A CAPTCHA is a type of challenge-response test used in computing to ensure that the response is not generated by a computer. The process usually involves one computer (a server) asking a user to complete a simple test which the computer is able to generate and grade. Because other computers are unable to solve the CAPTCHA, any user entering a correct solution is presumed to be human. (via Wikipedia)

I really do consider myself an intelligent human being yet despite my own personal beliefs other websites simply don’t agree. For a long time I’ve struggled with CAPTCHA’s implemented on websites. Either I’m really dumb or the technology is flawed – I lean towards to later.

Let’s look at my latest example. Last night I went to Register.com to look for available domain names. Now I normally use GoDaddy for domain name squatting hunting but alas the last few days their search results have not been working properly so I decided to use the other giant.

When I tried to access the WHOIS details for a particular domain I was presented with a CAPTCHA – I guess in an effort to determine if I was a robot or a real human being – but after twenty unsuccessful attempts I simply had to give up the challenge-response test and succumb to the notion that I must be a robot/spammer/computer and not human after all.

After the first ten or so failures I decided to screenshot all my responses to the CAPTCHA images presented to me because I have to prove to myself that I am not a robot by getting your help on the matter. Here are my results.

Please can someone tell me where I went wrong…….?

The net-result is that Register.com will not be seeing any of my money any time soon and I can’t tell you how often this exact thing happens with CAPTCHA. I realise why a site like Register.com uses it, GoDaddy uses it too, but surely it could be easier for real people to pass the challenge-response test?

In 2005 the W3C Working Group wrote a paper on the Inaccessibility of CAPTCHA and there were some interesting findings. Most importantly they discovered that many of the CAPTCHA systems can be defeated by computers with between 88% and 100% accuracy and that all CAPTCHA effectively does is give site owners a false sense of security.

So if you implement a CAPTCHA system and are only able to achieve at best a 12% success rate in avoiding abuse of your system, then surely it’s time to implement other human verification methods?

This is the time in Cape Town:

And this was the temperature in the City:

Now I’m not a big fan of heat but I don’t think I’ve ever been in a place where the temperature was more than 35 degrees. 40.5 degrees is something that is well and truly stifling. There has been a thick haze of smoke all over the city from all the fires and I haven’t been able to see the sea or mountain since 9am.

Come to think of it, without the sea and mountain it kind of feels a lot like Jo’burg!

Let me state firstly that this post is not meant to piss people off (yet I’m sure it will) nor do I want to create a war on my personal blog however there are things about the whole middle-east conflict that I’d like to get off my chest.

Secondly I’d like to make a point that this middle-east crisis is as a result of a small quota of militant Palestinian militia who have continuously tried to disrupt peace in the region. I don’t believe that innocent Palestinians deserve to die nor do I believe that Muslims are the cause of the problem.

While it is easy to look at the current fact that Israel have killed 750 Palestinians in just 13 days of attacks we are all quick to forget the history, and ultimately the reasons, that lead to Operation Cast Lead. Let’s look at some of the facts.

Iran-backed Hamas Rocket and Mortar Attacks

• 9,400+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2003. [1]
• 3,200+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza in 2008 alone. [2]
• 6,500+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005. [3]
• 543+ rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israeli territory during the ceasefire from June 19 to Dec. 19, 2008. [4]
• 28 deaths caused by rockets and mortars fired from Gaza into Israel since 2001. The dead include Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. [5]
• 1,000+ people in Israel injured from rockets and mortars fired from Gaza since 2001, including Israelis, Palestinians and foreign workers. Since the ceasefire, 44 Israelis have been injured and 200 have been treated for shock. [6]

The critical point here is that despite a ceasefire militants continued their onslaught and in my mind it is impossible for any country, not just Israel, to continue avoiding attacks on your people when a handful of extremists keep disregarding the peace.

Condemned by South Africa

Closer to home though I am extremely upset with the ANC and SACP who have outright condemned the attacks by Israel. They’ve setup meetings with Israeli ministers to try and get them to stop and just yesterday former Congress of South African Trade Unions president and Congress of the People National Executive Committee member, Willy Madisha, has called on the government to condemn Israel over the ongoing war in Palestine.

The SABC reports that:

Madisha says Israel has for decades been killing thousands of Palestinians in a war that has been condemned internationally. He says hundreds of people are being killed, children are being stopped from going to school and people have no food at all.

“This is a major problem and we are calling the government of South Africa to rise and say to Israel that this is wrong and that it has got to be stopped. South Africa should echo other countries’ sentiments so that the Israeli onslaught on Gaza should cease,” Madisha said.

Now the only reason all of this upsets me is because our leaders are quick to jump on this political band-wagon while they’ve done absolutely nothing about the bigger problem just outside our borders – Zimbabwe. Why they’ve chosen to pick sides in this conflict and done nothing about the epidemic in Zimbabwe baffles me.

Fair and Just?

While I can see the facts and merits of Israel’s motivation to protect their nation I’m still undecided as to whether or not Operation Cast Lead is actually the right way of executing their rights.

Either way, let’s not forget that the middle-east is not unique in this scenario as all around the world we have Muslim extremists causing havoc and inflicting Holy Wars. There really is no place in the world for people like this.

Right, I’ve had my say, and I thought that I’d like to end with this cool comic I found which I believe sums the whole situation up.

~~~ Footnotes: ~~~

[1] IDF Spokesperson’s Unit, Dec. 19, 2008; “Iran-backed Terrorists in Gaza Kill 3, Wound Others in Continuing Rocket Attacks on Israel,” The Israel Project press release, Dec. 29, 2008; Barzak, Ibrahim and Friedman, Matti, “Israel rejects truce call, pursues bombing Gaza,” Associated Press, Dec. 31, 2008

[2] Ibid.

[3] Ibid.

[4] “Presentation to Military Attaches,” Israel Ministry of Defense, Dec. 2008

[5] “Rocket and Mortar Fatalities in Israel,” The Israel Project backgrounder; Kershner, Isabel, “Despite Strikes, Israelis Vow to Soldier On,” The New York Times, Dec. 30, 2008, “Iran-backed Terrorists in Gaza Kill 3, Wound Others in Continuing Rocket Attacks on Israel,” The Israel Project press release, Dec. 29, 2008

[6] “Rocket and Mortar Fatalities in Israel,” The Israel Project backgrounder, Israeli Police Spokesman in a conversation with The Israel Project, Dec. 31, 2008

For more stats please view this post.

Now I, along with many others I suspect, have been lured to a marketing sales pitch for time share by QVC under the guise that I’ve won a massive prize. In the last five years alone I have had at least five separate attempts from QVC and guys like QVC to try and get me to go and listen to their pitch. On all occasions, except the first of course, I had declined to go.

I recall our last incident when I received a call from a QVC-type company to inform me that I’d won a 42″ flat screen TV and that I should come and collect it from their office. I told them to get lost and they then phoned my wife to tell her that I said they should make arrangements with her to come and collect the TV.

In my mind this form of sales is the lowest common denominator. You trick people into believing they’ve actually won something and then you steal there money on timeshare that most simply don’t need. Then, when someone like Donn calls your bluff you sue him. Come on guys.

You can cut this any which way you like but what QVC are doing is simply a scam. This might well get me a lawsuit as well but to be honest I don’t care. It’s about time we all started to speak up about this because these guys are persistent buggers that refuse to give up.

In the UK there is a thing called the Do Not Call list which marketers have to adhere to. This is a great initiative with a high penalty for those who ignore the list and recently a similar DNC list has appeared in SA.

My name is on that list although I’m not sure if marketers in SA actually adhere to the local DNC list. That said, every one of you should add your name so that we can prevent crap like this happening over and over again.

To Donn, all I can say is that I’m truly sorry you’re going through this. QVC need to get a grip and let off the small guys. They must know that their efforts are tricky and if not then they’re really out of touch with reality.

My first choice would have been British Airways (R4,000) but they seemed way too expensive and I couldn’t see much difference between Mango (R3,100), Kulula (R3,200) or SAA (R3,477) so I decided to opt for an airline that was trusted to arrive on time and booked my two tickets with SAA.

When I received the confirmation of the booking via email I noticed that my father-in-law’s surname was not correct and had been replaced with my full name. So, it looked a little like this ROBERT JUSTINHARTMAN on the confirmation slip. I immediately called the SAA call center to have this surname changed.

To cut a very long story short SAA do not change surnames on tickets that have been paid for. Had I not paid my ticket straight way I would have been able to edit these details but being a good customer is actually a negative thing in SAA‘s opinion.

The error allegedly occurred as a result of me adding in my own frequent flyer number in the booking form at the time of booking. By doing so the SAA booking system automatically updated the surname in my father-in-law’s text box with my full name and as a result I now had a ticket that was totally and utterly useless.

The result: I have to cancel the old ticket and rebook a new ticket under his real name.

The caveat: I have to pay again and I’ll only be refunded the airport tax from the original ticket – SAA keep the airline fee.

I fought with two different consultants and their supervisor for a little over two hours. The bottom line. I’m screwed. SAA refuse to back down even though their system is flawed.

I gave up at the time and just booked a new ticket. This means that instead of R3,477 I have now paid R5,352 less my airport tax refund of R895.00 for this system error and I’ve lost just short of R1,000 in the process.

I feel robbed by these twits and totally helpless but the more I’ve thought about the events that transpired the more I realise that I need to stand up for my rights. I personally wouldn’t do business like this so why should I stand for it? This is simply consumer extortion.

As of this morning a letter of complaint, demanding a full refund of my original ticket purchase price, has been sent to Dr. Khaya Ngqula – CEO of SAA and the customer service department. I’ve only ever written one other complaint before which was to BMW and I had success with it so I’m hoping for much of the same.

Having said that though I’m not optimistic for a positive outcome. Unlike BMW I have come to realise that SAA couldn’t give a flying **** about their customers and I can’t see them doing a turn-around now.

To be honest I just have no time for people like this. It’s disgraceful, inhumane and shows a total disrespect for human life. I know we live in a culture that still breeds this type of racism but really… doing this in a public forum is just not on.

Sick…

I don’t think even Zapiro realised just how pertinent his cartoon of Zuma raping the justice system (below) would be in the days leading after its publication in the Sunday Times.

Our acquitted rapist, fraudster and down right dimwit has successfully managed to escape any prosecution and in turn flip the whole political situation on its head by having the ANC recall Mbeki. I guess it’s a case of he who laughs last?

I’ll state this outright – I hate Zuma and I despise anyone who supports him however, I do think this new political turmoil is very much needed in a country that has lived far too long under Mbeki’s denialist regime.

Mbeki is a clown. HIV/Aids never existed, Mugabe was never the problem in Zimbabwe and crime in our country was never an issue. These are just some of his insane beliefs we’ve been subjected to over the last few years and I’m happy we’ve seen the end of it.

While I really think Mbeki being ousted is a positive thing I’m deeply concerned about where we go to from here. I have no faith in Zuma or his political allies and I can’t see how the new regime is going to be any better – in fact, I think it’s going to get worse.

Overall I have to say these are troubled and uncertain times and I’m watching the political space in trepidation of what will happen next.

Regator.com went into private beta today and I picked it up via this Techcrunch article. They’ve also got great exposure on ReadWriteWeb and even Mashable.

These guys are a blog aggregator that not only use the Afrigator crocodile, similar domain name and colour scheme and I have to feel this is a little more than a coincidence.

There is little doubt that Mike, Stii, Mark and myself will need to speak to our legal team to find out what action we can take on this.

What do you guys think?

UPDATE: I’ve had a long chat with Scott from Regator and I’m now convinced it was a coincidence. Please see my updated post here.

Over the weekend I learned about how KFC suppliers overpopulate birds in their factories, drug them and boil them alive to remove their feathers. I honestly couldn’t believe what I was hearing so I did some further investigation.

It turns out that PETA, an animal rights organisation, along with PETA activist Pamela Anderson have formed the Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign to help spread the word.

While this is not a new campaign I found the following statement on the Kentucky Fried Cruelty website truly shocking:

KFC’s own animal welfare advisors have asked the company to take steps to eliminate these abuses, but KFC refuses to do so.

I watched the video below and I’m not sure how I, or anyone who watches this, can ever eat KFC again.

Help spread the word guys!!!

Mary Fitzgerald Square will be turned into a white winter wonderland …… all in the name of fun in the inner city.

Yeah right!

Yesterday we shipped off to Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, Johannesburg where we’d hoped to share some moments like the one below.

To our dismay though the Snow in the City event, sponsored by Nando’s, The Star and JDA, turned out to be a miserable disaster.

When we heard on Radio 702 that the Johannesburg CBD was to be turned into a massive snow day we couldn’t resist taking Luke to play in some real snow.

We arrived shortly after 11:00 only to discover there was a massive queue for tickets. We stood in the line for nearly an hour and a half because Computicket only had two people issuing tickets at the event.

Entrance fee was R15 and for this cover price you were entitled to:

• 1 x 20 minute ice rink session
• 1 x bucket of snow
• 1 x snow drink
• 1 x free Nando’s crisps
• 5 x slides on the snow slope.

Luke is now super excited and is eager to hit the snow slope so I take him to wait in another long queue. Unfortunately for us the queue for the snow slope is about 900m long and there is no way either of us are prepared to stand for another hour just to go down the slope.

We decide that we’ll go ice skating. The queue for the ice rink is much shorter however as each skate is 20 minutes long the queue simply doesn’t move. To make matters worse I notice that the ice rink is not an ice rink at all, it’s a plastic mat that obviously simulates an ice rink.

No point in staying. We leave.

I’m utterly disgusted with the organisation of this event. The only real snow was on the snow slope and in the bucket you could get if you managed to brave the long queue. The ice rink was minute and was an insult to everyone.

There were far too many people to make this event viable and while I realise they were trying to raise money they should have limited numbers so that everyone could have a chance.

We were all expecting to see a massive ice rink (made from real ice) with a play area covered in snow but clearly the organisers of this event thought that a plastic mat and a bucket of ice would do the trick.

However, the biggest upset of this all was the very disappointed 4 year-old that never got to experience what we went there to do. Luke was so looking forward to playing in the snow and all he ended up with was the chance to throw some pieces of paper that somewhat resembled snow.

Last night we published a brand new Xenophobia topic page on Afrigator which highlights everything that is being covered throughout Africa about the recent xenophobic attacks in our country.

Stii and Mark worked like mad on this yesterday and I’m super impressed with the way in which the page has turned out. I urge you to read the blog post on the Afrigator blog as it breaks down this page into much greater detail.

One thing I found particularly interesting to see is how many blog posts have been written about the xenophobic attacks. As of last night a total of 217 blog posts have been published compared to only 33 news articles on the same topic.

I really believe that this just highlights how everyone in South Africa is condemning these attacks and the fact that so many blog posts have been written is just awesome for awareness.

At this stage though I’m not sure what value 217 blog posts have on actually making a difference but the more we expose this issue the more I would hope it applies pressure on the powers that be to resolve this issue once and for all.

Help spread the word guys… let’s stop this senseless killing.

I remarked earlier in the week that these xenophobic-related attacks reminded me of the township violence in the 80′s and after seeing this photo story there is no doubt in my mind that we have a civil war on our hands.

One of the most moving books I’ve ever read was about four South African photographers, Kevin Carter, Greg Marinovich, Ken Oosterbroek and Joao Silva called the Bang-Bang Club.

Their story documents their experiences within the townships of South Africa during the Apartheid era and their photographs illustrate the murderous struggle between ANC and Inkatha Freedom Party in what was the hostel wars.

Not only did it paint a gruesome picture into what photographers and journalists had to go through during this troubled time but it gave me a very harrowing and disturbing insight into the township violence that was taking place while I was playing blissfully in suburbia.

For the first time in my life really, I became aware of how brutal and savage we as a nation are and I hoped we’d never have to see the same thing happening ever again.

Cue 1994, democratic society and finally this country is given hope. Under Mandela we live the dream and never before has the world seen a country transform as quickly as it did in all aspects of life. Or did it?…

What has become clear in my mind the last two years is just how oppressed our nation feels. We lived in this cloud of euphoria during the Mandela years but under Thabo Mbeki’s reign we’ve seen very real issues come to the fore which are less than pretty.

Two core issues come to mind. First is that South Africa has the highest HIV/Aids infection rate in the world and second is that South Africa has one of the worst (if not the worst) murder rate. These two issues have existed even during the honeymoon period but it’s taken us 14-odd years to finally realise that we have some serious underlying issues that not even Mandela himself can resolve.

Cue Zimbabwe and South Africa’s lack of addressing the dictator called Mugabe and we’re now faced with 4-million exiled Zimbabweans living in South Africa fighting for their livelihood.

The events of the Xenophobic attacks the last week or so are a culmination of years of suppressed anger and frustration towards Government’s lack of providing and delivery of promises made. For 14-odd years the poor have been told that they would now finally be able to survive and provide for their families yet somehow this hasn’t changed much for them. Couple this with Government’s stance on Zimbabwe and you wonder why people have had enough?

While I can clearly see the issues I have to say none of this warrants the hatred and blood-shed we’ve seen take place since 1994 and in greater intensity over the last 7 days.

Last week my domestic worker fell victim to these attackers as she and her two daughters, all South African, were kicked out of their house, electricity cut and left in the streets until 2am in the morning. She said that two blocks up from her two people had allegedly been killed for being suspected foreigners living in the area. She also made it very clear that the attackers don’t care what nationality you are, all they care about is creating anarchy.

It is clear that what has started as an attack on foreigners is now just an attack on our freedom because these savages just want to inflict pain and fear into the hearts of all the residents of this country.

I have a very real problem with victims standing up for their rights and in turn becoming the oppressor, all the while doing as much damage as your oppressor has inflicted on you. What good is it setting a man on fire, raping women, or beating someone within an inch of his/her life? Does this actually solve anything, are you really addressing the problem?

I’m about fed up with the state of this nation as are a lot of other people. White, Black, Indian, Coloured, whatever – we all want to see a change and feel safe and secure in our country.

I’ve also had enough of this disrespect for the value of life. Senseless killing is an everyday occurrence in this country and it has to stop. As a parent I am responsible for safe-guarding my wife and two children yet how is this possible when a large chunk of our nation lacks the basic moral fibre for life?

To the ANC, Mr. Mbeki and Mr. Zuma, what are you, as leaders of this country, going to do to save this country from the turmoil we are faced with? I’m feeling hopeless at the moment and I want to feel hope once again…

Being a father for the second time round is even more daunting for me than the first but I’m nervously excited nonetheless.

It’s been more than four years since Luke was born and we made a decision to utilise the services of the Netcare Park Lane Clinic once again for our newest arrival.

We didn’t actually have a very good experience with Park Lane when Luke was born, as the staff where really quite useless, however most people have great things to say about the hospital which is why we’ve decided to give them a second chance.

That said I am completely freaked out with Park Lane’s (and Netcare in general) newest policy forcing us to pay R3,400 for the privilege to have Luke visit his mom and new brother.

While one of the two wards is allocated to medical aid clients the other is for semi- and fully-private rooms which come at a premium. The catch here is that if Colette stays in the medical aid ward then no children are allowed at all while the private one allows siblings to visit in the room during visiting hours.

The cost for the semi-private room, which has 4 beds, is R800 per night and you have to pay for four nights upfront when checking in. If you wanted to go fully-private then that cost shoots up to R1,400 per night.

Now I understand that these private rooms are a luxury and come at a price and I’m not ignorant to this but what I fail to understand is why a sibling isn’t allowed into the medical aid ward?

Seriously, what difference does is make to anyone if a sibling under 12 visits his mom and new brother in a ward with 12 beds? To me this is just a manipulative policy by Netcare to make more money out of us and it stinks if you ask me.

How am I supposed to tell Luke that he’s not allowed to see his mom or brother for four days? It’s already going to be such a stressful time for him and I simply can’t do this to him so now I’m forced to fork out the money which I really can’t afford.

Had we not already paid the R350 registration fee I would have sought an alternative hospital – not this casino that claims I’m in safe hands.

Erik has a great post about the pothole theory and part of this theory is how we find it easier to care about those matters closest to us and why fixing a pothole in your road is seemingly more important that addressing some of the larger issues we are faced with today.

This kind of sums up why I haven’t written about Stormhoek before because I’ve been unsure of how I could contribute. Also, I wasn’t sure if blogging about this would actually make a difference but that’s a naive take to things.

I’ve learned in the last few days just how powerful blogging can be and hey, let’s face it, Stormhoek grew into the powerful brand that it is through the use of blogging and social media.

Many people feel very passionate about this issue as real jobs are at stake here and the future of Stormhoek is in jeopardy. In particular I’ve been impressed with people like Stii and Eve, read this great article on Bizcommunity, who’ve really tried to make a difference.

I think that as an online community, who’ve all benefited from Stormhoek sponsorships, we should try our level best to help Graham, Chris and the rest of the team by helping them recover some of the R6 million that is owed to them. Unfortunately I can’t afford to Own a Vine but I hope that others who can will help fight the cause and help save the company.

At the very least, let’s get the message out there!

ESKOM CE Jacob Maroga has urged business not to rely on the government to find solutions to power shortages likely to persist until 2013, when the utility will have significantly expanded its generation capacity. – MyADSL

Day 16 of the rolling power outages and we’re all feeling the very serious impact this is having on our lives. Funny how the Eskom CE has made this statement because while we’re all sitting in the dark – sometimes three times a day – our politicians appear to be exempt from said load shedding.

One of my closest friends lives in Killarney and during this 16 day trauma she’s had to endure the grand total of zero blackouts. Seems a little odd as Killarney is one of the hardest hit areas for load shedding but the difference with her is that she lives in the same road as Thabo Mbeki and Trevor Manuel. Another friend lives near Jacob Zuma’s residence in Forrest Town and alas they’re also unaffected by this load shedding.

Once again it’s an us and them scenario and as long as JZ and crew remain unaffected by this power crisis we’ve got no hope of Government doing anything to resolve this issue.

What is it about the people of this country that encourages such an insult? Do we not care enough about our beautiful land or is this just limited to impoverished areas? I’m not sure I have the answer to any of this but I found it humourous and poetic at the same time.

In the article Kriel claims,

“I am passionate about freedom of expression and I was exercising my constitutional right when I posted the blog.”

He goes on to say that,

“Media in South Africa need to wake up quickly, there is an entirely new face to the media worldwide, influenced by cyberspace.”

Some other bloggers feel quite opinionated about this issue and are all claiming, directly or indirectly, that Kriel was fired because he blogged – not because he broke company policy.

While Kriel may claim he has some constitutional right to say what ever he feels I think we need to look at some of the facts.

1. Kriel is a veteran journalist with more than 30 years experience in the industry. Does this experience not bring with it some common sense when writing about critical operational information in a blog post or do the rules of the real world not apply to a blog or the cyberspace, as he puts it?

2. In order for Kriel to be an employee of the Sowetan (Avusa) he would have had to have signed a contract of employment which would have, in no uncertain terms, contained a clause preventing him from sharing the information he did in the blog post. I know my contract with Avusa prevents me from bringing the company’s name into disrepute and also prevents me from sharing operational information with competitors and/or the world.

3. Kriel chose a blog to share his disgruntled views however this doesn’t change the fact that he disregarded his contract of employment and in doing so made this a company policy issue – not a blogging issue. The Sowetan’s actions where justified and exercised to the fullest and there was nothing wrong with the final decision of giving Kriel the boot.

4. Did Kriel really disclose company information? I think so. For Kriel to even discuss an internal “Climate Survey” conducted for operational purposes is just not on. Avusa is a listed company and as such this post on company morale and the fact that there is a banning of all new appointments can and will have a direct impact on the share price of the company. I’m no stock broker but I do know that share prices are affected by perception and creating this vastly negative impression on the whole of Avusa is gross misconduct. Simple!

5. Taking this to the extreme we also need to look at the possible liability the Mail & Guardian have in this matter. Should Kriel plan to take further legal action what stops Avusa from taking direct action against the M&G for posting the offending blog post in the first place?

Thought Leader is a strictly moderated website and goes through an editorial work flow before a post or comment goes live on the platform. This means that whether M&G realise it they could become liable for every piece of content on the Thought Leader website and Avusa could argue Kriel’s post was a form of industrial sabotage by the competing newspaper.

While I honestly don’t believe the M&G did plan any form of sabotage (I know these guys personally!) I do have to question why the post ever made it onto the website in the first place. In my mind, someone should have canned it during the editorial process.

I have to just add that I’m tired of this being a new media issue – it isn’t and we all need to get a little perspective. If anything, Kriel’s ignorance to the rules of engagement online and his petty rant in a public forum have actually had an adverse effect for blogging in this country.

His actions have created this moronic impression that you are entitled to say whatever you want to and simply disregard any ethical or contractual obligations you may have because the constitution allows you this right.

As I see it, anyone who still uses the word cyberspace needs to wake up quickly – there is an entirely new dimension to what you’re allowed to do online and it’s influenced by real world rules.

I’m pleased to say that Pick n Pay finally got their act together and their new website, with new Flickr-clone logo, has been launched.

Only one small problem – seems like Pick n Pay don’t think white people matter anymore.

Have a look at the old banner below (thanks Groogle):

And now look at the new one (thanks to Nic for pointing this out):

That’s a real kick in the teeth if you ask me! Not only did Pick n Pay feel the need to spend the R110 million in the United Kingdom and deprive this economy of some much needed cash but they also decided to exclude all white people from their demographic makeup.

Inspired by you? Whatever…

In recent weeks Luke had a minor operation and Colette had an Amniocentesis to test for downs-syndrome in our unborn son.

I’ve just received my medical aid statement for November from Discovery and below is a breakdown of the costs incurred.

You can see that the total cost for both procedures was R9,024.09. Of that I have to pay R4,271.99 and an amount of R2,085.43 was paid directly from my savings account. This means that Discovery’s total liability was only R2,666.67 – the rest is paid using my money.

Now I might be missing the point here but how is it possible that a medical aid company only covers 29.5% of hospital procedures? It’s not like we went to some designer optician and spent R9,000 on matching his and her glasses – these were both hospital induced costs and I find myself paying more than 70% of the total bill.

I’m wondering if a hospital plan is not a better option for me seeing as I pay a fortune for Discovery each month and ultimately end up paying most of bills anyway?

Pathetic!

Rian was shot in the right side of his body and was then tied to his daughter while the four scum rummaged through his fridge, ate some dinner, cleaned his cottage out and left him there to die. His daughter Helene was visiting him from Thailand and was beaten and taunted all the while watching her father slip away.

“I looked forward to returning to South Africa, but I cannot live in a place where such pigs are terrorising the community. Nobody is safe. It’s not enough to rob. They want to kill.” — Helene Kerkhof (21)

Rian used to own a Sneakers store in Cape Town before he lost his business and it was during this time that he gave me my very first pair of Nike shoes at age 13 and I will always remember him for this – he was my hero.

After he lost his business Rian struggled through the years and I really felt for the man as no human being should ever go through the hardships he went through. The fact that he was so brutally murdered just sickens me to the stomach and this whole incident just makes me furious.

I can’t help but feel absolutely powerless when I witness the events that take place in South Africa. I love my country, have contributed on occasion to SA Rocks to prove my cause and have even tried to make a small difference with my localised web applications yet at moments like these I just want to run far far away.

When is this lack of respect for life ever going to change? We’re a savage nation that cares nothing for the value of life and I’m struggling to come to terms with these brutal murders that take place every day in this country.

I am often fearful for the safety of my family but when it hits home like this I am completely hopeless.

My deepest condolences go out to Rian’s wife and four children – words can not describe the sadness I feel for them right now…