humour
« Previous EntriesVanuatu Applauds Call for ‘Government Intelligence’
Wednesday, May 25th, 2011[Originally published on sathed.vu - Vanuatu's Satire website] Police Commissioner Joshua Bong’s call for improved government intelligence was roundly supported by all sectors of Vanuatu Society. The announcement, made at the closing of a recent security conference, met with enthusiastic responses from everyone this writer interviewed. A survey of 100 people asking the question ‘Do [...]
Why China Will Soon Dominate the World
Monday, March 7th, 2011Because nobody can stand in the way of their Superior Blur Ray Designde MP5 technology with capacities Up To 1 Tera Gig!!!
Is this thing on…?
Thursday, November 11th, 2010(04:13:21 PM) gcrumb@gmail.com/70427720: what’s the password? (04:13:34 PM) gcrumb@gmail.com/70427720: (we are using ssl on this chat, right?) (04:14:02 PM) G: just pick a good one…you know how this works:) (04:14:11 PM) gcrumb@gmail.com/70427720: Heh (04:14:27 PM) G: and yes, this conversation is fully secure ! (04:14:48 PM) gcrumb@gmail.com/70427720: Let’s verify that…. (04:14:59 PM) gcrumb@gmail.com/70427720: I WANT [...]
Doctor Me? Doctor You!
Tuesday, October 19th, 2010The BBC should sponsor a fanvid contest, in which the most implausible people play the Doctor. In the interests of actually being able to finish in a reasonable amount of time, contestants should create only the pre-credit opening scene.
Cautionary Note
Monday, August 30th, 2010Every now and then, someone stumbles across my blog and asks me how they, too, can work in development. I try to be supportive, but usually find myself actively discouraging them, at least at first. You’d better be strong, flexible, resourceful, good with languages and have more than the normal allotment of patience. I’ve been [...]
Cheap Shots
Sunday, August 1st, 2010Aspiring photographer? Trying to make an impression on an online world with your nascent mastery of a century-old craft? Allow me to offer a few words of advice…
The World, Alas
Sunday, October 18th, 2009The world, alas, is far too rushed to ever tell the truth.
Bislama Bons Mots
Sunday, May 31st, 2009In Bislama’s most common usage, the laughing, chaffing repartee that punctuates our daily exchanges, it’s good-natured, inventive and cheeky, strikingly similar to the bawdy discourse in a Dublin pub on any given Friday.
My point – and I do have one – is that visitors ignore the nuance and linguistic flair inherent in Vanuatu discourse at their peril. No one can truly say they understand Bislama until they’ve grasped its vividly metaphorical, highly contextual fluidity and made it their own.
Digicel Rolls out Mobile Internet Service
Saturday, April 11th, 2009[This week's Communications column for the Vanuatu Independent.] Update for online readers: Digicel Vanuatu’s Manager for Commercial Operations did finally contact me, too late, alas, for the publication deadline, which had been pushed forward this week to accommodate the Good Friday holiday. We had a thorough discussion, and he cleared up a few things that [...]
Pidgin Poetics
Saturday, March 7th, 2009Bislama is more than the sum of its words. People ignore this lesson at their peril. A poor Bislama speaker may be forgiven, but a poor listener suffers more than they know.
More than once, I’ve had to pull some well-meaning soul aside and explain that they can’t get another meeting with some functionary because they didn’t pay any attention to what they were told at the last one. Often enough, they’ll angrily retort that nothing important was said.
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