And in Duh News today, a new scientific study has provided irrefutable proof that the brains of gay men are different to straight men’s brains. By show of hands, who is surprised to learn that this groundbreaking scientific achievement was conducted in Stockholm, Sweden? This is just the type of endeavour that the bored Swedes […]
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Posted inBusiness, Media, News/Politics
The joy of officespeak
Many writers decry office-speak such as “going forward” or “step up to the plate” as “useless” or “irritating”. Let’s celebrate it instead. There are many uses for office-speak, or biz-speak, or buzzwords. “Going forward” has especially come in for criticism as a kind of nervous tick in business speech, a filler phrase without any meaning […]
Posted inGeneral
South Africans: A tale of contradictions?
In an attempt to illuminate a view that South Africa is a complex case, and not special per se, I said that “South Africans have been consistently giving most of us an impression that we are developing some form of national identity. Public opinion surveys have been showing a trend of improving ‘social cohesion’”. All […]
Posted inGeneral
SA Rugby’s dirty laundry just gets dirtier………now with audio
http://www.pmg.org.za/node/12721SA Rugby Super 14 franchise participation agreement: six franchises Last week Tuesday, SA Rugby’s president was caught on tape, flanked by his SA Rugby chairman, Mpumelelo Tshume, telling pork pies. Not one eeny-teeny porkie for which you might be inclined to say, “Oops, sorry,” but three whoppers and a most hurtful and disparaging remark on […]
Posted inBusiness
Walking on HR eggshells
Before I joined my current company, I worked for a small firm in San Francisco where part of my role involved interviewing people to join our team. Before I was allowed to interview anyone though, I had to go through human resources training about the types of questions I was and was not allowed to […]
Posted inGeneral
Online conversion paths – the intelligent road to results
Online retailers are particularly sensitive to the effectiveness of their online checkout process. The measurement metric of shopping cart abandonment is a no brainer — if people abandon a virtual trolley piled high with goodies prior to check out, the till does not ring and marketing expenses incurred in attracting customers in the first place […]
Posted inGeneral
Why programmers must do customer support
It dawned on me recently that programmers also do customer support. They have to help end-users get online at WiFi Hotspots and they need to help Hotspot owners set up new hotspots and help process payments to them. These tasks lie primarily with our technical division and accounting, but we rotate incoming phone calls to […]
Posted inGeneral
When online business is stuck in the last century
It’s taken me more than a little while to get round to breaking the seal on this blog. For openers, I’m taking the easy way out and plumping for a rant about two South African business sectors whose digital incarnations leave a lot to be desired. Exhibit A: Inbound Travel Where would the booming South […]
Posted inGeneral
Bring back the ban on foreign-based rugby players.
Two recent newspaper headlines “Grant turns down R10 million” and “Springbok captain John Smit released for club duty”, provide plenty food for thought. They once again raise questions about the expediency or necessity of allowing foreign-based rugby players to be eligible for Springbok selection. It could give a perception , probably false, that the honour […]
Posted inNews/Politics
The Lisbon Treaty and European Unification
Adoption of the Lisbon Treaty requires unanimous support by the European Union’s 27 member states. Ireland held a referendum on 12 June 2008, giving its citizens the opportunity to decide on the country’s relationship with the European Union. Ireland was the only country constitutionally obliged to hold a referendum, for Lisbon requires changes to Ireland’s […]
Posted inMedia
The Peddlar, the Minister and the Inspector
Justice Zondi’s careful and deliberate judgment in the Cape High Court case brought by the Treatment Action Campaign (TAC) and South African Medical Association (SAMA) against Dr Matthias Rath and others, has several interesting consequences. The main issues in the case were whether or not Dr Rath had been conducting unauthorised clinical trials, whether or […]
Posted inGeneral
Time to give ourselves credit
I wanted to bemoan Bafana Bafana’s beating this past weekend, worst of all to a small fish like Sierra Leone. But I couldn’t! In fact, I found myself calmly and rationally appreciating the reality of our current situation. Incidentally, the sentiment I’m about to share was echoed by non other than our state president, His […]