Category: Fire (Social)

I enjoyed reading Ethan Zuckerman’s post Who’s happy and why?. I suggest you read it first before continuing here. A country/person’s happiness has always seemed immensely more important to me than other measurements, such as GDP, possessions, and so on. I remember playing a game called Careers as a child. At the beginning of the… Continue reading On happiness

If anyone’s wondering whether their organs can be put to better use than worm food (or more ashes in the sky) after they die, take a look at the Organ Donation Foundation (South Africa only). They have a nifty Web 2.0 site and a vibrant community. OK, not really, but you can register online. If… Continue reading Organ and tissue donation

I was thinking today about Telkom, and the perception that so many of us have of this company. If you ask most people in my circles about the company Telkom, the words that come to mind would be ‘scum’, ‘hell’ (ah, the effectiveness of Hellkom and Telscum), ‘uncaring’, ‘inefficient’ and so on. Personally, I vowed… Continue reading Humanising brands, and Telkom the mugger

Last weekend I attended the Origin Festival, which billed itself as an electronic music, art and holistic lifestyle festival. I was invited to give a talk, my choice of topic being quite broad. It was put down in the programme as Web2, IT technology and applications for greener living, but would have been better titled… Continue reading Origin Festival Workshops

I’ve seldom read anything with which I’ve disagreed as much as I have with Ayn Rand, in her series of essays The New Left: The Anti Industrial Revolution. I haven’t read much of her before, but her ideas keep popping up, and I thought it was time to read what she actually had to say.… Continue reading The poison of Ayn Rand

Following on from Organic food ‘worse for the environment’ – Economist, this time I’m looking at their attack on Fair Trade. Their argument in effect boils down to describing the premium paid to Fair Trade producers as a subsidy, which therefore encourages inefficiencies and overproduction, just as government subsidies to farmers in Europe and North… Continue reading Fair Trade harms the planet – Economist

Congratulations to everyone who contributed to the Telecoms Action Group’s ad that appeared in today’s Mail and Guardian. It’s great to see South African consumers (how I dislike that word) getting together. And a sign of just how frustrated people are with Telkom and the current situation. TAG still has some money left over, so… Continue reading Congratulations TAG

Thanks to GMWatch, via the SAFeAGE newsletter, I came across a list of good news stories in the global campaign against GMO’s. With permission, I include it in full below. When it comes to GMO legislation, South Africa usually rolls over for the multinationals. So, it’s particularly pleasing to see some good news in my… Continue reading Some goods news about GMO’s

Being involved in the Ethical Co-op, I’ve had a number of people gleefully tell me about the series of articles in the recent Economist, criticising Ethical food, in particuar organic, local and Fairtrade foods, the first two of which are key policies of the co-op. I was quite looking forward to reading their argument, and… Continue reading Organic food ‘worse for the environment’ – Economist

There’s a zen koan I’m fond (perhaps a little too fond) of quoting, which goes something like: A zen master holds up two white chess pawns, and asks whether they’re the same or different. If you answer the same, you’re wrong, and get hit with the zen master’s stick, and if you answer different, you’re… Continue reading American elections 2006 – the same or different?