Archive for September, 2008
Friday, September 26th, 2008
The Hansie movie opened in theatres this week. If you have not heard or seen any promos or interview with Frans Cronje, then where have you been?
This must be the most over promoted movie in this country, ever! Frans Cronje and the movie’s stars Frank Rautenbach and Brandon Auret have appeared on every single local magazine show.
I hope the movie does well as Hansie was at one time a true hero to many – me included.
If you are into movie memoribilia or have a few bucks to throw around, some one is auctioning a poster (I think) signed by Frans Cronje on Bidorbuy.
Posted in movies | No Comments »
Friday, September 26th, 2008
Cartoon by Zapiro
On Tuesday 23 September, I got into a car with 2 colleagues, my seat belt was barely on when one of them mentioned Trevor Manuel’s resignation.
My first reaction was OH MY GOODNESS, that is BAD NEWS. My colleagues kept quiet while I continued to mumble some unintelligable words.
My second reaction was panic of having to explain the lastest news to the Aussie relatives! They already think South Africa is going down the toilet.
Apparently I wasn’t the only one to react this way. According to a snap poll taken by TNS research and reported on iafrica.com, seventy-nine percent of people reacted in a similar way.
Around our watercooler at the office, we each have an opinion of why Mr Manuel resigned in the first place.
Whatever his reason, our markets showed a volitality when it showed little to no impact the day a president resigned. Makes you think, doesn’t it.
Posted in election 2009 | No Comments »
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
So we have a new president and I already like him. Congratulations and good luck to Kgalema Motlanthe who will have his hands full.
Surprisingly the sky did not fall. In actual fact it’s business as usual here in my little spot in Cape Town. Grey clouds, forecasts of rain and I’m surfing the net as per normal. So everything’s alright with my world.
I have been listening to Capetalk over the web. Through all the pomp and ceremony I realised once again that we South Africans are a unique bunch.
We do things differently. We are so resilient. We are hilarious – in a good way.
The Freedom Front Plus Leader Pieter Mulder brought a bit of light relief to proceedings in parliament when he first disparaged the DA for their hypocrisy of putting up Joe Seremane as their candidate, when he was not elected leader of their party a while ago.
He then told the story of an Afrikaner settler who mistook a lion for a horse in the dark and then addressed Jacob Zuma with “Does the ANC also know how to unharness a lion should it be necessary?” The clear implication was that as soon as President Motlanthe gets comfortable in his presidential chair, will Zuma be able to unseat him?
We over react.
There is a lot we still have to learn about dealing with criticism. Just because I loathe parts of the ANC, like the Youth League and Zuma doesn’t mean I choose Mbeki and it doesn’t mean I’m committing treason!
Life will in all probability continue as usual – the political commentators will debate until the cows come home, I will have to find new topics to blog about and we’ll await cheaper broadband and World Cup 2010 with bated breathe.
Posted in election 2009 | 1 Comment »
Thursday, September 25th, 2008
If you thought buying lingerie on auction will save you the embarrasment of dealing with over-friendly shop assistants, then think again.
The US Government wants to pass legislation that requires websites facilitating transactions -like Ebay, Craigslist, etc. – to keep detailed records about the sellers and not inform them that they are being watched.
I have previously blogged about the Story of the Stolen Bras that brought to light the practice of selling stolen goods online at a fraction of the retail price.
According to the Webpronews US Homeland Security is also getting involved since they have somehow made a connection between Ebay sellers and Hamas.
The E-Fencing Enforcement Act mandates that online stores and resellers disclose contact information for high-volume sellers—with sales of $12,000 or more per year or sales of $5,000 or more in any single offering.
The selling (and buying) of fake and stolen goods must be condemned in the strongest terms, but as a sometime seller on Bidorbuy I would hate if the government was digging into my business without my knowledge.
Internet retail is still in its growing phase in South Africa, although there have been sellers of fake goods on local auctions. On Bidorbuy I know it gets nipped in the bud by vigilant buyers and sellers.
It is far easier to recognise fake goods than stolen goods, but usually there are signs. If a price seems too good to be true, then usually it is.
As a citizen of a country though I would hope that we still have some rights to privacy and that the same procedure be followed for internet fraud as would be in the normal investigation of crime.
Posted in auctions | No Comments »
Wednesday, September 24th, 2008
I feel like one of the citizens of that fine fairytale land when the emperor was duped into believing he was wearing new clothes, when he wasn’t wearing any.
In the days after the release of Google’s Chrome there were various glowing reviews, that promised a browser revolution. Maybe I expected something shiny and new, but I don’t see it yet.
I do like the little snapshots of websites I visit often and the tabs are always welcome, but not unique.
At the moment I am bidding on some auctions and have to do so from Internet Explorer, because I cannot navigate back to the page just before I bid with the 1 click that I require. It’s a huge annoyance in Chrome.
My expectations of computer programmes are minimal. I don’t need or want it to think for me, unless I choose that option. IE is a static browser that leaves a lot of decisions for me.
I am writing this blog from Chrome, so it’s not a hopeless story.
Many of my little irritations can be fixed if the options menu was more adaptable.
I’m usually a huge fan of Google’s applications, but Chrome, not so much.
Posted in google | 2 Comments »
