Archive for July, 2006

Monday, July 31, 2006

Launching the SA Space Agency

It has been way too long in arriving, but on Friday the South African Cabinet finally gave the go-ahead for the creation of the South African Space Agency. By next year, this new agency should be in place and will be responsible for the co-ordination and direction of all space-related activities in SA, as well [...]

Filed under: General

Thursday, July 27, 2006

Opaque Politics

This sort of thing is precisely what makes ANC hegemony such an annoyance for wannabe-political observers in this country:

[Cyril Ramaphosa] has poured cold water over reports that he is a candidate in the ruling party’s succession battle—but the move is unlikely to end speculation that he is interested in SA’s top job.
“The reports are pure [...]

Filed under: General

Legal Bombs for a Legal War

I will admit, I’m somewhat bemused by the furore that has arisen in parts of Great Britain over the news that two cargo aircraft chartered by the United States to deliver bombs to Israel passed through Prestwick Airport in Scotland on their way to the Middle East.
Even the British Foreign Office has joined in, threatening [...]

Filed under: General

Tuesday, July 25, 2006

Gauteng City

There are reportedly nine more years left until Jo’burg, Pretoria and several nearby towns effectively begin to geographically merge into one, forming one of the largest global Megalopolis’ in population terms. A visual from Google Maps also seems to confirm the growing encroachment between Jo’burg in the south and Pretoria in the north, with Centurion and Midrand nestled in the [...]

Wayne | 21:28:20 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under: General

Monday, July 24, 2006

Reader Mail

I got this in my inbox. I doubt this blog’s readership is big enough to make any difference, but I’m happy to pass along the message:

I’d like to here your opinion about the third murder on Rivonia off-ramp this weekend. The police did nothing since the last attack. There is still no police patrolling the [...]

Laurence | 23:14:43 | Permalink | Comment?
Filed under: General

OR Tambo Intl Update

Despite the recent firm decision to rename Johannesburg International Airport to OR Tambo International Airport and the subsequent controversy, I have felt no need go over the issue again. My thoughts on it, expressed in a previous post, are unchanged. I still believe it’s a stupid thing to be doing, and it’s obvious that it’s [...]

Darren | 18:57:57 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under: General

Party vs. State

This weekend, the ANC’s NEC decided to weigh in on the burgeoning Israel/Lebanon crisis:

The ANC blamed Israel on Sunday for the fighting in the Middle East and called for a ceasefire. In a statement released on Sunday by spokesperson Smuts Ngonyama after the ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) meeting in Ekurhuleni at the weekend, the [...]

Laurence | 01:48:51 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under: General

My First Hatemail

This is a personal milestone of sorts. I’ve been blogging for years, but until now, this site has never been popular enough to attract the unwanted attention of incomprehensible lunatics. All that changed, however, following the latest arrival in my inbox:

I see that you are doing exactly the same as the statistics that you are [...]

Laurence | 01:44:12 | Permalink | Comments (10)
Filed under: General

Saturday, July 22, 2006

Israel’s Next Move

It has been eight days since Hezbollah’s brazen kidnapping of two IDF soldiers, and the Israeli offensive into Lebanon which resulted has entered a sort of uneasy holding pattern. Though bombings of Hezbollah positions have continued, the pace appears to have let up slightly from previous days, probably as a result of the ongoing evacuation [...]

Darren | 00:51:33 | Permalink | Comments (17)
Filed under: General

Friday, July 21, 2006

Whither the Blogosphere?

Is it just me, or did the South African blogging community feel so much bigger a year ago? At the risk of turning into one of those navel-gazing meta-bloggers, I think it’s rather depressing that the unfolding war in Lebanon – which is easily the most important story of the week, and has generated thousands [...]

Laurence | 00:50:11 | Permalink | Comments (8)
Filed under: General

The Wisdom of Crowds

This is the stupidest thing I’ve read in a long time. So of course it’s the top-rated article on ShoutWire at the moment.

Laurence | 00:28:36 | Permalink | Comment?
Filed under: General

Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Hezbollah’s War

As I’ve said in a previous post, I have mixed feelings about Israel’s attack on Lebanon. The real problem in the region is the weakness of the Lebanese state, its inability to maintain a monopoly on violence within its own territory, and the way in which it’s forced to share authority with Hezbollah: virtually a [...]

Laurence | 23:48:22 | Permalink | Comments (26)
Filed under: General

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

It Only Pours

One of the more unusual phenomenon around job-hunting still perplexes me.
Basically, why is it that when one’s looking for a new job there’s inevitably a drought? Yet when you finally get that offer you’ve been waiting several months for it’s immediately followed by several more such offers?
If only to prove this since thursday I’ve had [...]

Wayne | 23:11:46 | Permalink | Comments (1)
Filed under: General

Bizarro World

The Israeli attack on Lebanon has created all sorts of weird realignments within the punditocracy. A lot of people who typically support Israel’s actions – myself, for example – nevertheless have serious doubts about the wisdom of getting entangled in a war with Lebanon. On the other hand, at least one newspaper has editorialised loudly [...]

Laurence | 02:21:13 | Permalink | Comments (3)
Filed under: General
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