Autumn Zebra

In dealing with more people through work than I would have normally dealt with, I have come to the conclusion that many of the incomprehensible things people say are in fact the result of certain problems they have, or, as I like to think of it (at the moment, until I find a better phrase) "imbalances in their personality". I can't identify what the imbalances ARE at the moment, but I'm imagining that there's a perfect state where people can deal with everything that comes their way, are pleasant to interact with, reconciled with their past, free of guilt, etc. Nobody's perfect however, so we all have problems. (Note that personality is probably not the best word here, because even people in the perfect state would still have their unique personality that makes them them - but doesn't include the things that make them miserable and unpleasant.) Anyway, people are off-kilter, and this makes them respond to things oddly. For example, today at work there was ...

I did not write a post yesterday. So I have to write two today. In case I do not have the inclination to write two, I'm writing this not very good one now. Actually - I really wanted to post some more photos today (I have a large back-log) - but I am working 7AM until 5PM! :O That would be 0700 to 1700 which is clearly ten hours (one of the advantages of 24 hour time is it makes the arithmetic simpler). Since my job is to help people in the lecture theatres, if they don't need any help I don't do much, so I will probably have the time to post something, the problem is thinking of it. I doubt much will happen today, although I have spent 45 minutes checking the rooms and getting a door unlocked and standing around looking at people. I was momentarily thrown by the fact that one of the people setting up is the magician that did the (mostly) for children magic show in Oamaru during the Victorian fair; we watched it once and then I liked it so much we had to stay around for his...

So, there's these solitary predatory wasps that live in our neighbourhood, and in other places around Dunedin that I always noticed and wandered what they were because they're kind of large, and red-orange. Then this year, when it was summer, or whatever that non-freezing, not-constantly-raining season is, I saw lots of the wasps/the same wasp many times doing all sorts of stuff around the garden. Mostly that stuff was looking for and killing spiders, looking for a nest spot, and then dragging the spider to the nest. One time after it had found itself a spider and dragged it around a bit and then gone off to look for places to put it, I got the camera (which has since been taken by an evil university student) and took pictures of the rest of the dragging process. I also sent two photos to the museum and Anthony Harris at the museum said it was "Sphictostethus nitidus (Fabricius, 1775) with prey, Miturga sp. The wasp is the red spider hunting wasp, in the family Pompili...

I went to the 24 hour (runs from noon Friday to noon Saturday) regent book sale with my Mum on Saturday, 2 hours before it ended (we seldom go at strange and interesting times), and got some books, as follows: The Weaver's Craft by LE Simpson and M Weir, 10th Edition, 1967, Hardcover. There's numerous other editions of this listed on Amazon (but not available), including a new 2008 edition which is available. My one is a nice solid book with a sewn binding (not glued). It looks good and covers different types of weaving. 50 cents Weaving as a Hobby by M Ickis, 1972, Hardcover with a proper binding again. Aren't old books nice? The pages are nice and hardy too. This one only covers weaving on a large loom. 50 cents Step-by-step Weaving by N Znamierowski, 1967, Softcover. This is mainly about weaving on a large loom again, although it talks about frame looms, and has useful stuff on different types of weaves (eg. twill, basket weave, etc) and about natural dye plants. 50 ...

Since the last fortnight was Fair Trade fortnight, Trade Aid plus Forest & Bird were showing films at the Academy Cinema for $5 incl. free coffee/tea/hot chocolate and chocolate (fair trade of course; a product show case of sorts). We saw the one today where the feature ( The Greening of Southie ) was about trying to build a "gold" standard ( LEED certification ) building ( the MacAllen Building ) two years ago in South Boston. It was quite interesting: they used bamboo for the floors, a kind of mdf made from wheat straw, etc. Apparently, no one in the USA had really heard of dual-flush toilets - you know the ones with two buttons, for more or less water? Yeah, they really made a big deal of that aspect - partly because toilets are funny I guess, but given that this type is practically normal, it seemed really weird to talk about them at all. They sort of made all the labourers, cement workers, etc look/sound like morons, which was a shame, although they also appeared...