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
Organ and tissue donation
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
Humanising brands, and Telkom the mugger
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
Irie Irony on Wikipedia
I’m taking a Wikibreak. That this rather insignificant event should become breaking-news on my frequently-updated, hugely-popular, blog, should surprise no-one. After all, compared to our American friends planning another invasion, my comings, or rather goings, on Wikpedia, are clearly of paramount importance. One of my final posts was perhaps wasted on Wikipedia, and has been… Continue reading Irie Irony on Wikipedia
An encounter with Lama Yeshe Rinpoche
I attended a talk today between Lama Yeshe Rinpoche and Rob Nairn, hosted by Cape Town Samye Zong, otherwise known as the Tibetan centre. Lama Yeshe is of the Kagyu lineage of Tibetan Buddhism, and is the retreat master at the well-known Samye Ling centre in Scotland, the largest of its kind in the West.… Continue reading An encounter with Lama Yeshe Rinpoche
Origin Festival Workshops
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
The poison of Ayn Rand
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
KGeography
A while ago I got addicted to the Africa Geography Game, a silly addictive Flash game that tests one’s knowledge of African geography. At the back of my mind I’ve been considering writing a proper application that does something similar, but is much more flexible, testing capitals, flags, etc. Luckily anyone interested in the idea… Continue reading KGeography
Fair Trade harms the planet – Economist
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
The Political Compass
Thanks to Walton (who happily seems to be blogging again), I came across the Political Compass website. It contains a test categorising one’s social and economic beliefs. Perhaps it’s my lust for certainty that provides the attraction for tests like these. So, to box myself for those who’re interested, I scored -6.88 on the Economic… Continue reading The Political Compass