My view of the world and anything that might interest me.
I went to the 27dinner last night and overall it was a great evening. The venue was great – Neil summed it up well in his post.
It was good to meet Max, Dave, Malan, Roelof, Glen, Nikki and so many others. Also good to see old friends and acquaintances.
Ian gave a great talk and I really enjoyed the talk on where Bru and Boegie came from.
Update: had to add a photo … Tania and Ian + somebody that I do not know who it is 🙂
Technorati Tags: 27dinner, geekdinner, cape town
Today (27 April) is Freedom Day here in South Africa, which for those that does not know, is the 13th birthday of when South Africa become a total free and democratic society. As a fairly old South African from the pre-1994 days, I must say that I was not sure what this would mean to me. Now 13 years on I know that the fears I had, came to nothing. We now have a society where white, black, coloured or whatever can compete on a equal footing with one another. Yes, we as old white male South Africans had to endure some difficulties but that just meant that we had to look at things from a different perspective and use different opportunities that came our way.
I am sure that if we in South Africa did not change all that years ago, we would have been much worse off. I for one am a much more rounded person and has been exposed to so many other cultures and experiences which did enrich my life.
Things are not perfect but that just means that we must work harder at it. Be more tolerable and accept that there are other views, cultures and opinions than your own.
To my fellow South Africans, celebrate this day and embrace the wonderful future that we as South African can have. Have a wonderful celebratory day and long weekend. And to top it off we can celebrate the day further with the 27dinner tonight here in Cape Town.
Technorati Tags: freedom day, south africa, celebration, 27dinner
Have you joined Afrigator yet .. shame on you if you did not. Come-on, go join so that I can get my T-shirt and who knows maybe even the iPod.
Hey it is not just for me. You are supporting a Start-up vide. Thanks Nikki — copied this from you 🙂
While I am at it … Mike you are doing some great work here.
I have purposely said as little as possible during the Cricket WorldCup but now that we, South Africa, is finish I am going to say my bit. I know it is easy for us armchair cricketers to be critical but I believe that as a South African, and a proud one, I have the right to ask certain questions.
First about yesterdays game:
Overall on the whole worldcup:
Yes I am disappointed as a South African that we are out of the WorldCup but given the above I sort of expected it, so it was not a real surprise. The surprise would have been if we actually went on to win the cup. The fact that we got to the semis is already more than I expected with the team they picked.
I am sure lot of you have a comment and opinion, whether you agree or not. At least we now have a Rugby WorldCup to look forward to. Lets go into it optimistically and I believe if we pick the right squad then we can win that Cup.
Technorati Tags: cricket, worldcup, south africa, rugby
My trip to Denmark has been postponed by 2 weeks. This is mainly due to the Danish embassy not capable of issuing a visa in a couple of days. The good thing that came out of this is that I can now attend the 27dinner on Friday evening the 27th. Now I can eventually meet people like Max face-to-face.
I took the Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test and this is what came out. I cannot say that I have read all the Harry Potter books or even saw all the movies. I cannot even remember who Luna Lovegood is — who is he or she?
You scored as Luna Lovegood. You’re an extreme introvert and because of this, are also a deep thinker. You ponder things others would never dream of pondering and stand with your beliefs without backing down. You find it more valuable to daydream than to socialize, because there’s so much more going on in your head than others’. Most people don’t understand it, but you seem to prefer it that way.
Harry Potter Character Combatibility Test |
Technorati Tags: harry potter, compatibility, test
Do not know whether we have laws in this country that governs this but the ECT act might have something on it. See in the UK a person was fined for using somebody’s WIFI without the persons permission.
Just had a look at all the WIFI connections available to me from the houses around me in my complex and there is a couple that is open with no security what so ever. How ethical and legal would it be if I just connect to their WIFI and started downloading? With the restricted bandwidth that we have in SA, this can save me a bit of bandwidth for other things. Neighbors, do not worry, I will not steal your bandwidth, but please secure your WIFI routers.
As most of you that read this blog know, I work for IBM and they are very pro mobile working. Think one of the last stats that I saw said that around 50% of IBMers are mobile workers.
Today is one of those days where I am one of that 50%. What a pleasure not to sit in the traffic for a hour of so. It is amazing how much more work one gets done without being interupted by people and your office phone ringing. I think I got through the same amount of work this morning than would normally take me at least 2 full days in the office. And all the time one is still in contact with everybody through the wonders of technology like Lotus Notes and Lotus Sametime.
Think one of the best things is that one does not need to worry about what to wear since one has no face to face contact so basically one can be naked and nobody would be the wiser.
More and more companies should encourage their workers to be mobile workers. Less cars will be commuting to and from work. Companies would save on office space since they can allocate one desk to multiple people. People that are mobile workers also need to be more mature in the way they work. They should be able to work independent with the least amount of supervision.
I would love to hear comments form people that work from places that is not their normal offices about their experiences, what they liked about it, what they hated and just how they feel about it.
Technorati Tags: mobile, home, working, ibm, telecommuting
I have been on Facebook now for a couple of weeks and still try to figure out what the audience is. So do others. One thing I see is that the majority is from some or other University, even in South Africa. I have found and joined my working network and even there it seems that the only people on it is the younger generation.
Why do I feel so old on Facebook? Am I missing something here? Is Facebook only for young people? Maybe I should start my own group for all over 40’s on Facebook! Maybe there is one already and I have just not found it.
Lot of questions I know, maybe it is just that I do not get Facebook and the purpose of it. There must be a purpose if somebody is prepared to pay 1 billion US dollars for it.
Over the past couple of weeks IBM has won 2 major contracts in South Africa. One in access of R1 million with ABSA and another with SAB.
This is great news for IBM South Africa and shows again the value of IBM SA as part of the greater IBM worldwide.
I would have loved to see more of an Application Development component in these contracts since that is the area where I operate in and provide value to the bigger IBM.
Technorati Tags: ABSA, SAB, ibm, application development, contract