It's all relative

It is isn't it? What different societies consider good/bad, or rather the standards that provide a benchmark wherever you are...

Having had a pretty long stay in Australia, it'd be a bit unfair to make a direct comparison with SA, SA is a developing country (albeit with pretty developed major cities) and I've been exposed to two highly rated cities in Sydney and Melbourne.

But anyway, it's funny to hear what people bitch about here in aus compared to our seemingly more fundamental problems:

• fek, the trains late by 2minitues
• the bikey gangs had a fist fight in public
• our suburb doesn't have google streetview yet
• i had to wait for a youtube video to buffer today

The initial feeling you have is that the aussies are spoilt and they shouldn't really be complaning but that's really a testament to the fact that Aus is way more developed... It's all relative.

But that's just it, SA has a long long way to go before we can complain about such 'petty' things. The problem of course is that there is a huge gap in SA between the rich and the poor, and really that's gotta be what needs to be addressed first. I've been lucky enough to be on the right end of the stick so far in SA and as much as I'd like to have the luxury of such high end bitching, I know that it can't be priority.

Or can it?

Well, the short answer is no... But I think SA's reaching that stage where there's going to be a lot of rapid development that could sway the answer to the question. We're already at that stage in many respects, drive around Jhb and you'll see, work everywhere! buildings, roads, gautrain, malls, commercial and residential complexes, telecomms. It's awesome!

2010 is a huge catalyst that's put pressure on everyone to deliver, we should never underestimate the effect that the world cup has had (and will have) on SA!

I hope that we keep pushing with this momentum over the next decade or so. If we do, I don't think it's overly optimistic to imagine that we'll be sitting pretty and we can identify ourselves as a world force rather than just Africa's shining light.

Maybe then we can get our own bikey gangs?

A BINGeing competition!

Before I start, I gotta say that I'm really surprised that a lot of brotha's blog topics so far have had a political flavour to them. I really never saw any of us contributors as people who cared about politics so much, flavour of the week maybe, or maybe we've become that mature (boring) all of a sudden =/

Anyway, back to topic. So I thought I'd use the word 'bingeing' before everyone got sick to their stomachs everytime they heard it (although I suspect the term would be - binging). I'm refering of course to bing, Microsoft's new search engine. A friend showed it to me the other day and as far as first impressions go, this one was pretty good. As pro google as I am (believe me, I am - I sound like a salesman sometimes and I'm currently eyeing an android phone), I'm also very pro-competition... So I'm all for it!

I'm not doing a review here, I lack the technical know how (oh ya, i'm lazy too) to do a search engine benchmark. But what I will say is that the interface is quite impressive in its simplicity. It seems that MS has taken a leaf outta google's book there, kudos. I don't quite get the background image but I strangely don't mind it.

Microsoft have been pretty busy it seems, project Natal (I'll pronounce it like Kwa-Zulu Natal) looks like taking on the wii in a big way, except I think (for now anyway) people will take some time to getting used to playing games without a controller. Windows 7 too apparently is pretty awesome from reviews I've heard, besides the cut down version that only lets you run 4 apps at once (fail!).

Anyway, it's about time MS stepped up to the plate. I guess they didn't have a choice with the competition slowly eating away at their share of the market.

As much as the internet's part of our daily lives, I think it'd be a bit more relevant to point out the parallels that I can see now with the above mentioned competition and telecomms in SA:

I hope this microsoft reaction is the sorta thing we can see in SA from Helkom now that Neotel's on the prowl... I know SEACOM is a big step in the impending revolution, it couldn't come sooner! By the by - for those that don't know, Neotel through Tata have a nice stake in SEACOM, so this could be the beginning of the end (touch wood) of the exploitation us Saffers have been subject to for years!

Exciting times with all this competition... B(r)ing it! -sorry, couldn't resist :)

Have we returned to the dark ages?

Remember when you were a kid and your mom would take you to the supermarket? There were always those moments when you'd throw your favourite candy or chocolate into the shopping basket, only for your mom to consistently put it back. The child's reaction in those moments always amused me. The well behaved child would just accept the mother's decision; the normal kid would beg and plead for a while before giving up and conceding defeat. But then there is the immature terror child who would throw an absolute fit and trash the entire store hoping to get their way. 

To me, this represents a proxy sliding scale for maturity in the world. 

Child 1) The SA government was adamant that South Africa would avoid recession until the last minute, but earlier this week when they were proven wrong, they gracefully admitted their fault and decided instead to focus on a solution. 

Child 2) During the recent Champions League semi-final between Chelsea and Barcelona, Chelsea players spent 50% of the game yelling, begging and pleading the referee for a penalty on several separate occasions. It almost got ugly, but in the end the Chelsea players begrudgingly conceded defeat.

Child 3) Maphatsoe again threatened militant action: “Should Zille not immediately cease the racist tendencies that bring pain to all military veterans of SA, MKMVA will not hesitate to implement a militant programme of action to take back the streets and our communities.”

I must admit that I find that last bit slightly amusing and highly disturbing. When did we return to the dark ages where people would unrightfully demand to get their way and threaten with force in order to get it? Or has the American culture of acting like 10-year olds spread to SA? Have we not evolved at all? And you have to love the new catch phrase in SA politics, commonly used by groups such as the ANCYL, COSATU and MKMVA: 'we will render it ungovernable'. Can you imagine if everyone approached their problems this way?

Boss: Paul I want those reports completed by Friday please.

Paul: No, I refuse. And if you insist my mates and I will make this office ungovernable. Additionally, I require a raise and a car allowance.

Teacher: Greg please stop pulling Sarah's hair.

Greg: No, you can't make me. And if you try I'll make this class ungovernable.

I could go on... But then again, we should ask ourselves what do we really expect from leaders whose education is limited to this:

(a low blow I admit, but I just couldn't resist)

Fear and Distrust...

Allow me to spend one post on a fairly topical issue.

Many people don't seem to be aware of this, but the current global economic recession is as much a product of fear as it is of underlying macroeconomic issues. In fact, if we gaze through history, we can identify countless tragedies that were brought about by the fear of the unknown and distrust of people and things that were different and unfamiliar. The burning of witches, the persecution of scientists by the Catholic church, the holocaust, religious wars and holy crusades... one could go on forever. Even today, conflict (both physical and otherwise) continues in certain parts of the world because people fear each other and are unwilling to attempt to understand and trust people that are different. The metaphor extends to organizations and institutions as well, just look at the US banking sector and various governments' reactions to the global recession.

But I digress... the reason this topic came to mind is far more recent and hits closer to home. Over the last month, a South African trade union (COSATU) attempted to block the public listing of SA's most prominent mobile telecommunications provider (Vodacom). Their public reasoning for this action was to prevent British company Vodafone from acquiring a controlling stake in Vodacom, because they feared that a foreign company would have no reason to care about South African employment, concerning themselves with profit margins instead, and jobs would be lost as a result. In an environment when job losses are almost inevitable, they had no concern about South African controlled Vodacom shedding jobs, but once a foreign country had control they FEARED job losses.

It appears however, that the true reasons for COSATU's (who are firm political allies of the ANC) actions actually make even less sense. It turns out that prominent members of a rival political party (COPE) stood to gain substantially from the R22.6 billion deal's success. So the actual motivation for blocking the listing of Vodacom was to prevent these individuals from making money that could end up in the coffers of COPE. To me, this reasoning is astounding. They were so afraid of money flowing towards a rival political party that they tried to block a massive R22.6 billion deal. Not only that, but they managed to persuade the supposedly 'independent' regulatory body to reverse their earlier decision and object to the listing as well! 

The big issue here, is that if COSATU had succeeded, it would have been a significant blow to an economy already in recession. Without boring you with economic details, South Africa depends on foreign cash flows to finance a substantial deficit in our current account (imports minus exports). A successful action by COSATU would have resulted in significantly reduced investor confidence, most likely resulting in seriously diminished capital flows into SA. Something that would have hurt South African workers as a whole substantially more than most people realise. The same South African workers, whose interests COSATU claims to represent. 

The Times They Are a-Changin'

This blog post has been insipired by my sudden realisation of how quick things are changing around me, and my reluctancy to let go of some things I naively thought would never change. Ok, who am I kidding, I always knew life would change, just not so quickly.

Bob Dylan sang it in 1964, but it's one of those timeless songs that'll make sense in any one of our lives at some point or the other even to this day... The times they are-a changin'

Hmmm, where to start? 

It's wierd, I'd think the change from varsity to working life would be an immediate shock, but it wasn't, I settled in Ok, it's just now that I start to realise how things have progressed over a year and a half. But work is work, I'm actually more startled at coming to grips with the fact that I'm growing older, and so is everything else I'm familiar with.

A catalyst for this would be that a number of my close friends getting engaged/married (or planning to -you know who you are!). I never thought about it that hard, but when you see people you relate to do it, kinda puts it in perspective... The times they are-a changin'

But its not just that my generation is moving on thats hard to deal with, so are the other generations. Talking to some friends over the past week, the common feeling was how we're trying to resist the fact that our folks are getting older. Again, it's common sense, the circle of life, it's inevitable, but it hits you hard on the head and knocks you out cold when you realise it, to quote directly from the song, "Come mothers and fathers throughout the land, and don't crticize what you can't understand, your sons and your daughters are beyond your command, your old road is rapidly ageing. Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand for the times they are-a changin'

Don't even get me started at the 'kids', we're all looking at the little pipsqeaks growing up with slightly jealous eyes, sigh...

There's hardly any point fighting it (although I've heard five unique requests for time machines to take us back to standard 6 and below over the past month from friends). I'm not fighting it, just maybe seeking some solace in that I'm not alone in this yearning for our lost youth.

That said, woot woot! we're growing older! Finally! 

Our future will be defined by our actions now. Somewhat daunting, but at the same time exhilarating, I've always seeked for approval from elders with regards to decisions I make, yet I've made plenty recently on my own, no worries... The added responsibility is sometimes scary but at most times (so far anyway) awesome.

And that really is the key. Now is our time, the changing of the guard if you will.

We really have to embrace the change because as hard as it is to move on, to quote from Bob Dylan one last time then, "you better start swimmin or you'll sink like a stone... for the times they are a-changin"

Indeed they are... I wonder what brotha thinks of it all

Brotha's IQ is 175! What's yours?

Brotha laughs in the face of these ridiculous IQ ads that have been popping up all over the internet like weeds. The modus operandi appears to require a well known person, a fictional IQ score and a tease line to make you want to prove that you are smarter than the person pictured. With ads like the one below, I can't decide if I should laugh or cry.

Now despite the fact that an IQ of 110 (which is regarded as above average) seems rather generous in this case, the more important point is... WHO THE HELL CARES? 

Sadly this IQ test 'idea' has turned out to be a rather profitable one for advertisers (no doubt due to individuals with sub-100 IQs who keep clicking on these ads hoping to improve their score... the irony of it all) and it appears we'll have to tolerate it for some time yet. These ads have made appearances in various languages, some are bizzare, some have been altered in sick attempts at humour, while others are just plain ridiculous (130? seriously? drop the 1 at least). 

Of course, knowing google ad's cruel sense of humour, there is probably an IQ ad flanking this post, no doubt with Britney's face attached. I can only hope that the readers resist the urge to prove that they have a higher intelligence quotient than a woman who shaved her head, was admitted to a mental institution and flashes her genetalia as a hobby. If you click on the ad, don't bother taking the test, I'll save you the trouble, she wins.

However, if you only take one thing away from this post, let it be this... Brotha's IQ is 175, can you beat that?

- wifi

PS: All the contributors here at 'Where is Brotha?!' have IQ scores of over 140. Can you beat them? Go on, Brotha dares you!

Fear the Cost!

For those of you non believers out there, who think that this whole Lacost thing is a joke, i give you the latest bit of proof that his force is indeed real:

"French fashion designer Pierre Cardin has been hospitalised with an undiagnosed ailment after falling ill at his home in the southern village of Lacoste."

It's no joke guys, Brotha fears Lacost!