It’s three days until the elections (well, it was when I started, now it’s one day…), and there’s still no Green Party to vote for, so, to help out, here’s my detailed analysis of every party to help make your decision. Voting ranks slightly below picking up a cigarette stompie (cigarette butts for those from… Continue reading ivotela i-?
Category: Water (Personal)
Valentine’s Surprise
It was Valentines day, late Friday afternoon heading towards evening. I was sitting working at home, behind on the week, when I got a call from Anique. Did she have a Valentine’s surprise in store? Did she ever. She’d run out of petrol on the N2, the notorious stretch inbound just past the airport. I… Continue reading Valentine’s Surprise
A bit (gasp) of running
I came home today after fetching Dorje from school to find my driveway gate forced open, and a guy inside the yard, going through my outside cupboard. His attempts to claim he was looking for work in my cupboard didn’t last long in the face of berserker Ian, and he made a dash for it.… Continue reading A bit (gasp) of running
In memory of my mother
It was my mom’s funeral yesterday. It was a good day, and I enjoyed meeting some of her friends I hadn’t seen for years, especially from her days before I was born, and learning a little more about her. Here’s a written adaptation of what I said, especially for those who couldn’t be there. When… Continue reading In memory of my mother
Trust and asking
When I was young, I would find it very difficult to ask anyone for help. I remember many stalemates with my father, where I would stubbornly not ask, and he would stubbornly not offer. A university job cold soliciting advertising for the student newspaper helped immensely! Not asking for help is a meanness of spirit,… Continue reading Trust and asking
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
Sam Harris on Free Will
Sam Harris recently released a book on the topic of free will. I haven’t read the book yet, but watched a presentation he gave of ideas from his book. Traditionally there are three positions offered. Determinism, which essentially states that we could not have made any alternative choices, as our choices are determined by pre-existing… Continue reading Sam Harris on Free Will
Lucid Dreaming Chi Kung
I haven’t been lucid dreaming for a while now, at least a few months. In the past, I’ve found that I could become lucid quite regularly if I followed a routine of going to sleep relatively early (before 11pm), then waking up around 4am, then again at 5.30am and finally 7am. This routine worked very… Continue reading Lucid Dreaming Chi Kung
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
Coming out of retirement
I started to play chess in 1993 vaguely seriously. The trigger was writing a chess program and finding that it could thrash me. I thought this was ridiculous, so decided to learn to play properly. I played for about five or six years, but then ‘retired’, and, besides the odd game on chesscube.com, haven’t played… Continue reading Coming out of retirement