Why does power have the capacity to silence the truth? Jacob Zuma and the Tax 'man'

I am well aware of the complexity of the struggles for leadership and control in the ruling party in South Africa, the African National Congress. Politics is a dirty business! The fight for control of a nation is an ugly and dirty one. I am not so naive to think that Thabo Mbeki is without blemish (in fact the human rights abuses that he has perpetrated against persons who are HIV+ and could have survived much longer had he not adopted his maniacal and denialist stance against antiretroviral medication).

However, what causes me great disdain, and so becomes the source of some of my intercessory prayer, is the saga of immorality and thuggery that surrounds Jacob Zuma! I fear for our nation if we should elect someone of his moral and ethical stature to the presidency (whether it be the presidency of the nation, or the party that runs the nation)...

Just today the Mail & Guardian reported that there is another issue of concern around Mr Zuma - it would seem that he has not declared his income to the South African Revenue Service. Sadly the power of the ANC to squash the truth has already been seen (as the Scorpions, South Africa's directorate of special operations has been all but disbanded for doing nothing other than showing corrupt people for who they are).

I hear the conversations about immigration more and more frequently among thinking South Africans (both black and white). This is SO sad! Why should the good move so that the wicked can prosper.

Today I read these verses in scripture (Proverbs 24:19-20):

Do not fret because of evildoers Or be envious of the wicked; For there will be no future for the evil man; The lamp of the wicked will be put out.

Please could you join me in praying that justice, change, and moral renewal will come to pass in our fair land? Let's do all that we can to bring about moral regeneration and renewal in our land. Truly friends - we deserve better than this!! We deserve leaders who are trustworthy, honest, and are not so overcome by their personal agenda's that the needs of the nation have to take second place... Let's pray that wickedness gets put aside, and that the lives of the wicked are transformed.

Technorati tags: Jacob Zuma, moral degeneration, evil will not prosper, please pray, tax evasion,immigration

When organic meets electronic - DIY, set up your plants to Twitter when they need water.

I think this is hilarious! As I have mentioned before, people who have HUGE deadlines (doctoral students, editors, writers, and other 'creative types' will do just about anything to AVOID their work!!

The guy (or girl) who designed this gizmo must be a creative genius with a deadline second to none!!!!!

What do you think!? I'm going to give this a go... So keep an eye on my Twitter account (I think, however, I'm going to rig mine to my pet dog Wendy's food and water bowl!!!) Just kidding!!!

Here's the story:

Engadget hit on this one, and it's technically possible to do it with a Windows PC, but considering that Mac users are greener than most folks, and lovers of both plants and cool tech DIY, we're posting it anyway. Botanicalls, which is a project to help your plants make phone calls, has posted a how-to guide on getting your plants to twitter when they need water, got water but not enough, or are even being overwatered.

The whole rig requires an Arduino board, and it's not exactly for Mom to do on her own (unless of course your Mom is an electrical engineer, which is entirely possible), because it also will walk you through making your own moisture sensor. Once you've got everything plugged in, the Arduino software will talk to the unit via USB and ethernet, and a terminal script will actually send the Tweets out. Unfortunately, despite a quick search on Twitter, I wasn't able to find any plants actually tweeting, but if you have one, let us know.

Technorati tags: uber geek, organic meets electrical, twitter, work avoidance behaviour, avoiding a deadline, Apple Mac, Doctorate

A University is giving out FREE Apple iPhones or iPod Touch's to all first year students.

A few years ago when I was invited to Duke University I was amazed to discover that all 'freshmen' (basically, in South Africa we would call them first year students) received an iPod when they came to study at the University.

As an aside, I also heard the other day that Duke University is the first ever community wide 802.11n network to be established over a whole municipal area! When I visited I had my old 12" Powerbook with an iSight camera and used the free wifi on campus to call home to my family (doing video chat) for hours at a time! It was like being home!

Well, here's a related story! Wouldn't it be great if we had the resources to offer our first year students a free laptop, or an iPhone or iPod touch (with video tutorials, Audio of lectures, and a hard drive full of PDF's etc.)... We do something similiar (in a VERY small way on our Seminary Campus - all students get a free flash disk at the start of the year (not only does it save paper since we can put PDF's of the rules and regulations, the yearbook, and other useful documents on the drives, but it also helps us to avoid the complaint that 'the dog ate my assignment'!)

This story comes from TAUW:

Abilene Christian University is announcing a pilot program to provide an iPhone or iPod touch to every new student. At first glance, I found myself wondering: if some colleges are providing MacBooks with tuition, doesn't an iPhone seem like a less-expensive attempt to lure new blood? Upon further consideration, I think there are some distinct advantages to a pocket-sized device in a learning environment. From constant connectivity to ultra-portability, it could provide a means for every student to access learning materials any time, from any place.

ACU has obviously considered this, and then some. With apparently well-coordinated plans to take advantage of the devices – including podcasts, mobile-accessible class materials, active-learning strategies and a re-focusing of the campus media – they're preparing to take maximum advantage of the iPhone/iPod touch possibilities. If it's a gimmick, it sure seems like a useful, well-thought-out one. For more information, case studies and future plans, take a peek at the ACU Mobile Learning page.

Technorati tags: free iPhone, free iPod Touch, creative marketing, videos of lectures, tools for studying

Mac is Back! [Replacement Apple Macbook Pro unboxing]

I can't tell you how pleased I am to write this post (on my replacement Macbook Pro)!

Those who have been following my blog will know that my previous Macbook Pro was smashed in a motorcycle accident two weeks ago.

A few facts about my old Macbook - I got it secondhand, it was already 'prescratched' since the previous owner did not really look after it that well. Having a less than perfect machine was quite sad, however, it was a worthy upgrade from my entry level Macbook. I need a machine that is quite powerful, it HAS to be a Mac, but must also be able to boot Windows XP and Ubuntu (some of the software that I run for teaching and administering student records only runs on Windows). My Macbook (a white core solo 1.67 Ghz with a Combo drive) served me well for about two years, but it was starting to show its age, and it was slow as all heck when I booted Windows in Parallels. So, when I was alerted to a Macbook Pro (advertised as 'slightly used') that was being sold to upgrade, I sold my Macbook, threw in a few extra Rand and made the jump!

I was certainly NOT sorry! With the exception of the scratches and a half dead battery the Macbook Pro was a superb upgrade. It was a Dual Core 2.0 Ghz with 1 GB or Ram, a 100GB hard drive, 256 MB or dedicated video memory, and that AWESOME 15" widescreen (1440x900!) - of course it also came with the backlit keyboard and a DVD writer. A few months later I had saved enough to buy a replacement batter and put in an extra 1GB of Ram, and so she was humming! I took that Macbook Pro with me to Malaysia late last year and it worked like a charm! It didn't skip a beat in presentations, in LONG, LONG, Skype video calls to Megie back in South Africa. In short it was my perfect companion.

I edited (and wrote) my two most recent books on the great keyboard, and posted hundreds of entries to this blog from the machine.

On the day that I was knocked off my Vespa I had taken the Macbook with me to the Radio Pulpit studios for a live radio broadcast. I run logos Bible software in Windows on the Mac (the University bought me a licence for the Scholars Gold edition, so I have hundreds of Biblical commentaries, Greek and Hebrew Bibles. So no matter what question a caller phones in with I am certain to be able to craft a fairly sensible, and scholarly accurate, answer to help answer it. So when the 4X4 hit me the Macbook was in my backpack and got all bent out of shape... It was a sad day indeed...

Amazingly even though the screen was smashed, the optical drive was crushed and the right hand side of the laptop was badly bent and broken, the machine still booted up!! I had, of course, created a Time Machine backup (as all good Mac users should do) just the night before the accident.

So, as soon as I got home from the hospital I contacted my personal insurance agents to find out how I can go about replacing the machine. They faxed me some forms which I completed, and then they asked me to courier the 'dead' machine to their offices in Cape Town. Within a day the claim was approved. So, I contacted the local Apple iStore (in Menlyn Park, Pretoria) to find out how much a replacement model would cost....

This was the only bad news... My Macbook was insured at the purchase cost that was set in 2006. The price of Macbooks has since increased substantially - so in short I would not be able to replace my Macbook with the same 'level' of Macbook that I had... However, the great people at Apple did some searching around and found that they had a few Macbook Pro's from their old stock in the warehouse that were for sale as demo models! So, for HALF of the price of a new Macbook Pro I was able to replace my Macbook Pro with a slightly better model (2.16 Ghz Dual Core) - it was still sealed in the box! It had not even been opened or booted! This truly is a gift from God!!!! With the money that the insurance paid out I was able to replace my crushed computer with a perfect replacement. This truly is a testimony to what we read in Paul's letter to the Ephesians 3:20-21.

On our way back from a checkup at the hospital yesterday I went to collect my NEW baby.

Here are a few pictures to drool over:

Here's a picture of the cool box (a bit dusty from the warehouse), but still stylish in true Apple form.

On the front is a profile picture of the 15" Macbook Pro, on the back is a picture of the keyboard and screen.

This particular model came with Apple OS X 10.4.5 (Tiger). My old squashedbook had Leopard installed on the drive. I didn't even bother booting into the fresh hard drive - I simply connected my external firewire drive (on which I had a Time Machine backup, and had created a bootable clone of my drive using a GREAT piece of free software called 'Superduper'. I booted onto the external drive, started Superduper from that drive and then selected the option to repair the permissions on the drive, and copy the contents of that drive onto my fresh Mac drive and make it bootable. Within an hour or so I was exactly where I had left off.

Here you can see the contents of the freshly opened box. Inside is the computer (which comes in a protective sleeve), a power supply, the frontrow remote, and the Tiger boot disks.

You may have noticed from previous posts of my Mac that it had a 'transfer' sticker on the front cover. The sticker was there to cover up some pretty ugly scratches on the cover (sadly these macs to pick up scratches fairly easily). Most of the scratches on my old machine were there when I bought it. However, there was one rather nasty scratch that I added when I was carrying the laptop and my watch strap made a groove in the cover... Very sad.

But, just look how smooth, new, and cool this cover looks! Not a blemish in sight. As soon as I can get back to the office I will get my slip cover (currently lying under my desk) to keep it pristine and beautiful for as long as possible!

Here' is the last picture of my new baby, open, and ready to get started! I must confess that I find the 15" a little large for regular 'portable' use. The sweet spot in terms of size was my 12" Powerbook (which Wessel Bentley now owns). That notebook is small, powerful, and a real little workhorse. The 13" Macbook (and I have also since seen the 13" Macbook Air) is just off size for me (not small enough to be a sub-notebook, and not large enough to be worth the extra 1" in size).

So, this 15" is the next best thing from the 12"... The extra size is made worthwhile by the great screen real estate - however, you do pay for that in weight and battery life.

So, I now have a replacement Macbook Pro (with a spare battery and two power supplies - since the insurance didn't want the power supply or the 'new' battery). I thank God for this machine! Since so much of my work and ministry has to do with words, communication, and writing, this is such a blessed and necessary tool.

Technorati tags: Macbook Pro, unboxing, a tool of God's grace, thankful

A history of Evil (a short Video)

This is quite an interesting [student] project. I think that it misses the mark a little, but it is quite insightful and entertaining.

What do you think?

This little gem on YouTube is described by its creator, Ole-Magnus Saxegard, as...

[An] animated Documentary-Mockumentary about Evil in western civilization from Ancient Greece to present day. (...) This was a student project, hence the "unfinishedness" and abrupt ending. I ran out of time. I might update it later. It was animated frame by frame in flash and composited and textured in AfterEffects.

Technorati tags: a history of evil, student video, not quite right,

Three TRILLION dollars! I can't even write a number that large - that's what it costs to keep the war machine going

Killing is an expensive business! Just ask the American public [and for that matter the rest of the world]. Just think how much money has been wasted by people who have missed flights because of new 'terrorism' security measures. What about all of the carbon gases that have been let loose into the atmosphere by factories that churn out army uniforms, armored vehicles, ships with flight decks... Then of course there is the soaring price of oil...

Oh, did I neglect to mention the cost of the lives that have been lost in the war and subsequent occupation on Iraq.

When I think of these elements combined the cost is surely more than just a mere 3 trillion dollars...

But, regardless, here is an article that suggests that one could calculate the cost of this terrible war.

Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel prize-winner in economics, says the Iraq war has cost $3 trillion so far. According to the Guardian, "three trillion could have fixed America's social security problem for half a century."

Some time in 2005, Stiglitz and Linda Bilmes, who also served as an economic adviser under Clinton, noted that the official Congressional Budget Office estimate for the cost of the war so far was of the order of $500bn. The figure was so low, they didn't believe it, and decided to investigate. The paper they wrote together, and published in January 2006, revised the figure sharply upwards, to between $1 and $2 trillion. Even that, Stiglitz says now, was deliberately conservative: "We didn't want to sound outlandish."

So what did the Republicans say? "They had two reactions," Stiglitz says wearily. "One was Bush saying, 'We don't go to war on the calculations of green eye-shaded accountants or economists.' And our response was, 'No, you don't decide to fight a response to Pearl Harbour on the basis of that, but when there's a war of choice, you at least use it to make sure your timing is right, that you've done the preparation. And you really ought to do the calculations to see if there are alternative ways that are more effective at getting your objectives. The second criticism - which we admit - was that we only look at the costs, not the benefits. Now, we couldn't see any benefits. From our point of view we weren't sure what those were."

Link

Technorati tags: war on Iraq, 3 trillion dollars, Nobel Prize, what has the war cost, STOP THE WAR

A healthy knee [sans stitches]

I'm waitng at the hospital for yet ANOTHER course of antibiotics! The specialist checked the infection in the ankle and feels quite positive that we'll have it all fixed up after course number 4 of the old 'anti-biotics'. Let's pray!

At least some of the stitches are out (in the knee and ankle), some will come out next week. So, I'm on the mend!

Thanks for all the care and prayers!

Dion
PS they started the repairs on my Vespa yesterday so I should have her back long before I can ride! And, the local Apple iStore phoned to say that I can make a turn to get my replacement Macbook Pro! How's that for swift service from my insurance (well done Alexander Forbes!)

Whatever you do... Please DON'T click on this link!!!

Please, please, please, whatever you do, DO NOT click on this link!!!!!

Don't say I didn't warn you! DON'T click on the link! You'll be sorry!

[an experiement in reverse psychology using a random 'offbeat' link from digg.com]

Technorati tags: don't click this link, reverse psychology, random digg link, let's see

Update I have changed the link in the above post. Thank you.

L Ron Hubbart plagiarised the 'doctrines' of scientology... perhaps...

Wouldn't this be a SCANDAL if it were true!? You'll notice that I put the word perhaps at the end of the title... With the Church of Scientology's current litigious mind I would hate to be sued on the basis of conjecture!

But, this just could be a significant discovery! Certainly if the article below is anything to go on it would seem that there may have been some 'foul play' involved!

What do you think?

Evidence that L. Rob Hubbard plagiarised Scientology from a 1934 German book called "Scientologie." The text seems to map to various hoo-haw from the cult's official doctrine, too. Link

Technorati tags: scientology fraud, L Ron Hubbard, plagiarism, scientology and plagiarism, crazy Tom Cruise,

Research shows that the 'Internet generation' are jumping from one faith to another.

This interesting story comes from John C Dvorak's blog. I wrote a paper last year that will be published in Studia Historiae Ecclesiasticae in May this year in which I argue a similar point from the perspective of Southern African Christianity.

In short, many younger people no longer hold to a structured faith, there is a general lack of confidence in 'traditional religions' (mainly due to moral scandals such as pastors stealing the money of the needy, priests involved in sexual scandals etc.). Where persons do adhere to traditional religions (e.g. Christianity, Islam, Judaism etc.) they tend to go for 'newer' iterations of such faiths. For example the fastest growing Christian movements in Southern Africa are independent 'North American' style healing and prosperity movements, and African independent Churches (having risen by 48% since 1910), whereas traditional Protestant Churches have shown a real world decline in membership ranging from less than 1% to 6-7% in the cases of some (e.g., the Dutch Reformed Church).

I would be interested to hear if your Church (i.e., your local congregation) reflects the outcomes of this research. Simply look at who worships on a Sunday and ask a few questions:

1. What is the average age of our congregation?
2. How many persons in our congregation are 'new' members?
3. How many of these 'new members' come from other Churches or faiths, and how many have come to faith in your Church for the first time?
4. How many members have you lost to 'independent' Churches in recent years?

It would be interesting to hear some feedback!

Here's Dvorak's article:

Christian Science Monitor - February 26, 2008:

A panoramic snapshot of American religious life in 2008 reveals an extraordinary dynamism that is reshaping the country’s major traditions in historic ways.

Almost half of Americans have moved to a different religious denomination from that in which they were raised, and 28 percent have switched to a different major tradition or to no religion (i.e., from Roman Catholic to Protestant, Jewish to unaffiliated).

The fluidity is combining with immigration to spur dramatic changes in the religious landscape. Protestantism appears on the verge of losing its majority status. The number of “unaffiliated” Americans has doubled, to 16 percent. One-third of Catholics are now Latino and the religion is depending on immigration to maintain its share of the population.

These shifts are captured in a survey released Monday by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life.

Technorati tags: internet generation, changing face of religion, Church, Christianity, Church+jumping

The Million Zimbabwean Dollar home page! A spectacle of odity, and a testimony of collapse

If this wasn't so sad it would be funny! Please read the email below this post(that was posted as a comment to the blog by Steve) that shows just how sad this situation has become!

Mike says,

I created this website as a parody of the famous Million Dollar Homepage. The Zimbabwe dollar just crashed again last week and, on the black market, you can now get Z$20,000,000 for USD$1 (the official exchange rate is USD$1 = Z$33,000).

I cut prices from 3 cents per 900 pixels to 1 cent per 900 pixels because of the recent collapse. Unfortunately I have to charge an additional Z$1million (US$0.35) per purchase to cover paypal fees.

Here's a sad email that points out just how sad the Zimbabwean situation has become. Shame on you Thabo Mbeki for your stance of 'quite diplomacy' - in reality is is nothing short of 'quiet human rights abuses'! I believe that Thabo Mbeki will be remembered as a spineless, neurotic, racist person who not only killed millions by his CRAZY views on HIV / AIDS, but killed hundreds of thousands more by his unwillingness to do anything constructive about the Zimbabwean crisis...

Sometimes I am ashamed to be a South African...

Sent: 23 February 2008 04:54 PM
To: African Tears
Subject: 85 trucks of food

Dear Family and Friends,
Headline news on the propaganda mill one day this week was that three trillion Zimbabwe dollars had been raised for President Mugabe's 84th birthday party. I thought about what you could do with that much money but before I could work it out I had to check in a dictionary just exactly how much a trillion was.

My sources say that a billion is a thousand million and a trillion is a million million. This means that for the President's birthday celebration being held in Beitbridge, there is a pile of money which on paper is a 3 followed by 12 zeroes. Even in Zimbabwe's collapsed state, 3 trillion dollars is a huge amount of money. It didn't take long before my kitchen table was littered with bits of scrap paper covered with handwritten sums. Why didn't I just use a calculator you might ask? That's simple, there are too many digits and so this sum had to be done by hand.

The calculations took some time to perform and the results were shocking. For three trillion dollars I could buy three million kilograms of maize meal at the present Grain Marketing Board price of a million dollars a kg. This, of course, is assuming that the GMB had any maize meal for sale, which they say they haven't. Allowing half a kg of maize meal per person, 6 million Zimbabweans, half the population of the country, could have had one decent meal with the President's birthday party money. A friend who is far more mathematically minded than me, and had more patience with all those lines of zeroes, worked the figures out a different way. 85 trucks, each
holding 35 tonnes of maize, could have been filled with the three trillion dollars of birthday party money.

Moving away from the dollars, I went in search of ingredients usually found at a birthday party. Three major supermarket chains which have outlets all over the country were visited. The cake came first on my list but there was no flour, sugar, margarine, baking powder, milk or eggs in any of the supermarkets. Puddings and sweet treats were next on my list but there was no jelly, instant pudding, custard, biscuits or tarts to buy. Sandwiches, I thought, they are good for parties but there was no bread or rolls, no spread, cheese, cold meats or sandwich fillings to buy. What about a hot meal I thought but there was no maize meal, rice, pasta or potatoes and so that idea was also a non starter.

The shopping list and the search for ingredients was a pointless exercise but at least it was easier than trying to understand the latest official inflation figures. In January 2008 inflation was one hundred thousand, five hundred and eighty percent - it is the stuff of hellish nightmares and the reason why we parents can't sleep at night.

Trying to understand three trillion dollars was utterly absurd for an ordinary mum in a collapsed country. Hardest of all though was knowing that half the population of the country could have gone to bed tonight on a full stomach if the birthday party had been sacrificed for the suffering, hungry people of a country whose 84 year old ruler has been in power for almost 28 years. Until next time, thanks for reading, love Cathy.

Copyright Cathy Buckle 23 February 2008.
www.cathybuckle.com My books: "African Tears" and "Beyond Tears" are
available in South Africa from: books@clarkesbooks.co.za and in the UK from:
orders@africabookcentre.com
To subscribe/unsubscribe to this newsletter, please write to:
cbuckle@mango.zw

Technorati tags: Robert Mugabe, Thabo Mbeki, Genocide, human rights abuses, complicit,shame

The South African National School pledge - have your say!

I received the message below on a forum I belong to:

The Department of Education has published the National School Pledge for public comment.

Comments can be emailed to Mr Duncan Hindle at values@doe.gov.za by 14 March 2008.

The document is here: www.pmg.org.za/files/gazettes/080220educ-schoolpledge.pdf

If you do make a submission it would be interesting to hear what your thoughts on the matter are. This seems to have created some measure of controversy!