Here Be Dragons

Blogger Interrupted.

So. I mean to talk about stuff I’ve done since thesis completion, specifically some books, sounds and movies. But I shan’t for now. The lack of blogging can be blamed largely on my lack of computer access. Although I have a machine at work, it isn’t really the premium blogging location. My computer at home continues to suck arse. It has an AGP slot, and I know it works, because Daz’s crappy Intel AGP card works in it, but does my GeForce One work in it? No. OK, no problem, it might be too old, I’ll try a more modern one. I’ll try James' GeForce Four... No luck. Doesn’t work. Hmmmm? What the. So eventually Waz and I go get the GeForce Two that he had in the motherboard. And you’d think that would work. I mean it worked a few months back when Waz had it, but no. So I check, the AGP slot, and yes it still goes. So what the hell is going on. I mean really WTF.

So, I’m a big computer whiner. I did however buy a 200 GIG hard drive, and 'tis mighty. It is a 1000% increase from my last purchased hard drive, and there was much rejoicing. Well, there was some, although I’m not sure if any of my current computers will actually be able to "see" 200gigs.

What ever shall I do? I go to my third computer, and ask it to connect me to the net while the others slouch around on the floor and table of the living room. But for some reason it isn’t playing ball. It is playing thickie.

And we are not at home to Mr Cockup.

To those of you still reading, and not bored to doing work by a discussion of my computer complaints, I give you some socalled content.

Right.

I have never been in favour of changing the New Zealand flag. I have been strongly in the better the devil we know, than the devil we don't camp. Although, this doesn't necessarily imply that I think the current flag is the devil, or even some what bad.

I understand many (but not all) of the complaints people have with the current flag design, but the problem is that finding a replacement is very very difficult. Well, finding a good replacement is difficult.

All sorts of people come up with various different designs for a new flag, and frankly most of them suck.

The problem I think is two fold. On one hand you have to produce a flag that is acceptable to both Maori and to everyone else. And on the other you have to produce a flag that isn't ugly. For now, on the topic of a flag culturally acceptable to Maori I think all I'll say is that I don’t think that the current Maori flag will be acceptable to the non-Maori population. I could be wrong, I haven’t conducted polls, but that is my feeling.

Now on the topic of ugly, my main concern is not that we think that it is ugly now, but that we aren't looking back at our flag in twenty years time thinking it is as ugly as we currently think that 80’s music videos look. And I think this is a large problem. I've seen a number of flag prototypes that are all well and good in a almost always stylised fern kind of way, but I worry that they will be the hip new postmodern flag design that in the near future gives way to the horrible dated monstrosities that are the registry building. Or in fact almost any Uni building.

So what is my point? Well I was watching the end of the Triathalon on TV and I was watching the crowd of Kiwis, and boy was it all black. Which is not too surprising, we have a pretty good monopoly on black for our national colour (I think?) But I also noticed that nobody had a NZ flag, instead they had the giant Ferns with New Zealand along the bottom.

And... And... And for once my heart warmed slightly towards changing our flag. Not too much perhaps, but I did note that this was the first time I had had this thought. And so... Now you know.

Lucky you.

Posted by luther at August 30, 2004 10:04 AM | TrackBack