Spotted at OR Tambo.

“While the 4 little piggies were engrossed in foosball, the big bad wolf huffed and puffed and blew down the plane.”

My mate Hoox’s mom was diagnosed with breast cancer 2 months ago. They removed it all, but she still has to undergo the very heavy task of chemotherapy for another year. After her first session, Hoox, who’s currently stationed in Albania, made a video to tell his mom she’s not alone.

From one baldy to another. Too awesome. You’re a legend, bro.

The problem with the iPhone is the word following the i. You see the iPhone promises to be so much more than just a phone. It’d an iPod, a calender, an email device and much more.

Here’s where this becomes a problem.

Last week I bought an official iPhone, it was faulty out of the box (constantly displaying ‘no service’ messages). We took it to Vodacare and they admitted that the problem was common and that they would replace the phone. However, they said that it would take a week as they want to send my phone in to their workshop.

That’s the first WTF?!

This is no longer my problem, a common fault, on a brand new phone, replace it and deal with your issues later. This is also in violation of Apple’s warranty.

However nice guys that we are, we said that would be fine, provided we get a suitable loan unit. They said that the best that they could do was a low-end call only handheld.

That’s the second WTF?!

When they sold me an iPhone, they sold me a device that manages many aspects of my life. As people that deal with me a lot know, phone calls probably account for 10% of my usage, the balance being email, IM, iPod, PDA, and, ummm, twitter. This is what they need to replace.

The game has changed, phone’s are so much more than phones. The networks that sell these devices need to wake up and stay with the times….

…and I want a new, err, phone…!

Helping us search through the days of old…

…when we had a president…!

But good news is better news.

South Africa – The Good News, sponsored by FNB, is a website dedicated to bringing you all the latest, local, good news. I’m guessing they won’t be posting as many posts as some of the other news sites, as people tend to be hooked towards bad news more than good, but it’s awesome to see some people bringing you the positive stuff.

The site also offers some Fast Facts and Quick Stats about South Africa, all, as you can imagine, positive.

Haha! Real story here.

Am I the only one, or does this visual look a lot like someone about to blow their brains out?

Hardly surprising really when you consider the state of the economy and the 15% interest rate raping…!

I have two issues with this:

1. A meeting was held with Jacob Zuma and the Forum of Black Journalists. All white journalists were asked to leave the meeting.

2. When 2 non-white journalists stood up and left the meeting along with the whiteys, they were called ‘coconuts‘.

Okay, I understand the fact that a Forum of Black Journalists will not consist of any white folk, but a meeting held with the soon-to-be-president of this country, who has plenty of contempt for press freedom and claiming the media are ‘minority voices out of tune with the majority in the country’, should, in my opinion, be allowed to be viewed ad documented by all journalists, regardless of race.

Something just doesn’t seem right. Imagine Helen Zille held a press conference for only white journalists, the shit would hit the fan instantly. Racial discrimination, either way, is not only against the constitution, but it’s also just nasty.

I’m still not fully sure how I feel about this, all I know is that something is dodgy, and with Zuma’s dodgy past, I don’t think I’m far from right.

So I just caught a good part of Trev’s budget speech. As a presentation specialist I can tell you that I’m in awe – that guy knows how to tell a story.
All in all, pretty good news. A few things I liked.

- Sin tax is up, you’ll pay 60 odd cents more for 20 cigs, a few cents per beer, and just over 2 bucks for a bottle of hard tack – as a tee-totaling non-smoker, I’m down with that like a sweet-toothed lesbian on a chocolate vagina (thanks Ross).

- Electricity will cost 15% more. This is a good thing. Here’s the thinking, our electricity by global standards is already too cheap, we also don’t have enough of it. The belief is that this will force people to be a little more conservative with their energy (save 10% of your current usage and you’ll break even). The also gave R60bn (ish) loan to Eskom to sort their shit out. Like I said, a good thing.

- Oh, and about R9bn in tax cuts, mostly for us. Nice.

For more detail, I’m sure you can pop over to our friends at Commentary, or if your quick, catch Bruce Whitfield and Trevor Manuel breaking it down on 702 (Cape Talk) tonight at 18h00 (transcript here). Or if you’re really interested, you can read the transcript courtesy of Old Mutual.

Now to the greenback reference in my subject line. I thought this was a very rad touch:

It’s a small detail, but I’m super-stoked that it found a place in something as serious as this year’s budget speech.

Trevor Manuel for Pres…!

So Thabo Mbeki and the ANC created the Scorpions, announcing “a special and adequately staffed and equipped investigative unit will be established urgently, to deal with all national priority crime, including police corruption”.

Then Jacob Zuma, one who has been prone to investigation by the Scorpions, becomes ANC leader and now they’re getting dissolved.

Coincidence?

No way.

Zuma has vowed to step down from party leader if he’s convicted in his ongoing corruption case. I reckon, and I’m no expert on the matter, that he’s chicken shit of the Scorpions, ‘cos they’re the only ones who can make some headway on the case.

Stories at BBC, Reuters, M&G, Citizen and more.

Update: Just received an email for an online petition against it. Have your say here.

Polemic (as in “controversy”) n.: a controversy (especially over a belief or dogma)

Tendencious (as in “tendentious”) adj. : having or marked by a strong tendency especially a controversial one; “a tendentious account of recent elections”; “distinguishing between verifiable fact and tendentious assertion”

Just in case you were wondering…!

They’re not coming for the luscious greens and awesome nightlife, they’re coming to learn how to survive. The thing is, it’s not the real Tiger Woods and Madonna, they’re two South China tiger cubs that need to learn how to live in the wild.

If there’s any place people need to go for survival training, it’s SA!

Haha… Seriously. I just laughed at the heading!

The time has come for some changes to be made to Jo’blog. Yes, yes, I know that you are all shocked, as were we when we first caught wind of the news. The changes have come about because of Don not being happy with his presence at Jo’blog. He forced us to take drastic measures in terms of changing our Jo’blog corporate id.

Don wasn’t entirely happy with how his hair came across in the banner image. He recreated his image and forced us to upload the new banner. Although we were all opposed to the change we have decided that it is probably for the better.

Before

After

And that and that, and some of this, oh, and a little of this one too!

A Reiger Park man stabbed his wife’s lover 22 times, with five different kitchen knives! He fetched a new knife when he felt the one he was using became too blunt. How do you tell when a knife that you’re thrusting into another living being becomes too blunt?

Cuckoo. Cuckoo.

In other news, last night’s rain was an attempt by the weather gods to fool us all! All my hard work gardening this weekend is more than likely gonna be pointless, expect a really hot summer countrywide.

Update: 1. It’s still raining in Jo’burg, 2. This is the last time I do a weather forecast!

Thanks to Globalvote 2004, the rest of the world can now feel a bit empowered about the American elections, as we have a voice of our own against Bush, too.

The results will be published, communicated to the media and emailed to those of us who voted online. Which is cool, because they have no other effect apart from information.

Go cast your vote, world. I voted for for Michael Badnarik, from the Libertarian Party, because:
a) He’s not Bush
b) My birthday’s in October, which makes me a Libertarian too

If my vote actually counted, I would put it behind John Kerry, but only because he’s the only one right now with a hope of ousting ol’ Big Ears. Although, I have a feeling that even if Kerry wins, we would only have a new head of state to despise. Oh, well. The lesser of two evils, and all that.

Hopefully.

A masked man robbed a high school in Bloemfontein of R12 000, then ran away. But really, ran away, on foot! What did the Athletics captain get his badge for? Not running?

A little effort boys, c’mon!

Just ask the guy who’s been arrested for the kidnapping and murder of Leigh Matthews. He’ll be appearing in court tomorrow, I hope he gets what he deserves.

Off the topic, don’t some people know that long distance relationships just never work? It could be the Tokoloshe, or SA kids are like ninja’s!

Why are more people not talking about this initiative?

Kind of embarrassing when we hear about it via the States. I commented on Dane’s site (well worth a visit) that it’s a great initiative, but poorly implemented. Have any of you had any good experience with this yet?

Here’s hoping…!