Motlanthe: does he support collusion?

The Competition Amendment Bill is exactly what this country needs. The amount of collusion and price fixing is already obvious, as we've seen recently with SASOL, Tiger Brands, Pharmaceuticals, milk and bread producers etc.

BEE as I understand it, also lends itself on occasion to collusive tendering. This is why the |Arms Deal has been such a fiasco. So...er...why is a Bill intended to fix commercial corruption not being approved?

clipped from www.thetimes.co.za President Kgalema Motlanthe has declined to enact two controversial bills and has returned them unsigned to Parliament. The Competition Amendment Bill is intended to strengthen existing provisions of the Act in fighting collusion (complex monopolies) and cartels which undermined competitiveness of downstream industries and robbed consumers. Among other things, the bill introduces a criminal sanction regime against individuals found guilty of causing a firm to engage in price fixing, output restriction, market allocation and collusive tendering.

Quote of the Day

NVDL. Completely support what this guy is saying.

clipped from www.nytimes.com "Many people incorrectly assume that profit is the sole motive for self-publishing. For many writers, creating the work and then sharing it is its own reward." Todd, Burlington, VT

Self-Publishers Flourish as Writers Pay the Tab

This month, the company, which is owned by Bertram Capital, a private equity firm, bought a rival, Xlibris, expanding its profile in the fast-growing market. The combined company represented 19,000 titles in 2008, nearly six times more than Random House, the world’s largest publisher of consumer books, released last year.

NVDL: Xlibris have been wooing me for a while. I am considering self-publishing this year...

clipped from www.nytimes.com The point may soon come when there are more people who want to write books than there are people who want to read them. At least, that is what the evidence suggests. Booksellers, hobbled by the economic crisis, are struggling to lure readers. Almost all of the New York publishing houses are laying off editors and pinching pennies. Small bookstores are closing. Big chains are laying people off or exploring bankruptcy. A recently released study by the National Endowment for the Arts found that while more people are reading literary fiction, fewer of them are reading books. Meanwhile, there is one segment of the industry that is actually flourishing: capitalizing on the dream of would-be authors to see their work between covers, companies that charge writers and photographers to publish are growing rapidly at a time when many mainstream publishers are losing ground. the appeal of self-publishing is that they can put their books on the market much faster than through traditional publishers.

Inflation drops as fuel prices rise

“Inflation has surprised on the downside, and the real economic data remains dismal, with significant risk of a technical recession early in 2009.”

NVDL: So the insight here is while SA's inflation news is good, it is likelyy to be fleeting/temporary. As fuel prices increase, these increase will be translated back into the prices of all other goods and services, creating upward inflationary pressure again.

clipped from www.businessday.co.za SA’s main inflation rates dived more steeply than expected last month, driven by a sharp fall in fuel prices and backing the case for a full percentage point cut in interest rates next week. The annual rise in the CPIX inflation gauge targeted for monetary policy eased to 10,3% from 12,1% in November — its lowest in nine months — official data showed yesterday. The headline consumer price index (CPI) — which will replace CPIX as the official inflation target this year — slowed to 9,5% from 11,8% in November.

Training Day

I weighed myself today and I tipped the scales at 79.72kg. I think it's been 4 years since I last frequented >80kg territory, and I'm back there for the same reason I was there 4 years ago: Ironman training.

Today was fairly tough. A 15km run followed immediately by a 1.75km swim. Am feeling good though.

World economic growth - IMF cuts forecast

We need to change our lexicon. 'Growth' ought to be a swear word, or a taboo. 'Sustainability' and 'Maintenance' ought to be our goal in the face of chronic levels of global contraction and competition for resources.

The corporate mindset though will probably not willingly let go of their 'greed-is-good' mindset, which is based on 'growth-at-all-cost'. The word 'growth' masks another more insidious ambition - 'proftit' and 'profiteering'.

clipped from www.businessday.co.za WASHINGTON - The International Monetary Fund today slashed its forecast for world economic growth, warning that deflation risks were rising and saying toxic assets need to be removed from the banking system. It cut its forecast for global growth this year to a slight 0,5% — the weakest since World War II - from a November estimate of 2,2%. The outlook was even worse for advanced countries like the United States and the euro area, whose economies are seen contracting by 1,6% and 2%, respectively.

Warning: There's poison in your food

I am currently reading a book called the Optimum Nutrition Bible. Every day points in the book are confirmed by reality. Huge amounts of poisons are manufactured and sprayed over our food, to preserve it. To sell it in mint condition. The result is that what we buy in the supermarket, if we aren't careful, is toxic to us.

Now we need to pay more and more attention to what we eat, and drink, and what's in it. To not do so, one runs a high risk of contracting any of the cancers. You currently have a 50% risk of contracting heart disease (maintaining current habits). That's high.

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com WASHINGTON - Many common foods made using commercial high fructose corn syrup contain mercury as well, researchers reported on Tuesday, while another study suggested the corn syrup itself is contaminated. Food processors and the corn syrup industry group attacked the findings as flawed and outdated, but the researchers said it was important for people to know about any potential sources of the toxic metal in their food. In one study, published in the journal Environmental Health, former Food and Drug Administration scientist Renee Dufault and colleagues tested 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup and found detectable mercury in nine of the 20 samples. Dufault said in a statement that she told the FDA about her findings but the agency did not follow up. These 55 different foods included barbecue sauce, jam, yogurt and chocolate syrup. "We found about one out of three had mercury above the detection limit," Wallinga said. The Corn Refiners Association challenged the findings.

Obama Energy Policy vs Nate Hagens [BBC Audio]

"Obama advocates increased action. It's good, but not nearly enough."

NVDL: Amen brother.

You will need Realplayer to listen. Download realplayer.
Clip is here.

America is Crumbling : Physical backbone of American society about to fail [REPORT]

What's that saying about civilisations fail from within...not by an (overhyped) attack from an external threat.

clipped from news.yahoo.com WASHINGTON – America's roads, public transit and aviation have gotten worse in the past four years. Water and sewage systems are dreadful. The basic physical backbone of American society is barely above failing, a report by top engineers says. It'll cost $2.2 trillion to fix America's ailing infrastructure, according to highlights of a report being released early, just as the House of Representatives readies its first vote on President Barack Obama's call for a massive economic stimulus spending package. The country's roads, dumps, dams, bridges, schools and rail systems need lots of that money, say the engineers, who would get a piece of the pie in working on the repairs. Government officials are already aiming billions of dollars at those physical needs as part of what at the moment is a $825 billion economic stimulus package. But the engineers say that's not enough.

NVDL defines Time - with mathematical equation and Semantics [PICTURES + FORMULAS]

Last night I attended a presentation by one of SA's greatest scientists, a man who has interviewed the likes of Stephen Hawking (who some consider to be the greatest living brain).

I was surprised when Professor Block said that science had not been able to define Time. I had once (AS A TEENAGER) offered my own definition as follows:

"Time is the movement of moments."

Given Hawkin's explanation on the same question, I was uncannily close.

Let me offer a mathetical formula then for what I believe to be the 'definition' of time:

If X = any agent/permutation of change (ie an infinite number of possibilities) and T = a singularity (a moment in Time) then
Time = XT or
T = Xt

Thus the particular moment in time in which the 'Now' is experienced, or the 'continuous moment of creation' can be defined as the convergence/correspondence of a moment to the experiential permutation of it.

Mathematically this correspondence (the experience of 'being in the moment at a moment's notice': if x= 1 and t = 1 then Xt = 1 (1=1)
There are naturally other dimensions of the now (2=2; 23756 = 23756) etc, but of course all of these are vastly outnumbered by 'relative time' (the past/the experience of one part of space being out of sync (not correlated/moving away and out of touch) in terms of light (and the view or experience of distant reality) not having reached there.

Semantically the definition of time is quite simple, but nevertheless profound.

Time is Infinite Possibility.
Note that time is a state, more closely allied with where, than when. When is always relative and loses sight of where. Without where (a point in space), when (something relative to something past or present or future) makes plenty of assumptions.

This postulation includes that in each moment there are infinite possibilities for infinite possibilities. Which is a thrilling thought if we choose to seize the moment in act of decisive, strategic, logical activity.

clipped from en.wikipedia.org Time is a component of a measuring system used to sequence events, to compare the durations of events and the intervals between them, and to quantify the motions of objects. Time has been a major subject of religion, philosophy, and science, but defining time in a non-controversial manner applicable to all fields of study has consistently eluded the greatest scholars. The official SI definition of the second is as follows:[22][23] The second is the duration of 9,192,631,770 periods of the radiation corresponding to the transition between the two hyperfine levels of the ground state of the caesium 133 atom. The measurement of time is so critical to the functioning of modern societies that it is coordinated at an international level. The basis for scientific time is a continuous count of seconds based on atomic clocks around the world, Since January 1, 1972, it has been defined to follow TAI

If warming is to last 1,000 years, why cut emissions?

Why drive less? Why buy a hybrid? Why promote renewable energy?

clipped from www.msnbc.msn.com If warming is to last 1,000 years, why cut emissions? Because doing nothing would mean even more dire consequences, scientists argue. Full story

Is There a Sex Epidemic Amongst Teens: Depends on Whether Parents are Happily Married...

Teenagers with more parental supervision, who come from two-parent households and who are doing well in school are more likely to delay sex until their late teens or beyond.

NVDL: Makes sense...

clipped from www.nytimes.com Parents have worried for generations about changing moral values and risky behavior among young people, and the latest news seems particularly worrisome. It came from the National Center for Health Statistics, which reported this month that births to 15- to 19-year-olds had risen for the first time in more than a decade. And that is not the only alarm being sounded. The talk show host Tyra Banks declared a teen sex crisis last fall after her show surveyed girls about sexual behavior. A few years ago, Oprah Winfrey warned parents of a teenage oral-sex epidemic. The news is troubling, but it’s also misleading. While some young people are clearly engaging in risky sexual behavior, a vast majority are not.

Nutrition Porn

Recently I saw an advert on TV praising a certain brand of ice-cream for being high in calcium. The mother and nutrionist is then seeing handing out these ice-creams to her children, and saying how relieved she is that they can eat and enjoy without any health concerns.

Re-he-heaally? So you put calcium in one of the unhealthiest concoctions of fat (icecream is one of nthe unhealthiest foods you can hope to buy, almost on a par with margarine), and suddenly because it has one good nutrient, it's nutritious?

The same sort of thing is true of Coffee. Coffee basically strips the body of nutrients, it dehydrates you, stains teeth etc. The only good thing it does is it helps keep you alert. But obviously by staying alert when you're tired, once the effect wears off you're doubly tired (which is a recipe to get sick, overworked etc).

This is an example of a society that lies to itself in order to make money (to sell more coffee). Not very healthy, but then we do have National Healtjh Care...er...I mean, National Disease care to treat our self-reinforced unhealthy habits...

clipped from www.nytimes.com Drinking coffee may do more than just keep you awake. A new study suggests an intriguing potential link to mental health later in life, as well. A team of Swedish and Danish researchers tracked coffee consumption in a group of 1,409 middle-age men and women for an average of 21 years. During that time, 61 participants developed dementia, 48 with Alzheimer’s disease.

Cholera in SA: 44 dead, Health Minister calls situation 'Scary'

The current rains are making the situation even worse...

clipped from www.thetimes.co.za FOLLOWING the death from cholera of 36 people since November — at least 32 of them South African — Health Minister Barbara Hogan outlines plans to arrest the spread of the disease. At least 54 new cases were reported in Limpopo at the weekend. The Times’ special report last week on the cholera outbreak highlighted the desperate situation around the country. But since November almost 6000 people have been infected, according to Hogan’s figures.

Zimbabwe Impasse due to ANC support of Mugabe

If you follow the news regarding the Zimbabwe scenario, you will notice tacit (but obvious) support for the 84 year old dictator, by hand-holding Mbeki, by Motlanthe attempting to bully Tsvanigirai into 'agreeing without fussing' and you'll notice even Mandela hasn't uttered as much as a harsh word against Bob.

This Power Club thus exposes the real agenda of the political elite in Africa - enrich and enrich, forget about the poor. Of course the slogans at every rally are the opposite - blame the colonials, and then behind the scenes, act in exactly the same way.

I wonder when Africans will wise-up to this ongoing connivance? And once they do, will they be brave enough to do anything about it?

clipped from www.thetimes.co.za A lasting solution to Zimbabwe’s problems cannot exclude that country’s leader, Robert Mugabe, Education Minister Naledi Pandor said today. She was responding in the National Assembly to a call - by African Christian Democratic Party leader Kenneth Meshoe - for Mugabe’s removal because he was a "stumbling block" to any negotiated settlement of Zimbabwe’s political crisis. I don’t believe it would be possible to have a lasting solution that would exclude Mr Mugabe

The World's First Ever Photograph

It was taken through a window over a rooftop. This was in 1826. Things have improved slightly since then Nevertheless it is fascinating how the inventor died and his partner subsequently took credit for the invention...

clipped from www.hrc.utexas.edu Long before the first public announcements of photographic processes in 1839, Joseph Nicéphore Niépce, a scientifically-minded gentleman living on his country estate near Chalon-sur-Saône, France, began experimenting with photography. Fascinated with the craze for the newly-invented art of lithography which swept over France in 1813, he began his initial experiments by 1816. Unable to draw well, Niépce first placed engravings, made transparent, onto engraving stones or glass plates coated with a light-sensitive varnish of his own composition. These experiments, together with his application of the then-popular optical instrument, the camera obscura, would eventually lead him to the invention of the new medium. An ultimately doomed attempt to interest the Royal Society in his process—which he called "Heliography"—brought Niépce and the first photograph to England in 1827.

Graphic design student Lindy Pelzl wins Durban Soccer Poster Competition - and R20 000

Great picture. It's the sort of style I like to draw, although my images flow more through each other and, are more chaotically colorful and less clear.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za The winner of the R20000 cash prize, Lindy Pelzl – a graphic design student at the Durban University of Technology – secured an opportunity to see her work on display in the City. Passionate about illustrations, Pelzl’s vision was to capture Durban’s vibe and multi-cultural melting pot with a combination of vivid colours and images. And this she achieved in a glorious style by choosing a fun colouring-in book style with simple linear lines and dynamic interwoven images representing Durban’s eclectic atmosphere. The overall theme of the poster is anchored by a soccer ball in the sand, and shows Durban’s location within South Africa. The children playing football, with a village and huts in the background, represent the city’s passion for football and symbolises how the game is played in any open space with a flat surface – and not just in formal stadiums. The larger and central players symbolise how football has assisted in unifying the nation.

Safety and Security: country cannot promise to protect 2010 visitors

Makes sense; they can't even protect South Africans from themselves.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za Mthethwa said the country cannot promise to protect the visitors who are expected to flock into the country for the Soccer World Cup in 2010, whereas its residents are not protected or feel that they are not safe in their own backyards. “We have to protect locals, so that the world can see that they will be protected. We can’t talk about the safety of visitors when our communities feel unsafe.” Mthethwa said as the country prepares for the elections, police would ensure that everything goes smoothly before, during and after the polls. He said planning is at an advanced stage in ensuring that South Africa is safe.

Inauguration [SLIDESHOW]

Click on the link below to view the rest.

clipped from www.sowetan.co.za