“Judgment of our friends ought to be suspected when they are in favour of ourselves” – Rene Descartes (1659 – 1650) We are as humans, endowed with the abundance of prejudice; and which like reason is by nature equally distributed among all of us; it however manifest in varying degrees. None of us can with […]
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Posted inNews/Politics
Unravelling the Zimbabwe problem
It has long been suggested by many that Mugabe cannot rig the economy. It is an interesting but unconvincing argument. The complexity of the Zimbabwe problem is one which we may only fully understand with the benefit of hindsight, assuming all the pieces of the puzzle fit together in our lifetimes. It was the economy, […]
Posted inGeneral
Who owns digital marketing?
I have been following the series of Direct Marketing articles by Kieth Wiser published on Marketing Web with interest. I have noticed with particular interest, some defensive views from the Above The Line (ATL) crowd who are laying claim to the digital marketing crown. As an outsider to the both ATL and direct marketing, the […]
Posted inGeneral
Interviewed by Ning: My thoughts on niche social networking …
I had an interesting opportunity recently to air my thoughts on niche social networking. Specifically, the shallow nature of “social networks” in general — and why business in this country is still hesitant and still searching for real value from the Facebooks of the world. The interview came about as a result of our pioneering […]
Posted inBusiness, News/Politics
To BEE or not to BEE?
The brouhaha surrounding the Pretoria High Court’s ruling to reclassify South African-born Chinese (pre-1994) as coloured is turning into a “broken telephone” message — ironically, also known as a “Chinese whisper”. When viewed from outside the country, the issue would seem quite farcical, if only it were not so tragic. The nitpicking and mud-slinging that […]
Posted inGeneral
When your country lets you down
In theory, I could live almost anywhere in the world. I have a US education, an EU passport, a work-from-anywhere career and have already called four countries home. I have chosen to settle in South Africa, not because it is my country of birth (it isn’t) and certainly not because of a lack of choices. […]
Posted inGeneral
Google pushes mobile to offline South Africans
Reading the (offline) newspaper this weekend, it was interesting to see a selection of Google adverts across various sections. For instance, in Independent Newspapers’ Travel 2008 supplement, there’s an advert with the caption “Find flights to Johannesburg on your mobile”. The advert features a picture of a mobile phone, in this case the Nokia N95, […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Next week in (East) Jerusalem
My most recent memory of Jerusalem stretches back more than 20 years. I had just spent a year studying in Israel — first Hebrew in Jerusalem and then architecture in Haifa — and had decided to return home to Johannesburg. I was visiting friends at the Mount Scopus campus of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, […]
Posted inLifestyle, Tech
Power saving made fun and clever
Since we all have to think about saving electricity from now on – if not in the hope that it will avoid future load shedding than perhaps to keep our personal the electricity bill down – I thought it might be a good idea to find out what quirky inventions are out there that could […]
Posted inGeneral
The dark side of the beautiful game
It may be the beautiful game, but the world’s most popular sport is also synonymous with death and destruction. Take the qualifying campaign for the 2010 World Cup, for example. Earlier this month, 10 fans died before a 2010 World Cup qualifier between Gambia and Liberia at the overcrowded Samuel L. Doe stadium in Monrovia. […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The anti-capitalist clown
Over on ThoughtLeader, Bert Olivier, an academic of the philosophical persuasion, rails against those who defend “the unforgiveable practices of capitalism”. I hardly know where to start, but as one of the people who frequently offers a defence for the practices of capitalism, I’ll make a few general points in rebuttal, though.
Posted inGeneral
Learning lessons from innovative small companies
Well-run smaller companies are often agile and responsive, in short, they are communication innovators — more so when compared to the giant corporate dinosaurs at the top of the financial food chain. This realisation became most apparent after a recent presentation given by one of the largest private banking institutions in South Africa outlining three […]