Learning Mandarin Chinese, and some insight into my brain’s inner workings

June 14th, 2007 in

I’m learning Mandarin Chinese in preparation for my trip to Taiwan in August, where I’ll be attending the Wikimania conference before spending a month or so wandering around the island.

That’s assuming my passport comes through the strike in time of course.

I’m enjoying learning a new language again after a long period of atrophy for that part of my brain…



Is Wengophone the FOSS alternative to Skype?

June 13th, 2007 in

I was pleased to see that OpenWengo 2.1 was released for Linux recently…



The joys of GM science

June 13th, 2007 in

I came across a post entitled Activist’s Misrepresentation of Bt Toxins in Genetically Modified Crops on the pro-GM blog I follow to see what exciting angles the GM industry will come up with next.

The article attempts to discredit Jeffrey M…



Earth Day Cometh and Earth Day Goeth – And Where have all the Bees Gone?

June 11th, 2007 in

This is from Sea Shepherd founder Paul Watson, written for Earth Day this year.

Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and
I’m not sure about the former…



Peak oil and the Cuban example

June 5th, 2007 in

Thanks to the fantastic efforts of While You Were Sleeping, the Cape Town film collective, I’ve just come back from seeing the documentary The Power of Community: How Cuba Survived Peak Oil at the Labia…



It still smells of sulphur today

June 1st, 2007 in

No, I’m talking literally, not about various diabolical figures.

Thanks to a great new blog called greencars.za.net, I’ve been doing some digging around sulphur levels in diesel fuels…



Meranti wood – a little bit of ancient forest in your house?

June 1st, 2007 in

I’m looking at getting a new wooden gate installed. One of the suppliers I contacted had a large ad offering meranti gates.

I know little about wood, just that meranti is quite sought after, but something rang a bell about meranti…