24 June 2005

Frying Small Fishes...

老子 "道德經"

60 治大國若烹小鮮。

'Governing a country is like frying a small fish', so said Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu in 'Tao Te Ching' (verse 60). Implication, is of course, that you spoil it with too much poking.

Executives, executors, executioners, take note.

15 June 2005

Doing it

Ah. Humour is such a very subjective thing.

I wandered into a nice knicknack shop in an art centre in the city yesterday. The shop sells some of the most interesting artsy-folksy things around, which makes it a wonderful place to lose half an hour and half your current cash in. What caught my eye was a fridge magnet that says:

"Singers do it with their mouths open."

That was pure serendipity at work, for I had a chorus rehearsal within fifteen minutes of me seeing that magnet. Of course that magnet (and the one that says "Musicians do it with the conductor") got some serious chuckles in choir rehearsal that evening.

Which reminds me of other statements of similar ilk.

Statisticians probably do it.
Astronauts need space to do it.
Logicians do it symbolically.
Engineers do it with precision.
Cosmologists do it with a bang.

I'll stop now because I don't want to overdo it.

03 June 2005

Starting the blog with an Earth Shattering ... plop?

I have been pondering on what topic to start this blog with, when the answer presented itself in a funny, intelligent, and most importantly, as-of-now-scientifically-accurate description of 'How To Destroy the Earth', courtesy of Mr Sam Hughes of Corpus Christi, Cambridge. To my delight [haha], Slacker Astronomy, one of my favourite podcasts, gave air to this topic in a hilarous podcast.

Evil Overlords, Take Note.

Those of you who have read my last fiction work would know why this is a particularly close topic to my heart. Hail maraudering asteroids! :)