I sometimes hear people claiming that "African culture" leads to people blindly supporting their leaders, regardless of their actions. Of course, this is not an exclusively African trait at all. At times, all countries, even the most advanced, get caught up in fits of leader worship.
I remember reading the neocon National Review Online's Corner blog coverage when Bush did his now infamous "Mission Accomplished" photo-op on an aircraft carrier back in 2003.
Here, for your enjoyment is a link to the fawning coverage from that day, three years ago (scroll down to May 1 and work your way up).
Looking at the references to bush as a "stud", and the praise for the now-embarrassing photo-op, one cannot help but cringe at the bullshit put out by this bloodthirsty outfit.
Monday, September 25, 2006
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Hyperlinking bans
Looked at the "terms and conditions" section on a South African corporate website recently?
I noticed that at least two of the big four banks, a large listed IT company, and another top listed holding company have notices that require written permission for incoming hyperlinks to those sites. (I'd link to them, but, if their websites are to be believed, I could get sued).
I seriously doubt that search engines like Google ask for permission before indexing and linking to pages on those sites.
The draconian (and absurd) warnings on these websites, that prohibit even linking to their home pages without written permission, are a sign that a lot of South African companies remain absolutely clueless about the nature of the web.
[Take 2...Blogger wiped the first version of this post]
I noticed that at least two of the big four banks, a large listed IT company, and another top listed holding company have notices that require written permission for incoming hyperlinks to those sites. (I'd link to them, but, if their websites are to be believed, I could get sued).
I seriously doubt that search engines like Google ask for permission before indexing and linking to pages on those sites.
The draconian (and absurd) warnings on these websites, that prohibit even linking to their home pages without written permission, are a sign that a lot of South African companies remain absolutely clueless about the nature of the web.
[Take 2...Blogger wiped the first version of this post]
Saturday, September 23, 2006
Hope
Once there was a busy road, full of vehicles. Although the road was wide, traffic moved very slowly along the road.
On this road there was a red taxi. The taxi was brave, and worked hard to end the traffic jam, along with some other taxis.
Eventually the traffic jam unblocked, and the traffic started flowing freely. The taxi was rewarded by being given its own lane, along with other taxis who had helped end the traffic jam.
But some of the red taxi's friends realized that, as an older model, the taxi, along with its friends would end up jamming up the traffic again because they didn't understand the reality of driving in modern traffic. They conspired to get the old vehicle off the road, using the taxi's own naivete against it.
Humiliated and broken, it looked like the taxi was destined for the scrapyard. But, suddenly, to everyone's surprise the taxi was released back onto the highway.
Now, for some time before the taxi's return to the road, there were rumours that it had a slow puncture. These rumours had started when it emerged that the taxi had driven over an area with sharp nails without a care in the world (at a time that vehicles driving over nails without caring was a major problem on the road). Did the taxi, they speculated, already have a slow puncture? 1
Panic ensued, as the sleek new cars on the freeway thought they would, once again, be caught in a traffic jam. The taxi trundled along in the emergency lane, building up speed, when suddenly, a tyre exploded and it rolled off the road into a ditch, never to return to the road.
On this road there was a red taxi. The taxi was brave, and worked hard to end the traffic jam, along with some other taxis.
Eventually the traffic jam unblocked, and the traffic started flowing freely. The taxi was rewarded by being given its own lane, along with other taxis who had helped end the traffic jam.
But some of the red taxi's friends realized that, as an older model, the taxi, along with its friends would end up jamming up the traffic again because they didn't understand the reality of driving in modern traffic. They conspired to get the old vehicle off the road, using the taxi's own naivete against it.
Humiliated and broken, it looked like the taxi was destined for the scrapyard. But, suddenly, to everyone's surprise the taxi was released back onto the highway.
Now, for some time before the taxi's return to the road, there were rumours that it had a slow puncture. These rumours had started when it emerged that the taxi had driven over an area with sharp nails without a care in the world (at a time that vehicles driving over nails without caring was a major problem on the road). Did the taxi, they speculated, already have a slow puncture? 1
Panic ensued, as the sleek new cars on the freeway thought they would, once again, be caught in a traffic jam. The taxi trundled along in the emergency lane, building up speed, when suddenly, a tyre exploded and it rolled off the road into a ditch, never to return to the road.
Saturday, September 16, 2006
Did you know?
A number of American universities (including MIT) require students to pass a swimming test before they are allowed to graduate.
Here we go again
The pope quoted some offensive statements about Islam, and Muslims may yet react in a similar way that they reacted to the Danish cartoon crisis.
If they do react in the same way, it will be a confirmation of the pitiful state of the Muslim world, which, it seems, cannot learn from its mistakes.
This is the kind of controversy that made me support this pope. Good old fire and brimstone - if I was a Muslim, and really confident in my religion, I'd say "bring it on". Enough of the wishy-washy kumbaya bullshit - it's refreshing to have someone speak their mind. I'd personally rather have a dozen enemies that I knew about, than one that I didn't.
Muslims: the pope is your spiritual enemy. Get over it.
Updates:
If they do react in the same way, it will be a confirmation of the pitiful state of the Muslim world, which, it seems, cannot learn from its mistakes.
This is the kind of controversy that made me support this pope. Good old fire and brimstone - if I was a Muslim, and really confident in my religion, I'd say "bring it on". Enough of the wishy-washy kumbaya bullshit - it's refreshing to have someone speak their mind. I'd personally rather have a dozen enemies that I knew about, than one that I didn't.
Muslims: the pope is your spiritual enemy. Get over it.
Updates:
- Abu Aardvark thinks that the sort of rhetoric employed by the pope strengthens Al-Qaeda's hand..
- An in-depth look at the pope and church from earlier this year.
- No huge riots yet, and now that the pope has clarified his statements, I wait for the usual suspects to start bleating about how his "capitulation" is a symbol of "dhimmitude" in "Eurabia".
It's for your own safety
The Star had some tips for people traveling overseas after the clampdown on hand luggage.
Mostly useful information, but the following statement stood out:
Except sheeple, it appears that the entire threat was grossly exaggerated. The idiotic security measures don't seem absurd they are absurd.
The circumstances around the liquid terror scare intrigued me from the start, and, although terrorists will continue killing innocents, it now appears that there are other players who are actively exploiting the specter of global terrorism to advance their own agendas.
Mostly useful information, but the following statement stood out:
Baby foods are being tested at the security gates. Again, it seems absurd, but it is for your own safety. [emphasis mine]
Except sheeple, it appears that the entire threat was grossly exaggerated. The idiotic security measures don't seem absurd they are absurd.
The circumstances around the liquid terror scare intrigued me from the start, and, although terrorists will continue killing innocents, it now appears that there are other players who are actively exploiting the specter of global terrorism to advance their own agendas.
Saturday, September 09, 2006
Ubuntu upgrade Blues
I'm trying to upgrade my Ubuntu Linux distribution, and it involves a bit more pain that I had expected for something that is aimed at the "human being" segment of the population- what with files being locked and piped commands required to unlock things.
Although I'll probably figure it out because I'm a techie, I seriously doubt that someone without much computer knowledge would cope. My Ubuntu install experience is not as bad as my experience getting a graphics card to work on SUSE a few years ago, but I think Ubuntu has a long way to go yet...
Update: I am using a VMWare virtual machine and I don't have any critical data on the machine, so I just did a new install, and wiped out everything. I tried entering some arcane commands I found on the internet to do the update, but I kept getting the same errors over and over again. Also, there is surprisingly little information about how to upgrade, despite the update manager referring one to the Ubuntu website.
I did find this, but it was too late, so I don't know if it would have worked or led me back the same way.
Although I'll probably figure it out because I'm a techie, I seriously doubt that someone without much computer knowledge would cope. My Ubuntu install experience is not as bad as my experience getting a graphics card to work on SUSE a few years ago, but I think Ubuntu has a long way to go yet...
Update: I am using a VMWare virtual machine and I don't have any critical data on the machine, so I just did a new install, and wiped out everything. I tried entering some arcane commands I found on the internet to do the update, but I kept getting the same errors over and over again. Also, there is surprisingly little information about how to upgrade, despite the update manager referring one to the Ubuntu website.
I did find this, but it was too late, so I don't know if it would have worked or led me back the same way.
Saturday, September 02, 2006
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