This is more a question for me than you. You probably don’t care why I don’t write on Thought Leader anymore. But if you do, or you’re bored, here is why. I am looking at an open word doc. Blank. Over the last few months I have done this many times. Always with the intention […]
David J Smith
David Smith is a world famous artist and a British Olympic hammer thrower. He is a curler for Scotland and Manitoba. A pro wrestler fondly known as the British Bulldog. A Canadian economist and a Mormon missionary they call the Sweet Singer of Israel. He is a British historian and a bishop. David Smith is the biographer of HG Wells, a professor of physics, a composer and a music teacher at Yale. He played rugby for Samoa, England and New Zealand. He created the Melissa worm, a deadly computer virus. He is the Guardian's man in Africa, he starred in a reality TV show and shot his way to silver in the 600m military rifle prone position at the 1920 Summer Olympics in Antwerp.
But this isn't that David Smith. This is the blog of the other David Smith. David J Smith. The one from Durban by the Sea. The one who lives in Amsterdam. Yes, him. The David Smith who likes to write about himself in the third person.
To learn about all the other David Smiths:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Smith
To contact this David Smith:
[email protected]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Has the internet sidetracked us from greatness?
Yesterday we celebrated the 50th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s flight into space. Yesterday we celebrated the bravery of one man and the heroic effort of many to launch him into space. Our first step on the path to becoming intergalactic beings. But that was yesterday, and today is today. And in the cold harsh light […]
Posted inGeneral
Will Manning become Obama’s Gitmo?
After Bush, Obama was a breath of fresh air. A man who seemed smart, rational and decent. Of all these qualities the last is the clincher. Decent. That’s what you want from a leader. You want a decent man. A man who bears witness to the basic tenets that his country was founded on. A […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Are you looking for Jesus Two?
No matter how advanced we become, no matter how far up the evolutionary ladder we think we have clambered, there is one thing we continue to do. Look for the next man-god. Someone we can put on a pedestal. Someone to worship. A perfect being who can do no wrong, who will carry us in […]
Posted inGeneral
Are drivers the new smokers?
Back in the 60s, the smokers were the mainstream. They were the ones who strutted their puff, sucked everyone in with their smoky charm, and made friends with their nicotine sticks. While the anti-smoking lobby were considered the lunatic fringe, a bunch of commies, hippies, ninnies and stuck-up grannies. They were definitely not the norm. […]
Posted inBusiness
American corporations set Tunisia and Egypt free
If the digital punters out there are to be believed, it is the power of some corporates in California that is setting the Arab world free. It is the venture capitalists, the CEOs, the boardroom visionaries of Palo Alto that are to be thanked for the groundswell we are seeing in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen and […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Maybe Malema was right about raped women
Remember when Julius said that a woman who stays for breakfast and asks for taxi fare obviously enjoyed herself? Basically implying that the girl who accused Zuma of rape was a lying slut. Do you remember that? Do you remember how we all got angry with him? And said that in a country where women […]
Posted inNews/Politics
What do the WikiLeaks really teach us?
This week’s massive release of US diplomatic cables has dominated much of our news space. For some it is a breach of security by traitors. For others it is the act of a hero. The dawn of a new information age. For me it is just another example of us getting played. Not a single […]
Posted inSport
Can we double the methylhexaneamine dose?
Drugs in sport are bad, unethical, unsporting, even dangerous to the athletes’ lives. But they are not as bad as losing to Scotland. They are the minnows of the six nations, the one team you can pretty much bank on beating. Well, that is if you’re a semi-decent team. But the Boks, at the moment, […]
Posted inSport
Why are Rugby League players so dumb?
I know it is not right to judge sportsmen by their intellect, or their ability to string a sentence together. You’d never do the reverse to an astrophysicist. You’d never say: Einstein, genius, but awful ball skills. That would be stupid. But with all that said, one would like to hope that our sports heroes […]
Posted inLifestyle
How do poor people have babies?
In two weeks time my wife and I are having a baby. More my wife than me, I can’t take too much credit for these things. Yes, I played my part. But I don’t have to carry it around for 9 months, or deal with all the strange ills that come from having an alien […]
Posted inSport
A letter to John Smit
Dear John It is strange to start a letter like that. It has the connotations of a break-up. That we are splitting up, parting ways. Well, in some ways we are. I’m going deep undercover in Australia. For the next while, I will be living like a bogan. I will be wearing the stubbies and […]