Recently I’ve seen quite a few postings of the article The Insidiousness of Facebook Messenger’s Mobile App Terms of Service , claiming you should remove your Facebook Messenger because of the control the app has over your Android device. Many have suggested Telegram instead, which I’ve been using a while. “Using”, I should add, in… Continue reading A comparison of WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Telegram permissions on Android
“As I went out one morning”, better known as “OOH AH”
Many years ago, it wouldn’t have been uncommon to find me screeching in my bedroom. If you could stand the racket, you may have made out some of the words. “Ayee yeaaah ah, OOH AH”. It’s not really surprising that, given what I remembered, even in the age of Google, I couldn’t track down the… Continue reading “As I went out one morning”, better known as “OOH AH”
June 2014 African Wikipedia and Wiktionary update
This weekend sees the first Wiki Indaba, a gathering of African Wikimedians. Since my last look at the state of African language Wikimedia projects was in May 2013, and my last look at Wiktionary (the dictionary project, not as widely-known as its more popular sister, Wikipedia) was way back in 2011, it’s time for an… Continue reading June 2014 African Wikipedia and Wiktionary update
In memory of my father
It was my father’s memorial yesterday afternoon, and, like my mother’s memorial nine months ago, it was a good day, meeting and seeing again some of his old friends. Here’s a written adaptation based on what I said. The memorial was held at my cousin John and Lindsay’s house. My early family Christmases were at… Continue reading In memory of my father
Projection on projection
I’m doing a five-year insight meditation course, and the most recent topic for our meditation was projection. Projection is, essentially, the act of attributing the traits that we deny in ourselves onto others. These can be negative, such as thinking someone else is aggressive, unfriendly, disorganised, or positive, such as thinking that someone else is… Continue reading Projection on projection
Cushions, crutches and an office chair
I was on my way back from voting, excited about the massive contribution I had made while keeping an eye out for stompies to pick up. There were cars parked in the road, so I hopped onto the low wall at the side of the road, perhaps half a metre high. At the end of… Continue reading Cushions, crutches and an office chair
Election soothsayer
In the interests of being utterly wrong publicly, I will look deep into my green tea leaves to make a prediction for tomorrow’s election. If you’re still not sure who to vote for, my unhelpful voting guide is sure to further confuse. The prediction: Party % Seats African National Congress 60% 240 Democratic Alliance 23%… Continue reading Election soothsayer
ivotela i-?
It’s three days until the elections (well, it was when I started, now it’s one day…), and there’s still no Green Party to vote for, so, to help out, here’s my detailed analysis of every party to help make your decision. Voting ranks slightly below picking up a cigarette stompie (cigarette butts for those from… Continue reading ivotela i-?
The Bloody Miracle
I’ve just come back from watching the premiere of “The Bloody Miracle”, a documentary on the leadup to the 1994 elections. Directed by Meg Rickards and Bert Haitsma, and produced by Paul Egan, it looks at the pivotal year from Chris Hani’s assasination in April 1993 to the elections in April 1994. It’s a very… Continue reading The Bloody Miracle
Autumnal spring cleaning
This weekend I did some unseasonal spring cleaning. I closed down my chess website, my rugby website, the Wikipedia template translation tool, the free and open source feeds list, and some now rather dated software that I hosted. So, if you’ve been redirected here looking for any of those, sorry to disappoint you! It’s time… Continue reading Autumnal spring cleaning