I attended the Digital Freedom Expo, hosted by UWC, which started Thursday. What a fantastic day! Of the speakers, first up was the rector of UWC, Brian O’Connell, introduced by Archbishop Desmond Tutu (by video, released of course under a Creative Commons license). O’Connell framed the conference in terms of a continuation of the struggle… Continue reading Digital Freedom Expo: Day 1
Newspapers, online, the Times, and the missing niche
For international news, nothing beats online. I’m informed of the story, often with greater in-depth analysis, well-before it makes the newspapers. National weekly newspapers sometimes add important value – the Mail and Guardian’s coverage on Zimbabwe is excellent, and far surpasses most international coverage. With the launch of the Times, a daily national, as well… Continue reading Newspapers, online, the Times, and the missing niche
Castro is right on biofuels
Recently Fidel Castro has come out of his illness-related exile firing, with a swipe at US biofuel policies, describing it as the internationalisation of genocide. He’s right. Mass use of biofuels is a disastrous idea. Here’s a simple example. In the UK, 37.8 million tonnes of petroleum products are consumed each year. Their most productive… Continue reading Castro is right on biofuels
Does abortion reduce the crime rate?
Legalised abortion reduces crime rates. It’s a statement bound to cause controversy, and probably the main reason the book Freakonomics, which I recently finished reading, is as well-known as it is. It caused a storm of reaction at the time, and an online search reveals hundreds of examples, mostly furiously emotional rants with not much… Continue reading Does abortion reduce the crime rate?
Peace, love, happiness and Mr Delivery
In those heady early days when I first envisaged blogging, I imagined every post filled with wisdom, carefully crafted to add only the best, most beautiful, most constructive to the world of words. Instead, I find I don’t write about 9 out of 10 topics I want to write about, because writing of the kind… Continue reading Peace, love, happiness and Mr Delivery
Anonymity online – yes or no?
With the recent threats made against Kathy Sierra, and the resulting responses, I’ve been thinking about anonymity on the web. I’m not going to discuss technical issues, or legal issues – rather broad principles. There’s been a storm of response, outraged missives saying suggesting various fixes. One of the more common responses has been that… Continue reading Anonymity online – yes or no?
Favourite April Fools joke – MySQL/PostgreSQL
I didn’t actually read any newspapers on Sunday, so perhaps my sample size is a little limited, but my favourite April fools joke, and one that almost got me, was the one about the PostgreSQL plugin for MySQL. It was convincing because Brian “Krow” Aker actually built the skeleton, and it’s a feature that would… Continue reading Favourite April Fools joke – MySQL/PostgreSQL
March Geek Dinner
A lot has already been written about the Cape Town March 2007 Geek Dinner held on Wednesday, so I’m not going to add that much. You can read most of the comments on Planet Geekdinner. My favourite talk was Neil’s on OpenID. Sadly none of the major South Africa sites yet implement it, but let’s… Continue reading March Geek Dinner
Great experience with Cherrypicka
I finally got around to trying out the bottle of Taittinger champagne I bought through Cherrypicka. And it was great! Now normally I wouldn’t post something like this. It seems like an advert for Cherrypicka, and for Taittinger. But somehow Cherrypicka reminds me of the Talent Exchange. Supporting it feels good, that the benefits are… Continue reading Great experience with Cherrypicka
Telkom excuse of the day
Telkom came today to sort out the phone line, as the company I share my home/office with was moving out, and taking the line with them. I was impressed, Telkom arrived on time. Unfortunately they didn’t actually do anything as they were too short to reach the pole. They felt precarious reaching up so high.… Continue reading Telkom excuse of the day