It sounds all in great fun but as I've grown bitter and realistic about governments I have to wonder how was the contract decided and awarded, and whether other artists and entertainers allowed to apply and given fair and reasonable consideration.
Might be better for all involved if he's commissioned by the art gallery or gets crowd funding or something.
Yeah but the old "just this once because it's a unique situation and surely nobody would care and and everybody would agree it's for the best anyway and I can't even see how it's a problem in the first place" is how a lot of corruption happens.
If the mayor's brother was given a no-bid contract to be appointed court jester or town drunk and given $368,000 for his services, the problem would become easier to see. Even if it was possibly the only such appointment in the world.
But none of those things are true. He’s not a court jester, he’s nobody’s brother, he’s doing it regardless of pay, and the amount he was paid for it was by all measures a paltry sum. It doesn’t look like a problem because it isn’t one.
Are you being deliberately obtuse, or do you actually think I said he was a court jester?? Do you think that $368,000[1] of public money for a small local government is a "paltry sum" , or that the amount of money changes whether a politician should have to follow proper processes?
I know lots of people wouldn't think it's a problem and I'm an old curmudgeon. Lots of people are fine with low level corruption and poor practices that can lead to corruption or the appearance of corruption. I acknowledged that the very first thing I said, if that also wasn't clear.
[1] Sure its NZD but come on that's got to be at least 80 real dollars.
Have you thought this through at all? There are so many instances of local governments paying single artists for their art that isn't a problem. Have you walked around a city and enjoyed murals or art installations? Do you see those and your hair stands up on your neck worrying about the bidding process for those pieces? Why do you not want people to have nice things.
You didn't answer my questions, but I'll be polite and answer yours. Yes, yes, and yes.
Have you thought about it at all? You clearly completely missed the point with my example when you triumphantly announced he isn't anyone's brother. You don't know what he does for the person giving him public money. Similarly way off the point saying he's not a jester. Why should a jester not be allowed to have public money but a "wizard" can?
> There are so many instances of local governments paying single artists for their art that isn't a problem.
Non sequitur. I can't quite fathom this thinking. There are lots of instances of local governments paying for lots of things, and lots of instances of corruption in local government.
> Have you walked around a city and enjoyed murals or art installations? Do you see those and your hair stands up on your neck worrying about the bidding process for those pieces?
My point is that he’s actually providing a service (or has been anyway).
These things become problematic when no service is provided, or the quality of service is lower than you would have gotten otherwise.
Clearly service was provided for going on 20 years, so that’s just fact.
I also think that $18.000 NZD per year, for any local government, hell, even for a corner bakery, is a paltry amount. That’s below minimum wage anywhere that I know of.
> These things become problematic when no service is provided, or the quality of service is lower than you would have gotten otherwise.
No, they are a problem when the process is not transparent or fair and open to others and don't have some modicum of value for money estimations performed.
> I also think that $18.000 NZD per year, for any local government, hell, even for a corner bakery, is a paltry amount. That’s below minimum wage anywhere that I know of.
I don't know what that has to do with how "fair" the money for the service was. He was not an employee, he was not being paid a salary to do a full time job. He got $368,000 for... something. Continuing his public performances that he was doing anyway and would have continued to do. Doesn't sound like the local tax payer got anything at all out of it. The politicians bought themselves a publicity stunt.
Over the course of 20 years $368k isn't a whole ton of money for a local government budget. $1,533/mo. That's NZ$0.004/mo per resident.
Besides, he was providing somewhat of a public good in terms of tourism. It wasn't like he was just collecting a paycheck doing absolutely nothing. It doesn't appear he has any family or other business connections with that local government from a quick glance, so honestly his position seems about the same as any other local government employee. Is hiring a gardener giving an appearance of corruption as well?
368,000 total compensation / 20 years gives annual income.
Per year / 12 months gives per month of $1,533.
$1,533 wizard's monthly income / 395,000 population is ~0.0038810. I originally used a population of 390,000 which is ~0.0039308. I then just rounded to the nearest thousandth for the comment as I figured fractions of a penny that small are somewhat meaningless to my comment.
People have been writing occult literature for as long as writing has existed. Artists and entertainers are not exposed to the spiritual arts (e.g. OOBEs) even though they employ the same state of consciousness.
No one is entitled to occult knowledge because all of it is of a deeply personal nature. In a culture where answers are demanded like a privilege, the occultists are going to remain hidden from view.
OOBEs? I sometimes think people shouldn't use abbreviations that don't come up in the first 10 results on Google. I assume it's not "Windows Out of Box Experience (OOBE)."
Well, you can just Google it these days. If know what you are looking for.
Check out http://www.SHWEP.net (the secret history of western esotericism) for a rigorous review of occult history & scholarship. It is fabulous podcasting. Start with the podcast introduction then dive into the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition.
He'd been doing it over over 20 years before he was given the contract.
Also what does fair and reasonable consideration mean, more hoops of paper should have been jumped through before making this decision?
In hindsight they obviously made the right choice. If you select a random artist or entertainer to give money to what are the chances they'll get nearly as famous as this wizard?
> He'd been doing it over over 20 years before he was given the contract.
I'm not seeing the part where $368,000 bought anything of value for the tax payer.
> Also what does fair and reasonable consideration mean, more hoops of paper should have been jumped through before making this decision?
I don't know what more hoops of paper means. It's not rocket science or some massive burden to procure services properly. That's half of what local governments do.
The fact that the man somehow convinced the government to pay him for something he was already doing strikes me as strong evidence for his efficacy as a wizard.
This sort of character is often not the most agreeable person when the lights are off, so to speak. It takes a lot of self-confidence and disregard for the opinion of others, to put yourself out like that - maybe even a hint of actual mental-health imbalance.
Where I'm from, there was this guy who basically started playing electric-guitar solos in the central square of the city, and then went on "performing" like that for about 30 years - including various spats with local authorities (who didn't necessarily appreciate it when he showed up without permits). Everybody knew he was a proper knob in real life (or he'd be in a band, right?), even though he had become a bit of a local institution (even ran for mayor, at one point, with predictably bad results).
As someone who knew Ian Channell at university, I'll mention two things about him, the first is his overwhelming enthusiasm for whatever he's involved in; second, he attempts to get people to think outside the box and to figure things out for themselves (remember he used to be a uni lecturer).
He'd often say that anally-retentive thinking was a major problem with the world. So don't be fooled into thinking that his true persona is what he's demonstrating during his wizard performances. His seemingly outrageous hyperbole is deliberately meant to make you think.
When I was a young child, growing up in the US, I was given a children's book called Bidibidi (by Gavin Bishop) by my Kiwi grandmother. If I remember correctly, the Wizard saves Bidibidi (who is a sheep). When my father, remarked that there was a real Wizard in New Zealand, who lived in Christchurch, it sparked a lot of wonder and excitement about the Wizard in a far off land. I can't be the only child who found out about the Wizard and was enchanted by the thought of him.
I get that the public purse must be spent well, but I wonder how much wonder and excitement gets lost everytime weird and wonderful traditions like this end.
Surely the price of child wonderment is worth more than NZ$16k/year?
As an adult reading about the Wizard being deemed 'a living work of art' it seems like an appealing philosophical take on the human experience. I think we all should be reminded now and then to consider ourselves artists across the tapestry of time.
>Surely the price of child wonderment is worth more than NZ$16k/year?
Even if it is, the man is 88 and becoming to old to perform his "duties." Imagine how you would feel if your family took a trip to Christchurch and the wizard was too unwell to perform.
The article said he plans to continue his appearances despite not being paid anymore:
The Wizard said he would keep up his regular appearances at Christchurch’s Arts Centre, chatting to tourists and locals. The centre is hosting an exhibition of his life this month, which is supported by the council.
The article also says his appearances are less regular, and though he blames the council that doesn't make a ton of sense if he's willing to doing it unasked and unpaid.
That sounds reasonable? I wouldn’t mind my tax dollars going towards retaining this wizard in the last years of his life. He’s spent 23 years performing, we can deal with him taking a break these last few years.
I don't mind my tax dollars paying for a postal worker's retirement, but I would object to them keeping their route when unable to deliver all the mail.
That’s irrelevant to the parent’s point. Of course people get old, but the position could be filled by a new wizard when the old one retires. The “wonder and excitement” could be kept alive.
Then you tell your children that the wizard is away to rescue someone or something like that, that's what wizards do. Maybe that will teach your kids to be alittle bit more patient, and maybe it teaches you that you don't get everything you want "because you paid for it". Seriously, if i plan a trip to some 88 year old guy and they tell me he is to sick to come to work today, I wouldnt even think about wanting money back or demand that he shows up, you should just let this guy have a break and go on with your life.
So lie to your child or completely kill the wonder of the whole thing by telling them this is all just a huge lie they paid for. Seems like just employing a fitter wizard is a better choice.
I think the last time I heard anything about the Wizard of Christchurch it was a little human-intrest story that was just "hey did you know this NZ town has a wizard", and there was mention of an apprentice he was training to take over the gig when he got too old. Guess that fell through.
I live in the town and met the dude he's ment to be training he seemed like more of a musician and in all my last 20 years in christchurch have not once seen the actual wizard in the square
>Seems like just employing a fitter wizard is a better choice.
The better choice is teaching children early on about the difference between reality and fantasy, and that often adults will pretend fantasy is real, sometimes for fun, but also sometimes to manipulate people.
I know a guy who does street performance gigs. He was a serious college cheerleader (doing human pyramids, trampoline routines, etc.) in his 20's. He is still going - but when only in his 50's, he talked about how physically demanding it was (even if doing no more than card tricks for kids, or riding around in costume on a "pretty easy"-height unicycle). You gotta stay in character, in your routine, with zero mistakes - hour after hour, no matter the weather.
It sounded like he didn't really choose to have one, just another guy showed up and said "I'm your apprentice". Though that's much like how Channell showed up in the 70s.
Hmm, I think I'm going to find someone that I want to learn from and try this. What's the difference from this and say something like stalking? I'll need to know when the police arrive.
"The city is embarking on new tourism and promotional direction that will reflect its diverse communities and “showcase a vibrant, diverse, modern city that is attractive to residents, domestic and international visitors, new businesses, and skilled migrant workers”, she said."
Well yes, that's what city leaders tend to sound like; trying to appeal to everyone sounds bland. I think they could have described it exactly the same way at almost any point in the last 30 years - it's not like the Wizard was a cornerstone of the city's image.
When I toured NZ as a tourist it was next city - that's the one with the Wizard isn't it? It's the main thing I remember about Christchurch along with it feeling kind of Scottish.
Well I've never been to Scotland, so I don't know about that, but supposedly Dunedin is the more Scottish part of the country ("Dunedin" is a transliteration of the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, and there were many Scottish settlers there).
The paradox of tolerance isn’t as interesting when physical violence is involved, because you obviously fight violence back if possible (ie not tolerated).
The discussion is more interesting when one party’s feelings are so hurt by words (due to low self esteem, mental health issues, etc.) that there is a movement that starts not tolerating speech.
E.g. I have worked with teen mentoring and some of these people think it is physical abuse if you ask them to do chores (due to privileged upbringing).
There were elements of mysogany and arguments he'd been 'cancelled'.
> the Wizard said he liked to tease women by telling them they were devious, and said “they use cunning to get men who are thick”.
> I love women, I forgive them all the time, I’ve never struck one yet. Never strike a woman because they bruise too easily is the first thing, and they’ll tell the neighbours and their friends … and then you’re in big trouble
That doesn't sound like he was canned because they wanted to impress the Saudis.
You're the one saying "its easy to read between the lines". I'd agree. Saying "don't hit a woman because they bruise easily" may have been acceptable behaviour 40 years ago, it's not now.
You can read between the lines and believe it's because of New Zealand (one of the most liberal countries on the planet) trying to attract Saudi immigrants all you want, but if there's anything deeper than the council statement, it seems far more likely it's a grumpy old man stuck in his ways who refuses to change and thus is no longer wanted
Maybe there is more to diversity than promoting every individual facet of Anglo culture, or subsidising old white guys to tell jokes about violence against women?
The article also said: "The Wizard is a well-known face to Christchurch residents, but in recent years, his presence has diminished, and sightings have become rare"
The funny thing is that chch is historically the most un-diverse city in nz. When something trashy or racist happens, and it happens in chch, people in other parts of nz (particularly in the north island) roll their eyes and say “Christchurch…” [in dumb voice].
Well, well, well! I knew Ian Channell at university in the late 1960s, he was a lecturer in sociology although I wasn't studying the subject.
That was the time of the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations across the world and one of the consequences was heightened political action by students - the like of which has never been seen since, it was then that Channell started a students' movement called Alf - Action for Love and Freedom. Students met in one of the Students' Union buildings after lectures but that's a separate story (and quite an interesting one at that).
I caught up with him again by sheer accident in the 1980s when on a skiing trip in New Zealand when I managed to catch sight of him doing his wizard performance in the square just outside Christchurch's cathedral (since badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake). Afterwards, a skiing friend and I joined him for afternoon tea in a local coffee shop where we reminisced and chewed the cud for several hours.
> started a students' movement called Alf - Action for Love and Freedom. Students met in one of the Students' Union buildings after lectures but that's a separate story (and quite an interesting one at that).
Now I want to hear about that story. Sounds colorful
There were quite a few events and incidents of note but I'll mention just one—one that we'd only planned but had actually failed to implement (for reasons I'll mention shortly). Yes, it sounds a bit of a hollow gesture to mention an unsuccessful prank but I do so because it both conveys the ethos that most students were engulfed in at the time and also it provides a summary of existing attitudes that were commonplace among students almost everywhere across the globe at the time (not to mention that yours truly was in the thick of planning the prank).
Whilst hindsight and a modicum of sense ultimately prevailed and the prank never proceeded to fulfillment, its description nevertheless provides a window into the prevailing zeitgeist of the late 1960s—a time of upheaval, riots, heightened protests and demonstrations, it was a time in which students demonstrated a sense of spirit, audaciousness and direct action with respect to many social issues but it's fair to say that their principal concerns were about the Vietnam War and its injustices[1].
The prank's plan was for students to take possession of a small rocky outcrop in the middle of the harbor colloquially known as Pinchgut, a once old fort and prison, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Denison, and then to set up and establish our own pirate radio station in the AM Broadcast band. From there, we intended that students would broadcast antiwar and other student propaganda. I can't claim the idea was mine and although I'm pretty sure that it first originated with Ian Channell I'm not completely certain of the fact (it was a long time ago, perhaps we should ask Ian for posterity's sake :-)). Anyway, Ian was very enthusiastic at the notion and for that matter so was I—as I was still smarting from just having received my unwelcome conscription notification—and there's nothing quite like having one's draft papers in hand to focus one's mind, especially so given that I was opposed to the war. (I wasn't alone, others I knew were also in this disquieting position. A number of them burned their draft cards to ashes, however, I took a smart aleck's approach by burning mine all the way around on the outside which still left it legible (mostly). That didn't in anyway help, except that I never had to explain my position to the draft board as it was bloody obvious.)
Anyway, being centrally located, Pinchgut was both high profile and newsworthy thus in one sense seemingly ideal for the stunt. Similarly from a technical perspective, its location was ideal for a clandestine radio transmitter: as an excellent antenna could be erected easily and we would have had access to about the best antenna counterpoise (ground system) available—the harbor's conductive salt water. Transmitting equipment was essentially already to hand (about 150 watts up the stick), as back then I'd already been a licensed radio amateur from the time I obtained my license in my early high school years—and AM Broadcast Band transmitters are a snack to build.
It's now hard to recall exactly every reason for why it all came unstuck but in essence it boiled down to a lack of time, financial and operational resources and a realization that we'd be sitting ducks in that we'd be instantly shutdown by authorities and likely charged with illegal broadcasting under the then Wireless Telegraphy Act. Nevertheless, it was intended to be a very newsworthy event no matter how short our on-air time might have been (as priming the media in advance to obtain maximum publicity was our main aim). Our likely single biggest problem was that we'd have had to temporarily 'silence' the site's caretaker and his family—and even if somehow we'd managed to get them on board and cooperate, given the extreme polarization between the Government and students at the time, we&#x...
To be fair, in the US context, the term "Grand Wizard" (or "Imperial Wizard") is the title of the national leader of the Ku Klux Klan violent ethno-supremacist hate group.
The Rio municipal administration has an on-again-off-again contract with an (Amer)indian spirit who proffers an ability to prevent heavy rain for specific dates (new years' eve, Carnaval, etc). Some private event organizers also hire Cacique Cobra Coral with the same purpose.
For as old as he is and as little as he costs, if I were the city council I might be inclined to just keep paying him until he died. Beats getting turned into a frog, or having your firstborn cursed.
He's basically a professor with (>>>) 20 years of professional speaking and comedy experience (regular professors mostly just speak with people who have paid to agree with them).
I can pretty much guarantee you that if the wizard decided men should take over the world (HA, good luck) you would have a surprising amount of fun debating that position with him. You would do well to understand that he's pretty subversive and might never know if he's actually on the side he says he's on or not (possibly asking really nicely would do it).
A lot of people who talk to the "wizard" are a lot stupider than the wizard.
I cannot believe those idiots at the city council do not understand the value of what they have. Even if the guy starts to lose his marbles he'll still be able to provide directions for Americans and maybe if it gets really bad he could be given aspirin or assisted suicide pills (properly labelled, obviously) to hand out to the Dutch.
Having spent time in city council budget meetings, I can tell you that animosity over seemingly tiny expenditures can be unreal, and not at all worth the fight.
Michael Lewis wrote about something related in Iceland, when he covered the 2009 financial crisis and it's impact on Iceland:
> Alcoa, the biggest aluminum company in the country, encountered two problems peculiar to Iceland when, in 2004, it set about erecting its giant smelting plant. The first was the so-called hidden people—or, to put it more plainly, elves—in whom some large number of Icelanders, steeped long and thoroughly in their rich folkloric culture, sincerely believe. Before Alcoa could build its smelter it had to defer to a government expert to scour the enclosed plant site and certify that no elves were on or under it. It was a delicate corporate situation, an Alcoa spokesman told me, because they had to pay hard cash to declare the site elf-free, but, as he put it, “we couldn’t as a company be in a position of acknowledging the existence of hidden people.”
Feels like they really buried the lede here. From the article:
In an April screening of channel Three’s comedy current affairs show New Zealand Today, hosted by Guy Williams, the Wizard said he liked to tease women by telling them they were devious, and said “they use cunning to get men who are thick”.
“I love women, I forgive them all the time, I’ve never struck one yet. Never strike a woman because they bruise too easily is the first thing, and they’ll tell the neighbours and their friends … and then you’re in big trouble.”
So really, “Wizard says gross things about women; gets fired” would be a more appropriate headline.
122 comments
[ 3.9 ms ] story [ 207 ms ] threadFor those who don’t know much about him, there’s a good profile here: https://www.rnz.co.nz/national/programmes/eyewitness/audio/2...
Might be better for all involved if he's commissioned by the art gallery or gets crowd funding or something.
Worth pointing out he was doing this for decades before the council started supporting him and he will probably carry on.
If the mayor's brother was given a no-bid contract to be appointed court jester or town drunk and given $368,000 for his services, the problem would become easier to see. Even if it was possibly the only such appointment in the world.
I know lots of people wouldn't think it's a problem and I'm an old curmudgeon. Lots of people are fine with low level corruption and poor practices that can lead to corruption or the appearance of corruption. I acknowledged that the very first thing I said, if that also wasn't clear.
[1] Sure its NZD but come on that's got to be at least 80 real dollars.
Have you thought about it at all? You clearly completely missed the point with my example when you triumphantly announced he isn't anyone's brother. You don't know what he does for the person giving him public money. Similarly way off the point saying he's not a jester. Why should a jester not be allowed to have public money but a "wizard" can?
> There are so many instances of local governments paying single artists for their art that isn't a problem.
Non sequitur. I can't quite fathom this thinking. There are lots of instances of local governments paying for lots of things, and lots of instances of corruption in local government.
> Have you walked around a city and enjoyed murals or art installations? Do you see those and your hair stands up on your neck worrying about the bidding process for those pieces?
Yes absolutely if they are or seem questionable.
> Why do you not want people to have nice things.
Pathetic.
These things become problematic when no service is provided, or the quality of service is lower than you would have gotten otherwise.
Clearly service was provided for going on 20 years, so that’s just fact.
I also think that $18.000 NZD per year, for any local government, hell, even for a corner bakery, is a paltry amount. That’s below minimum wage anywhere that I know of.
No, they are a problem when the process is not transparent or fair and open to others and don't have some modicum of value for money estimations performed.
> I also think that $18.000 NZD per year, for any local government, hell, even for a corner bakery, is a paltry amount. That’s below minimum wage anywhere that I know of.
I don't know what that has to do with how "fair" the money for the service was. He was not an employee, he was not being paid a salary to do a full time job. He got $368,000 for... something. Continuing his public performances that he was doing anyway and would have continued to do. Doesn't sound like the local tax payer got anything at all out of it. The politicians bought themselves a publicity stunt.
By "real" you presumably mean "Bohemian":
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dollar#History
Besides, he was providing somewhat of a public good in terms of tourism. It wasn't like he was just collecting a paycheck doing absolutely nothing. It doesn't appear he has any family or other business connections with that local government from a quick glance, so honestly his position seems about the same as any other local government employee. Is hiring a gardener giving an appearance of corruption as well?
Per year / 12 months gives per month of $1,533.
$1,533 wizard's monthly income / 395,000 population is ~0.0038810. I originally used a population of 390,000 which is ~0.0039308. I then just rounded to the nearest thousandth for the comment as I figured fractions of a penny that small are somewhat meaningless to my comment.
No one is entitled to occult knowledge because all of it is of a deeply personal nature. In a culture where answers are demanded like a privilege, the occultists are going to remain hidden from view.
Check out http://www.SHWEP.net (the secret history of western esotericism) for a rigorous review of occult history & scholarship. It is fabulous podcasting. Start with the podcast introduction then dive into the Pythagorean-Platonic tradition.
Also what does fair and reasonable consideration mean, more hoops of paper should have been jumped through before making this decision?
In hindsight they obviously made the right choice. If you select a random artist or entertainer to give money to what are the chances they'll get nearly as famous as this wizard?
I'm not seeing the part where $368,000 bought anything of value for the tax payer.
> Also what does fair and reasonable consideration mean, more hoops of paper should have been jumped through before making this decision?
I don't know what more hoops of paper means. It's not rocket science or some massive burden to procure services properly. That's half of what local governments do.
Where I'm from, there was this guy who basically started playing electric-guitar solos in the central square of the city, and then went on "performing" like that for about 30 years - including various spats with local authorities (who didn't necessarily appreciate it when he showed up without permits). Everybody knew he was a proper knob in real life (or he'd be in a band, right?), even though he had become a bit of a local institution (even ran for mayor, at one point, with predictably bad results).
He'd often say that anally-retentive thinking was a major problem with the world. So don't be fooled into thinking that his true persona is what he's demonstrating during his wizard performances. His seemingly outrageous hyperbole is deliberately meant to make you think.
The world needs more people like him.
I get that the public purse must be spent well, but I wonder how much wonder and excitement gets lost everytime weird and wonderful traditions like this end.
Surely the price of child wonderment is worth more than NZ$16k/year?
As an adult reading about the Wizard being deemed 'a living work of art' it seems like an appealing philosophical take on the human experience. I think we all should be reminded now and then to consider ourselves artists across the tapestry of time.
Even if it is, the man is 88 and becoming to old to perform his "duties." Imagine how you would feel if your family took a trip to Christchurch and the wizard was too unwell to perform.
The Wizard said he would keep up his regular appearances at Christchurch’s Arts Centre, chatting to tourists and locals. The centre is hosting an exhibition of his life this month, which is supported by the council.
The better choice is teaching children early on about the difference between reality and fantasy, and that often adults will pretend fantasy is real, sometimes for fun, but also sometimes to manipulate people.
And a 99 year old guy just beamed into space!
Thanks for the correction; doing all that at 90 is still pretty good.
It sounded like he didn't really choose to have one, just another guy showed up and said "I'm your apprentice". Though that's much like how Channell showed up in the 70s.
That sounds majorly boring.
To me, that PR blurb actually uses a lot of words to say nothing at all. It boils down to "I decided to do something else".
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/08/sa...
The discussion is more interesting when one party’s feelings are so hurt by words (due to low self esteem, mental health issues, etc.) that there is a movement that starts not tolerating speech.
E.g. I have worked with teen mentoring and some of these people think it is physical abuse if you ask them to do chores (due to privileged upbringing).
> the Wizard said he liked to tease women by telling them they were devious, and said “they use cunning to get men who are thick”.
> I love women, I forgive them all the time, I’ve never struck one yet. Never strike a woman because they bruise too easily is the first thing, and they’ll tell the neighbours and their friends … and then you’re in big trouble
That doesn't sound like he was canned because they wanted to impress the Saudis.
You're the one saying "its easy to read between the lines". I'd agree. Saying "don't hit a woman because they bruise easily" may have been acceptable behaviour 40 years ago, it's not now.
You can read between the lines and believe it's because of New Zealand (one of the most liberal countries on the planet) trying to attract Saudi immigrants all you want, but if there's anything deeper than the council statement, it seems far more likely it's a grumpy old man stuck in his ways who refuses to change and thus is no longer wanted
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_New_Zealand#Et...
Country of birth was 72% New Zealand, 4% England 2% China and then lots of other countries with lower %s
So they are going from 1 wizard to 0 wizards and calling that diverse? Looks like they are decreasing the amount of diversity to me.
Can you furlough a wizard?
That was the time of the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations across the world and one of the consequences was heightened political action by students - the like of which has never been seen since, it was then that Channell started a students' movement called Alf - Action for Love and Freedom. Students met in one of the Students' Union buildings after lectures but that's a separate story (and quite an interesting one at that).
I caught up with him again by sheer accident in the 1980s when on a skiing trip in New Zealand when I managed to catch sight of him doing his wizard performance in the square just outside Christchurch's cathedral (since badly damaged in the 2011 earthquake). Afterwards, a skiing friend and I joined him for afternoon tea in a local coffee shop where we reminisced and chewed the cud for several hours.
'Tis a very small world.
Now I want to hear about that story. Sounds colorful
Whilst hindsight and a modicum of sense ultimately prevailed and the prank never proceeded to fulfillment, its description nevertheless provides a window into the prevailing zeitgeist of the late 1960s—a time of upheaval, riots, heightened protests and demonstrations, it was a time in which students demonstrated a sense of spirit, audaciousness and direct action with respect to many social issues but it's fair to say that their principal concerns were about the Vietnam War and its injustices[1].
The prank's plan was for students to take possession of a small rocky outcrop in the middle of the harbor colloquially known as Pinchgut, a once old fort and prison, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Denison, and then to set up and establish our own pirate radio station in the AM Broadcast band. From there, we intended that students would broadcast antiwar and other student propaganda. I can't claim the idea was mine and although I'm pretty sure that it first originated with Ian Channell I'm not completely certain of the fact (it was a long time ago, perhaps we should ask Ian for posterity's sake :-)). Anyway, Ian was very enthusiastic at the notion and for that matter so was I—as I was still smarting from just having received my unwelcome conscription notification—and there's nothing quite like having one's draft papers in hand to focus one's mind, especially so given that I was opposed to the war. (I wasn't alone, others I knew were also in this disquieting position. A number of them burned their draft cards to ashes, however, I took a smart aleck's approach by burning mine all the way around on the outside which still left it legible (mostly). That didn't in anyway help, except that I never had to explain my position to the draft board as it was bloody obvious.)
Anyway, being centrally located, Pinchgut was both high profile and newsworthy thus in one sense seemingly ideal for the stunt. Similarly from a technical perspective, its location was ideal for a clandestine radio transmitter: as an excellent antenna could be erected easily and we would have had access to about the best antenna counterpoise (ground system) available—the harbor's conductive salt water. Transmitting equipment was essentially already to hand (about 150 watts up the stick), as back then I'd already been a licensed radio amateur from the time I obtained my license in my early high school years—and AM Broadcast Band transmitters are a snack to build.
It's now hard to recall exactly every reason for why it all came unstuck but in essence it boiled down to a lack of time, financial and operational resources and a realization that we'd be sitting ducks in that we'd be instantly shutdown by authorities and likely charged with illegal broadcasting under the then Wireless Telegraphy Act. Nevertheless, it was intended to be a very newsworthy event no matter how short our on-air time might have been (as priming the media in advance to obtain maximum publicity was our main aim). Our likely single biggest problem was that we'd have had to temporarily 'silence' the site's caretaker and his family—and even if somehow we'd managed to get them on board and cooperate, given the extreme polarization between the Government and students at the time, we&#x...
Again and again, reality is stranger than fiction. We wouldn't want it any different.
Here in the US, if there was an official government wizard, certain segments of the population would be up in arms.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan_titles_and_vocabu...
I can pretty much guarantee you that if the wizard decided men should take over the world (HA, good luck) you would have a surprising amount of fun debating that position with him. You would do well to understand that he's pretty subversive and might never know if he's actually on the side he says he's on or not (possibly asking really nicely would do it).
A lot of people who talk to the "wizard" are a lot stupider than the wizard.
I cannot believe those idiots at the city council do not understand the value of what they have. Even if the guy starts to lose his marbles he'll still be able to provide directions for Americans and maybe if it gets really bad he could be given aspirin or assisted suicide pills (properly labelled, obviously) to hand out to the Dutch.
> Alcoa, the biggest aluminum company in the country, encountered two problems peculiar to Iceland when, in 2004, it set about erecting its giant smelting plant. The first was the so-called hidden people—or, to put it more plainly, elves—in whom some large number of Icelanders, steeped long and thoroughly in their rich folkloric culture, sincerely believe. Before Alcoa could build its smelter it had to defer to a government expert to scour the enclosed plant site and certify that no elves were on or under it. It was a delicate corporate situation, an Alcoa spokesman told me, because they had to pay hard cash to declare the site elf-free, but, as he put it, “we couldn’t as a company be in a position of acknowledging the existence of hidden people.”
In an April screening of channel Three’s comedy current affairs show New Zealand Today, hosted by Guy Williams, the Wizard said he liked to tease women by telling them they were devious, and said “they use cunning to get men who are thick”.
“I love women, I forgive them all the time, I’ve never struck one yet. Never strike a woman because they bruise too easily is the first thing, and they’ll tell the neighbours and their friends … and then you’re in big trouble.”
So really, “Wizard says gross things about women; gets fired” would be a more appropriate headline.