There are more than 540 000 words in the English language. This is apparently about five times more than during Shakespeare’s time. Among the many new words or meanings fighting to get accepted on to the hallowed pages of the Oxford English Dictionary would be “twittering”, and that would not involve birds. It was early February […]
2007
Posted inGeneral
‘To twitter’ gets a new meaning that has nothing to do with birds
There are more than 540 000 words in the English language. This is apparently about five times more than during Shakespeare’s time. Among the many new words or meanings fighting to get accepted on to the hallowed pages of the Oxford English Dictionary would be “twittering”, and that would not involve birds. It was early February […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Tech
The Red Plug-In City
Plug-in City seems the right way to imagine how a large number of optional connections can be organised, randomised, mixed or matched. So says the Communist University (CU) in its launch of its Plug-In City. The CU is a blog, training workshop and more broadly an attempt by the “left” to use the internet to […]
Posted inMedia
Spreading the word on satanism
There has been understandable outrage over the axing of Rapport columnist Deon Maas for his column on satanism and religious tolerance. Deon, who for a brief moment must have felt like a Danish cartoonist, was understandably confused about the whole thing seeing as the gist of his article was about being tolerant and accepting and […]
Posted inLifestyle
With (or without) the Bee Gees
It started as a normal British chat show. It was 1997 and host Clive Anderson was fielding a few questions to the Bee Gees live on prime-time television. The band of brothers had walked in to generous applause from the studio audience, smiles aplenty as Anderson said “Good to see you” and ushered them to […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
The secrets of the Order of the Brain
The amount of research being done in the field of neurosciences is staggering at present. More amazing are the discoveries being made each passing day. They don’t command headlines because most of us can’t understand the stuff, let alone interpret these to make them accessible to the layman. I have a strong suspicion they are […]
Posted inGeneral
And in the latest news from Sweden…
(A couple of years back I wrote (sporadically) a column for the Mail & Guardian Online. I don’t think anyone actually read it – it was usually buried several mouse clicks away from the real writers like Tom Eaton, Richard Calland and Ferial Haffajee. So, because I’m feeling guilty at not having posted anything on […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Lives less valued
About a week ago, a baby with two heads was born in Maputo. Its parents are young, in their early 20s, poor and little educated. After the birth, mother and baby were placed into separate wards in Maputo’s central hospital — a public hospital with few facilities and even fewer experts. While the mother was […]
Posted inNews/Politics
So much for freedom of the media and freedom of religion
Like Deon Maas, I am not a fan of satanism (or Christianity, for that matter). I would not mind the post-midnight gatherings, the listening to Cora Marie or Bles Bridges backward to hear messages of support, the incense and the candles, or the fetching young men in black looking morose and comically trying to feign […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Garbage
In blocking the path of two major gay rights organisations from being accredited at the United Nations and a resolution condemning rape as a weapon of war, South Africa has demonstrated not only that it has chosen petulance and expedience over decency, but also that it has forgotten what it was like to endure persecution […]
Posted inGeneral
Is Roberts an intellectual prostitute?
There can be little or no doubt that Ronald Suresh Roberts represents the kind of public intellectual this country does not only not need but must reject. And in this regard I put aside the many seemingly credible accusations against him of plagiarism presently. Some of Robert’s critics may have made the error — admittedly […]
Posted inBusiness
Dropping import tariffs to raise exports: How mumbo-jumbo conquered the policy ‘debate’
The heated discussion over the past few weeks about whether South Africa should unilaterally lower its import tariffs reminds me of Francis Wheen’s excellent book How Mumbo-Jumbo Conquered the World: A Short History of Modern Delusions. In it, Wheen documents a range of modern delusions where truths are assumed to be so obvious that there […]