Throw down the sword

Throw down the sword,
The fight is done and over,
Neither lost, neither won.
To cast away the fury of the battle
And turn my weary eyes for home.

There were times when I stood at death's own door
Only hoping for an answer.

Throw down the sword,
And leave the glory -
A story time can never change.
To walk the road, the load I have to carry -
A journey's end, a wounded soul.

There were times when I stood at death's own door
Only searching for an answer.

- Wishbone Ash

SA Recalls Ambassador

It should be obvious which ambassador we are talking about.

Ambassador recalled

Ebrahim said the recall was a form of protest, following Monday's clash between Israeli defence force members and a flotilla which intended to break the Gaza blockade with aid. 

But Ebrahim added that Coovadia would return to Tel Aviv.

South Africa's Al Jama-ah political party also said it was pleased by government's actions and believed they gave effect to the position of former president Nelson Mandela that "South Africa will never be free until Palestinians are free".

And from Timeslive:

The Jewish leaders said the facts of the incident were not yet fully known.

The Jewish leadership said it regretted that SA was so far the only country, apart from Turkey, to have taken "so radical and disproportionate a step, despite not being directly involved in the matter".

_____________________________________________________________

Today i am proud to be a South African. The government has done something moral, taken a moral stand. The reasons of course are not entirely unselfish, and in view of the overall record rather hypocritical. I only wish we took such firm action against all such abuses. Like in Zimbabawe.

The ANC does have an axe to grind with Israel. That much is clear. Cosatu has welcomed this decision, as they would. Buthey protested Zim too, they have a moral standing in my eyes.

The local Jewish leadership can go fuck themselves. After their treatment of Justice Goldstone they are lower than pigshit to me. At least the South African muslim population have an inkling of their minority status, and are obliged to behave themselves. They also bear the burden of a moral standing in the community. The Jews know no such humility.

Anubis in Denver

Remember Death by Horse?

Well Denver International Airport is at it again.

Welcome Anubis, god of the underworld and usher of dead souls to the afterlife.

Apparently part of a travelling exhibition courtesy the Denver Museum. Made of concrete, it will only be temporary. It's still very bizarre.

Israel's Most Illicit Affair

By Glenn Frankel

May 28, 2010 "Foreign Policy" -- History is a great teacher, but sometimes it packs a nasty sense of irony. A case in point: South African Prime Minister John Vorster's visit to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem in April 1976, where he laid a wreath to the victims of the German Reich he once extolled.

It's bad enough that a former Nazi sympathizer was treated like an honored guest by the Jewish state. Even worse was the purpose behind Vorster's trip to Israel: to cement the extensive military relationship between Israel and the apartheid regime, a partnership that violated international law and illicitly provided the white-minority government with the weaponry and technology to help sustain its grip on power and its oppression of the black majority over two decades.

____________________________________________________________

Read it all, save it, disseminate it. Make people aware of BOTH our histories. I do notice a comment about the anc being so overwhelmed by covering it's own inadequacies that it does not recognise the vital international importance of these documents. 

While FW et al are vehemently denying, Pretoria has both accepted the validity of these documents, and has assumed a pretense of disinterest. Both are massive mistakes.

As Turkey is finding out, Isreal is a poor ally, and as SA is about to find out, a terrible enemy. 

I went down

Ya ya. I went down and it was my own fault. Even worse it was the most stupid way possible. I'm ok thanks, as is the bike, save several months salary worth of plastic.

Leaving the garage after filling up, i pulled out the forecourt. It had all the signs, paving, unfriendly slope to the exit, that place where all the cars leave their 1 drop of oil, oh and of course, the big glossy STOP sign painted. Slip grip twist ... and my balance was now suddenly between the tank and handlebars, and the bike off balance. I lost it. 

*sigh*

5km/h .... no more than that. 

fmyfine

https://www.fmyfine.co.za/

Traffic Fine Excuse Letter Generator

Who made this piece of $*&# website?

Mary Anna and Alice Dee were sick of paying for traffic fines so they got a bergie to put some codes on the interwebz.

Go see :-D

Isreal Again

This is too much. I would support any and all calls for the total dismemberment of the Isreali state. 

Al Jazeera

Israeli forces have attacked a flotilla of aid-carrying ships aiming to break the country's siege on Gaza.

At least 15 people were killed and dozens injured when troops intercepted the convoy of ships dubbed the Freedom Flotilla early on Monday, the Israeli military said.

The flotilla was attacked in international waters, 65km off the Gaza coast.

An attack in international waters on unarmed and peaceful protesters delivering humanitarian aid. The victims have been a mix of legislators from various european and arab states, former US senators and even a holocaust survivor (yeah those bloody anti semites).

Nobody thought Isreal would be THAT stupid. The repercussions have already started, with isreali ambassadors in a half dozen countries already being ordered to report to the various host governments to provide information.

Turkey, who has traditionally been an ally, is now facing mass protests aimed at the Isreali ambassador and embassy. This is just going to go south fast. The ships had NATO authorisation. 

Read that again. 

Isreal attacked a NATO convoy in international waters.

May those brave people rest in peace.

May Isreal meet a bloody end.

Personal note: I had great fun with everybody draw mohammed day. But i am no more against the mindless chants of islamic extremists than i am against the BARBARISM displayed on the other side of the fence. We in SA are in for a bumpy ride. The Islamic side has just been shown p by SA society in general, not least of which Zapiro. But now is the turn of the zionists. They MUST feel the wrath of peaceful people everywhere, and enough with the peaceful demonstrations. The time is NOW to treat Isreal like the Germany before it. Remove their military, occupy them military, and reduce their economy to a manageable size.

LIVED

I have to be a warrior, a slave i couldn't be

A soldier and a conqueror, fighting to be free ...

- Wishbone Ash

That's what i took home with me last night, that rather melodic ditty competing with the loud ringing noise in my ears ;-) Wishbone Ash stole that entire show for me. Simple, clear, clean, they were really great on stage, and the music live was better than i could have imagined.I've only ever had 1 Ash album, so i didn't know all the tunes they played, but now i have to play catchup it seems. It remains the only band of the 3 that i want to hear more of today, and have just climbed onto my "greatest bands ever" list. Always enjoyed them, but 40 years on? They looked and sounded GREAT. The music was still fresh after 40 years, and that was the most electrifying live perfomance i've had the fortune to see. If they ever return to SA, i'll be first in line for tickets. 

Uriah Heep followed up a bit later. The sound started awful, and they were delayed for a while due to some issues that seemed to hang around the event. Although sombody somewhere managed to get the sound to a decent balance. Again, the accoustics in the dome suck. What an awesome performance!! You could tell immediately why they are still such a popular live act, especially with biker types. Nice selection of music, they did sunrise, which i enjoyed, and many of the old "classics" lady in black, free me, and so on. Very high energy performance, and very crowd focused. Almost all their tech guys were huge old fat guys, go figure. They gave a good show, but i kept having the feeling it was tired. They must have done this routine thousands of times, and it shows, they're old and just doing the same things for different people they've been doing for decades. 

Deep Purple was the big act, and they also showed us what great music, and years of experience can do. First big surprise was the playing of the monagues and capulets as they took place on stage. They somehow had a much bigger show than the other 2, with a totally revised lighting sequence that was muc more complex than the others. Their sound was good enough, but something was also wrong, and the vocalist was drowned out. He was drunk, and looked an old fool at times. The music was good, but not great, and they shared that tired feeling with Heep. I recognised the opening highway star, but then they played 3 or 4 songs i didn't know, which was both confusing and annoying, since it wasn't clear, too much sound drowning out the more subtle bits. My big surprise was when they started up on a Bruce Dickinson number, "perfect strangers", nice tune but WHY? DP has hundreds of tracks to choose form, i'm still quite confused about that. They were saved totally and utterly by Steve Morse. He glowed. He had this huge smile on the entire performance and was obviously in his natural element, and having a lot of fun. His guitar suffered the gremlins, and so he was distracted a lot by technical stuff. What an awesome guitarist, who really gave that shot of life into the whole show. 

The venue sucked. Really. From the sound to the people to the traffic to the management, to the no smoking policy i'm still trying to understand. I have to comment here, because it ruined the evening for me. No smoking, ok, so i wait for interval, to go outside. You cannot just walk outside, you have to go to a smoking zone, of which 2 were provided, about 3m2. Walking back to find my friend was a nightmare, and endured constant "don't stay here's" from the other people. So i figure just have a smoke sitting down, and it'll be ok. No. People around me started "politely telling me" that smoking was not allowed. This despite reeking of the beer that was everywhere.  I go to a rock concert only to get told about all the rules we should follow if we want the priviledge of being there. Fascists. I didn't enjoy the venue at all and doubt i'll ever want to repeat that. Irondad was right! LOL

An amazing experience all round though, and i'm really glad my buddy and i could go. I'll end as i started, and say Wishbone Ash were the stars of that show. I'd repeat that again anytime for that performance. As to DP and Heep, well i now have a personal connection to their music, which will always make "made in japan" that little bit extra special, Steve Morse is the other i want to hear more of. And Uriah Heep, good "that mood" music as ever was.

Steve Morse: 

More Live

Deep Purple
Ian Gillan-lead vocals
Roger Glover- bass
Ian Paice-drums
Steve Morse-guitars
Don Airey-keyboards

Uriah Heep
Mick Box-guitars, vocals
Trevor Bolder-bass, vocals
Bernie Shaw-lead vocals
Phil Lanzon-keyboards, vocals
Russell Gilbrook- drums, vocals

Wishbone Ash
Andy Powell-guitars, vocals
Muddy Manninen-guitars
Bob Skeat-bass
Joe Crabtree-drums

Thanks to Masters of Rock, compilers of all the best stuff for years!

According to Wishbone Ash, it's going to be a classics line up. The others haven't really let on whats going to be performed. Although, have a look at Deep Purple's schedule for the next few weeks, they're going to be very busy boys.

For the record, the tickets were a gift, from my brother. Got the call tuesday i think, "Hey boet i got these for you" ...

So ya, thanks boet!!! 

I cannot wait, got wishbone going on my work pc, man what an unbelievable chance to see them do it live. Andy Powell and Steve Morse, both in one night. I'm vaguely disappointed that Richie Blackmore isn't coming along, but i think i won't notice anything amiss at the time LOL.He's doing his own stuff quite happily.

The ones i want to hear, are Child in Time (!!!!!!) and Sunrise, a personal favourite, although Gypsy and Lady in Black are supposed to be in too. I KNOW they'll play Smoke on the Water, inevitable, but hey it's DP, *GRIN* not some posers ... Mitzi Du Preez would also be a fun one ...

3 sessions, hour each with half hour between. Starting at 7. Apparently this show has not been sold out yet, and i'm currently discovering how many people DON'T know who thes guys are. 

Wishbone Ash i've gotten used to nobody knowing, but for crying out loud, the number of young guys who don't even know DP??? The best i've ever heard was on RSG one night, introducing a band called (in afrikaans) Oeria heep (pronounced like ear) nm ... private joke LOL.

ROCKON

Live

http://wishboneash.com/

http://www.uriah-heep.com/

http://www.deeppurple.com/

This friday, the dome.

I got tickets.

:D

Isreal offered to sell NUKES

Shimon Perez and and PW Botha. There in black and white.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/may/23/israel-south-africa-nuclear-weapons

The "top secret" minutes of meetings between senior officials from the two countries in 1975 show that South Africa's defence minister, PW Botha, asked for the warheads and Shimon Peres, then Israel's defence minister and now its president, responded by offering them "in three sizes". The two men also signed a broad-ranging agreement governing military ties between the two countries that included a clause declaring that "the very existence of this agreement" was to remain secret.

But South Africa was years from being able to build atomic weapons. A little more than two months later, on 4 June, Peres and Botha met in Zurich. By then the Jericho project had the codename Chalet.

Fucking hell. Not only historical importance here, but currently this is probably the hottest potato out there. With the current: "let's bomb Iran because they may get nukes which may not be looked after" hype, what can they say now? SA was a pariah nation in those days, and especially arms were very much prohibited in the international community.

I'm gobsmacked. Die ou krokodil is dead, but Peres is still VERY much in command, and this is just .... this is trouble. Isreal have just lost ANY moral high ground.

The arab states have what they need now. Evidence. They will use this. Most definitely.

The Travels of Ch'ang Ch'un to the West

The Travels of Ch'ang Ch'un to the West, 1220-1223 

recorded by his disciple 
Li Chi Ch'ang 

translated by E. Bretschneider (1888) 


Introduction:
K'iu Ch'ang Ch'un was an eminent Taoist monk born in 1148 CE and thus elderly at the time of his trip. He was ordered by Chingis Khan to travel to his court, which at the time encamped in Central Asia. The route went through the Altai and Tienshan mountains, the southern parts of today's Kazakhstan, through Kyrgyzstan, to Samarkand and then down into NE Iran and Afghanistan. He was accompanied by his disciple Li Chi ch'ang who composed the narrative—a rather detailed diary of the journey. It was published with an introduction by Sun si in 1228 and included in the Tao tsang tsi yao. Bretschneider observes that this account "occupies a higher place than many reports of our European mediaeval tavellers." It is indeed a brilliant account of Central Asia at the time, providing insight into many areas including geography, the life of ordinary people, Mongol administration, travel conditions, and even a more endearing and benevolent portrait of emporer Chinghis himself. 

The text has been excerpted from E. Bretschneider's Mediæval Researches from Eastern Asiatic Sources (New York: Barnes & Noble, 1888), pp.37-108. Bretschneider's page numbers are included here in the format //[p.xx].

Open Book

http://youropenbook.org/

I could not resist this, nominated as my website of the year.

Their homepage basically searches for any fb entry that says: "don't tell anyone" .... *GRIN*

Can search for male or female or both, any phrase or status update, worldwide. They also have a very nice explanation about why fb is such a bad fuckin idea.

Your window on the world of wierdness. Have fun, don't be too wicked *wink*

Zapiro rocks!

""It seems to be provocative in many ways on the very eve of the World Cup in South Africa, when we need peaceful co-existence and co-operation amongst religious communities in South Africa," said MJC President Ihsaan Hendricks."

Callers to Johannesburg-based Talk Radio 702 said the Mail & Guardian was irresponsible for printing the cartoon so close to World Cup and this could raise the possibility of a terrorist attack during the tournament.

Hmmmm, you see this just nails the crux of it. We want peace, but if you don't "respect" us, (somebody) will give you war. IE, peace is only possible if you follow our instructions. It's that simple. Don't do this, don't do that. 

No, i reject that. If you are offended by my freedoms, i am equally offended by your lack of freedoms. You insult me by your holier than thou attitudes, and your demands over my behaviour. If islam wishes to launch a fatwa against any and all civilised people, well then they must start. Now. Otherwise perhaps shutting up about killing people (for anything) would be a very nice compromise. 

Don't threaten to kill people, and we won't draw pictures of your prophet. Really now, WTF would i want to waste time drawing a dead psychotic paedophile? I would never wish to even discuss the existance of this historical figure, he means less than nothing to me. Only because i stand for your freedom as much as mine, except you don't want freedom, you want dominion over my actions. Go worship him as you like, that is what i give to you. 

CrimethInc.

http://www.crimethinc.co.za/

Welcome to CrimethInc Far South, a messy collective of anarchist activists, radical autonomists, peoples' poets and surrealist saboteurs of the banal complacency of everyday life.

Positioned against the tyranny of the modern world, where desire is normalised into consumption and beauty is crushed underfoot as fodder for the empty cycles of grey hegemonists, our aim is wakefulness. Our enemy is dreamless sleep.

Beautifully done website, and whoever wrote the content is really very good with words.

I think i know where i'll be sunday ;-)

The Chilbolton 'Arecibo message' Formation

So in my internet surfing i occasionally stop by a very interesting website. I'll wander around for a bit and decide it needs to be featured in my blog. I then leave it until a suitable time, during which it's another window open in my browser. Sometimes for weeks on end.

This is one of those. I've covered crop circles before, and how a company claims to make them (all?). But there's a question as to how advanced it can get. I mean wood and ropes in the middle of the night? Making binary code messages hinting at many things. I don't know, i still think that crop circles are just the wierdest things on earth.

http://www.cropcircleresearch.com/articles/arecibo.html

Read it, some astounding correlations and oddities are presented.

On mad people ...

"But I don't want to go among mad people," Alice remarked.

"Oh, you can't help that," said the Cat: "we're all mad here. I'm mad. You're mad."

"How do you know I'm mad?" said Alice.

"You must be," said the Cat, "or you wouldn't have come here."

Jupiter changes

http://wattsupwiththat.com/2010/05/16/extraterrestrial-global-warming/#more-19550

http://theblogprof.blogspot.com/2010/05/evil-climate-skeptics-responsible-for.html

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/jupiter-cloud-belt-disappears-100513.html

The astronomer, Anthony Wesley, is from Australia, and had previously published significant images of Jupiter. More about that below.

http://jupiter.samba.org/

Smile

Would this do
To make it all right
While sleep has taken you
Where I'm out of sight

I'll make my getaway
Time on my own
Search for a better way
To find my way home
To your smile

Wasting days and days
On this night
Always down and up
Half the night

Hopeless to reminisee
Through the dark hours
We'll only sacrifice
What time will allow us
You're sighing... sighing

All alone
Though you're right here
Now it's time to go
From your sad stare

Make my getaway
Time on my own
Needing a better way
To find my way home
To your smile

Thank you David Gilmour and his wife Polly Samson.

be vewy vewy quiet ....

Sick of arguing

I'm sick to death of people telling me how wonderful freemasonry is. I'm sick of people telling me a one world government is  asolution. I'm sick of people telling how christians are bad, moslems are bad, jews we all agree on, and how bad poor people are.

Here is what the thought formulater of most of the 2oth and 21st century "hidden doctrine" says about what we can expect:

 "We shall unleash the nihilists and the atheists and we shall provoke a great social-cataclysm which in all its horror will show clearly to all nations the effect of absolute-atheism; the origins of savagery and of most bloody turmoil. Then everywhere, the people will be forced to defend themselves against the world-minority of the world-revolutionaries and will exterminate those destroyers of civilization and the multitudes disillusioned with Christianity whose spirits will be from that moment without direction and leadership and anxious for an ideal, but without knowledge where to send its adoration, will receive the true light through the universal-manifestation of the pure doctrine of Lucifer brought finally out into public view. A manifestation which will result from a general reactionary movement which will follow the destruction of Christianity and Atheism; both conquered and exterminated at the same time." Albert Pike - Freemason

AND i'm sick to fucking death of people telling me lucifer is just a Babylonian king,  or the planet Venus, or just other such fairy tale. Albert Pike and is followers all VERY clearly believe in lucifer as being the fallen angel who will wage war on heaven, i'm sick of arguing this point. They believe it, wholeheartedly. They're the ones in power. Take notes ok?

Satan/lucifer/devil/baphomet/whoeverthefuckyouwannacallhim greatest trick is making people believe he does not exist. It's that fucking simple.

SOTT.net

SOTT.net

A very well put together article on the news of the last 2 months, and how there is just a lot of it. Lots of war, lots of severe weather, lots of strange happenings. 

No silly speculation, just facts.

enjoy

Only a dream

I was lanesplitting, suddenly the front started wobbling. To my left, cars, enough space but close to each other front and back, to my right a bus. The bus was in the fast lane of 3. I figured that the front tyre had blown.

I couldn't touch the front brakes, and couldn't slow down, the bike would have wobbled me off just in time for the busses back wheel. I give throttle, ride it out, and swerve in front of the bus, just missing it. 

I fall safely off my bike in the yellow lane at low speed into the gravel and roadside crud. I watch the bus ride away, i see my bike, it's new gashes and crumples and scrapes. I'm fine, probably.

It was only a dream. Last night.

4th dimensional image

Now it won't animate :/

I got it from here:

http://www.moillusions.com/2009/11/greatest-impossible-animation-ever.html

knock yourselves out.

Wormwood?

No really really. Look here: www.ips.gov.au

Project Wormwood 
Learmonth Solar Observatory 
Studies in Planetary Defence and Space Debris

W T F

You know, it's like those chinese restaurants, with really inapropriate names, only .... they meant it? I mean, it's one that some crazy old book talks about a star named Wormwood, that's just going to happen to destroy earth. For someone to actually go out and name a tracking observatory that name?!!??

It's like the Lucifer telescope, owned by the Vatican!!!!

They really are fucking with us!!!

Wormwood?

There's summin big out there

The Oort Cloud, from Wiki:

The Oort cloud (pronounced /ˈɔrt/ ort, alternatively the Öpik-Oort cloud IPA: [ˈøpik]) is a hypothesized spherical cloud of comets which may lie roughly 50,000 AU, or nearly a light-year, from the Sun.[1] This places the cloud at nearly a quarter of the distance to Proxima Centauri, the nearest extrasolar star. The Kuiper belt and scattered disc, the other two known reservoirs of trans-Neptunian objects, are less than one thousandth the Oort cloud's distance. The outer extent of the Oort cloud defines the gravitational boundary of our Solar System.[2]

Persistent Evidence of a Jovian Mass Solar Companion in the Oort Cloud

John J. Matese, Daniel P. Whitmire
(Submitted on 26 Apr 2010)
We present an updated dynamical and statistical analysis of outer Oort cloud cometary evidence suggesting the sun has a wide-binary Jovian mass companion. The results support a conjecture that there exists a companion of mass ~ 1-4 M_Jup orbiting in the innermost region of the outer Oort cloud. Our most restrictive prediction is that the orientation angles of the orbit normal in galactic coordinates are centered on the galactic longitude of the ascending node Omega = 319 degree and the galactic inclination i = 103 degree (or the opposite direction) with an uncertainty in the normal direction subtending ~ 2% of the sky. A Bayesian statistical analysis suggests that the probability of the companion hypothesis is comparable to or greater than the probability of the null hypothesis of a statistical fluke. Such a companion could also have produced the detached Kuiper Belt object Sedna. The putative companion could be easily detected by the recently launched Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE).

Scintillate scintillate globular celestial .....

EDIT: more from Wiki, this time the Sedna celstial object, which has an odd orbit:

Another possible explanation, advanced by Gomes, involves perturbations of Sedna's orbit by a hypothetical planetary-sized body in the inner Oort cloud. Recent simulations show that Sedna's orbital characteristics could be explained by perturbations by a Neptune-mass object at 2000 AU (or less), a Jupiter-mass at 5000 AU, or even an Earth-mass object at 1000 AU.[24][31] Another object, 2000 CR105, has an orbit similar to Sedna's but a bit less extreme: perihelion is 44.3 AU, aphelion is 394 AU, and the orbital period is 3240 years. Its orbit may have resulted from the same processes that produced Sedna's orbit.

Pleiades

Clickit ;-)

New observations of the Pleiades since 1995 have revealed several candidates of an exotic type of stars, or starlike bodies, the so-called Brown Dwarfs. These hitherto hypothetical objects are thought to have a mass intermediate between that of giant planets (like Jupiter) and small stars (the theory of stellar structure indicates that the smallest stars, i.e. bodies that produce energy by fusion somewhen in their lifetime, must have at least about 6..7 percent of one solar mass, i.e. 60 to 70 Jupiter masses). So brown dwarfs should have 10 to about 60 times the mass of Jupiter. They are assumed to be visible in the infrared light, have a diameter of about or less that of Jupiter (143,000 km), and a density 10 to 100 times that of Jupiter, as their much stronger gravity presses them tougher together.

Link

Everybody draw mohammed day

I couldn't make this stuff up i swear. Love it. Here's a message to any moslems, christians, governments, or any other wierdos:

i will draw what i fucking like, 'k?

'k.

*grin* You see, killing people is bad. Drawing pictures is good. The difference between a child and an idiot. I think anyone who says "death to ... " or "kill the ... " should instantly be executed. Simple. We can all agree that anyone who wants ANYone else put to death, should die. I sincerely believe there are enough of those sorts of people around to satisfy anyone's blood lust. We'd all be happy.

THINKBIKE FAIL

So despite still having their avatar and links (right), i don't participate anymore. My membership has lapsed it and i'm happier without it. So many people have left, i bumped into another last friday, they just don't log in anymore. 

These are people that are still bikers, commuters, safety and community orientated people.

So why not? Myself, who had committed a lot of my personal energy to the campaign, and others, who had invested even more?

http://forum.thinkbike.co.za/showthread.php?t=42397

This is in a subforum called "support", meant for those who council or need councilling.

Read it and weep. Your days are numbered ThinkBike, and good that it is so. With attitudes like this the sooner we are rid of you the better for us all. That this has become the norm, shouts to the world the true natures of those involved. No more tolerance, but narrow minded pedantry masquerading as intelligence, or something.

The Buccaneer would never have condoned such attitudes or behaviours, and neither would any respectable man or woman. But this aggression is in fact encouraged. Frankly, since we could all die at any point, religion is kinda intrinsic don't you think? But then safety is similarly glossed over, as is drinking at Think Bike (and other safety) events.

SALUT to those who had the courage to walk away from something they believed in, for all the right reasons. We stand silent in the wings, for whenever you need a hand.

Alphabet soup

A

E

I

O

U

Triangle

Square

Line

Point

Wave

RTFM

>> How many programmers does it take to change a light bulb?

On Wed, 14 Jan 1998, Paul Bleisch wrote:

> What are light bulbs?  

On Thu, 15 Jan 1998, Steve Baker replied:

Oh dear. I wish people would RTFM...

---------------------------------------------------------------------
lightbulb(1) lightbulb(1)

NAME
  lightbulb - Convert electrons to photons

SYNOPSIS
  lightbulb [-wattage number]

DESCRIPTION
  lightbulb reads a stream of electrons from standard input and
  produces photons on standard output.
  Thus

  lightbulb <110_volts_ac>light

  The following options apply to lightbulb:

  -wattage Sets the rate at which electrons are converted
  to photons.

FILES
  None

SEE ALSO
  xmas_tree_lights(1), streetlamp(1), led(2)

KNOWN BUGS
  lightbulb is known to fail unexpectedly after some unknown
  number of applications. Repeated complaints to the authors
  of lightbulb have failed to come up with a fix for this
  bug. The only known workaround for a crashed lightbulb is
  re-installation from a fresh copy of the source media.

NOTES
  I believe M$ Windows is based on lighbulb because they
  share the same bug - and the same workaround.

  It is important to ensure that the input stream is correctly
  formatted or the lightbulb may crash unexpectedly and with
  undefined results.

  Do not attempt to apply lightbulb's input files to other
  UNIX tools (esp. 'finger(1)'), however, lightbulb's output
  stream is fairly compatible with most other devices.

INSTALLATION
  Consult a hardware engineer.

PREREQUISITES
  Your operating system must support sockets and switches.

Zimbabwe's accidental triumf

Zimbabwe’s Accidental Triumph 
 
By DOUGLAS ROGERS
Published: April 14, 2010

IN the midst of a wave of post-election political violence in Zimbabwe in 2008, Brian James, a white farmer who had been evicted from his property years earlier during President Robert Mugabe’s seizure of white-owned lands, found himself surrounded by a throng of black Zimbabweans in downtown Mutare, my hometown. The 50-strong crowd danced, sang and chanted political slogans for more than 20 minutes before Mr. James was finally able to raise his hand, thank them for their support and announce that he was honored to have been elected mayor of the country’s third-largest city.

Read it. I wholeheartedly endorse its contents, i've seen the same around me. It's the x-factor. I sometimes think that SA's finest hour is yet to come. At great price no doubt, but worth pondering.

Prophecy

When i go under a truck, it won't be an accident.

Forgive ourselves ...

Originally posted by ProtoplasmicTraveler

It is our fault though for not forgiving ourselves for being imperfect.

It is our fault that we all allow ourselves to be manipulated along these lines, by a ruling cabal that simply seeks its own profit, glory and power, in perpetuity by taking advantage of that inherent human guilt, over Original Sin, and our inherent imperfect nature.

It is time for the people of the world to first forgive themselves, for being imperfect, so we can finally then begin to forgive one another for being the same!

EDIT: i cannot activate a link in the text, the author is a user on the abovetopsecretforum.

Geo-sculpting

Ok, this story gets my interest:

Work begins on 'Goddess of the North' in Northumberland

The "Goddess of the North" will be made from 1.5 million tonnes of earth from the Shotton mine, near Cramlington. 

It will stand 34 metres - 10 metres higher than the Angel of the North - and will be 400 metres long. 

The sculpture, also knows as Northumberlandia, will form the centrepiece of a 29 hectare public park on the Blagdon Estate. 

It is estimated it will take two years to construct and cost £2.5m. 

Once developed, it is believed it will be the largest human form to be sculpted into the land, in the world.

WOW, just absolutely wow. This is exciting, purely because it's really getting out the box. It's what people 100 years ago would imagine we'd be doing. Art. Nature. Technology. Combining them in new ways.

Political interference - there isn't any

Thanks to News 24

Johannesburg - There is no political interference in any prosecutorial proceedings of any case in the country, said the National Director of Public Prosecutions Menzi Simelane on Wednesday. 

"There isn't any political interference, and there has not been any political interference.
"I don't even know what political interference looks like," Simelane said

Yes, and i'm sure Zuma doesn't know what a condom looks like either?

This guy is such bad trouble for this country ... i cannot stress how much so ...

EDIT: then i found this gem at IOL:

Other controversial actions by Simelane recently include:

Instructing the prosecutor in the "Jub Jub" case, where musician Molemo Maarohanye faces charges relating the deaths of four children, not to oppose bail. When the prosecutor did oppose bail, Simelane had him moved. After an outcry the prosecutor was reinstated.

Instructing the Asset Forfeiture Unit to call off attempts to freeze the foreign assets of businessman Fana Hlongwane as part of the arms deal investigation.

Issuing a directive that public prosecutors may not speak to the media without prior permission from the director of public prosecutions.

Demoting three highly experienced advocates, including George Baloyi, who worked on the Zuma corruption case. Simelane backed down after the three began legal action.

Simelane was instrumental in getting his predecessor, Vusi Pikoli, dismissed. 

While the Ginwala Commission found Pikoli to be "fit and proper" to hold the position of chief of the NPA, it found that Simelane's complaints against Pikoli were "spurious, without substance, and may have been motivated by personal issues". 

It found that Simelane's conduct relating to the minister was "highly irregular".

The Sun

Clickit ... image from SOHO

EDIT: It's the prominence that is woth mentioning, it's huge, one of the biggest ever recorded . I notice this morning that there is quite a lot more bubbling around the sun.

We don't need a messiah

So i don't know who has heard of Benjamin Creme and his "Matraiya" prophecies? Loony ald man been raving for decades about the coming of the messiah, called Matraiya, who will free all humanity etc etal. Share International is the homepage, no i'm not linking to it.

Anyhow. So in and amongst these prophecies are clues to who it will be. Will appear on US television and then ... i dunno. Stuff. Imagine this, people found him. Or not him, but someone who ... the clues said were him. So imagine you're this guy, and one day you get mails asking if you're the messiah. The other letters asked if he was the antichrist. Go figure.

Mr Raj Patel is the guy's name. Not a terribly inspiring start, but after reading his comments on the matter, i think i like him. Read his story here, it's by turns amusing and terribly sad.

This is what he said:

From the Bible to Knight Rider to The Matrix, the story's the same: in crappy times, a single person will emerge to make all the difference and turn everything around. Although it makes for great viewing, it makes for a bad society. Ultimately, tales about messiahs are bedtime stories steeped in power. They're debilitating soporifics, inducements to be passive as we wait for social change because, some day, our prince will come.

Why wait, though? If the world is to transform, faith in politicians offering hope and change is a recipe for disappointment. Ask almost anyone who voted for Obama. Change happens through millions of acts of rebellion and mutual aid, not through faith in one great leader. What's depressing about this whole Maitreya thing is that it is a sign that we've given up on ourselves, that we need to depend on The One rather than finding the means to fix our own problems directly.

What if ...

http://www.sott.net/

Explodes

The world is definitely hitting some ... vibes.

15 die, 678 injured in protesters-security forces clashes in Bangkok

An ageing aircraft taking Polish President Lech Kaczynski to honor the Poles killed in a Soviet-era massacre in west Russia's Katyn forest crashed on Saturday morning. There were no survivors.

Not only that, but the plane was apparently full of government people. All high ranking officials. 

Washington (CNN) -- About 1,300 U.S. troops have been stuck at the Manas airfield in Kyrgyzstan because of the civil unrest there.

Just sayin' 

Kyrgyzstan

The Telegraph

Earlier, Russian television stations released film showing riot police in Bishkek fleeing a screaming mob, protesters shooting at police with AK-47 assault rifles and officers being clubbed with what looked like baseball bats as they lay on the ground. Witnesses said police defending key government buildings in Bishkek had at first tried to keep a 5,000-strong crowd at bay using tear gas, stun grenades and rubber bullets. 

But later, as they struggled to cope, they fired live rounds into the crowd, killing an unknown number of protesters. 

There were reports of protesters seizing automatic rifles, armoured vehicles and police cars. Another 10,000 protesters stormed police headquarters in the western town of Talas.

Their's was the Tulip revolution. This article speaks in the present, but i believe it's already resolved that the military will obey the civilian government. I suspect that the scene above may have contributed somewhat.

People vs the machine ... i think people won this round?

Media Manipulation

http://aeoluskephas.blogspot.com/

Essential reading: Architects of the Imaginal, Movie Star Tulpas.

The inevitable question is: what are the effects of allowing these imagineered characters and narratives into our psyches? What is the result of our willing collaboration with the process by which these pop archetypes become active forces in our psyches, and ascend to mythic status? What happens when popular characters of fiction become icons to be observed, admired, emulated, and finally, worshipped—as gods?

Media Manipulation

AWB - Die Boere

Well that should get your attention. This whole topic is sitting heavily on me, but i'm not sure at i think, yet. I almost just want to soundlessly point, and stare.

For our international friends, "boer" means literally farmer. But with most things, there's another layer of meaning. I guess one could think of them as the south african cowboys. But they're not that either. They're tough, hard men of the earth who have mostly fought in the border wars, worked on farms their whole lives. But unlike american cowboys, very family and religion orientated. The thing tht people don't seem to comprehend about the "boerevolk" is how religious they are. This was always an issue in the apartheid days, the biblically "inspired" racist rationalisations.

To be fair, the biggest difference between the boers and the cowboys is that the cowboys killed all the indians, and the boers didn't wipe out the blacks. Take that as you wish. 

Things are getting bad, fast. The whites in SA are in trouble. The blacks in SA are in trouble. And everybody is in deep trouble too. The ANC has squandered everything, and destroyed the rest. Infrstructure is broken. Overseas they see the new multibillion rand world class stadiums, they don't see how those grand symbols have stolen from the poor, who live right next door. I have been told countless times how the world cup is a good thing, and sadly, people did believe this. There will be manufacturing, and tourists, billions pouring in, enough for everybody!!

No. Nice thought hey, but no. Between Fifa copywriting SOUTH AFRICA, 2010, FOOTBALL, AIR, TELEVISIONS, VUVUZELAS, and the roads, and China having produced, if not all not of th merchandise, and the political bigwigs taking the most lucrative contracts for themselves, we South Africans have not yet paid the bills!!!! 

This is reality. The ANC is now standing to make BILLIONS out of every person who pays electricity, thanks to their fiscal cleverness, and we pay several times more for electricty, than Zimbabwe. The economy is collapsing. Now they canot blame the whites anymore, it's  been in their care for almost 20 years now. They do, of course, but even the poorest township dweller knows that no, it's not the white man's fault. Won't stop them from hacking you to death if you're in the way, but they want the people who have money, thats all.

I'm reading various forums, and it seems that the death of old Terreblanche is a bit of a wake up. Instead of dying like old people do, he's now become a martyr. And sadly, a i've mentioned before here, Saffers need a face to get to grips with a reality. Tell them about 60 people massacred - nothing. Show a picture of a baby whose been orphaned by said massacre, and the the rage will be immediate. So now the spotlight is exactly where nobody really wants it.

Simelane, the new Goerring in chief, was at the courthouse, i would imagine because nobody pays attention to him over the phone. But his sticky political fingerprints are the last thing any sane person wants to see. Hell's even juli has shut his mouth for once. Since theone accused is only 15, the trial has been ordered in camera. While legally correct, i don't trust this one. I smell something rotten. 

People are saying that whites should leave the country. Gods i'm starting to hate expats. Big mouthed priviledge enjoying the bravery of being out of range. Maybe i would be one too, in a different world, but no, i'm stuck here. And as one man put it: He's been all over the world, and received several invitations to move to countries, but they are all completely under the NWO, which a much more dangerous beast than the bushwhackers that surround us. South Africa is, what the rest of the world will be. Read that last night, and it crystallised a thought i've had for several years. 

Few points i'd like to make about the current political climate:

South Africa is in a way, the last colony. 

The country is ready to burn.

It's not the whites fault, and everybody knows that. (except those being manipulatd for political ends, who don't care because they're hungry.)

There is MUCH which we don't know about. Zimbabwe is bigger in this story than we think.

The Boere, after the Boervolk trial, know better than to trust internet.

The AWB is the last organisation which fosters the dream of a free republic for the Boere. Nw we must go back several hundred years, to when the boere came to SA TO ESCAPE THE NWO IN EUROPE. Well i suppose i should OWO ... but yes, the same people, banksters.

The world cup has just become the greatest flint the world has ever known. The vast influx of wealthy people from all over is about to meet pissed of poor people. The government is pathetic in everything it does, we can have a runaway fire in seconds. Mandela is going to die soon. FACT. Now whatever the truth is, the reality will belong to whoever leads the EMOTIONAL masses. 

This is all just bubbling, South Africa started so well, but everybody has had enough of the crime, corruption and inefficiency. How is this going to play out?

ASIDE: i'm caught between 2/3 sides here. 

1: Emigrate: i can neither afford it, nor do i wish to. I have a family to look after, and the countries that would take us are all NWO. 

2: Do something, but what? The democratic system allow a once every 5 years action, more than that they particulrly do NOT want your input. Throw my life into a political party? 

3: Stop whinging. Yeah Saffers moan a lot, but seriously, we're being systematically fucked over. I cannot rebel and not pay rent and lights, i cannot do that. My first priority is the healthy and balanced upbringing of my children. Until the SHTF day at least. By which point everything else would be too late. 

*shrug* this is a difficult time for everyone, and about all i know for sure is everybody needs just that little bit more peace and love in their lives.

If you should also wonder why i stay here, in South Africa:

Ons sal lewe, ons sal sterwe, ons vir jou Suid Afrika.

(We shall live, we shall die, us for you South Africa)

I can't access youtube from work, but search for the video that shows the AWB singing "Die Stem" and take take a moment to reflect.

EDIT: READ THIS: Die BoereKryger

Wikileaks

I said to look out, and they delivered well. 

www.collateralmurder.com

www.wikileaks.com

Overview

5th April 2010 10:44 EST WikiLeaks has released a classified US military video depicting the indiscriminate slaying of over a dozen people in the Iraqi suburb of New Baghdad -- including two Reuters news staff.

Reuters has been trying to obtain the video through the Freedom of Information Act, without success since the time of the attack. The video, shot from an Apache helicopter gun-site, clearly shows the unprovoked slaying of a wounded Reuters employee and his rescuers. Two young children involved in the rescue were also seriously wounded.

Curiously, when i posted this Reuters did not have this covered as a story. If i'm wrong please correct me.

rebirth

The bird fights its way out of the egg. The egg is the world. Who would be born must first destroy a world. The bird flies to God. The God's name is Abraxas.

Hermann Hesse

Pic stolen from Sphinx of the Sun

Raindrops

Yesterday evening we had a cloudburst. Well, i suppose i can call it that, have to call it something. It looked like the nearest lake had got up and gone for a walk.

Up until about 3 oclock i wasn't sure if it was going to rain. Then i knew. It bucketed!!! But when it starts raining like this, waiting for it to end is not really a good idea. Between work a home i have at least 3 distinct meteorological regions, where it rains, then it doesn't rain, then i hit the hills, and it RAINS!!!

Visibility in places was down to about 30 metres, the road was slippery as ice, and the people as usual were fucking morons. But it was fun, a lot of fun. Especially coming under the bridge, and riding through 30cm deep water. Between cars. My chin is my indicator. When the rain falls down, my chin is dry. When the spray and rain combine to form a gaseo-liqui-mush, then my chin is wet. I can feel it get colder than it was, and ice cold water co-alesces on my throat, and drips down the front of my shirt.  My gloves were not prepared either, something to do with my dubbin warming apperatus having been thrown out, or stolen over the stupid season. Just a small scented oil burner, it was ideal for warming the dubbin to liquid, which i could then smear into each and ever crack in my boots and gloves. Boots also leaked a lot. My rain suit is brilliant, high-vis and very good, but leaked at my crotch, and knees (?).

I was certainly having more fun than the cars, and i do appreciate not having to sit in the ain for several hours, as cagers had to yesterday. This morning was also crazy, not sure wy though. The roads were wet still, but clean, most oil had washed off already. Just rubble, all over the tar. But the highway i come in onwas bumper to bumper the entire way, shame. 

I read about a woman who got washed off a bridge in her car last night, and drowned, in the car. Now i can even understand her going over the bridge, as unwise as that was, but i cannot concieve of how a person drowns IN THE CAR? Open the door? Oh, ok, so open the other one then? I kinda feel sorry for her, or rather those she leaves behind, but i'm just missing a small part of the puzzle, it seems odd.

Today is april fools day, good for that. More importantly it's my son's birthday. I deny that the 2 have anything to do with each other. I have to admit though, the little sod waited 4 days to come out on april fools day, maybe he knew something? He's getting a skateboard, matching his little sister's .... not trying to kill my kids ok, just trying to rough them up a lot. Good, kids these days are freakin pansies.

Easter weekend is here, and we welcome BUNNIES, and CHOCOLATES, HOT CROSS BUNNIES ... um ... buns, and easter specials at your local shopping centre. Easter bunny does bulk discounts i believe. More importantly, it's abou the crucifiction, and resurrection of ... Jesus Christ. You wouldn't know it, just by, you know paying attention. Have to be told these things. It's pagan happy days too, sping traditionally for them, autumn for us here. It's satanists happy days too, fucking freakshows. Public holidays for us workers, and choclates for the kids, oh wait i said that. 

So i'm cynical today, again. I cannot however think of easter without John Steinbecks "The Winter of our Discontent". So human, in every way. For me easter is a vaguely sad time, or at least a contemplative one. It is about sadness, and suffering, triumph too, but always at a  great cost. Easter Friday afternoons are quiet times for me. 

Wishing you peace and love

Dreamfoundry

http://www.dreamfoundry.co.za/

Dysfunkt

Cool website i found. Enjoy.

http://dysfunkt.com/

Cycling to Cape Town

Yesterday morning was an education for me. It started innocuously enough, a request to help mashall a charity cycle ride, somthing i'm always game for, as it's usually a nice ride and a great "vibe" for the day.

We were starting at about 8h30 in Jo'burg central for a guy who was about to cycle to Cape Town. Ray Chaplin is his name. Not only that, but it's an old fashioned bicycle too, no brakes, well, you push the pedals back ... only a single gear, and very strange hadle bars. The bike is called Johnny Loco.

Anyhow, a nice guy, quite a big bloke. And so you assume he's done training for this. Oh yes, he just finished walking from Cape Town .... to Beit Bridge!! So this is his way of getting home, RESPECT!!!

I'm really jealous,  spent a bit of time on the roads in my youth, and the wanderlust hit me hard! But good for him, his daily life involves moving, at his own pace, to his own destination. The Sign-Up safety campign was also new to me. Shaun who's heading it up i've met before. There is a huge gaping hole where safety applies to the roads in this country. And the cyclists especially are on the lowest rung when it comes to ability to bounce off anything else. 

The problem is, most weekend cyclists are office monkeys who are usually to be found in 4x4's, so the concept of humility is a bit foreign to them. While they're being killed weekly (another guy was found dead next to his bicycle in Boksburg this weekend, no driver found), the cyclists themselves see an entitlement to tarspace. While technically they are correct, they need to be referred to the bouncing rule (above). Paying road tax does not keep you safe around here. 

So i wish them all well, both the adventurer and the cycle safety drive. Certainly we need more of both, and i can honestly say it was a pleasure playing a small part in this.

EDIT: I see he's been mentioned on IOL.

Wikileaks breaking news

WIKILEAKS

Some of the new interest is related to a film exposing a U.S. massacre we will release at the U.S. National Press Club on April 5.

Our plans to release the video on April 5 proceed. 

We have asked relevant authorities in the Unites States and Iceland to explain. If these countries are to be treated as legitimate states, they need to start obeying the rule of law. Now. 

  —Julian Assange (editor@wikileaks.org)

Real Politic

News 24

What do the national prosecuting head, the ancyl head, and a failed tv star and race car driver have in common?

I got no fucking idea either. However, when you read the article posted, you see that indeed, there IS a connection. The story is along these lines:

One day before Jub Jub's bail application was set to begin, he received a visit in detention from Julius Malema, president of the ANC Youth League.

the orders of Menzi Simelane, head of the National Prosecuting Authority (NPA).
The orders were that he should not contest bail for the musician Jub Jub.

Lambrecht refused to execute the order unless he received it in writing, which he did not receive. Lambrecht didn't respond to Simelane's verbal order, and the State did oppose Jub Jub's bail application.

Maema gave Lambrecht a letter on Tuesday in which he was relieved of his managerial duties and told to work as a prosecutor in court. No reasons were given.
Lambrecht has been chief State prosecutor of the West Rand for the past ten years. The prosecutors of Krugersdorp, Soweto, Randfontein and Roodepoort, among others, fall under him.

When Maema was approached for comment, he said Lambrecht's "move" had nothing to do with the Jub Jub case.

Yes right. So the ancyl have the npa in their pocket. They are giving away immunity from responsibility to selected individuals ... no wonder julie is so fucking cocksure ... HE CAN BE!!

I could say much about the role of the YOUTH league, in encouraging children to go to school, in assuring children that justice shall be served. But no, even these dumb children in Soweto know better than to leave the justice system to itself. Hell, this bail gift was decided over nandos, apparently. All very legal of course, to take food to your friends in prison, unless you're just taking food to your wife, in which case it's against the rules. Personal experience, trust me.

So the new elite is very obvious. If you're just a poor kid who watched his friends get driven over, fuck you. If you're a bastion of legal strength who has done his duties admirably for over 10 years, fuck you. f you're a dumbfuck drug addict and child killer .. .then WELCOME, you're one of us.

Black and white people, take notes.

Walking With The Comrades

Gandhians with a Gun? Arundhati Roy plunges into the sea of Gondi people to find some answers...

I implore you all to read this. Not only a devastingly beautiful account, but also a very important statement, about news, politics, money and the earth.

The stories portrayed are tragic, bestial almost, yet the indomitable spirit of man shines through. And women, who for the first time are equals amongst their peers. 

These fearless fighters, who really have nothing to lose, lead the way with community, mutual assistance, and dancing. I get a sense ofhumanity at large here, where the corporate machines continue to turn over greased by the blood of poor people. And the poor people themselves, fighting what seems to be a hopeless fight, and doing rather well.

peace and love

ANCYL vs FREE PRESS

A call by Sipho Hlongwane for bloggers to join in the protest against the jackboot tactics the ANC Youth League are employing to try and destroy the freedom of the press.

I’m sure you’re aware by now of the slander campaign launched by the ANC Youth League’s spokesperson Nyiko Floyd Shivambu against journalists they perceive to be against the Youth League. This campaign is especially directed against City Press journalist Dumisani Lubisi. You’ll remember that he was instrumental in exposing Julius Malema’s interests in various companies.

The move taken by the ANCYL is disturbing, especially their response to the letter written by 19 of the country’s most influential political journalists, asking the ANC to distance itself from the actions of the Youth League and Floyd Shivambu, where they basically told these journalists to sod off. More than that, Shivambu then threatened the journalists who refused to run his slanderous story.

This is a definite step towards dictatorial rule. I for one, am not willing to sit idly by as people in our ruling party flagrantly infringe on media freedom and other Constitutional rights.

I’ve invited a number of South African bloggers to publish a message to the ANC and the Youth League on Wednesday, condemning the actions of Shivambu and calling on them to distance themselves from such practices. We also reminds the ANC of the vital role played by the the press in the liberation struggle.

Read the letter from journalists, and the ANCYL's amazingly mature response

Magpul Ronin

*drool* be still my beating heart. Such beauty, raw, passion, power ... i have goosebumps!!!

I WANT .. that simple really. It combines everything that IMHO is beautiful in motorcycles. Strength, neatness, simplicity in design. Ok, i'm rambling a little but by the gods LOOK AT IT.

Thanks to The Kneeslider

EDIT: for some reason the images didn't show. Fixing. Go see the article, lots more to it there :)

Reading list

It was a long weekend, much needed too. Just time to chill and be. Let my mind catch up to reality again, i think. So i have started reading again, still not sure where i'm getting time, and it cannot be when kids or pets are around. Yesterday sitting in the lounge, the bird came over and was nibling at my toes, you have a hard time concentrating while thats happening, you know?

But i've had some rather good books to keep me company, thought i'd share this year's so far.

This year started with a christmas present from my folks, i don't recall the title exactly, but a rehash of the pied piper story. A father and son author team, it's not really my cup of tea. I suppose i enjoyed the fantasy land for a bit, but on the whole it was dull, entireley predictable and utterly safe. I guess the kids can have it to enjoy soon.

Anyhow once i'd cleared that out, i moved on to what i really wanted to read: "Dark Side of the Moon: The Magnificent Madness of the American Lunar Quest" by Gerard Degroot. He looks at the American Apollo missions and writes them off as a mistake, an egotiostical mistake of staggering proportions. I think the best line is along these lines: " The apollo missions were a $30 bilion happy pill for the american nation."(i think the number was 30). The book is obviously historical, and digs down deep into the fraud that is nasa. Curiously it dovetailed perfectly with another book i have, "Our ancestors came from outer space" by Maurice Chatelain. Now i re-read that last year, and in Dark Side he refrences the Chatelain book, adding that it's both highy valuable in terms of information, and very rare. It's not only necessary to know the history, it's also important to understand the motivations.Sadly, these insider views show clearly what a "front" nasa really is. A PR spin machine designed to trick people. As incredible as landing on the moon may be, so far our exploits have mostly been hollow, as the goals were not fro the greater good, but more personal, highly specific, short term goals. 

The next book was "Both Sides of the Moon", by Alan Duff. A story of a Maori/white half caste boy, growing up between "civilisation" and the brutality of the Maori past. A very brutal read, base, primitive and violent. It was almost hard reading it was so graphic. However, huge insight into ancient and forgotten times and places. The author is very good at conveying emotion, and the book itself is very compelling. I have the video of "Once Were Warriors" by the same author, violence is also a mark of this story i believe, but highly regarded nevertheless. Huge insight into human behaviour, and also pleasing  to see ourselves, the white invaders, from a native perspective, not as inherently evil, just more powerful. 

What i've just started again, i've read it before, twice, is "The Magician Within" by Robert Moore and Douglas Gillette. The book is really very powerful. Exploring Jungian concepts, archetypes and balance within the male phsyche, it really is hard to keep up with. What makes it easier is of course the obvious reality of the observations presented. In chapter 1 already the profound statement is made: "initiation is but the removal of the ego as the centre of the universe". Following through you understand how all initiations place the individual child ego aside in relation to a greater good, be it church, tribe or club. There is much i still don't understand in life, but certain insights do help you marshall your own thoughts, especially in the noted lack of "elders" in today's society. One thing that is certainly absent from yesteryear's world is simplicity. And while we are more complex than before, the same underlying rules apply. Our complexity often gets in the way of seeing things for the simple concepts that they are. And hence cannot begin to solve what we cannot understand, causing stress, and fustration.

The other item that i'm very intrigued with from the book is the concept of sacred space (and time) and how to navigate these in real life. It's a long way from Carlos Castenada to here and now, but surely even i can figure it out, if the universe rubs my nose in the truth for a bit. Well, we can hope.

Last but certainly not least, is the Bible. Not something you read for fun, as such. But worth reading most definitely. I'm in John at the moment, i'd forgotten how much of that book i'd memorised for primary school SCA. Certainly compelling, reading the life and times of Jesus is hard, almost. Each story gives just the basic facts, very little else, just enough to get a single idea across, nice and clear. 

Anika Smit

Lotto BILLIONS

Lotto charity unspent

The National Lottery Board has admitted that it is sitting on R6 billion meant for NGOs and charities across the country.

The admission was made in the Cape High Court on Wednesday during an application lodged by two local NGOs after their funding requests had been turned down by the board's distributing agencies.

6 fucking billion rand, meant for poor, elderly, disabled people. And it's just sitting there, in the bank, making interest. Yes, you fucking moronic stupid boneheaded lotto buying wankers, they're buying your dreams with the INTEREST of what they SHOULD give away. Let me be excruciatingly clear on this: They are not only making a lot of money, the interest alone on 6bill is enough to drive a small economy. They are making millions and millions every single fucking day. That is the cream, that is not the "profit" calculated on "business models", which i can assure is lucrative to begin with.

And everybody i know buys a lotto ticket, because we all know that working honestly in this country does not work. You'll never drive a nice car, have a nice house, or a decent meal unless you win the lotto. 

But for flying fuck sakes, each and every single person who buys a lotto ticket participates in this crime against our fellow humans, making the dogs at the top even richer that the highly publicised lotto winners, and the poor people of this country even more destitute.

This high court application only came about because they are not giving any away, under any circumstances. Especially not to those who need it.

They're coming ...

SA a magnet for trafficking - UN

Since when? Human trafficking that is. 

South Africa's "open, cosmopolitan" society was being used to facilitate human trafficking ... Johan Kruger said.

"I'm absolutely convinced that it is a real problem with South Africa." ... UNODC international law enforcement advisor Patrik Engstrom concurred ...

"In the whole of the SADC region there has not been a single conviction for human trafficking," Lucas told reporters.

The lack of information had also affected how the scale of the problem was perceived in South Africa.

Engstrom said his office had recently launched a 36-month project to improve human trafficking detection at borders and international airports.

So there isn't any evidence to suggest a problem, but on a hunch, let's just watch REALLY CLOSELY and i'm sure we'll find what we're looking for. At AIRPORTS for fuck sakes. Newsflash: if there is any human traffiking going, it's all the fucking children crossing the border illegally anyway. At border posts or not! You can speak to a mr robert mcbride who is currently the supended east rand metro thuginchief who was was guilty of accepting bribes to allow people over the Mozambican border post. Yes, they come into the country to act as child labour and prostitutes. but this whole news article and UNODC thing is bizarre in the extreme. 

windows

I sit and stare through the window. Lace curtains breathing slowly .... cigarette smoke curling up lazily. I stare at the massive tree standing so tall and strong. I stare at the wall, facebrick patterns and colours swirling and playing. I stare at the litter of the yard, cars, toys, broken trampoline. 

*suck*    *blow*

Stare at the glass, the faint marks left by the rains. Close eyes. Cigarette burns fingers ... drop in ashtray. 

Stare out the glass ... the world ... the wind, clouds. Water. Feel the air caress. Deep breath. Close eyes. Watch the leaves swish in the breeze. Hear the gentle rattle ... 

Reach out mindlessly. Tobacco rizla pinch spread roll lick tidy light.

*suck*    *blow*

Stare out the window.

The world rolls by ... it does. You know it's happening, on the other side of that wall. The rushing of traffic. The wind blowing people from one side of the land to the other. The same wind that fils your lungs, the same wind that your curtains are breathing. The same wind blows the cars along, as they happily make wind too.

I look through the window, and i'm glad i'm inside. Too horrible to go outside. It sucks there. Stuff happens. Breaks. Falls. Decays. Gets lost .... somewhere .... out there.

I was gonna .... do something ... i'm sure. There was that thing .... um ... garage ... ... tools ... fix ... oh yes, i need to buy that. Never mind. 

At work now. Stare at laptop screen. Stare. Glazed eyes hungrily searching for clues. Clues. What to do, what to see, what to think, what to think about. Bad stuff. All over. So many things. He killed. They dead. She screams. All over. 

Close window. Open another, prettier. Fantasy reaches in and blinds ones sensibilities.Breathe. 

Can't think about that ... other ... thing. That soul rending story on the news. It hurts. Look away quick. It Hurts.

My box. I'm in it. And i like it here. I look out the window. But everyone knows you're safe indoors from lightning, aren't you? Or will you blink and it's worse again? 

Still, deathly still i look up ... and around. Move ... speak, smile, nod. Animated me. 

Reading matter

Ok, i hit the motherlode, sort of.

The Free Info Society has many documents on their server for download, most in pdf format, which is great for everything except printing.

From classics to electronics and woodwork, many of the books that you should read, that actually make a positive contribution to your life.

You can find the media directory here, like a real libruary, only without that silence :)

Oh look, Attack Helicopter Operations ....  ooooooooooooooooooooo

peace!!

They will find you

A short quote from a news report. Mercenary who had been in iraq, shot ex wife and killed her friend.

The police tracked him down 24 hours later - by means of his cellphone signals - at a guesthouse in Rocky's Drift outside White River. 

Now we'll all celebrate the arrest of this particular dog, pity we can't put it down.

This was an armed and trained soldier on the run. They can and will find you! 24 hours, anywhere in SA. 

Blood Falls

Roughly 2 million years ago, the Taylor Glacier sealed beneath it a small body of water which contained an ancient community of microbes. Trapped below a thick layer of ice, they have remained there ever since, isolated inside a natural time capsule. Evolving independently of the rest of the living world, these microbes exist without heat, light, or oxygen, and are essentially the definition of "primordial ooze."

Getting close

Durban Deep is less than 10km from my house. 

Paramedics too scared to serve in Durban Deep

On Friday night, two women paramedics from Hodgson Street station in Roodepoort responded to a desperate call from a mother who said her two-year-old son had been burnt. The incident happened in Durban Deep, a mishmash of informal housing and low-cost flats, with near impassable roads.

The ambulance was driven to a pick-up point along Main Reef Road, where residents are often asked to bring patients.

The two paramedics were met by the woman, her injured toddler and two men. The boy needed to be hospitalised, so the mother went home to fetch a jersey for him. 

"While they (paramedics) were busy with the child in the ambulance, three armed men appeared from the bushes, threatened the two men and told them to run away, otherwise they would shoot them. 

"The two men ran down the road and the suspects took the women into the bushes," Senior Superintendent Noxolo Kweza said.

"They raped one woman and attempted to rape the other one," she added.

The two men, who were forced to flee, alerted police and accompanied them to the scene of the incident, helping them to search the bushes. Disturbed by the police presence, the three armed men fled while attempting to rape the second paramedic.

Breathe

Breathe, breathe in the air
Don't be afraid to care
Leave but don't leave me
Look around and chose your own ground
For long you live and high you fly
And smiles you'll give and tears you'll cry
And all you touch and all you see
Is all your life will ever be
Run, run rabbit run
Dig that hole, forget the sun,
And when at last the work is done
Don't sit down, it's time to dig another one
For long you live and high you fly
But only if you ride the tide
And balanced on the biggest wave
You race toward an early grave.

Pink Floyd

8 Metre high wave

So with all the fuss about possible tsunamis in the Pacific ocean, i found this report just a little bizarre. 

An eight-metre high wave smashed into a cruise ship carrying nearly 2,000 people in the Mediterranean, smashing glass windshields and killing two passengers, according to officials.

From The Times.

But the French newspaper Le Figaro and Spanish news reports said the accident happened off Capo de Begur, off the coast of Spain about 80 miles northeast of Barcelona.

This just does not make sense. If there was an 8 metre high wave IN the Mediterranean Sea, surely there would have been a lot more news/sightings/damage/etc?

8 metres high is about 3 stories up, high enough to obliterate almost any seaside village nearby?

Phobos flyby

I wasn't aware of this, but today there will be a flyby of Mars' moon Phobos by the Mars Express craft. This will get as close as 67km above the surface, and radio tracking will allow them to virtually peer inside the strange moon.

Phobos has long believed to be both a new addition to our solar system, and an oddity in itself. Its irregular shape and orbit have been subject of much speculation. 

You can follow the flyby in realtime on the blog they have created here.

R.I.P. Belinda du Plessis

Last night a special light was snuffed out. Belinda was shot dead in her home by her husband peter, who then turned the gun on himself. In front of Belinda's 2 youngest children.

Belinda was my wife's best friend, and was much loved by our family. 

So much to say, so little can be said. Such a stupid stupid waste, and tragedy. They'd only been married 3 years, both had kids from previous marriages, some already grown up. Shannon is the youngest, my daughters friend too. Her father died a few years ago, i'm not sure how. She will need all the love that this world can share with her. Her brother Donovan apparently wrestled with peter over the gun, he too will have scars for life.

This whole tagedy has played out over the last few weeks, with the revelation that peter had been fucking around, lying, and just not being what he professed to be. The fight i believe was over a car, hers, that he wanted to take with. My wife had spent much time recently, just being a friend. I guess i'm relieved that she wasn't there at the time, something that was quite likely.

Jody-fae love auntiy Belinda so much, i bumped into her at the spar a few weeks back, and this little girl just run and jumped to embrace Belinda in the parking lot. I'm not really grieving as such, i knew peter, and we'd had quite a few long conversations, but i wouldn't say we were friends, just aquaintences. The other thing of course is that this all happened within a church community, where people were there, just helping where they could, providing support and so on. Men and women who are trained in various aspects of councelling, as was peter. We  knew that things had turned sour, but nothing suggested this.

Belinda was a soft soul, a good mother and friend, who will be terribly missed by those who knew and loved her. 

Death has been close these last few weeks. And the part that hurts the most is that both Belinda and Lance were so deeply loved by my little girl. Both brought out huge smiles and massive tight hugs from Jody, who truly deeply loved the people that they were. I can't quite wrap my head around the fact that i can't even tell her. She'll never really know, i wonder if she'll remember them. We will.

I am hesitant to read anything deeper into these apparently seperate events, both quite different, but i implore you, LOVE, goddamit LOVE today with everything you have. 

UPDATE: 

The funerals will be held this Friday at the Church of the Nazarene Horison in Mouton street, Roodepoort. Peter's funeral will be at 9am, with Belinda's at 12.

Please contact me if you need directions or further info.

Gotcha!!

News 24

Transport officials will look into reports that several newly-built bridges and roads in Limpopo have been washed away ..

The City Press newspaper reported on Sunday that several multi-million rand bridges and roads in Limpopo, built by SGL Engineering Projects in which Malema has the majority shareholding, had been washed away within weeks of their completion.

City Press visited several SGL projects in the past week.

"At Kgapane Township, about 120km east of Polokwane, only a portion of one of the two bridges constructed last year [is] still in place," the newspaper reported.

"A bridge built at the township’s Meloding Section is effectively a hill of soil covered with pavement. It has no concrete layers.

"Residents said heavy rains in January swept it away just a few weeks after it was finished."
__________________________________________________

Yes, THIS is where is stops being fun and games, and becomes a fuck you to the communities he keeps trying to identify with. And ther will be no stupid denials or finger pointing, he is 70% shareholder, and this is going to be taken further.

Your sins will find you out.

Older than the Pyramids

From Newsweek. Standing on the hill at dawn, overseeing a team of 40 Kurdish diggers, the German-born archeologist waves a hand over his discovery here, a revolution in the story of human origins. Schmidt has uncovered a vast and beautiful temple complex, a structure so ancient that it may be the very first thing human beings ever built. The site isn't just old, it redefines old: the temple was built 11,500 years ago—a staggering 7,000 years before the Great Pyramid, and more than 6,000 years before Stonehenge first took shape. The ruins are so early that they predate villages, pottery, domesticated animals, and even agriculture—the first embers of civilization. In fact, Schmidt thinks the temple itself, built after the end of the last Ice Age by hunter-gatherers, became that ember—the spark that launched mankind toward farming, urban life, and all that followed.

Göbekli Tepe—the name in Turkish for "potbelly hill"—lays art and religion squarely at the start of that journey. After a dozen years of patient work, Schmidt has uncovered what he thinks is definitive proof that a huge ceremonial site flourished here, a "Rome of the Ice Age," as he puts it, where hunter-gatherers met to build a complex religious community. Across the hill, he has found carved and polished circles of stone, with terrazzo flooring and double benches. All the circles feature massive T-shaped pillars that evoke the monoliths of Easter Island.

_______________________________________________________

This is an awesome find, one wonders how it escaped notice until now. I love that stone though, carved with a lizard on the front. It has to mean SOMETHING.

But an old story comes to mind, where strange new archeological digs will redefine our understandings of ancient times. Which is good. The problem is, i think, that "they" will be using those to plant certain bits of evidence, which then make us as a whole believe, untruths.

Either way, an insight into days gone by, when hunter gatherers needs to meet, compare inventions and stories, and probably get drunk.