General

“So,” I chooned told ou Phil, “you should have seen my mutt Bruce. He was a Labrador and he couldn’t stop eating. My mother believed he must still be hungry if he was happy to have more. My old lady and blurry Bruce were a scary combination. She would just keep piling up his dog […]

I read with disdain a Thought Leader blog that called the farming of meat “evil”. I have just returned to Canada and I visiting my parents on the farm and it is killing time. I say this to be provocative and honest about what we do. The chickens and turkeys are fully grown and we […]

To build the society that we want to live in, which principle do we think is more important — mercy or justice? This was the topic of the latest of the discussion groups that I attended. At first most of us had our knee-jerk opinion — we had decided on our principles and decided which […]

When de-colonisation was sweeping across Africa, the leaders that took charge of the newly created democracies on this continent were often given the title of “Big Men”. It describes those individuals who were directly responsible for their countries’ liberation, and then took control with an unyielding fist. Examples include Kenya’s Daniel Arap Moi, former Zaire’s […]

Today, sport is everywhere. With satellite communications becoming the norm rather then the exception in the 1990s, the Oozies (2000s) have seen satellite television coverage, especially that of sport, mushroom in a fashion comparable to that of the daisies in the Namaqualand spring. SuperSport is one of the world’s largest and most successful broadcasters of […]

If you like Peeing in Eldorado, and getting caught in the rain. If you’re not into yoga, and you can’t stand the arms deal drain. Call Patricia at 021 792 6435 —————– Man looking for Women — South Africa From each according to his ability, to each according to his need And man did I […]

Every so often we are faced with a news story that divides opinion and causes heavy debate. In these cases, emotion often rules supreme and otherwise pleasant people become laptop dictators demanding justice and punishment. They seldom know more than the basic public stance, cry righteous indignation without a semblance of objectivity, and the baying […]

Ich bin ein Berliner. — John F Kennedy, 1963 Zwei Berliner, bitte. — Tertius Kapp, 2009 21/10/09, 15:34 JFK famously called himself a doughnut (a specific German variety known as a “Berliner”) during a 1963 speech underlining the USA’s support for West Germany. Recently, party poopers have been pointing out that he was technically correct […]

But what if all that stuff about “kissing the joy as it flies”, which I wrote about some time ago here (see “The pragmatics of love”), just does not seem to work, or work out, and despite all one’s attempts to do justice to one’s beloved — albeit within the inescapable limits of one’s humanity […]

Next season’s Formula 1 season looks like it’s going to be one of the most intriguing yet. There won’t be a certain Max Mosley, whose reign as President of Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) was full of scandals. Some said the sports governing body showed favouritism in how it handled some of the disciplinary cases. […]

By David Maimela Dear Prof I write an open letter to you deliberately to protest your first major wrong decision at UFS. And I sincerely hope it finds you well. No need to patronise you at all. We both know that I admire you for many other reasons and we talk anytime. I won’t enter […]

Apart from the lamentable tendency to misspell “Gandhi” as “Ghandi”, failing to distinguish between the Treason Trial and the Rivonia Trial would seem to be the most common error even reasonably educated people make when it comes to South African history. Usually, it is the second trial, where Nelson Mandela et al were famously put […]