Month: January 2007

The poison of Ayn Rand

I’ve seldom read anything with which I’ve disagreed as much as I have with Ayn Rand, in her series of essays The New Left: The Anti Industrial Revolution. I haven’t read much of her before, but her ideas keep popping up, and I thought it was time to read what she actually had to say.… Continue reading The poison of Ayn Rand

KGeography

A while ago I got addicted to the Africa Geography Game, a silly addictive Flash game that tests one’s knowledge of African geography. At the back of my mind I’ve been considering writing a proper application that does something similar, but is much more flexible, testing capitals, flags, etc. Luckily anyone interested in the idea… Continue reading KGeography

Fair Trade harms the planet – Economist

Following on from Organic food ‘worse for the environment’ – Economist, this time I’m looking at their attack on Fair Trade. Their argument in effect boils down to describing the premium paid to Fair Trade producers as a subsidy, which therefore encourages inefficiencies and overproduction, just as government subsidies to farmers in Europe and North… Continue reading Fair Trade harms the planet – Economist

The Political Compass

Thanks to Walton (who happily seems to be blogging again), I came across the Political Compass website. It contains a test categorising one’s social and economic beliefs. Perhaps it’s my lust for certainty that provides the attraction for tests like these. So, to box myself for those who’re interested, I scored -6.88 on the Economic… Continue reading The Political Compass

Congratulations TAG

Congratulations to everyone who contributed to the Telecoms Action Group’s ad that appeared in today’s Mail and Guardian. It’s great to see South African consumers (how I dislike that word) getting together. And a sign of just how frustrated people are with Telkom and the current situation. TAG still has some money left over, so… Continue reading Congratulations TAG

Wikipedia translation tool

I’ve decided to do some more work on the Wikipedia translation tool I started in 2005. Amazing what having another deadline will do to you. I started it originally for helping me with translating Wikipedia country templates from English to Afrikaans, and it’s easily to extend to other languages as well (not only FROM English… Continue reading Wikipedia translation tool

Some goods news about GMO’s

Thanks to GMWatch, via the SAFeAGE newsletter, I came across a list of good news stories in the global campaign against GMO’s. With permission, I include it in full below. When it comes to GMO legislation, South Africa usually rolls over for the multinationals. So, it’s particularly pleasing to see some good news in my… Continue reading Some goods news about GMO’s

Organic food ‘worse for the environment’ – Economist

Being involved in the Ethical Co-op, I’ve had a number of people gleefully tell me about the series of articles in the recent Economist, criticising Ethical food, in particuar organic, local and Fairtrade foods, the first two of which are key policies of the co-op. I was quite looking forward to reading their argument, and… Continue reading Organic food ‘worse for the environment’ – Economist