Posts by Chris Waugh
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Capture: Spring Breaks, in reply to Ian Dalziel,
pyrophylactics
Oh, that's what it was. I was thinking a bunch of kids had been pied pipered off to some lava tube deep beneath the slopes of Rangitoto
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I found this review in the Herald a little confused, as if he really, really wanted to criticise some of the flaws in her performance but just felt too bad about it.
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Capture: Upside Down, Inside Out, in reply to Nora Leggs,
And spooky buildings!
That's my building! But yes, I did manage to get some spooky light on it.
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It's been a day for dramatic skies.
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Hard News: This time it's Syria, in reply to Alex Coleman,
The measure would ban the use of ground forces in Syria “for the purpose of combat operations”
I read a couple of days ago, can't remember where, that the US is moving an amphibious assault ship carrying a few hundred marines towards the Syrian coast. I doubt the marines would be putting their boots on Syrian ground, but I also suspect that "for the purpose of combat operations" may be interpreted liberally and creatively.
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Wrong season, I know, and I can’t help but think I’ve posted a picture of a similar flower before, but I can’t find it… But this was sitting on a lawn in the rain yesterday.
Under the 4th Ring Road in the rain. Perhaps it was the sense of desolation this scene left me that made the flower stand out so much.
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And another bit of cosmetology I noticed with that Independent article:
the state-backed technology company
and:
It is the latest company with links to the Chinese state to fall foul of concerns about its hardware
Suitably scared yet? Because here's the state backing:
Lenovo, which is based in Beijing, is indirectly backed by the Chinese state. The Chinese Academy of Sciences, a public body, owns more than a third of Legend Holdings, which in turn owns 34 per cent of the computer company and is its biggest shareholder.
Oh. So by the same logic, I'm an agent of the Chinese state. Quick, rend me extraordinarily, extract all my secrets. At least Huawei has the decency to have an honest-to-God ex-military man as founder.
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Up Front: The Missing Stair Part Two:…, in reply to TracyMac,
Thanks Tracy. I do what I can to manage things, but I'm up against a huge (un)awareness issue in that none of these subjects are common topics of conversation in Chinese media, so, y'know, people just don't know and I don't have the Chinese vocab necessary. Working on it, though. Fortunately this guy lives far enough away that we don't see him often.
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Up Front: The Missing Stair Part Two:…, in reply to Jackie Clark,
Yeah, I know, but husband of my wife's best friend and lives in the same building as my brother in law. Let's just say that when he's around my wee one never steps out of my sight. That's the best I can do right now.
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I feel this may need a trigger warning, just in case, because it involves a child, so what Emma said at the start of her post:
Trigger Warning for Rape and Sexual Harassment
but with 'child' thrown in the mix.
See, there's this guy. When the wee one was but a few months old he asked several times if he and his wife could take her home for a few days. He earned a firm no and a "WTF?! Who the hell do you think you are even asking that?!" look. I mean, I've never heard of that being considered in any culture, and certainly not in Chinese culture.
Then when he discovered she'd learnt how to kiss people, he'd hold her and say in the creepiest way imaginable repeatedly "Kiss uncle, kiss uncle" (yes, in execrably pronounded English), then ask her if she wants to go away somewhere else with him, particularly if we're at the brother in law's place, downstairs to his apartment. Funnily enough I would always grab her back and refuse to let her go with him, but the poor girl's only 2 so she doesn't understand the situation or why I respond the way I do.
See, this guy has a history of inappropriate behaviour. Sometimes of a sexual nature, like visiting our place, making off-colour jokes about my wife, and wondering why I get angry. It's not always of a sexual nature, though, sometimes just plain, vanilla rude.
But what can I do? There have been periods of months when I've made it clear he is banned from our apartment. I'm not the confrontational type, but there have been times when I've sat here yelling rude things in English (he only knows a few words) until eventually he leaves. But we have to see him - his wife is my wife's best friend and they live in the same building as my brother in law. My wife talking to his wife talking to him sees the latest inappropriate behaviour end, particularly if there's a ban on him visiting enforced, but he always comes up with some new trick. And I try to tell myself that he's probably not a danger to my wee one because if he was he wouldn't go advertising it, would he? And he's basically a decent bloke in most respects, it's just he has this nasty habit of repeatedly being really obnoxious and vulgar. But what Tracy Mac said:
If someone doesn’t honour the minor social boundaries, how much will they honour the more fundamental boundaries?
And I have heard of him hitting his wife (no, that would not be tolerated in my presence, but fortunately they went through a phase of only arguing with each other when they visited us until I said, "If you're just going to argue just don't come", but that never got physically violent), and basically I just have to wonder, if that's how he behaves in my presence.... well....
Thank you Emma, I honestly think this is the best post of yours I've read yet.
