BEIJING (AFP) - China will launch "the most luxurious train in the world" to ply the route from Beijing to Tibet's capital Lhasa, state media reported Sunday.
However, a ride on the train, which will begin operations on September 1, will be about 20 times more expensive than the ordinary fare of about 2,000 yuan (280 dollars), Xinhua news agency said.
"The interior of the train will be decorated according to the standards of a five-star hotel, making it the most luxurious train in the world," said Zhu Mingrui, general manager of the Qinghai-Tibet Railway Corporation.
"Such a train can only seat 96 passengers. The fare would be about 20 times the normal price and also much more than an airline ticket," he said.
There will be three trains, which will head from Beijing to Lhasa every eight days. The luxury journey will take five days.
More.
NVDL: Train tickets more expensive than airplane tickets. Wonder how long that will last 2 years from now?
Tuesday, March 11, 2008
China plans 'most luxurious train in the world' to Tibet: report
Finance Markets: There Will Be (Much More) Blood Soon and Later
Right now brent Crude is $104.38 - Up 1.95%
Rand - $8.0318 Up 0.22%
I predicted a few weeks ago that by June/July Crude will be about $105-120. That prediction remains in place.
More: Rand continues to tread water
Pain on petrol, rand may ease
Postcards From the Photographer's Precipice: Trash The Wedding Dress
Apparently it's big in...no, not Japan, Britain... Couples get married, do the whole stereotypical lovey dovey shoot, go on honeymoon and then when they get back, the bride hauls the humongously expensive (and post honeymoon barely fitting dress) out of storage, stuffs her boobs and hips back into it, and with photographer in tow, they do another shoot. You can either go for it 110% and wallow in mud, or play paintball with each other, or do the sanitised version: burst open bottles of bubbly, spill generous dollops over your partner and then...dry clean.
It's a dress you'll wear once in your life. Why not get twice your money's worth, and have some fun while you're at it...?
Kunstler: Going...Going...
The feigned cluelessness in Paul Krugman's Sunday New York Times column ("The Face-Slap Theory") about the meltdown in finance is a good index of the cringing mendacity now emanating from those in service to the centers of power. I doubt an editor, or the publisher, Mr. Sulzberger, had to whisper in his ear to soft-pedal the situation. I don't even believe anything like his job depends on it. Krugman's glossing-over the truth is just social cowardice. He doesn't want to be called out dissing fellow members of his club.
Krugman avers to the Federal Reserve's two previous big efforts since August to bail out the insolvent banks, insurers, and hedge funds with cheap loans as "slaps in the faces" of these wobbling corporations -- "yo, wake the fuck up!" -- as if narcolepsy was their only problem. (Try that with a wino on the sidewalk outside the Port Authority bus terminal and see if he immediately signs up for rehab and a high school equivalency program.) Krugman calls the club's latest plan -- for the Fed to just suck up their impaired and worthless collateral in exchange for more cheap loans -- as a "third slap," saying, with all the panache of a midwestern Rotary Club secretary, that "the third time could be the charm." Had the monkeys already flown out of his butt as he wrote that, I wonder.
The line in Krugman's column I love best, though is this one: "Last month another market you’ve never heard of, the $300 billion market for auction-rate securities (don’t ask), suffered the equivalent of a bank run." His presumes that his readers go along with his pretense of innocence. We've never heard of the municipal bond market and it's too complicated to explain so "don't ask." Is he writing for the "newspaper of record" or Highlights For Children? Maybe it would be a good thing if readers of The New York Times asked what the fuck was going on in these markets so they could yank their depreciating dollars out and deploy them elsewhere or convert them into something of value.
Well it was a bad week on the money scene in what is sure to be a worsening year. Paul Krugman and his fellow club members can pretend that the hallucinated finance economy is not really flying to pieces. After all, he / they are trying to avert panic. But, as noted previously in this space, the only thing we have to fear is not fear itself. We have to fear the consequences of actions by a banking leadership that has shown the grossest irresponsibility (and an American public that has been conditioned to expect a steady diet of getting something for nothing).
The US faces a pretty stark choice right now: it can let the losers take their losses -- both the big institutions who created and traded in fraudulent securities, and all the "little guys" who borrowed too much money trying to get rich quick, or trying to live like the millionaires they see on TV. We can let them go down, and suffer the consequences of their bad choices (and maybe prosecute some of the culpable bankers and corporate executives), OR, in an effort to let these losers off the hook we can wreck the whole machinery of capital by making our medium-of-exchange worthless.
The people in charge -- both in and out of government -- can't face the losses, so for now they've apparently decided to wreck the currency. The dollar has lost two percent of its value against the Euro just in recent weeks, as cheap loans from the Fed pour into the black hole on Wall Street (never to be seen again). Other soft-pedalers in the media claim that the financial markets have "already priced in" yet another expected .75-point interest rate drop by the Fed this week, but I'm confident that such a move will only accelerate the dollar's vanishing act.
I'll admit, it's hard to believe what's going on in the American finance sector. But incredulity in the face of a rare catastrophe isn't the same as pretending that it's not happening. A whole flock of black swans is flying in front of the sun. Don't expect to work on your tan this month.
From www.kunstler.com
Monday, March 10, 2008
The Argus Jitter
I had a horrific sleep in Three Anchor Bay (about 2km from the start) the night before the race. It was hot and humid, so covered flesh wasn't an option. Flesh eating mozzies feasted on me, so much so it felt like I'd been jogging through ankle deep nettles. At different times in the night I turned on the lamp and waited for these monsters. These are also not regular mozzies. Most mozzies languish on your skin and are easy to squish. These guys were small and stealthy. Turn on a light and they disappear. Move, just a slight shift, and they're gone. Even so, I persisted and managed to assassinate 5. Yet more remained to pester me throughout the sweaty wee hours.
But let's get on to the race itself.
The Cape Times today reports about 65 crashes and just 3 serious injuries in yesterday's race. I was in group E. I'm guessing 61 of those crashes were in our group; the guys got spooked quickly and often. The first bodies and bicycles to use the tar road as an urban tanning pad happened before Hospital Bend, but they kept up the "WHOOOOAH" alerts at regular intervals right up until the finish line. Ja, a guy decided to get off his bike and sit in the road with about 300m to go.
So I did a 3:05:50. I'm happy with the effort I put in. Heart rate averaged a high 158, and after Suikerbossie my muscles were on the edge of cramping. I climbed happily and steadily. My biggest booboo was arriving latish and so slotting into the back of E. Thus when the first guys decided to lounge on the tar, I found myself in the second bunch. I made a break and caught them as we entered Muizenberg, but was caught napping at Smitswinkel. As I summit ted the front bunch had drifted on ahead and I'd assumed we'd stick together.
First 39km in 1hour. Halfway at 1h28min. I was tired when I arrived at the bottom of Chapman's peak, at about 2:10. I ate and hydrated very well, which was important after Carnival City, and in the heat. Suikerbossie was hot, and I started easy, getting into a rhythm. Got stronger and faster near the top, pushing my heart rate to it's maximum (171). The temperature of Suikerbossie was pretty hot, 28 C for us at around 9:45am.
Alex did a 2:46 and came 10th in the vets, Helmut who lost a minute to me last year came in 2:53 (wow), and my brother did what I could not, he slipped in just under 3 hours (2:59).
In the Standard Bank Hospitality tent afterwards we heard some horrific stories. One guy hit a small child at full tilt, someone else smashed into a pram that wondered into the road. Someone else had derailleur problems and had to have it sawed off and 'MacGuyvered' to get going again. A lot of people in different groups said that there were a lot of riders who wanted to know what it felt like to put their bumps on the tar beach. I'm guessing it wasn't much fun.
I'm happy with how I rode given my fitness; I improved over 2 minutes on 2007's time. But I feel a bit disappointed in the sense that I want to be riding better and performing better; riding with better riders. This means I need to do more races in Joburg and solve the Saturday ride dilemma. I don't think I rode on a single Saturday. Alex does MTB that day and I haven't demonstrated initiative to go and ride somewhere else. So need to make a plan there. But I am motivated and keen to shatter 3:05 next year - jitters or not.
Saturday, March 08, 2008
The 1:14 Effect
By the time you read this I will probably have been airborne and back on Earth again. In a few hours (as I write this) I will be 1500km from my present location, luxuyriating in plentiful oxygen and sea vistas. Meanwhile, tomorrow, hard work and toil is on the cards. Will I go under 3hours?
So I was swimming in the open air pool at Old Eds and I said to myself: "If you can swim 100m faster than 1:15, then you're gonna break 3hours in the Argus. The background to this is my first swim was 1:21, second one 1:17 (and gasping painfully). I allowed myself a dive, but not off the blocks. So I did a 1:14.
I then went to weigh myself: 84.3kg. Alex predicts a 3:10. I'm predicting 3:03-3:05. Time will tell.
Friday, March 07, 2008
Pick 'n Pay Rocks
About a week ago I went to the Norwood Pick 'n Pay and amongst other things bought a massive bag of toilet paper - quite a bargain for R24.99. The person packing my groceries hung the bag on the front outside of my trolley. So when I'd unpacked everything into the boot of my car, I didn't see the toilet paper. I realised my dof mistake when I arrived home, but I couldn't be bothered to drive back...
So yesterday I went to buy two day's worth of pre-Argus grub. I went to the customer service section and explained what had happened...in the back of my mind I saw a little scenario of car guards smuggling their booty to a corner of the parking lot. And then...the lady asked: "Do you have a till slip?" No. "Do you remember when you bought the toilet rolls?"
I said I wasn't sure. Probably a Saturday, but I did remember what the product looked like and the price.
She opened a log book, and started scanning. I glanced at the list too, looking for R24.99. We quickly spotted it. I signed for it and was allowed to pick up a replacement. That's awesome service guys, thanks!
Marriage Jokes
Getting married is like going to a restaurant. When you see what everyone else has ordered you wish you were having what they're having.
Married life is very frustrating.
In the first year of marriage, the man speaks and the woman listens.
In the second year, the woman speaks and the man listens.
In the third year, they both speak and the neighbours listen.
I haven't spoken to my Mother-In-Law for eighteen months....I don't like to interrupt her
Rand above R8/$, Oil moving to $103
"Global equities are in a rout as a result and even with fresh USD losses all global risky currencies faced large losses," said the analysts.
More from Business Day.
New Climate records
Highest Daily Rain 9.5 1971-03-17 10.0 2008-03-06
Hondeklipbaai
Highest Daily Rain 13.8 1997-03-18 27.4 2008-03-06
Vioolsdrif - Aws
Crash - nearly, and then again!
Before work this morning I took back a Resident Evil DVD and on my way back down African Road a black Fiat impatient at the intersection almost plowed into me. I had to slow down at the dog's leg to turn right and so anticipating I wouldn't, lurched forwward. I watch the car swimming in my rearview mirror, noticing a young blonde in it. Then on Glenhove Road in the Houghton area I hopped across an intersection and then had to stop because of a traffic jam on the other side. So I see the black Fiat growing very large in my rear view mirror and then lurching left and right as she tried to stop in time. I allowed my bumper to drift half a metre further, which is why we managed to stop in time.
I reiterate: drivers in Joburg can't drive. There's this obsession with speedy manuoevre's and the sheer number of crumpled bumpers smashed rear and and front lights demonstrates that there's signal failture between reality and the driving daydream. You can't drive like this in a congested setting like Johannesburg. And being on the road is not a motorised fashion-ramp (see how fast I go). Mondoza and Ashley Callie have proved that haven't they? Do you want to prove it too?
Thursday, March 06, 2008
Mars Attacks...itself! Spacecraft Photographs Mars Avalanche
PASADENA, Calif. (AP) — A robotic spacecraft circling Mars has snapped the first image of a series of active avalanches near the planet's north pole, scientists said Monday.
The image, taken last month, reveals at least four avalanches of fine ice and dust breaking off from a steep cliff and settling on the slope below. The cascade kicked up massive debris clouds, with some measuring more than 590 feet across.
The landslides were spied by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter during a routine tracking of seasonal changes. The probe arrived at the planet in 2006.
More.
Patrick Swayze diagnosed with pancreatic cancer
Ironically enough on Oprah last night Randy Pausch gave an on-television version of the 'dead guy' speech he gave (downloaded a gazillion times). Basically pancreatic cancer is the last cancer you want. Your chances are surviving it are very slim.
So if you could choose from a list, Pancreatic cancer would be the last one you'd choose. Only 5% of Americans diagnosed live longer than 5 years. Death itself is also pretty unpleasant, as more and more systems of the body shutdown, including the digesting, liver and lung function. Essentially your body then becomes poisoned, you're unable to use the toilet or metabolise food you eat, and then your lungs stop working. This is what makes Randy Pausch's upbeat speech so amazing. The question is, will Swayze survive? What are his chances? Apparently not terrible. Read here for more.
Watch Randy Pausch on You Tube here.
Brent Crude Oil Now $102.84 (Up 1.18%)
They are already talking about R8.50pl and R9. Alex Jay was saying it cost him an extra R70 to fill up his tank. Double that, and then add half of what you're paying for food to your grocery bill and it starts to hurt.
We were joking about this whilst cycling this morning. One of the solutions, we said, was to quit eating junk food - a major expense for many - altogether.
Right now the Rand is R7.80 to the Dollar.
Fuel levy also fuels high prices
Hopes that 2008 will bring a respite from soaring international food and energy prices have been dashed in the past few weeks. The oil price refuses to retreat markedly from its US$100 level and international market prices for wheat, maize and dozens of other commodities continue to surge. On Monday alone the price of wheat futures rose by 22%.
The consequences for SA consumers are severe. Bread prices look set to increase by at least 50% over the next few months while motorists will pay around R8,50 a litre - an increase of about R1/litre - when the fuel price changes next month.
More.Amazon Kindle: The Future Minus Paper (review)
E-books are the future. Apparently there is some miscommunication going on and some are under the impression that I think e-books are not the future. I, like many others, enjoy the real thing. There’s just something comforting about having a paper book to carry around, to bunny ear, scratch notes on, highlight words/phrases and whatever else you may like to do. The refresh rates suck and you just want to pull your hair out while waiting for the next page to load. You don’t know how far along you are in the book. Those are just a couple reasons among a slew of arguments to hate e-books. Although, part of me thinks it’s a waste of resources even if it’s made from recycled paper.
Traditional books have their pros and cons, but e-books are just janky and stupid, right? Well, yes, they are, but the Kindle from Amazon is a different beast.
My initial impressions were pretty off. I just wasn’t all that impressed and sort of left it on my desk for half a day, but I always want to floss the latest in technology when traveling so I brought it along for my trip to the Bay Area for turkey day.
More.
NVDL: These gizmos will also made it easier for undiscovered Nobel prize winning candidates - er, like me - getting their fiction work published online, beyond this blog.
Homes of Gallo employees petrol-bombed
Gallo Records employees have hardly gone on strike in support of their suspended colleagues and the situation is already turning ugly.
Two Soweto homes belonging to members of Gallo management have been fire-bombed.
Thirty-one employees have been suspended by the company. They said their colleagues were planning to go on a sympathy strike in support.
By Kingdom Mabuza and Sibongile Mashaba for the Sowetan Online.
More.
NVDL: Pray that this doesn't become de rigeur in South Africa. You lay off a worker (due to a shrinking economy) and then revenge crimes follow.
Let them paint on the walls
Juno MacGuff: I think I'm, like, in love with you.
Paulie Bleeker: You mean as friends?
Juno MacGuff: No, I mean, like, for real. 'Cause you're, like, the coolest person I've ever met, and you don't even have to try, you know...
Paulie Bleeker: I try really hard, actually.
Instead of crawling back into my cave last night I ventured out. As far as - GASP - Montecasino. It was quite funny. I was really starving and so I said to L, "Shall we sit out...er (glancing up at the fake ceiling)...should we sit out inside?"
Salad was great, and the movie was an incredible breath of fresh air.
Back at the cave I had a top 500 worst sleeps in my sleep (around 2 hours, low quality), and so when the alarm went off at 4:30am I cringed, moaned, assumed the foetus position. I sent A an sms saying: "Dude, don't you want to ride tomorrow. I'm death in a blanket." (I'm paraphrasing). After two minutes I said stuff it, and kicked my sorry ass out of bed. Had a very nice ride (this time on my Trek since the Cannon is probably sitting in a hanger in Cape Town already).
Last night on Oprah I watched this professor with pancreatic cancer giving this speech on living. Are you an Eeyore or a Tigger. Oprah summed up the whole show by quoting something from his presentation. He'd said he had fantastic parents. When he was a youngster he asked permission to paint various things on the walls of his room. They felt that art (and expression) was more important than walls, so he went on to paint an elevator, rockets, equations and so forth on his bedroom walls.
We can do the same in our lives today, but the canvass is the walls we put around us, to defend our own views of the world.
Watch Randy Pausch's lecture here.
Juno: A rich, funny, happy tapestry of a teenager's life (9/10)
Paulie Bleeker: Come on, let me carry your bag.
Juno MacGuff: Oh, what's another ten pounds?
The screenplay written by Diablo Cody won best screenplay at this year's Academy Awards. Many critics believed Juno was a strong contender for Oscars in other categories too, including Best Picture and Best Actress. Whilst No Country For Old Men may mirror to some extent the reigning movie zeitgeist, Juno is exceptionally fresh, spirited and infused with vigor. All the actors do a fine job in this flick, and every frame is a valuable and colourful thread weaved into the charming tapestry that is Juno's life.
The film chronicles the seasonal and emotional flux that a 9 month pregnancy involves. It is a remarkable story in that it somehow manages to evade the heavy drama and angst and misery that usually stereotypes teenage pregnancy stories...but the movie still has its bunny slippers on the ground.
Plenty of credit goes to Ellen Page for a perfect performance as the unique and irrepresible Juno. But why Juno?
Juno MacGuff: My dad had this weird obsession with Roman or Greek mythology or something and he decided to name me after Zeus' wife.
Mark Loring: Zeus' wife?
Juno MacGuff: Yeah and I mean Zeus had tons of lays but I'm pretty sure Juno was his only wife. And apparently she was supposed to be super beautiful but really mean, like Diana Ross.
The flick has a distinct color and taste and personality, mostly imbued by Juno herself, but thoughtfully and cleverly accentuated in other characters too. Jennifer Garner and Jason Batemen are transplanted out of The Kingdom and battle fatigues into an upper class suburban setting. Bateman's performance is subdued, understated and subtle, but touching. Garner's colder desperation contrasts well, and their belongings at home (guitars and a pristine lab-like bathroom and kitchen) reflect their disparate climates towards family living.
J.K Simmons (Juno's father Mac) is one of those character actors who we easily recognise, but we never remember his name. Simmons also played J.Jonah, the news editor in Spiderman. His performance illustrates where Juno gets her spirit and sense of humor from.
Diablo Cody's screenplay is filled with ear-tickling dialogue and everyday scenes that are nevertheless remarkable. A scene at the mall where Vanessa (Garner) kneels in front of the teenage girls stomach, hoping to feel the baby move, while out of focus shopper move in the background is just one example.
It is a rare treat for a flick to have none of the ingredients of the average blockbuster. There is no violence, no car chases, no explosions, no vulgarity, no sex (well, sort've). But neither is it a contrived, too good to be true fairy tale.
Vanessa Loring: How do I look?
Bren: Like a new mom. Scared shitless.
The soundtrack is great, but the best thing about Juno is its genuineness and its unique sense of humor. You're likely to leave the cinema sensing that somehow the world is a brighter, happier place than when you went in.
Directed by Jason Reitman
Cast:
Ellen Page (Juno MacGuff)
Michael Cera (Paulie Bleeker)
Jennifer Garner (Vanessa Loring)
Jason Bateman (Mark Loring)
Allison Janney (Bren MacGuff)
J.K. Simmons (Mac MacGuff)
Olivia Thirlby (Leah) 
1888 photo depicts Helen Keller, teacher
BOSTON - Researchers have uncovered a rare photograph of a young Helen Keller with her teacher Anne Sullivan, nearly 120 years after it was taken on Cape Cod. The photograph, shot in July 1888 in Brewster, shows an 8-year-old Helen sitting outside in a light-colored dress, holding Sullivan's hand and cradling one of her beloved dolls.
Experts on Keller's life believe it could be the earliest photo of the two women together and the only one showing the blind and deaf child with a doll — the first word Sullivan spelled for Keller after they met in 1887 — according to the New England Historic Genealogical Society, which now has the photo.
More.
Who was Helen Keller? Go here to find out.
One of my favourite photographs (PHOTOGRAPHY)
This picture was shot whilst travelling on the subway - above ground obviously - in South Korea. I love the soft water color lines of this picture. It hasn't been enhanced or softened at all. It was taken whilst crossing the Han River. I love how delicately the colors flow when it reality the city can be grim and gritty.
This Year China Becomes the Largest Online Community and the world's largest internet market
China’s online population grew by a healthy 54 percent in 2007. In 2006, the number of Chinese online was 137 million, by the end of 2007 that figure had risen to 210 million.
In contrast, the U.S. had 216 million Internet users at the end of 2007 (Nielsen/NetRatings), only 5 million more than China. Subsequently, China is on track to become the world’s largest online community.
More.
NVDL: There are important implications. One is that non-Asian based sites that want to grow - including blogs - and remain relevant might want to push more content that talks to, or about the Asian market/condition, and our relevance to it. Why? Because right now even though China is about to become number 1, Asia is already the region with by far the most internet users. Online penetration in China is only 16% meaning the growth potential in this market is staggering.
Petrol-Porn: "Petrol price won’t choke consumers"
The petrol price goes up 30% year on year but we're told it's normal, volatility is normal, don't panic. By all means, don't panic, but by the same token it's very rational that we should be VERY worried. 61cents per litre translates to a lot more money for, say, a trip to Cape Town.
With oil prices hovering around $100 and the Rand hovering at R8.00 to the Dollar, another price hike is likely.
It's stupid at this stage of the game to be spewing the public mindset with this sort of false assurance. In reality we're likely to see a longer term shift (globally) towards higher non-renewable energy prices - for goal, oil and gas. This means higher electricity prices, higher fuel prices and higher prices for everything else.
As such we need to start implementing fairly radical lifestyle shifts. Anyone telling you these price changes are not worth being concerned about should go and work for an advertising agency, or somewhere the ongoing business currency is bullshitting the masses.
More.
Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Bad Weather in Canada Right Now
We had ANOTHER huge storm last night, this time ice and snow. It is still snowing but at least the wind has died down to a dull roar. We have about a foot of snow to deal with, I will help G shovel the driveway later when the snow stops. It has been the most brutal winter in all the 7 years we have been here. The skiers have loved it, lots of snow for skiing. I've talked to all three of the guys and next year they want to try skiing. - D, in Hamilton, Canada.
NVDL: If you're experiencing oddly uncomfortable or unseasonal weather, please contact me and let me know.
Opec agrees to keep oil output steady
Washington has said even a token supply increase from the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries would help to tame prices.
More.
NVDL: The US are getting desperate. With oil at $100 the US is taking a massive hit as the world's largest economy (and the most addicted to oil by far).
When People Drink Themselves Silly, and Why
The urge to binge mindlessly, though it can strike at any time, seems to stir in the collective unconscious during the last weeks of winter. Maybe it’s the television images from places like Fort Lauderdale and Cabo San Lucas, of communications majors’ face planting outside bars or on beaches.
Or perhaps it’s a simple a case of seasonal affective disorder in reverse. Not SAD at all, but anticipation of warmth and eagerness for a little disorder.
Either way, researchers have had a hard time understanding binge behavior. Until recently, their definition of binge drinking — five drinks or more in 24 hours — was so loose that it invited debate and ridicule from some scholars. And investigators who ventured into the field, into the spray of warm backwash and press of wet T-shirts, often returned with findings like this one from a 2006 study: “Spring break trips are a risk factor for escalated alcohol use.”
Or this, from a 1998 analysis: “The men’s reported levels of alcohol consumption, binge drinking and intoxication were significantly higher than the women’s.”
...Western societies, and certainly the United States, send multiple signals on bingeing. At times, the signals cross, as when movies show spring-break binging as sunburned, sexy fun, while health pronouncements make it look like an orgy of near-criminal behavior...
By BENEDICT CAREY
More.
What's Wrong with SA Blog Awards?
This is a very unscientific analysis, but can someone explain how this blog get's nominated for...
1) South African Weblog of the year
2) Most humorous South African blog
3) Best post on a South African blog
4) Best Original writing on a South African blog
5) Best South African Personal Blog
Reason I ask is I thought the SA Blogosphere had grown beyond 20 or so blogs. The other thing is the aforementioned blog (which is about blog-porn floating on vomit/excrement) isn't even in the top 10 in the LIFE category on Amatomu. I have a bone to pick with a blog that excels peddling drunken sexual adventures and vulgarity for a living, and the writer then parading herself as a blogging celebrity - I've experienced this ...cough...cough...phenomenon offline (but please, "I want everyone to know about my sexual preferences but at the same time [her] identity needs to be protected from stalkers"- can't think why...).
I just don't think we can afford to be filling our minds with blog-porn with all the concerns going on, but then the majority of the hoi palloi consists of tabloid obsessed soapie addicts.
I also don't understand how David Bullard's blog (defunct wasn't it) makes it on the list of political blogs. I am a great fan of David Bullard and have interviewed him for this blog. I'd also support David continuing to blog 100%, I think Blogs need every good writer they can muster. But in terms of SA Blog awards there have been 5 posts this year from David, including a three sentence observation about Sarkozy. Is this an attempt - a blogging award - an attempt to woo Mr. Bullard back into the world of blogging, maybe set it afire once again?
I guess it's all about who you know, favours, hook-ups, cover ups and blowing one's own horn. Just makes me think SA Blog Awards ain't even worth R2.08.
Rating the 3 on 3rd Degree
'Moses was high on hallucinogenic drug when he received Ten Commandments,' claims top academic
When Moses received the Ten Commandments from God, he was summoned right to the top of Mount Sinai.
But the man who led the Children of Israel to safety may have been even higher at the time, if an Israeli academic is to be believed.
Psychology professor Benny Shanon says it was likely Moses was hallucinating under the influence of a mind-altering drug at the time of his biblical achievements.
More.
The Weather in Cape Town on Argus Day
Predicted to be a minimum of 18, maximum 25. The wind is howling now. 4 days from now it should be blissfully calm. Enjoy.
Weather Warning - SA Coastal & Interior + New Climate Records
Gale force southeasterlies (35kts or 65km/h) are expected in places between Cape Point and Plettenberg Bay. Heavy falls of rain and showers in places over the south-eastern part of Northern Cape, southern and central Free State and the eastern part of Eastern Cape. Hot and humid conditions which may lead to dangerously high levels of discomfort are expected over the northern coast of KwaZulu-Natal.
NVDL: The rain must blow now - in the Cape - and get it over with. I've heard reports that PE and Bloem are insufferably hot, and PE is having a lot of violent stormy weather.
Records:
Highest Maximum 31.1 1992-03-11 31.3 2008-03-03
Shaleburn
Highest Minimum 25.4 2003-03-18 25.52008-03-04
Richards Bay Airport
Highest Maximum 38.2 1996-03-11 38.4 2008-03-04
Bisho
Highest Maximum 43.7 2001-03-14 44.0 2008-03-03
Uitenhage
Highest Maximum 38.5 2003-03-29 40.2 2008-03-03
Port Alfred - Airport
Highest Minimum 20.8 2004-03-18 21.3 2008-03-04
Port Alfred - Airport
Critics on Criticism
Anton Ego: In many ways, the work of a critic is easy. We risk very little yet enjoy a position over those who offer up their work and their selves to our judgment. We thrive on negative criticism, which is fun to write and to read. But the bitter truth we critics must face, is that in the grand scheme of things, the average piece of junk is more meaningful than our criticism designating it so. But there are times when a critic truly risks something, and that is in the discovery and defense of the new.
The world is often unkind to new talent, new creations, the new needs friends.
Last night, I experienced something new, an extraordinary meal from a singularly unexpected source. To say that both the meal and its maker have challenged my preconceptions about fine cooking is a gross understatement. They have rocked me to my core. In the past, I have made no secret of my disdain for Chef Gusteau's famous motto: Anyone can cook. But I realize, only now do I truly understand what he meant.
Not everyone can become a great artist, but a great artist can come from anywhere.
It is difficult to imagine more humble origins than those of the genius now cooking at Gusteau's, who is, in this critic's opinion, nothing less than the finest chef in France. I will be returning to Gusteau's soon, hungry for more.
NVDL: For this gem and many others, Ratatouille is a brilliantly crafted, scripted and executed animation motion picture. Go see it today.
The Most Wired City in the World - who wants the story?
At the end of April I am travelling to Seoul, South Korea, as part of the Seoul Press Tour (paid for by the Seoul Metropolitan Government).
Asia has a lot of growth potential even though it is already the the region with the most internet users. It's penetration remains low at just 14%, only slightly ahead of Africa.
Dear Hollywood Studios: Let My Video Go
It's early December, and you've been watching DVDs of The Wire, HBO's addictive crime drama, for four hours. Now it's past midnight, and you've just finished season three. You're hooked and ready for more, but season four is nowhere to be found. The DVD set was recently released, but neither Barnes & Noble nor the local video store has it yet, and anyway, they're closed. Netflix offers it, but that would mean a three-day wait for the DVDs to come by mail. Amazon Unbox? iTunes? Netflix Watch Instantly? Not available. Only one place will deliver The Wire right now: BitTorrent.
More.
NVDL: I used to use BitTorrent in Broadband heaven - South Korea. Unfortunately I have been suffering withdrawl since my boeing touched down on South African soil...
Optimize A Fresh Ubuntu Installation (WIRED)
You've just download the latest and greatest version of Ubuntu Linux and it didn't cost you a thing. You breezed through the installation and a brand new desktop is staring you in the face -- now what?
Ubuntu's Add/Remove Programs interface makes installing free software easy
Ubuntu's Add/Remove Programs interface makes installing free software easy
There are a few things you'll need to do if you want to get the most out of your Linux desktop. But don't worry, none of this is too complicated. In fact, it's much easier than trying to do the same on Windows or a Mac.
The first thing to do is open up the Add/Remove Programs application (Click on Applications > Add/Remove...). This is a simple manager for installing and uninstalling software on your Ubuntu system. There are literally hundreds of free goodies at your disposal here -- Start with this list of essentials.
More.
NVDL: Ubuntu is one of Mark Shuttleworth's pet projects subsequent to his trip into space. I once asked him for money to start up a company called Rocketboy - a home delivery service subsidised by direct advertising/customised advertising (ie free delivery). He said some other companies had crashed and burned a lot of moolah, and so...no.
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
ARGUS AIR TICKET
If anyone is looking for a last minute air ticket to Cape Town and back to JHB, this seems like a pretty good deal.
Depart LANSERIA on 7/03 at 14h45, return on 10/03 at 12h30. Cost R1427-00
Contact Mark Fussell
T: +27 11 303-5655
C: 082 900 0425
mfussell@rmbpivatebank.com
Ratatouille: A Delight (8.5/10)
[Skinner has gotten Linguini drunk in the hopes of getting him to admit that he has a rat under his hat]
Linguini: Hey... Why do they call it that?
Skinner: What?
Linguini: Ratatouille. It's like a stew, right? Why do they call it that? If you're gonna name a food, you should give it a name that sounds delicious. Ratatouille doesn't sound delicious. It sounds like "rat" and "patootie." Rat-patootie, which does not sound delicious.
Remy: [observing what Emile is eating] What is that?
Emile: [pause] I don't really know.
Remy: You dunno... and you're eating it?
Emile: You know, once you muscle your way past the gag reflex, all kinds of possibilities open up.
Remy: This is what I'm talking about.
Mustafa: Someone is asking what is new!
Horst: New?
Mustafa: Yes! What do I tell them?
Horst: What did you tell them?
Mustafa: I told them I would ask!
Skinner: What are you blathering about?
Horst: Customers are asking for what is new!
Mustafa: What should I tell them?
Skinner: What did you tell them?
Mustafa: I TOLD THEM I WOULD ASK!
Gusteau: How can I describe it? Good food is like music you can taste, color you can smell. There is excellence all around you. You need only to be aware to stop and savor it.
This is a superbly crafted flick; a great story too - in short, a delight.
How to create Buzz - Winona Ryder Not Engaged
HOLLYWOOD - Winona Ryder's publicists have hit back at reports the actress is set to wed boyfriend Blake Sennett, insisting a picture caption went too far.
Ryder and Sennett reportedly revealed their news to guests at the Valentino show, which marked the end of Paris Fashion Week in France, on Thursday--before most of the world even knew they were dating.
But Ryder's spokeswoman, Mara Buxbaum, has denied the engagement story.
From Hollywood.com. But this same site earlier posted a report saying Ryder was engaged. It's a shitty way to get traffic. Publish a rumor, get the facts, publish those, get some more facts, publish those, then apologise. It's incredibly time wasting, but those who recycle this garbage make a lot of money at our expense. Google winona ryder engaged is see how many sites have taken the bait.
Sowetan Online Now Number 1
The Sowetan website has recently surpassed The Times.co.za with over 3.2 million page impressions, making it the number one online brand (based on page impressions) in the AVUSA stable.
From Project 2010 One Year Ago:
The Sowetan launches new Web site - 15/02/2007
The Sowetan newspaper has given its Web site a fresh face, providing its readers with more features, news and opportunities for interaction. According to a Media Update report, the site was launched just over a year ago, and has been well-received, boasting 1.2m page impressions a month. The Sowetan has added several multi-media and Web extras to the site, and strives to provide its readers with the latest local and global breaking news. Readers can find out more about the 2010 world cup preparations by tuning into the brand new Podcast feature with Tim Modise.
A threefold increase in one year is impressive, particularly if one recognises the site is still in its infancy with incredible potential for even further growth.
Guava (PHOTOGRAPHY)
Since I was out of milk this morning I raided my "Canned Goods" section and poured out a glop of guavas into a plate. So I'm sitting there and I raise one of the guavas on my spoon and I suddenly see the beauty and fragility right there...in the fragile tissues...the shining fleshy eye of guava flesh. There is something immediately foetus like about it, and even alien. This is life on earth. And then I ate it, human teeth gnashing the cool soft sweet tissues, transparent yellow-tinged juice swilling like amniotic fluid in the bowl. This was a picture of the human condition, from the point of view of Nature, in all her forms.
What is news?
The nature of news is changing. And the change is at a fundamental level. What does this mean to you, and me?
At a fundamental level a tool such as the internet and a PC (or simply a cellphone) provides users with the capability to now decide what is news. That decision used to belong to someone else. If each individual determines what news is for them, they can attract more and more of the content THEY want. We are part of the process that decides what news is. In fact, we are the news.
Do you want to know?
The fundamental shift is essentially from news being a vital public service (servicing a real need for information) to a money making stream of information servicing what people want to know. There are a few ethical problems with this, but the fact remains, it has happened and is accelerating.
So is news something we want, or need? Well, that depends on you. Once upon a time editors decided what was news. Now aggregators make those decisions (online anyway) and so in a very real sense, the news is 'whatever is the most popular' or put in an even simpler way: 'what people want'.
Moral?
Once again, many are concerned about the ethical implications, but the fact remains that the internet is where the future lies, and to bet against the internet, and the rise of blogs, citizen journalism, user generated content, social media etc. is not going to be good for business.
The nature of journalism is also changing, but reporting in some sense will always stay the same. Can you find a good story and how well can you write it? Your ability to tell a good story determines your capacity to influence news (yes, as a private citizen). That's tremendously exciting. Reporting is becoming less a specialisation than it once was.
Community Cloud
As alluded to above, the role of editors in the online space is somewhat different to the traditional role. Online there is almost immediate feedback on which stories are doing well, and even this is news. People's responses to news is newsworthy, and the internet can also quickly aggregate the communities response.
The internet provides an alternative to the sort of information that has traditionally been put out there. Instead of talking at, or talking to, online merchants now have the option to talk 'with'. The question is: are we using this opportunity?
The News at the level of Citizen Journalism
How is this relevant to UGC? Well, of course it is very relevant. Users are now the creators of their own news. So whoever you are, wherever you are, you can look at a situation and provide your insight, your impression, your response. It might be your experience of drugs, teen pregnancy, higher petrol prices, your experience of racism at university, or how you're solving the dilemma of higher food prices.
To the extent that you can accurately draw a picture representing your life in your community, that's a valuable contribution. We need to know how healthy our communities are, and what is happening in them.
Bloggers - some of them - want to create our OWN news. This means not recycling what is already on the internet. It means something YOU saw or experienced, or something that happened to a friend or neighbour. It also means adding something of value - not merely posting something for the sake of it, but because your information helps someone else, it fulfills a PURPOSE.
YOU are the news, and so the responsibility is yours, mine (ours) for creating newsworthy content; a prudent mixture of news that we want and news that we need.
Now each of us gets to be part of that decision. When we realise how important that role can be, the news begins to belong to everyone, and becomes more meaningful and useful than ever before.
Kunstler: World Made Unaffordable
The US president-elect will quickly realize that the number one problem is not that Americans can't afford health care -- it's that they can't afford anything, because their income is evaporating in terms of both lost jobs and a dollar that is racing toward worthlessness.
They'll be hard put to pay for food and gasoline, nevermind Grandma's emphysema treatments. They will be walking away from home ownership -- or yanked kicking and screaming by default-and-repo -- and any government scheme devised to abridge their mortgage contracts will only undermine basic contract law that has made mortgage lending a credible thing in the first place. And that too, of course, would redound straight to a real estate sector already in price free-fall, with no one willing or able to think about buying a house.
As Obama and McCain go at it through the next eight months, they will likely focus on our situation in Iraq. (Calling it a "war" now is imprecise.) As merely one commentator among thousands, I'm not satisfied that either one of the contenders has defined his position on this coherently. Obama is disposed to get the US military out of there as quickly as possible. He's right that the sheer awful cost of the adventure is one big factor in wrecking US finances while it erodes our standing in the world.
But with our Iraq garrison shut down, he'd better be prepared for a further breakdown in Middle East stability and the oil markets that depend on it -- meaning, the basis of American life for four generations, dependable oil imports, will sharply end. That would accelerate the disorderly abandonment of our massive misinvestment in suburban living, and also ramp up the anger and resentment of the public grieving over its lost entitlements.
McCain's contrasting hundred-year plan does not take into account the severe impoverishment and exhaustion of the military itself, not to mention the overall purpose of the adventure -- to keep suburban life and all its accessories running in the homeland -- which is an exercise in futility under any terms. McCain would have to confront the terrible paradoxes of the war, namely that thousands of legs have been blown off for the sake of WalMart, which company will be hemorrhaging customers anyway, as incomes wilt, at the same time that WalMart's own operating system -- the "warehouse on wheels" -- surrenders to the reality of five or six dollar-a-gallon diesel fuel. In any case, the implosion of the US economy during the next eight months will overshadow whatever we decide to do in Iraq, and that cratering will be laid directly at the feet of the Republican party. If the party survives that, which I doubt, it would a long time before anybody trusted it again.
Whoever wakes up as the next president on November 5 will have to preside over the comprehensive reorganization of American life. The big question is whether he can persuade the public to let go of its sunk costs, and all the sheer stuff that represents, and move ahead in a unified way that doesn't end up tearing the nation apart. The danger is that the public will want to mount a kind of last stand effort to defend a way of life that has no future under any circumstances, and they will ask the president to lead that last stand.
To avoid that deadly outcome, the new president will have to be equipped with a realistic vision of what this society can actually do to survive the discontinuities that circumstances present.
This will require him to confront the prevailing delusion that the US can become "energy independent" in the sense that we can run WalMart on something other than oil from foreign lands. The new president would have to carefully restate American expectations and goals -- for instance, not to keep all the cars running at all costs, but to get us living in places where driving is not mandatory. I'm concerned that the American people will hate the new president if he tells them the truth: that an old way of life is over and a new one has to begin now. We're about to find out how much "change" the public can really stand.
NVDL: Imagine this. Obama becomes president, sagely withdraws troops from Iraq and then the Middle East - destablised (apparently) goes to hell. China jump in, Europe jump in - seizing oil wells (or deals - whichever is the more practical). Oil prices - especially in the US - treble. Americans accuse Obama of stabbing Americans in the back as the world's most addicted-to-oil economy takes hit after economic hit. As Wal-Mart shuts down and hotdogs become as expensive as Texas T-Bone steaks, Anti-Muslim sentiment surges. Obama is forced out after half a term...and so plays out the last chapter of a once great nation...as civil unrest escalates to all out civil war...
Newspapers will outlive Blogs by 25-30 years (CHART)
Rand and Oil Worsen
Crude now $101.62 up 1.52%
Rand - $ 7.8325 down 0.64%
Amazingly the JSE just pretends this isn't happening. A delusional economic system disconnected from reality cannot remain disconnected from reality indefinitely. Reality will return in three clattering decibels: CRASH BUST BANG.
The Most Son-Of-A-Bitch Pothole in Johannesburg (photography)
They have been patching up this mother for weeks. It's not even an impact crater. It's a small jacuzzi on one half of the road. Now they are using graders and tip-trucks. Water is the enemy here, and they just can't plug the leaks... The poor people who live in this house, because the hole - the Dusi - is right in front of their front door...
Monday, March 03, 2008
Jozi: This city is nuts!
During my lunch break I 'quickly' went to drop my bike off at the airport. It had to go to a special tent a week before Argus fly time on Kulula.com. It took me about 2 hours to figure where this rotting piece of turf was situated, and I only found it after three hundred and seven u-turns, dead ends and 12.4 calls.
I also saw the under carriage of my car floating down the highway in front of me as I passed Jet Park. I sat for a while in a pothole the size of a small moon crater, with the body of my car protecting me from cars racing by.
On the upside, booking even as late as a week before the time I got a return flight, Johannesburg to Cape Town, for R1300. That's amazing value. Also, they pack your bike for you in a sturdy box, with bubble wrap, so i was able to just drop it off. I have a nice bike bag, but it's in Bloem right now.
No Country For Old Men - Closing Arguments
Ed Tom Bell: I was sheriff of this county when I was 25 years old. Hard to believe. My grandfather was a law man, father too. Me and him was sheriffs at the same time, him up Plano and me out here. I think he's pretty proud of that. I know I was. Some of the old time sheriffs never even wore a gun. A lotta folks find that hard to believe. Jim Scarborough'd never carry one, that's the younger Jim. Gaston Borkins wouldn't wear one up in Camanche County. I always liked to hear about the oldtimers. Never missed a chance to do somethin. You can't help but compare yourself gainst the oldtimers. Can't help but wonder how theyd've operated these times. There was this boy I sent to the 'lectric chair at Huntsville here a while back. My arrest and my testimony. He killt a fourteen-year-old girl. Papers said it was a crime of passion but he told me there wasn't any passion to it. Told me that he'd been planning to kill somebody for about as long as he could remember. Said that if they turned him out he'd do it again. Said he knew he was going to hell. Be there in about fifteen minutes. I don't know what to make of that. I surely don't. The crime you see now, it's hard to even take its measure. It's not that I'm afraid of it. I always knew you had to be willing to die to even do this job. But, I don't want to push my chips forward and go out and meet something I don't understand. A man would have to put his soul at hazard. He'd have to say, "O.K., I'll be part of this world."
Rand nears key R8,00/$ level
THE RAND came under intense selling pressure overnight and in early trade today as poor global markets and a flight to safe havens dictated direction. It may also have suffered a bit more than it should have as investors "picked the tops", said one dealer.
It was bid at R7,9725 to the dollar from its previous close of R7,8831.
More.
NVDL: Prepare for a lot more pain. Brent Crude Oil now $100.40 (up 0.30%). Expect another big petrol price increase in a few weeks. OPEC is also cutting output... Even though we've been predicting this 'unfolding' for some time, it is so sad to watch. It's going to hurt everyone in many ways. We are going to pay an immense price for our common complacency.
OPEC CUT IN OUTPUT EXPECTED
UK Earthquake: Quake Clean-Up 'Will Cost Millions'
The largest earthquake to have struck England and Wales in 25 years has caused millions of pounds of damage.
The Association of British Insurers said the cost to businesses and householders is "likely to run into the low tens of millions of pounds".
The clear-up is continuing as buildings are checked for structural damage.
The quake struck at 12.56am, triggering hundreds of calls to emergency services across the country.
Measuring 5.2 on the Richter Scale, its epicentre was recorded five miles east of Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, and 14 miles south-west of Grimsby.
More.
Earthquake shakes parts of Kent
Earthquake Shakes Southern England
Magnitude 5.3 Earthquake Felt Across England
Movie Review: Mr. Woodcock 7/10
Billy Bob Thornton, Seann William Scott, Susan Sarandon
Director: Craig Gillespie
Before taking out the DVD I had my reservations about watching this flick. More than one reviewer gave it a paltry 5.5/10. Why bother? Well, having seen it, I think it’s worth the bother if you still have a bone to pick with one (or more) of your teachers.
When I was in High school I had a mathematics teacher; we called him Flash Venter. He was almost always red-faced, sweating and smoked like a chimney. Flash was feared by all, despised by some, and universally respected for his ruthless mathematical precision.
I remember his opening speech on our first day in his class. We were so frightened the class was covered in frost on that January day. We were ordered to keep our eyes fixed on him at all times. No daydreaming. No distractions. I glanced down at my pencil tip 30 minutes later and suddenly found myself hanging by my own tie (literally). He said: “Van der Leek, what did I just say?” “Sir, do you expect us to look at you the entire time, every single day?” And so the scene was set for mortal conflict between us over the next 5 years. I would later have my school case emptied out the window for packing up a moment too soon.
At one point I found myself playing for the men’s second hockey team, but he was the coach, so I made sure I played badly enough to get dropped from the pressure-cooker so I could go back to playing for the third team. The kickers came in matric though. Just before an important swimming race, as I was about to mount the blocks, he said something like: “You may be useless at maths van der Leek, but you can swim all right.”
And after a matric exam a bunch of us were talking and from the front of the hall, and it was a big hall, he said: “Van der Leek, shutup, get up, and go to the office.”
Mr. Woodcock is basically about your mom hooking up with a teacher like Flash. Not something you would wish on your mom, or worse, yourself. John Farley (Seann William Scott) a young author of a successful self-help book (called Letting Go) find himself in exactly this position when he returns home to find mom (Susan Sarandon) getting cosy with none other than Mr. Woodcock (Thornton). There’s a classical scene in a diner when John informs his mates that their ex-teacher is going out with his mother.
The flick is hilarious and, it must be said, somewhat contrived. The worst thing about Mr. Woodcock is the title, but Woodcock isn’t called Woodcock for nothing either. The poster could have been better too – it makes one wonder: “Is this a movie about basketball?” It’s not.
Essentially it’s another brilliant comedy performance by Seann William Scott (Stiffler in American Pie, and opposite Keanu reeves in Dude Where’s My Car). Craig Gillespie directs with rib poking precision. If you have some awful memories of High school (I sure do) you will enjoy this film enormously, and learn to lighten up at the same time.
Sunday, March 02, 2008
Clinton accused of being ‘turbanator’
Hillary Clinton has been accused of playing dirty, after a photograph of Barack Obama in a turban was circulated on the Internet.
US reports speculate that the picture, of Obama in traditional Somali garments during a 2006 visit to northern Kenya, near the Somali border, was leaked by “Clinton staffers”.
More.
NVDL: Is Clinton also a spurned girlfriend I wonder...
UFS students receive death threats
Students from the Reitz men's residence at the Bloemfontein campus of the Free State University (UFS) have received death threats. Four students from that residence allegedly made a video in which five black workers were subjected to racial abuse.
More.
Racist video masterminds to face criminal charges
Lawyers instructed to charge students after video
Racist student video sparks outrage
Cops keep watch at UFS
NVDL: Now a second racist video - same thing (Reitz students urinating...) - has emerged. This isn't going to blow over.
Mandoza in crash - two die
Mandoza's Chrysler Crossfire hit a VW Jetta along the N1 near the 14th avenue offramp at 01:23.
"He hit it from the back, the Jetta lost control and overturned trapping the two occupants inside and they died on the scene," she said.
More.
Saturday, March 01, 2008
Markets Fall on Drumbeat of Grim Reports (NYT)
An outpouring of negative economic and financial reports soured the mood on Wall
Street Friday as banks and other lenders further tightened credit in their
struggle to contain damage from losses on mortgages, business loans and related
debt.
Shares sank, and investors fled to the
safety of Treasuries as the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index fell 2.71
percent and the Dow Jones industrial average dropped 315.79 points, or 2.51
percent, to 12,266.39. Both indexes capped their worst four months since 2002.
More.
NVDL: The world is changing for the long term and it will affect YOU.
Like the good old apartheid times
Forced to eat meat mixed with garlic and urine, cleaners at a South African university are going through their "initiation" process. Participating in beer-downing competitions, races and mock rugby games, if the black workers are sufficiently entertaining, they go away at the end of the day with a bottle of whisky.
This is what happened at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein in central South Africa last September, when five elderly black cleaners were filmed completing the humiliating tasks. On Tuesday (26. Feb) the video of the events surfaced on the internet, causing outrage across the country. Now, the four victimisers are facing criminal charges, and mass protests are taking the country by storm.
This is what the friend are saying on an international (english) website. Go here for details.
Mr. Vanderleek
Submitted by Ingrid Stofleth (not verified) on Thu, 02/28/2008 - 18:59.
Having read Mr. Vanderleek's comments, I now have a better idea why racism lives on, loud and proud, in South Africa. If a university educated young man (the so-called "future of the country") considers these incidents as merely a manifestation of a "sick sense of humour", and the ensuing protests as "white black bullshit", then: good luck, South Africa.
NVDL: Amazing, am I the so called future of South Africa also a so called racist now? Quite a few assumptions there. Amazing how words are construed to justify what you - IS -desperately seem to want to believe. It's a sick sense of wanting to believe the worst in people isn't it? To want what they mean to be the worst that they might mean. I never said these incidents were 'merely' a manifestation, but it does point to a particular sort of attitude, and it's accurate to say that the attitude behind the making of the video shows a sick sense of humor. Not 'merely'.
If you ever lived in South Africa you would know how all South Africans feel about the Apartheid past. We're sick of it. We want to move forward. International news only refers to SA when there is a racists element to the story. The brand CNN and other news-creators want for SA is 'the country where whites are backward and give blacks a hard time'. It's great news. It's more: "see, we told you' reporting". Such obvious racism (as seen on the video) is taboo today, hence 'bullshit'. I'm not saying it never happens, I mean most good South Africans, the majority in other words, have absolute disdain for this sort of base behaviour. Stofleth's remarks reflect just as nasty a failure to try to understand as is the basis of racism.
Thanks for your good luck wishes though. We'll be needing them.
The 3-Times Rule
I was on the phone to an ex-girlfriend, asking her if she wanted to watch NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN with me today, and she said: "Definitely not." Not because of me (I think it's safe to say), but because she's not into that particular OSCAR WINNING movie at all. Fair enough. I reminded her about an invitation to JUNO and she said: "I've already told you I'm going with you." "But if you change your mind, tell me, I don't want to have to call you and find out that way." "But I won't change my mind." "But if you do, and if you do it's no problem at all. Just let me know."
We got onto talking about something else and she eventually stopped me and said: you broke the '3-Times' rule. What is that?
It means if you contact a new person, where friend, colleague, potential shag whatever, you can contact them only three times (in total, adding all mediums) after which, the law states, you may never contact them again.
I said I would do that, as follows:
"Hi, this is Nick. By the way this is phone call number 1 of 3 in total. The trial period is about to expire. How about a movie? Oh I know it's short notice, okay so you can't come, okay no probs. Just a reminder though, this is phone call number 1..."
A few days later.
"Hi, me again. I know this is email but it is total message number 2 (of 3). Feel like getting a quick bite to eat. Oh, you have a deadline. That's cool. No problemo. But before I end this email, just so you know, this is message 2 of 3. Have a great day."
At the end of the week, via sms:
"Feel like going for coffee. (btw this is message 3 of 3)."
Sms back: "Can't sorry. Am at a braai but I might be free on Sunday."
Communications Ends.
Friday, February 29, 2008
Cycling This Weekend
Going to decide this weekend whether the the Argus is on the cards or not. Would be good to go, whatever is the case. Watch this space.
Oil tops $103 a barrel before retreating
Oil prices briefly surpassed $103 a barrel for the first time Friday as persistent weakness in the U.S. dollar and the prospect of lower interest rates attracted fresh money to the oil market.
Light, sweet crude for April delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange jumped to a new trading record of $103.05 a barrel in electronic trading before slipping back to $102.07 a barrel, down 52 cents, by midday in Europe.
On Thursday, the contract jumped $2.95 to a record settlement price of $102.59 a barrel.
Prices were supported by comments Thursday from Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who said the American economy is not immediately threatened with stagflation, a combination of economic weakness and rising inflation.
More.
61c/l petrol price rise on Wednesday
Everything's gonna be all white
I may not be a racist, but what I freely admit - and I know some people are going to be shocked and horrified by this - what I freely admit to being, and as much as freaking possible, is a...CYCLIST ;-)
This morning for some inexplicable universe shattering reason I emerged out of bloggy slumber at 4am. No special reason. I was just wide awake. Funny thing was entropy had gotten the better of me on Thursday night...I got home from work at around 8pm and doing a bike ride, while important, just felt like MORE work.
So when I woke up at 4am with no clothes set out, it was like my bodies own alarm clock had kicked in saying: you may be too lazy to go for a ride, but we (fibres, tissues, brain chemicals) NEED to get out there. The only thing worse than getting up at some god awful hour to go riding is...to not get up. And have to face your loser couldn't-face-the-morning self for the rest of the day at work...
It wasn't all a bed of cycling clothes though. I spent 30 minutes of my impromptu cycle prep incarnated as Hurricane Katrina, trying to unearth my newly purchased newly batterised Heart Rate monitor belt. I failed. Grrrr. But once I stepped out into the morning, cool air washed and invigorated my internet irradiated cells.
What a lovely morning. And somehow no one started moaning about racism. We just rode innocently, little ruby blinks dancing along warm wide roads. At the end of the ride it felt like everything is going to be all white. Waitaminute. I meant to say right. Right.
Revisiting Bloem (and common sense)
Sarah Britten writes that 'Bloem is backward'. I'm not sure if 4 students involved in an ill-conceived prank justifies blackmarking an entire dorp, and Bloem stretches the dorp idea to its maximum capacity. Bloemfontein has some of the most prestigious schools in the country, and has produced not only influential South Africans (both in sport and politics), but also influential political groups (such as the ANC). Let's try to maintain just a smidgeon of perspective.
More.
Also: UFS - Just Shoot Me
No freedom for 'dean of Saudi bloggers' (CNN)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (CNN) -- A top Saudi blogger who was jailed late last year remains in prison more than two months later for unspecified, non-security matters -- and there are few signs that he will be freed anytime soon.
The Saudi government has been extremely quiet about the detention of Fouad al-Farhan, a 32-year-old father of two who has become a rallying cry for bloggers.
Al-Farhan -- known on the Internet as the "Dean of Saudi Bloggers" -- was arrested on December 10 shortly after one of his blog entries was critical of influential Saudi religious, business and media figures.
"He is still being investigated," Maj. Gen. Mansour al-Turki, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry, told CNN this week.
More.
UFS: What The Blogs Are saying
The widespread release of a video by a spurned girlfriend has thrown a lot of dirt ((some word use another word)on the South African flag. Here’s what some of the local blogs have to say about the issue.
The Bruin Development Forum writes that the disturbing video made by white Afrikaans male students at UFS opens up a sore wound, a wound that has been festering for some time. Their view is that it is just the ‘tip of an iceberg’, and that the racism of Afrikaners towards other Afrikaners (whatever their skin color) must be completely and utterly eradicated. The writer does not say how.
Another blogger, Reggie, calls the video ‘sick’ and ‘nauseating’. Reggie writes: ‘What is needed is a deeper questioning of the violent culture that pervades our entertainment, our lifestyles and our social interaction.’
A blog calling itself Entropy goes even further: ‘I always thought the Free State was a strange place inhabited by weird people. That suspicion is now confirmed.’ Entropy feels that race relations have been set back 20 years.
[Thanks buddy]
On a blog called Hottest Gossip , the video receives 53 responses. Comments range from disgust, to one person, Bernice saying:'I am ashamed to be South African.’ Frenchgal writes that Afrikaners are ‘the worst people on Earth.’
More comments:
Miguel: ‘Apartheid is not over yet.’
Tebogo: ‘THOSE WHITE TRASHES DESERVE THE DEATH PENALTY’
Tmo writes: ‘Well this just a sad reality in SA , it shows that apartheid may be over on the papers but not on people’s mind!!! last month a white boy in joburg went to a township and shot black people with no apparent reasons’.
Trixy: ‘All this crap and 2010 round the corner………!!’
Sadly a lot of the racism in the video appears to incite even more deep seated racism. Clearly a lot of South Africans are still unhappy about race wherever they may be in the country. Interestingly though, the topic has not really caught fire on the blogs. The hottest topic on the blogs right now is ‘Johannesburg’ (blogs about Paul van Dyk, Arno Carstens and Celine Dion) and then ‘genre’.
Thursday, February 28, 2008
NVDL on NVDL
I’m well aware that the readers of this blog don’t come here to read about oil, or politics. Most of you come to check out my photographs and read about me – well, the regulars anyway. Believe it or not the most popular searched for item on my blog is a sexual position called ‘italian chandelier’.
I’m not sure what it’s doing on my blog in the first place other than routing a lot of horny university students from the USA to my website while I’m sleeping in the suburbs of Johannesburg. Anyhow, so much for me being the star attraction. But I know I’ve been providing less and less personal glimpses for a variety of reasons.
Where I am Now
I’ve been living in Johannesburg for 7 months now, and it has been a terrific move. Almost every aspect of my life has improved; I mean that. I am pretty happy to be where I am.
The difficulties I’m having are probably pretty obvious. It’s coping with change, meeting new people, coping with changing working, living and exercising environments. Exercise is one of the highlights. I train now at the top Health Club in the country, Melrose Arch. I’ve been to some impressive clubs, including The Point and Constantia, and Melrose Arch is very impressive. Part of the fun is going there with my buddy Alex; a very dedicated and balanced individual.
Alex has introduced me to the Standard Bank cycling club. I’m a member and it has been awesome riding along some of the most beautiful and tough routes in the city. Northcliff is one of the beacons on our route. I’ve also participated in races in Johannesburg that I would never have made the trouble to participate in if I didn’t live here. All of them have been phenomenal just in terms of organization and the sheer amount of cyclists attending. Each one is a festival of cycling, a mini Argus.
Alex has also introduced me to a lot besides cycling and the local gym. I’ve somewhat reluctantly tagged along to the occasional church meeting, and although my beliefs haven’t changed, I have re-evaluated what I believe to be the importance of ‘community’. If there is one thing churches do right, they help families be good families, and they bring families together. This is something wonderful and affirming, and something our society sorely needs.
Alex has been a sounding board for a lot of my concerns regarding the global and national economy. He is in possession of a lot of facts, and has expert opinion on his side. Nevertheless, no matter how intelligent you are, it seems we do tend to see what we believe we are seeing, and not always what is actually there.
Photography
I brought some of the best stuff from my exhibition in Bloem, and I’m quite proud that two large black and white photographs are framed and hanging in a classy bedroom in Victoria road, Houghton. I’ve recently published photography in the Rapport, The Times and Sunday Times, and over the next two months Leisure Wheels will be publishing a bunch of pictures associated with a two part article. True Love will also be publishing pictures I shot this past weekend, and a few upcoming photos.
Roxanne Meyer has been a tremendously exciting discovery. It is almost impossible to take a bad photo of this girl, and you realize how special she is when you shoot other models. She is also very special for her work ethic and humility. She comes across super-confident but she’s still just a young 19 – almost 20 year old – trying to do her thing and also please and keep happy the people that love her. She is also enormously talented and – I reiterate – very hard working. She’s got a lovely bubbly personality. In the short time I’ve known her she has essentially realized what she wants and performed in two different movies within days of each other.
I’m thrilled to be working with her and it has nothing to do with money, and everything to do with inspiration. She swims 12 – 14km a day and I have tremendous respect for that sort of grim – almost terrible – determination.
Writing
I am currently busy with a new novel-for-the-movies called The Butcher The Butcher. It’s written with Roxanne in mind, and I already have interest from an independent producer/director who was involved with Triomf and has extensive experience at the SABC. I’ve also offered Weston DeWalt (author of The Climb and a documentary filmmaker who once commented on my blog) the first option for filming rights.
On hold are HOLIDAY and FIRE, ICE AND THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD, both post apocalyptic stories about environment and climate collapse. HOLIDAY has been enthusiastically endorsed by all my friends who have read it. Publishers won’t even take a sniff. I’m considering forking out around R7000 to publish it with Xlibris (a self publishing arm of Random House). FIAWWW will be resuscitated once The Butcher is finished and klaar.
I’ve had some success publishing articles in mainstream media, and a recent article on South Africa rocketed to the top of Ohmynews most popular articles of the week.
In progress right now is a Seoul Press Tour scheduled for the end of April. If I don’t go to that I will do the Panorama tour.
Cycling [abridged version - the original was 2 pages long)
Last year Southern Free State Cycling interfered with my licensing, and this happened specifically because an asshole decided to sabotage my attempt to ride at SA Cycling champs... The fact that I was blocked by outside forces from doing SA’s dealt a huge blow to my motivation and enthusiasm for the sport. Thanks for that. Unfortunately I believe quite a few people took great satisfaction in that. These are people with an incredibly nasty, sucky attitude. I went through a long period where I had actually decided to quit cycling. Part of the despondency was the commitment involved in training, and the struggles to overcome sickness, and then to have people intentionally go out of their way to mete out their fucked up schemes of justice against someone who wants to get on his bicycle and ride – and these are churchgoers – it left an incredibly sour taste in my mouth. I had that recurring sense of loss – where you’ve done a lot of work, apparently for nothing. It was also a great time trial route on my back door, my age group was quite wide open, but there you go, the opportunity was spoiled and lost.
It was Alex who began to inspire love, confidence and the original spirit of cycling,and being in Gauteng made it easier to start again. Alex is in awesome shape, and he reminded me of the cyclist I once used to be. He also said that there is not much point sitting around getting fat…do you need to have a license to get fit? Isn’t training itself a reward?
Part of the despondency was also personal. How could I allow a small bump in the road to derail my plans? But after a while more and more people expressed their displeasure with CSA. The cyclist who died, Ryan Cox, may be alive today if the sports body that should have taken an interest in him had been there for him. He had to borrow money from a fellow cyclist for his operation. That isn’t right.
Today I am in pretty decent shape, but it has taken a long time to build up some momentum. It is difficult to build when you are transferring your life to another location geographically, and in the last 3 years I’ve done that a lot. The good news is, I am starting to improve quickly now. I am settled and strong, and the motivation is there. The Argus is on the cards, but I still haven’t decided for sure. I’ve hurt a few muscles in the last race, and there are one or two other issues. But I am in E, and I believe I can improve on last year. Even if I don’t do the Argus, I will be training through winter and setting my sights on good performances later this year.
Work
Sorry, I’m not going to be sharing any personal anecdotes here, although there are some juicy ones. On average, things are looking positive; plenty of avenues for growth and creativity. To some extent growth depends on to what extent the gatekeepers allow you through to do anything new.
Social Life
Alex and his family have really welcomed me into their home and it’s awesome to have great friends nearby. What great people.
I have made an effort to meet people in Johannesburg. I even went to local church – that’s huge for me. I recently took my landlady to a movie premiere and I’ve met a few people at gym (Roxanne for starters). But otherwise I’ve had incredibly bad luck. I’ve really met a string of people – girls mostly – who need counseling or at least time management training. I’m not sure why people give out business cards if they never answer their phones? This has been quite a low point, but since I have a girlfriend I’ve been fairly okay with the constant cancellations and postponements. It may have something to do with everyone being enormously ‘busy’. I’m just not someone who is happy to send 30 sms, 20 emails, and make 15 calls in order to meet once for coffee. It’s too much admin.
Is this town filled with high maintenance people?
Love Life
Marriage may well be on the cards within the next two years.
What I’m Reading Right Now
I’ve ordered First Man on the Moon and World Made by Hand, from Amazon. I’m reading scriptwriting books and re-reading the likes of The World is Flat. I’m busy writing The Butcher The Butcher so I am looking at scripts in a similar genre.
Movies
Big things are happening here, but I need to be fairly discreet at this point.
I’ll be watching Juno, No Country for Old Men and There Will be Blood in the coming weeks. I’m keen on being Barry Ronge’s alter ego. Nick Wrighte. Barry’s tastes seem to me are not as vigorous, youthful or in touch as they once were. I still find his writing very necessary reading and I’d like to interview him or at least have a conversation with him. I also intend to shoot a short film myself, hopefully before August this year. A surprisingly good film, I thought, that I’ve seen recently was The Kingdom.
Other Ambitions
I need to do another Ironman soon. Probably 2009.
As I say, the cycling thing really made a mess of my momentum and it’s my fault that it did, but I’m at a significantly lower level now than I would have been. This continues to make me angry.
Like Alex I’d like to be more involved in MTB, doing events such as the Epic, and other tours. He is doing Sani to sea over the next few days and next year I’d like to be there with him.
Publishing a book, that’s way overdo.
Producing a script.
Having this blog hit 100 000 by end of December this year.
Making a difference in terms of the common delusions people suffer from.
Being seen as an intelligent commentator and intellectual on urgent issues facing human beings not only in this nation, and in the world today.
Any questions?
Website of the Day
This website belongs to a Swedish company that is apparently one of the most profitable in Europe. It’s a continuum scrolling down site, so there are no pages as such, even when you click on a link, you’re still part of the total ‘page’. All advertising obviously has the advantage of being associated with all traffic coming to ‘one’ page. It’s interesting because this approach breaks most of the conventional wisdoms about web design and is very successful.
Click here to view.
UFS: From Apartheid to Eenheid?
Bloem campus holds up a mirror to South Africa’s transformation
Having lived for two years in the UK and for four years in crowded South Korea, I’ve returned to South Africa a different person. While I left embittered and angry, I returned feeling a love and relief to be home.
I found the life of a foreigner exciting and enriching, but also lonely, finally becoming monotonous.
My awareness that things are different in South Africa began on the flight home - I sat beside a black couple, young students who had been holidaying in Thailand. Back on home soil, I found the economy booming: almost 5% GDP, the highest in 20 years, inflation at its lowest in a decade, the exchange rate almost impossibly strong.
On the surface, there’s a pleasant racial harmony in the shopping malls where blacks and whites graze together like sheep in their contemporaneous efforts at consumption.
It’s a sharp contrast from the homogeneous dullness of England and especially Korea. Here is an energetic diversity, especially in the youth.
I’m now back in Bloemfontein, a student city in the centre of the country, where I grew up under Apartheid when the city was a mostly Afrikaans, Christian conservative city.
It’s a lot less conservative now, and a lot more cosmopolitan.
A lot of student housing in the suburbs is filled with international students, from as far away as China, but mostly from African states like Nigeria, Namibia and Lesotho.
Our next door neighbour is a black doctor. The girls around here are stunning. Both whites and blacks take care of their appearance; many wear eye-popping blouses and skirts.Big hair, for the boys, appears to be in. And Bloemfontein has become officially cool, now that local boy, Ryk Neethling, the Olympic swimmer, has become South Africa’s favourite celebrity.In February, I took part in a local 100km bicycle race. At least 4 of the cyclists in our bunch were from Lesotho, and another half dozen black cyclists were locals. I’ve cycled for a few years, but being in a bunch with black cyclists was new for me, and I soon found out, also for them.
The school I attended in Bloemfontein did not permit blacks to attend. Even when I was a student at Free State University in 1991, there was just a trickle of black students.
In my 7 years at university, I remember how shy, lost and cliquey the African students were, as well as the tension and antagonism in the white hostels when the black students moved in.
Six years have passed and I’m back on campus. I’ve signed up for a post-graduate course at the University of the Free State. I’m one of 26,000 students.A third-year student of Social Sciences “jokes” that a very cute black guy “thinks he’s white” because he has a white girlfriend. She adds: “He can do so much better”. Everyone in the group laughs. It’s casual now, on campus, but there are occasional incidents. I’m told that an Afrikaans guy from the Reitz hostel beat up a black girl from Zimbabwe last year.
I’m inspired and thrilled by the new youth, the vigour and turns of colour, but is it all just a meretricious guise?
In search of an answer, I interviewed my Drama lecturer, an Italian lady by the name of Manuella Lovisa. She says students come from as far afield as Uganda and Eritrea, many from neighbouring Lesotho, and believes that both local and international students are beginning to feel more at home on campus. “You get a sense of it in the classroom. They’re more oriented now, and showing greater confidence,” she says.
Two years ago, there was unrest at the university. Ms Lovisa says there were rallies (she points outside her window), “out there”, in the road below, calling for cheaper university fees. All appears to have been resolved; there have been no rallies since.In fact, the Free State University now has a reputation for leading the transformation process, becoming a truly multicultural village. These transformations and language policies have been endorsed by Nelson Mandela.
I approached a number of students for their views.
They told me “there are too few black lecturers at the university”. One girl from Namibia, studying medicine, commented: “My lecturer told me, in front of the class, that he didn’t think I’d make it to my final year”. She felt insulted.
She says the white lecturers are difficult to approach, and offer tips on tests to white students but not to black students.
Her friends agreed, saying blacks aren’t given enough opportunities. I argued that, because of affirmative action, when they leave university, doors are opened for them, and not for white students. Lebo says they’re shut out of the intervarsity, and important functions have a few token blacks.
Again I argued that it might just be a case of preparation, like an athlete making ready for a race, and it takes time to integrate into a new environment. But I surrendered when they cited a number of disheartening anecdotes.
The medical student is explicitly angry at whites, saying: “I don’t like whites”. She tells me that at the time of the (recent) rugby match between the Bulls and the Cheetahs, she was walking on campus and someone called out: “Hey kaffir”. It wasn’t the first time.
I’m embarrassed.
The girls tell me that on the surface, the appearance is pleasant, but under the cover is a lot of resentment.
Blacks blame whites for a lack of opportunity, and 10 minutes later, sitting down to dinner with my Afrikaans girlfriend, her brother and others say the same thing: they blame black people for the lack of opportunities.
I pondered: “Maybe both sides are blaming the other, when neither is to blame. Maybe, for example, trying to get a job is just difficult. But each side is in the habit of heaping blame on the other side. Maybe our focus should be on doing what’s possible, instead of blacks blaming whites and whites blaming blacks for every thing that seems unfair. Life is unfair”.
This started a lively debate. The Free State, and Bloemfontein, has one of the lowest rates of employment in the country. Local success stories like Ryk Neethling did not wait for opportunity. They worked hard and seized their chances. Isn’t that a law of nature?
Isn’t our racism just an excuse?
South Africa has been called “The World in One Country”. It is. It has beauty and diversity in its countryside, its flora and fauna, and its people.
In the old South Africa, the mantra under the emblem read, Unity is Strength. We did not believe it, not enough to live it. But I do believe that, slowly, South Africa - the country with 25% of the wealth of the African continent - is starting to heal. The country, at times, has the appearance of Eenheid. I believe we are finding our way, although there’s a long way yet ahead of us all.
NVDL: I wrote this last year when I was a student at UFS.
Students Strike Back
They have hired their own legal team and want a list of allegations... Here's one: bringing the men's hostel, the university, Bloem, Afrikaaners and South Africa into disrepute.
I do think their fiery stance says something important though. Before we condemn we need to be clear on exactly what the facts are and exactly what was happened. It may well be that play-acting was involved. If this was the case, those who shouted the loudest and howled in protest might be guilty of...well, jumping a gun. Inciting unnecessarily. The media, are you listening? Even so, this is still very damaging and comes at a difficult time, a stressful time for a lot of South Africans. It feels like a throwback to the old black white bullshit.
Is having a sick sense of humor a jailable offence?
In Canada right now...Brrrrr!
Tonight we are having minus 18 degrees Celcius with a wind chill factor of about minus 30 degrees. Luckily we can stay in tonight. And we are covered in snow which has been the case for most of this winter. Lucky you, are all nice and warm. Enjoy!!! - Debbie Smith, my cousin in Canada
"Hulle soek kak vir 'n fight"
I just got off the phone from a buddy in Bloem, and he is disgusted at what a small group of white Afrikaners are doing in Bloem. He says they are looking for trouble, stirring, and all this - the bullshit on the campus - could have been avoided, if they had just sat around a table. Instead they've resorted to barbaric behaviour and dragged the country back into the Apartheid gulag, even if only when we glance at the headlines.
He says the white Afrikaners have overreacted in a big way to the changes happening on campus. They've had absurd demands like wanting their own private parking places.
It's gratifying to hear that an Afrikaans guy can speak so eloquently and passionately - in English - about who South Africans could and should be, because this guy is Afrikaans, a modern Afrikaner who plays in a band.
We both know one of the okes who made the video, a blonde dude orginally from Namibia. When I first heard the video I swore I recognised the voice. Then on the cover of the Star I saw his picture. What's disturbing about this guy, let's call him D, is that there's so much other stuff going on behind the scenes. I met him on a Christian cycle tour, and there's this disconnect between the Mr. Nice Guy (I think he was voted the most ideal man to marry at the end of the tour), the rugby playing Guy's Guy and then The "Fear Factor" Host.
How many of the rest of us are leading double lives like this? To what extent in this country do we pretend to be nice people living in harmony, but we go home to a piggish existence, all grudges and prejudices intact? I'm not only addressing this to the common man, but our political leaders as well.
Wednesday, February 27, 2008
MJ's Neverland for Sale
If Michael can't come up with $24,525,906.61 in 3 weeks (March 19, my brother's birthday, is the deadline), he will have to sell Neverland. This will be the most famous foreclosure ever, just another American unable to pay the mortgage...
Jackson hasn't been spotted at Neverland since June 2005. In that time he's
lived in Bahrain, Ireland and Las Vegas among other pit stops on his global
tour. It is assumed that Jackson will just do nothing and let the property go up
for auction since he probably does not have the money even though he refinanced
his $300 million loan from Fortress Investments with help from Sony Music, HSBC
and Barclays Bank.
More.
UFS cancels all classes
Bloemfontein - The University of the Free State (UFS) cancelled all classes on Wednesday afternoon after a protest march by hundreds of staff and students
against a racial video made last year by white students.
UFS spokesperson Anton Fisher said all student classes were suspended after the protest march.
"It's to calm the situation on campus."
Go here for more.
NVDL: Ummmm...now every student can't go to class, even those who don't care about toilets, cakes and Reitz. This means the minority involved in these streke get even more attention. Sorry, I'm not sure if cancelling class was the solution.
That said, when I attended English some lecturers seldom turned up, and the English Department itself was shockingly dysfunctional. I even started a grievance procedure and their response was to attack my blog for saying what I'd experienced [search 'Raftery']. Even they violated their own grievance procedures!!! Crazy! Guess everyone is going to skrik wakker now that everyone is watching. Lekker.
Reporter Launches THE RAP
Feel like an argument? Then THE RAP is just the thing for you!
If you’re frustrated, if you need to vent or do justice to your mood swings, then visit THE RAP.
At THE RAP writers of controversy will be able to immediately respond to your earth shattering comments. Please try not to throw any food. Let’s keep it clean.
We’re looking for 10 talented stirrers who are at least web savvy enough to remember their user names and passwords. We’d like at least a post a week from you, ideally one or two a day.
If you think you’re up to it, have nerves of steel, and feel you’re capable of keeping a chaotic online conversation in check, email us at info@reporter.co.za. In the subject field include the following text: "RAP blogger"
THE RAP is at the following url: http://reportercoza.blogspot.com/. Go there now, click here!
Basic Workshop for Scriptwriters
During the past eight years The Writing Studio has done more than 250 writing workshops throughout South Africa, including a Masterclass for Screenwriters for 40 writers from Africa at the Sithengi Film and TV Market's Talent Campus. The 6-week course (on Saturday afternoons) is hosted by the Cape Film Commission Resource Centre that is sponsored by Waterfront Studios, PGWC and the Dell Foundation.The course is ideal for ANYONE with an idea for a story.
If there is something or someone you want to write about this is your opportunity to turn thoughts into words. Within 6 weeks you will understand the principles of writing for a visual medium and what it takes to be screenwriter. The course is also ideal for novelists who would like to adapt their work into a visual medium, or writers who want to write stageplays. The course will
- Turn theory into practise
- Turn ideas inside out
- Explore the full dramatic or comedic potential of your story
- Showcase your talent for writing a captivating story
- Sharpen your storytelling skills
- Empower you to write a compelling story that will reflect the uniqueness of your culture, history and experience.
- Guide you through the writing process
- Introduce you to the world of filmmaking
- Solve problem areas in your story
- Set your imagination free and allow the story to come alive on the page
- Allow memorable characters to live out their respective destinies and capture the hearts and imagination of audiences worldwide.
- Transform fanciful ideas into fascinating narrative.
- Teach you how to read and interpret film.
Saturday, February 9, 16, 23 and March 1, 8 and 15, 2008From 14:00 until 17:00
VENUE:
Resource Centre, Waterfront Studios (former Sasani Studios), 1 Port Road - enter the blue door at the Red brick building at the end of the parking lot and come up the stairs.COSTThe cost is R900. If you are a registered student or scholar, a pensioner, a SABC staff member, the cost of the course is R700.
TRAINER
Since he launched The Writing Studio eight years ago DANIEL DERCKSEN has presented over 200 workshops in scriptwriting and creative writing throughout South Africa. As a published playwright, writer and movie journalist, he is a qualified ETD Practitioner (Education, Training and Development) - accredited by SAQA (The South African Qualifications Authority) - working in accordance with the principles of the Department of Education and focusing on outcomes-based education, training and development, and has been involved in movie journalism for more than 20 years. Read more
Racial tensions on the rise: SAIRR
Why are racial tensions emerging? The Skielik shootings and the ongoing unrest at the Free State university demonstrate a growing unhappiness amongst white South Africans. Eskom's woes have reinforced - even if not necessarily for logical reasons - the perception that white South Africans are loosing their footing in the country they call home. The changes to the Springboks did not go unnoticed by large proportions of the white South African community. The same applies to cricket. The government and even administrative bodies underestimate the negative impact of 'forced transformation' particularly in this area.
For background, go here.
Police use stun grenade on campus
5 arrested on UFS campus
Inflation surges above forecasts to 8,8%
The CPIX number beat forecasts of 8,4% rise and is widely expected to jump further in the first quarter of the year, adding to pressure on the central bank to raise rates again.More.
"This confirms that inflation remains a very big problem. It is putting serious pressure on the Reserve Bank," said Efficient Group economist Fanie Joubert.
NVDL: Why is this happening? Because the commodity that underpins everything we do is getting more expensive, and sorry to say, will become more expensive over the permanent term. If you think this is a temporary feature unfortunately you're living in a fool's paradise. Koo koo.
Ergo it's Ego
People are funny creatures. You know I'm right because you're one of them. I know what you're thinking, and you're right - I'm also one.
We have so little free time these days. Ever notice how hard it is to schedule something with someone new you have met? I've gone through this process a few times now with a few different people. The initial enthusiasm tends to become eroded by the frustration of hit and miss calls, and schlepp of smsing, and unanswered emails.
Diarising time may seem to be a solution, but by the time your 'appointment' comes up, you;re not in the mood, not ready or just generally overstressed. Being spontaneous works only if you luck out on random slots of free time at the same time. That almost never happens.
Finally one person - the more sensitive one - decides: let's try to make a specific plan to see each other. The other person feels trapped, controlled, it's even more added stress. Solution - leave each other alone and go back to work, spending time in front of your computer and stuck in traffic jams on the way to work. This is what life is all about. We were born to be egotistical money making machines, not fathers, friends, daughters, sons or lovers. Get back to work!
Logic and Elephant Culling (VIDEO)
The Big Question: Why is South Africa proposing to cull thousands of elephants?
If the world was overrun with elephants, I'd put my hand up and say: "Er...let's cull." But if small or even large reserves reach their capacity, you don't cull an animal that has completely disappeared from other areas, and is absent from other reserves. You take the extra animals there. Is that so hard to comprehend?
Follow the money trail...
South Africa elephant cull move condemned (+video)
Watch video here.
UFS: Varsity workers fed meat with urine (VIDEO)
A video of University of the Free State (UFS) employees on their knees eating meat which had been urinated on was condemned “in the strongest possible terms” by the university yesterday.
The video, made by the Reitz men’s residence, surfaced yesterday morning and follows riots by the students at the campus last week over the university’s hostel integration policy.
“The Executive Management (EM) of the UFS condemns this video in the strongest possible terms as a gross violation of the human dignity of the workers involved,” the university said.
For the rest of this article from Sowetan online, go here.
Volksblad: 'n RASSEBOM het gister op die kampus van die Universiteit van die Vrystaat (UV) in Bloemfontein ontplof. (Click here for Video)
NVDL: Big shit is happening on that campus. I should know, I was there. The Afrikaners feel like they have had to give up everything, all their traditions, even where they live on campus. Lots of angry people.
Oil, Gold at all time highs now
All Share 30515.870
Gold 963.95 Up 1.52%
Platinum 2169.00 1.17%
Brent Crude Oil 100.12 Up 0.65%
Rand - $ 7.4790
NVDL: I sometimes think what is bad for the world, is good for us. But even if it is true, I'm not sure if it is true for very long.
SINGAPORE - Gold roared above $955 an ounce today to its highest level ever, with investors pouring money into the metal after oil hit a record above $101 a barrel and the US dollar tumbled against other currencies.
Spot gold rose as high as $955,70 an ounce, with buying particularly from investors and speculators in Japan. It was up from $946,60/947,40 late in New York yesterday and has gained more than 14% this year.
Silver rallied to its loftiest level since November 1980 on investor buying as it was still cheaper than other precious metals. Palladium jumped to its best level in more than six years while platinum hovered below last week’s record.
"Investors are still very concerned about the fluctuations and troubles in other markets," said Darren Heathcote of Investec Australia in Sydney.
"Let’s just say $970 is not inconceivable. As I guess $1 000 is not inconceivable. There doesn’t seem to be much reason to sell gold," he said.
From: Gold hits record high on surging oil, euro
Phedra Crazy
Phedra Cut has some nasty side-effects when you're using the stuff during a long race on a hot day. If you're a little bit dehydrated - that means it's slight enough you wouldn't even know if you were - Phedra will hasten cramping.
During the Carnival City race I experienced probably the most extreme cramping ever, and I have done plenty of 150+ rides in much harsher conditions. In South Korea I once rode the second 75km with almost no water and no food. I got jittery towards the end in the 35C + heat, and high humidity. But I suffered far more during the 100km at Carnival city in less hot conditions and with two water bottles on board.
The cramping was so chronic I essentially lost the use of muscle groups for a few seconds. That's right. Muscles locked and I couldn't use them. Crazy. This also happened to various muscle groups, as though a snake was moving through both legs, finding muscles to play boa constrictor with. It is now 3 days later and I am still limping around and sore, not from the exertion, but from having to push through so many sets of muscle cramps.
I'm not slashing Phedra as something you must never use. I'm just saying it has side-effects, and one of them is it tries you out. If you use it, drink lots of water before the race, and as much as you can during the event. But my advice for 100km + races is not to use it at all.
Is suicide sticky?
Figures show the suicide rate among 11-17s in Wales, although small, is five times higher than in England.
- BBC
In Malcolm Gladwell's book The Tipping Point, he describes a runaway suicide craze in Micronesia. Gladwell writes that before the 1960's suicide was unknown in Micronesia, and after the first suicide, it caught on quickly so that by the 1980's Micronesia had the highest per capita suicide rate in the world. Suicide was hot.
Exactly how hot? Well the USA has a rate of 22 per 100 000. Micronesia's rose to 160 per 100 000. Gladwell says that teens would commit suicide if they saw their girlfriends with other boys.
"On seventeen year old boy hanged himself after being rebuked by his older brother for making too much noise." - writes Gladwell.
Even more shocking is the ideation of suicide. Kids start to want to 'try' hanging to 'see how it feels'. There's excitement and daring involved. Gladwell calls it a contagious epidemic of self-destruction, engaged by youth in the spirit of experimentation, imitation and rebellion...it becomes an important form of self-expression.
South Africa has their own brand of suicide crazy youngsters. They're called train surfers. Check it out:
Train surfer buried
'Disturbing' child suicide rate
While Micronesia took the suicide world by storm once upon a time, the Japanese are consistent performers. Anything from bankruptcy to failing one's exams is grounds for jumping in front of a bus.
One Japanese suicide every 15 minutes
But the leading contempers today are indians girls.
Indian teens have world's highest suicide rate
The average suicide rate for young women aged between 15 to 19 living around Vellore in Tamil Nadu was 148 per 100,000. This compares to just 2.1 suicides per 100,000 in the same group in the UK.
The global suicide rate stands at 14.5 deaths per 100,000, with suicide the fourth leading cause of death in the 15 to 19 age group. However, in the Tamil Nadu study, suicide was the number one cause of death among these adolescents.
Notably, young women were much more likely to kill themselves than young men - the reverse of the rest of the world. In Western countries, men are three times more likely to commit suicide than women. Hanging was the most common method used, followed by poisoning using insecticide.
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
How Groundwater Shaped Mars
Crusty, dusty and rusty describes the Mars of today.More.
Surface features of the Red Planet, however, hint at a watery past where torrents of groundwater carved out deep canyons, formed sweeping fans of sediment and cemented together huge fault lines.
"Groundwater probably played a major role in shaping many of the things we see on the Martian surface," said George Postma, a sedimentologist at UtrechtUniversity in the Netherlands.
Postma collaborated with Virginia Tech's Erin Kraal and others to recreate Mars' fan-like sediment deposits with a scale model. The group detailed their findings in a recent issue of the journal Nature.
A separate new study by Allan Treiman, a scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, details the role of groundwater in depositing minerals in rocky Martian crevices.
NVDL: Is this a story about Mars or Earth in a million years? Can't quite make it out...
Free! The Future is Free!
Why $0.00 Is the Future Online and for Business (WIRED)
Thanks to Gillette, the idea that you can make money by giving something away is no longer radical. But until recently, practically everything "free" was really just the result of what economists would call a cross-subsidy: You'd get one thing free if you bought another, or you'd get a product free only if you paid for a service.
Over the past decade, however, a different sort of free has emerged. The new model is based not on cross-subsidies — the shifting of costs from one product to another — but on the fact that the cost of products themselves is falling fast. It's as if the price of steel had dropped so close to zero that King Gillette could give away both razor and blade, and make his money on something else entirely. (Shaving cream?)
You know this freaky land of free as the Web. A decade and a half into the great online experiment, the last debates over free versus pay online are ending. In 2007 The New York Times went free; this year, so will much of The Wall Street Journal. (The remaining fee-based parts, new owner Rupert Murdoch announced, will be "really special ... and, sorry to tell you, probably more expensive." This calls to mind one version of Stewart Brand's original aphorism from 1984: "Information wants to be free. Information also wants to be expensive ... That tension will not go away.")
Scenario 1: Low-cost digital distribution will make the summer blockbuster free. Theaters will make their money from concessions — and by selling the premium moviegoing experience at a high price.
Once a marketing gimmick, free has emerged as a full-fledged economy. Offering free music proved successful for Radiohead, Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, and a swarm of other bands on MySpace that grasped the audience-building merits of zero. The fastest-growing parts of the gaming industry are ad-supported casual games online and free-to-try massively multiplayer online games. Virtually everything Google does is free to consumers, from Gmail to Picasa to GOOG-411.
The rise of "freeconomics" is being driven by the underlying technologies that power the Web. Just as Moore's law dictates that a unit of processing power halves in price every 18 months, the price of bandwidth and storage is dropping even faster. Which is to say, the trend lines that determine the cost of doing business online all point the same way: to zero.
More.
Aliens: The True Story about what went down in South Africa
Ripley: They cut the power.
Hudson: What do you mean "THEY cut the power"? How could they cut the power, man? They're animals!
Once upon a time, not long ago, right here, a body drifted, still strapped to her seat, her vehicle drifting, floating through the sea of space. The body was not dead, but asleep. It belonged to the only survivor, a woman, who once lived in a wealthy suburb of Johannesburg, in South Africa. Perhaps her body washed up on a beach in Australia. All we know is she was taken somewhere and then the people asked her a lot of questions.
“How many times do you want to hear the same story?” she said, after 3 hours of questioning.
“We can corroborate some elements of your story. For reasons unknown South Africa lost power, and the affects of crime and AIDS and corruption had a cascading effect. But for reasons unknown the country was set for self destruct, and you freely admit to running away from and thereby abandoning a once thriving democracy.”
“Look, I can see where this is going and I’m telling you…”
A woman, an accountant, rifles through some papers. “He was a politician and a crook, with concentrated acid for blood – these are your words…”
“Did IQ’s drop while I was away? We all knew what was happening but we didn’t know where to start doing anything about it. So we just didn’t do anything. And when the shit had hit the fan we kept on hoping things would get back to normal. But of course we were way fucking past normal.”
“Thank you, that will be all."
“God damn it, that's not all! Because the same thing happens overt and over again in Africa, and millions end up dead, or stuck in intractable poverty and suffering. If one of those presidents gets down here then that will be all! Then all this - this bullshit that you think is so important, you can just kiss all that goodbye!
“We don’t need to learn the lesson. We have poor people in Australia. They live in the territories. Have been doing so for years.”
“You have no idea what you’re dealing with. Even if I tell you exactly what you’re dealing with, you’ve still got no idea how much shit is involved.”
Apone: All right, sweethearts, what are you waiting for? Breakfast in bed?
But they called her up a few weeks later, because they needed stuff that was said to be abundant in South Africa, coal, and people and things who went there weren’t coming back any more. They wanted to know what was happening..
“You throw me out to the wolves, and now you want me to go back there? I don’t want to go back. I have nightmares. The rapes, the guns, the mobs. I wouldn’t be any use to you even if I did go.”
We are making our home into a gallows. And it seems no matter how many times we explain to ourselves what is happening in this country, we come away thinking everything will be fine. It’s our greed that drives us, and greed is a coward. It hopes to get something for nothing.
Ripley: You know Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage!
When you have a man not yet president already crushing the judiciary, shutting down a crime fighting unit and making threats to the media, you can bet the transition under this man, as president, will not be pleasant. He has vowed to make all policies, all actions by private citizens the business of the ANC. This is known as state run civil society. It’s socialism and communism. It is how African tinderbox African dictatorships are born and burn, but we will all burn in the fire…except of course, our Dear New Leader.
Read the following dialogue but imagine this is happening in South Africa, not somewhere out in space. It comes down to the same thing anyway: no one can here you scream:
Bishop: Well, that explains it then. The A2s always were a bit twitchy. That could never happen now with our behavioral inhibitors. It is impossible for me to harm or by omission of action, allow to be harmed, a human being.
Ripley: Well, somebody's gonna have to go out there. Take a portable terminal, go out there and patch in manually.
Hudson: Oh yeah, sure! With those things runnin' around? You can count me out.
Hicks: Yeah I guess we can just count you out of everything, Hudson.
Bishop: [speaking under Hicks] I'll go.
Hudson: That's right, man.
Bishop: I'll go.
Hudson: Hey, why don't you go, man!
Bishop: [more loudly] I'll go.
Ripley: What?
Bishop: I'll go. I mean, I'm the only one qualified to remote-pilot the ship anyway.
Hudson: Yeah right, man, Bishop should go. Good idea!
Bishop: Believe me, I'd prefer not to. I may be synthetic, but I'm not stupid.
Hudson: That's it man, game over man, game over! What the fuck are we gonna do now? What are we gonna do?
Burke: Maybe we could build a fire, sing a couple of songs, huh? Why don't we try that?
Oscars? We don’t need no stinking Oscars!
As deserving (or not) as many of last night’s Oscar winners were, it was hard not to notice one glaring omission among the Best Picture and Best Director nominees: Sean Penn’s haunting adaptation of Jon Krakauer’s Into the Wild.From veryshortlist.com
Starring Emile Hirsch and Best Supporting Actor nominee Hal Holbrook, the film tells the true story of twentysomething Christopher McCandless, who boyishly wandered around the American West before dying of starvation in the Alaskan wilderness. While Krakauer’s book delved deeply into his subject’s motivations and psyche (was he selfish or stupid? Spiritually lost or psychologically ill?), Penn, who wrote and directed the film, smartly reduces his narrative just to McCandless’s quest — the places he saw (gorgeously shot by cinematographer Eric Gautier), the fellow American wanderers he met (Vince Vaughn is particularly winning as one of them), and how he and those he encountered were changed by the experience.
Beautiful, restrained, funny, and sad, Into the Wild is a celebration of our national instinct for liberty and the lengths to which true believers will go to find it. That golden guy doesn’t know what he’s missing.
I am subscribed; if you want to subscribe go here.
NVDL: There was some full frontal nudity in this film which probably relegated it 'art movie' status. The nudity was incidental in the way that when you are in the bush and you see a big fat oom or a little girl running around. It reinforces the sense that we people are also animals in a simple sense, and in the important sense that nature is where we belong.
Existing Home Sales Hit 9-Year Low
Existing Home Sales Fall to Lowest Level in Nearly a Decade
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Sales of existing homes fell to the lowest level in nearly a decade in January while the median price for a home dropped for the fifth straight month.
The National Association of Realtors said Monday that sales of single-family homes and condominiums dropped by 0.4 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.89 million units, the slowest sales pace on records going back to 1999.
The median price of a home sold in January slid to $201,100, a drop of 4.6 percent from a year ago.
More.
Monday, February 25, 2008
"Blacks Only" - Why Mr Zuma?
"But why are you asking me?" He responds. "Why should I answer that question?" Ummm...because you're a leader, a decision maker, and (slap against the forehead) you're also the keynote speaker. Wait, let me go and fetch a dictionary...you wanted to know what 'crook' means. There are a few more words to remember:
- dissembler:
1. To disguise or conceal behind a false appearance.
2. To make a false show of; feign.
v.intr.
To disguise or conceal one's real nature, motives, or feelings behind a false appearance.
- prankster
1. One who plays tricks or pranks. trickster
bad hat, mischief-maker, trouble maker, troublemaker, troubler - someone who deliberately stirs up trouble.
Because if you do become our president, there will be trouble for ordinary citizens, black and white.
Kunstler: Blanket Psychology and why we have more to Fear than Fear itself
The maneuvers that the big banks are making nowadays, along with their enablers at the Federal Reserve and elsewhere in Washington, really amount to little more than the old Polish blanket joke -- in which (excuse my concision) the proverbial Polack wants to make his blanket longer, so he scissors twelve inches off the top and sews it onto the bottom. Only in this case, the banks are shearing x-billions of losses off the top of their blankets and re-attching x-billions of new debt onto the bottom. This new debt, of course, goes to cover the old losses and only represents further losses-to-be-reported-later, since the banks are basically insolvent. Borrowing more money when you're broke doesn't make you less insolvent.By James Kunstler
The banks can probably keep this gag running a little longer, but not without consequences. My guess is that it spins out of control in March sometime when some more hedge funds blow up and at least one big bank, perhaps Citi, rolls belly up like a harpooned whale. The game is really over, and all the playerz know it. The consequence of continuing to pretend the meta-fiasco of Ponzi endgame is fixable will be an even more shattering depression than the one we're already in for.
We are a much poorer nation than we thought we were and the reality is just too hard to face. Nobody from the most august banker (Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson) to the lowliest wanker (the WalMart inventory clerk who "bought" a house outside Phoenix with a no-money-down, payment-option, adjustable rate mortgage) can believe that this is happening. The candidates for president are pretty much assuming that vast financial resources will exist to be deployed against a range of problems. Everybody is going to be hugely disappointed.
When you introduce perversities into an economic system, they invariably end up expressing themselves as distortions. The economy that evolved the past two decades, driven by the perverse securitization of wishes and frauds, will now express itself in a stark cratering of American living standards. Incomes and jobs will vanish, massive quantities of stuff will collect dust on the WalMart shelves, the fragile infrastructures of daily life will go to shit, and there will be political hell to pay. Every attempt to avoid a straight-up workout of our massive losses, will represent another layer of perversity and more consequent destructive distortions.
I feel sorry for the next president. Even as he takes the oath of office, the nation will be flying apart like a seized-up engine. Since the fiasco in finance is happening in lock-step with Peak Oil (and very likely because of it at a fundamental level) we can expect one of the distortions to take the form of oil shortages. These shortages will come not just from demand bottlenecks in a stressed-out world oil allocation system, but because exporting nations will start demanding payment in Euros or something besides the depreciating currency that reflects our disintegration, and we'll have a problem coming up with payments that amount to at least fifty percent more than we're used to shelling out.
Once the US gets into serious difficulties with our oil supplies, every other sector of the economy wobbles, including especially the food-growing sector, which cannot function without copious amounts of diesel fuel and hydrocarbon-based soil "inputs." Americans will go hungry, and not just the "underclasses."
Along in this process somewhere, there is huge potential for armed conflict with other nations. If the unraveling gets traction while George W. Bush remains in charge, the US may answer bellicosity from oil-exporting nations, or energy-hungry rivals, with truculence of our own. Things can get out of control very fast in such a situation. Nations that were happily selling us salad shooters six months earlier may be targeting our naval vessels with a different sort of shooter, say a Sunburn missile. In any case, we will be acting with a bankrupt, exhausted, and over-extended military, and the best case outcome would leave us merely isolated and marooned geopolitically on our own continent, with dwindling energy and mineral resources and an angry, demoralized population.
This time around we have more to fear than fear itself. The banking executives, government officials, and candidates for president are not doing the nation a service by concealing and ignoring our losses. Finance, as the driver of an economy, is finished, but the deployment of capital is still an indispensable arm of a real economy. Sooner or later we'll get back to money that stands for something and banks that function as credible repositories of wealth. But we haven't even started down the path to that place, and the longer we pretend that we don't have to go there, the worse the journey will be.
NVDL: And so ends the spectacular phase known as the generation that 'Wanted Something For Nothing', but instead took everything for themselves leaving Generation Next with Nothing For Something. They (we?) will break their (our?) backs laboring on farms to pay the piper for a chaotic climate and the eviscerations of long term stagflation. I don't think we will get back to a money system again. Money will be invisible after this, banking will be online, but it will be based on the value of real assets that exist in the real world. We will mortgage everything in future, houses, cars, the lot. And thus commerce will finally come to resemble what it always was: trading goods (not for money, but for goods you don't have). Just a theory.
South Korea's new president takes office
SEOUL, South Korea - Hard-charging former businessman Lee Myung-bak took
the oath of office as South Korea's new president Monday, vowing to revitalize the economy, strengthen relations with the U.S. and deal with nuclear-armed North Korea.
The conservative, pro-U.S. Lee, nicknamed "The Bulldozer" for the can-do image he honed as a construction company CEO and later as mayor of Seoul, was sworn into office in a colorful outdoor ceremony at the National Assembly in the presence of tens of thousands of onlookers.
"Economic revivalis our most urgent task," Lee said in his inauguration speech.
More.
NVDL: I may be travelling to Seoul at the end of April for a few days on a writing assignment.
South Africa: Why Worry (This is not a question)
Jean Temkin writes: In the past 14 months, the oil price has risen 79%...the situation has changed drastically over the past four months as the dollar gained against the rand. With the rand at a 17-month low against the dollar, the outlook for the petrol price is bleak. Depending on a combination of the rand’s value and the oil price, calculating counts for petrol is dicey, but the next one looks like R8,30/l.NVDL: I don't know about you, but I am already feeling the pinch of higher prices. Foodwise and petrolwise. It's becoming harder to make ends meet. I'm seriously considering NOT going down to the Argus for exactly the reason that I may not be able to afford to do so. It's a want, not a need.
Jean Temkin writes: Risks include a US recession and political uncertainty. Investors are concerned about Zuma’s August 14 trial and a shift to the left in the ANC leadership.
NVDL: I've been realistic about our economic prospects, others call this pessimism. A friend says that we haven't grown at the rate we have (in SA) for a long long time. Things can't be better. Exactly. After such a long 'good' run, we're due for a protracted 'ill turn'. Not only are the microeconomic fundamentals dodgy, so is the world economy. The global economic malaise is looking increasingly to me like the ruckus going on pre- The Iraq War. Everyone had their theories, and in the end, most people supported the war, didn't they? I didn't. But the same reasons for the mêlée into Iraq are the reasons behind the growing malaise everywhere. Expensive oil, stupid.
More.
‘No Country for Old Men’ Wins Oscar Tug of War (+SLIDESHOW)
HOLLYWOOD — “No Country for Old Men,” Joel and Ethan Coen’s chilling confrontation of a desperate man with a relentless killer, won the Academy Award for best picture on Sunday night, providing a more-than-satisfying ending for the makers of a film that many believed lacked one.
The Coens, who live in New York and remain aloof from the Hollywood establishment, also shared the directing and adapted screenplay awards. Joel Coen thanked the academy members for “letting us continue to play in our corner of the sandbox.”
No film ran away with the night, however, as the 80th annual Academy Awards gave a bruised movie industry a chance to refocus its ever-inward gaze on laurels instead of labor strife.
Daniel Day-Lewis won best actor for his portrayal of a ruthless oil tycoon’s rise from the sweat and sludge of wildcatting to wealth, power and madness in “There Will Be Blood.”
Tilda Swinton took best supporting actress for playing a nervous wreck of a corporate lawyer who throws morality under the bus of her ambition in “Michael Clayton.”
The indie delight “Juno,” about a pregnant teenager with a mouth on her, won for best original screenplay, by Diablo Cody, who once worked as a stripper. She tearfully thanked her family for “loving me for who I am.”
More.
Click here to view slideshow.
NVDL: I watched 'Michael Clayton' over the weekend. George Clooney is a bozo; Tilda Swinton put in a perfect performance, but then she was made for this role. Later I will post an article titled: Is George Looney? He is currently featured in TIME magazine - including on the cover - but I believe he is one of the most overrated actors in movie history. And that's all he knows: how to be a movie star (and apparently all he wants).
Carnival City Bike Race – 100km
Phedra-fueled jumpiness with a decent dose of sleep deprivation = a quirky performance
The first miracle was arriving in time for this race. Although I got instructions from Alex, I went to see the sights in Germiston on the way. There was a MOER of a traffic jam winding in a great arc, so I arrived at Carnival City at about 7am, and my group, BL started at 7:18. I had to find the registration tent, collect my number, attach it to my shirt, get back, get ready and get to the start. Somehow I did all this with about 4 minutes to spare.
I had no idea what to expect from this race. Inconsistent training means I have no idea where I’m at… 2 weeks on 2 weeks off…it just meant there was a giant question mark hanging over my helmet on Sunday. The 24th would also be the first time in weeks that I’d be seeing my Heart Rate (I had to order a new one since the old one’s battery had gone poegaai).
Boredom Sets In
The first 10km were helluva boring. Just sitting in the bunch, speeding along, nothing happening. Because I was so sleep deprived, I found this very very tedious. I was already asking myself: “How are you going to feel I’ve 50km?” That’s as far as I’ve gone in training; I haven’t exceeded that since Christmas. I had a Phedra-fueled jumpiness with a decent dose of sleep deprivation. This, and the fact that gravity attracted me downhill faster than anyone else, got me into the habit of breaking the boring all-in-a-day’s-work mindset of the riders. No one was saying anything, no one was doing anything, it was just so BORING! So I made a series of hops off the front, nothing spectacular, using the momentum to hop over small hills. Once someone came with me, but on such a flat course the bunch was always going to be biting at our heels. At 1 hour we had covered just under 40km. We hit 50km at about 1hr 17:30.
I suppose I did some good marketing (during the first 75% of the race) for NVDL. Some of the spurts were just plane fun. At around 60km – disaster. On one of my solo forays I was just waiting for the bunch to reel me in on a long drag when both calves suddenly pinched hard. I pedaled through it, but it was something of a shock, and it took about a kilometer for the tightness to finally loosen. A rider must have seen me wincing, because he said: “Standard Bank, how’re you doing?” I told him my fluids weren’t doing the job and he very kindly offered me one of his quarter filled water bottles. It really did the trick. The cramps went away completely. For about 10 minutes.
Strain
From here on out I began to feel a bit of strain in terms of my endurance capacity. I was fishing for the slip, and at one point I realized it was not on the right of the rider in front of me, so I moved over to the left. Just then I felt a right hand shove hard and plum against my upper thigh – HARD – and as I glanced back, saw an oldish rider go down.OOooof. Looked eina. He must have gotten a shock when he pushed and realized something as heavy (and immovable) as a menhir was riding a bicycle. Not quite sure where the shove came from. Was it reflex or something else?
Oddly enough, I drifted off the front (believing the calf cramp to be a one-off), and then later, moving nicely up a long drag my quads suddenly tightened. I’m not sure I’ve ever had these muscles pull in about 15 years of cycling. I drank water and stretched, but now I was concerned. 20km to go and it seemed like if I started pushing on an uphill, even if my muscles weren’t tired, they were hungry for electrolytes that weren’t there. I rode conservatively the next 10 km and with about 3km to go started revving towards the front.
Lock and (CANNOT)Load
On probably the second last climb, my upper Quads locked – not tightened – locked, so that for a few desperate moments I was unable to move my legs at all. I was basically standing and rocking my upper body, but my legs had locked, the ropes in the muscles in a vicious spasm, so tight I couldn’t do anything. I really thought I was going to fall over in a few seconds. The second miracle was that – remarkably – I managed to squeeze out a single pedal stroke, despite this painful vicelike muscle lock in both legs. But as soon as I’d leverage the grip, as soon as I bent my leg a snake would seize it up and it would tighten again. Strangely, this was happening with far less pain than when this usually happens. Then another pedal stroke. I pedaled in the lightest gear, in a lot of pain, for about 300 metres… I’d experienced a muscle strain at the end of Race for Victory that had me sore and limping for a few days. That was based on not being strong enough for that long brutal climb at the end. This was different. I felt a series of severe but recoverable spasms, but not a bruising strain associated with a cramp.
The severity of this last muscle lock meant I had to drift entirely to the right hand side of the road so that cars and bikes could get around me. So I lost the bunch. I slowed down a lot now. I was limping in at 11km/h. Once again, as the road leveled off, I felt the lock gradually unlock. I got through 100km in 2h:43 and took 6 minutes to do the last 2km.
Not the nicest way to end the race, cramping in the last 3km, but if someone offered me 2:49 for 102km at the start of the race – cramps and all – I would have taken it.
Why?
Now the question: why did you cramp? My reasoning is as follows. I left home already quite thirsty and over the past few days have restricted my meals. I believe I started the race not sufficiently hydrated, and I was using a new fluid mixture for the first time, not the usual magic stuff (GU2O). This is a bit of a wild card, but I suspect Phedra cut may have had something to do with it too. Phedra makes me jumpy, why not my muscles too? Alex says that I cramped because of my aggressive (foolhardy?) riding. That my muscles were just tired (because I haven’t been training much.) It’s true, I haven’t, but I don’t agree, simply because it wasn’t a case of my legs being tired. They didn’t feel tired, and I wasn’t struggling to stick with the bunch, even after my little adventures off the front. If it was the case that I was growing increasing tired the cramps would have been in the same place, and would have hurt a lot afterwards (as was the case with Race for Victory – where strength up that last climb is a key factor).
The cramps felt like those you get in the pool – foot cramps – they happen often, lock up the inside of the foot, but it’s not a lasting, bruising type of pain. You don’t get these sort of cramps because you’re tired; you get them because your body lacks salt.
Headaches
I think fitness did play a bit of a role, and the fact that I was doing a long race flat race repeating the same motion all the time…and all this riding uncharacteristically without my Zipps. It could be this aspect alone that my legs weren’t used to, the heavier wheels over a longer distance, but if I had to make a bet I’d say it was drinking and eating too little before the race, and having a formula that didn’t have a lot of electrolyte replacement. What confirms this diagnosis, I think, is that I’ve had a splitting headache all day – I went to shoot a model on Northcliff hill after the ride as well, which meant even more time in the sun. I think I’m suffering from a bit of sunstroke and dehydration.
Even so it was a great way to start the morning and one of the highlights of a busy and stimulating weekend. Oh and the third miracle was that Rapport finally published my pictures of Roxanne in Sunday’s paper. Beautiful.
Stats
Time: 2:49
Distance: 102.6km
Speed: 36.2km/h (ave) 70+ max
KCal: 3027
HR: 154 ave/170 max
Time per km: 1:39
Lower Than Snakeshit At the Bottom of the Sea
Is jy ‘n Scaverratch of ‘n Maplotter?
Remember Tant Stienie from Kooperasie Stories? She always spoke about Scaverratches, but that might have been in Agter Elke Man. These are (usually) really low class whites – whites who drink out their wages, kick the dog and don’t have the guts to beat up on another man. They’re in and out of prison, always up so some scheme. They have sex with their own kids (or someone elses), beat up their wives – oh, did I already say that…well, maybe because they do this a LOT…sien hulle target nie mense van hulle eie size nie; hulle kan nie eers ordentlik met hulle Ma’s praat nie.
Die problem met hulle is hulle het geen selfvertroue nie. ‘n Scaverratch is laer as slangkak op die seebodem.
‘n Koelak is iemand wat common is. Hulle word ook maplotters genoem. Hulle’t geen smaak nie. Dis dalk ‘n vrou wat aan elke ring ‘n vinger dra. Vra bietjie vir Korne en Twakkie. Dis ook in die plat manier hoe hierdie mense praat.
Dan is daar die ander mense…moeiliker om te definieer. Hulle leef in ‘n fantasie wereld. Hulle vergeet wat hulle al gese het, dan lieg hulle hulself vas. Dis gewoonlik iemand wat ander die heeltyd probeer beindruk…nie in die afshow sin, meer iemand wat once upon a time baie arm was en nou wil wys hulle weet wat aangaan.
Ongelukkig is hierdie mense nogsteeds dom, jy kan die plaas nie uit hulle kry nie. Hulle is soos visse. ‘n Vis sal aan een kant van ‘n tenk sit en kyk en sodra hy wegswem vergeet hy dat hy daar was.
So moenie laat die gras onder jou voete groei nie. Wie jy ookal is, accept it. Of is jy gou by die bak maar lui by die vak? Die koel is deur die kerk my tjom, en jy gaan Jan tuisbly se karretjie wees as jy nie nou – met al die shit wat in die wereld aangaan – skouer aan die wiel sit.
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Friday, February 22, 2008
Let's All Get Dekaffirnated
Pieter Dirk Uys coined this term - it was the title of one of his shows at the Tricycle Theatre in London (click here if you don't believe me) in circa 1999. It was an excellent show of course, Uys made some excellent points on the subject... and you know Uys' wit was still ringing in my head when I went to work Monday morning (this was at Canary Wharf, London's Sandton City).
So I'd been emailing this South African who was working in the building - a sort've business email led to "Oh, you're also a South African". But after about 6 weeks of her cancelling lunch dates at the last moment I started to get gatvol. Jeepers. I am a South African working in the same building as you. I'm new, you're not, let's gesels, and hey, it might be a nice way to experience lunch far from home every once in a while. Because her excuses were so pathetic and because I was about to finish my contract, I started to realise she was totally taking the piss. I had been sincere, and I got the feeling she was stringing me along intentionally for the entertainment of her colleagues (maybe she wasn't, but it sure felt like she was).
So towards the end of my tenure, and my tenure I think was ending in part because my VISA was finally approaching the 2x365 days limit, I sent her an email, and I couldn't resist putting these words in the subject field:
"GET DEKAFFIRNATED"
My meaning was pretty clear. Sort out your KAK attitude towards other people. She was a white girl - need I say - and she wasted no time circulating this email (which I'd sent on my last day) to everyone in London. I had to make apologies to, let's see, her, my boss, the recruitment agency, John Major, Harry Potter and a small dog that was running around the office who happened to look up at the computer screen. (Okay, I'm exaggerating slightly, it was just a puppy).
It was an interesting scenario though. It shows just to what extent the Ka...er...K-word is ABSOLUTELY verboten, even beyond these shores. But let me ask you though, seriously, if you're black person, and especially a South African black person and you hear a white South African person say to another white South African person: "Hey, get dekaffirnated for God's sake," isn't this one of the best possible things one white South African can say to another white South African? Hmm? Exactly! Get Dekaffirnated!
I've travelled through Germany and if you want to hear a pin drop, whisper any of these words in a bus, subway train or on the trading floor of the Franfurt DAX:
Nazi, Hitler, Second World War, Auchwitz, Holocaust.
In Ireland, whisper the word 'Roman Catholic' or 'Protestant' to a classroom of kids, and you'll get a chilly silence. Then duck, and get ready to pack your bags if you want to see tomorrow.
Ironically, a lot of people in other countries - I've found - who like South Africans, think it's cool to break the ice by making jokes where the K word is sprinkled liberally. In Korea a Kiwi (who was half white, half Maori, and three quarters a nutter) would dedicate 90% of total talking time to making racist remarks. I told him quite a few times: "Dude. The lesson we learnt in South Africa is that racism is fucked up. So your racist jokes aren't hitting any target market here. Get it? Got it?" He must have been addicted, he couldn't stop, and he was the only one laughing. Yet he married a Philippino woman (there was some arrangement to send some money to her family every month) and he took huge offence if anyone made some sort of disparaging remark about her. Koo koo.
Where am I going with this? Well, when people get emotional - and let's face it, sometimes a single ugly word can trigger a lot of eina - it's easy to lose focus. When I said to that white women 'Get Dekaffirnated' I was actually referring to my own private mental construct. Granted, if you didn't know Pieter was performing in London (or what his show was about), maybe you'd be allowed a little extra leverage in terms of eyebrow raising. Even so, I think I'm entitled to a little leverage too, well, not leverage, just an opportunity to explain what I meant.
I meant: Sort out your shit. You've behaved like a shit, stop doing that.
Instead she used all the dirt that is associated with the K-word and flung the mud at me. There was so much mud at least I knew my message had gotten through to her, which is sometimes the real reason we outsource our English. The risk when using trigger rich language is that the failure to listen may be enhanced even more. The lesson then is the same as it always was: rather stick to ordinary english. Chances are everyone will understand you better.
Postscript: I met with PD Uys the following year. We asked him to be our spokesmen for an Akrikaans condom campaign (Afrikaners is Plesierig) and during our meeting I related this story to him to obvious amusement.
UV-kampus lyk soos slagveld
STUDENTE aanskou die groot vuur wat voor Huis Abraham Fischer op die UV-kampus aangesteek is. Foto: Charlé Lombard
TOE die son gisteroggend oor Bloemfontein opkom, het die kampus van die Universiteit van die Vrystaat (UV) soos ’n slagveld gelyk.
Brandende motorbande en sement-asdromme wat paaie versper, ruite van verskeie akademiese geboue wat stukkend gegooi word, klappers wat oral ontplof en swaaihekke wat afgebreek en op groot vuurhope gegooi word, was die vorige aand die toneel op dié kampus toe koshuisinwoners die kampus in chaos gedompel het.
’n Magdom swaar gewapende polisiebeamptes het eergisteraand kort voor middernag die
kampus betree en kalmte afgedwing deur studente in hul koshuise in te dwing met hul wapens.
Onluste het uitgebreek nadat huiskomitees van voormalige wit en swart koshuise besluit het om uit protes teen die UV-bestuur uit die koshuise te trek.
Deur Henry Cloete.
More.
NVDL: Notice how we're seeing more and more violent protests at educational institutions - from high schools to universities. Now even the 'civilised' youth are learning what sort of terror tactics get attention. Can anyone blame them? Fires work, so does shooting with a lot of video camera and pre-planned content. What is noteworthy about this is that this is a large bunch of disenfranchised white kids. I like the fact that they are showing their obvious dissatisfaction. I'm not sure if I approve of their methods, but it's probably more effective than blogging. Then again...
Blacks Only and The Zuma Inquisition
With the Scorpions possibly becoming extinct, could we be next? I was just wondering (worrying?) that if Zuma becomes president, there may very well be a witchhunt, to rid his backyard of meddlesome journos – especially white journos - spoiling his party. Maybe it’s alarmist. But there’s a Blacks Only forum of journalists meeting today I think, and guess who is there addressing them [black] mano e [black] mano?
I can imagine what JZ is saying behind closed doors: Either you're with us...I mean me...or you're with the traitors. The Dark Side (and er...to be CRYSTAL CLEAR by that I mean the not good forces contriving against good ethical standards in journalism and news reporting) are making various moves to own - and thereby censor - freedom of speech in South Africa. You can try. You might have a bit of luck buying corporations. But try trying to buy off the bloggers. Ha! Maybe rather not try.
Meanwhile, editors around the country are united against this travesty of common sense: Editors condemn blacks-only event
Justice Malala also wrote about Zuma’s links to the military (The machine-gun presidency) – these are deep and extensive. Stranger things have happened. What do you think?
For additional background, read: Zuma to address blacks-only forum
US recession fears pin down stocks
LONDON - Worries that the world’s biggest economy may be deteriorating more rapidly than expected sent stocks from Sydney to London lower on Friday, and kept the dollar pinned at two-week lows versus a basket of currencies.
More.
The All Share on the JSE is down 0.79% to 29942.060. Nothing major but a bit of sanity returning to the markets. 27 000 seems a more salient level though.
More: Manuel blames ‘speculation’ for rand’s wobble
Weather Warning - Coastal SA + Weekend Weather Forecast
Thunderstorms over the north-eastern interior of the Eastern Cape may become severe with a risk of large hail and heavy downpours.
Everywhere is going to be hot this weekend. Quite a few places around 30 C or more. Enjoy!
Sense now at No:1 (OHMYNEWS)
Perhaps most alarming in South Africa is a counter-trend of positivism in the face of all the "negativity." E-mails are circulated encouraging South Africans to "spot the opportunities" and "find ways to profit" a la The Secret.
Read the full article here.
My Pictures Of Ashley, and let's learn something from this
This is a promo for TV Plus, Ashley is on the far right...
This guy behind me is giving me the heebie jeebies...should I call security?
Around the time I wrote Warning: Soapies Aren't Good for You I was also studying soaps as part of a Specialised English 3rd year course, and part of it focussed on Ideology and the English Media - at Free State University. Soaps are not really my thing, but it was quite an interesting study, because our interest in soaps says a lot about us.
So when I heard TVPus was flying in some soap stars I thought I'd go for a gawk. I'd seen the blonde 7de Laan actress a few times while my girlfriend was watching and I thought I might ask her what she thought of soaps.
At the mall itself there was a mob of people, and I felt way out of my depth. I thought it might come across quite rude to ask a seemingly philosophical question about the 'point of soaps'. So I drifted around the periphery and took a few photos. This is when I noticed a long haired brunette giving me a few quizzical looks. I felt quite a conflicted sense in wanting to talk to her and also not knowing particularly what to talk about. Then I didn't have a clue who she was, and since then I can't say I ever bothered to watch Isidingo.
I did see her on TV a few days before she died. I was trying to get ready for news and as I was changing channels I stopped and then settled down to watch her and Barker have some sort of discussion about her starting up some sort of business, something like that.
Cut to the present and this morning I almost jumped out of my skin whilst cycling. A car suddenly appeared in the last 15 minutes of our ride and although it wasn't a life and death scenario, it was the biggest fright I've had in a good long while. That's the thing with cars - at any moment something can happen that can cause grievous bodily harm, even more so if you're on a bicycle, hence this article:
The Best Drivers Are Also Cyclists.
Then on my way to work this morning, this:
[I will upload the car accident pictures taken today on Glenhove Road - in thios space - later today].
It's now 'later', so, as promised...
And...
This is an accident on Glenhove road. I tell you we have yet to see our crazy car culture for what it is. Do you think it's worth risking your life just because you're impatient, just because you're going 75km/h and not 80km/h? It's a huge priveledge to have your own car, and yet we drive around as though it's a game, a race, the highway as a motorised fashion show. It's not. It's getting from A to B. That's it. The importance thing is to get there in one piece.
So let's remember Ashley in the best possible way; by honoring our own and other's lives whilst on the roads. By respecting those on the road more vulnerable than ourselves - that means offering a right of way to pedestrians and giving cyclists a little leeway. Does it matter who is right and who has a legal right of way, or does it matter that we all use the same roads safely? Let's drive carefully so that we and others live out the full extent of the precious gift of our lives, the way we were meant to... Start driving safely and considerately today.
Set Your Money On Fire: 3 Great Ideas
1) On the way home yesterday I stopped at a Caltex to buy some water, and lo and behold, there it is. VOSS bottled water, sparkling and still, imported from Norway, for the bargain basement price of R25.00. Not for 1 litre, for a small bottle. Comparable local products cost R6.00. Now let me ask you, do we need to import water all the way from Norway just to get 'pure' water?
I'm also an advocate of not drinking bottled water, but we face a bit of conundrum. The water at home tastes a bit funny; when I did the shoot with Roxanne, she and her mom both took a single sip and then asked for juice instead. Now I'm less inclined to drink it too. I mean...there are rumors now of radioactive contamination, sewage leaking into our water system, and of course, recently in Bloem they found dead bodies floating in a large water tank. That's enough to wean people off tap water for a long time.
It's de rigeur in countries like Britain and Korea to not drink water straight from the taps. In Korea even bathing in the stuff really dries out the skin. The water in Korea is said to be contaminated with heavy metals. They also discourage boiling veggies with tap water. So what other option is there except buying big barrels of water. There are filter systems of course, but millions of bachelors like me are going to take a while to adopt these new behaviours. Here's more background on why drinking bottled water is dumb, and we need to graduate fast to a more efficient (but clean and healthy) system to hydrate ourselves at home.
Drink Bottled Water, Help Wreck the Planet
2). Buy a house in Bantry Bay for R25 000 000. Seeff is advertising a property right now. Here's what you get for R25 000 000: A sea view. It's a summary, obviously I'm not going into details like automatic garage doors and other gob smacking luxuries. The point is, you can find a habitat for a fraction of that price and live happily ever after. Are bricks and mortar and a balcony over looking sparkling water worth 50 Mercedes Benz motor cars? Some inner city apartments in Jeppe Street Johannesburg are going for less than R300 000 today. If you really want a beautiful sea view, and you're far more 'on the beach' than you can even hope to be at Bantry Bay (and even there the sea is cold), you can buy an island or a cottage in the Philippines for less than a brightly colored cave in Jeppe Street, and enjoy unsurpassed peace and tranquility from here to eternity.
3) Head swivelling styling like Chrysler's HEMI may have made sense (still not a lot though) once upon a time, for about half an hour when a small flock of pretty girls emerged out of a nightclub as you drove by on a random Saturday night...by mid morning the latest Merc had been unveiled, and that was the car to watch: the Mercedes SLR McLaren.
Expect to fork out R3.5 million ($450 000). The SLR has a supercharged 5.5 (5439cc) litre dry sumped 90 degree V8. It produces 466.8 kW at 6500rpm (626 hp) and 780 N·m (575 ft·lbf) torque at 3250 - 5000 rpm. That's a little bit like being an attractive eleven year old girl with the most beautiful breasts in the world. It's nice to have that power but in a sick kind of way - you can't use it and even if you could, you shouldn't be using it.
For a list of the world's most expensive cars, go here.
So if you had the cash, you could by this car, or you could buy 12 apartments in JeppeStreet (maybe a quarter of the whole building).
Alternatively you could buy a small second-hand Yaris - a brilliant, wonderful car to drive, and with your change you could resurrect Zimbabwe's economy.
Thursday, February 21, 2008
CNN Fires Producer Over Personal Blog
Moral of the story - don't mix business with misery. The odd thing is whenever a blogger is fired it becomes a big story - at least in the blogosphere - and the stink can give the blogger a celebrity hero tag...which can be surfed. Just check out how popular L. Kriel's writings are. I read his stuff all the time now and I'd never have known who he was if he hadn't stirred the honeypot with his Winnie the Pooh. Thus a new dilema - does firing bloggers actually empower them? Click here for details.
Gold, platinum hit record on oil
SINGAPORE - Gold roared to a record today as crude oil rose above $100 a barrel, while platinum jumped to an historic high on speculative buying driven by supply fears in main producer SA.More.
Not to be outdone, palladium hit a six-and-a-half-year high and silver rallied to its best level in 27 years, reflecting renewed buying interest from funds and speculators in precious metals.
Gold hit a high of $948,60 an ounce, up from $934,80/935,60 an ounce late in New York on Wednesday, also driven by a struggling US dollar.
NVDL: South Africa supplies 4/5 of the world's platinum. However, platinum can be substituted with palladium. We're not so lucky with oil as I'm sure we're all aware. Coal prices are speeding up even faster than oil. Sorry.
The Butcher The Butcher (continued)
Two
The First Meal
I can’t bite my tongue forever – lyrics from ‘Your Love Is A Lie’, SIMPLE PLAN
Walking up the centre of the main street, one white line at a time, the ruby ‘Y’ growing smaller behind them, Neethling glances at the dim figure of garage attendant. The man, the shadow, takes a few hesitant steps towards him. If he feels like kissing anyone right them, it is that old black man. The man lifts his car keys faintly; they tinkle. Neethling gives a beatific wave but keeps walking, his shoulder pressing against her soft back, nudging her, teasing her. The impulse; the spark, and now this, two strangers walking down the street like they owned the town!
Part of the thrill, of course, had to go to this mysterious creature – warm, glowing in the twilight – moving, dancing beside him with the end of day shadows. He noticed the bus restaurant, candles already twinkling through the windows. He saw the steeple, white, crawling steeply into the sky like a white waxy crayon. The followed the lazy curve of the road and walked until it opened up on the village’s modest suburb. A windmill rose whimsically out of someone’s backyard. Two young joggers, ponytails jolting with each step, fading on the side of the long road. They walked further, until she said, taking his hand in her strong fingers: “This way.”
Ahead of them was a small mob of youngsters. They carried a young girl on their shoulders. The cheeky looking pixie stood up; fingers butterflying, bobbing over their heads, a cheeky grin glowing yellow against the creamy blue sky. They yelled out in unison: “HELLO MORGAN MCDONALD!” “Hi julle.”
“They like you…like you’re the town’s celebrity.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet, Squire.”
The banter flowed between them. She smiled, laughed, poked a response at him, verbal jousting back and forth.
She asked him a few times: “Are you really a detective? But you’re just a kid!” He asked her: “You’re the butcher here? The butcher?”
She stops, the fans of the windmill forming a cold, hard, black halo around her head. “What brings you here to Ventersdorp then?”
“Perhaps you brought me here.”
“Answer the fucking question!” A flash of frustration, a flash of hair and teeth and her hand, a dagger in the dark.
“I’ve been recruited to investigate some things.”
“Things here?”
He shrugged. “Maybe.” He was thinking that their time together might depend on how long she thought he might be around. If he led to believe he had business here, perhaps she’d give him more time than she otherwise would.
“Well, if you really are a detective, I feel sorry for you.”
“Because you should never have come here.”
“You think I’ll leave empty handed?”
“No, you won’t leave alive.”
He gave a little snort. “Coming from you, that’s quite funny.”
“That’s what I’m here for. To amuse you; I’m here for the whole dorp’s amusement.”
The sternness of this makes him sobre. He look sat her for a long moment, and she impatient looks over his head at the darkened clouds.
“Unless we’re all here to amuse you.”
With that she turns and starts climbing up the narrow ladder wired into the windmill’s frame.
They climbed like monkeys up the windmill. She had one hand on the razor blade steel fan, and another on his shoulder.
She gave him a small shove. “Don’t do that!”
She chuckled. “I have your little life in my little hand.”
“No you don’t.”
“Yes, I do.”
“No, you don’t.” She placed a foot in front of his, and pushed at his torso. He seemed to be keeling over, but at the last second swung his arm towards her hand, clinging to the windmill’s blade, and his body connected to hers. Just then a gust lifted over the fields, and the windmill began to turn, its edges whipping by their necks. His eyes butterfly kissed hers. His face folded into hers like a puzzle; not quite fitting. He pushed his lips into her hers and the puzzle piece fitted snugly for a moment. His heart leapt. The height, the wheeling windmill, the remaining scarlet sparks of sunlight – all conspired to make a moment that could not be anything other than dizzying happiness. For him. And yet her heart trembled. It did not race, but it was cantering along.
His lips moved to the delicious whorls of her soft, perfect ears: “I see you next to me; I feel you next to me but you still feel far away.”
The windmill begins to spin. She stares at him and he is forced to look away, at the blades.
“C’mon. Shows over,” he says. They clamber down; him giving her assistance. They walk to a dusty park nearby, the steel see saw and swings hanging from chains gleam in the dark and silver light.
On the seesaw: “You seeing anyone?” He asks. He kicks himself up hard so that she lands with a hard thud. She does the same, pushing up hard: “No, I’m between heartaches. You?” He kicks, and down she goes.
“No. I’m about to be one of them.” Down he goes.
“How do you know for sure?”
“I’m intuitive like that.” Up he goes.
“Really?”
“Really.”
The seesaw remains stationary with him at the top and her at the bottom. Now she gives him a sly smile, and edges slowly off her seat.
“Noooooo…”
“Ha ha ha!”
She steps off and he comes down heavily, bouncing off his seat onto the ground, and immediately grasping his aching scrotum.
“Oh, are you okay?”
“Why is knowing you so bloody painful.”
A shriek of laughter. “You have no idea. Ha ha ha!”
He forgets the agony, grasps her ankle and pulls her down beside him, filling her hair with dead grass and dust.
“I’m okay, no thanks to the Butcher; the Butcher of this… God forsaken…fucking place.”
“I should warn you. The longer you stay here, the more powerful I get.”
“I’m prepared to take the chance.”
“I wouldn’t if I were you.”
“But you’re not me.”
“You’re right, I’m not.”
“Kiss me.”
“I’d rather bite you.”
“Bite me then.”
Eyes swim; and then she hungrily bites his mouth, making him wince, a muffled grunt from him, and then her bite softens, to a hungry chewing of his lip, his blood spilling over her cheek.
“It’s been a while since I’ve seen someone take pain the way you do.”
“Does that mean you’re impressed?”
“Let’s just say…I’ll be more patient than I’m usually in the habit of being.”
“I’m flattered.”
“Are you susceptible to flattery?”
“That, and strong assertive women.”
“Great. Easy meat.”
They walk back to the bus, her hand in his, like a bird in a cage; in the safety of the cage, but a cage all the same. At the bus they ask for hotdogs. She takes the ketchup from him and soaks his hotdog in the red sauce.
“C’mon! You’re like a kid! Grow up,” he whines, annoyed.
“It’s just food.” She throws her hotdog into a dustbin, whips down her hand so that red sauce lands with a slop on the road at their feet.
They walk towards his car, him wolfing down his hotdog. She draws a finger into the tomato filled abyss, and paints red lines on his face using the red sauce.
“Oh my God you are so irritating!”
“You have no idea…” She lunges at him, fingers locked around his neck, her tteth pinching into his cheeks, tongue sucking at the red sauce on his face. He stands there, stunned, fingers half holding a morsel of food in his hand. He feels his body burst into flames under her tongue.