Entries from June 2006 ↓
June 22nd, 2006 — Africana
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The hunt is on for Mandela Gun
45 years later, the hunt is on for gun of Mandela the revolutionary
From Jonathan Clayton in Johannesburg
THE gun was never fired. Yet its discovery would have changed history.
Sensing the gun could bring trouble, Nelson Mandela buried it shortly before his arrest in August 1962. It remained hidden throughout his 27-year imprisonment and the first years of the post-apartheid Republic of South Africa when he became the first democratically elected president.
Read more here
June 22nd, 2006 — Global
Linkbadge for David Tebbutt
Just added David’s blog to the links. Here is the linkbadge! Go enjoy Teblog!
June 21st, 2006 — Africana
Bravo, encore, Your Irreverency!
I have previously been known to be irreverent and put my foot in it. I pale into insignicance beside Maestro Grande Master di Irreverence, Mr David Tebbutt.
David is old school and earned his spurs many years back. He does not suffer fools nor mince his words.
Check this out. It concerns Seth Godin
I have so much to learn from David. But first, I want his autograph!
Read this and this
I have to say that trackbacking and pings do not make for good conversation. Conversation is comprised of a two or multi-sided discourse where all participating parties air their views of difference or concur on opinions or resolutions tabled. Conversation is also good for selling, marketing, just shooting the breeze, blethering, idle banter, tongue-wagging, gossip, rumour-mongering and stirring. Yeah, all this good stuff is what conversation is about. Or is it?
June 21st, 2006 — Africana
To be World Champs
I sat and watched the England v Sweden football match last night and concluded a few things mostly negative about England’s performance.
The biggest issue I have with the footballing prima donnas is the apparent complete lack of stamina to see out a full 90 minutes at a sustained performance momentum. In this, the fitness and stamina levels our rugby forwards (all nations) is a lesson the England soccer camp should take very good note of and learn and get right very, very fast.
Not only do rugby forwards, (average height and weight is way in excess of the scrawny soccer players) have to tackle and powermaul their way forward constantly for 80 minutes, they are also expected to run like antelopes being chased by lions.
The constant contact with other players is in itself an energy draining feat. To then have to scrummage and run and do line-outs etc proves to me that the fitness and stamina levels of rugby players is far, far superior to the soccer players.
Nobody doubts the skill of Becks to kick a ball with Exocet precision. Nobody doubts Rooney’s thuglike approach to push his way through to the six yard box nor his dribbling and ball skill, nobody doubts the defensive skill of Sol Campbell nor the brilliance of the player who more than any other in the UK squad, is for me the player’s player who England should revere and the World Cup’s ‘find’ - Mr Joe Cole.
What we can all doubt is their stamina level and ability to maintain the performance levels of the first half through to the final whistle.
For instance - that final equalising score by Sweden last night was a goal the Romford Comprehensive School’s 1st eleven would have stopped hitting the back of the net. Such was England’s complete lack of focus and ability to make simple marking and line defending decisions, I broke out laughing at the incompetance the Swedes were so taking advantage of.
Stamina is the key to becoming World Champions and I think England have missed their chance. They have the skill. They have the desire. But desire and skill need a platform and that platform is stamina. Trouble is guv, they ain’t got it. And they don’t have Owen no more either.
Cue: Twighlitght Zone theme music.
June 20th, 2006 — Africana
Blogging Lite
Am blogging lite this week. Have visitors from our Jo’burg office who need wining and dining and also have a new boiler being installed. Will post a piccie of the new one squeezed into the downstairs guest loo.
Once installed, I can get rid of the hot water immersion heater cylinder, cold water tanks in the attic and I’ll also be able to lose the shower pump. But most of all, I will save an ernormous amount in fuel bills due to the increased efficiency of this type of boiler.
Added to the above, I also am having the builder in to knock down walls to enlarge the main bedroom.
So I am busy and will try to blog as much as I can in between eating out, work and house renovating.
UPDATE:
Here is the new boiler after being squeezed into the space under the stairs in the downstairs cloakroom.
Today, they fitted the red 30l hot water reservoir in place as well as the exhaust through the wall to outside and connected up the fuel feed and brilliantly - have fitted thermostats to all the radiators in the house. Yippee, I have control on which radiator stays on or off and at what temperature.
June 19th, 2006 — Africana
Soccer’s Longest Video Chain
THIS IS FANTASTIC!
Go check what this is about at Erik’s Whiteafrican site
June 18th, 2006 — Africana
Thames and Silicon Valleys and Silicon Dongas
On 13 June I posted the message below (Cyberclaim is nigh) here:
The hour of our CyberClaim is nigh!
[Inspired by the article written by George Osborne (Shadow Chancellor) in this morning's Times and a skit about colonialism entitled 'Flags' by Eddie Izzard]
In America, USA two days later on 15th June, Mr Tom Foremski (Silicon Valley Watcher) picked up George Osborne’s article and blogged a response.
In his response to George Osborne’s article in The Times of 13th June, Mr Tom Foremski says:
“The reason there are no British Googles or Yahoos or EBays is the same reason there are no British Apple Computers, Intels or Seagates. Silicon Valley is not something that can be copied, Israel’s Silicon Wadi is the closest copy, and then everything else around the world could be described as being variations on: a business park built next to a university.
What’s different is that here is different.
It’s different because this is a place that tolerates massive amounts of failure. One in 20 startups make it beyond five years, venture capitalists want that ten-bagger, that massive return on investment. But they are prepared to fund ten or twenty startups that fail.
In Britain, Mr Osborne does not have that culture of tolerance of failure. And the rest of Europe is pretty much the same. If you fail once you are a failure evermore.
Here, in Silicon Valley, they let you back into the game, time and time again. I know plenty of people who “made it” but they failed six or seven times before that. This is the only place in the world that has such high tolerance of failure.â€Â
Are the Brits so intolerant of failure? I don’t think so.
They are however intolerant of having someone wasting their investment which is totally different. Provided you show irrefutable proof that the business model was flawed and that the failure was not as a result of a character/personality defect the Brits will give you the benefit of the doubt to have another ‘crack at it’. As will most of the other European countries.
As for Israel’s Silicon Wadi, USA’s Silicon Valley and the future South African Silicon Donga, well, the Brits have the Thames Valley!
And it is at Reading, Berkshire in the Thames Valley where Oracle, Microsoft, JD Edwards etc are based. Brits don’t need domestic silica deposits to provide a name for its computer industry – we buy it from the old colonies and rely on our ancient old man Thames to provide the industry’s locale.
Reading also has a University and it is not too far from Oxford which has hundreds of colleges and is only a 20 minute car or train commute away.
A Brit invented the internet and a Brit will most likely invent another amazing thing that will change the world. With luck the Brits won’t sell the patent or sell the licence like they did the VTOL Harrier fighter jet, but instead will retain complete revenue and development control over it and base it at their Thames Valley.
Not all great things eminate out of Silicon Valley, America USA.
June 18th, 2006 — Africana
The Grapes of Wrath
Too many years late and I am only now about to sit down to begin reading Steinbeck’s masterpiece.
I think I will not want to put the book down once I begin but on the other hand I might not like it. We will see. Updates as and when.
June 18th, 2006 — Global
The Leaving of Microsoft, America USA
The week past has witnessed blogosphere’s shock-horror-all-is-lost reactions to Robert Scoble’s announcement that he will leave Microsoft to join Podcast. This was greeted by a mixture of true emotion and disbelief that the voice of Microsoft would go and do such a thing. There was a spattering of some “so what who cares”.
Overnight, blogosphere changed. It will never be the same and this caught a lot of bloggers with their pants down. Scoble was a part of their daily routine, a daily homage or an essential element of their diet without which, now all hope of continuity will be lost.
Tagging along behind the Scoble headline was Bill Gates’s announcement to leave his baby in 2008.
Blogosphere’s reaction to this has been lukewarm or tepid at best. Here we have the chief geek of geeks who founded Microsoft with Paul Allen and together these two turned our world upside down and made us all totally reliant in the main, on their product. I am writing this blog using the tools they developed. For me, this announcement is the headliner stuff.
Bill Gates’s news that he wants to transisition away from hands on at MS to focus on his charitable work (his and his wife’s trust funds the global anti-polio project), so that by 2008 he can slip quietly away into the sunset to do what he wants to do, was met with a modicum of alarm and a lot of derision about the world he created for us all and his employees.
Hell, even the share price did not react they way a major corp’s stock should on Wall St when the CEO or Chairman’s departure announcement is made!. It dipped then stablised. Business as normal!
Bill’s fault is that he is not rock star enough to create the mass hysteria his decision rightfully deserves. This guy changed our world. Windows will forever be his testament, his global legacy. Despite what the hecklers say, he did some awful good and deserves the accolades. I predict that when the day in 2008 dawns for Bill’s goodbye speech, many of us will wonder, fearfully, what will happen to our world.
June 17th, 2006 — Africana
Do not mention it
I believe there is a soccer world cup competition going down somewhere at the moment.
Jawelnofine.
June 17th, 2006 — Africana
Leaders ‘ignore public’ on whales
The backing given by some developing country governments for whaling is not supported by their citizens, according to an opinion poll.
It comes on the eve of the annual meeting of the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in St Kitts.
Read the full and alarming article here.
[Courtesy BBC Online]
June 17th, 2006 — Africana
June 17th, 2006 — Africana
SAVE THE WHALES
Stop Japan and Norway from killing whales.
There is no doubt that in Japan there is no demand for whale meat. They already have more than the Japanese public can stomach. As for Norway……..well what a disappointment they have turned out to be.
Stop these two countries from killing our whales.
June 16th, 2006 — Africana
Rejoice for he hath spoke
It must be summer in the northern hemisphere ‘cos sense is being spoken after a winter of gibberish, technobilge and other crap!
He that goeth by the nameth of Seth, hath thed:
“And the delicious irony is that those that conform often don’t get more traffic. They often get less. Because following all the checklists can make you boring.
Safe is risky.”
Seth Godin
So, fasten your safety belts people.
June 16th, 2006 — Global
What If?
• • Amudsen had been delayed by blizzards would Scott have got there first?
• Lennon were still alive?
• A moonbase had been established 20 years ago?
• Mobile phones had not been developed?
• Brian Wilson didn’t do drugs?
• Mbeki’s government addressed AIDS correctly with more money and urgency?
• Area 51 did hide aliens?
• Manufacturers and retailers listened to us?
• Tipp-Ex had not been invented?
• OPEC reduced the price of a barrel of oil by 50%?
• Blair and Bush did not lie to us and did not invade Iraq?
• Bartelemo Diaz did not round the Cape?
• The Huegenots did not bring their winemaking skills to the Cape?
• Henry Ford only made lime coloured Model T Fords?
• The Monkees had been superb musicians?
• Blogging caught on before forums?
• Bill Gates went on to become a banker and not a geek?
• Aztecs sailed to Britain and France?
• Italy wins the 6 Nations?
• Bernie Ebbers did not commit the Worldcom fraud?
• West Wing gets approved for an 8th season?
Got anymore What Ifs?
