Daily Links - 30/06/2004

• Anatomy of an email hoax
• Way South has links to the first posts of South African bloggers
• Mining tar pits in Alberta, Canada
• Car computer glitches
• Iraq's sovereign status -how real is it?
• Natal Fever, on Durban's port

Daily Links - 29/06/2004

• Battle of Halhin Gol - a battle in an area between Manchuria and Mongolia that may have led to the Japanese strike on Pearl Harbor
• The making of American ghost towns
• Living it up in the Joburg inner city
• The Cape times apparently had an article about South African blogs (locked in a subscriber-only archive). See Cherryflava for more information.
• Colossal black hole found
• Legal black hole partially closed
• British leaked exam scandal widens
• Pseudo-random ramblings has an item on Internet Explorer holes
• Commentary has a few new items posted

Admin notice:
I probably won't be able to easily connect to the Internet for a few days, so blogging will be light from tomorrow till around the weekend.

Daily Links - 27/06/2004

• The world's most human-like robots
• Bill Gates to start blogging?
• This mildly amusing Flash game is one of Time's 50 Coolest Websites
• Formula One driver reviews [via AmbiDextri Sports]
• The Hartebeesthoek Radio Astronomy Observatory:
  • Website.
  • Information about the observatory

Weekend Links - 26/06/2004

• Clinton & Slate
  • The condensed version of Bill Clinton's autobiography [previously linked to here] seems to have disappeared from Slate, but the Google cache of the page can still be found here. [via LRC]
  • Slate has since posted a Powerpoint version of Clinton's autobiography
• Readers respond to the article about building a better light bulb [previously linked to here]
• The BBC's Human Body and Mind site, full of quizzes and other diversions
• Tax return information from Wayne Wides at Commentary
• ANC-DA relations may be warming [via POLITICS.ZA]
• Time's 50 Coolest Websites [via Anil Dash's Daily Links]
• Trouble with Sentech's MyWireless?
• Bush may be facing defeat in "enemy combatant" cases [via Salon.com]

Update- 01/07/2004: Slate explains that the condensed Clinton autobiography was pulled after the publisher claimed that it infringed copyright

Daily Links - 25/06/2004

• Flu to hit South Africa
• The messy business of imperial succession in third century Rome [via LRC]
• Where does space really begin?
• Bloody chaos in Iraq [via antiwar.com]
• Frozen food and offal make a comeback with foodies
• The email space race
• Microsoft has received a patent for a "method and apparatus for transmitting power and data using the human body." [Via Mzansi Afrika and onlineblog]
• Florida to tax LANs?
• "Mbeki's leftward shift" [via The FishBowl]
• Centurion to get convention centre

Pascal loops

For the cousin who phoned earlier, asking for help with Pascal loops, check these links:

1. Link 1
2. Link 2
3. Link 3
4. Link 4
5. Link 5

I haven't thoroughly checked these sites out, but they seem OK at a glance.

I got the links from this Google search.

Call me on my cellphone if you need more help.

Daily Links - 24/06/2004

• A Flash version of a card game called Faro [via Mark Pilarski's column]. A website about Faro
• An examination of Michael Schumacher's success
• The Guardian has discovered the bizarre story about the coronation of Sun Myung Moon by US congressmen, previously linked to here
• Col Lounsbury on Iraqi reconstruction mistakes
• An Atkins diet experiment

Daily Links - 23/06/2004

• A condensed version of Bill Clinton's autobiography
• Wikipedia article on the abacus
• A collection of entertaining Flash games
• Leaked exam paper in Britain - reminds me of when I wrote matric...
• The actor who played the nerd Wesley Crusher in Star Trek: The Next Generation has a weblog
• Wayne Wides at Commentary links to some interesting statistics from NationMaster.com
• Speaking of nations, here is the Wikipedia article on Risk (the board game)

Daily Links - 22/06/2004

• The flight of SpaceShipOne, as it happened [via Unmedia]
• The Guardian interviews Bill Clinton, who says that Nelson Mandela helped him deal with the impeachment scandal.
• Wayne at Commentary has some strong views about this apparent shakedown attempt. See also this [scroll down to "Swiss Banks vindicated", unfortunately, the original Times article is locked in a pay archive].
• Fodder reckons that Buthelezi is fading away
• Could a South African owned beer become president?
• Wireless pebbles used to track glaciers

Flags

Here's a site that rates national flags.

An alphabetical list of flags and ratings can be found here. South Africa's flag scores 85/100.

[via LRC]

Daily Links - 21/06/2004

• Galileo - a European system to "compliment and compete with GPS"
• The official Gautrain website
• The Green Zone policy fails [via LRC]
• Some solstice information
• A senior American intelligence official writes a book that claims Bush is playing into Al-Qaida hands [via Talking Points Memo]
• Private, manned space flight attempt to take place today Update: more on the topic at Commentary

Daily links - 20/06/2004

• Some interesting Wikipedia articles:
  
  • Anti-intellectualism
  • The Voynich Manuscript
  • l33t
• Google's Pigeonrank technology
• An American military doctor in Iraq
• Fodder proposes a Google bomb
• Article on Gautrain
• Mzansi Afrika has a post about refugees in South Africa
• Cost of War [via On Lesotho]
• An American airliner lands at an air force base by mistake
• Lounsbury has a few new posts up about what's happening in the Middle East

The Huguenot Toll Tunnel

Here's an interesting press release describing the Huguenot Toll Tunnel in the Western Cape, on the South African National Roads Agency Limited's website.

By the way, there is a proposal to rename the tunnel after Dullah Omar, the late minister of transport.

My own opinion is that renaming a tunnel is a fairly harmless waste of time^[1] - the business impact will probably be negligible, since confusion is unlikely to arise. Of course, renaming towns and streets is a more troublesome, because it makes navigation more difficult.

^[1]I'm not a conservative, but if I was, I'd welcome the idea of politicians wasting time on meaningless activities.

Daily Links - 18/06/2004

• An unusual type of strike by journalists, explained
• Eliminating medical mistakes in the US, using IT
• Evolving a faster racing car
• South African government Youth Portal, [via southafrica.info, via Commentary]
• The trailer for Michael Moore's new movie [via LRC]
• The quest for a better lightbulb
• If you watched the Michael Moore trailer, you might be interested in this. The strange actions of local politicians pale in comparison

Bonus links - 17/06/2004

• If you want to know why that insipid Jessica Simpson song that gets played on the radio all the time is so bad, read this
• US Factory farming examined
• Rumsfeld ordered prisoner to be hidden from Red Cross [via LRC]
• More details of 9-11 events emerge [via LRC]
• The origins of monkey gland sauce [via Isangqa]

Daily Links - 17/06/2004

• How occupation authorities unwind in Baghdad's "Green zone"
• Prom story, part 3
• Natal Fever discusses the future of the Comrades marathon
• An old version of Microsoft Word remains very popular
• Global flash mob
• Fodder on Bush's re-election prospects
• WMD's in Iraq: A wild goose chicken chase

South Indian culture in South Africa

Rethabile at On Lesotho links to the story about a Zulu man who went to India to study South Indian classical music, but has had a hard time getting to perform back in South Africa. This story was also linked to by Murray at Southern Cross, who believes that the singer is a victim of anti-black and anti-Indian prejudice.

While prejudice may play a part in the lack of interest in Patrick Ngcobo's music, something that may be overlooked is the attitude of South Africans of South Indian descent toward their culture.

For example, there was an outcry by some South Indian community activists when SABC3 decided to show some Bollywood (North Indian) movies. Yet, according to SABC 3, the South Indian community seems to show little interest at the box office in South Indian movies.

According to these letters, attempts by Ster Kinekor to show South Indian movies, and South African South Indian satellite television and radio channels seem to have flopped, due to a lack of interest.

The South Indian community has been in South Africa for more than 140 years, and I would guess that Ngcobo's predicament is less a symptom of racial prejudice than a simple (and understandable) lack of interest of South Africans of South Indian descent in "their culture"- a culture that they have not been a part of for about five generations.

Gmail

I was pleasantly surprised to see that I received an invitation to sign up for a Gmail (Google's new email service) account when I logged in to Blogger. Apparently, it's quite difficult to get a Gmail account, with people willing to do strange things, and pay significant amounts for one.

I'm experimenting with Gmail, and I think that the most appealing aspect of the service is the 1GB space limit, which trounces Webmail's puny 10MB. It means that I can store as many photographs as I want to, without worrying about running out of space (although 100MB should be more than enough for me). The built-in search facility is useful.

While there are privacy concerns about the Gmail service, which searches the text of emails to display advertisements, I'm not really worried, since most of my email can already be intercepted by human beings, as it travels across the net. A machine scanning for words is far less threatening, in my opinion.

I'll probably post some more about Gmail, but for now, it's greatest impact will probably be felt by users of other email services, like Yahoo, who will find their storage space increased.

Daily links - 16/06/2004

I'm playing with my newly received Gmail account (more about that later), so there aren't many links today:

• A man in his mid-twenties goes back to the prom:
  • Part one.
  • Part two.
  • Outrage from readers
• Probe rules out Iraqi link to 9-11
• Should users of pirated copies of Windows XP be able to install Service Pack 2? [via Anil Dash's daily links]
• Apparent US military witchhunt suffers a setback [via antiwar.com]
• How the Guardian reported on the events of June 16, 1976
• Symbian OS virus created [via Wayne Wides]

Daily Links - 15/06/2004

• Some information about dolomite and sinkholes in Gauteng.
  • Pictures.
  • Map of the dolomite distribution in Gauteng.
• Inflation rises in the U.S.
• Invisibility comes a step closer. See also this.
• Bush's legal advisor has a history of obscure views of international law
• "Fruit helps prevent age-related eye disease"
• More details about the Enron ripoff emerge
• Mzansi Afrika on the Proudly South African campaign
• As you may have noticed in the sidebar, this blog is now part of the Southern Africa Web Ring

Daily Links - 14/06/2004

Internet Explorer crashed as I was about to publish my daily links...so here's what I could salvage from memory:

• Two sites about South Africa's climate
• Were children tortured in Iraq?
• Thanks to Southern Cross for the link
• The difference between Pretoria and Tshwane discussed
• Seven year old bloggers [via Scripting News]
• Article on the Foucault pendulum from Wikipedia, with lots of links
• Billmon on the increasing conservatism of the US military
• Languagehat on an article about the potential medical benefits of knowing more than one language
• Russian conscript hell

Shilowa outlines programme

Although it's a bit of a fluff piece, this article discusses Gauteng Premier Mbhazima Shilowa's plans for the province.

The emperor from Algoa Bay

While reading the comments on Crooked Timber about the crowning of the Messiah [see previous post], I found this link, to a story about a man, called Joshua Norton, who declared himself Emperor of the United States, and apparently became quite popular in San Francisco.

The local connection: Norton's parents were 1820 Settlers, and he moved to the United States in 1849 from [what is now] South Africa:

At the pre-emptory request of a large majority of the citizens of these United States, I Joshua Norton, formerly of Algoa Bay, Cape of Good Hope, and now for the last nine years and ten months past of San Francisco, California, declare and proclaim myself the Emperor of These United States

US Congressmen crown the Messiah

I've linked before to stories about the influence of religious fringe figures on the US government. Here's another example: Sun Myung Moon, leader of the Unification Church (the "Moonies"), was crowned the Messiah in a US Senate building. Pictures here. See also this. [via Antiwar.com]

Update: Kieran at Crooked Timber seems to have also just noticed this story.

Bonus Links - 11/06/2004

• ET goes home
• How Reagan made Osama
• Popcorn used to simulate oil spill
• American forces score torture own goal [via Slate]
• The myth of drunken pilots
• Bush vs. Schwarzenegger
• The intentional blandness of Garfield
• A roundup of what's online from America's leading magazines
• The Four Generations of Modern War

Daily Links - 11/06/2004

• Lots of information on hunger strikes
• Testing pens - although some of the models in the article may be unfamiliar, it's still a useful article, and it demonstrates that a good writer can make even a boring subject -like pens (or aeroplane travel)-interesting
• A quick guide to securing your PC
• Introduction to RSS [via scripting news]
• Another example of how some governments undermine the rule of law when given the opportunity

More links to follow...

Peppadew

Some time back, I tasted a strange pepper-like fruit, which was bought by a female relative. After some Googling, I discovered that it was called the Peppadew (sorry...the "Piquanté Pepper" ). I have since bought Peppadew sauce, although to be honest, I've only consumed half the bottle....I prefer stronger condiments, like Nandos sauce.

Still, the fact that the Peppadew brand is South African, and the way the fruit was discovered, make it an interesting product...

Traffic safety warning

If you are ever driving on the R55 going towards Sandton, be extremely careful near the robots at the entrance to Olivenhoutbosch (a newish township southwest of Pretoria). Drivers coming from Midrand, turning right into Olivenhoutbosch have developed the terrible habit of crossing the solid line and driving facing oncoming southbound traffic in the right-hand lane. The first time I saw this, it was a minibus taxi that did it. Now it seems that private cars are doing the same thing. If you don't stick to the posted 80km/h speed limit on that stretch of road, you may find yourself in a head-on collision, since you won't have time to avoid the morons who do this.

Daily links - 10/06/2004

• Why very realistic computer animations of people don't work
• More about the topic, and why older games remain popular by the same author
• Something from the archives about Reagan
• A detailed description of problems with an inflight entertainment system that is suspected of crashing a Swissair jet [see this site also for more links]
• Andrew Black of Southern Cross on why he's opposed to Britain's participation in the EU

Daily links - 09/06/2004

• In Search of the First Language [via languagehat]
• I really don't understand why people are still allowed to travel in the backs of trucks and bakkies
• Why did the Iraqi chicken cross the road?
• Cold snap expected to worsen
• A frustrated war nerd explains what he'd do with 200 million dollars [via Sailer]
• Richard at Way South on affirmative action
• Another South African map site
• Is Bush cracking up? [via Sailer again]
• The shortage of American refineries
• Schoolchildren keep getting killed by cars on a stretch of KZN road
• Ethnic clashes at informal settlement (in South Africa)

Incidentally, this is the 100th post on this weblog.

Petals Around the Rose

Here's a nice brainteaser called Petals Around the Rose. It took me a few spins to solve it while playing on the simulator, although I was on the right track from the start...in my opinion, the game would have been more fun if the first rule ("the name is significant") was left unstated.

[via Foreign Dispatches]

Update: Simulator link fixed

Daily links - 08/06/2004

• Enron traders caught on tape joking about helping to cause California's electricity crisis (including shutting down power stations to drive up prices). Part two. [via anil's daily links]
• A look at a government land auction in Nevada

Road numbering again

As promised in an earlier post, here are some more sites that can help one in navigating around South Africa.

• I just discovered this very detailed travel portal, which includes route numbers and descriptions
• Brabys maps, detailed maps of South Africa, right down to street level

Selective memory

Natal Fever discusses the muted South African reaction to the D-Day commemorations. [via Southern Cross]

The Sunday Times did have a full-page article on D-Day.

To be fair to those who have ignored the event, there is also an argument that D-Day is overrated [previously linked to here].

Immigration from South Asia

Anecdotal evidence suggests that increasing numbers of South Asian immigrants are coming to South Africa. Apparently, a significant proportion of the population of Indian townships [areas formerly set aside for South African "Indians"] is made up of recent immigrants from South Asia, although there are also stories about these immigrants setting up house in traditionally black areas (lacking apartheid-era hangups about race, they are said to assimilate rapidly).

The implications, particularly in fields like IT, should be obvious.

Weather report

The temperature is a balmy (+)18.5 °C according to the thermometer in a friend's car, although it's winter, and late at night. Although the temperature will probably drop precipitously over the next few hours, it's nice to have warm weather for a short period.

Daily Links - 06/06/2004

• A detailed Wikipedia article on the VW minibus
• The Bilderberg Group turns 50
• The taming of the Horde [via Sailer]
• Biography of Karl Dönitz, Hitler's successor
• IFP sends convicted rapist to Parliament
• Fraudsters exploit FICA
• Swivelling headlights on Renault's new concept car
• Billmon and Slate provide a contrast to the standard canned Ronald Reagan obituaries
• NNP deathwatch by Fodder
• Iraqis get ultra-cheap imported petrol, courtesy of US taxpayers [via antiwar.com]

Search engine spamming competition

Anil Dash has entered a search engine spamming competition, and he asks his readers to link to a page on his blog using a unique nonsense phrase created by the competition organizers.

My hunch is that taking part in the competition isn't a particularly good idea, since it should be fairly easy for a search engine that detects the phrase to automatically poison future results from that site, and all the sites that link to it, by assuming that they are link spammers. After all, the sites that use the phrase in question are clearly identifying themselves as would-be result manipulators, with no possibility that they are accidentally linking using the phrase in question.

While I doubt it's a diabolical plot to get link spammers, search engine optimizers and Googlebombers to expose themselves, I'm not going to participate anyway, but if you want to find out more see: [www.dashes.com/anil/2004/06/04/nigritude_ultra] .

[See also Google's spam result reporting page]

Speaking of aviation...

I read Salon's Ask the pilot column fairly regularly, and I've already linked to some columns. So it's interesting to see that the columns have been turned into a book (excerpt here; interview with the author here).

Here are some good Ask the pilot columns:

• On the environment, and American geographic illiteracy
• Recalling flying toward the World Trade Center on a commercial flight
• A discussion of national carriers
• The best views from (and of) aircraft, and a discussion of pilot and plane safety
• On causing a toilet to explode
• Remembering the worst aircraft accident ever- and why it could happen again
• Lavatory refuse falling from the sky

[By the way, as is normal with salon.com, you will have to watch a short advertisement before you can start read the above articles...it isn't too bad, since you only have to watch one advertisement per day to view all the articles on their site.]

Double take

I was driving around near Germiston earlier this week, when I did a double take. There was an SAA Boeing 747 parked at Rand Airport.

After some Googling I found out that the "Lebombo" retired recently, and is now part of the South African Airways Museum collection (page includes pictures).

Update: Here's a link to the SAA Museum Society website

Bonus Links - 04/06/2004

• It looks like I may have been onto something when I speculated that the torture at Abu Ghraib may have been part of a wider pattern of abuse in the US military
• More on rising militarism in the United States
• Real estate bubbles, in South Africa, and the United States

Daily Links - 04/06/2004

• How content producers are reacting to RSS [via Scripting News]
• The Bush administration may be about to be shaken by a series of scandals
• Fodder on Bulelani Ngcuka's apology
• A dissident vanishes in China
• Magicians angry at the revelation of Houdini magic secrets
• Are the Saudis fulfilling a pledge to help Bush get re-elected? Billmon links to a sequence of stories that suggest that this may be happening

Hard refresh

Tip for the day: if you need to force a refresh on a page in Internet Explorer, press CTRL F5.

Night scopes used by ushers to detect "pirates"

Ushers at every British cinema were issued with night scopes to thwart would-be Harry Potter "pirates". [via Onlineblog]

The wisdom of crowds

A discussion of the book The Wisdom of Crowds.

See also: This Wired article by the author [previously linked to here]

Daily Links - 02/06/2004

• Anil Dash on discontinued software that was once bundled with MS Office
• Defence Minister Mosiuoa Lekota questions racial quotas. [via POLITICS.ZA]
• Slate examines British Press reactions to the latest Harry Potter movie
• Rooftop living in Baghdad
• Gene Expression on how Asians are trying to close the height gap
• Fodder has a list of South African blogs, with a short description of each

Nepotism

An interesting article on nepotism in politics by Steve Sailer.