The average amount of blood lost in a menstruation is about 35 millilitres, which means that if a woman has 12 periods a year, she loses about half a litre of blood a year for about 30 years. The age at which women start menstruating is getting younger and younger, meaning that girls attending primary […]
2011
Posted inGeneral
Do something…
Just what a blind species we are — in the sense of showing hardly any capacity for foresight — was brought home to me again recently when I read a short article in TIME magazine on James Cameron’s visit to the province of Alberta, Canada, at the request of indigenous peoples, to see first-hand the […]
Posted inLifestyle
Faith won’t shape our future, facts will
By Roger Diamond Fashion and faith — more on the differences later — MAY have a role in shaping our destiny as a civilisation, species or society, but then again, they may not. Facts, however, will. First a bit on fashion. Fashion includes not only the mainstream idea around clothing and other relatively superficial aspects […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Moe Shaik, WikiLeaks and the importance of a free media
The explosive allegations being made by News24 and City Press regarding a WikiLeaks cable which claims that spy boss Moe Shaik and President Jacob Zuma threatened to expose the “political skeletons” of Zuma’s enemies and alleges that Shaik was being cultivated by the Americans is all the proof South Africans will ever need to know […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Right2Know: There’s a fight to be fought
By Glenda Daniels This is my first blog. I will write about confessions of a non-blogger, non-tweeter, non-Facebooker, another time. For now, an exciting, nerve-wracking, tense, but maybe even adventurous year awaits us. There are confusing issues to digest regarding the democratic space of the media in 2011 after the traumatic flurry last year: journalists’ […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Meshoe on Gbagbo: Who’s fooling who?
If Côte d’Ivoire was not a country on knife-edge; if there were no two presidents vying for power; if innocent lives were not being needlessly lost in that country; if the region of West Africa and the continent of Africa could afford yet another civil war in that neck of the woods; if the people […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
I want to fit into a box
I want to fit into a box. Kugels get to be in boxes. So do boytjies and tenderpreneurs, cougars and sugar daddies and yummy mummies. So why not me? I want to be able to describe who I am in a sentence. Life is perplexing, and I’d feel better were I to fit into the […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Why Power Balance® is like apartheid
It’s happened twice this weekend: once on Friday among the black-pants-and-blue-shirt-set at The Baron on Fredman Drive, once at the Ciao Baby Cucina in Cedar Square. That’s where I saw young men wearing Power Balance wristbands. You have to admire their persistence and their bravery, because they might as well be walking around wearing twinkling […]
Posted inGeneral
UK commission mulls assisted dying
The Commission on Assisted Dying, being conducted by Lord Falconer in the United Kingdom, is focusing upon a highly controversial issue which will become more and more contentious as the 21st century unfolds. It’s aim is to consider what system, if any, should exist to allow people to be helped to die and whether changes […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Taking refuge in a political fog
The British media furore around South Africa’s extradition application for Shrien Dewani, accused of the contract killing of his young Swedish bride while on honeymoon in Cape Town, is at turns laughable and infuriating.
Posted inGeneral
Do you know who I am?
By Ori Ben-zeev I remember hearing a story a couple of years ago about an Austrian prime minister who parked illegally and received a fine. Are you ready for the twist? He paid it and apologised. Definitely something unheard of in many, if not most, places in the world: a government official that does not […]
Posted inGeneral
Why is Dewani being compared to Shaik?
Judge Howard Riddle excused Shrien Dewani from attending Thursday’s preliminary extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates Court, which was postponed to February 8 for the purpose of the formal proceedings. As reported earlier today British publicist Max Clifford said that Shrien did not need to attend court because it is a 20-minute formality to fix a […]