Democracy, ideally, represents rule by the people, but in a world with powerful centralised nation states, antiquated voting systems, and social media quickly spreading misinformation about remote events, in practice, it’s far from that. Just look at the state of most so-called democracies. But democracy in its current incarnation can work reasonably well at the… Continue reading Observatory energised
Firefox Quantum and too many tabs
I’ve been running Firefox Quantum as a browser since it came out, and there’s been a noticeable improvement in all areas. Rendering speed, CPU, memory – it lives up to all the hype. I’ve used Firefox as my primary browser for ages, but often used Chrome and Chromium as alternatives for certain sites, or when… Continue reading Firefox Quantum and too many tabs
Have you been inside a wild animal?
I arrive in Shenzhen, China, about 26 hours after leaving my house at 5am. I’m a little worse for wear, and have a mild headache. Unfortunately, I’ve made a serious mistake, and besides taking a headache tablet, I’ve refused to accept any of the delightful airline food offerings I was presented with. Highly suspicious. “Passenger… Continue reading Have you been inside a wild animal?
September 2017 African language Wikipedia update
It’s time to look at the state of the African language Wikipedias again, as always based on the imperfect metric of number of articles. African Language Wikipedias Language 11/2/2011 9/5/2013 26/6/2015 24/11/2016 5/9/2017 Malagasy 3,806 45,361 79,329 82,799 84,634 Afrikaans 17,002 26,752 35,856 42,732 46,824 Swahili 21,244 25,265 29,127 34,613 37,443 Yoruba 12,174 30,585 31,068… Continue reading September 2017 African language Wikipedia update
Bliss
In late 2015, after a moment of bliss, I decided to write down some of the peak moments, those little appearances of bliss, that I’ve experienced in my life. They’re in no particular order, just what came to mind at the time. 1) In my parent’s garden, doing chi kung at midnight, a clear sky,… Continue reading Bliss
No Lady
I haven’t learned my lesson and I’ve chosen the cheapest hotel I can find in Manhattan, in the Chinatown district. I get to my room on the 2nd floor. A gloomy corridor leads to a tiny window, facing a wall, and there are countless doors dotted on either side of the passage, with about a… Continue reading No Lady
A Visit to Home Affairs
My passport expires soon, so it was time to brave the horrors of Home Affairs again. But wait, could things have improved? Since I last had the pleasure of experiencing their welcome, Home Affairs in Wynberg has moved to Maynard Mall, and this post gave a glowing review. Arrive at 11-ish? 8 people in the… Continue reading A Visit to Home Affairs
South African Banks SSL Security (2)
After seeing someone’s Facebook security horror story about a local credit card (not one of the banks listed below), I was inspired to re-run the tests I previously ran on the South African banks, using SSL Lab’s SSL Server Test. The results last time were awful, with Standard Bank and Absa falling way below the… Continue reading South African Banks SSL Security (2)
November 2016 African language Wikipedia update
The March update was positive, so let’s see how the various African-language Wikipedias have progressed since then. As always, this measures the number of articles, which is an imperfect metric, but it’s interesting to follow the trends. African Language Wikipedias Language 11/2/2011 9/5/2013 26/6/2015 5/3/2016 24/11/2016 Malagasy 3,806 45,361 79,329 81,240 82,799 Afrikaans 17,002 26,752… Continue reading November 2016 African language Wikipedia update
There’s a mouse in mi kitchen, what am I gonna do?
It’s useful to have some backup skills if you ever want a career change. Mine is mouse catcher. In the last month, I’ve caught 5 mice. And I mean caught. No poison, no traps. I channel my inner cat, sneak up on then, and catch them in a bucket (usually by herding them inside). Don’t… Continue reading There’s a mouse in mi kitchen, what am I gonna do?