Much has been written recently about digital marketing effectiveness and the measurement thereof. Finally, a few astute marketers are waking up to the significance of bona fide, accurate measurement. There is however, still a lot of misconception and understanding of what exactly should be measured, and why digital marketing is so effective at accomplishing just […]
2008
Posted inLifestyle
Taking the measure of ‘4-5’
I was amused to see the February 22 front page of the Daily Sun, peppered with its usual plethora of exclamation marks. “Ex-lover slashed my 4-5!” That was the headline, and the story went on to explain: “He was sitting happily with his new sweetheart when the door to his house crashed open. “It was […]
Posted inNews/Politics
‘Bush is linked to torture ring’: An alternate reality
This week Americans have been rocked, according to the New York Times, by Governor Eliot Spitzer’s patronage of a high-end prostitution ring. Just for my own entertainment, I’ve made a few simple changes to the paper’s report, imagining what it might be like if the public reacted as viscerally to Bush’s recent veto of a […]
Posted inLifestyle
Waving summer goodbye …
As Cape Town experiences its first real chill in months, I’d like to reflect on the pros and cons of summer … Pros: Long days, with balmy evenings. The brief window of opportunity to swim in the sea without losing all feeling in your limbs. Fabulous fruit (peaches, grapes and nectarines are my favourites). Christmas […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Science fiction and the cellphone
Science fiction is not normally my first choice of reading material, unless of course it is about the trips through galaxy as described by a very funny writer called Douglas Adams. But I have been converted to the modern Cory Doctorow-style science fiction. Somehow his books seem to appeal to my vision of the future. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Free Tibet like you freed Kosovo
Every now and then in the messy quagmire that is diplomacy and international relations, the true hypocrisy of all this jostling for national position becomes glaringly obvious. Lightly camouflaged behind a veneer of garish moral make-up and far from the bright lights of CNN and the BBC, the diplomatic whores and pimps of our world’s […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Do South Africans respect a uniform?
When a group captain at the Wittering air base near Peterborough, England, advised Royal Air Force personnel not to wear their uniforms in public, it sparked an enormous outcry. Weren’t these people part of the armed forces responsible for the safety of Britain and, accordingly, entitled to the public’s respect? Closer to home, we could […]
Posted inLifestyle
Tears of a non-resident father: A conversation with emotions
The agony of a non-resident father is one that may not be easily tolerated, yet a number of men are locked up in this phenomenon. The same is true of the few women who are also absent mothers. This piece, though, is about an absent father and how his sick son compels him to take […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The face of South African crime is, of course, the black man
I sat stunned and paralysed with anger at an upmarket lounge a few days ago when a friend, sister and wife, Letta Mofokeng, told me with a heavy heart that she did not understand why she was a widow and her children were without a father. Shimi Mofokeng’s neck, heart and liver were ripped into […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Fair trade is unfair
“What developing countries need is to develop, not to have their present conditions of life and work preserved like a museum exhibit,” writes Janet Daley in a column prompted by a report that finds “fair trade” to be fundamentally unfair.
Posted inLifestyle
Screaming queens and the camera-wielding gunman
I have had a tough couple of weeks at work, with the madness of my being actually expected to produce high-quality innovation in the fast-food industry for our customers continued unabated. You would not have blamed me for suggesting a few quiet beers with a colleague of mine after we worked late on a Thursday […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Tibetan Freedom Day: March 10
For anyone in Cape Town and interested in Tibet and creating more awareness around the country’s problems, I’ve just found out that Cape Town will be the first official African supporter of Tibet’s 10th of March Freedom Day at lunchtime on Monday. There will be a statement from the Dalai Lama, a flag-raising and a […]