If betting odds are any indication, then New Zealand will play England in the final of RWC 2011. The weekend’s results have caused a major shuffle at the New Zealand TAB. While Australia and South Africa remain as second and third favourites respectively to win the tournament, their odds of making the final are now […]
General
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SMS recruitment levels the playing field
SMS has shown its ability to act as a catalyst for social change time and time again. From farming, to healthcare, to education and banking, the ease with which information can be accessed and shared via SMS has levelled the playing fields for marginalised members of society around the world. Increasingly this applies to employment […]
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A farewell and the human need for ritual
As you prepare to return to China you seek a farewell ritual. As always, you are drawn to amazing hikes through unspoilt forest regions right where you live in Auckland, New Zealand. It’s unbelievable that you live in the biggest city in New Zealand, and yet, in half an hour’s walk, you can be sitting […]
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2012
Have you seen the movie 2012? It paints a scary, Armageddon type picture of the world in 2012. Just a reminder to you all it is now September 2011 … I thought I would look at such a picture in relation to South African rugby. As is common in world rugby teams, coaches and captains […]
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There’s a breakdown
So we are one week into the RWC for 2011 and I must say I need to eat some words which I posted on my Twitter feed @GregHurvitz accusing the International Rugby Board (IRB) of not doing much for the “minnow” teams. I apologise to the IRB for this as I have been really impressed […]
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Ubuntu — beyond the (ism)
By Nondumiso Hlophe When was the last time you really thought about how you choose your words? The words that you choose to use — or not to use — are often indicative of what you know and what you value. When I was younger, my mom told me never to use a word, unless […]
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Data gaga
By Bright Simons A cynic with an attitude called Aldous Huxley once made some remarks to the effect that experts go on meandering excursions in search of understanding only to discover at the destination that non-experts had been at the same spot all along. One matter that unites development experts and non-experts alike is the […]
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My consciousness is not up for discussion
It’s unofficially national Black Consciousness Month, the month when we commemorate the brutal and untimely death of Steve Biko on September 12 1977, and what an interesting month it has been thus far. Until Steve Biko’s “I write what I like” landed on my lap, I had been living in oblivion to how abnormal my […]
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How do we heal Earth?
Is there a connection between the exploitation of Earth – in the guise of her so-called “resources” – and capitalism? And, given the age-old conception of Earth as female, or the “Great Mother” (associated with the Goddess of hunter-gatherer times), is there a link between the rise and dominance of patriarchy and this veritable “assault” […]
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Ignore the URL at your peril
In the online world, the URL is ever-present. It is the digital home of businesses large and small, the currency of social exchange, and the thread on which the hyperlinked web exists. There can be few more important building blocks to the Internet as we know it, but all too often the humble URL has […]
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Steve Biko is dead?
Someone recently said that when Steve Biko died 34 years ago, his philosophy of Black Consciousness died with him. They went on to charge that his inspiring and life-affirming psycho-political programme had been badly mangled by the Azanian People’s Organisation, which could not comprehend its essence beyond their obsession with the politics of skin colour. […]
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Cricket South Africa’s summer of farcical cover-ups
The Proteas are gearing up for a busy summer with Australia and Sri Lanka visiting these shores. Gary Kirsten and his new coaching staff have kept a low profile as they settle into their new positions, which is in far contrast to the suits who live in the realm of corporate governance on Corlett Drive […]