I learned last week that one of my colleagues (one of the few who hasn’t left 😉 ) was one of the Vietnamese boat people. His uncle, father and him were dumped in Harlow with no English, no other Vietnamese people near them, little money and few clothes in a bare flat!
One of the leavers has gone to a place that sounds interesting: True Knowledge. It’s worth looking at the demo video to explain it. I’ve managed to get a beta account, and I’m entering things in which occasionally leads to head scratching: how would you define a knife? an axe? a pair of scissors? a sword? Then what about other things like secateurs, scythes, bill hooks, sickles?
I think it’s safe to say that what it doesn’t know is a lot bigger than what it does know! It’s interesting to look at the page that shows what’s been added recently – a bit like seeing what people are searching for on Google, but less smutty and less biased towards the novel.
I was taught karate at uni by a bloke who was by then a doctor of something to do with oriental literature at the university’s oriental library, and had started in this country with stuff all after coming over on a boat from Vietnam. He was great – think he’s now something swanky at a uni in london somewhere.
How come everyone is leaving then?
Mostly it’s the office move. When it was announced, quite a lot of people left. The people who didn’t leave then included some people who weren’t sure the move would work out, but would try it for a bit. With the New Year giving people a time to thing about Life, New Starts etc. there’s been another batch of people leaving as they realise it isn’t working out well enough.
There’s other politics type stuff that I won’t bore you with :).
there’s always politics type stuff, and it’s always boring. grumph. But you’re still happy with the new place?
Yes – I’m getting used to the lack of facilities nearby. It’s mostly the politics that are the problem, but overall I’m happy enough to stay.