I have a new fascination. It’s about innovation: how it happens, to whom and, most importantly, why. The fascination stems from the incredible people I get to meet in my job — people who find a new idea to be passionate about, implement that idea in a novel way and then spread that passion to […]
2007
Posted inMedia
New Zealand — the capital city of Australia
The capital city of Zimbabwe is Kinshasa, and the capital of Australia is either New Zealand or Lisbon. Budapest is the capital of the Republic of Ireland, and Rwanda is the main city of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Oh, and in South African politics, the tripartite alliance comprises the Democratic Alliance. These are just […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Parliament of whores?
The American writer, satirist and humorist PJ O’Rourke wrote a book entitled Parliament of Whores (1991) — apparently a caricature of the government of the United States. I must confess that I have never read the book although I fully intend to in the near future. Since about two weeks ago, the phrase “parliament of […]
Posted inTech
The Facebook business scorecard: F-
The mainstream media have been reporting lately that Facebook, the popular social networking application that lets you swap digital “secreta” with your long-lost friends, is being banned by more and more businesses in South Africa. The banks are some of the first — Standard Bank, Absa and a few others have added the site to […]
Posted inGeneral
Victims of their madness
While the many derisory and manifestly xenophobic descriptions that saddle Zimbabweans include “cowardly”, “itinerant”, “corrupt” and “criminal”, they will be galled to know that almost half of the population is insane. The other descriptions were not based on empirical data, but the latest designation comes from no less an authority than the World Health Organisation […]
Posted inGeneral
Breathing office air …
Okay, so I know I only planned on writing twice a week, but Monday’s didn’t really count, being an introduction and all. And besides, there’s a little something that’s been niggling at the back of my mind, and I’d like to get some perspective on it. So I went away for the weekend, on a […]
Posted inTech
The man who invented the internet
I spent the better part of Monday browsing LinkedIn, and have thus read my fill of people’s CVs. It is always interesting to see how people define and describe what they do, and LinkedIn offers the full spectrum from yawn-boring, to flighty. Look, I know it’s not easy. You have to summarise your life’s contribution […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Of MacBooks, Monkeyland and the Mile High Club
This weekend, I was fortunate enough to attend a dear friend’s wedding in Plettenberg Bay. Not only was I able to witness two of my closest buddies merging their lives together as one, I was also able to get out of the city for a quick break from all the mayhem. I’ve always said it […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The coming war
Rumours are ablaze of an imminent attack on Iran by the United States. It seems that everyone has decided that the question isn’t if America will attack Iran, but when. Writing this from somewhere a few kilometres away from both US Central Command and the al-Jazeera newsroom, the spectre of war is very real. The […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Simplifying the rat race through technology
Most of us live in it, and most of us hate it, no doubt about, but the rat race is an inevitable phase of life for anybody interested in advancing their career and “becoming somebody”. The truth is that the rat race is bad for all of us. It’s not necessarily just the negative aspect […]
Posted inNews/Politics
A life of service
There are many people who contributed to our liberation in South Africa and, unfortunately, so many of these people are being unnoticed or unacknowledged. Maybe the reason is that, once we achieved our liberation, some people stepped aside to let others lead. Others decided to get involved in local communities and shy away from the […]
Posted inMedia
Google News shoots for source
The official Google news blog has alerted us about a new feature on Google News that will help readers “quickly and easily” find original stories from news publishers. This should be interesting to watch, particularly in the local context where the vast majority of content on South Africa’s major mainstream news sites is replicated from […]