Yesterday I was walking in Cape Town’s city centre with a good friend of mine. As we crossed the road, a few construction workers in a truck began to verbally harass her, calling her a string of disgusting things. So I yelled to them, “Fuck off!” They seemed rather indignant but obliged. Indignant, because they […]
Lifestyle
Posted inLifestyle, Media, News/Politics
Mbeki said African journalists are paid for counter-revolutionary sellouts
It is almost two months now since former president Thabo Mbeki accused some African journalists, “experts” and “analysts” of being paid for sellouts. Of course, this he did in a much-publicised letter in October in which he distanced himself from Terror Lekota’s Cope (sic.) His speaking truth to media has been greeted by resounding silence, […]
Posted inLifestyle
Love begins, friendship ends – the catch 22
Trying to cope with the debacle of Cope? Here is a respite from that political nothingness – a human piece for a change on Thought Leader; we all need a break from stories about the defenders of freedom with super-human power and squeaky voices. Love, why must it be this way? I have been inundated […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
The deranged musings of a police spokesperson
Geez. The life of a police spokesperson, I tell you. I thought I was getting a cushy desk job. I should have known better when I was the only one to stick up my hand when they asked for volunteers. Now I sit here taking the heat for everyone else’s f***-ups on a daily basis. […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
How Afrikaners, coloureds and blacks are abandoning their native tongues for English
The last 15 years have introduced two fundamental changes that have, inevitably, radically shaken South African society, language and culture. This is a not a new phenomenon where, perhaps for the first time in the 21st Century and its African modernity, parents are raising children who do not speak or understand their native tongue. In […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, Tech
Ten tips for travelling with a mobile office
It can be enormously confusing when you first set out to liberate yourself. Having a full-featured office that is not an office at all is a contradiction and a challenge — but also an enormously satisfying goal once it is achieved. The first few times you hit the road (or a restaurant, airline or conference) […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle, News/Politics
Dealing with www.dodgydudes.co.za
EVER heard the lament: there’s never a cop when you need one? In our, er … well, nation, it’s the second verse of the national anthem. Most of us whiteys don’t know this because we only get as far as the first verse before our tongues look like some old rope in the knot-tying event […]
Posted inLifestyle
Could the SA post office just not steal over Christmas?
We have simply learned not to send gifts back to South Africa unless the item is not worth stealing … which sort of makes it pointless to send worthwhile presents, doesn’t it? Family in New Zealand has sent family in SA stuff like the entire kiwi rugby clobber (there are some closet kiwi supporters in […]
Posted inLifestyle, News/Politics
Dr Water Crisis is seriously weird
Everyone is springing to the defence of Anthony Turton, the scientist suspended by the CSIR for his paper detailing the impending crisis in SA’s water supply. It makes grim reading. You will quickly understand why the CSIR tried to shut him up – and it’s got nothing to do with water. His paper is a […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
How to start a rumour with an iPhone
It struck me the other day when I read a message from a friend on Facebook. “Who’s Alan?” he wrote. Alan? I wondered. Alan? I don’t know any Alans. I went back over what I had written to him. I was explaining why I needed a polio shot and other vaccinations, according to my new […]
Posted inBusiness, Lifestyle
Global recession: are people jumping off buildings yet?
Gloom and doom, doom and gloom … Increasingly people around me in China are singing the blues because of the global crisis and resorting to vague generalisations (tautology intended) to explain their impoverished state of affairs. “A lot of companies are closing down because of the international crisis”, “many people are losing their jobs …” […]
Posted inLifestyle, Media
Biggs’ online teenage suicide a forerunner to snuff movies and dirty bombs?
A 19-year-old teenager from Florida, USA, Abraham K Biggs, elected to commit suicide before an online forum carrying an estimated audience of 1 500 viewers. With his webcam rolling he took an overdose of tablets and lay down on a bed. As always there those who did not take him seriously and actively encouraged him […]