Ladies, has the latest bank rate hike been the final straw? Well, jack your straw and don your Panama because it’s time for hubby to go canoeing. While the world is aghast at the dastardly fraud committed by John and Anne Darwin, you have bigger fish to fry: not only the 50-basis-point increase, the Eskom […]
2007
Posted inMedia, Tech
Bloggers of the Week: The Mike and Justin show
I’ve been terrified of naming these two guys as Bloggers of the Week. When the concept for this blog was first proposed, the biggest criticism was that it would simply line up the usual suspects of the Web 2.0 world, such as Justin Hartman and Mike Stopforth. But hey, we all have to conquer our […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
The Christian fundamentalist lynch mob is at it again
Having tasted victory against Tim du Plessis and Rapport, Christian fundamentalists have set their sights on a fresh target. According to Jacques Liebenberg in Beeld, a campaign is under way to organise a boycott of the film The Golden Compass, due to be released in South Africa on Friday. According to an anonymous message distributed […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Left alternatives in South Africa *
I have been privately rebuking editors, professors and other parts of the intelligentsia for ignoring left alternatives in South Africa, or for not taking the time to find out what is going on. For instance, at a recent colloquium (that’s a seminar, meeting, to you and I), a very respected professor argued that the Basic […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Apartheid is real
“… the establishment of the Palestinian state is not our Nakba, or disaster — provided that upon its establishment the word ‘Nakba’ be deleted from the Arabic lexicon in referring to Israel.” This is from the address by Tzipi Livni at Annapolis. The Nakba means the “catastrophe” and refers to the expulsion and dispossession of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Christmas in a mass of crime
In case anyone’s wondering why South Africa is losing the battle against crime, here are some telling pointers from my local law-enforcement agency in Worcester. The town, like most others in South Africa, has a massive rate of house-breaks and car thefts. Every week you hear of a house that’s been burgled in your neighbourhood. […]
Posted inLifestyle
Top 5 Burning Questions
Why are people giving me directions around Jo’burg in terms of the cardinal points? “Travel north,” they say. Where the hell is north? I’m a city boy. There are no recognisable natural landmarks up here. I have no compass and I’m not navigating by the sun or the handle of the Big Dipper. Give me […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A return to realism
I’ve been in the US on holiday for the past few weeks, and although I’ve kept a distant eye on things from overseas, I am interested to note the distinct rise in political tension since my departure, drawn from the regional voting for the succession nominations. Funnily enough, it mirrors some aspects of what is […]
Posted inMedia
It’s the story that sells
Recently I was in Stone Town, Zanzibar, browsing the large selection of local paintings on offer. When I engaged one of the vendors in friendly barter, the sales pitch unfolded. I was told by the vendor that he had painted it. Isn’t it romantic to buy art from the artist himself? I decided to do […]
Posted inLifestyle
Free rice for vocab. Genius
I’ve come out of hiding to whisper in your ear about a little website called FreeRice. For every vocab word you guess right, it donates 20 grains of rice throughout the United Nations to help end world hunger. A lofty goal, but a pretty fun one to help achieve (if you’re a dorky word person, […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Facebook: A secret harvest
I was not going to bother with another article on Facebook, or any other social networking site. But then a video flitted across my Mac and it just forced me to take up the pen again, or pull up the keyboard and touchpad. There are two things I want to point out. For the rest, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Live blog of the president’s interview with the SABC
For all those political junkies out there, I tried something new (for me, at least) on Wednesday night and blogged about President Thabo Mbeki’s interview with the SABC. After 10 minutes, the political editor of the SABC has only asked boring, sweetheart questions. The SABC would find it difficult to defend itself against claims that […]