By Richard Kaplan In the late 1700s, Samuel Hahnemann invented homeopathy, a system of medicine which is reputed to be very effective for treating ailments in hobbits, elves, dwarves and other creatures of Middle Earth. Unfortunately, despite centuries of practise, this “healing modality” does not work for humans. While this may seem surprising, the reason […]
2010
Posted inTech
Five things I hate about email
Sitting down every morning to face an email inbox that never empties has prompted me to make this list. Dealing with email is Sisyphean in nature. Sisyphus was the guy whose punishment was to roll a rock up a hill only to have it roll down again, eternally. Email: * Makes it too easy to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Homeopathy foolishness gets the treatment it deserves
This week saw the news that the UK government is considering shutting off NHS benefits for homeopathic treatment. Their argument is simple: there is no evidence that homeopathy works, so why should we be using taxpayers’ money to pay for people to use it? The notion that homeopathy is bunk may come as a surprise […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Sharpeville redux and a bit more
On March 21 1960 South African police opened fire on a crowd of black protesters, killing 69 people, in what would become known around the world as “The Sharpeville Massacre”. On that occasion while the ANC was in the process of launching a campaign of protests against pass laws it was their rival Pan Africanist […]
Posted inNews/Politics
JZ’s a joke
The president of the Republic of South Africa is a joke, or so a Facebook group proclaims — almost shouting — “JACOB ZUMA is A JOKE (We are Disgusted and tired)” (sic). The group created after the revelations of the president’s love child with Irvin Khoza’s daughter, currently boasts in excess of 9 300 members (9 312 […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Msholozi’s ‘moral code’
Zuma said today that some people say ” ‘Zuma is causing a problem for himself’. I don’t think they understand me,” he said. It’s true Zuma. Some of us don’t. Then again, the life of a president must put some really intense pressures on a man. You can’t seem to say anything right, in fact, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Why has Cape Town restricted anti-apartheid heroes to township streets?
Twenty years after the release of Nelson Mandela from prison, and with all the doom and gloom going around, there is one issue that has upset me for a while. It’s not HIV/Aids, or crime, or violence against women, or unemployment, or the lack of proper housing for poor people, or drug abuse on the […]
Posted inGeneral
Anonymous digital identities: To be or not to be?
One thing I dislike and like at the same time about the web is being anonymous. While I am always honest about my identity when I make comments or write on the web, I can understand why some people choose to be anonymous. My profile is open and I am able to be tracked to […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Malema has no right to be angry, it’s the public who should be outraged
Professor Pierre de Vos confirms my earlier interpretation that it is not illegal for ANC Youth League President Julius Malema to have business interests. “The ANC is correct to point out that in principle, it is not illegal or in contravention of any code of conduct for a company in which Julius Malema is involved, […]
Posted inGeneral
Black economic extortion, Malema style
If we had a national genie, my three requests to her would be: To make us a country rich in the resource of leadership defined by wisdom, vision and integrity; To make us a forward-looking nation, while never forgetting our past; and To enact sufficient social and economic justice to foster a genuine sense of […]
Posted inGeneral
Dear Mr White Conservative
It seems you were right. The natives are out to get us. I have tried to help them out, teach them a thing or two about democracy and living the rainbow dream, but all they have done is taunt me. I put on their bloody T-shirt and they laughed at me. I played their records […]
Posted inGeneral
Two kilos of tenderised Malema please!
With the country in a tizz after sizzling reactions to severe price hikes as “tenderised Malema” hit the newsstands, fictitious members of the ANC top-brass met at an emergency meeting on Monday to resolve the latest crisis in the party. As news of government tenders enhancing the meagre salaries of government officials, their families, and […]