Author: Sipu

M.A.S.H.

Shortly before midnight just over 3 weeks ago, I was wakened by a call from my sister in London. Given that I had been staying with her a week earlier and with the knowledge that she does not normally call to exchange idle banter, even in my sleep-soaked state I was immediately prepared to expect bad news. And indeed it was pretty damn shocking. She told me that my 31 year old nephew and god-son, had committed suicide a few hours earlier; not her son, but that of one my brothers. It turned out to have been a very considered and deliberate act, but horrific in its fulfillment. Continue reading “M.A.S.H.”

In Praise of Mrs Osborne

I like Christina. While I do not endorse every thing she has to say, (I am not as enthusiastic about plants and pets as she is, for example) she strikes me as being somebody who is sincere, industrious, intelligent, considerate and is honest enough to speak her mind and is refreshingly free of hypocrisy. Further, she has the courtesy to respond in full to comments addressed to her and does so with clarity and reasoning. Would that more people possessed those qualities.

By jingo!

This is the Daily Telegraph Medals Table, as it stands:

Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 China 18 11 5 34
2 United States 18 9 10 37
3 South Korea 7 2 5 14
4 Great Britain 6 6 6 18
5 France 6 5 6 17

More importance is attached to the number of gold medals, and after that silver, than the overall medal tally.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/olympics/

However, USA Today displays them as follows:

Gold Silver Bronze Total
1 United States 18 9 10 37
2 China 18 11 5 34
3 Japan 2 6 11 19
4 Great Britain 6 6 6 18
5 Germany 5 8 5 18

The news paper attaches more importance to the overall number of medals. I wonder what would happen if China were to win fewer gold medals but more medals over all. Would USA Today put China in first place?

http://www.usatoday.com/sports/olympics/index

The Reith Lectures – Niall Ferguson

I have just been listening to the 4th and final of the BBC Reith Lectures presented by Niall Ferguson. Despite his conceit and reputation as a media tart, I like Prof Ferguson. I have read a couple of his books, Empire and The Ascent of Money both of which I thoroughly enjoyed. In my view he is a bright man with sound ideas

Ferguson was born in Glasgow and educated at the Glasgow Academy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niall_Ferguson

The subject of the Lectures this year was The Rule of Law And Its Enemies http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01jms03

I am not sure if you can still find the first 2, but the 3rd and 4th are available and worth listening to, especially the last which is presented up in Edinburgh. Ferguson advocates more individual involvement in all aspects of daily life including social activities and private education, especially education and less government interference. His audience seems to entirely comprise Glaswegian left-wing academics and trades unionists; add to that the BBC’s Sue Lawley and he appears to be in a minority of one. But I find it difficult not to agree with almost everything he says and it leaves me depressed that there are so many who would oppose his views.

Have a listen if you can. I think Mr Mackie in particular would enjoy them.

Further to Christina’s post and my comments therein ….

The Congress of the South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) in the Western Cape called on city managers yesterday to dismantle Cape Town’s Greenpoint stadium and turn it into low-cost housing, saying that engineers and architects believed it was possible.

The stadium, built for the Soccer World Cup, has been struggling to sustain itself and to host events, largely due to high hiring costs. It has cost the city R44,6m in maintenance each year. The total operating budget was R56,7m in the past financial year, with only R12m expected to be generated by hiring it out.

Concerns have also been growing that a number of other World Cup stadiums around the country such as Mbombela Stadium in Nelspruit and Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium could become white elephants, especially given that they are all funded by ratepayers.

http://www.businessday.co.za/articles/Content.aspx?id=175439

You’ve got to laugh.

 

This is amazing!

I have recently discovered the joys of TED. If you do not know the site, do yourself a favour and watch some of the articles.

Here is a video involving ‘flying quadrotors, small, agile robots that swarm, sense each other, and form ad hoc teams — for construction, surveying disasters and far more.’