Free music galore

Pay no attention to this blog's title. Just go and marvel at the volume of free music for download. Praise be to Bobby Berkowitz for letting me know. Nice nice nice.

And those in Sef Efrika, go here to sign up for a mailer about, and I quote, "not only the gigs being performed by sSHADOWORKSs associates like The Real Estate Agents, ChromoScience, Closet Snare, SWEAT X, Fletcher and dj low, but also of new projects like Album releases, CD compilations, fresh merchandising and exclusive new media productions."

sSHADOWORKSs is new. Evidently.

Where have all the people gone?

I'm not sure about all this hectic intellectual stuff being posted. Don't get me wrong its interesting and all. well kinda. I'm more interested in the softer side to life. People. Their thoughts, their hopes and aspirations. The pure essence of life. hee hee. (and more of Tal's photos!)

But this is a space where we are all free to express ourselves as we desire. So lets express.

Ya so.

Helen's life at the mo...

I’ve finally finished, after a long five full years of studying. It has been fantastic, especially honours. A real learning experience. And now so many choices ahead of me.
I’m graduating on the 12 December for the first time as honours is included in the business science degree. So ya. The big wide world awaits me.

I still don’t have a job lined up. I have been going for interviews with this IT and business solutions company called UCS Solutions. It’s a great company and I’d love to work for them . Young, dynamic and lots of scope to grow with them. I’m looking in the field of change management. I’ll find out at the end of this week. But the last interview didn’t go that well. So ya. Whatever happens happens. Small possibility this may involve moving to joburg. Mmm.

My other source of income - Madame Zingaras is still non functional. Very sad story. Basically we were heavily under insured and are in the process of raising funds to rebuild. We’ve got this big circus tent coming out from Amsterdam, that we are going to erect on a field and have caberet shows in and hopefully make some cash. That is happening mid jan. I’m hoping I won’t have to go back to waitressing while I’m job hunting but if I do – I’ll go there.

At the moment my temporay job situation has found me waitressing at home. (the little restaurant in Harfield with the yummy home made food) – they’ve opened up a branch down the road from the flat, in vredehoek. Not quite as profitable as MZ, but the vibe there is relaxed and I can do the work with my eyes closed. So it’s a bit of pocket money

I’m still single. Ya. Well actually it would be nice to have some companionship but it is fun partying and being only responsible for yourself. (or when you go out with Alex, making sure she doesn’t drive home! Sorry al! but shes been a little reckless lately.)

The composition of the Cape Town crowd is changing once again, with Alex leaving. The one person who manages to keep us together all the time for social gatherings. It will be sad to see her go, but exciting at the same time as she begins her own new journey.

The blog, is a great idea. I need to get with it with all this new technology and stuff, this therefore provides me with a really good opportunity to test my skills. i.e. how to put a video online and stuff. Mmm.

Sjoe!

The blog got all intelligent all of a sudden. On an engineering tip then, i noticed today that De Beers Fuel will be unveiling a biodiesel farm and processing plant to produce the fuel from algae - an extension of their existing plant that produces biodiesel from sunflower oil. This is ambitious on an international scale, but even more so, i would imagine, in the Sasol dominated fuel market of SA (although i think much of the biodiesel will be used for industrial fuel, and Sasol has always tried to make it seem like they were doing the country a favour by making its fuel).

Anyway, for those that don't know, biodiesel is a fuel derived from fat (vegetable or animal) and an alcohol (ethanol, methanol, etc.), so you can literally grow your fuel feedstock - see diagram below. Biodiesel has a number of advantages over regular mineral diesel (no sulphur, burns cleaner, etc.) and can be blended with normal diesel and used in regular car engines without modification. The greenies will tell you that its primary advantage is that the the algae consumes CO2 as it grows, so you are cycling the carbon, instead of just pulling it out of the ground and burning it. I am not entirely convinced of the 'infinite sustainability ' of the biodiesel cycle, but it is a whole lot better than mineral fuel...







Anyway, the point is BRAVO SOUTH AFRICA, because energy diversity is the way of the future. Stay tuned for more energy news : Next week...
"Ode to Nuclear - a poem by Greg"

hello at last

Hello all

My apologies for taking so incredibly long to post but, between Paula and I, we just couldn't figure out how to (!).

Phil seemed convinced that you all might actually be interested in what goes down here at the Court, so, as my first post here's an update on what's happening with the Civil Unions Bill:

"Now Civil Union Bill decision is Mbeki’s

The National Council of Provinces (NCOP) passed the controversial Civil Union Bill yesterday, paving the way for President Thabo Mbeki to sign the measure into law. The legislation, intended to afford gay and lesbian couples the same legal status as married heteros exuals, has drawn fierce criticism from opposition parties as well as religious groups. ‘By approving this legislation, this house is at odds with the wishes of a majority of South Africans who have overwhelmingly rejected it,’ said IFP MP Jeanette Vilakazi. According to a Mail & Guardian Online report, it now remains to be seen if Mbeki will approve the Bill, particularly given that submissions made during extensive public hearings indicated overwhelming public discontent over the proposed law.Full Mail & Guardian Online report"

Last year in December the Constitutional Court ruled that the exclusion of same sex partners from being able to be married was unconstitutional. Considering the expected wide-spread opposition to such a ruling, however, they did not make the order with immediate effect. Instead, they issued a so-called "suspended order of invalidity", meaning that Parliament had one year to come up with an Act dealing with this, failing which, and as from 2 December 2006, same-sex partners would automatically be able to marry.

Parliament has hence been on a whirlwind process of trying to get the new Act into force in time. As most of you probably know, the last step in the whole legislative process is the President's signature. Considering that the ANC has pushed this Bill through Parliament, it is unlikely that he will reserve his signature.

Updates to follow....

Does anyone remember Adriaan who studied medicine with all the people in our year? We started scratching at about the same time, only he had talent...




This is making me nod my head at the moment...


This is not...

For all those who knew and loved my dog Terry

Hey guys...
with the arrival of my mom in Australia, only a few weeks away, my mom had to put Terry down.
Terry was fifteen human years, losing her hearing and wouldnt have been able to cope with Australian quarantine, being givn to anyone else or left behind...
So.. to those of you who remember coming on walks with Terry to Western Province Prep (to check out the new Stewards from England!) or even earlier days when I would walk Terry up Eden rd to check out Dani Berk or Sean Parkrose's houses, this is cheerio.. :-(

brunswickstreetmaps

Monarchies rule!

Literally. There are now 44 independent states governed by some royal nonse; 10 are in the modern 'west'. These are apparently the highest numbers since 1972. Queens are on the rise baby, so it's right and proper that we're about to allow them to legally marry each other in SA.

Leon resigns! Not a moment too soon...

Here begins my political diary. I hope you find it interesting - interesting enough make some comments!

South Africa's political landscape had a big ugly crevasse filled in on Sunday when Tony Leon announced his resignation as leader of the official opposition. He will not stand for party leadership next year. Business Day's take was, as usual, the best on the matter.

Leon has done a lot for the DA, but in my humble opinion hasn't been particularly smart as an opposition politician. He seemed pathologically incapable of recognising that the ANC is the elephant in the living room, and that one must move the furniture around if one is to avoid breaking anything. In such a reality, you simply cannot be as confrontational, condescending, patronising, and rude as Leon often has been, no matter how frustrated you are at the elephant's often seriously dodgy tactics in parliament and elsewhere. Failing to recognise this condemned Leon to a chihuahua-esque laughing stock on more than one occasion, each time eroding what legitimacy and credibility he had left. It also encouraged others to do things that really irked one of South Africa's greatest liberals, Helen Suzman.

He, and the party, also still seem to believe that a charismatic black leader is not required for growth. Anyone in SA will tell you otherwise. However, while having a black leader is in my opinion necessary for growing a South African party's support base, it is clearly insufficient - just look at the terrible performance of the ACDP, or any other non-white non-ANC political entity.

However, three things about the DA are commendable. One, they've recognised the need to grasp the opportunity that Leon's departure presents to change how the party operates and, above all, how it is perceived by it's non-traditional support base. (Note to incoming DA leader - having a "CEO" position in one's party doesn't endear one to the poverty stricken masses. Having your official website available in only english and afrikaans is also probably not terribly smart).

However, altering perceptions will be particularly challenging, because the second thing the DA is very good at - exposing incompetence and corruption in the ANC dominated executive and the departments it runs (e.g. health) - is exactly what raises hackles among the ANC's fundamentally emotional (i.e. irrationally loyal) supporters. These represent the vast majority of ANC's votes.

Third, the DA is generally very good on economic policy. Yes, it favours markets, and yes, it favours a relaxation of some historically-driven, politically necessary legislation. I see a lot of what the DA says as fitting in with this approach to economic policy. And no, it isn't terribly far from the Mbeki-era economic policy framework (which I think, given prevailing circumstances, and despite our ongoing problems, is going rather well, and much better than its predecessor or anything the unions or SACP are proposing. Fixing this mess will not happen in 10 years). But it is the only constituency in the country saying what it is saying (on economic policy, particularly labour markets and small business development), and I believe what it is saying to be worthwhile (most of the time). But I guess this is a whole different debate...

Overall, the DA, warts and all, seems for now to be the only real hope for classical liberalism in this country. Let's hope Leon's leanings haven't wrenched them too far from the their Progressive Party roots.

I can like to be faymis

Proof, as if it were needed, that Lindsay Lohan should stick to starring in panty-less paparazzi shots while getting out of cabs... the letter.

It actually reminds me of the vomitorious poem written by Lleyton Hewitts now wife, Bec Cartwright (a B-list celebrity, and ex-Neighbours star) for their wedding day. The one she wrote for her dad is just precious.

Posts without pictures suck, so heres one i had had taken for publicity shots recently. Enjoy!

Greg

Work for SASOL in Oz (yes this is mainly for Grek)

Know anything about GTL? Check it.

just a few of my favourite things...

Stressed anyone?

I have one and a half weeks to go ... till I show a group of 'industry" peers and friends what we've been exploring... no pressure..

Yay Telkom's taking it up the bum

Telkom and South African Airways (and Mango, the new budget airline, spawned recently from SA taxpayer funds) are the two worst companies in South Africa. Telkom may be the worst telecomms company in the world. We pay, on average, nine times more than global best practice for ADSL services. Such services are also much lower quality, and we are forced to accept all sorts of restrictions. See here if you don't believe me.

It therefore gives me great pleasure in letting you all know that Telkom just lost a big court case against an American company, and will have to cough ZAR 1,5 billion. BILLION. Best of all, they thought they'd win, and haven't budgeted for it: "Telkom CEO Papi Molotsane told Business Day last week that it had not set aside any money as it was 'confident it would win' the case. Molotsane said that 'if the case does go against us, then we would have to determine the amount, but we haven’t provided for it'."

I like...

these mixes.... the one on the 23rd of October is really good, in my opnion.

Morning morning!
And it is another beautiful day in Cape Town - blue skys and glorious. Unfortunately most of us are stuck in the office or working like slaves. Thought you guys might appreciate a picture of home. x Al

tal's workshop pic

Look for the girl inside the image.. that's my actor georgie.. and this was last night's session... it was pretty cool.. just so you can see what I'm up to! (aside from being a very poor artist.. yes you lawyers, doctors and engineers won't have these issues...ahh life choices eh.. !!!)
xxx

It's cool now

I'm better now, and thats what this link is all about...

Burn Baby Burn

Fuck, it was hot in Sydney today. When its 29 degrees C before 9am, you know you're in trouble.

So, anyway, not to carry on about it, but it was brutally hot today. When i told my supervisor it was very hot outside his air conditioned office, he said

"Fahken oath it is, I've just been outside!".

It hit 38 in the city, maybe hotter in the western suburbs, but only boguns live there. Anyway, its now 7:30 pm, and the temperature has dropped to below 18 degrees C (that's like 20 degrees in an hour). Whats up with that?

Without wanting to point the finger of blame or to invoke any ridiculous theories involving spaghetti monsters, i have to get something off my chest.

FUCK YOU MR HOWARD!

I can say without a shadow of a doubt (as a scientist, mind you) that i have no idea whether today had anything to do with global warming or Howards refusal to ratify Kyoto, or his ridiculous policies on coal, or his even more ridiculous comb over, but i can tell you that hes still a wanker, and worthy of my hatred on this mind-bendingly hot day.

All my love,

Greg

thought this was kinda cool..

just a blue sky moment in melbourne - it does happen

Honkers is the shizzat

Hullo almal,

I recently went to Hong Kong. It rates in my top two cities ever visited (Shanghai being the other). Yes yes, the night shots are blurry. But I didn't have a tripod. And the water was choppy and the wind was blowing. So there.

Spelling and grammar

Dude, you left an apostrophe out of 'everyones' in the byline. Jeez.

Links

Ok, this has nothing to do with our friends or the MCQP, but this is one of my favourite videos ever.



That is some weird shit right there. Also, if anyone is a fan of Bloc Party there is a recording of their set at coachella... here and the quality is excellent for a live recording. If you're a fan of The Smiths... SNAP! me too.

Greg

hi guys

Here is a great opportunity to combine our creative talents. MCQP theme this year is Comic strip. so anything from superman in drag, to hello kitty, winnie the pooh etc. Any ideas for some crazy, cheap themes for our team. i don't think we want to be too gay. i'm still keen on a powder puff girl. Marvel comics..... any ideas?

Hello hello!
Love the reference to the school song... Westerford, UCT etc - we have come a long way together! Looking forward to using the blogg and about time that we got with the program. So am i allowed to post recipes? Kerry - want my salad dressing secrets? Ok, enjoy your last moments of the naweek and thanks Greg for setting this up. Love Al

hello all! Greg... did you have to post the pick where I look (in Al's words :D) like a Kwashiorkor child? heehee
How is everyone?

hi guys.

This is so exciting! brilliant idea. I love the new age of technology and the power of globalisation...

x

Testing... OK, Tals beat me to the first post, but i'll post some more pictures that Talya (and I) took when Kerry and I went to Melbourne to visit a few weeks back...




And as if thats not enough excitement, feel the rage of the ultimate warrior...

bluewhoosh greetings!