General

A grouped of 800+ volunteers cheered as the passionate expression behind the words sunk in. “Of all the host cities for the Fifa 2009 Confederations Cup and 2010 World Cup, Rustenburg is the only one with its stadium located right at the heart of a typical SA semi-rural settlement, in Phokeng village,” said Nketu Matima, […]

While Windows 7 is constantly in the news this year, we can finally start making an educated judgement on what significance this product might have. In the last 10 years just about any Windows release was plagued by the same problems time and time again. If you want an idea of what I am talking about […]

Apparently newspapers used to report the news. I can’t say for sure because that was before my time. Those were the days. It has been my observation that reporting the news in newspapers has become old-fashioned. Let’s call the current approach in the mainstream print media the Bugger-Facts-Opinion-Rules (BFOR) model. So, for instance, if Tito […]

My oral Mandarin is at the lower intermediate level. In my school office which I share with eight Chinese ladies, mostly English teachers, I often hear them talking about me, the only foreigner (not untypical) at their school. This is even though I introduced myself in Chinese when I first started at this school on […]

It has been tantalising the internet audience for a while now: the intimation of a clever search that understands humans and gives results that are not just more or less relevant, but actually represent a correct answer to a search query. In May 2009 a new “knowledge engine” goes live. Named Wolfram Alpha, it claims […]

by Suntosh Pillay Half-sunk, shattered and forgotten, but the inscription remained, mortal words of an evaporated legacy: “My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!” This, said a traveller from an antique land, was once a vast statue of a mighty ruler. Ozymandias, the sonnet by Percy Shelley, […]

“Morality does not resonate well if your stomach is empty” — Thought Leader commentator, Ian Shaw on my blog, “On the idea of evil and Zuma” “Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?” famously says the Roman poet Juvenal, “who will guard the guards?” more commonly rendered as who will watch the watchers? South Africa and the world […]

I was busy lighting up a soy burger when I noticed an article in the Tonight which said that my all-time favourite radio host/presenter/DJ — whichever they prefer to be called — Jeremy Mansfield (Mannesfield) had no sooner returned home from a holiday in the Seychelles when he was diagnosed as having a serious medical […]

Jacob Zuma has never been a man who aroused any pride in me as a citizen of this country; nor has he inspired much confidence in me to impose the trust of leadership on his shoulders. There are those who without a degree of hesitation would give an arm on his behalf; driven by their […]

Sure, one version of the original goes, “See no evil, hear no evil, do no evil”. The saying suggests role models and that our behaviour and viewpoints are the result of what is modelled for us. If we are not exposed to evil we will not do evil, is the implication, perhaps naïve to some. […]

Rugby is barreling along at 100 miles an hour on and off the field. With so much critical stuff going on it can sometimes pass you by and the next 60 days are massive — Rugby World Cup bids for 2015 and 2019, the Sanzar expansion of Super Rugby and the Tri-Nations to Four Nations […]

It is a few days before president-elect Jacob Zuma is sworn into office. His journey thus far has been colourful to say the least and whatever criticism he may attract, you have to give him 10 out of 10 for tenacity and dogged determination. Much has been written about how the country is on an […]