"The telephone rang in the office of F.W. De Klerk. It was back in the days when South Africa's reform-minded president and the man he had released from twenty-seven years of martyrdom, Nelson Mandela had an affable easy-going relationship
The phone was answered by a boyish man in his late twenties...the PS. It was Nelson Mandela on the other end of the line.... He had to pay a visit to a squatter camp on the Cape Flats and didn't have anything appropriate to wear having brought only suits with him to Cape Town.
Well ventured PS tentatively, why didn't he simply buy something....
That was just it, responded Mandela in his deliberate slightly nasal way: he also didn't bring any cash, cheque book, that sort of thing
The PS said he would get back to him. F.W. was consulted on this minor ,yet delicate, matter of state.
Mandela was called back. Why didn't he go to an outfitter in the town that F.W. favoured, get what he needed, and simply send the money afterwards or arrange payment for when he next returned to Cape Town ?
Well, no, that wouldn't really work either,Mandela mused. He felt he couldn't impose because, you see, he had never bought at that shop before and they couldn't be expected to give him ' an account'.
The exact response of the PS is not recorded, but you can fill in something like: sweet suffering mackerel. you're Nelson Mandela.You're the single most trusted person in the world today. The World Bank would give you a fiscus of credit without even a handshake.
In the end F.W.'s office explained the sensitivities of the matter to the shop keeper. With F.W. expressly standing good for the proposed purchase, the venerated Mandela went along for his squatters camp outfit."
From When Mandela Goes incidentally while trying to avoid typing this in I goggled it to no effect and and typo's stuff ups are mine not Lester Venter's but I did discover this blog and it is worth a read. My point though is to compare Mandela and Mugabe. There is no comparison. The best comparison I can think of for President Nelson Mandela is a bee keeper, a mountaineer our very own Sir Ed.
Mugabe well he can only be compared with like Hitler, Stalin maybe the irony being they at least were effective in the evil they committed. Mugabe is just evil.
Friday, June 29, 2012
Thursday, June 28, 2012
When a Crocodile Eats the Sun
My neighbours from South Africa lent me Peter Godwin's 2006 memoir "When a Crocodile Eats the Sun"
The title refers to an African belief that when an eclipse happens a celestial crocodile has briefly consumed the sun and it is a warning that the crocodile is not happy about the goings on on earth.
The book is about Zimbabwe and the insanity that the rule of Robert Mugabe has inflicted upon the people of Zimbabwe told from his perspective, the son of a Polish Jewish father and English mother who relocate after WWII to Rhodesia.
In many ways it is the story of his father a man who escaped the Nazi's and fought them with the free Pole's and his father's impoverishment at the hands of Mugabe's thugs. The story of an honorable man, an engineer who built stuff and built a better world.
I despise Mugabe. He needs a date with the Hague. There is a telling passage in the book where a Government Minister is quoted as saying that there is no need for food aid, 12 million is to large a population and 6 million would be better. There is a Cabinet Minister and medical doctor who has used the name " Hitler " he is also a war vet, unfortunately he was fighting the Zimbabwe civil war in Poland , then part of the Warsaw pact and some how was paralysed. He now receives a disability pension from the state for 80% disability yet can walk.
The ironic part of this book is that when Godwin wrote it he believed things couldn't get worse in 2011 he wrote Fear. I will have to track a copy down.
" Returning to his native Zimbabwe in 2008, Godwin had hoped to dance on Robert Mugabe's political grave. But though Mugabe had been voted out as president, he did not concede power, instead sponsoring a brutal campaign of violence to crush his political opponents and suppress dissent in a land already devastated by hyperinflation and Mugabe's compulsory land-redistribution program. Chronicling the violence, the suffering, and the chaos; recounting the stories of torture survivors and victims of politically motivated vigilantism; and examining Mugabe's biography and politics (and placing himself in significant danger in the process), Godwin only occasionally recognizes the Zimbabwe of his childhood. But, finding heroism and resistance in the face of horrific carnage, he discovers a side of the nation that he had not known before. Much more than just the author's third memoir of Zimbabwe (after Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa, 1996, and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, 2007), this selection is an important work of witness. --Brendan Driscoll. "
Sounds like another must read book, on that note my SA neighbours have lent me " When Mandela Goes" by Lester Venter, I am only up to page 45 and for a book published in 1997 he has made some fairly astute observations on what the future would hold, much of which has come to pass, as I said only on page 45, but I will report back here when I have finished it.
The title refers to an African belief that when an eclipse happens a celestial crocodile has briefly consumed the sun and it is a warning that the crocodile is not happy about the goings on on earth.
In many ways it is the story of his father a man who escaped the Nazi's and fought them with the free Pole's and his father's impoverishment at the hands of Mugabe's thugs. The story of an honorable man, an engineer who built stuff and built a better world.
I despise Mugabe. He needs a date with the Hague. There is a telling passage in the book where a Government Minister is quoted as saying that there is no need for food aid, 12 million is to large a population and 6 million would be better. There is a Cabinet Minister and medical doctor who has used the name " Hitler " he is also a war vet, unfortunately he was fighting the Zimbabwe civil war in Poland , then part of the Warsaw pact and some how was paralysed. He now receives a disability pension from the state for 80% disability yet can walk.
The ironic part of this book is that when Godwin wrote it he believed things couldn't get worse in 2011 he wrote Fear. I will have to track a copy down.
" Returning to his native Zimbabwe in 2008, Godwin had hoped to dance on Robert Mugabe's political grave. But though Mugabe had been voted out as president, he did not concede power, instead sponsoring a brutal campaign of violence to crush his political opponents and suppress dissent in a land already devastated by hyperinflation and Mugabe's compulsory land-redistribution program. Chronicling the violence, the suffering, and the chaos; recounting the stories of torture survivors and victims of politically motivated vigilantism; and examining Mugabe's biography and politics (and placing himself in significant danger in the process), Godwin only occasionally recognizes the Zimbabwe of his childhood. But, finding heroism and resistance in the face of horrific carnage, he discovers a side of the nation that he had not known before. Much more than just the author's third memoir of Zimbabwe (after Mukiwa: A White Boy in Africa, 1996, and When a Crocodile Eats the Sun, 2007), this selection is an important work of witness. --Brendan Driscoll. "
Sounds like another must read book, on that note my SA neighbours have lent me " When Mandela Goes" by Lester Venter, I am only up to page 45 and for a book published in 1997 he has made some fairly astute observations on what the future would hold, much of which has come to pass, as I said only on page 45, but I will report back here when I have finished it.
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Our Destiny and the Greens
This is amazing many would disagree with the cost of Voyager 1 &
2 and that they will never reach anywhere ( the Universe is a big
place ) in the time the earth has to run. But when "... the Sun falls
from the sky" maybe Voyager 1 & 2 will have found fellow travelers in our universe. I think it is time for Voyager 3 & 4.
"11 billion miles from home, Voyager 1 is on the verge of interstellar space.
Launched in 1977, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft was charged with several space-tasks prior to leaving Earth. It was to pass by Jupiter and Saturn, for instance, and send back information on what it saw. It was to keep safe its golden record, an audiovisual introduction to humanity compiled under the guidance of Dr. Carl Sagan, unless it was able to pass the record to any friendly space aliens. Now, 33 years on, Voyager 1 has excelled at first two tasks; just as well, too, since it's about to leave the solar system."
Yeah it is at the business end of the project, from memory Jim Carter is the guy saying hi from our world. We need Voyager 3 & 4 we need to break the speed of light.
Well we have if this report is correct
So we are stuffed long term if we remain planet bound.and that is why the left should never vote Green. The Greens are just another manifestation of the Destiny Church and let's face it who the fuck wants Bishop Brian in charge.
"11 billion miles from home, Voyager 1 is on the verge of interstellar space.
Launched in 1977, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft was charged with several space-tasks prior to leaving Earth. It was to pass by Jupiter and Saturn, for instance, and send back information on what it saw. It was to keep safe its golden record, an audiovisual introduction to humanity compiled under the guidance of Dr. Carl Sagan, unless it was able to pass the record to any friendly space aliens. Now, 33 years on, Voyager 1 has excelled at first two tasks; just as well, too, since it's about to leave the solar system."
Yeah it is at the business end of the project, from memory Jim Carter is the guy saying hi from our world. We need Voyager 3 & 4 we need to break the speed of light.
Well we have if this report is correct
Antonio Ereditato, spokesman for the international group of researchers, said
that measurements taken over three years showed neutrinos pumped from CERN
near Geneva to Gran Sasso in Italy had arrived 60 nanoseconds quicker than
light would have done.
"We have high confidence in our results. We have checked and rechecked
for anything that could have distorted our measurements but we found nothing,"
he said. "We now want colleagues to check them independently."
I washed up in New Zealand in the early 70's on a Greek ship as a legal immigrant ( refugee ) from the UK. Now even our refugees fly in.
I washed up in New Zealand in the early 70's on a Greek ship as a legal immigrant ( refugee ) from the UK. Now even our refugees fly in.
Earth's fate
Earth's ultimate fate is precarious. As a red giant, the Sun will have a maximum radius beyond the Earth's current orbit, 1 AU (1.5×1011 m), 250 times the present radius of the Sun.[104] However, by the time it is an asymptotic giant branch star, the Sun will have lost roughly 30% of its present mass due to a stellar wind, so the orbits of the planets will move outward. If it were only for this, Earth would probably be spared, but new research suggests that Earth will be swallowed by the Sun owing to tidal interactions.[104] Even if Earth should escape incineration in the Sun, still all its water will be boiled away and most of its atmosphere will escape into space. Even during its current life in the main sequence, the Sun is gradually becoming more luminous (about 10% every 1 billion years), and its surface temperature is slowly rising.So we are stuffed long term if we remain planet bound.and that is why the left should never vote Green. The Greens are just another manifestation of the Destiny Church and let's face it who the fuck wants Bishop Brian in charge.
Sunday, June 10, 2012
Sunlight Economics from Imperator Fish
Scott Yorke at Imperator Fish is on fire
" Reducing unnecessary compliance costs for businesses would go a long way towards lowering the market barriers for new sun entrants. The creation of economic conditions that incentivised market players would increase competition between providers of sunlight and lead to an expansion in the supply of sunlight to consumers. For example, the laws of physics make it prohibitively expensive for businesses to secure suns from other systems and import them to New Zealand. These laws should be relaxed, if not repealed, immediately."
Brilliant.
" Reducing unnecessary compliance costs for businesses would go a long way towards lowering the market barriers for new sun entrants. The creation of economic conditions that incentivised market players would increase competition between providers of sunlight and lead to an expansion in the supply of sunlight to consumers. For example, the laws of physics make it prohibitively expensive for businesses to secure suns from other systems and import them to New Zealand. These laws should be relaxed, if not repealed, immediately."
Brilliant.
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
Captain Cook
Did not discover New Zealand. Oh what MSM. Simple you fucked up. Ever heard of a bloke called Tasman?
Maori would argue that they were first an argument I agree with. Like they were here. Fuck you fools, yes we have a Cook Straight we also Have a Tasman one and TVNZ has said tonight that Cook discovered New Zealand. They are fools.
Maori would argue that they were first an argument I agree with. Like they were here. Fuck you fools, yes we have a Cook Straight we also Have a Tasman one and TVNZ has said tonight that Cook discovered New Zealand. They are fools.
" I Have Found.. "
Today was a great day for me and more importantly for Significant Other . Like the fool I am I forgot to take my cell phone home from work yesterday and the land line was dead tonight as I had forgotten to put it back in its charger, fortunately I still have the one of those old fashioned ones that you plug into the wall and has a hand piece that is connected by wire to the phone so I was able to get an update tonight.
Significant Other is a refugee from the Congo here in New Zealand with her nephew and niece, my text from last night that I got this morning told me she had found one of her nieces sisters via Facebook and tonight after a careful questioning by myself I understand that Significant Others sister is alive as well. We don't know about other family members as yet but in a refugee camp in Kampala Uganda and in Auckland a family is embarking on the process of reunification, I have tears in my eyes.
Are there any hero's here ?
Yes but it isn't us ( New Zealand ), it isn't Facebook and it isn't the UN. We all played a small part.
Faith and a refusal to give up on each other, the human spirit if you like triumphed today.
Significant Other said " God is good ".
Significant Other is a refugee from the Congo here in New Zealand with her nephew and niece, my text from last night that I got this morning told me she had found one of her nieces sisters via Facebook and tonight after a careful questioning by myself I understand that Significant Others sister is alive as well. We don't know about other family members as yet but in a refugee camp in Kampala Uganda and in Auckland a family is embarking on the process of reunification, I have tears in my eyes.
Are there any hero's here ?
Yes but it isn't us ( New Zealand ), it isn't Facebook and it isn't the UN. We all played a small part.
Faith and a refusal to give up on each other, the human spirit if you like triumphed today.
Significant Other said " God is good ".
Tuesday, June 5, 2012
Heritics
Left leaning blogs in New Zealand have taken to each other over the last few days the Dim Post on Trotter or Imperatorfish on Bradbury some with humour that would be Danyl and Scott.
In the name of our Bene Gesserit Order and its unbroken sisterhood, this it account has been judged reliable and worthy of entry into the Chronicles of the Chapter House."
Frank Herbert
And so it goes. Yes I laughed at Danyl's and Scot's posts and both illustrate the frustration that the modern left have with the old school.
" Most discipline is hidden discipline, designed not liberate but to limit..."
Frank Herbert
We have none. That will be our downfall.
In the name of our Bene Gesserit Order and its unbroken sisterhood, this it account has been judged reliable and worthy of entry into the Chronicles of the Chapter House."
Frank Herbert
And so it goes. Yes I laughed at Danyl's and Scot's posts and both illustrate the frustration that the modern left have with the old school.
" Most discipline is hidden discipline, designed not liberate but to limit..."
Frank Herbert
We have none. That will be our downfall.
Friday, June 1, 2012
He isn't my Duke
No Right Turn has a post up about the leaking publication of the Queen's Birthday Honours list.
" I've just had a polite phone call from the Cabinet Office asking me to help cover up their mistake and remove information about the leaked honours list. For the sake of all those decent, honest honours recipients, of course, who weren't expecting it to be released yet. Poor Prince Phillip. He'll have people calling him up to congratulate him on being one of the "greatest living New Zealanders" (despite having set foot here all of, what, ten times?) two days early. "
I would have to say No Right Turn is spot on, Prince Philip is the Field Marshal of the NZ army, Admiral of the Fleet of the Royal New Zealand Navy and Marshal of the Royal New Zealand Air Force. Chris Laidlaw's Right's of Passage has some interesting observations on Prince Philip and his fascination with time pieces, but more importantly his disdain for New Zealand.
" ...an autobiographical account of Laidlaw's life from his days as an All Black, through his diplomatic and political career, his experiences as an ambassador, and his work in the United Nations of various projects. The central theme of the book is the importance of cultural identity and the need for space to express that."
I strongly recommend this book and give my copy to all extended family and friends when they wash up in Auckland they are asked to leave it with Mum and Dad in Queenstown where it currently is.
The Order of New Zealand is for people like Sir Ed and membership should be limited to real New Zealanders. Prince Philip is not Sir Ed., he is not a Kiwi and history will remember Sir Ed. Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh ( the place of my birth, yes that he is the Duke pisses me off ) history will forget.
Keeping Stock also notes an ironic inclusion in the list.
" I've just had a polite phone call from the Cabinet Office asking me to help cover up their mistake and remove information about the leaked honours list. For the sake of all those decent, honest honours recipients, of course, who weren't expecting it to be released yet. Poor Prince Phillip. He'll have people calling him up to congratulate him on being one of the "greatest living New Zealanders" (despite having set foot here all of, what, ten times?) two days early. "
" ...an autobiographical account of Laidlaw's life from his days as an All Black, through his diplomatic and political career, his experiences as an ambassador, and his work in the United Nations of various projects. The central theme of the book is the importance of cultural identity and the need for space to express that."
I strongly recommend this book and give my copy to all extended family and friends when they wash up in Auckland they are asked to leave it with Mum and Dad in Queenstown where it currently is.
The Order of New Zealand is for people like Sir Ed and membership should be limited to real New Zealanders. Prince Philip is not Sir Ed., he is not a Kiwi and history will remember Sir Ed. Prince Philip Duke of Edinburgh ( the place of my birth, yes that he is the Duke pisses me off ) history will forget.
Keeping Stock also notes an ironic inclusion in the list.
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