Every time I write about privacy and security on the internet I get a whole bunch of people who accuse me of paranoia. They maintain I am looking for conspiracy theories — if you have nothing to hide, then why worry who is following you on the internet? Besides which, I’ve been told, as consumers […]
2008
Posted inGeneral
Beware — the sneaky bots are everywhere
Every time I write about privacy and security on the internet I get a whole bunch of people who accuse me of paranoia. They maintain I am looking for conspiracy theories — if you have nothing to hide, then why worry who is following you on the internet? Besides which, I’ve been told, as consumers […]
Posted inGeneral
Is Thought Leader a ‘white thing’?
When I looked at the wide variety of responses to Vincent Maher’s posting on the state of Thought Leader — in response to Dominic Tweedie’s criticisms of it on the Debate list serve last week — I decided that it would be best to write a piece that responds directly to his criticisms. This was […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
Eskom’s black presence
People in South Africa may understand fully the inconvenience of having a six-hour power cut (in the case of Cape Town several days in mid-winter) more than many other nations out there might understand, experience and tolerate. How can it be that a nation’s power utility was not fully prepared and anticipated the growth in […]
Posted inLifestyle
I am glad Christmas is over
I’m glad Christmas is over. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-Christmas, but I’m just glad that it’s over. The Christmas period used to be very special to me as a child because it meant holidays, new clothes and an abundance and indulgence in food, which is one of my favourite things still, but Christmas […]
Posted inGeneral
Alive with possibility — Version 2.0.0.8
Having just been kakked out by Chris Marais, one of the greatest writers/photographers South Africa has ever produced, for being a depressing scaremonger, the time is ripe to blog things right. But lest julle almal think Mr Hyde has just turned into Dr Jekyll, or the lion has found his courage, or the tin man […]
Posted inLifestyle
Just call me Ms …
Listen up all you telemarketers, banking consultants, conveyancing attorneys, and the like, because this one’s for you. Don’t, ever, call me “Mrs”, at least not before you’ve taken the trouble to ascertain whether I am, actually, married. Let’s just take some time out and think about this. Calling someone you’ve never met before “Mrs” implies […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The sinister Marc Dutroux cover-up (part three)
This is the final part of our Marc Dutroux investigation. Read part one here and part two here. Paedophile Dutroux’s support system in law enforcement and legal circles came into their own as the case wound up. I think it’s important to place these facts out in the open once more for public evaluation because […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The arms deal may yet take down more than one president
One interesting development out of Monday’s ANC NEC meeting was the announcement of an ad-hoc committee that will produce a “detailed structural report” on the 1999 arms deal. This has supposedly been brought to bear given the lack of detail of the facts surrounding the arms deal and the role of the ANC president, Jacob […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Local Facebook number decline halts
Yes, you read correctly, local Facebook numbers have been dropping until today. Today is the first day that the number of Facebook users from South Africa stopped declining since January 3. Well it’s probably been longer, according to Tyler Reed, but I only started tracking them after I saw him post a comment on Twitter. […]
Posted inLifestyle
Free inspiration
It’s a new year! How splendid. And in honour of the new year, I’ve got a new blog angle: these are a few of my favourite things. Basically, I’m going to be sharing with you things that I love — food, websites, quirks, funny things people say, music, moments of beauty. Sound cheesy? Well, maybe […]
Posted inGeneral
Thought Leader and racial/gender representation
Before we launched Thought Leader, its management team got together to discuss the invitation process. All three of us would have been classified as “white” by the National Party government and, indeed, we have benefited from the fact our parents were white through our access to education during the transition phase from apartheid to our […]