Pizza

I great illustration of the erosion of civil liberties in the '1st world.'

[Relates to the article published earlier this week : Who you looking at? ]

Eish!! takes up the challenge for charity - You can join!

The Argus Cycle Tour has a initiative to coincide with this year's massive cycling event. Titled Race4Change it give the participants a chance to raise money for a selected group of charities.
This makes it easy for groups or individuals to use this epic to raise money for charities, with the knowledge that a legitimate organisation is handling of the collection and distribution of the monies.

So let's give it a test!!

I have set up a group for Eish!! readers to donate money to The Sunflower Fund.

Simply click here and donate ... and Eishman will make the full 109km's to ensure your money is well spent.

Why did the chicken cross the road?

The age-old question continues ...

DR. PHIL : The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.

OPRAH: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens

GEORGE W. BUSH : We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here.

COLIN POWELL : Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...

DR SEUSS : Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.

ERNEST HEMINGWAY : To die in the rain. Alone.

GRANDPA : In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.

JOHN LENNON : Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.

ARISTOTLE : It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.

BILL GATES : I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of eChicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% ........ reboot.

ALBERT EINSTEIN : Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?

BILL CLINTON : I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?

COLONEL SANDERS : Did I miss one?

What you looking at?

How d’you tell the difference between someone just video-ing crowded place and someone who’s checking it out for a terrorist attack?

How can you tell if someone’s buying unusual quantities of stuff for a good reason or if they’re planning to make a bomb?

What’s the difference between someone just hanging around and someone behaving suspiciously?

How can you tell if they’re a normal everyday person, or a terrorist?

The answer is, you don’t have to.

If you call the confidential Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321, the specialist officers you speak to will analyse the information. They’ll decide if and how to follow it up.

You don’t have to be sure. If you suspect it, report it.

Call the Anti-Terrorist Hotline on 0800 789 321 in confidence.

This is the transcript of the radio ad campaign currently being flighted on London's main commercial radio stations.

It supplemented by a massive print campaign. Click here for more info on the campaign and the here to have a listen to the ad,

There has been much discussion online, in the media and around the braai's of South Africa about the future of country and various individual's future within the country. There are many understandable reasons people of rethinking their stance on the 'should I stay or should I go' debate.
My two cents worth in these discussions has always been;

1. "I am a proud South African and it's going to take a big push to get me out of this magnificent country. I accept that some of this bias is seen by some as being irrational, but that is something that that is built-in to my African DNA."
2. "Most if not all countries have their problems, their magnitude and effect differs dependnig on what you see as being important and part and parcel of life"
3. "If I was pushed, where would I go? There are many of the usual suspects that people flee to that I would never consider, I would much rather move to a fellow 3rd world country, where I can enjoy a simple, quality and preferrably slow, lifestyle."
4. "At least we know what we need to be scared or weary of"

The campaign above helps justify the final point and is , why the States and the UK will never become home to Eishman. There are millions of citizens of these, and other nations, that are petrified of something, many of the not sure of what and most, if not all, have no clue why. Massive propaganda campaigns have been prevalent, usually surreptitiously, that have allowed governments to quietly pass laws that have taken away citizens civil liberties without much resistance from the blindfolded populace..
Back to this particular campaign. The English are now been asked to report their neighbours who act suspiciously, have more than one cellphone, take too many pictures or engage in activities that do not fit into the norm of the neighbourhood. This in a country that already has thousands of CCTV cameras currently carrying out surveillance on it's unsuspecting citizenry, a country that is considering enforcing an open law that could mean the entire population will need to have their DNA logged on the a national database.

Is this really a place worth trading our motherland for?

South Africa produces another Oscar

Once again a South African has had a hand in producing an Academy award-winning film. 'Taxi to the dark side' won the 'Best documentary feature' Oscar last night. Directed and produced by Alex Gibney, and the executive producer was South African (and Capetonian) Don Edkins.

The doccie was part of the Why Democracy initiative, of which Don Edkins and his company Steps for the future were intimately involved.

"Over one hundred prisoners have died in suspicious circumstances in U.S. custody during the "war on terror". Taxi to the Dark Side takes an in-depth look at one case: an Afghan taxi driver called Dilawar who was considered an honest and kind man by the people of his rustic village. So when he was detained by the U.S military one afternoon, after picking up three passengers, denizens wondered why this man was randomly chosen to be held in prison, and, especially, without trial? Five days after his arrest Dilawar died in his Bagram prison cell. His death came within a week of another death of a detainee at Bagram. The conclusion, with autopsy evidence, was that the former taxi driver and the detainee who passed away before him, had died due to sustained injuries inflicted at the prison by U.S. soldiers. The documentary, by award-winning producer Alex Gibney, carefully develops the last weeks of Dilawar’s life and shows how decisions taken at the pinnacle of power in the Bush Administration led directly to Dilawar’s brutal death. The film documents how Rumsfeld, together with the White House legal team, were able to convince Congress to approve the use of torture against prisoners of war. Taxi to the Dark Side is the definitive exploration of the introduction of torture as an interrogation technique in U.S. facilities, and the role played by key figures of the Bush Administration in the process." (Taken from the Why Democracy website)

Check out the trailer below. I actually had a sneak peek about 18 months ago. It's controversial and hard hitting.

3 More Fuel Saving Tips You May Not Have Thought Of

Petrol is apparently on it's way to R10-00 p/l. You may want to take heed of the tips below.

1. Think Shade

Park your car in the shade whenever possible. The same sun that is boiling up your steering wheel is also stealing fuel from your tank. It’s called evaporative emissions and it’s common in cars that are more than five years old.

Keeping your car in the shade also helps to keep it at the same temperature so you don’t have to fire up the air conditioning when you’re ready to leave. If you have a garage you can use, or an underground car park that’s an even better option.

2. Forget The Street Cred

It may look cool, but spoilers can spell disaster if you’re looking to conserve fuel. Spoilers may be marketed to give you that extra stability and handling, but according to most in-the-know they have virtually no aerodynamic benefit on most cars. In fact, spoilers can have a very negative impact on fuel conservation.

You may also want to rethink installing that 50 inch subwoofer in your car. Anything that makes your car heavier will make your fuel bill more expensive.

And finally, leave off the larger tyres. The larger the tyre, the more fuel it takes to accelerate and stop the car.

3. Keep Your Cruising To The Highways – Not The Byways

Cruise control can be very tempting. Especially when you have a stretch of nothing but straight road. And it can also be good for your wallet. If you’re able to maintain a steady speed for some time, using cruise control can improve your fuel consumption.

However, if you’re driving in hilly terrain, your fuel consumption will increase. Using cruise control causes your engine to speed up to maintain the preset speed. You’ll save much more fuel by using the gas pedal yourself.

{Taken from one of my regular reads @ SaveFuel-SaveMoney}

How do you pronounce that?

Ever looked at word, real hard and just not been able to figure out how it would be pronounced? So you go check the dictionary, but the phonetics waft way over your head?
Click over to howjsay.com type in the word and it will be dictated to you. Mystery solved!

The curse of unfortunate graphic placement

There I was, innocently sitting at my laptop, with the usual million windows open, checking out the latest NashuaMobile specials I received in my inbox. I clicked on the link and carried on working in the other opened windows, when out of the corner of my eye the image below appeared on my desktop ...



What had I clicked? Was I a victim of a phishing attack?
No, this was the bottom of my browser window which currently had the NashuaMobile webpage open. I was just seeing the bottom of the menu box below ...

... which was part of the following page ...

... which is part of the following campaign ...

Now I get the idea. The menu is supposed to be a placard being held up by a protester of sorts. But could they not have made the pole different colour?

Things that keep me awake at night ...

Why doesn't Tarzan have a beard?

Why do we press harder on a remote control when we know the batteries are flat?

Why do Kamikaze pilots wear helmets?

Why does someone believe you when you say there are four billion stars, but check when you say the paint is wet?

Whose idea was it to put an 'S' in the word 'lisp'?

Why is it that people say they 'slept like a baby' when babies wake up every two hours?

Are there specially reserved parking spaces for 'normal' people at the Special Olympics?

If the temperature is zero outside today and it's going to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold will it be?

Do married people live longer than single ones or does it only seem longer?

How is it that we put man on the moon before we figured out it would be a good idea to put wheels on luggage?

Did you ever stop and wonder......

Who was the first person to look at a cow and say, 'I think I’ll squeeze these pink dangly things here, and drink whatever comes out?'

Who was the first person to say, 'See that chicken there... I'm gonna eat the next thing that comes outta it's bum.'

Why do toasters always have a setting so high that could burn the toast to a horrible crisp, which no decent human being would eat?

Why is there a light in the fridge and not in the freezer?

Why do people point to their wrist when asking for the time, but don't point to their bum when they ask where the bathroom is?

Why does your Obstetrician, Gynaecologist leave the room when you get undressed if they are going to look up there anyway?

Why does Goofy stand erect while Pluto remains on all fours? They're both dogs!

If quizzes are quizzical, what are tests?

If corn oil is made from corn, and vegetable oil is made from vegetables, then what is baby oil made from?

If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?

Why do the Alphabet song and Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star have the same tune?

Stop singing and read on…….

Do illiterate people get the full effect of Alphabet Soup?

Did you ever notice that when you blow in a dog's face, he gets mad at you, but when you take him on a car ride, he sticks his head out the window?

Does pushing the elevator button more than once make it arrive faster?

• Stolen from an email from I received, but there is so much here I have pondered some time or another I had to share it with you.
  

Swimming with dolphins

The video below was taken on the 22nd December last year. Graham Grindley-Ferris was attempting a Robben Island double swim, and taking strain when a pod of dolphins accompanied him for around 1km, giving him the motivation to complete the gruelling 15km swim.



For the full story click here.

FNB's Michael Jordaan's turn to be positive

A few week's ago Iburst's CEO Alan Knott-Craig (jnr) sent a mail to his staff in response to the growing pessimism about the future of our great country. This letter spread virally and was even given time during a Mnet's Carte Blanche insert.
Yesterday it was the turn of Michael Jordaan, CEO of banking giant FNB, to deliver his message, entitled "Pride, Prejudice and Power". Here is an excerpt.

"Dear FNBers

Is it possible to be both proud of something, yet criticise it at the same time? Of course it is! Take any beaming parent for example. He or she will use every opportunity to tell others about his/her child’s achievements. At the same time, good parents are constructively critical when their child needs it. The thing that is consistent in both pride and criticism is the positive intent.


Exactly the same applies to our country or for that matter our company. Our value of Pride says that we are proudly South African or proud of FNB. Yet, that should not stop us from criticising.


I think the Eskom outages are a disaster for our economy and have done serious damage to the confidence in our young democracy. In any ordinary business venture there would be consequences for the incompetence we all had to / have to suffer. There, I’ve criticised.


But I’ve heard enough of the doom-and-gloom that has characterised South Africa over the last four weeks. And I am tired of the point-scoring politicians and told-you-so expatriates. Character is defined in bad times. Everything depends not on the national crisis itself, but on how we respond as a nation.


Change can either paralyse or energise. I choose the latter..."

How to Enjoy a Colonoscopy

Only because it's Friday ... enjoy

Sax Appeal - Great on street, struggling on the web

This years UCT Rag's Sax Appeal sellers hit the street this morning in Cape Town.
The first year students dress up (kudos to those at the Meadowridge Engen, you looked good in those slinky outfits) and descend on the the various busy intersections around the city, coaxing as many people as possible to buy a magazine full of humourous, trivial and silly articles and cartoons. It's all for a good cause, the majority of the R20 charged goes to their charity SHAWCO a student run community development project.

The Sax Appeal mag is the largest student-run publication in the world selling around 50 000 copies each year.

I haven't had a chance to browse through my copy yet, but experience tells me that one's interpretation is very subjective and each year different people are disappointed and highly impressed.
So I thought I would rather point you to their online presence so you can get a feel for it yourself. Unfortunately their website still seems to be under construction which is a bit of a lost opportunity, nevertheless they do state that articles will start appearing after the 14th Feb and you can place an order should you wish to get your grubby paws on a copy.

Online Valentines Checklist

Your online Valentines checklist:
(All the links below are South African & Eish!! will receive no commission on resultant sales or traffic)

Order your flowers

• FindAFlorist
  
• Netflorist
• SimplyFlowers
• Floraniche
• iFlora
• FlowerShop
• Giftday

Book your table

• LastMinute
• Restaurants.co.za
• eWine - Valentines @ Louisenhof
• House of Krone
  

Get a little gift

• Spa Voucher
• GiftDay
  
• Jump
• Kalahari.net

Send a eCard

• Cards.co.za
• SAReunited

Friday tune

I found my good friend Wes on YouTube the other day. I am ashamed to say it's of a gig I never made it to and was posted in May last year.
Do yourself a favour and press play. You will not be dissappointed. It's a great way to ease into the weekend.

Cape Town Burns - Update

From my vantage point,it appears that while the fire's front was shrunk and continously kept away from the houses.
It has hit an densely vegetated area though, and the flames appear 5+ meters high.
The area used to be inhabited by many indigenous antelope, buffalo and famously a Rhino. Fortuously they have been moved when the game farm foreclosed about a year ago.
Homeowners in the houses just below look on nervously.
The winds continue to blow gale force, the firefighters continue the night vigil.

Cape Town burns down south

I sit here in my comfortable house, the children fast asleep, sharing my time between CSI, the internet & the radio. Just a normal Thursday night, except I don't usually have the radio on. I have it on to keep tabs with what is going on less than a kilometer up the road.

Our mountain is burning, set alight, almost certainly by an arsonist. But that's a whole different discussion, for another day. Right now I am extremely thankful for the group of firefighters, paid and volunteers, that are manning the mountains.
While my abode is not far from the flames, realistically I can say with a reasonable amount of certainty that it is not in any danger of getting in the flames path. However it would be impossible for me to get any rest knowing that others in my suburb stood a chance of losing their homes.

Its because of these heros I can sleep. They will not. They will battle in the gale force winds outside I want to use to power my house. They will battle the flames. They will watch as hectares of vegetation dissappear and the flames march on. And they will put their limbs and lives on the line to ensure peoples properties are kept safe.

I salute you all, may God bless and keep you safe.

Update : Inhabitants in neighbouring suburb, Ocean View are on high alert to evacuate should the fire, currently out of control reach them during the course of the evening

For more info : CapeTalk Radio's home page & live news broadcasts are updates regularly

For how to help : Cape Volunteer Wildfire Services

(Pics below taken from the back garden, I like to make sure that I do not get in the way of the emergency vehicles, as too many gawkers tend to do)

Power crisis - Time for a conspiracy theory

There has been a surprising shortage of conspiracy theories surrounding the power crisis South Africa is currently contending with. So here's one for those that have an appetite for such things.

It's been widely reported that the CIA, and US President George Bush are concerned over the identified capability hackers have to shut down power grids. According to the UK's Telegraph.co.uk 'Tom Donahue told a utilities security conference in New Orleans all the successful hackings occurred outside America.' News24.com reported on the same issue on the 18th January this year, and also states that no details of the power cuts, the country in which they took place or when will be divulged. And this is not a new phenomenon, there are reports dating back to August 2003, of the problem.

The SA government, while projecting apologies the way only politicians can do, have up to now, refused to take action against any of those individuals responsible for the delivery and maintenance of our electricity supply. Couple this with the fact that, as Carte Blanche (video link) revealed, the real problem is not so much the increased demand but the massive shortages of supply and one can think that maybe are playing hardball with some cyber-terrorists.

How much could they be asking for?

Related Posts :

• 10 Power sketches
• Power problems affecting SA psyche
• Give Eskom the finger ... install your own nuclear reactor
  

Have you voted yet?

This is just a friendly reminder to register and vote for the Mother City to get on the board in Hasbro's new World Monopoly game.
I have no doubt that Cape Town's rise to #8 in the World Monopoly competition is due to the push made by the South African bloggers. But it's important to remember that once you have registered you are able to vote once a day for you city of choice. The higher the vote, the more I city will be 'worth' on the final board.
I like the suggestion to include our African brothers Cairo in your voting pool. They are just outside of the top 20 so could do with a little help.
Finally you can also nominate Johannesburg to be included in the wildcard vote. they are currently #11 in this pool.
SA's corporates are even getting into the spirit of things and opening their firewalls to the voting site, good on you guys.

For a step-by-step guide how to register and vote, click over to SA Rocks.

Tivo Wins Out Over Dish Network

Dish Network may finally have to pay up after losing a federal court decision today. The Court of Appeals ruled that Dish Network, formerly Echostar Communications Inc, infringed on Tivo's patent on DVR technology. Interestingly, the court ruled partially in favor of Dish Network, in that it overturned a lower court's ruling that Dish had infringed on the hardware elements of the patent. But the court ruled that the violation of the software elements was still sufficient enough to uphold the $89.6 million in damages previously awarded to Tivo by the lower court.

The news sent Tivo's stock up nearly 29%. The suit originated in 2004 when Tivo claimed Dish Network infringed on the company's digital video recorder technology. DishDVR technology allows viewers to record one channel while watching another, as well as pause and rewind live TV, and skip through commercials on previously recorded material.

Dish Network remained defiant after the ruling, claiming it would not affect their DVR subscribers because they had already moved their base to "next generation" DVR software that does not infringe on Tivo's patents. Dish Network also said they plan to appeal the financial judgment.

DIY wind power generation

As the title of the web page says "Wind is free" Living in close to the tip of Africa, means that along with the beauty comes the a fair amount of wind. The ever present power outages and the wish to become a South African and world citizen, made me look into the possibility of utilising the wind to supplement my electricity usage from national power grid.
My research brought me to windpower.org.za. The page is an conglomeration Peter's research, experiences, designs, and the source material, gathered on his ongoing quest to build his own wind turbine. His model is currently running, powering a battery bank which in turn powers a light source. And as a result this page is a wealth of useful information.

He says that that it has currently cost him R3500-00 for his current setup. This includes the cost of experimentaion. When compared to the quotes I have received from the only two distributors I could find in Cape Town (or South Africa for that matter) of over R30 000-00 it looks like a worthwhile project on which to embark. However, me being severely challenged when it comes to DIY, it will remain a pipe dream. The site as a pretty active forum which is used to exchange ideas, and their seems to be a healthy community of enthusiasts hell bent on utilising the free power source. All strength to them.

For those of you DIY challenged, here are the alternatives :

• futuregreen.co.za
• kestrelWind.co.za
  

Bell ExpressVu launched its new 9242 HD PVR

Bell ExpressVu is replacing its dual-tuner 9200 HD PVR with a new model: the 9242, which adds five hours more of high-definition recording, and 20 additional hours of standard definition recording. Like its predecessor, the 9242 allows ExpressVu customers to view one program while simultaneously recording up to two others. One program can also be viewed in one room, while a second is being recording in another, all using the same receiver. As with other PVR models, there's the ability to pause live television, fast forward and rewind at up to four speeds, skip forward and back, and view in slow motion, which is ideal for catching a great sports play that's worth a second look. Other options include split-screen functionality and picture-in-picture for catching two programs at once; as well as USB 2.0 and Ethernet connectivity.

Right out of the box, the 9242 sets the bar for state-of-the-art high definition PVR performance in Canada even higher,but its true potential lies down the road. The real story is what Bell ExpressVu can build upon, and the extra services they can deliver via the USB and Ethernet connectivity. Bell's new HDTV receiver and its feature set simply deliver the most advanced digital TV viewing experience.

With picture quality ten-times better than regular cable, the most HD channels available, and the best HD PVR, Bell offers Canadians the full HD experience. Bell ExpressVu's new 9242 HD PVR is currently available for purchase at $599; or for rent at $20/month.

10 Power sketches

If any of the images below are unclear, click on them to enlarge ... enjoy

New National Symbol