Lao Tzu, according to Tony Benn at least, said that the best leaders are those who are never noticed. Those who are praised follow, then those who are despised, with those who are feared at the bottom. A related Zen saying is that a teacher’s work is only done when the student has bettered the… Continue reading Some thoughts on leadership
Category: Fire (Social)
Manifestation of our humanity
It’s been wonderful to see the reaction of many to the recent attacks. In my local community, the nearby Observatory Methodist church quickly swelled from supporting 80 people, to supporting 300 people. Many of the first batch were Somalian, who later moved to a mosque in Salt River. The next batch of people were mostly… Continue reading Manifestation of our humanity
Blame alone is not enough to address the violence.
I am immensely sad at the violence taking place in our country right now. Many of the responses too have left me saddened. When what’s needed is help, all round, so much poison has come up. Much of the response has simply been blame, spoken or written in anger, without any compassion for those involved.… Continue reading Blame alone is not enough to address the violence.
Standard Bank and the Chinese crackdown
I signed a petition asking the Chinese government to respect human rights in China. A friend, who I forwarded it to, responded with something we can do a little closer to home. The ICBC, a majority state-owned institution, is now a 20% shareholder in Standard Bank. As he says, This means that everyone who banks… Continue reading Standard Bank and the Chinese crackdown
Coming of age for the 27 dinner
I’ve just come back from 27-21 (link should be active soon), the (sort of) 21st 27 dinner and it was an event fit for a 21st party, and certainly a lot better than my 21st party. The secret to its success was that there was much more time for chatting to people than normal. This… Continue reading Coming of age for the 27 dinner
The decolonization of cyberspace – on film?
Does anyone have any suggestions for locations for shooting a documentary on the following themes: the “decolonization of cyberspace” African language Wikipedias, online/wikipedia activism I haven’t been able to come up with anything particularly exciting, and the shooting, by a Dutch company, is in 2 weeks!
Frugal Fennel at Sloppy Sams
Frugal Fennel at Sloppy Sams, the latest of the bi-monthly Geek Dinners, was fun. The venue worked well, and the upstairs tables added a theatrical element. The food was pretty bad value, no, strike that, abysmal value for money though. R130 and the ‘main course’ veggie option consisted of a few baked potatos and… wait,… Continue reading Frugal Fennel at Sloppy Sams
The nuclear tooth fairy
I came across a Cape Times today, with a flurry of letters in support of nuclear power. I fired off a quick letter in response, but here is a slightly expanded version, as the constraints of the letters page aren’t the best place to discuss this properly. Besides all of its other problems, nuclear power… Continue reading The nuclear tooth fairy
Apocalypse now and the stock market crash
I tend to spend too much of my time reading, and too much of that reading economics articles. Two articles caught my attention today, one from the conservative Economist, and the other from the slightly more extreme News Target. The first, titled The Coming Financial Collapse of America (and Why Today’s Market Bloodbath is Only… Continue reading Apocalypse now and the stock market crash
Beware Facebook!
A recurring theme in the news recently has been dire warnings from those in the recruitment industry warning of the consequences of posting too much personal information on social networking sites such as Facebook. Ina van der Merwe, chief executive officer of South Africa’s largest background screening company, Kroll, from an article in today’s IOL… Continue reading Beware Facebook!