The Daily Blog Open Mic – 17th April 2025

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/558468/job-losses-loom-as-ucol-faces-7m-budget-cuts
Where is or what is this UCol. Typical of today that it doesn’t straightforwardly state what and where it is, (probably too long a word to fit on a cellphone). They favour having a snappy, easy name. Apparently it is also to be snappy and easy to close down or lose 70 jobs. Still got to try things out in Kiwiland like a non-musical concertina, opening and closing, the notable sound being a groan. We’ll sell our soul if offered enough!
Grey [Tertiary Education Union (TEU) president Sandra Grey] said the proposed cuts were spread across Ucol campuses in Palmerston North, Whanganui and Masterton, with 47 among administration and support staff.

I’ve been reading Edward de Bono.* Something strikes me (ouch), we are so much in obeisance to business which we are told does things better, more efficiently. Yet the government itself seems the same old slowish outfit, becoming more expensive, but doesn’t deliver what is asked. The old way we actually got something and could make it better. Now we have better supposedly, but eventually we don’t have anything. Hah. Magic tricks. Ever seen a country sawn in half! That’s a good modern one and AI can do it for you in a trice, and do it well.

* Edward de Bono ‘Sur/petition’ (beyond and above competition.)
Under Complacency he lists 4 types:
Comfortable (That would describe us before Britain joined the Common Market and Sir John Marshall went over to negotiate a reasonable deal – about 1975.)
Cozy (The approach that each political party takes when in power here. Nothing much done, business as usual with liniments for a time.)
Arrogant (How our politicks run the country now, with backing from Corpse and lots of good advice, must be good as it is so expensive. ‘We have only the best advice etc.’)
Lack-of-Vision. (de Bono talks about smallness in this; narrrow confines. Ours are now the opposite – unlimited horizons beyond our line of sight. We can’t see what is out there, our eyes and minds are dazzled. Our farmers have learned to talk the talk, but at heart are just sly barrow boys.)

He also says there is a need for a ‘nominated champion’ to usher in new ideas and explain them, and when accepted, to see them through under either government or PPP – with government or the public interest trust having the ability to pay out the private, or sell it off entirely. This would be how we would do it. ( I’ve always been surprised at how few ideas people have concerning their workplace.) Otherwise the idea probably follows the familiar traverse through Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody presented by Charles Osgood – who I nominate a ‘champion.’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Osgood
…I was about to be drafted in the Army, this was 1954, and I ran into a guy while I was having dinner with a friend of mine and he was dressed in a white uniform, the most fancy uniform this side of the Ritz Hotel. It turned out he was the announcer for the United States Army Band. I asked him when he was getting out and he said within the next few weeks, so the next morning I was parked out at the commanding officer’s office. He was impressed with the fact I could pronounce Rimsky-Korsakov. That’s how I got the job. I spent three years with the United States Army Band. It was a great experience.

2 COMMENTS

Greywarbler April 17, 2025 At 10:19 am

https://www.rnz.co.nz/life/lifestyle/home/kiwi-firm-designs-low-cost-fast-build-house
Look at this – is it good and possible. Good to look at. Good efficiency, retail price and enabling good living for occupants? Not the first. We need two storey duplexes though don’t we? More efficient and not beehive like. Well…?
Greywarbler April 17, 2025 At 6:26 pm

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/558468/job-losses-loom-as-ucol-faces-7m-budget-cuts
Where is or what is this UCol. Typical of today that it doesn’t straightforwardly state what and where it is, (probably too long a word to fit on a cellphone). They favour having a snappy, easy name. Apparently it is also to be snappy and easy to close down or lose 70 jobs. Still got to try things out in Kiwiland like a non-musical concertina, opening and closing, the notable sound being a groan. We’ll sell our soul if offered enough!
Grey [Tertiary Education Union (TEU) president Sandra Grey] said the proposed cuts were spread across Ucol campuses in Palmerston North, Whanganui and Masterton, with 47 among administration and support staff.

I’ve been reading Edward de Bono.* Something strikes me (ouch), we are so much in obeisance to business which we are told does things better, more efficiently. Yet the government itself seems the same old slowish outfit, becoming more expensive, but doesn’t deliver what is asked. The old way we actually got something and could make it better. Now we have better supposedly, but eventually we don’t have anything. Hah. Magic tricks. Ever seen a country sawn in half! That’s a good modern one and AI can do it for you in a trice, and do it well.

* Edward de Bono ‘Sur/petition’ (beyond and above competition.)
Under Complacency he lists 4 types:
Comfortable (That would describe us before Britain joined the Common Market and Sir John Marshall went over to negotiate a reasonable deal – about 1975.)
Cozy (The approach that each political party takes when in power here. Nothing much done, business as usual with liniments for a time.)
Arrogant (How our politicks run the country now, with backing from Corpse and lots of good advice, must be good as it is so expensive. ‘We have only the best advice etc.’)
Lack-of-Vision. (de Bono talks about smallness in this; narrrow confines. Ours are now the opposite – unlimited horizons beyond our line of sight. We can’t see what is out there, our eyes and minds are dazzled. Our farmers have learned to talk the talk, but at heart are just sly barrow boys.)

He also says there is a need for a ‘nominated champion’ to usher in new ideas and explain them, and when accepted, to see them through under either government or PPP – with government or the public interest trust having the ability to pay out the private, or sell it off entirely. This would be how we would do it. ( I’ve always been surprised at how few ideas people have concerning their workplace.) Otherwise the idea probably follows the familiar traverse through Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody presented by Charles Osgood – who I nominate a ‘champion.’

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Osgood
…I was about to be drafted in the Army, this was 1954, and I ran into a guy while I was having dinner with a friend of mine and he was dressed in a white uniform, the most fancy uniform this side of the Ritz Hotel. It turned out he was the announcer for the United States Army Band. I asked him when he was getting out and he said within the next few weeks, so the next morning I was parked out at the commanding officer’s office. He was impressed with the fact I could pronounce Rimsky-Korsakov. That’s how I got the job. I spent three years with the United States Army Band. It was a great experience.

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