Another Day, Another Armed Robbery

They say Africa isn't for sissies: today I was visiting the home of Dennis and Sally Polack, to work on their Fishwise Pro web site, We had just finished lunch when Sally started screaming: an armed robbery was in progress at their house.
They had already tied up two of the farm workers and robbed them of cash and cell phones, and were now intent on taking whatever they could from the main house. One of the bastards pointed a firearm at me, although somewhat briefly. Then he ran away when he heard me calling to Dennis to get his firearm.
I called 10111 and the cops were here in minutes. They were amazing. They might even have got the guys once they ran away. It turns out there were 8 of them. The problem is to know when or whether they will be back.
Crime affects us all: I have been mugged twice, and my car broken into twice. My wife has been mugged, and been in 2 armed robberies when she worked at the bank. She saw a security guard shot and killed in front of her. Dennis was shot on his smallholding 4 years ago. My brother has been hijacked, and his house has been robbed. My in-laws have had their house burgled twice. My main client has had several laptops stolen during armed robberies, and had a few after-hours breakins as well. Cars have been stolen from the flats where we live, and three flats have been burgled.
And so the list goes on, while our glorious leaders try to deny the problem and make lame excuses. They are lazy, corrupt, greedy and inept. They deliberately under-fund the police, and siphon off government money in "arms deals" and dodgy tenders that lead to a lack of service delivery. One of these days we'll wake up and vote the criminals out of office. But by then the economy will be in tatters and all the good people will be dead or living in other countries.
Update: The male worker who was attacked first was threatened by being told the name of his 6-year-old son, who is currently visiting his granny. When I saw him he was in tears, shattered and scared for his safety and that of his family. The cold-blooded bastards who did this care nothing about the impact of their actions. They are usually high on drugs when they try this kind of stunt anyway. A pox on the lot of them!
Update 9pm: Dennis retuned from hospital with 22 stitches. He fell down the stairs during the robbery. He's fine but has a sore back.

Orwell Warned Us, But Will We Listen?

I just finished watching this documentary and I must say it is an eye opener, not only in the light of the political scandals in the UK over Murdoch and the phone hacking scandal, but also in the light of Wikileaks and the treatment of Bradley Manning. Even though it was made in 2003, Orwell Rolls in his Grave is even more relevant today than it was then. Unfortunately the news is less relevant, and getting even less relevant by the day. That's why they don't even understand what "Occupy Wall Street" is all about.

LM Radio now in Joburg

In the dark days of the SABC broadcast monopoly and censorship, one bright light on the dial was LM Radio, broadcast from Lourenço Marques, now called Maputo, in Mozambique. In fact, it was one of the earliest independent stations on the continent. LM Radio was on the air from 1936 until 1975 and played a very important role in shaping the style and content of broadcasting in South Africa.
Now it's back in Joburg, and this time on 97.2 FM (Cofifi Community Radio Westbury). Broadcasting started about a week before Christmas. Instead of having to fiddle with short wave tuners (my dad had a Supersonic tuner with little stickers on the dial) you can just use an FM radio, or listen to the streaming signal from the internet. It streams at around 17megabytes per hour, which is manageable even on a capped account.
You can hear an audio history and some of the old jingles on the LMRadio.org site.
Update: I also discovered the station on the "Internet Radio" app on my Nokia phone. Just do a country search and it's listed under "Mozambique". The 32kb stream sounds pretty good on my phone.

Why is the USA scared of a single soldier?

Only in the USA would media corporations studiously ignore the plight of a single soldier while feeding greedily on the information he allegedly gave them. Only in the USA would they label him a traitor at the same time. Even President Obama believes he is guilty, and gives him the Gitmo treatment. I guess that's what happens when you watch Fox "news".
I think Manning is a hero, as does much of the free world. This segment is from the AJE show called "Listening Post", which tries to monitor and analyse the way the media works.

DStv Mobile "Cannot Play Channel" Ripoff - Fixed

DStv is a perfectly good example of a large company that sucks. My latest frustration is the following message: "Cannot play channel. E16-4 Service is currently scrambled". I got this while testing their latest DStv Mobile device: the "Walka", a handheld device that can display up to 16 channels, for only R36 per month.

The Walka Handheld TV is a slim, lightweight device with a 3.5” viewing screen providing digital visual and audio quality. Its introduction gives DStv Mobile subscribers even more ways to access mobile TV on the go, anywhere, anytime.

Considering that their "Premium" package costs an eye-watering R559 (US$70) per month, the R36 per device seems a much better deal, especially since there are 5 sports channels, and you would have to get the Premium package to get all of them.
Sounds too good to be true. It is. On the DStv Mobile web site they list the channels that are available. The last one on the list is "M-Net Mobile".
Even though there is a little asterisk to explain that the channel is not the same as M-Net, it omits a very important piece of information: available to Premium subscribers only. You have to infer this from their "About Mobile TV" page, which lists the "bouquets" available.
I called the "Customer Service" number and spoke to an officious little man who kept interrupting me and telling me that it's all in the "Terms and Conditions" on their web site. It isn't. It's hidden away in the Drifta FAQ, not the "Walka" FAQ. Why hide it from the customer? Why not tell the customer when he buys the product? I have been to their head office 3 times with Drifta enquiries, plus phoned their sales line, and no one has ever mentioned the M-Net restriction, or discussed "bouquets".
Speaking of "bouquets", the only way to watch cricket on DStv is with the "Premium" subscription, or with DStv Mobile on a 3.5" screen. So we have downgraded from the R600 per month package to "EasyView" which only costs R20/month. Granted, it only shows the channels we pay for with a TV license, plus Aljazeera English and CCTV, the Chinese english news channel. Since AJE is infinitely better than CNN, I'm happy with the arrangement, and we can watch sport on the Walka. It pays for itself within 2 months.
Update: DStv have updated their web site to make it clearer in the list the channels that M-Net is only available on the Premium subscription.
Update Monday 9 Jan: 5 weeks after purchasing the Walka its screen went weird. I took it to their Customer Service Centre and they replaced it without any fuss. Good service.

Great Ideas Are Not Always Obvious

I saw this video clip on TV this morning and thought that the rest of the world could learn from it. Particularly here in Joburg, where our politicians are too interested in lavish parties and stealing money than actually doing anything useful. Also at COP17, where the 1% gather to spend the 99%'s money and discuss how to make 0% difference.

Marketing Lies told by Banks

"Congratulations, you could qualify for a limit increase ..." Does the bank really think I'm that stupid? They want to lend me money, to increase my debt, and to increase their profit, and I should be congratulated? This is one of the many lies told every day by banks and other financial institutions. And then you wonder why the world economy is in such a mess.

Apple Fanboys Being Mocked

I guess the Apple reality distortion field won't last forever. I don't know if I'll get a smartphone, but if I do, it won't be an Apple product. Not after they way they treated me in the past.