Aleit Park Fence Fixed

It's difficult to tell whether the visit was in response to Reference number 5393/23-Oct-2006 or not, but yesterday the City Parks guys showed up around 10am and fixed part of the wooden fence for Aleit Park.
At around 11 they lit a braai fire (labelled "1" in the bottom of the picture) and enjoyed their braai until around 12, and then left. Today, they arrived again at around 10am and finished the rest of the fence. This picture was taken shortly after they arrived today, and shows the work done yesterday, labelled "2".

Aleit Park gets its grass cut

Hilarious Cockroaches

The Straight Dope web site has some classic advice for dealing with roaches. It's also hilarious, assuming you know a little bit of Vietnam war history.

Dear Cecil:
I'm tired of Roach Motels, Baygon, boric acid and other pansy-ass roach killers. I want a recipe for some stuff they will eat gladly and die of quickly. I have no kids or pets to worry about. I don't care if the active ingredient is a little dangerous to handle, or hard (even illegal) to get. I want the little suckers dead. What will do it? --Hayden J., Chicago

Dear Hayden:
Calm yourself and pay attention to your Uncle Cecil. There are two proven approaches to dealing with la cucaracha: (1) borax, and (2) arson. Assuming your landlord objects to the latter line of attack, hie yourself down to the basement and mix up the following recipe: 4 parts borax, 2 parts flour, and 1 part cocoa powder.
Now, you may regard borax as "pansy-ass," my boy, but that is because you are young and ignorant and have not yet grasped the subtleties of Total Insect Warfare, which requires fanatical dedication. You must mix up oodles of this stuff and apply it with the enthusiasm of Robert S. McNamara dumping Agent Orange on the Mekong Delta. Pour it in a continuous line along the walls. Put an extra dose under sinks and around kitchen cabinets. Hell, fill your damned house to a depth of one foot with the stuff. The little bastards will die piteously, I promise.
Incidentally, should you also be happen to be troubled by rats, I have here an ingenious formula for inducing rat death: Mix equal parts cement and flour. Place a pan of this powder out next to a pan of water. The rats eat the cement, then they drink the water, and by the next morning their bowels have turned to concrete. Sadistic, eh? I knew you'd love it.

The Straight Dope: What's the best way to kill cockroaches?

702 Starts Podcasting

At long last 702 has decided to test the podcast waters. Now, finally, I can listen to Aki's Technobyte, because I rarely catch it on the radio. He always has interesting things to say, too.

'Bad fats' ban in NYC restaurants

"New York City's Board of Health has voted to ban artery-clogging trans-fats from the city's restaurants.
The city's health officials have for years warned that the fats can cause obesity and lead to heart disease.
Trans-fats go into partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, which is commonly used for frying and baking.
The unanimous vote makes the city the first in the US to ban the fats, although the original strict deadline to comply has been lengthened.
Restaurants will be banned from using most frying oils containing trans-fats from 1 July, and will have to eliminate the fats from all foods by 1 July 2008."

BBC NEWS: 'Bad fats' ban in NYC restaurants | Food facts web site | Trans Fat Food Nightmare

Finally! A number to call for iTunes support

Slate magazine has finally tracked down a number you can call to speak to a real live person at iTunes. It took them a year to find it. Such is the arrogance of Apple. And since it's a 1-800 number you can't call it from outside the USA. These guys are unbelievable.

read more | digg story | There's a Bug in my Apple

Aleit Park gets its grass cut

Aleit Park, next to our flat, got its grass trimmed today. I can't recall when it was last cut, but I think it was in October sometime.
A man stands hear the northern boundary of the park, with grass up to his knees as he cus it with a weed-eater.
The same boundary fence, with the men hard at work using weed-eaters.
In the rest of the park, mowers without grass buckets are used to trim the thinner grass.
A proud worker insisted I take his photograph.
The men cut the grass on the pavement near the "rustic" wooden fence.
Grass in the foreground waiting for attention.
A lone Hadeda picks its way through the piles of cut grass left lying all over the park.
On Sunday a group of 4 homeless men arived to wash their clothes in the stream. They stayed the whole day, shouting at one another in their drunken state. They were so drunk they could hardly walk straight. We could still hear them with all the windows closed in our flat.
Today the same part of the park is looking a bit neater, even though all the tree rubble in the background is still there. The gardener for our block of flats cuts the grass regularly, as shown in the photo of the drunks. The parks people always ignore this side of the stream, except to trim the edges.

Windows Vista Capable? NOT!

Thanks to the podcasts "This Week in Tech" and "Windows Weekly" for pointing this out: if your laptop (like mine) has the "Windows Vista Capable" sticker on it, don't expect it to perform well if you install Windows Vista. It won't. All the badge says is that Vista will install and run if you're stupid enough to try it.
Remember how slow your Windows 98 machine was when you "upgraded" to Windows XP? The same thing will happen when you "upgrade" your XP machine to Vista. You'll have to pay a fortune for the upgrade, and then you'll have to add tons of RAM and maybe replace the hard drive. The moral of the story: if it ain't broke, don't fix it. If you must have Vista, buy a machine with it installed. Don't "upgrade"!

Sanlam needs a dose of Reality BEFORE they give out my personal contact details

I have a retirement annuity with Sanlam, and the broker who deals with me, Phil Ryan, is a good financial advisor who has served me many years and has always given me good advice and no hard sell.
Sanlam, on the other hand, has seen fit to give out my contact details to various shady organisations and marketing companies over the years, and in each case I have told them not to do so. The latest offender is "Reality", some kind of points incentive scheme. I first heard about them by getting a marketing postcard in the mail. That was on Monday. I immediately sent an email to info@reality.co.za as well as to Sanlam, requsting my details be removed. Sanlam replied with a reference number 1-1BKJG9 and confirmed the same day that their marketing department had been informed. I wonder if they were "thinking ahead" when they gave out my details? I doubt it.
Obviously the Reality marketing machine was already in full gear and they couldn't process the "unsubscribe" requests fast enough, so today I got an email from them. I called their call centre and pointed out that I have already informed them not to send me any stuff, and the Call Centre team leader promised to get the marketing manager to call. I wonder whether this person will have the courage to face an angry customer or not.
When I emailed a copy of this blog to them, as well and my second "unsubscribe" request, I got a reference number from "Reality": Reference #4010 and #4802. Those unsubscribe requests must be pouring in.

HelloPeter complaint