Submitted by Bernhard Gaede A few years ago I visited a small clinic in a remote area that had been waiting for more than a year for a telephone connection. In the discussion with the sister in charge, she told me that the technician had told her that “it could not be done faster”, giving […]
2008
Posted inGeneral
So what would fundamental change be?
In my previous posting, “The receptivity to the idea of change“, I suggested a possible reason why so many Americans have responded affirmatively to Barack Obama’s persistent rhetorical emphasis (no matter how amorphous) on the need for “change”. It could be, I said, because it resonates with what Hardt and Negri have identified as the […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
e-Filing is e-driving me e-mad
You can file your tax returns on the internet! What a good idea, I thought. (I think we should be able to vote on the net as well.) But we should have been given some vital information. We should have been told: you can file your tax returns on the internet if, and only if, […]
Posted inGeneral, Media, News/Politics
The pain of being right
The worst part about being a “pessimist” is you keep being proved right. I’m pretty sure that deep down inside this “pessimist” is an optimist crying to get out. He only needs a motive — not an alibi or an excuse or empty promises or false comparisons or even options. Just a valid motive. Like […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Blacks can use the K-word and whites can’t?
Had Irvin Khoza been a white person, he would be out of a job by now for using the K-word. Finish and klaar.
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Unexpected websites (with a splash of innovation)
I was lucky enough to find an über-cool website the other day, which in turn led me on to a whole discovery path of other unexpectedly cool websites. And all South African! Isn’t the internet funny that way? It’s almost like tapping into a vein — once you find one site that fascinates you, there’s […]
Posted inGeneral
Zuma, crime, power failures occasioning brain drain? It’s not for your children
The prospect of a Jacob Zuma presidency, a disturbing crime rate and power failures are being cited among the major reasons for what could be a substantial brain drain from South Africa over the next few years. This in itself is a cause for concern as our fledgling multiracial democracy comes to terms with its […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Turning the tables on terrorism
Submitted by Janet Jobson The 9/11 terrorist attacks were a defining point for our generation, one of those “where were you when …” moments that will be discussed around dinner tables for decades to come. Looking back over the global shifts that have occurred in response to 9/11 and subsequent attacks, I feel we might […]
Posted inMedia
And they said it couldn’t get any worse
The plague of rancid undesirables unleashed by Zuma Simpson’s rise to power and now squirming out of the woodwork took another dangerous leap forward yesterday with the announcement by a shady clandestine black racist group calling itself the Forum of Black Journalists that it was to be addressed by old Showerhead himself. Joining the ranks […]
Posted inLifestyle
Dancers in the dark
Last weekend the lights went out. The music stopped, and for a moment we all stood in complete silence in the dark, wondering if it would only last a moment or whether it was a cue to go home. Then the lighters came out and everyone started muttering about Eskom. People dragged themselves off the […]
Posted inLifestyle
Bad baby names (ha!)
I stumbled upon The Bad Baby Names Blog today, and it is quite hilarious. Sarcastic to the extreme, and with a fair bit of research, methinks. Check it out on http://turabiannights.blogspot.com/. These are a few of my favourite bad baby names: McKendrianna Soucily Luane Mercury Sappho Meadow Raegun Baieleigh McKenzie Dycanne Discovery Echo Lily Fern […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
‘False face must hide what false heart doth know.’ (Macbeth Act 1 Sc 7)
Johannesburg — The rand was more than 3% weaker against the dollar in late trade on Wednesday after Finance Minister Trevor Manuel’s budget speech in Parliament. The rand weakened to a 16-month worst level of R7,9225 a dollar — after closing at R7,6625 on Tuesday — with traders predicting the local currency could break above […]