SimonSays - a blog of, for and by Simon Hudson

On the horizon

2007-01-21T12:54:00.000+02:00

So I am doing an MBA this year (and next) so expect even less posts, given that I probably won't have a life beyond sleeping, eating, going to work and studying - wish me luck!

no more....

2007-01-08T21:10:00.000+02:00

just gave a up coke, sugar and other generally unhealthy items

the agony, oh the agony

not a nice person right now (less so than usual, scary I know)

grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr............

An alternative 10 commandments

2006-11-30T17:25:00.000+02:00

Now these appeal to me

http://www.gapingvoid.com/Moveable_Type/archives/003477.html

Combat Hospital

2006-11-19T22:34:00.000+02:00

Yesterday afternoon whilst trying to watch Liverpool bore Middlesborough to death, I switched to CNN and came upon one of their documentary programs called 'Combat Hospital'.

Notwiththestanding the fact that I think GW should be tried just like Saddam Hussein was for leading his country to war, wasting so many lifes on both sides in the process, there are elements of warfare that make me proud to be a member of the human race - do yourself a favour and watch the docu if you can (you should be able to find it on cnn.com by searching for the title) - the people I saw are amongst the bravest people I have ever seen, true followers of the Hippocratic Oath and don't deserve the mental and physical anguish and torture their so called leader has subjected them to.

If I could, I would probably volunteer to help out - this brings back some of the feelings re the situation in South Africa in the late 80's and early 90's and my extremely minor participation in what was going on and my desire to help out.

Free to a good home

2006-11-19T22:02:00.000+02:00

As a collector (of Depeche Mode cd's and some hazy alcohol induced memories) you invariably gather some duplicates over the course of time.

So, because I couldn't be arsed to sell them online, etc the following cd singles are free to a good home (all by Depeche Mode and all sealed in individual wrappers)

Master and Servant - Slavery Whip Mix - CD BONG 6/INT 826.824
Enjoy the Silence - CD Bong 18
Barrel of a Gun - 9 43828-2 REPRISE
Barrel of a Gun - CDSMUT 10
Only When I Loose Myself - CDSMUT30

There may be one or two extra discs over the next few days as I sort through the pile

Leave a comment if you are interested

The death of religion will come....

2006-11-19T21:24:00.000+02:00

Once the majority of humanity comes to the realisation that religion is not a prerequisite for ordinary human decency then science will kill religion - not by reason challenging faith, but by offering a more practical, universal and rewarding moral framework for human interaction. A naturalistic moral philosophy will replace the rotting fictions of theological ethics. (paraphrasing Geoffrey Millar, NewScientist, 18.11.2006

I think it is also safe to say that once we (homo sapiens) realise that we are not alone in this universe we will be forced to move beyond the thought processes that we should have abandoned years ago,

BTW today is mental offload day, in case you hadn't noticed!

Racists, Bigots, the Narrow-minded, etc pay attention

2006-11-19T21:17:00.000+02:00

Here's hoping the all the GW worshipping, Al Queda following, christian fundamentalist types, racists, bigots and narrow minded idiots of the planet will just follow some good advice before they ruin the place for all of us - to paraphrase Charles de Gaulle 'politics is to important to leave to the politicians'

(and they say music and musicians have no power - no body can tell you what the voices in your head should be singing)

People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully

So were different colours
And were different creeds
And different people
Have different needs
Its obvious you hate me
Though Ive done nothing wrong
Ive never even met you
So what could I have done
I cant understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
Help me understand
Help me understand

Now youre punching
And youre kicking
And youre shouting at me
And Im relying on your common decency
So far it hasnt surfaced
But Im sure it exists
It just takes a while to travel
From your head to your fist (head to your fists)
I cant understand what makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully
People are people
So why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully

I cant understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I cant understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I cant understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
I cant understand (people are people)
What makes a man (why should it be)
Hate another man
Help me understand...

(People Are People, Martin Gore, 1983)

Depeche Mode

2006-11-19T20:51:00.000+02:00

So today is the day I have decided to re-encode my entire Depeche Mode collection, all 150+ cd singles, albums, etc (I have everything they have ever produced on CD) - why you might ask?

Well mostly because I am mental and DM is the one thing I obsess about (I invented online shopping just so I could get their cd's on import - ask anyone) - I have just spend a fair whack (in Rands mind you - damn you Look & Listen and HMV) on some limited edition stuff and went to stick it in with the rest of the collection, which because I had left it alone for ages was dusty and dirty (thats what you get when you hide stuff away in a corner out of the hands of youngsters both the toddler kind and those heathens who have no idea what 80's music is all about) also the original encoding was done years ago at 128kps and I wanted the entire lot at 256kps and I hadn't yet added all the singles and albums of the last few years (slaps self on back of head, queerly enjoyable).

Even though the task is daunting I have to admit going all the way back to 1981 (Dreaming of Me) has rekindled the joy I used to feel to listening to this stuff at 13, lying in the dark with the volume up full wishing the world (mostly boarding school life) away.

Although he will never know it, I thank Craig Weightman every day for the time he chose to trust me with his precious 101 import double LP (a big leap given my social standing or lack thereof in the hostel) - remind me to buy him a round of golf if you ever bump into him.

I am going to be up very late tonight, but quite frankly I don't give a toss - if I had any hair at all the hairstyle tomorrow would make Martin Gore proud!

Even if..

2006-10-27T20:12:00.000+02:00

you have half a brain you should read this book.

preferably with an open, logical and scientific mind.

The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins - not only is this guy super smart, he presents a clean, logical argument that if nothing else will get you to question your belief systems.

'Imagine, with John Lennon, a world with no religion. Imagine no suicide bombers, no 9/11, no 7/7, no Crusades, no witch-hunts, no Gunpowder Plot, no Indian Partition, no Israeli/Palestinian wars, no Serb/Croat/Muslim massacres, no persecution of Jews as "Christ-killers", no Northern Ireland 'troubles', no 'honour killings', no shiny-suited bouffant-haired televangelists fleecing gullible people of their money ('God wants you to give till it hurts'). Imagine no Taliban to blow up ancient statues, no public beheadings of blasphemers, no flogging of female skin for the crime of showing an inch it' - Just imagine.

'If the advocates of apartheid had their wits about them they would claim - for all I know truthfully - that allowing mixed races is against their religion. A good part of the opposition would respectfully tiptoe away. And it is no use claiming that this is an unfair parallel because apartheid has no rational justification. The whole point of religious faith, its strength and chief glory, is that is does not depend on rational justification. The rest of us are expected to defend our prejudices. But ask a religious person to justify their faith and your infringe religious liberty'

The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that religion is just an excuse for one set of people to have and maintain power of others under the guise of explaining the non-existant to the unconcerned. Religion is a throw back to a time when the human race had not sufficiently developed its ability to reason logically and needed something to explain away the fact that things happened without 'rhyme or reason'.

I hope we get out of the dark ages before we do ourselves in.

Help me understand

2006-10-27T20:04:00.000+02:00

One more reason I don't understand the mindset of those who purport to lead Islam

'Maybe then we could get past Al-Hilali’s bad analogy and get back to wondering why a cleric is arguing that men have no free will.'

I'm curious about the logic Al-Hilali uses.

For example, if Muslim men go out in public with their ugly faces bared for all to see, and people who are offended by such ugliness then take up sledgehammers and start swinging, it is the fault of ugly men baring their faces, decent people protecting the world from wanton ugliness, or the sledgehammers for beautifying the erstwhile ugly mugs?

From The Dilbert Blog

Religion - WTF?

2006-09-16T22:19:00.000+02:00

Let me preface this post (and the shit storm that will follow - that is if anyone reads it) by saying that I do not subscribe to the notion or practice of religion, I could be classified as an athiest if you where looking for a label - quite frankly I don't subscribe to the notion of a higher being that is omnipotent and omnipresent, I believe in myself and my power to shape the future.

This may explain why it is my opinion that all religion and belief systems based on the existance of a god figure who must be obeyed are nothing more than small minds trying to out do each other of who has the best imaginary friend. I can understand someone looking for some guidance in life, but to hand your mental faculties over to something that does not exist, who's 'leaders' have no view of the modern world beyond their interpretations of ancient texts, is beyond me, and don't give me the argument about faith - I could pray 20 times a day to [insert your religious figure here] and have faith that 'it' will listen and deliver for me, but it doesn't mean that Man Utd are going to get relegated from the premiership anytime soon (unfortunately).

Let us take the riots and demonstrations around the pope's remarks about islam - it seems to me that the islamic faith is incredibly intolerant of anyone questioning its belief system and practices. Sure, if the words or actions are hateful and inciteful you have right to complain, but why do it in a manner which lowers you to the same level as your attacker? Surely someone can come up with a better response than detonating a car bomb because they hate the jews, or murdering a person of the muslim faith becuase they are not christian, or forcing someone to 'convert' to islam to avoid death.

Why does this sound like the catholic church of most of the last 2000 years and most of the latter day quasi religious/money laundering activities that seem to originate in places like nigeria and the southern USA and like to call themselves 'churches' (that being said a lot of money is raised in the name of religion and donated to charity, whilst this is commendable, I'd like to know how much of the distributions only go to like minded individuals or organisations, but that is another topic altogether).

I subscribe to the notion that all wo/men are created equal and have the right to choose their own path in life, in all respects, as long as their actions and desires to not impact negatively on others - the catholic church has only recently got over the fact that they cannot fashion the religious landscape of the planet in their singular vision and that killing/shunning/banning/exciling/excommunicating/etc those that do not subscribe to their point of view is a bad thing.

I would love to see how a priest, mullah, rabbi, etc can explain to me their lack of condemnation for the killing of any number of people in the name of their religion

I cannot see why a person should have to apologise for having an opinion, especially if it is backed up with a sound argument, logical reasoning and no evidence to the contrary. If I choose to call something 'evil and inhuman' prove to me that it isn't, because the evidence is certainly not coming out in your favour at this point in history

(Don't get me started on how the 'most powerful' nation on earth have let themselves be duped purely because they are too lazy to have an opinion)

Am I the only one who thinks that islam (and pretty much every other religion the human race has invented) is still applying tenets that where first thought up prior to the dark ages in order to help people cope with life as they knew it then and that they have no desire to change or modernise their faith to bring them in line with contemporary thinking? Or is hardline islam an excuse to keep things just the way they are, or to ensure a certain sector is kept in power? That sounds a lot like apartheid to me!

For f#$k sake it's the 21st century - we have better things to worry about than whether or not one person thinks less of another because of their religion - lets worry about poverty, starvation, oppression and general narrow mindedness instead of for another few millions years for our so called gods to arrive. The only 'gods' that are likely to arrive are from another star system and they will probably dismiss our race as trivial until we start seeing ourselves as a single species on a single planet.

I don't understand - can someone tell me how two of the best selling novels of all time changed from being a sometimes well written guideline as to how a person could/should lead a moral and ethical life to an excuse to butcher people in the name of the fictions contained therein. If you want to run your life based on a set of guidelines that applied to life as it was 2000-5000 years ago be my guest, just don't expect me to follow suit just because you say so.

If anyone does read this and takes offence, remember this - I am entitled to my opinion, I am entitled to my belief system and I am entitled to live my life the way I see fit as long as I don't ruin it for anyone else : don't try and convert me, condemn me if you will but remember this - you are only reinforcing your narrow minded beliefs and you will only be making yourself feel better, how you live with the guilt of judging another is your problem.

Have a look at my post of Thursday, April 07, 2005 for a more succint overview of another religious issue.

Miraculous comeback

2005-05-26T11:16:00.000+02:00

Liverpool beat Ac Milan 3-2 on penalties, after drawing 3-3 after extra time

speechless, for what must the first time in my life, I am speechless

Daft but profound

2005-04-07T12:27:00.000+02:00

This bloke may be as daft as a brush [http://home.insightbb.com/~dennisforpope/] but on this topic he is decidedly profound!

ABORTION

Ah, this is a thorny issue. Up until now, the position of the Church has been that society should change to accommodate our point of view. Thankfully, most other religions haven’t tried this approach. Imagine a world where you are denied an urgently needed blood transfusion because Jehovah’s Witnesses have barricaded the blood bank. Or suppose you couldn’t sit down to enjoy a ham sandwich at your local Subway without an angry Orthodox Jew grabbing it from your table and hurling it into the trash. Fairly or not, this is what it looks like to people of other religions when Catholics try to impose their views on abortion.

We need to fight abortion with a more proactive approach. I will use some of the Church’s wealth to provide contraception to impoverished women who are deemed to be at risk of having abortions. Aside from protecting unborn human life, this policy will have the beneficial side effect of reducing poverty and overpopulation. I can’t see any downside, so you may see this happen regardless of who is elected Pope.

Out of Office

2005-03-29T13:46:00.000+02:00

I think this is a great out of the office message, what do you think?

"I am out of the office (who needs offices anyway) right now but still connected in real time via GPRS, 3G, Wifi, GSM (phone), POTS (plain old telephone system), SKYPE, Instant Messaging, SMS, MMS, mental telepathy and I think I have a Bluetooth ache! (I am still sulking about not making the cut for blackberry!!).

I am not dialing-up for my mail (very old fashioned - my mail just follows me around!) and will be reviewing every couple of hours (Our systems are real time but I am batch processing).

Please liaise with my disaster recovery system (..., ..., ... and ..) in the event that you are desperate for some Tech Engineering involvement (and who isn't!). Innovate, Automate, Emigrate or Evaporate!

Ciao! Back on ..."

Tuesday Part II

2005-03-29T13:43:00.000+02:00

Details to follow as soon as they become available.....

All the signs where there, but the head still says it won't happen even if the heart believes it will.

But even so, the suspense is still killing me!

UPDATE: no news is good news, every finger, toe and a lot of other stuff is crossed and/or knotted - guess it's going to have to wait a day or two more

and then it was wednesday, then thursday, friday came and went [logistical issues with another offer apparently] - so it looks like it might all take place on a monday after all

UPDATE: and now I find out it can't be monday because the headhunter is in bed with suspected malaria! what little hair I have left is rapidly departing.

Tuesday Part I

2005-03-29T13:10:00.000+02:00

Back at the grindstone as it where, time to relate. I have just spent 10 days or so travelling around the country, and as the saying goes it is all about the journey not the destination.

Please excuse the spelling, grammer, etc mistakes I am writing this as it pours out.

The first few days where spent in Wilderness, a quite little town between George and Knysa, a great place, with great beaches and an extremely laid back attitude. The problem is, I wasn't laid back at all for most of my time there.

I obviously needed a holiday, I was short-tempered, aggravated and mean to all and sundry [well more than usual], I spent a great deal of time shouting at Connor for not being able to control his speaking volume - I was so wrapped up in my personal stress that I didn't even notice that the poor thing had a cold/ear infection and what he was doing was a natural reaction - it took a while to sink in that I was switched off to what was going on around me, but once it had, it made a world of difference to my attitude, like a weight had been lifted off my shoulders.
My wife has the patience of the gods to put up with my shit, I often wonder how she does it.

The one thing I did notice about myself during the time in Wilderness is that my feelings with respect to how I feel secure have changed since my bikejacking, I find myself reluctant to put myself in a situation where there will be even the smallest amount of risk whereas before the incident I doubt I would have even noticed any possible problems. I have the means to protect myself and my family to cover nearly all eventualities, I'd hate to think how stressful life must be for those who can't. I wonder how long it will take for these feelings to temper.

From the Wilderness we moved on to Cape Town, my favourite place on earth [I am still trying to move there] for a weeks stay - and I could have stayed for another week at least, and then another week after that, and .... you get the picture.

The time there was a close to perfect as I could wish for: eating, drinking, catching up with family and friends, sightseeing, chilling, wine farming, more eating, more drinking, and generally lazing about [except for the flight up to Johanesburg, but more about that in Part II], when we left on sunday, even though I wanted to stay, I felt like I had had a holiday so much so that in my mind I was able to put plenty of things in perspective. Kudos the family we stayed with, they where incredibly relaxed and accomodating and that made for a great break.

Over the last 13 months, I have been scrabbling for work and taking on as much as I humanly could in order to pay the bills, unfortunately I was also stretching myself a little thin, neglecting my responsibilities at home, and loosing interest in the work I was doing at the blue bank [a place I could work on a permanent basis, if they could only sort out the parking problems] and I could see my employer getting restless about it, but I couldn't be bothered to fix the problem.

Since getting back, I have tidied up my life by fixing some of the little things such as getting machines set up to assist with a client site, sorted out the mess of documents lying around, just small things to get everything organised mentally. I also sorted out one big thing and let my shareholding go and terminated my involvement in a software project I was involved in - not because it was rubbish, but because I wasn't doing it justice - I am sure I'll regret the decision in a few months time once it launches, but hey such is life.

It is amazing to me how relieved I feel after all of this, a sense of lightness knowing that my life is less complicated and I am concentrating on the things that are important. When I went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning, I was looking forward to coming into the office and doing something constructive - I haven't felt that in quite some time.

Now to last tuesday: before the crack of dawn I was at Cape Town International airport to catch a flight to Johannesburg to meet with someone, an interview as such. How it went and who it was with will have to wait for Part II.

Some interesting things about the flights:

I saw Jake White [Springbok Rugby Coach] on the flight up, thing is we where on SAA when the carrier for the springboks is BA and he was sitting in cattle class - surely SARFU aren't that cheap?

SAA needs to teach their flight attendants about personal space, its bad enough that their planes are crammed full of sardines, but to have one of their staff shoving his ass into your face everytime he needs to do something is unacceptable - I mean it is attached you'd think he be able to feel when he was bumping into things

I saw Winnie Mandela [At least I think it was] on the flight back down to Cape Town, she was quiet but the staff made damn sure they all introduced themselves and ensured that they where at her beck and call, grown men giggling like little girls, its ok if you are into that sort of thing, but not when you are stuck in an aluminium tube travelling at 800km/h and you have no where to hide.

BTW finished the new Michael Crichton book by reading it nowhere else but on the plan - and its not bad so thats a bonus.

I hate mondays [tuesday in this case]

2005-03-27T21:49:00.000+02:00

Normally it would be a monday, but given that monday is a public [read bank] holiday in South Africa, tuesday will be filling in this week.

You know that feeling you have when you want something, your heart says you have a shot, but your head knows better - well thats were I am at the moment and the suspense is killing me.

Ah well will have to wait until tuesday [or wednesday depending on how slowly the bureaucracy is grinding along]

More to follow

bollocks

2005-02-27T19:24:00.000+02:00

liverpool - trophy free zone [like everton is ever going to win anything]

Carling Cup Final

2005-02-26T11:08:00.000+02:00

Liverpool 2 - 1 Chelsea

I can live in hope can't I, in any case I am sure alcholic beverages will be consumed in vast quantities irrespective of which side wins [glad I am only meeting with the head of licensing for Microsoft EMEA at 10:30 on monday and not earlier].

I'd play for free

2005-01-24T23:00:00.000+02:00

It's not so much the fact that Liverpool lost over the weekend, or the ragging I am getting from every footie fan I know [esp. the manky urinals, who happen to work right next door] but the sheer lack of passion displayed on the field.

It is almost as if the players couldn't care less about the result and were only out there for their pay packets, forcing themselves through the game, minimizing their embaressment before the final whistle blew. Pathetic.

Mr Benitez, give me a call, I can play, I'd love to play but most of all I'd play for free [and then no doubt promptly die from exhaustion].

Apple should thank Depeche Mode

2005-01-24T22:54:00.000+02:00

If you are a Depeche Mode fan [as I am] and you own the recently released 'Devotional' 2 disc DVD set [as I do], have a look at track 9 on disc 1 - 'I Feel You' - don't the projections look just like the original iPod commercials.

This from a concert in the early 90's - someone at an ad agency somewhere should be owning up as to where they got their inspiration!

And Apple should sponsor DM's next tour [and make sure that I get to see at least one of the concerts]

Something to be proud of [or not]

2005-01-06T18:10:00.000+02:00

I Hate Christmas

2004-12-25T23:18:00.000+02:00

[There is no structure to what follows, it is typed as it came out and no censorship functionality was used - it is almost midnight, I went to sleep less than 12 hours ago and got woken up about 7 hours ago so draw your own conclusions]

I mean Hate with a capital letter - I have for a long time, ever since I had a brain, and then had to deal with the other sibling/parents/perceived favouritism issue [there are issues there to be discussed I know] but mostly because I could see the blatant hypocrisy of the whole affair.

People are dying all over the world because of religious narrow mindedness, corporate greed, human selfishness, intolerance and any other number of dispicable things that we humans find to amuse ourselves, and we are all supposed to show goodwill and happiness towards our fellow man and act on some novel written about events that supposedly took place over 2000 years all while giving praise to some imaginary friend.

I find joy in the pleasure my son takes in the myth of father christmas and look on the face as he sees his pile of presents [although some of the money could have been better spent elsewhere] and I did appreciate the heartfelt [and some amusing] messages from the small number of people who I knew meant them. It was nice to hear the voice of a friend far away, nice to hear him more at peace with himself, but all of these things don't add any shine to how depressed I feel at this time of year.

Granted, I have had a crap year and maybe that is coming into it, any I have almost no time to myself at all in the last 6 months [something which is exteremely important to me], but the crowds, the commercial crassness, the expectation to be understanding with other people just gets me down, and then of course we have to have everyone over at our house for lunch just to top it all off.

I know I am sounding like the grinch here, but I don't appreciate organised religion for the most part I think nearly every single aspect of religion is a crock of shit designed to give the human mind a crutch to explain away those things they cannot understand or do not want to attempt to control or influence, but I take offence when I get looked at with disdain because I don't wish to attend church and then get blamed [in a sense] because the child who did refused to behave [I will admit that had I been there the experience may have been more pleasant for those interested in the religious aspects of the experience, but I have my principles and I believe that it sometimes more important to demostrate those as it is to do something just to make life easier].

I respect the rights of others to believe in what they will and tolerate there practice of these beliefs, but when you judge me because I do not hold the same set of beliefs as you do, my estimation of you suffers irreperably.

To paraphrase Adam Bosworth [http://www.adambosworth.net/] this time of year should be about rededicating ourselfves to a belief and faith in the human spirit, to a belief and a faith in the ability of humans of all beliefs and types to treat each other with dignity and respect and in the need to counter the inherent evil of treating people poorly simply because they do not share your irrational beliefs, not to who has the best imaginary friend.

Religion [and times of the year devoted to religious festivals] will never solve the worlds problem, religion forces people to become to narrow minded, to focus only on the problems of their own special interest group: religion in any form is to blame for nearly all the ills that this planet faces, and those who promote it and practice it should ask themselves how it is the define their lives and their faith in the existance of something completely imaginary.

I am mad, I have trouble sleeping and I just want some peace and quiet. No church should be able to raise money, and politicians should not get paid, the people who occupy positions of this nature at this time do not have all of our best interests at heart.

I am also extremely pissed about the current business environment in South Africa, especially as to how it currently approaches white males, but we will leave that for another time.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Music downloads come to .ZA - so what?

2004-12-14T23:55:00.000+02:00

Musica [a South African based chain of music stores, much like HMV and Virgin, just somewhat smaller] has gone ahead and launched a music download service in South Africa. Yay! I am beside myself with joy, I might even wet my pants, but then I remember there had to be a catch somewhere [what with telkom, sentech, the mobile networks, the receiver of revenue, etc] and its pretty damn obvious.

In this interconnected age, one would expect businesses to pay attention to what is going on, on the rest of the planet, but no this lot seem to have missed the plot. R9.99 for one song! thats 75% more expensive than iTunes [@R5.70 to the $], even if you buy in bulk it is still 46% more expensive!

If they put their own infrastructure in, I might be a little sympathic, but they are just using a white-box solution from OnDemandDistribution [OD2.com]

Some info from the December edition of IEEE spectrum, and I quote Steve Jobs: 'Out of every 99c that Apple charges for a song, about 65c goes to the music label that recorded it. Another 25c goes to 'distribution costs' - mainly credit card charges, but also for the servers, bandwidth, and other expenses needed to operate a large online service' I cannot fathom how the other 88c is being eaten by Musica's marketing efforts

Would someone like to explain this to me?

Anyway must get some sleep, gotta tee off in less than 8 hours!

Liverpool 1 - 1 Portsmouth

2004-12-14T23:49:00.000+02:00

Dozy f**king twats - what a waste of my time, no wonder tonight was the lowest attendance of the season - I sincerely hope Gerrard goes to Chelski, at least that will give Benitez the money to buy a whole new squad of decent players, perhaps he could just buy Portsmouth for gods sake!

Some blog links of note

2004-12-14T23:37:00.000+02:00

How Microsoft does IT

http://www.microsoft.com/services/microsoftservices/howmsdoesIT.mspx

Somewhere to practice your speed reading

http://trevor.smith.name/EST/index.html

world daylight map

http://www.die.net/earth/

This one speaks for itself

http://www.freeprogrammingresources.com/

Fantastic css based menu system

http://www.tanagrampartners.com

Default hardware password list

http://www.phenoelit.de/dpl/dpl.html

PDF speedup [this one is an absolute neccessity]

http://www.acropdf.com/products.html

Enjoy, more to follow [busy ranting at a radio station right now]

A new way to watch footie

2004-12-02T11:25:00.000+02:00

For the last three games [boro, arse and spurs last night] I always seem to miss the key moments right at the end of the game.

V. boro I watched until the 80th minute thinking that the game was heading for a boring
draw, I go to bed and find out the next morning that two goals where scored in the last 7 minutes.

V. Arsenal I changed the channel in the 90th minute thinking it was going to be a draw and lo and behold we snatch victory from the jaws of mediocrity

and then last night with about 8 minutes to go, it being 12:20am and all and liverpool being 1-0 down, I went to bed somewhat dissappointed. I almost crashed my car this morning when I heard they had won.

I think I am going to give watching the last 10 minutes of every game from here on in - if liverpool manage to win stuff it will be well worth the effort :-)

Rant warning

2004-12-01T22:25:00.000+02:00

I don't give to charity, let me clarify that, I don't give to charities that have anything to do with anything other than children and animals.

You see these are the only creatures on the face of this earth that have no control over what we 'humans' do to them. Adults don't deserve my money: abusing alcohol or drugs, need to kick the habit, stop spending your kids food money on drugs, church groups who use their money to build places of 'worship', grand edifices [read architectural wanks] to their supposed saviour - piss off, do something about educating your congregation that birth control is not wrong and that if you are promiscious in these times you will die a horrible death here in hell on earth and the only ones left to suffer will your children.

Belittle Star Trek fans if you will, but Gene Roddenbery showed us all the way forward: until we all stop worrying about ourselves and realise that we are actually quite insignificant in the grander scheme of the universe and that if only one person is suffering then none of use will be free of worry

Liverpool 2 -1 Arsenal

2004-11-28T21:27:00.000+02:00

Phew!

A waste of my bloody money

2004-11-27T14:49:00.000+02:00

I went the cricket [here in South Africa, at the Wanderers, Highveld Lions vs. Northerns Titans] it was a great game, some iffy batting, some great bowling and a complete collapse of the opponents middle and lower order, so much fun for us home fans.

It was also the first time we took Connor [aged 4] to a day/night cricket game and on the whole he enjoyed it and we all had a good time.

Thing that really go me though was how few people where at the game, it is first class cricket, the players are professional and the standard of play was high, yet there where only a few thousand in the ground - was is even worse is the fact that I counted over 110 empty corporate boxes!

Now if I, as a business owner, had a box at a venue like that, if I couldn't get my clients to the ground, I damn well make sure that my staff enjoyed the facilities, if for nothing more than rescue my forlone and lonely looking advertising hoardings.

Like I said, as waste of my bloody money, if you are going to add a profit margin to something [and I have no problem with it] then at least give me something to show for when you start spending it!

Who are the cruel one's

2004-11-26T07:45:00.000+02:00

Earlier this week I saw a story from New Zealand about some dolphins protecting a bunch of swimmers from an attack by a white shark, even going so far as to herd the swimmers back together to make sure nothing happen.

Irrespective of whether or not this is true, if you compare to this to the hateful, painful and destructive things that human beings do to each other, it is funny that we think that mother nature is cruel.

Mother nature is not cruel, she is efficient. Predators do not attack the weak because they hate the creature in question, or feel like torturing or lording over the animal - they do it because they are hungry, nothing else enters into it [unless you are a domestic cat that is].

This helps ensure that only the strongest survive and that an animal will do its best to deliver future generations that are able to survive.

Humans just seem to be hell bent on destroying themselves, using a bewildering array of narrow minded excuses i.e. who has the best imaginary friend [religion], who has the most toys [money, oil, etc], jealousy/paranoia [nazism, dictatorship], self interest [apartheid, zionism (flame away)] and many more.

Todays week attempt at poetry.

Out in the open, I move with trepidation, I relish my freedom
You attack me, rob me and strip me of my sense of security
now I move behind these walls, I feel safe, but I do not feel free

How does business go on?

2004-11-22T22:51:00.000+02:00

At present I am contracting in a bank, mostly full time, whilst doing part-time development work for one of the big 4(?) auditing firms as well as a parastatel, and the one thing that strikes me about all of these enterprises is that despite the worst intentions of their employees the show always goes on.

I mean, there is so much political back-stabbing, turf protecting, face saving and blame shifting going on that one would expect nothing to be happening.

Now I am walking the corridors of the corporate world by choice, as I have spent nearly all of my working career in start-ups or small companies, where I have had free rein to do things as I see fit [and I have been pretty succesful thus far] but I felt that there was something missing from my resume, that I would not be taken seriously until I had spent time riding the ebb and flow of the corporate tide, not sinking but learning the language and thought processes that recruiters and other businesses look for.

Now all I have to figure out is how to stay awake, because quite frankly if I leave out all the rubbish that consumes most peoples days in these companies, there is not really enough work to keep me interested.

Football, Soccer, call it what you want - the beautiful game!

2004-11-17T22:36:00.000+02:00

Those of you who know me, know that I am a Liverpool fan and have taken quite a bit of flak over the last decade [especially from the one or two manky urinal fans that exist] for the way they seem to be perpetual underachievers.

This is part and parcel of being a 'proper' fan - I raise the issue because I had a most amusing conversation with a so-called Manky fan earlier today who is convinced that he is team is the best thing since sliced bread [may I point out at this stage that Liverpool is the most succesful team in british football history, period - live with it], problem is he couldn't have an argument about the relative merits of his side beyond 5 seasons ago, nor can he remember his side when they where truly rubbish [pretty much for their entire history]

Real fans remember teams, games, faces, names, scorelines going back decades, part-time/convenience fans switch allegiance to whoever has the coolest looking kit [and happens to winning at this point in time] - even thinking about standing on the kop or listening to you'll never walk alone on the tellie gives me goosepimples.

Its all a matter of religion I suppose, red vs. blue, north vs. south, merseyside vs. scumchester.

At least we aren't all arguing over who has the best imaginary friend!

and if you are a footie fan, check this site out - http://www.soccercommercials.com/

now off to watch England beat [hopefully] Spain

gmail invites

2004-10-06T18:23:00.000+02:00

Lets see how many people are watching - I have 6 gmail invites just waiting to be sent out.

A white african, or a white in africa

2004-09-26T20:44:00.000+02:00

There are days where you know you should just have stayed in bed, today was one of those days!

[disclaimer: this may seem all over the place and make no sense at all - I am spewing here]

At 7:30 this morning, myself and a friend [Quintin] where robbed at gun-point of our mountain bikes, cell [mobile] phones, various other accessories, etc but most important of all we where robbed of our sense of security.

I am now filled with a sense of rage, which my pragmatic, solve the damn problem, get everything working side says is a natural reaction to the events I experienced and hell the fact of the matter is there are a lot of people out there who are less fortunate than you, the problem is my 'I want this guy dead side' has once again surfaced after a decade or more in remission and I desperately want to let it loose.

I can deal with being robbed, it has happened to me before, but it is the manner in which it occurred that irks me [read fucks me off completely] as it was nothing more than an opportunistic action aimed at lining someones pockets, and the R35000 worth of goods will no doubt be disposed of for less than 2% of their original value.

The 3 assailants swore at us, threatened us and when one of the stolen handsets was called, said it was our own fault for being white and that we should be happy we got off alive. Fuck its not like I didn't work my arse off to get where I am, and all it took for these idiots to get what they wanted was a gun - what type of example does that set.

I am glad of two things, one that neither of use was badly hurt [although I am sure Quintin's cuts and bruises from the flying tackle that hit him off his bike are sore] and two that the elderly couple who where walking up the hill just behind us didn't bump into these three animals, who where carrying firearms for the fun of it.

The assailants where black, this is not a racist statement, merely the truth and that is not to say that white folk don't do this kind of thing, it just seems that crimes of this nature seem to perpetrated by folk of single hue in this country. However my faith in humanity was restored to some degree by the kindly [black] lady who was walking to work and took time out of her morning to lend us her phone so we could call the police, and to the couple who lived not 100 metres from the scene of the crime, who couldn't do enough to help [and saved us a 10km walk home].

I have been pro-south african for so long now that the way I feel now must be what it is like to have a broken heart, I am now sick and tired of hearing and seeing only bad news in the press, of having friends and now myself becoming crime statistics, but most of all I feel like a complete tosser because it was my ride to lead that took us right where we shouldn't have been.

It was a beautiful day at the top of the hill, at 7:29 this morning, it was pretty much down hill from there.

I want out of this godforsaken place - somewhere there has to be someone who will answer an email with my CV attached.

Lots to say, not much to write home about

2004-08-07T16:45:00.000+02:00

So its been a while, I don't know maybe I am lazy, or maybe I just don't give a toss [probable], but brace yourself for an outpouring.

It is coming up on six months since I left the world of permanent employment and I can't say whether or not I am actually enjoying working for myself - the hours are good, the ability to set your own work timetable [I am not good in the morning, but rock after about 4pm] is great, I have gotten to see my son a whole lot more and play with the dogs, but the constant worry about where the funds are coming from to pay the bills, and having to find clients [and taking work because I have to, not because I want to] is wearing me down.

Right now I have a 3-4 month gig at the blue bank, so for a while the bills are taken care of. Problem is, I don't really know if this is what I want to be doing, it is a project management position - something which I am not sure I am good at, which for me is a complete change. As anyone who knows me will tell you, I am a supremely confident being, and normally nothing phases me. Yet in this environment I feel lost and just a little intimidated.

Maybe its because it is a new position or it's the environment, or the fact that I can't cock this up because stuff needs to be paid for [being on 24 hour notice and all], I don't know, but I don't like it. More to follow on this topic I am sure.

There are a number of other things that are also weighing heavily on my mind at the moment - I seem to be unhireable - I have applied for quite a lot of positions both in ZA and in the UK over the last 6 months, I have dutifully followed up and made more than a decent effort to ensure that everything I do is properly presented.

All I have had from the UK is one phone call stating that I am not suited to any position that the company has, but because I got in contact via a staff referral the HR department felt they had to call. I have even managed to get lost in the android system!

The only form of communication I have had for 99.9% of the positions I have applied for is, without fail, the 'thanks but no thanks you don't match what we are looking for' letter or email, and it is getting quite frustrating, more so given the fact that after a great deal of debate [and a fair amount of argument] my wife and I had decided that we wanted to move to the UK.

In ZA I have been for a number of interviews, and a decent amount of second/final interviews and am continually failing at the last hurdle, and I always seem to get the same bullshit excuse 'the other candidate/s had experience that is more in line with what we are looking for', even when, most of the time and according to the placement agent, none of the candidates had come from the same industry, or had related experience - all I want is an honest answer, and some feedback as to how I can improve my chances. Hurt my feelings for god sake, if it is going to make me better at what I am doing! If you tell me its because I didn't sound like I knew what I was doing, fine, if you tell me it is because I am not black, ok, but if you give me some bullshit answer you are going to drive away a person who has drive, determination, skills, experience and the desire to make a difference.

I wonder if anyone asked Neil Armstrong if he had previous experience with moon walking before picking him for Apollo 11?

The thing that irritates me the most though, is how the little things are not going my way right now - I have tried to sell my car, no takers. I have tried to get a number of new businesses [with more than decent value propositions] off the ground, no takers. Even the tech ideas I am having of late are lame, out of date or already in the market. Lets see if the stuff in the mobile space with the might Eschelowitz happens.

Am I experiencing a crisis of confidence? Who knows? For now I'll stick to my dictum that the harder you try, the luckier you get, but I doubt it is going to make me feel any better.

Parting thought : walking on water, and delivering a software project to a set of specifications are both easy if the subject matter is frozen.

Immutable truths, Part I

2004-06-23T20:43:00.000+02:00

- England will look good, but choke when it matters [in pretty much every sport, except
for that blip at the rugby world cup]
- Religion is all about who has the best imaginery friend
- you avoid making mistakes through experience, you only get experience through making mistakes

More to follow, as well as not to flattering remarks about Sevitz

Standards based development

2004-06-23T20:38:00.000+02:00

Adrian [sevitz.com] has been berating me over the last few weeks, months, etc about how I, as a highly skilled and experienced developer, should be ashamed of the fact that I am not developing using web standards [see w3c.org], we even almost came to ‘virtual’ blows over the fact – but thank goodness I listened to him, and parked the ego long enough to see the error of my ways. I have dumped IE6+ as my primary browser and am quite happily using firefox, I am doing a helleva lot of reading on the topic, and have acquired and almost missionary zeal for developing this way so much so that I gave the lead developer at on of South Africa’s longest established development agencies a real ticking of for ignoring them. Viva standards based development Viva, Amandla W3C.org, down with non-compliant browsers, forward to the revolution, one browser, one standard [lets see if you anyone gets the non to subtle references]

Work or something like it

2004-06-23T20:37:00.000+02:00

So today I did a deal to pay for half my monthly expenses for working half the month – a fair enough return I’d say, now I just have to work on the other half. Beggars can’t be choosers and at least I didn’t have to beg even if the company is not somewhere I would choose to work.

To be or not to be: racist?

2004-06-23T20:36:00.000+02:00

The challenge [I was going to use the word problem] with living in a country that has been subjected to a system as evil as apartheid and come out of it, is the overwhelming urge people have to go in the totally opposite direction when it comes to setting things right. Take being white in south Africa and looking for a job, if you are looking for a senior position, are youngish [in experience terms] and don’t have a buddy network [read a lot of people who owe you favours] then it would seem to be almost impossible to find employment.

I have been looking since the middle of last year, and have made exactly 2 interviews in that time, I have seen plenty of agencies, but no actual employers – now I know the problem is not with me, I am a bright guy and have done some really [not my quote] impressive stuff over the last 10 years, but I seem to be unhireable, either I am the wrong colour, to expensive, to cheap, to experienced, not experienced enough or don’t have the right personality [read I have principles and ethics] for a position. Companies are hiring and the based of creed, colour and connections and in the long run that cannot be good for the country.

The problem extends further in that folks aren’t interested supporting businesses if they don’t have an element of black empowerment, I am trying to get two businesses off the ground in areas I understand extremely well – but I don’t know the ‘right’ people so it is proving to be difficult, but hey I am a stubborn bastard! We shall see

Now I am originally from the UK, but I consider myself fiercely and proudly South African, and I understand that the imbalances of the past need to be set right, but it pains me to think that I will, in all likelihood, have to leave the country in order to make a living, which means my earnings will go into some others state coffers and I won’t be around to put my passion and desire for transformation into action, but most of all it breaks my heart [and moves me to tears] that my son won’t be here to enjoy what this country has to offer.

Blogal diarrhea

2004-06-23T20:02:00.000+02:00

I know England have qualified for the quarterfinals [and looked like winning the group there for a short while] after impressing against Croatia [except for the set pieces] and flattering to deceive against Switzerland, but how the bloody hell did they manage to self destruct so spectacularly against France, God only knows – I am bloody relieved to see we got rid of Heskey, and Gerrard deserves a good kicking

Moving on

2004-06-03T20:59:00.000+02:00

So this has been somewhat of a crap week - I had to walk out of the place I was at on monday [what I thought I was going to do, what the owner explained what he wanted me to do, and what he actually wanted me to where completely different] after I pointed out that I was really just an expensive executive assistant, then I found out that I didn't get the job I wanted - as it was a parastatel position I should have know that I would get done at the last minute by someone with an inside connection [at least thats what the internal recruitment wonk told me, perhaps she was trying to make me feel better] the really dissappointing part is that when I walked out of the interview on friday I felt it was a done deal, as did the recruitment officer. You win some, you lose some I suppose.

So now its back to hunting for a job in a non-existant market, whilst trying to find contract work to keep the bank, etc away from the door.

Lets hope that the good ideas keep rolling in - anyone want to licence a sms turn-based gaming engine?

funny how

2004-05-28T21:29:00.000+02:00

When you are feeling slightly depressed the first banner ad you see as you publish your very first blog is for a guest cottage on a wine farm - damn you google, what are you trying say?

Post ciotal blues

2004-05-28T21:17:00.000+02:00

Late yesterday afternoon I get a phone call, out of the blue, inviting me to a final round interview 2 weeks ahead of schedule. This is not a bad thing, I have been coveting the position every since I first saw it advertised, it is extremely senior in the IT/Government space, it's something I really want to [apparently I came across as very passionate] and besides it will look damn good on my CV [resume for you non-european types] and being selected to meet the CEO as one of three final round candidates from an initial batch of several hundred applicants meant a great deal for me, the interview even went brilliantly [according to the internal recruiter, who doesn't seem the type to bullsh*t - I am usually pretty good a telling these things] and I left the psuedo-military complex on a high.

Problem was, by the time I got back to my [temporary] employers offices, I felt terrible - not a shred of confidence, felt completely useless and I have no idea why, given that I am not normally this way.

Maybe I am just subconciously lowering my expectations, just in case it doesn't work out and I have to carry on working [temporarily] in the sh*thole I am in till I find something else appealing [or I go bankrupt because I have become unemployable]