
I became a first time dog owner when I was 65. My wife had owned a dog when she was young, but not since, though she'd often talked about getting one. When we were both on the verge of retirement we made the rash decision one day to get a dog. Apart from occasional issues, such as all dog owners will experience at some point, we've never looked back.
The other day I read somewhere that a dog's delight on seeing you is akin to the rush a lover gets when he sees his beloved (or vice versa, one hopes!) You don't have to have been away for months (as have the soldiers in these videos*); being away for half an hour is enough to send our dog into paens of rapture. And he's protective: he's just raced out into the dark, in the pouring rain, in order to ensure that no burglars or other nasty people are lurking out in the back garden (in the dark, in the rain). To frighten them away he makes a noise like a honking goose. Apparently this is very effective, if what he tells us about this is to be believed. Certainly geese find it effective: we haven't seen one in years.
We talk to our dog all the time - whether we're at home on our own, or together. And of course he talks to us. He has this kind of high-pitched voice (he's a small dog, after all): it's a tenor verging on castrato, I think. He seems to have a kind of quirky humour - not unlike my own, although sometimes he takes after my wife. Of course he doesn't have to talk all the time. His tail gives his true feelings away; in fact sometimes his tail seems to be saying something different to the rest of him. And when we mention the word 'car' he's at the front door like a shot, scraping away, desperate to get out, without a word. Why he thinks going in the car is all the great I don't know, but seemingly it's an opportunity to get out of the house for a while. 'Walk' is another word that rings a bell in his brain, and he'll dance around the kitchen - often on just his hind legs - with enormous anticipation. He can understand 'toy', though sometimes he just takes the initiative and brings the toy to us, expecting us to play immediately. He doesn't have to say a word at that point. There are a number of other words in his vocabulary too, but I won't bore you with them all.
Since this dog arrived in our house, I've become far more relaxed with other dogs. I've got a better understanding of where they're at, and don't take fright so readily at them, or bark back at them if they shout when I go past their house. While I think I prefer smaller dogs - they don't take up so much room on the couch or the bed when they decide to snuggle up to you, and when they leap at you you're far less likely to suffer a major injury - I've even found some bigger dogs to my liking in ways I wouldn't have in the past.
But it's not really an issue of whether I now like dogs as opposed to previously not being so keen on them. What I'm trying to say is that there's something absolutely amazing about the love of a dog for its master/mistress. Disciplined well when a pup, they'll pay you back in spades (and occasionally some other less pleasant options). I would never have credited that a dog could give so much. I'd read about it, but I'd never known it for myself. We've been blessed as a family time and again over the years, but one of our greatest blessings has been this ridiculous little dog that seems to think we're somehow the elephant’s adenoids, cat’s miaow, ant’s pants, tiger's spots, bullfrog’s beard, elephant’s instep, caterpillar’s kimono, turtle’s neck, duck’s quack, duck’s nuts, monkey’s eyebrows, gnat’s elbows, oyster’s earrings, snake’s hips, kipper’s knickers, elephant’s manicure, clam’s garter, eel’s ankle, leopard’s stripes, tadpole’s teddies, sardine’s whiskers, canary’s tusks, pig’s wings, cuckoo’s chin, butterfly’s book, bees knees and the cat's pyjamas. Well, maybe not that last one...
And if dogs truly descended from wolves, how did they come to a point where they think that humans are worth their weight in gold?
*I suggest you turn the sound off with some of them; the spouses ongoing commentaries get a little tedious unfortunately.
I became a first time dog owner when I was 65. My wife had owned a dog when she was young, but not since, though she'd often talked about getting one. When we were both on the verge of retirement we made the rash decision one day to get a dog. Apart from occasional issues, such as all dog owners will experience at some point, we've never looked back.
The other day I read somewhere that a dog's delight on seeing you is akin to the rush a lover gets when he sees his beloved (or vice versa, one hopes!) You don't have to have been away for months (as have the soldiers in these videos*); being away for half an hour is enough to send our dog into paens of rapture. And he's protective: he's just raced out into the dark, in the pouring rain, in order to ensure that no burglars or other nasty people are lurking out in the back garden (in the dark, in the rain). To frighten them away he makes a noise like a honking goose. Apparently this is very effective, if what he tells us about this is to be believed. Certainly geese find it effective: we haven't seen one in years.
We talk to our dog all the time - whether we're at home on our own, or together. And of course he talks to us. He has this kind of high-pitched voice (he's a small dog, after all): it's a tenor verging on castrato, I think. He seems to have a kind of quirky humour - not unlike my own, although sometimes he takes after my wife. Of course he doesn't have to talk all the time. His tail gives his true feelings away; in fact sometimes his tail seems to be saying something different to the rest of him. And when we mention the word 'car' he's at the front door like a shot, scraping away, desperate to get out, without a word. Why he thinks going in the car is all the great I don't know, but seemingly it's an opportunity to get out of the house for a while. 'Walk' is another word that rings a bell in his brain, and he'll dance around the kitchen - often on just his hind legs - with enormous anticipation. He can understand 'toy', though sometimes he just takes the initiative and brings the toy to us, expecting us to play immediately. He doesn't have to say a word at that point. There are a number of other words in his vocabulary too, but I won't bore you with them all.
Since this dog arrived in our house, I've become far more relaxed with other dogs. I've got a better understanding of where they're at, and don't take fright so readily at them, or bark back at them if they shout when I go past their house. While I think I prefer smaller dogs - they don't take up so much room on the couch or the bed when they decide to snuggle up to you, and when they leap at you you're far less likely to suffer a major injury - I've even found some bigger dogs to my liking in ways I wouldn't have in the past.
But it's not really an issue of whether I now like dogs as opposed to previously not being so keen on them. What I'm trying to say is that there's something absolutely amazing about the love of a dog for its master/mistress. Disciplined well when a pup, they'll pay you back in spades (and occasionally some other less pleasant options). I would never have credited that a dog could give so much. I'd read about it, but I'd never known it for myself. We've been blessed as a family time and again over the years, but one of our greatest blessings has been this ridiculous little dog that seems to think we're somehow the elephant’s adenoids, cat’s miaow, ant’s pants, tiger's spots, bullfrog’s beard, elephant’s instep, caterpillar’s kimono, turtle’s neck, duck’s quack, duck’s nuts, monkey’s eyebrows, gnat’s elbows, oyster’s earrings, snake’s hips, kipper’s knickers, elephant’s manicure, clam’s garter, eel’s ankle, leopard’s stripes, tadpole’s teddies, sardine’s whiskers, canary’s tusks, pig’s wings, cuckoo’s chin, butterfly’s book, bees knees and the cat's pyjamas. Well, maybe not that last one...
And if dogs truly descended from wolves, how did they come to a point where they think that humans are worth their weight in gold?
*I suggest you turn the sound off with some of them; the spouses ongoing commentaries get a little tedious unfortunately.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Flying car doors
Reached the tidy sum of 1200 posts on here yesterday with my piece on webinars. And my fun piece on Grandparents' Rules that I posted on Gomestic yesterday has taken off; for some reason it appeals to other grandparents, who seem to like the idea of a bit of anarchy amongst us older bods.
I was reading on Facebook a few minutes ago about a well-known church leader in Australia who was just opening his car door when someone drove past and blew it off its hinges. I saw this happen in town once, many years ago. A woman opened her door to get out of the car and a passing truck struck it and sent it flying way down the road. You have to be driving close to a car to do that. And hopefully not still holding onto the handle.
You might not mind such an event if your car was a cheap and nasty little vehicle, full of rust and about to be sent to the tip. But if you had something a bit more classy, a Lamborghini, Maserati and Ferrari, then the thought of replacing the door would be very upsetting. Ferrari parts, I imagine, ain't cheap - nor are those for Lamborghinis or Maseratis - though I guess it would be your insurance company that would be upset more than you.
I suppose most Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati owners would have insurance - unless the car had cost them so much they had nothing left over to cover the car.
Photo of the Ferrari by Bob Henry
I was reading on Facebook a few minutes ago about a well-known church leader in Australia who was just opening his car door when someone drove past and blew it off its hinges. I saw this happen in town once, many years ago. A woman opened her door to get out of the car and a passing truck struck it and sent it flying way down the road. You have to be driving close to a car to do that. And hopefully not still holding onto the handle.
You might not mind such an event if your car was a cheap and nasty little vehicle, full of rust and about to be sent to the tip. But if you had something a bit more classy, a Lamborghini, Maserati and Ferrari, then the thought of replacing the door would be very upsetting. Ferrari parts, I imagine, ain't cheap - nor are those for Lamborghinis or Maseratis - though I guess it would be your insurance company that would be upset more than you. I suppose most Ferrari, Lamborghini and Maserati owners would have insurance - unless the car had cost them so much they had nothing left over to cover the car.
Photo of the Ferrari by Bob Henry
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Oneillrentals
I mentioned the Go Dunedin website some time ago, in particular the way it always looks to me like God Dunedin.
While sitting behind a van today, waiting for the lights to change, I noticed that it was called O'Neill Rentals. Down the bottom of the back door was the website: oneillrentals.co.nz.
Because of the spelling of O'Neill, my eye read this as: one ill rentals. A fellow traveller in the car said: this rental has a leaky valve, this one has no exhaust pipe, and so on. I'm sure O'Neill Rentals are fine....don't be put off by my misreading of their website name in any way whatsoever!
While sitting behind a van today, waiting for the lights to change, I noticed that it was called O'Neill Rentals. Down the bottom of the back door was the website: oneillrentals.co.nz.
Because of the spelling of O'Neill, my eye read this as: one ill rentals. A fellow traveller in the car said: this rental has a leaky valve, this one has no exhaust pipe, and so on. I'm sure O'Neill Rentals are fine....don't be put off by my misreading of their website name in any way whatsoever!
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