Random thoughts/comments

[stryder]

I was recently minded to apply for a job as a deck chair attendant.
I wrote down my qualifications for the job - conscientious, hard worker, team player, physically fit - and thought I'd better run this past Mrs C2 before applying. Apparently I am none of those things - when pressed for an honest summary of my best qualities all she could come up with was "not paunchy". I have to admit I don't think I would be inspired to employ someone whose sole qualification was "not paunchy".

Handling deck chairs requires a person capable of being friendly, outgoing, communicative and have the capacity to move chairs when people fail to full the simplest of instructions. (Bringing the chair back)

One of my Childhood friends fathers use to run deckchairs out of a shed next to his seaside cafe on Yarmouth in the early 80's. One of the main problems for him I think at that time was setting out chairs and collecting them up at the end of the day to lock them back in the shed. While a single chair wasn't overbearing in weight, to move hundreds and stack them back in the shed by the end of the day would of been a little streneous (coupled with running the cafe too)

If you were to get into that kind of seaside related rental.. you should consider "Buckets and spades". How I mean is that beaches have long been littered by people discarding broken and un-neccessary items like buckets and spades for years. It's not just unsightly, it's an ecological disaster. There is a way to try and curb the problem, and that's rentals.

If a person pays £5 for a bucket and spade that they own, they could discard it in a daft manner. If however they rent a bucket and spade for £5 with the option to keep it, and the promise that should they return it as a rental they can have £2 back (or give it to a charity), it suddenly reduces the amount of plastic waste on the beach. Obviously I considered if it was done though, perhaps the buckets and spades should go back to the wooden handled and tin variety rather than plastic. (A bit of quality, less likely to break)

It's one of those things that can make the seaside great again.

On a separate note:
I'm thinking of getting something for my father when he hits his 70th in the coming year, a train for his garden. He's over 50 acres to play in, so I was thinking a gauge that could be ridden and the sort tends to be more model orientated than say the 15/18" narrow gauge (The sort used for light railways) I don't know how receptive of course he'd be, considering actual railways would require land surveys, gradients and lots of land sculpture. (I'm pretty sure while I think it sounds like he'd have fun, he'd likely moan at having to lay track, build bridges, and deal with the forces of nature such as rain washing the track out etc)

So I've time to research it, or bury with other ideas that wouldn't quite work out.

[Secular Sanity]

I was recently minded to apply for a job as a deck chair attendant.
I wrote down my qualifications for the job - conscientious, hard worker, team player, physically fit - and thought I'd better run this past Mrs C2 before applying. Apparently I am none of those things - when pressed for an honest summary of my best qualities all she could come up with was "not paunchy". I have to admit I don't think I would be inspired to employ someone whose sole qualification was "not paunchy".

Are you competent? Competence is a rare quality. Ask Mrs. C2 if you are competent.

Peter Principle

"In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties."

[confused2]

Are you competent? Competence is a rare quality.

Oh dear. For some reason I slightly upgraded the nature of the work from "Dog shit and litter picker." to deck chair attendant and it keeps returning to haunt me. I think I am competent to do the job - in fact I think just about anyone would be competent to do it. It does look like I'd also be responsible for removing a dead whale if one happened to wash up on the beach so it isn't entirely without challenges and scope for failure.

There is a peaked cap involved so there is the potential for Herr Shitpicker to go slightly O.T.T. in the hot sun.
"You feelthy scum. Take zee shit home with you or eat it here." .
Probably important to get the right person - could come as a surprise to an innocent bystander.
Possibly not the sort of publicity the local tourist board want to attract.
"Resort official forces child to eat dog shit.".
OK. Not competent. I'm not even going to apply.

[Secular Sanity]

Are you competent? Competence is a rare quality.

Oh dear. For some reason I slightly upgraded the nature of the work from "Dog shit and litter picker." to deck chair attendant and it keeps returning to haunt me. I think I am competent to do the job - in fact I think just about anyone would be competent to do it. It does look like I'd also be responsible for removing a dead whale if one happened to wash up on the beach so it isn't entirely without challenges and scope for failure.

There is a peaked cap involved so there is the potential for Herr Shitpicker to go slightly O.T.T. in the hot sun.
"You feelthy scum. Take zee shit home with you or eat it here." .
Probably important to get the right person - could come as a surprise to an innocent bystander.
Possibly not the sort of publicity the local tourist board want to attract.
"Resort official forces child to eat dog shit.".
OK. Not competent. I'm not even going to apply.

Chapter 9 describes "Summit Competence," when someone reaches their highest level of competence. Such people often seek a level of incompetence in another hierarchy; this is known as "Compulsive Incompetence." For example, C2 was an outstanding traffic engineer and shopkeeper but a terrible chair attendant.

Maybe you could spend the rest of your time doing something worthwhile that you love, e.g., you might be able to figure out why gulls prefer Mormons.

[Magical Realist]

Now here's something you don't see everyday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJcjCb6hs_g

[C C]

Now here's something you don't see everyday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJcjCb6hs_g

Inflatables came out the year before, so he may have been the first in terms of impressive water stunts. Three copycat videos are dated two and four years later, and their suited exploits are feeble in comparison.

Sept 2016, so even a few months before that lame Will Forte silliness on land.

[Zinjanthropos]

Now here's something you don't see everyday:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJcjCb6hs_g

More than likely there’s a guy trying to fish just out of camera range. Been my experience to have jet skiers blast by my boat or do their circles and jumps nearby when there’s a huge lake they could play in that’s unoccupied. I figure that somewhere deep inside their psyche is an obsessive urge to draw attention to themselves and be noticed. The T-Rex outfit confirms these suspicions. Anyways I’ve learned that the best way to combat jet skier interference while fishing is to not watch them, pay absolutely no attention and resist even lifting your head up to observe the antics. Not all but a good many will leave and look elsewhere for someone interested. Fishing in the weeds is another tactic. Jet skiers do not like having the machine’s intakes clogged and having it rendered inoperable. I’ve towed a couple back to dock that suffered this fate.

Actually this vid is one of several similar vids available on YouTube. In fact I think a new inflatable T-Rex genre has been created.

[stryder]

When is a zero not a zero?

When they're an Astro-naught.

Okay. I just made that up, and it's terrible... terrible enough to share.

[Zinjanthropos]

When is a zero not a zero? 

When they're an Astro-naught.

Okay.  I just made that up, and it's terrible... terrible enough to share.

Yes it is terrible. My first thought was a zero is not a zero once it’s shot down, crashes and burns.
Since we’re handing out awful answers, that one is my contribution.

[confused2]

I think the Virgin (nearly) reaching space pilots could maybe use it in a slightly modified form - zero-g astronaut - needs some changes but I can see it working with the right audience.
In space with zero g makes you an astronaut ?
They say that gilding a lilly isn't a good thing. Maybe it should stand as a work of art in its own right.