Observations

Appreciating the wonderful world around us has a calming effect on our soul. 

If there is one thing worse than not being clever it is thinking that you are.

Rebelliousness is destabilising, mindless conformity is too easily manipulated. 

Intelligence needs to be moderated by humility if it is to be of true value.

Troubles are inevitable, self pity is optional.

Romantic love should never be taken for granted for it can be lost too easily. 

True contentment is being satisfied even if some of our needs or desires are not met.

Simple Knitted Doll

My wife knitted this doll. It has 28 stitches and 40 rows without any shaping. The arms and legs are not separate from the body but are differentiated by a stitch line 

It also needs some stuffing to give solidness to it. Add a little hair, some sort of hat and little facial features and it's all done. 

Different themes could be chosen. It would be nice as a gift to a child or anyone who would like this sort of thing as a cute accessory around the home. 

If Business Was Open & Transparent

What sort of things could we expect if this was the case?

Scenario 1: Phone calling a company and being put on hold.

Message: We are experiencing unusually high traffic volume at present.

Reality: I have rung different days and different times of the day and repeatedly got that message. It's more common than ever in NZ, maybe where you live too.

Corrected message: Your call is not important to us. We intentionally understaff our phone service to save money and also in the hope you just go away and stop bothering us.

Or they could just say: Please hold the line until someone is available.

Summary: I'm sure the reasons for repeated long waits could be many but if it becomes a constant feature, either they cannot find enough staff or are choosing not to. An honest or even a general message would reduce my suspicion.

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Scenario 2: A disgruntled customer goes to a TV consumer protection programme.

Problem: After months of getting the run around, despite having a genuine grievance, has had no success.

Reality: The company is only interested in selling. The culture of their business is total disinterest in fixing problems. 

When the programme gets involved: We are so sorry this has happened. We are committed to sorting out problems promptly. We will address this particular case and implement a retraining programme to make sure staff understand our values on this issue.

Summary: Any well run company never has this sort of issue. The fact management is 'shocked' is either they haven't been bothered to make sure the staff are handling problems or they are being disingenuous.

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Scenario 3: An investment company is in deep trouble and realises its days or weeks away from going into receivership. 

Reaction: It keeps up an appearance of success and readily accepts more investment despite knowing these last investors will suffer greatly. 

Corrected course: Accept the game is up and stop accepting any more investments. 

Summary: It wouldn't be considered good business practice to be concerned with people possibly losing their life savings. My conscience wouldn't allow me to. 

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There would be so many other situations where honesty in business which may come in future installments. If you can think of any, drop a comment here. You don't need to join to comment.

Obvious, Really

Which bird is the most unfit?

The Puffin.

My wife says I never listen to her.

Or something like that.

Son asks his dad "Why is it called Diarrhea?"

Dad "Because it's dire and comes from the rear".

Did you hear about the argument at the balloon convention?

Apparently, there was quite a blow up.

I told my wife I'd gladly give her the shirt off my back.

When it needs washing of course.

How does one cross a dry, grassy plain?

One steppe at a time.

My wife said my hair is a mess and to go look in the mirror!

On reflection, I think she was right.

I muttered I must include the cow joke.

My wife overheard me and asked "No bull?".

Cockroaches Beware!

We have this new import cockroach that is proliferating 'nicely' but when they get into our space, be it home, garage or shed then the gloves are off. There are some that crossed that boundary and the local ants were well fed. This is taken well into the evening so they are hard workers.

Hedgehog's Chocolate Treat

We put out this chocolate cake base for the ants and along came our visiting Hedgehog and showed a strong partiality for the sweet stuff. You can also watch it on YouTube by clicking on the YouTube logo.