Internet users in South Africa hold their breath as they wait for the arrival of new undersea cables which promise to bring much higher bandwidth at much reduced prices. Hopefully. But what constitutes a good deal in buying access to undersea fibre? It used to be that Telkom was the only deal in town but […]
2008
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Searching for meaning in a bottle of chutney
These days, it takes me a while to get around to reading the South African Sunday papers. So it was only today that I spotted this article on people going through the emigration application process. One anecdote stood out, an email from someone’s sister in Toronto begging for a few essentials: Please, I beg of […]
Posted inGeneral
Time is up! The moment is now!
There is an inclination to look at tomorrow’s Test match against the All Blacks as being THE moment and THE goal — to beat the Kiwis in a rugby test match in their country. It is one of ten steps to the 2011 Rugby World Cup in the same place, at the same time — […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Power saving made fun and clever
Since we all have to think about saving electricity from now on – if not in the hope that it will avoid future load shedding than perhaps to keep our personal the electricity bill down – I thought it might be a good idea to find out what quirky inventions are out there that could […]
Posted inGeneral
De Villiers was right: Boks must first beat the All Blacks
Springbok coach Peter de Villiers was quite right when he said his charges should first beat the All Blacks before they could truly feel like the rugby world champions. But he has been accused by some blinkered South African supporters of undermining the Springboks’ status as winners of the Rugby World Cup in France last […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Less worry, more wake up
Submitted by Anthea Garman. Across 16 single lectures, one workshop devoted to education and a series of two about the law, it was extremely interesting this year that many of the Winter School speakers chose this moment to publicly express their worry about the state of nation. To give you a sense of some of […]
Posted inGeneral
The South African Hucker to stun the All Blacks
One of the most daunting sights that any rugby player will ever encounter’s is the New Zealand Haka being performed by the All Blacks. This Maori war dance just before a Test match is guaranteed to send a chill down even the hardest of spines. Not for the faint-hearted. With the Springboks top world ranking […]
Posted inGeneral
Sponsoring team identity into oblivion
And in the sport: There are concerns over Bryan Vodacom Habana’s pace after a Sasol/British Airways Bok training session in which he was chased down by the entire Wildeklawer Onions Griquas squad. Speculation is rife that after interference from new selector Cheeky “Black Like Me” Watson, coach Peter “Magnum” de Villiers may be forced to […]
Posted inGeneral
The dark side of the beautiful game
It may be the beautiful game, but the world’s most popular sport is also synonymous with death and destruction. Take the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, for example. Earlier this month, 10 fans died before a 2010 World Cup qualifier between Gambia and Liberia at the overcrowded Samuel L. Doe stadium in Monrovia. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What does it mean to be a revolutionary in the new South Africa?
This week’s Talkback question on the Mail & Guardian Online: What does it mean to be a revolutionary in the new South Africa?
Posted inNews/Politics
Is there a need for a coloured social movement?
The issue of coloured identity surfaces every now and then. It surfaced again last week with the news that a group of coloured leaders are considering starting a social movement to focus on issues concerning the coloured community. My immediate reaction was to dismiss this as the work of non-progressive forces who do not buy […]
Posted inGeneral
A God response
Mike A asks some honest, meaningful questions in his take on my recent God blogs. Instead of battling on about the existence or provability issues, he asks about the implications of atheism, so I feel it’s worth giving some serious, honest replies, accounting for my beliefs (or non-beliefs) on these matters. Q: Why do we […]