Cyanide spill in drinking water in Natal

Forget the climate, this is more important:

From: TimesLive Source: Sapa | 17 February, 2012 12:52

The raw water supply for the northern KwaZulu-Natal town of Dundee and surrounding areas has been poisoned with cyanide, uThukela Water said on Friday.

The spill was discovered on Thursday morning when cows died after drinking from a stream near a site outside Newcastle, spokesman Dumisani Thabethe said.

Residents appeared to have escaped harm so far.

"There is no one who has been reported to have been affected by the spillage," he said.

Thabethe said: "We are told that about 11 cows have died, but by late evening it was 50, but I am not too sure about the accuracy of the figures.

"Our concern is people getting water directly from the river."

As a precaution, uThukela Water broadcast a warning on the Newcastle community radio station on Thursday.

The spill might have come from a site where synthetic rubber was being manufactured, but this was still being investigated, Thabethe said.

The Ngagane river was flushed with water from the Ntshingwayo dam on Thursday in an attempt to dilute the chemical content.

Water was being released from the dam at 16,000 litres per second.

Thabethe said HTH, chlorine used in domestic swimming pools, was poured into the river before it was flushed.

"They were hoping to stimulate a chemical reaction between the HTH and the cyanide."
__________________________________________________

There are two "synthetic rubber" plants in Newcastle:

Asia Chemical cc

And:

Karbochem (Pty)Ltd <--- they did it. (updated)

As much as i'm the corporate hater, Karbochem seems to be respectable, see this picture with massive tanks of water for (presumably) filtering waste and such.

Asia Chemicals is close to a river, see here, it would be a safe bet that the stormwater drains lead straight to the river. It doesn't have any reputation, so far as i can find. Synthetic rubber and adhesives seem to its products, and cyanide is a major part and by product of synthetic rubber manufacture.

Either way, don't drink the water. Oh, and find mr asia chemicals MR KARBCHEM and give him a swim, after he pays for the cows and "other expenses".

EDIT: it seems that the strategy of using HTH while flushing the river is a good one. According to here: NMFRC it's been an industrial means of reducing cyanide concentrations "for over 35 years" ... good luck to that.

We need

"We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness." - Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977)

Hey, that's my bike!

OSBM

I know i've posted already today, but i found this and still can't stop laughing.
http://www.osbm.co.za/

OUR OBJECTIVES

To become the ultimate reference to the definition of biking in Southern Africa
To protect and promote the old school biking traditions, protocols and lifestyle
To provide a platform for those who are in agreement with OSBM objectives
To guide and educate those seeking to define themselves
To eventually compile a database of respected MC, MCC's

And of course, on their patch stands FIFO ... fit in or fuck off. How quaint. I would include an image of their patch, but fuck them.

I should explain myself, since it all appears very ... normal i guess. It's all about control, about who is the top dog of baaikers in south africa. There are a whole bunch of president's councils, presidents councils councils, and other associations which serve as an excuse to drink on weeknights. You have thinkbike, which is a complete flop in terms of positively affecting anything at all, (except hospital visits, Boesman does astonishing work in that dept), and you have importers and manufacturers associations like amid, all trying to jostle their way to the top of the dungheap.

I notice that some of the main okes are ex think bike too ... so they're admitting that tb is a failure, they rubbished the brand, and now create brand after brand after brand, all trying to "educate the uninformed", most likely over a beer. They talk about "respect" and "honour" and such high faluting ideas, but only for people who give THEM their "dues" and conform to their "standards".

"PROCEDURAL GUIDELINES TO START A NEW CLUB
When you have determined what type of club you want to start (see above), you need to make contact with the local Council or Association. You need to do this so that they can assist you.

Old School bikers understand biking traditions and protocols. They ask permission from their Brothers if they want to do anything that will involve the other Brothers. That goes for starting new clubs as well. Less experienced Brothers should seek and follow the advice of their more experienced Brothers."

Sounds like the fucking taxman don't it? Come here so we can help you with your anal virginity problem. This fucking posturing and preening like a bunch of peacocks is revolting. It's all about the jol, and the crowd, and the popularity, and status, and has nothing to do with anything else of value. Old boys club for the common man, as run by the wealthier among them for their own egotism. Just like freemasonry, except the bitch can play with if she keeps her mouth shut.

Fit in or fuck off ... thankfully I don't fit in with them. I am not one of them. Never will be.

The line

"The line separating good and evil passes not through states, nor between classes, nor between political parties either, but right through every human heart, and through all human hearts. This line shifts. Inside us, it oscillates with the years. Even within hearts overwhelmed by evil, one small bridgehead of good is retained; and even in the best of all hearts, there remains a small corner of evil. It is impossible to expel evil from the world in its entirety, but it is possible to constrict it within each person."
- Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Again i have to thank CoyotePrime for his daily inspiration. A full size image can be found here.

Last message of Paul Kruger

Last message of president S. J. P. Kruger to his people.

Addressed to general Louis Botha.

Dear General,

It is a great privilege to be able to acknowledge the receipt of your cablegram and letter of 23rd and 29th May respectively, conveying to me the greetings of the Congress held from 23rd to 25th May at Pretoria.

In all the sorrow and grief that has befallen me these greetings have made me deeply thankful. And with all my heart I thank those who have spared a thought for their age State President during their deliberations about the present and future: by so doing they show that they have not forgotten the past

For, he who desires to build a future, dare not neglect the past.

Seek, therefore, all that is good and beautiful in the past, build on it your ideal, and strive to realise that ideal for the future.

It is true much of what has been built is now destroyed, despoiled and ruined; but through singleness of purpose and unity of strength what now lies shattered can still be restored.

I am thankful to see that this unity and this concord prevail amongst you.

Do not forget that grave warning that lies in the words, "Divide and rule" ; never let these words apply to the South African nation. Then our people and our language will endure and prosper.

What I myself shall live to see of this, rests with God. Born under the British flag, I do not wish to die under it. I have learnt to accept the bitter thought of death as a lone exile in a foreign land, far from my kith and kin whose faces I am not likely to see again; far from a country to which I devoted my whole life in an effort to open it up for civilisation and where I saw my own nation grow.

But this grief will be softened if I may cherish the belief that the work once begun, continues; for then the hope and the expectation that the work will end well, will me strength. So be it.

For the bottom of my heart I greet you and my people.

Villas Des Prierriers 17,

Clarens (Vaud), Switzerland.

29th June, 1904.
_______________________________________________

When i visited the Voortrekker monument in Pretoria, which was inaugurated in 1949, i saw deep inside the massive stone monument, the flame (of civilisation). I was initially stunned, since i know its true meaning, which is best expressed as "illumination", which is great and all that, but utterly opposed to the life and beliefs of the boers and trekkers. It struck me then how it had transpired, and how deep the rot went.

I'm doing research on behalf of my son for a project, "The history of banking in SA" ... gosh. 1904 the British defeat the Boers with a scorched earth policy, 1910 they inaugurate their colony, 1912 they establish the central bank. I also learned that the british lied to the bantu's, telling them that the afrikaner would re-introduce slavery, so the bantu's formed cannon fodder for the brits, who won and within 20 years had introduced apartheid, nothing more than refined colonialism, as practiced by the brits the world over.

Ladies and gentlemen, i give you the result of the Boer war, and the victory of Britain in South Africa:

This is what the boers were fighting against.

 I also find it fascinating that the ANC and the Reserve bank were instituted in the same year, 1912.

On his return to England early in 1901, in a series of lectures given in Scotland, Doyle praised the activities of the freemasons during the Boer war. On 23 March 1901, he was invited to propose the main toast to the Immortal Memory of Queen Victoria and The Lodge of Edinburgh (Mary’s Chapel) No 1 Scottish Constitution made him an honorary member following his speech, in which he spoke on Masonry in South Africa.
Source: Website.

What has since emerged is that Doyle did indeed visit the Rising Star Lodge but the date and circumstances remain a mystery. The first meeting of the Lodge during the war took place on the 5th of April 1900 following on the British occupation of the town two days earlier. The Cape Argus reported the meeting in their 18th April issue stating that:
" ...a communication was received from R W Bro Lord Kitchener . . expressing his regret at not being able to attend the meeting . . .and a similar letter was read from Bro A Conan Doyle, both Brethren intimating that it was their intention to visit the lodge in the near future. "
Lord Kitchener did attend a meeting of the Lodge on 23rd April 1900 and signed a document, still in possession of the Lodge, proposing that a Royal resolution be sent to the Prince of Wales. Lord Roberts and Conan Doyle are also signatories to this document.

2 days after taking Bloemfontein: "Thirty-nine members of the lodge and sixty-one visitors, many high ranking and important personalities, were present." How convenient.

The victors, who were traitors to their families and friends and country and heritage.

Military enrollment requirements

Hat tip to this isn't happiness, and with GREAT respect to Arlo Guthrie.

For those who don't know, it's from a song called Alice's Restaurant, which is a song about Alice, and her restaurant ... well sorta. It's a wonderful song, even better story, but real life always upstages the stage. I give you, the court transcript.

Sticks and stones ...

Registration, the definition in the Blacks Law Dictionary is: “the act of recording and enrolling of property and chattels” – where have we agreed to register our children, homes, land, buildings, businesses and chattels with this company?

Extracted from: Human Beings vs THE CITY OF CAPE TOWN

Anthea has been involved in building alternate communities for several years now. While i cannot be there in the flesh, i will certainly be there in spirit, and i wish her all the best in her defense.