If you want to guarantee the identity of a high-profile individual being revealed, then please ensure you take the following steps: 1. Obtain a gagging order in their country of origin. 2. Warn the media and the internet community of dire consequences if they infringe it. 3. Inundate the British media with tidbits concerning the […]
2007
Posted inLifestyle
Bulletin: I saw God on Monday
This revelation occurred to me as I held my newly born son in my arms for the first time on Monday. I closed my eyes and made a serious attempt at convincing myself that I was merely a victim of the serotonins wreaking havoc with the synaptic connections between my neurons, giving me the illusion […]
Posted inLifestyle
Nothing for granted
Okay, I know that blog posts about my diabetes are going to start getting tired soon, and I promise that once I’m back in the real world (later this week) I will have amusing observations about other people (other people! imagine!), but there’s just one more thing I’d like to mention. One of the Big […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Transformation of rugby needs quotas
OK, let me be brave and write about something I am not supposed to know much about, namely rugby. (After all, I supported the Springboks because of JP Pietersen’s sexy legs.) These are the facts: only two of the regular players in the World Cup-winning Springbok rugby team are not lily-white. At the same time, […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Spend the night in Kliptown
The historic area of Kliptown in Soweto was in the news on Monday when a swanky four-star hotel opened its doors — the first such establishment in Soweto. The Freedom Charter was signed in Kliptown in 1955, and the area — which includes Freedom Square — is now one of the attractions helping Soweto grow […]
Posted inGeneral
Racism 101: What is racism?
My last posting suggested that the decision to scrap Soweto off the Springbok victory parade was racist. The response was predictable. There were as many who agreed as those who didn’t. Of course none of us who wrote were unfamiliar with the real reasons, so it is possible that some of us were wrong and […]
Posted inLifestyle
No hanky panky allowed on new Airbus?!
Singapore Airlines’s inaugural A380 flight took to the skies a couple of days ago. But despite it being equipped with private double-bed suites in the first-class cabin, officials are reported to have said that passengers better not do the bouncy-bouncy in there … oh no! My recent interest in aviation and lack of Thought Leader […]
Posted inTech
How to roll out flawless software
A somewhat radical new way of thinking about software projects and how to manage customers through them. Introduction I have been doing software-development work for my entire career. That, to my horror, is somewhere close to 12 years now, which is starting to seem like a downright respectable length of time. In this time, I […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Ready for a new national identity
It strikes me that we are at present a country desperately in need of its national identity. During apartheid, South Africa was defined as such. Then came the “miracle years” of Madiba and 1994, and the next decade we held a national identity of the celebratory freedom of the rainbow nation. But this period is […]
Posted inLifestyle
Tell him I say hello! … here’s why :)
I’ve never had a whole lot of patience with people sending their regards. “Please send her my love!” “Tell him I say hi!” “Send her my fond regards.” I’ve always thought it was a bit naff, and a bit of a waste of time. I confess, I frequently forgot to pass on these messages of […]
Posted inMedia
The emergency anchor man
This tragic incident occurred in the Eighties live on the SABC’s TV1. It was the 8pm news and the newsreader, either Michael de Morgan or John Bishop, had called in sick. In a mad scramble to find someone to read the news with less than an hour to spare, the producers settled on an unassuming […]
Posted inNews/Politics, Sport
Wanted: A government that is not embarrassed by its people
It is nice to have a President who cares what the world thinks. It would be far nicer to have one who cares what the people of South Africa think. Thabo Mbeki’s desire to change the nickname of some national sports teams may seem like a frivolous diversion from our national challenges. In reality, it […]