I’ve just finished watching Inside Job, the award-winning documentary showing at the Encounters Film Festival. It’s a good documentary, part-comedy as well the way some of the interviews with the bank executives and consultants have been edited. It got a round of applause at the end, and is worth seeing. I want to note two… Continue reading Inside Job, ideology and regulatory contradictions
Category: Fire (Social)
African language Wiktionary Update
Wikipedia never ceases to amaze me. I remember meeting a teenage Alaskan editing on the Malagasy Wikipedia. Thanks perhaps to those long wintery nights, he was learning languages like some collect stamps, and Malagasy, being an interesting language, had attracted his attention. Updating sports results as quickly as possible seems to be as popular as… Continue reading African language Wiktionary Update
The Ethical Bank
South African banking is dominated by the big four, Absa, First National Bank, Nedbank and Standard Bank, with little Capitec trailing in very distant fifth place. If you’re looking at opening a savings account, Capitec are the only one where the account has even a chance of living up to the name, with the others… Continue reading The Ethical Bank
Bearing Soul
Last weekend I was lucky enough to be invited to Bearing Soul, billed as “An enviro-mental Exploration through Song, Music, Story and Heart”. This wasn’t the usual entertainment, a show at a theatre, a film. It was a friend, Dan Tree, doing just what he claimed. Flashing us a glimpse of his essence, his heart… Continue reading Bearing Soul
African language Wikipedia update
There’s been some momentum recently in the local Wikimedia world. The process for forming a local chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation was jumpstarted at a workshop at Wits University in August last year, and is now nearing the final stages. The legal documentation is close to being complete, and will be submitted shortly to the… Continue reading African language Wikipedia update
Food Security Workshop
This week I attended a 2-day workshop on Food Security at UCT’s Graduate School of Business, convened by Milla McLachlan and Ralph Hamman of the Food Security Change Lab, and facilitated by Reos. This was a continuation of a process, which included a number of workshops and Learning Journeys around Cape Town, Johannesburg and Limpopo,… Continue reading Food Security Workshop
Northern Sotho Wikipedia needs help
Northern Sotho is the only official South African language without an active Wikipedia. The project sits in the incubator, where it interestingly has far more articles than all other SA languages bar English and Afrikaans (540 vs Swati on 187). Mohau Monaledi has been driving the project, and has contributed 1310 edits, more than everyone… Continue reading Northern Sotho Wikipedia needs help
Wikimedia South Africa workshop
This weekend a number of us held a workshop at Wits University to discuss forming a South African chapter of the Wikimedia Foundation – the non-profit foundation supporting projects such as Wikipedia and Wiktionary. For those interested in the details, the Wikimedia South Africa meta page has more, and you can also join the mailing… Continue reading Wikimedia South Africa workshop
Cruel to be kind?
A Facebook friend shared an animation from RSA Comment entitled First as Tragedy, Then as Farce. Go watch it first. By Slavoj Zizek, the renowned critical theorist, the critique was interesting and largely accurate. How we buy a Starbucks coffee as redemption in the consumerist act, for example. However, I was struck by a comment… Continue reading Cruel to be kind?
Ayoba!
World Cup fever has finally hit Cape Town. We may be a little slower than the rest of the country, and I’m sure there are still a few Fuck Fifa parties being held in the odd dungeon around the city, but for everyone else, there’s a pulse not unlike 1994. Except, in 1994 it was… Continue reading Ayoba!