Zimbabwe Breaks - and a wounded nation grows angry

A certain teacher told me the other day that students only went to school for 23 days this year - it's too much. They have been sitting at home on one very long and expensive holiday for a whole year. - Anonymous in Zimbabwe

clipped from news.bbc.co.uk We have been very patient, waiting all this time for a peaceful solution. It is getting to be too much now. It is beyond what anyone can face; what an individual can take. The cutting off of the city's water when there's a cholera outbreak, the cash withdrawal limit and now the security forces becoming undisciplined. We deserve a better life. We are not a country at war but look at the kind of life we are living. What on earth is going on? We had always thought that the soldiers here in Zimbabwe were puppets of the state I don't think there's a living soul in Harare who trusts the Zimbabwe National Water Authority (Zinwa) to provide water that is fit for human consumption. We have become a very angry people.

U.S. crude stocks fall by 400,000 barrels - but demand 'officially' falling even faster

If you look at the above statement, it makes no sense. For stocks to fall, demand has to be eating into supply. Yet prices reflect the opposite. The markets are being manipulated, and it's a bad ploy. It won't save the automakers, and it won't rescue economies from recession. What we need is for Alternatives to get off the ground, and that requires naturally high and stable energy prices. Please don't tell me that $45 oil is fair value for this finite resource that has been found, this year, to be depleting 9% per year in the 400 largest wells of the world.

clipped from biz.yahoo.com LONDON (Reuters) - Oil rose above $47 a barrel on Wednesday, climbing from a 3 1/2-year low, after a U.S. government report showed a surprise decline in crude inventories in the world's top consumer. The EIA report also showed fuel consumption continues to contract. Total product demand in the past four weeks averaged 19.27 million bpd, down 6.2 percent from a year ago. Indications that supplies appear to be falling more slowly than expected have also weighed on prices this week.

Hell on Earth? - Or a Fridge?

In the old views was that life started immediately at the end of the Late Heavy Bombardment, seemingly showing up the instant that it was possible.

In the new view of the early Earth, life could have emerged hundreds of millions of years earlier. “This means the door is open for a long, slow chemical evolution,” Dr. Mojzsis said. “The stage was set for life probably 4.4 billion years ago, but I don’t know if the actors were present.” - NYT

NVDL: Fascinating.

clipped from www.nytimes.com The first 700 million years of Earth’s 4.5-billion-year existence are known as the Hadean period, after Hades, or, to shed the ancient Greek name, Hell. Geologists now almost universally agree that by 4.2 billion years ago, the Earth was a pretty placid place, with both land and oceans. Instead of hellishly hot, it may have frozen over. Because the young Sun put out 30 percent less energy than it does today, temperatures on Earth might have been cold enough for parts of the surface to have been covered by expanses of ice.

Wii Games - Top 5

NVDL: Isn't XBOX better than Wii? Still trying to decide.

clipped from blog.wired.com De Blob Wii Fit No More Heroes Boom Blox Super Smash Bros. Brawl Leave it to Nintendo to craft an adorably addictive hard-core brawler that's also attractive to the casual gamer. This third iteration of the popular all-star fighting game continues the tradition of burying deep gameplay underneath simple jump-and-punch mechanics. New additions include a level editor and online fights. The best part? Guest star Sonic The Hedgehog can finally show Mario who is the mightier mascot. -- Nate Ralph

Capricorn: (some of your and) my stars today

Somewhere in your world now, someone is trying to act as if all is normal whilst hiding a major problem.

NVDL: Spot on.

clipped from www.cainer.com CAPRICORN Cars, computers, radios and washing machines, they all have days when they play up, sudden faults emerge, causing them to malfunction. Sometimes they fix themselves, and sometimes they need a technician. But people can be similarly erratic in the way they perform. Somewhere in your world now, someone is trying to act as if all is normal whilst hiding a major problem. As soon as this is acknowledged, the quicker a solution can be found. This need not be as drastic or dramatic as you fear. Reveal the astrological secrets of 2009, today. For a complete set of totally personal predictions instantly download 'Your Guide to the Future', click here.

Ads Don't Lie, But You're a Fool if You Believe Them - Apple

A fool and his money are soon parted. We're in a financial crisis now which must mean that the average person is a fool, and that the average advertising out there is foolishly misleading.

clipped from blog.wired.com The corporation's nine-page legal document [.pdf] is an answer to a complaint filed by William Gillis, a 70-year-old San Diego resident who alleges that Apple falsely advertised the iPhone 3G by calling it "twice as fast for half the price" compared with the original handset. Some parts of Apple's 32-point rebuttal say that the company was being truthful. But one paragraph says, in effect, that anyone who believes what the company says in its ads is a fool.

NVDL has 2 stories in Top 10

They are 'Quantum of Solace' at #7 and 'Drugs of Humanity' at #9. Check them out.

clipped from english.ohmynews.com  Bhutan's Forgotten Citizens  King Herod's Tomb  'Australia' Is Widescreen Candy  Mumbai Under Attack  Brazil: Heavy Rain, Floods Affect 1.5 Million  'Transporter 3' Drives Into a Wall  'Quantum of Solace'  'My Daughter Called to Tell Me About the Attack'  The Drugs of Humanity  Change We Can Believe In?

The media and advertising are culpable for massive manipulation

Maybe ad executives can live with themselves (despite a job that requires the spreading of lies and unsustainable deceits), but we don't have to.

clipped from www.nickvanderleek.com In reality what our friend from the advertising agency was saying, is when you put a penis into your advertising message, you're just sodomising a market, getting what you want out of it and leaving it in ruins. The media and advertising are culpable for this massive manipulation, to get consumers to sleep, perchance to dream, and to awaken in a nightmare. This was clear when I studied advertising, and it was clear when I did my internship at TJDR. Maybe ad executives can live with themselves (despite a job that requires the spreading of lies and unsustainable deceits), but we don't have to. But that requires a collective wake up, the start of critical thinking, and the end of our sleepwalk into the future.

ABSA's Advertising was incredibly dumb - I told you so in May and it's double true today

That sort of advertising persists. I see Mercedes are advertising one of their vehickles at R4999. You have to be really dumb to be advertising vehicles in a market where people aren't even buying clothes. Even dumber than advertising cars is advertising houses, or taking out a loan. But I guess being dumb and desperate is one and the same.

clipped from www.nickvanderleek.com Meanwhile, the message ABSA conveys (against a climate of growing financial austerity both here and abroad), is: These feet have been to a place where the world cannot hold them down. To the edge of dreams where pain is nothing and glory but a step away. No matter where your dreams lead you we'd like to help you get there. So here you have a major financial institution basically reinforcing this disconnect with reality ecause right now a lot of ordinary people are feeling plenty of pain. They are starting to think of giving up their homes; they're certainly finding their lifestyles are no longer within reach. Yet: ...these feet have been to places where the world cannot hold them down. So while ABSA is saying you can get a house TODAY, in fact house prices are high, about to devalue, whoever is foolhardy enough to purchase in this market, will see their mortgage payments escalate while the value depreciates.

Phelps in Sports Illustrated + VIDEO

Watch a fascinating video of Phelps photographed underwater, wearing a tux.

It's cool by the Pool - right? [COLUMN]

Two days ago I was walking downstairs with my bike and I nearly stepped on a big moth - about half the size of my hand. It was motionless, with it's head against the wall on the fifth step from the bottom. When I arrived back from the cycle ride, it was still in exactly the same position. Same thing when I went to work and returned the next day. So this morning, as I went by, I put my shoe against a wing, and the moth flicked it's feathery wing uncomfortably. I let it be. When I arrived back from work, the moth was still in exactly the same position.

I slipped a finger against it, and sure enough, the fellow was still alive. It quickly climbed over my fingers. It felt spidery, but we all know that moths suck nectar out of flowers. Us 21st century humans are such crybabies.

I turned the insect over and examined it closely. A very velvety back, mottled dark brown with some bright purple-red spots on its shoulders. Between its two big round compound eyes (nice compound eyes, not icky like a flies) I noticed what looked like a bald spot.


I could be wrong, but I have a feeling this fella knocked himself out over the course of an evening. See, where the steps are is also below a light that I leave on through the night. I have a feeling the moth swirled around this distraction all night and completely messed up its sensors, never mind concussed itself a few times.

I know it sounds silly, but part of me felt really sorry for it. You know, it had been suffering on a step, head against the wall for at least 3 days. Do you know how kak that must feel. I dare you to sit on the floor, and not move a finger, with your head against a wall, for 72 hours.

I took a couple of photos of the moth. In all this time the moth barely moved. I could feel its feet clutching my fingers more tightly sometimes when I moved. I had the idea to photograph the moth with one of those low energy light bulbs - as if to say, these bulbs are so good for the environment, even moths like 'em. The awful irony is that it was a bulb just like the prop that I'd screwed in above the front door, and probably caused this guy permanent damage.


After the shoot I took the moth outside and onto a flower. An hour or so later and it has moved slightly (it was fairly awkwardly perched on the flower to start off with). I know for a fact that the creeper that grows on my wall has a bunch of lizards nesting in it, and possibly the same field mouse I have seen scurrying around. And then there are birds. I don't think it's prospects are so great - for survival I mean. And I feel bad about it.

It occurred to me, when I was eating dinner, that it has been quite a long time since I paid any attention to a fellow Earth creature (other than a human being). Too long I fear.


Why Insects Can't Fly Straight at Night
Internal guidance system can't distinguish between distant stars and nearby artificial light

SA Blog Survey - RESULTS

“Blogging is set to become more of a mainstream phenomenon in the future, especially as better revenue models emerge for bloggers and as more affordable broadband access becomes available. With larger audiences, bigger communities and increasingly diverse participants, I would expect South Africa's bloggers to also make more friends, influence the opinions of others and mobilise other citizens to act, speak and participate, both on and offline.” - Matthew Buckland

NVDL: Broadband is going to boost the local internet from Warp .1 to Warp 7. And - excuse the pun - it's about time.

clipped from www.bizcommunity.com The results of Speak Up!, a survey of South Africa's blogger community by 24.com, conducted by imagineNATION Alliance, are in, giving a clearer picture of this group of ‘vocal locals' who publish their thoughts and opinions online, regularly read and post comments on other blogs, and meet other bloggers offline. While there has been some controversy over one particular slide of results, Bizcommunity.com spoke to qualitative research analyst Vincent Hofmann, also an avid blogger, whose overall impression is that it is a statistically valid body of research, implemented in a credible manner and delivered as such in a concise manner.