Category: Fire (Social)

One of the enjoyable things about Cape Town this time of the year is that it’s packed with visitors. For residents of Kalk Bay trying to get home, or somebody dashing to the Waterfront late for a movie, and circling for hours trying to find parking, this may not be a good thing. But I… Continue reading Anti-Americanism

George Monbiot’s site has been unavailable for about a day now. Before I start suspecting a conspiracy, hopefully its just a minor technicality, with the Christmas holidays exacerbating the delay. The site is hosted by 34sp, a UK service provider. Monbiot recently set the cat amongst the pigeons in green circles with an article criticising… Continue reading George Monbiot site unavailable

Right now Table Mountain is ablaze, the fires completely out of control. The cable station has been closed most of the morning, and is right in the firing line. Houses in Higgovale are probably in more danger, as the fire looks like its hit the pine forest right above them. UPDATE: Some pics 5 minutes… Continue reading Table Mountain on fire

Today I came across the UK Shadow Cabinet announced by the new Conservative Party leader, David Cameron. It struck me that out of 24 members, there are only 4 women. South Africa has tried hard to achieve gender parity, and has one of the highest ratios of women in office (Rwanda I think has the… Continue reading Gender balance in UK and SA politics.

My favourite anti-Wikipedia sophist, the Register’s Andrew Orlowsky, is at it again in an article entitled Who owns your Wikipedia bio?. He reminds me of Ali-G, in that its the reaction of his victims, more than the nonsense he speaks, that provides the humour. A notable example for Americans was when Ali G (actually it… Continue reading Wikipedia as role-playing game

The Scandanavian countries strike me as the most progressive in so many ways, with Sweden being particularly abundant and innovative. It didn’t get to be like that for no reason. Its government spends 4.27% of its GDP on research, more than any other country in the world besides Israel. Unlike Israel, and many other countries… Continue reading Swedish innovation

The following Greenpeace request came across my path. If anyone wants and is able to help them track down a whaling ship, read further. The ship we are seeking is named the Nisshin Maru, gross tonnage 8,030, length 130 metres, radio call sign JJCJ. She is the factory ship and will be accompanied by three… Continue reading Looking for the whaling ship Nisshin Maru

For the last few months I’ve been buying a cat food called Petite Anges. It’s made locally, is as good for the cats as the most expensive brands (and better than a lot of others – I checked the ingredients quite carefully), and is a lot cheaper. Until recently that is. It seems they’ve been… Continue reading The pet food underworld

Another update about 20Twenty. Its fate apparently rests upon the whims of a like-minded financial services provider, with whom negotiations have progressed well. Below is the full body of the mail they sent me. There’s an image at the bottom of the mail which may or may not have been a disclaimer against doing this… Continue reading 20Twenty negotiations continue

I’ve been experiencing lots of synchronicity. So perhaps I shouldn’t have been too surprised when, shortly after a conversation on the end of oil, the cities, mass deaths from the coming bird flu etc. with a friend of a rather more apocalyptic bent than me, the power in Cape Town gets cut (it turns out… Continue reading A day without power