The Bloody Miracle

I’ve just come back from watching the premiere of “The Bloody Miracle”, a documentary on the leadup to the 1994 elections. Directed by Meg Rickards and Bert Haitsma, and produced by Paul Egan, it looks at the pivotal year from Chris Hani’s assasination in April 1993 to the elections in April 1994. It’s a very… Continue reading The Bloody Miracle

2014 World Press Freedom Index – small improvement for South Africa amidst a general worldwide decline

The latest World Press Freedom Index is out. While the news worldwide is generally negative, with all regions except for Asia showing a deterioration, South Africa improved markedly from its place in 2013, jumping 11 positions from 52nd to 42nd. Before you hammer me on my maths, this counts as 11 due to the inclusion… Continue reading 2014 World Press Freedom Index – small improvement for South Africa amidst a general worldwide decline

Hei Hei Hei

It’s been a while since my last “I’m learning” post. Let’s see. There’s been: Learning Toki Pona (December 2009) Learning Languages Revisited (March 2009) Tune Xhosa with Ian (December 2007) Learning Mandarin Chinese, and some insight into my brain’s inner workings (June 2007) So what’s the latest language I can add to the “learned and… Continue reading Hei Hei Hei

May 2013 African language Wikipedia update

There’s a current proposal to close the Xhosa Wikipedia for lack of activity, so I thought it’d be a good time to see the progress of the African and South African language Wikipedias. Heading the list of African-language Wikipedias by article count, Malagasy is still racing ahead in creating new articles, mainly thanks to articles… Continue reading May 2013 African language Wikipedia update

South Africa slumps in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index.

The 2013 World Press Freedom Index came out recently, and sadly, South Africa has slid alarmingly since I last blogged about it in 2007, and even more so when compared with its peak rating in 2003. Note that a lower score is better. Year Score Ranking 2013 24.56 (-12.56) 52 (-10) 2012 12 (0) 42… Continue reading South Africa slumps in the 2013 World Press Freedom Index.

November African language Wikipedia update: Afrikaans passes Swahili

Time to take another look at the progress of African and African language Wikipedia projects. African Language Wikipedias Language 1/1/2007 11/2/2011 13/4/2012 16/11/2012 Malagasy   3806 36767 38753 Yoruba 517 12174 29894 30158 Afrikaans 6149 17002 22115 24821 Swahili 2980 21244 23481 24519 Amharic 742 6738 11572 11806 Egyptian Arabic     8433

Sustainable American poetic Greek and Roman mythological cryptography with Coursera

I’m finally getting around to trying a course with Coursera. Coursera was founded by a couple of Computer Science professors from Stanford University, and its mission is to make “the best education in the world freely available to any person who seeks it”. It launched in April this year, and has already had over a… Continue reading Sustainable American poetic Greek and Roman mythological cryptography with Coursera