baffled by cables

hi there

as the last of the stuffs gets sorted out, i found two cables today that left me baffled. well, maybe not baffled, but baffledesque. not only have i not seen them before (despite them being on my desk), i have not seen this sort of cable anywhere.

here, have a sort of a look.

that, thanks to the lacking ways of the blueberry camera, might look like a standard, conventional sort of mini USB connector, but it isn't. it also isn't the kind one associates with digital cameras and the like.

it's a "flat squareish" one, as in it is rectangular, but only by a margin. i tried to get a picture of the unusual end in question, but here's where the blueberry camera let me down. yes, the canon and the sony cameras sat right here would probably have got better images, but i could not be bothered with them.

they also have some strange, almost kind of class writing down the side. the interesting thing, if one is ever to assume that cables or things written down the side of them are interesting, is that, as you may have just clocked, they have things written down the side of them.

one of them says something like E129760 (UL) TYPE CM 75 C 28AWG Space Shuttle CSA LL80671 30 Volt and then the other starts off with E154292-C and then a whole load of other stuff, but it does not mention a space shuttle so it is not interesting and therefore i lost interest.

here is the blueberry camera's best effort to capture the word "space shuttle" down the side of the one, for people that get excited by just the words space shuttle. yes, Norman Bastard, this is for you.

my absolute best guess was that they were for printers, as google sort of confirmed in the next picture. well, when i say google, obviously i mean Mookie, the 2ft (approx) tall sex monkey who invents and, more importantly, is in control of all known and unknown technology. Mookie might have also been fiddling with twitter this last weekend, making the suggestion that UEFA were in some way corrupt. i do not think Mookie bothers with such trivial things, but you never know.

anyway, if they are printer cables, as google/Mookie seem to suggest below, they are not for printers that i have ever had. all my printers have either had that class "mega size" port thing, or the more squarer, sort of square like square USB connector on the printer side.

there is every chance, then, that these cables at some point belonged to my Dad. i in all likelihood either confiscated them or was simply given them when he decided that they at some point displeased him more than they pleased him.

this would make a degree of sense, considering how many printers my Dad did, and probably does, feel are needed to be connected to one PC. how many? usually 3 visible ones, how many he had hidden under the desk is anyone's guess.

why would he need so many printers? it's not like if a man at the computer shop said "if you buy this printer you can just throw the printer away and keep this class cable with space shuttle written on it" that he would leave it on the shelf. otherwise, i think he felt that certain documents would "tarnish" other documents if he used the same printer, and probably found it disrespectful or something.

here's the normal USB end bits for your viewing pleasure.

well, these cables are very close to being taped up in a box. so if anyone knows what they are, or for some reason wants them, best they speak up very soon or be patient and wait for the 2nd quarter of 2014.

if you are someone who has discovered this blog on a "wtf" type of search for what these cables are, my apologies for no conclusive answer, but i do hope you have taken comfort in knowing that you are not alone.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the (as far as i know) unreported controversy from the Nelson Mandela Memorial Service

hi there


well, i've waited about a week or so, yet no one seems to have picked up on this or reported it. is there some special reason for it not being reported on, i wonder. we will no doubt find out if my humble blog gets into trouble, i suppose.

the Nelson Mandela Memorial Service last week somehow managed to produce a series of controversies. Barack Obama giving a speech we wish African leaders could either deliver but more importantly display the thinking about. Booing the incumbent South African President. "Selfies" being taken by World Leaders. certain African leaders being disrespectful and arriving after the family of Nelson Mandela (hi, Uncle Bob). A sign language practicioner (note - not pictured) that did not know how to sign.

and yet this gem from during the speech by Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma seems not to have been reported.

can you see it? pretty much the whole world did, i would have imagined, which is why i am surprised not to have seen any headlines about it. i consider this to be more disrespectful and certainly more insulting than any of the other "controversies" surrounding the day.

here you go, if for some reason you haven't spotted it, i have highlighted it in the next picture.

yep, as Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma speaks, someone important and prominent enough to be on the state for the memorial service apparently had no one to deal with her phone for her, hence her not only having it with her but taking an extended call too.

i have no idea who she is, but perhaps someone reading this will recognize her and hopefully she can be taken to task, similar to how the present government of South Africa presumes to chase and punish those who booed during President Zuma's speech.

make no mistake, this is not some sort of apology or defence of Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. at all. i like most around the world was horrified by her approach to HIV / AIDS when she was in charge at Health. being an ex-Mrs Jacob Zuma does not help lift her popularity either, although on that note the mind boggles how one ends up divorced from Mr Zuma, so prolific is his collection of wives.

whatever one thinks of her, she is presently the chairperson of the African Union Commission and an important speaker on the day. someone should not have been allowed to sit next to her chatting away on their iTwat for any reason.

not that she, whoever she is, limited herself to just chatting. no, if you have an iTwat, you have all sorts of ways of communicating with the world.

here she is tapping away at the screen.

just because you can use it does not mean that you should. although full credit to her service provider for getting a signal through in such a busy place. i suspect whoever she uses, however, will not be looking to advertise the fact.

i think this is my favourite part, though. in this next picture, Ms iTwat Lady has the audacity and nerve to encourage those behind the stage - where no one surely should have been with the available space before it - to be quiet and show respect whilst Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma spoke. or perhaps they were simply bothering her all important conversations and tweeting.

that she waves her phone at the crowd, the military and the police is just priceless.

so just who is this lady that the press at large, as far as i have been able to search, have decided not to bother reporting on her questionable, clearly disrespectful approach? if this blog, or this blog post at least, just vanishes, then it will be someone really important, even though she is not easily identifiable or recognizable.

all of any of this did, of course, was to just take away from the most important thing of that particular day. the rememberance of a truly great man.

that's the statue of the great man, revealed today in Pretoria. by President Zuma, no less. and no, i believe there were no boos for him this time.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the art of the early release

hi there


just to clarify - the sale of these items has nothing to do with me whatsoever; i have no idea who has them, how they got them or even who they are. many thanks, however, to the one they call Pleasuredome Nez for the heads up.

someone, it seems has gotten hold of the early (first 3 months) 2014 releases from ZTT and Salvo. they are stated as being factory sealed, and that would certainly be what one can see in the pictures the chap selling them on ebay has put up.

link to the auction is right here for those interested. at the time of writing this the bidding was up to £28.00 (plus postage). that's rather too rich for my blood since i expect all 3 will be available for under that (i think) in February 2014, but there are many of you out there that like to get these things before you are supposed to have them.

as a  number of people pop by here just for the odd bit of Frankie news, here's the images of the front and back of the deluxe Frankie Said set, taken from the ebay auction for it and two other sets, The Organization Of Pop and The Art Of The 12" Volume 3. click away to see, and bid if you like!

the other two sets contain some baffling inclusions, with some of the most hardened, dedicated fans of ZTT being puzzled by the inclusion of a few tracks that have nothing obvious or hidden to do with the record label. hey ho, the Frankie set is a lot more straightforward.

as the tracklisting reveals, the DVD is easily the best Frankie one out yet, even if it is not perfect.

the inclusion of specific Top Of The Pops and Roadshow performances is cheeky, to say the least. they are mimed, and furthermore mimed specifically to the studio version, not versions specially recorded for the performances. as per the superb autobiographies from Holly and, most recently, Nasher, the band retain the rights to all live performances, so the label cannot release them. which is why the Born To Run (live on the Tube) on the CD is no such thing - it's the studio recording with crowd sounds from Europe A Go-Go dubbed over it.

this set looks like being the best Frankie release out there (when it is out there) until such time as the band can agree on releasing stuff again (highly unlikely, but you never know) or until the label turns around, involves the band and gives them a better deal to release some stuff (superdeluxe unlikely).

best of luck to those wanting to bid on these now, enjoy if, like me, you plan to get them on release next year.



UPDATE : the auction linked to above closed with a winning bid of £100.00. yes, one hundred pounds. the three sets sold are likely to be available in February for no more than £10.00 (ten) each. whoever paid that much is a wealthier and more dedicated fan than i!

 


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Crusader Steel by Status, or if you like Status' Crusader Steel

hi there

a little while ago, as the rather more enthusiastic of you will recall, i posted some pictures of some new deodorant i bought. i posted the pictures of them as i had absolutely nothing else better to do, really, but quite a few of you seemed to appreciate the insight.

to that extent, i did promise that maybe i would do a review or something. well, as a thank you for the interest, here's the review.

mostly the review is this picture.

yes, that's another two tins of the Crusader Steel one. it has been popular. my (considerably) better half and indeed James say that it is better than my usual one, so there you go.

do i like it? it's all right, i suppose. seems to do its job, no better or worse than my usual choice really. i have used worse, i have probably used better.

how do i convey a review of a smell here? quite tricky to find the words to describe what this lot Status think a Crusader smells like, to be honest. and Steel smells like steel.

for a hint of the smell, here is a short video of me squirting some of it.

what's that you say? you can't smell a video on the internet? oh but you can, according to a conspiracy theory i have just this moment made up. actually i made it up in the car a little while ago, but you don't need to know that.

it is a little known fact that Microsoft, Sony, Apple, Samsung, Blueberry, Honda and them lot that did that film with that guy that did that thing are all in fact one company. further, they are run by one individual. not a person, though - a 2ft tall "sex monkey" called Mookie. Mookie is aware of how people would be confused and scared by the reality of these companies, so routinely hires people to act like they are the brains of the operation. just to make sure they do not get ideas above their station, Mookie for the most part ensures he hires people that look and act like total dicks for the roles. Mookie may well hire a certain Chelsea captain at some point.

anyway, years ago Mookie invented a type of video camera that captures smell. and this invention was rolled out. every video you have made in the last 3 - 4 years has embedded scent. Mookie is just waiting for the right time to reveal this. i think Mookie wants to see how his, as it were, pet project, letting the FBI turn on webcams at random, goes down first.

so there you have it. one day your iTwat or your blueberry or whatever will let you smell the Crusader Steel off of this video clip. when that happens, remember it was not some Japanese dude or some twat in Silicon Valley that created the technology, it was Mookie.

i fear i have already revealed too much in this post.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(quite possibly sarcastic) sartorial elegance

hey there

actually, i probably do not have the time that i need to do a post of this size, but it feels like i do, so i will. there.

i recently, as the title suggests and indeed as those enthusiasts who follow me on facebook will be aware, arranged for some new threads. threads that one may call, as it were, fancy. here you go, have a look. please,though ignore me for how i look is unlikely to get better, but instead concentrate on the threads that are, as it were, fancy.

yes, it is me in a suit. with a tie on, a tie that is almost, so very close to being done properly. i can imagine my dear friends and colleagues at verk are hosing themselves with laughter at the idea of me dressed in such a formal way, going on how i used to look around the office.

now, i have been made aware of the concerns that some of you have about this new direction in look for me. a few of you are expressed fans of the "cowboy" look that i have been cultivating for nearly a year. i would like to assure you that my cowboy look has not been replaced, merely parked for a while. parked, i say, as in how Ian Brown said that his solo career was merely parked as he embarked on a reunion with that band whose name escapes me for the moment.

to reassure you, here is a quick picture of my cowboy look as the world saw it a day or so ago, or perhaps it was last week.

should i with success re-enter the verk space, which i certainly hope to do, for one likes to be a useful member of society, the cowboy look will have to remain stored away, barring casual or dress down days. if they are done as fundraising things, such days, i suppose it can be my "charity cowboy" look.

i kind of hope the new direction in look has something of a professional air to it, as indeed i do trust that it appears a good deal more formal than usual for me.

if for some reason you wished to see me in another suit with another tie, this next picture will work for you.

quite a bit of controversy around this one, really. whereas i and my (considerably) better half really rather like that tie, a number of my dear lady friends in England have objected to the paisley ways of it. is paisley not something that is "in" or liked these days? a shame if not, as it is ace. Prince says so, and just about everything he likes is ace.

i will no doubt wear it with some caution and only on instances where i feel it will be accepted as intended, then.

yes, i know this whole business of me in suits is a bit like that whole "lipstick on a pig" thing that Barack Obama said about that woman, Sarah Palin i think her name was. although she has no relation to Michael Palin as far as i am aware. pretty sure not biologically and am certain not in outlook.

you just can't see Michael Palin advocating things like hunting penguins or whatever it is Ms Palin goes and shoots in her leisure time. i mean, he might hunt penguins in a sketch or part of a film or something, but i am very confident that his personal preference would be to leave the penguins be.

will Mr Palin make mention of his anti-penguin hunting stance or distance himself from Ms Palin during the Monty Python reunion shows in 2014? i suspect not, it does not seem like the appropriate platform. but as the world saw and heard this week, there is no inappropriate platform to make a stance these days. also no inappropriate place to do a selfie, as such things now have Presidential approval.

moving on, but actually before i do i should stress that these are not selfies. my (considerably) better half took the pictures. and now moving on.

whereas i look much like me, suit or not, let me once again introduce the magic of Commodore 64 mode here, in which i do seem to look a lot better. in particular with scan lines on.

there, even i think i look really rather smart and dapper in Commodore 64 mode, and i do tend to be tough on how i look. i think them people that do that google glass stuff - might be yahoo or microsoft or someone - should do them so that it makes the world, all of the world, look like it is Commodore 64.

and here is another of me in a different arrangement of suit and tie in Commodore 64 mode to underline, or if you like illustrate, my point.

blimey, there has been a lot of waffle in this post thus far. and i think i may be running out of things to say. which is strange. i can still recall the days when i used to write 10 - 12 page long letters, on a typewriter no less, with ease. i miss those days. this whole email and blueberry thing really does kill the art of written correspondence. hey ho.

to go back to the controversy surrounding the ties, and here you go with the four ties that i selected to go with the new threads. well, i selected the predominantly purple one, a lovely bloke called Imraan assisted with the others. as in yes he selected them and i said yes.

Imraan is the chap, much to my good fortune, who was assigned to assist me in getting suits, shirts and ties at the fine establishment where i got them from. my thanks to him again, should he be reading.

i am looking at that picture now and i think there's nothing wrong at all with that paisley tie. it is a fine piece of work, as far as ties go. paisley dislikers are in for some upset just now, but in the mean time, yes of course i took a picture of the ties in Commodore 64 mode, which makes them look even better.

despite what you see in these pictures of me, i am reasonably confident that i can still tie a tie properly. i have been, as friends and colleagues at verk would testify, somewhat out of practice, that is all.

now, for those upset by paisley. well, i would hope the Commodore 64 look above would change your mind a great deal. if not, here is the inside bit of one of my suit jackets - the lining, i believe it is called in certain circles.

well, i like it, and so does my (considerably) better half. so there.

wow, i have uploaded a lot of pictures here, and not quite thought out all that i intended to say about them. hey ho. it is not like i spend all that much time thinking before i write; i just do it and every now and then use the correct punctuation.

go on then, some more looks at me looking reasonably decent, looking so because of course of the use of the Commodore 64 camera mode.

oh blimey, i nearly forgot. i am well impressed with the cover / case / bag things that the suits came in. but didn't take a picture, alas. basically, they have velcro strip on them, right, and proper handles. you can then fold them with minimal crease and no damage, and carry them like you would some ace HMV bags loaded with quality vinyl.

can i just say this Wired 200 keyboard is not actually as ace as i first thought it was when i got it. i will find a decent, wired keyboard again one day. i may have to go outside of Microsoft products to do it, but hey ho that is not my problem.

one last one of me, then, where the anti-paisley brigade will hardly notice that i am in a paisley tie, purely because of the magic of Commodore 64 mode. come on apple, or whoever it is that does that google glass stuff (samsung, probably) - pull your finger out of wherever it is and make Commodore 64 glass. they would be ace to wear.

and finally, a picture of the inner paisley on the suit for those of you who appreciate paisley, and indeed to show those who do not like it just how incorrect they may well be.

the rainbow thing on the trim on the inner pocket is rather smart too.

phew, that's me and this post about done, i believe. if you did, thanks for sticking with it and reading. with good fortune i will sooner rather than later be in a position to wear these suits on a frequent basis. it is unlikely, however, that i shall be taking pictures of every instance of me wearing them.

i do hope they are rather warm to wear.




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Grant and the postal service

hi there

yep, still rather busy here at the moment, but i could not allow the arrival of some pictures of Grant to happen without sharing them here for all the many Grant enthusiasts who read this blog!

in a true miracle of the post office, a parcel i sent to Grant arrived in a mere eight days, two of which were taken up by a weekend. i know you kids like instant messages and downloads, but there's nothing quite like getting something proper in the post. so well done to the post office network for a spectacular miracle, in some cases mail has taken 3 - 4 weeks to land.

this picture does indeed show Grant showing off him parcel, and of course one of his Sharks shirts. i am led to believe that Grant took the "long way" home on the day today, which means either playing tennis or inspecting, as it were, the sheep.

if you are wondering why these pics are on the small side it is because my sister has discovered the magic of WhatsApp, or whatever it is called, and is now sending pictures with gay abandon via this elaborate messaging system. the pictures come out rather small. not that i am complaining, i hope you understand - any and all pictures are, after all, better than none, and the New Zealand internet network diameters and what have you seem to struggle with sending. which is why none of my family send many pics.

here, for your viewing pleasure, is inside the parcel.

look at that magnificent wrapping paper. it was carefully selected after hours of deliberating and wrestling with which would be best.

actually it was not. yes, indeed, it is simply the first bit of wrapping paper i grabbed.

i feel obliged to write loads and loads of things at the side of these pictures, so it takes up some space and makes a nice border around the picture. i would probably be quite a pest if i acted as a sub for a newspaper or similar publication, really, wanting enough text to make a pretty border.

or i would not be a pest i suppose and would just keep writing things until the text did a sort of a "wrap around" thing and appeared underneath the picture as well as next to it as i want and seem to be of the opinion that it is quite important. there, i think that's just about enough to make it look like i think it should look, sorry if you have bothered to read this part.

but i do try to make the first batch of text interesting at least, so it might be that you just need to skip the last few paragraphs of text next to each picture.

with it being the season of gifts i had concerns that Grant might feel it appropriate to wait until December 25 to open the package. i thus included a letter stating he was welcome to open it straight away. i am delighted to see that this comment was read and acted upon.

or maybe he just opened it anyway and will get around to reading my letter at a later date.

that last bit might suggest that Grant is a wildman, rushing off to do risky and dangerous things like opening parcels without checking it against the requisite documentation that came with it. i would like to assure you all that this really isn't the case at all. as a professional, Grant would not do such things, not even for a bet or a bit of a laugh. so he probably, almost certainly, did read the letter first. which makes my writing of the letter worthwhile, really. much as what i write here only has any true value in respect of anyone reading it, so thank you.

ah, now here is Grant with the main contents of the cargo he got in the post. that CD, actually as point of fact a double CD set, is something called #Trending, featuring some chap called Whackhead Simpson. he's quite popular on the radio, and entertains many with his prank calls.

if i am honest i am not the biggest fan of him, but Grant is one of the many fans the chap has, so i am delighted to have been able to send him the latest "best of" his prank calls, as well as whatever it is a Whackhead does.

actually i think it is all prank calls. i don't know really, i just glanced at the tracks and the titles looked like that. maybe he does some sort of farting contests too.i am mot sure such a thing would be moral for radio broadcast, in particular as he is on in the morning, but from an audio perspective it would work.

delighted, of course, in regards of that silver lining on every cloud business. if plans had gone quite as we had wanted them to i probably would not have been in a position to get it and send it to him, but as things turned out i was, albeit just. so happy days for Grant, and indeed the Whackhead, who no doubt appreciates the one extra sale.

righty-ho, i am off to do lots of interesting things!

hope that all the Grant enthusiasts enjoyed this!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and i stare at the skies

hi there

normally, despite a recent-ish post, i would not trouble the internet with yet more images of a random nature, except they feature the sky. my extensive research, which means a guess, is that about one million images of the sky are uploaded to the internet every second. or thereabouts.

however, a dear friend was interested in what i said about the strange skies of Johannesburg during storm season. as a rather tasty, should you like the flavour of such things, storm is or was heading our way, it allowed me to try and capture a few pictures of it all.

yeah, captured the images on my blueberry, sorry. i don't think it quite gives over the dynamics of what we get here, which is basically that you can here have a tremendous storm, yet no rain and bright sunshine a mere street or two away.

a bit hard to describe without going all Jim Morrison-esque, winky wanky with the words, but the afternoon thunderstorms here are truly a remarkable thing to see and experience. on the experience front, you are filled with outright terror if you are in a car or outside when they hit. indeed, it's scary to be inside a building when they hit. and yet a mere hour later it's like nothing ever happened.

well, it used to be, but now of course all the drains are clogged up, since as much money as possible has been diverted towards building a very expensive shed for someone to retire to, hopefully afsafp, really. unquote. so there is no money to clear drains or build houses and that.

anyway, i hope these images give you a sense of what the storms look like. really very strange to see the sunny blue sky seem to form a conventional border with the grey storm clouds.

i can only hope these images - yes, all three - have in some way satisifed the curiosity of my friend, and indeed have provided interest to the more casual reader. it is, after all, unlikely that i will be uploading all that many pics of this skyline in the near future.

for the regular readers, hang in there or if you like hang on, will try and do some more regular updates as soon as i can!



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

poor sam

hi there

Samuel Eto'o is a player i happen to like, a lot. even though he's currently playing for that "big" side who have of course attracted many lifelong fans in the last ten years.

it gives me no particular pleasure, then, to join in with the digs at the lad about yesterday. oh hang on a minute, yes it does.

to out-dick the special kind of dickhead would be difficult for any player, you would have thought, let alone a player at the the club where the special kind of dickhead serves as the perfect captain and the ideal ambassador for the side. but Eto'o, bless him, did it, and did it without breaking any laws, vows of fidelity or even any sense of good taste. so well done, Sam.

yes, the picture you see here is what you think. that's Samuel Eto'o arriving to sit on the bench at Stoke yesterday, with two hot water bottles. two that we can see, at least, perhaps he had more.

whenever a foreign signing arrives in England, in particular the big name ones, it is always asked by the more old school football pundit "ah, but can he deliver on a cold, wet day in Stoke". as if they simply don't have anything like rain or winter anywhere else in the world, i suppose. still, nice of Eto'o to answer this question with his actions, those actions apparently being "no, no i cannot, so please let me sit here behind Jose on the bench with these lovely hot water bottles". you can, if you so wish, see and read more over at Metro.

i would hope that his team mates, the opposition and his fans gave him some friendly banter about this. if the special kind of dickhead did, one can only hope that Sam responded with something like "well sitting with two hot water bottles isn't as low, illegal or just plain sad as [several incidents removed for the sake of avoiding any legal issues]".

no doubt as soon as Spring dawns we will see Sam on the pitch, ready to do the business.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the science of smells

hi there

well, i can assure you nothing intelligent in this post. i happened to need some new deodorant, and as there was some stuff going cheap i decided to experiment a bit, as well as one of my regular types.

generally, i don't care which deo i use, but do tend to get the one that people have commented on in the past (in a nice way), which would be the Axe Adrenalin one. i think they used to be called Ego or something.

here's the can of Adrenalin purchased, then, along with the experimental/cheap ones.

oh yes, i did select the Status ones purely on the colour and name. i have no idea how they smell, and if i remember i will mention here. what's important is that they have class names in the form of Crusader Steel and Salute.

i am partially excited to see, or if you like sense, what they smell like. i will try and give reports here as best i can, if of course i remember too, and indeed if i get chance. my sister has recently taken me to task over the subject of envelope art, commenting that i should be doing other things.

as for deodorant in itself, well, i am not that bothered about it. it is a good, easy but not particularly cheap way to supress the immense sexuality i seem to spread, so it prevents me from being troubled by the ladies and indeed select members of the gentry.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

circle

hello there

33 years and a couple of days ago today something strange, or rather unusual, happened.i was 7, nearly 8. i woke up to a cold, December morning in New Marske, went downstairs and found my Mum & Dad watching the television. this was strange, as back then we had only 3 TV channels, and usually they only started broadcasting at around midday.

what was being broadcast was scenes of more people than i had ever seen in my life, gathered around some building. the clearest image i have of them in my mind was a group of people who had climbed up to a ledge of a building with instruments and were busy playing music. the guy talking over the images was saying something along the lines of "people too young to remember The Beatles are playing their music constantly".

when i asked my Mum and Dad what it was on the tele, they told me that someone called John Lennon had died. it was the first time i had ever seen my parents upset.

at that time, my knowledge of Lennon was limited to, if we are in the business of honesty, cartoons. there was a cartoon series based on the adventures of the band, and one early evening one of the three TV stations, i think maybe BBC 2, showed an animated film, i think Yellow Submarine. at some point maybe Help! was on TV too.

not long after this i found myself in Australia. before we left, i remember my Dad giving my Auntie Susan a mirror which commemorated Lennon. i recall my Aunt crying. whether it was because we were going, because of how sad she was that John was gone or, more likely, both i don't know, have never asked and never will. i just know on that day, at that time, i learned what it is to care.

to Australia, then, where i learned more of this Lennon. Australians, for all their legendary pommie-bashing as they call it, hold British music - The Beatles in particular - in the highest regard. for the three or so years i was there i can remember frequent shows celebrating Lennon, the man and his music.

as the years passed and the countries i lived in changed, i learned more of this man. i learned of him as a symbol of peace, love and freedom. i learned of a man who some did not like at all, suggesting that things he did in his life and the way he treated and acted towards others did not make him a suitable figure for peace and love.

mostly, however, i learned of a man who showed that you could sit in bed for a few days, singing songs, and make a better, longer lasting stance against something than you could by bringing violence to the streets.

picture by Pedro Netto

today something strange, or rather unusual, happened. James, who is 7 and nearly 8, was woken up and allowed to watch the news. for all the hundreds of channels we have, the news ones are the ones he is not allowed to put on, normally. the horrors of the world can wait a while.

today was different, though. today was the morning after the night before. during the night a man had passed away. a man that James was aware of, and had joined in with the majority of the nation singing happy birthday to, and celebrating.

Madiba, the father of a nation, one of the most treasured and loved children of the world, had passed away during the night.

he was, as i hardly need say, no ordinary man. he wished to be, though, for his dream was that we all saw the world along the lines he did. many, many of us out there in the world don't. we do not fail him in this; we fail ourselves.

picture by Festival Karsh Ottawa

mostly in our world we live in a way governed and guided by fear. fear of what might go wrong, fear of what might happen to us. Nelson Mandela was governed and guided by hope. hope of what the world could be, hope of how we should live.

he went to prison for his actions driven by this governance of hope. after 27 years he walked free from his prison, turned around and sought to work with those who had put him in prison to bring about the world of hope he wanted to see.

he was a man who showed you could bring a better, longer lasting world by using your hand to shake the hands of others than you could by making it into a fist.

i felt that handshake once. when i lived in Cape Town i lived across the road from Tuynhuys, the office of the Presidency in that city. it will have been in 96 or 97, and he was on one of his famous walkabouts.

most of the brief conversation i had is mostly forgotten. i can recall he asked where i was from, and i can recall being amazed that he was aware of such a thing as Middlesbrough, due to no doubt our adventures in football at the time. i will, however, always remember that handshake.

 in the film Invictus, the one thing Morgan Freeman got wrong was Mr Mandela's handshake. Freeman played it as just a trivial, normal thing. it was not. Mr Mandela would embrace and cover your hand, making that handshake and indeed you the only thing that really, particularly mattered in the world at that moment.

he sought to shake the hand of as many people as he could in his life. i can only have faith and trust that all who did felt the same and remember that now.

picture by mrgarethm

over the next few days, weeks and years the internet shall be awash with all that he did, biographies and comments. to those about to exploit Mr Mandela for some, any or all political reason, i direct you to this post. basically, please do not do it.

many are speaking of how we will never see a man like him again. well, that's wrong. as mentioned earlier, all of us would do well to be a good deal more like him. you would hope not, but if the world ever again faced the injustice and the just plain wrong ways that Mr Mandela did, you would hope a leader would rise too; a leader in his mould.

i find myself thinking of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, John F Kennedy, John Lennon, Guevara and Martin Luther King Jr. all men who had an idea of a world governed by hope. all men who had many that stood against them, neither sharing the vision or wishing to see it even have a chance. all men killed, perhaps slain, because of what they stood for. Mr Mandela's hopes and plans for South Africa, and the world, went against what many wanted. that Mr Mandela had at least changed the world so far that he was able to pass away peacefully, in his home, surrounded by family and loved ones, says much of the power of the vision this one man had. 

this nation that i stand in, this country that has proudly and lovingly been my home for some 20 years, leads the world not in just mourning the passing of a great man, but the celebration of a life that was devoted to showing and making the world all that it could be. 

someday, maybe, the world will work to be at the peace he worked his whole life for. may he rest now in eternal peace, may who he was and what he did never, ever be forgotten. 


on this day and every day be excellent to each other. 

inside the office of Spiros

hey there

my mate Spiros decided for some reason to send me a picture of inside his office.

blogger for some reason decided to rotate it for you.

nice one man, cheers for that.


be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

behold, one of them tag things in (in)action.....

hi there

well this is one of those posts that might well attract the abusive sought; the type who here is a "free thinker" just so long as there is someone around to tell them what to think freely of.

over here this whole etag/toll road thing has commenced in full. many people are very upset about this, but we will get to that later. up front, should this attract the angry types but not that it will stop them, i would not describe myself as happy about them at all, either, but i just happen to accept they were inevitable, since we all tacitly agreed to them and have been very, very happy with why they are in place.

anyway, for the sensible, and the curious from here who now live far, far away, i was quite excited about this whole etoll thing going live, since it meant i could give mine a run at last, somewhere over a year (i think) after i bought it.

as it was reported that it makes a sort of "beep" thing when you go through one, i thought why not video it for you all?

erm, if your ears are better than mine and you heard a beep, let me know. i did not, and was very disappointed about that. maybe it's a silent beep, or maybe my one is knacked or something. 

i am not really too worried about the ones who are offended about the idea of me having an etag, for they are rather easily ignored or deleted. i do, however, worry about you out there that for some reason get quite upset when there are not many pictures on my posts, so here's a load of random images of a storm building up this afternoon.

anyway, with no beep thingie, i called the people who do these tags. it was a model of efficiency, the kind of which you only get from proper, well run services with a big budget. those who think that because it's a South African run organization it will be inefficient and no one will ever be billed, i think they are in for quite a surprise.

as it turned out my device was working and was charged. many people who have gone on to the web to check if their unregistered car has been billed for going through one of these tolls has discovered that the system can indeed identify them.

big things cost big money. if you throw little money at it nothing gets done. by means of comparison, i needed to call Johannesburg Connect today, on their shiny new number of  0860 56 28 74. we had no water, you see, and it appeared that the whole area was out. there were no notices or comments about this, and the recording of which areas were without water did not feature us.

i spent in excess of one hour on hold to the water people, only to be told that they were aware of the problem and it was getting fixed.

sanral have telephone and service at the levels most expect, demand and want here. you get what you pay for, and when it comes to services like water, electricity and what have you they are full of people with few skills and little pay.

moving on, and why exactly it is the case i have no problem with this toll business, despite of course like anyone i would prefer not to. a history lesson, if you like, and some reminders.

the reason we have toll roads now stems from a brilliant decision in the early 2000s. then President, in title if not in action, Thabo Mbeki was made aware of the urgent need for two things - new power stations and new roads. The freedom which had come to the country meant more resources were being used. without new power stations, he was told, the nation would face blackouts. without new roads, in particular two new ones going from South Johannesburg to North Pretoria, the economic hub of the country would be gridlocked.

showing off the short-term thinking which characterised his "leadership", and perhaps illustrating why no less a person that Mr Nelson Mandela is reported to have pleaded with the powers that be not to let him be President, Mbeki ditched all plans to build power stations and roads, considering them to be too expensive. yes, we know, we are paying the price now.

on that note, i heard on the news today that "electricity rationing" is going to be brought in here next year. this will presumably be on top of the regular blackouts.

go forward a few years and the predicted gridlock situation hit. by 2005 it took 40 - 60 minutes to travel 1km or 2km on a filter road to get on the highway; in my case 70 - 90 minutes to travel no more than 30kms on the highway. something had to be done.

many attempts to do something happened. this is something that those trying to legally stop the tolls quite like to forget about, not mention, understate or simply deny, in particular with the pretty videos they make and post on that youtube thing.

for about a year, all sorts of things were tried. the emergency lanes (hard shoulders) were opened to traffic. high occupancy vehicle lanes were created in the hope of people making carpools. in the most impressive effort to do something, tens of thousands of leaflets were printed. the leaflets contained questionnaires. the Government hoped to pool the data from these and set up suggestions for car pools, as well as using the data to approach companies and look at flexitime hours to spread the traffic load.

people walked amongst the traffic jams at highway onramps offering these to motorists. i believe less than 30 were filled in and returned. the majority of people who refused to take the leaflet and fill it in to try and fix the traffic are mostly those complaining that they are paying tolls for the fixed roads.

a last ditch effort was made to do something. full page, basic-worded adverts were put in all newspapers, appealing for suggestions and ideas. they were not, as outa have tried to make out (and interestingly have never illustrated), "small, badly worded ads". as next to no response was generated, the decision was taken to build toll roads to fix the problem.

this was around 2008. it was never kept secret that they would be toll roads. no one objected at all. at least not until the 11th hour.

why are people complaining? probably because we got the product before we paid. the roads now are superb, most have apparently forgotten what a nightmare they were. it is not unfair or unreasonable to pay for what we have now got in place.

the biggest whiners, of course, are the special kind of dickheads that wish everything you can think of to revolve around them. a particularly special group is the one which takes this route.

for some reason a lot of people live in Pretoria and work in Johannesburg. which is about 70kms (43 miles or so). why? because they say it is cheaper. it is this special type which has caused all the traffic to begin with, and as the road improvements benefit them more than anyone else, well, it takes some brass neck for them to be the most vocal in complaining. this is particularly true when one considers that magnificent train that i like riding on was built mostly for their benefit. 

it would be lovely if we didn't have to pay for the roads we needed beyond taxes. to that end, one needs to ask why the genius Mbeki decided it would be "too expensive", yet his Finance Minister, Trevor Manuel, was allowed year after year to cut personal and corporate tax in amounts that were trivial to individuals, yet took billions away from the Treasury; money that could have given us as many power stations and roads as we needed. i find it very strange that no one is asking this much.

with all things considered - and considered here are those points which people complaining about tolls now decide to ignore, hopefully out of a sense of shame that they did nothing to stop them when they could - i don't like paying tolls but i most certainly do not object. this puts me in something of a minority.

as an aside, when i have tried to put this view forward in conversations online i have been "accused" of being black (???) and dismissed as either an ANC politician or a sanral employee. such accusations have tended to come from those free thinkers i mentioned at the start.

hey ho.



be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

grooving around

hey there

for those of you who had got used to regular updates from me here and are miffed at the lack of late, all i can do is say sorry. family and friends are aware of why this is, for everyone else all will be revealed "soon".

to make some sort of gesture of amends then, for all of you kind enough to take the time to read my blog (and i really do appreciate it), here's a kind of mini-mega update for you!

starting where i left off on the last post, the youngling William recently celebrated his birthday. this meant something of a cake festival. William, you see, really really likes cake. we had to have the day before his birthday, on his birthday and then have more to send to school.

here he is rather proudly with one of the ones at home!

quite a magnificent cake it was too! well, from what i could tell from the parts that i had that William would allow us to try.

as for the cakes at school, well, here you go!

his Mummy, my (considerably) better half, spent much of a weekend making more Barney cupcakes than she normally would. I think somewhere over 100 were made and iced, with the last part there being particularly challenging, since the boys tried to eat all of the icing whilst it was being mixed.

sort of keeping the cake theme going, here's James stood by a range of impressive cakes on display for the purpose of sale. the focus, however, should be on the parcel he is holding, one that i have cunningly and strategically edited so that you can't see my address. and it would be with good reason that you can't have my address, but more later.

yes, behold, a further miracle of the post office. this parcel only took 1 (one) month to arrive via the speedy ways of airmail. i am led to believe that customs here are "having problems" and that is why there is a delay with some mail. cheers for that.

what James is holding up is a parcel from a dear friend, one who is exceptionally supportive of what we are all doing right now. thank you very much indeed for this!

so what is in the parcel, you ask? treaty-treat things, as my (considerably) better half will show off.

i am led to believe that the contents of that packet were a superb, minty-peppermint-mint type chocolate thingie. i have no experience or taste of them to comment on, as my (considerably) better half and William tore through the packet in the time it took me to boil the kettle to make my (considerably) better half a cup of coffee, lest i get beaten for insolence.

i would like to say i don't normally do request pictures, but in fact i do. i am quite happy to provide pictures or writing along the lines of what anyone asks me, within reason. and yes, Martin, that "within reason" excludes images of me specifically for what you apparently do with pictures of me, you strange, strange chap.

in some instances i am delighted to meet a request as soon as possible, and one such instance is any sort of request from Jonathan. he suggested an image of me with a cuppa and a fag, so here it is.

i think this is what he meant by fag, but if it turns out it is the other interpretation of the word i will see what i can do during the next week or so.

as regular readers are aware, Jonathan recently composed and performed my very own theme song, something i consider to be the best thing ever, so any and all requests from him are a delight!

and yes, oh yes, dear friends at verk, one of the boxes above should look rather familiar to you.

onwards, then, and recently we had the pleasure of being invited to James' school year end awards. you only get invited if you have won something, so we were of course thrilled to get the nod!

here's William and my (considerably) better half having a walk around!

as for the awards ceremony itself, James did very well indeed, collecting not two, not five, but three awards. well done son, we are all very proud of you!

no pictures of the awards ceremony, alas, as i was too busy filming away. of the film, family around the world should be getting their copies of it just as soon as the post office decide to deliver. i am hopeful that the post offices of the world shall do the decent thing and deliver them before Christmas. if for some reason the ones to England take more than 3 weeks that could lead to a rather interesting situation.

anyway, here is James reading his report, reading with as you can see some interest!

and here he is with the one trophy he got, along with a prize!

it took five or six goes to get him to pose like how you see in the above, the facial expressions in the other pictures are interesting, to say the least.

after the ceremony William retained the sense of pride that we do in James, but was also interested in having an inspection of his birthday presents, all related to what his t-shirt says.

and this is pretty much who we are and how we are at the moment!

sorry if i am being elusive with this, but more updates as soon as i can, and indeed i will explain why there will be a possibly lengthy delay in updates for a while.

in the mean time, thank you all once again for reading whatever it is i decide to put up here!




be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!