General

Imagine that you are in your favourite room at home. My personal favourite room in the house is my bedroom. I love my bedroom because; simply by being in there, I reduce the statistical probability of running into my three-year old and accidentally ripping out his Adam’s apple by a factor of three. I’m a […]

God love ‘em, the world could use more mavericks like Boris Johnson and Jacob Zuma. Keep your dull politicians, your people of note with their perfect pedigrees and coiffed scalps, honed in austere academies, planed and sanded at the finest finishing schools. Give us a world governed by floppy moptops, foot-in-the-mouth blunderers and sloppy dressers […]

South African President Thabo Mbeki, having failed to query how Zanu-PF knew the result of the presidential election a month before the ZEC, and ignored all reports of murder, torture and intimidation which started immediately thereafter — no doubt in anticipation of the run-off Mugabe had decided on — has now advised religious leaders that […]

Driving around a typical Johannesburg suburb, the most eye catching thing is that every house is surrounded by a wall at least 6 feet high. And these walls are decorated with electric fences or barbed wire. Their electric gates let in only the right people. These walls keep the bad people out (most of the […]

Over the past few months I’ve twice been asked to appear as a pundit on the BBC World Service’s “Have your say” programme dealing with Barack Obama’s bid to become the Democratic Party’s nomination for the White House. In both cases the question of race and its effect on his candidacy was the pivotal point […]

It’s very tempting to think that your piece of software is very unique. In fact, why would you have a need for this software, if someone else thought about it already? As the old saying goes: “There’s nothing new under the sun.” And it’s quite true. There is almost never any new ideas or thoughts. […]

“Yaapies” is how the Australian writer Malcolm Knox referred to South African cricketers in his 2005 novel Adult Book. Some may take exception to this, but it has to be acknowledged that he also manages to sum up very neatly what is wrong not just with our national cricket team, but with the South African […]

In your pursuit of making millions online, the most important decision you will have to make is choosing the correct niche as your target audience. Do not fall into the trap of playing the “it’s for everyone” game, because it never is, and even if it was, you would never be able to afford it. […]

Many people involved in the South African (and global) social media industry will agree that, if anything, these past few years have taught us a lot about web-based content and copywriting, online communities and networks, and marketing and communications on the internet. We have also seen how numerous companies, both locally and abroad, find value […]

During the past few weeks I seem to have spawned a fan club of several charming individuals who have left comments informing me that because I am white I have no right to tackle issues such as the Zimbabwean crisis. It’s interesting because these persons don’t demand that I censor myself on the basis of […]

You’ve been reading the blog for a while now so by this time you know I am vehemently anti–racist — getting bombed by the left and the right for standing up for one group or another at different times. If I tell the whites to accept Skielik as racist I get pounded. If I tell […]