In a time when the latest album or movie is available, for free, to anyone, from your desktop, where is the incentive to hand over money for the identical item? Is it a moral imperative? And what is the moral issue? The line that we’re constantly being fed by the copyright folks is simple: piracy […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle
New York, New York, here I come!
Uh huh. I just signed an international book deal with St Martin’s Publishers in New York (Fifth Avenue, nogal!) Strange Nervous Laughter will be published in the USA next year! I am so excited! St Martin’s (http://us.macmillan.com/SMP.aspx) is apparently quite a big deal… They publish Jeffrey Archer. And Augusten Burroughs. That’s enough of a big […]
Posted inLifestyle
Why do white people emigrate?
I think that there is a false perception among certain white people who believe that they are somehow under siege; that crime only affects them. Blacks are more heavily affected by violent crime. And so this begs the question: Why do white people emigrate and blacks don’t? (This is a YouTube video.)
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
What makes a person great?
Robert Mugabe won’t leave office. Thabo Mbeki made a bid for a third term and will leave a country ravaged by inflation, high unemployment, ineptness at high levels in government and business, and erratic electricity supplies. The Economist last week said, in the angriest editorial I can ever recall from that journal: “Can Thabo Mbeki, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Going nowhere slowly
“So is the flight on time?” I ask. “Yes,” she replies, lying through her teeth. “Are you sure there are no delays today?” “Not as far as I know,” she smiles, maintaining her chirpy disposition. She hands me my boarding pass knowing full well that once I pass security, there is no way I can […]
Posted inLifestyle
African beauty is not in the hands of the beholder …
Submitted by Cynthia Ayeza There was a time that I believed that the idea behind the Nokia Face of Africa was brilliant as it inspired young girls to get into modelling careers. The show inevitably gave a limited variety of girls the opportunity to compete more on a physical level than on an intellectual level. […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
BEE’s ‘married bachelors’ and a moral centre that cannot hold
Since the advent of black economic empowerment — an outward expression of the worship of money — the moral centre of the previously disadvantaged community does not hold. As a result, many families are falling apart. The new trend, it seems, is that many men now love money more than their wives. After all, when […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
How children’s rights are violated on Facebook
When a 14-year-old Johannesburg schoolgirl’s Facebook account was “broken into” and abusive messages and material sent to friends and family, she was deeply traumatised. But at least, she imagined, Facebook would assist in tracking down the perpetrators. It was not to be. Facebook is easily able to fend off spurious complaints about wasting productive time, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Thabo really needs a smoothie
I am worried our president is just not getting a proper breakfast. How else can you explain his, well, erratic behaviour these days? There may not be a crisis in Zimbabwe, but I think there is definitely one in the Tuynhuis kitchen. What on earth are they feeding the poor guy in the morning? Worse, […]
Posted inLifestyle
A pleasure to visit this library
So, you are all feeling a little glum, it seems. Between the Zimbabwe elections turning into a farce, our president denying that he said there wasn’t a crisis, the Scorpions being sent packing with their collective tails between their legs, food and fuel prices going up, the interest rate going up, and the general lack […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Innovative inspiration (aka websites)
Just three today, but they’re all winners, as far as I’m concerned. This is kind of the continuation of my tapping into the design vein on the internet and seeing what I can find. There is a wealth of extraordinary stuff out there! So here are three whimsical Friday offerings: Sfgirlbybay (http://sfgirlbybay.blogspot.com/). At first, it […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Media
The anti-cactus fountain trap is here. Women rejoice
Most major corporates invest millions of rands on innovation or R&D departments. R&D is that activity in the corporate world in which a bunch of nerdy, humourless and generally clueless sourpuss-scientist types spend their days creating products that will only become useful in the year 3245 AD and/or have no commercial value whatsoever. There’s a […]