Political “analysts” have been unanimous in their assessment of immediate challenges that president elect Barack Obama would have to contend with once sworn into office in January 2009. The most prominent and most obvious is the state of the economy of the United States (US). Obama inherits a dysfunctional economy which has plunged almost the […]
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Posted inNews/Politics
Syrian drought exacerbates food crisis
Syria, a country that is usually self sufficient, now finds itself importing wheat from other countries for the first time in 15 years. The country is trying to cope with the effects of the worst drought in 40 years. Farmers and villagers in the east of the country are worst affected by the poor rainfall […]
Posted inMedia, News/Politics
Does ‘Congress of the People’ make branding sense?
When selecting a name for your new brand, you should ask yourself a couple of questions. Is it differentiated? Is it memorable? Is it meaningful? Does it fit your brand image? Does it roll easily off the tongue? If it were to be shortened or altered in some way, such as in the form of […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Will we ever see black people the same way again?
I have been drumming my fingers waiting for a dozen or so Chinese friends to tell me what they thought of Obama winning. I told them I would weave their thoughts into a blog. They promised me they would. So far I have caught only two tadpoles on my email: “Personally, I think for a […]
Posted inLifestyle
‘Upon entering, abandon all reason’
“Why can’t I use one of our new classrooms downstairs when I teach on weekends?” I asked Cindy, the campus manageress. It’s too dangerous,” Cindy replied. My eyebrows rose as I tried to figure out that one. One of the really good private schools I freelance for in Shanghai, with the stunningly unoriginal and redundant […]
Posted inGeneral
2010 offers signs of hope on the crime front
In the dead of night, the Durban city centre is not for the faint-hearted. Like many CBDs around the world, criminals use the cover of darkness to operate and soft-targets – like tourists – are particularly vulnerable. But for one wonderful weekend a few months ago, the port city was one of the safest on […]
Posted inNews/Politics
If only Barack Obama was a Republican
In 1964, three young civil rights workers were abducted by die-hard white supremacist rednecks in Mississippi and cold-bloodedly murdered. Their crime? Assisting blacks to register as voters. James Chaney, Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner – one a black Mississippian and the other two Jewish human rights activists from New York – paid the ultimate price […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The ANC’s gift to the world: freedom of political choice and self-expression
The best gift the ANC has offered to dissidents that it now calls its “prodigal sons” is the right of political choice and freedom of association. After all, it is a voluntary organisation. It is for this reason that, so far, the ruling ANC has acted decisively and strongly to successfully halt its members from […]
Posted inGeneral
Magpie is a noisy bird
A new Twitter-based advertising service called Magpie was recently launched, giving Twitter users the opportunity to earn money in return for allowing adverts to be posted in their Twitter stream between updates. So if someone you follow has signed up to Magpie, these ads will appear in your timeline, under their username, but prefaced with […]
Posted inGeneral
Bok emblem: here comes trouble
Here comes trouble — big trouble — as in, “Come in Houston we have a problem.” You remember the Sports Indaba in Durban three weeks ago and then the brouhaha about the Springbok and who owns the trademark, which caught SA Rugby napping and which gave rise to such high-pitched shrill screaming from both sides? […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Deciphering the encrypted Mbeki “love” letter to Zuma
Thabo Mbeki has come out of temporary political obscurity with guns blazing! The letter he wrote to Jacob Zuma about the state of the party and chronic verbal diarrhoeas of its leadership is a further damaging indictment on the integrity of Zuma. Mbeki, in the best way he knows how, penetrated the defenceless soul of […]
Posted inBusiness, Media, Tech
Developing online ventures in SA
Ideas are free. Developing them into viable businesses, not so much. Developing them into viable online businesses…well…take a number. Especially if you live in South Africa. Entrepreneurs with exciting new ideas for online ventures usually have two problems: 1. They are unable to get funded for the first stage of developing their product 2. Their […]