Category: Earth (Arts and Literature)

In the midst of my frenzy, I did manage to attend the Cape Town Book fair. It was a while ago, so this is hardly a topical post, but I’ve just been prompted to write something by an Exclusive Books survey. The fair was fantastic – it exceeded all my expectations. I went in shortly… Continue reading Cape Town Book Fair

I’ve just finished reading the Da Vinci Code. It’s one of those books that inspires me to get writing again, mainly because I found it so infuriatingly bad I figure I must be able to do a better job. I love the genre, and the ideas behind the book fascinate me, but I just found… Continue reading Da Vinci Code

I’ve just finished reading Doctor Zhivago, by Boris Pasternak. I enjoyed the book. My exposure to Russian literature has been limited, but the book immediately struck me with its similarities to other Russian works I’ve read. A sweeping breadth, an acceptance of suffering, it’s darkness. But this is not a review of the book –… Continue reading Of Doctor Zhivago and literacy in a visual society

In March 2004, the Afrikaans Wikipedia achieved the 3000 article milestone. Last July, it reached 4000 articles. Now it’s at 5000. That’s only 1.43 million or so less than the English Wikipedia, but not bad nevertheless. Afrikaans is rocketing up the articles per population table :). January saw over 200 new articles, the most since… Continue reading Afrikaans wikipedia hits 5000 articles

There are now two local blog competitions. There’s the SA Blog Awards, and now News24’s Great South African Blog-off. Unfortunately both are hardly stellar examples of technical competence. SA Blog Awards permalink, comments and trackback links all break, so it hardly qualifies as a blog itself. Subscribing to the blogs feed is not worth it,… Continue reading Broken blog competitions

I see that Johnnic is launching what could be described as a blogging site, reporter.co.za. It’s being given a different spin to the other local alternative, the Mail and Guardian’s Blogmark (recently rebranded from Blogspot). Instead of aiming to be a blog, with all the attendant low-quality noise associated with the term, it’s aiming at… Continue reading Johnnic launches reporter.co.za

The fire is still raging out of control, but looks like the Cable Station, with a little help from the wind, will make it. I didn’t get a good view of the Higgovale situation, but those houses must be close. There’s also another fire, what looks like towards Rhodes Memorial, so the arsonists have probably… Continue reading Table Mountain Fire Pics

I came across two recent criticisms of the Wikimedia projects. Both unfortunately show a lack of understanding about the projects. One picks up on an old, dated criticism, and the other gets caught up in the edit war phenomenon, resorting to insults when they don’t get their way. The first, on New Median, entitled Wikipedia,… Continue reading Recent criticisms of Wikimedia

It’s been a long time since I saw a movie that’s left such an indelible mark on me, or caused such a strong emotional response . Living out in the sticks of Cape Town, where the nearest cinema is at the Long Beach mall, where the average film seems to be aimed at someone with… Continue reading An unforgettable movie

Just for the record, I have nothing to do with SSWUG (the SQL Server Worldwide Users Group). While googling I found they were offering an article written by myself, available to paid subscribers only. What they actually do, after taking your money, is then redirect you to the freely available original article. Highly unethical if… Continue reading Dissociating myself from SSWUG