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
Linux World Interview
A while back LinuxWorld interviewed me about the MySQL certification process I undertook at IOL. You can read it here.
Scorpio rising
Woke up this morning to the most harrowing screams from my son. We couldn’t figure out what was wrong until we saw this on him. Scorpion stings can be quite serious, so he was promptly rushed off to the hospital. Hopefully it will be as serious as last time (lots of blood, but the tiniest… Continue reading Scorpio rising
reddit and digg – first impressions
Thanks to Walton’s mention, I’ve been spending quite a bit of the weekend looking at reddit, and comparing it to digg. Both sites are a step forward from the old classics, Slashdot and Kuro5shin, as well as the much newer de.licio.us (which as I’m sure everyone who follows it knows, has just been bought by… Continue reading reddit and digg – first impressions
Cape Town burning
It’s fire season, and the arsonists and smokers are out in force. The mountains around Cape Town are experiencing multiple fires every day now. There’ve been days of smoke, but today, from my window, I can see a fire raging on the slopes of Signal Hill. Pity my camera is so crap (or is that… Continue reading Cape Town burning
Gender balance in UK and SA politics.
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.
Jonga, Funnel, Ananzi and Google.co.za compared
With the recent launch of Jonga, and Funnel having been around a few months now, it’s been an interesting time for local search engines. I thought I’d do a quick comparison. My highly unscientific methodology involved choosing a site I know, entering a search term I think should find it, and seeing how closely the… Continue reading Jonga, Funnel, Ananzi and Google.co.za compared
Wikipedia as role-playing game
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
Swedish innovation
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 archetypal Gemini
Sometimes I have to laugh at myself for fitting the cliches so well. Without getting into whether I’m actually a flighty Gemini or a bull-headed Taurus, or whether its all a bunch of bollocks, I clearly fit the image of someone with 101 interests, and who gets bored if I’m stuck on one thing too… Continue reading The archetypal Gemini