104 Share a conversation between Microsoft’s Bill Gates and Apple’s Steve Jobs – two of the wealthiest men in the world and arguably two of its most powerful men.
The themes range from poverty to wealth, and then to wealth again.
It’s priceless really
Continue reading
#191.Share this piece I read on the Toyota Prius recall because it’s funny and it deserves to be shared especially on a day where there is little relief from the news headlines (a combination of high drama from Winnie Mandela and real trauma). Writing in Time magazine, Joel Stein says:
“I am not one of those people who sit around rooting for product recalls. That’s because those people don’t exist. But I got excited when Toyota recalled the 2010 Prius. It’s not that I dislike the Prius. My lovely wife Cassandra has one, and it is an excellent vehicle. Except for its need to constantly tell you how excellent it is. There’s a screen in the center of the dashboard with an animation that shows how much energy the car is recycling as you drive it. If one of your employees were really efficient but throughout the day kept standing up in his cubicle and yelling, “I am really efficient!” you would fire him. Or punch him in the steering wheel.
#181. Watch BBC footage of Nelson Mandela’s release from prison (20 years tomorrow) and the day that followed because quite incredibly I can’t seem to find SABC footage of that historic time. I was searching for SABC’s coverage of the day and the commentary from one Clarence Kuiter (I think it was him, and not sure of the spelling) that seems to have been erased from digital memory and in the absence of footage, from mine – that’s one powerful corporation. (Not surprisingly.) I recall much talk of sun and taps filled with water and lots more inane commentary as the hours dragged by (it conjured up at least 20 of the 27 years) and Clarence bravely soldiered Continue reading
#175. Think about polygamy and how it’s become part of South African conversation. People talk about it all the time – over coffee, on radio, at the gym. Blame it on the SABC or M-Net. From early on I was gripped by Big Love, the HB0 TV series that used to be screened late at night focusing on the family drama surrounding one man and his three wives and the “cult” they left behind in Juniper Creek.
#168. Enjoy the Ras Dumisani saga. This is the man who cried sabotage after he was accused of “butchering” the national anthem in the lead-up to the Springboks vs. the French in Toulouse earlier this month. Some went so far as to call it “treason”.
Dumisani, who claims to be an experienced reggae artist, had this to say in response: Continue reading
#122. Watch the king of cool create a no-fly zone. Barack Obama was breaking news on CNBC this week when he put his Zen master calm towards making the world a place with less flies. “What’s next”, asked a friend of mine … “walking on water in stiletto heels?”
#114. Laugh it Off. Last night we joined close on 4000 people for the Heavyweight Comedy jam at Emperor’s Palace. The mood was good, the audience all warmed up. The jokes kept coming. “We used to drive on the left side of the road, now we drive on what’s left of the road”, said Al Prodgers.
“The Gautrain will have 200 people in each carriage and go 160km an hour. Do you think taxi drivers are worried about that?” And then there were the jokes about South African politics – from Helen Zille and her concubines to David Kau’s riff on Julius Malema’s woodwork grade. Judging by the laughter just saying the name Julius Malema is a punchline in this town. Continue reading
#74. Join the crowd and watch Barack Obama’s inauguration. A distinctly sedate occasion that started with goosebumps as the cavalcade made its way to the Capitol Building bearing the soon-to-be inaugurated “Commander-in-chief. Accompanied by CNN mentioning that the last event in the US to command such a massive TV audience was the final episode of M*A*S*H.
I watched it with family in Greenside, particularly significantly, my two Spanish-Speaking five-year-old nieces who live in Washington DC and were able to tell me that Yes We Can is Sí, se puede.
Much of the proceedings rested on the symbolic Continue reading
#73. Get hooked on Z News (pronounced ze news). With the Nicholson ruling having been overturned the T-Boss and JZ show is back in the headlines. Z News is the brainchild of political cartoonist Jonathan Shapiro aka Zapiro — the man Jacob Zuma’s legal team (and he needs one) might as well create templated lawyers letters for. Only the dates and details need changing (shower head, having his way with the figure of Justice, blah blah blah etc.)The story doing the rounds is that the SABC – the public broadcaster whose last known act of imagination and daring was changing the screening times of The Bold and The Beautiful – “commissioned” Zapiro to write a satirical news show based on his cartooning skills. Continue reading
#72. Support an Obama interview by Damon Weaver. Ten-year-old Weaver, a student reporter from Kathryn E. Cunningham/Canal Point Elementary in Florida, US is making a bid to interview Barack Obama during the week of his presidential inauguration in Washington DC. Weaver made Joe Biden his “homeboy” in an earlier interview, reports The Huffington Post.
Poised, articulate and smart as a whip, Weaver posted a You Tube video to prove to Obama why he should allow the interview even asking “your people to call my people” — Weaver’s people happen to be his elementary school reading teacher. The 10-year-old is an articulate spokesperson for the case of so-called “citizen journalism” that takes “making the news” out of the hands of the privileged few.
In a four-minute video he showcases his school’s TV studio “where the magic happens” and tries to convince Miami Heat basketball stars to go one-on-one with Obama and let him win if he grants Weaver the interview. This kid is worth watching.