Take the example of Zimbabweans. When they arrive here they simply outperform their South African counterparts on many fronts. This reflects the superior education they receive.

(Vavi. Z. COSATU. 2009)

Can it really be that bad? Can the South African education system not compete with the education system of the failed state that is Zimbabwe? This post is meant to provide a status quo on our public education system. The numbers and research referenced in this post a widely available in the public domain.

The link between education, skills and economic growth (including job creation) is well established. We also know that the country has been hard hit by “skills shortages”. This skills shortage in turn affects the ability of the country to undertake developmental and labour-absorbing projects. High skill jobs and low skill jobs are complementary – you need high skills to manage large projects that then create low-skilled work opportunities. Further the relative shortage of high skills in South Africa widens the wage gap between high and low skilled jobs.

The new ANC led government has realized that despite the fact that previous governments have spent nearly R120 billion on our education system it has not performed at the levels required. The education system as a a whole has major gaps in it. The skills development effort as instructed by the National Skills Development Strategy (NSDS) has been a let down. Mainly because there has been poor alignment between what is actually taking place in the real world and what was conceived in the workshops that led to the drafting of the NSDS and the fact that the implementation agencies; the Sectoral Education Training Authorities (SETA’s), in the main have been very weak institutions.

Despite the ±R120 billion that we spend on education the following horrific conditions still remain:

• 7 591 (or 30.9%) schools depend for their water supply on boreholes or rainwater.

• 15 428 (or 61.36%) schools with bucket or pit latrine systems have no sewerage disposal systems in place.

• 4 046 (or 16.9%) schools have no access to electricity.

• 19 940 (or 79.30%) schools have no library facilities.

• 3 387 (or 60.22%) of secondary schools have no laboratory facilities.

• 17 081 (or 67.93%) schools have no computers.

The new government has set about engaging with the failings in the education system in a proactive manner. The education crisis that our country is sitting with is a result of decades of limited investment and exclusionary policies i.e. it is self serving and naive to presume that since 1994 we could easily do away with the results of those exclusionary policies

Where there have been successes, such as in the case of the Dinaledi schools government is keen to build on these. Government is now also more than ready to partner around innovative approaches to improving our education system, some of these approaches include:

• Incentivizing the private sector to see education as a real investment area
• Looking at Public Private Partnerships as a model for investment
• Strengthening School Governing Bodies and School administrations to run better as organizations
• Realigning focus on Early Childhood Development
• Strengthening and making relevant the SETA system
• Looking at how private school quality can be open to more people (there are international case studies that show the economic and social benefits of this)

Of course government is also going to need to focus on the basics. What has been identified as additional areas of focus are:

1. The lack of sufficient numbers of qualified teachers is a binding constraint on the ability of the education system to produce quality education. Increased numbers of qualified teachers are needed, including through increased throughputs from training institutions and importation of foreign teachers in critical subject areas with severe shortages such as mathematics, science and IT.
2. Teachers in the system need support, praise, training, encouragement, and discipline. An important start would be The Polokwane resolutions correctly put teachers at the heart of education recovery, with a compact that teachers will in return be “in class, on time, teaching.”
3. The reality of poor children inheriting the education disadvantage of their parents requires the State to prioritise adequate financial resourcing and teacher training for full implementation of a comprehensive strategy on early childhood development. Poor children need massive readiness programmes to ‘catch up’ with their wealthier peers.
4. Government must be coordinated and accountable, from districts to province to national. This requires strong political leadership as well as strong community involvement to raise issues and partner delivery. An important feature of this will be to ensure that decentralization of service delivery management occurs in practice (i.e. school principals are empowered and accountable).
5. There needs to be commitment to allocating resources to ensure that all schools have at least the minimum infrastructure we expect for adequate learning, such as electricity and toilets. Poor schools with more potential, such as Dinaliedi schools, could be prioritised for any available resources for libraries, labs, sportsfields, and staffrooms.

I want to end this post with the last paragraph from a report which was commissioned by Government and which informs its new thinking.

Effecting systemic change in the education sector is a vast enterprise, bedeviled by the size of each sub-sector, a long history of gross under-resourcing of large parts of the system, the heavy dependence of further and higher education on primary schooling, and a flaccid bureaucracy. Systemic change in education is a slow, process measured in decades. If the first dozen years of democratic government were preoccupied with equity issues, then in the next period greater attention must be given to improving efficiency. It is clear that the DoE is lining up the network of levers required to gear the system to higher levels of production – from legislation aimed at making schools more accountable for their outputs, and HR policies directed towards professionalizing the civil service; through targeted programmes to improve the teaching and learning of reading, writing and mathematics; to reorganizing key financial, curriculum and institutional arrangements in high schools, colleges and universities. Success will depend on navigating a path between the political courage required to institute greater levels of differentiation and autonomy at the top end of the system, on one hand, and on the other hand, overcoming the natural aversion in the education sector to basing new programmes on research of what has worked elsewhere, piloting these under local conditions, and monitoring their large scale rollout in a deliberate manner.

This post also published on Erasibo.com

Johannesburg - South Africa’s largest music distributor, MFP (Music for Pleasure) has reportedly been liquidated temporarily.

However, Volksblad was not able to confirm this with MFP directly on Tuesday, since no-one was answering any phone numbers for the company.

MFP, which was established in 1970, distributes CDs and DVDs to, amongst others, chains such as Game, Makro, Shoprite and Checkers, CNA, Edgars and Pick ‘n Pay.

The news of MFP’s apparent downfall was received from the veteran announcer and TV presenter Edwill van Aarde.

“I heard from a young clerk on Tuesday that MFP is bankrupt,” said Van Aarde.

“This is shocking news. MFP is not only the largest distributor of Afrikaans music in the country, but of all CDs. Due to the recession, people would rather spend R100 on food than on a CD,” said Van Aarde.

Monopoly

An employee of the record company EMI who doesn’t want his name mentioned, on Tuesday also confirmed that he had heard about MFP’s liquidation.

MFP buys CDs from the record companies, and distributes them to shops.

Angie Kleinsmith, who is Pink ‘n Pay’s CD buyer, says MFP told everyone “to keep quiet”.

Ronnie Geselowitz, Universal Music’s sales manager, says it’s still too soon to determine how the alleged liquidation will influence their sales.

Kobie Koen, managing director of Vonk Musiek, says he heard the news when he phoned MFP on Tuesday morning to confirm a meeting he had scheduled with them.

“They told me the place is closed due to liquidation.”

Koen feels the record companies are the worst hit. “It was always a kind of monopoly. Nobody else besides MFP is allowed to distribute CDs to places like Pick ‘n Pay. Now we have to pay the price.”

It was confidentially discovered that MFP’s employees had to clear out their offices on Tuesday.

- Volksblad

http://www.news24.com/Content/Entertainment/SouthAfrica/1043/57c15ecf2da1409c93140ba7c555a129/01-07-200910-07/Music_distributor_bankrupt

In an article published in The Times, I was heartbroken to read all about how a member of our government has changed the by-law’s about pay-as-you-go sim cards across all networks in our country.

No longer will we be free to buy R5 start up packs at the nearest PEP stores without producing ID and proof of residential address. I personally think this is a load of bull kak.

Yeah, that’s right, I said it. Look over here, so you know I’m not bluffing you. Now I’ll list for you my reasons.

Firstly, its admin.

Not only will we lose our freedom in buying cheap sim cards to use willy nilly to prank call our mates anonymously, but the Networks will be losing a lot of their pay-as-you-go appeal. We’re going to have to produce all this paperwork just to allow ourselves the opportunity to drunk dial an ex and tell them how far wrong they were in letting us go. We’re one of a kind, dont you know? *slur slur slur* .

Secondly, lets be honest here – who actually carries their ID and proof of residence around with them?

I know I sure as hell don’t.

Thirdly, it’s going to cost the network’s millions.

Which in turn, will make them up the rates (again) so we will have to fork out more airtime than usual just to keep in contact with that dude on the other end of the country, in case you happen to be flying there sometime in the near future and you’d like to keep the Horizontal Fandango lines open. Because you never know what might happen.

Fourthly, just like with the smoking legislation, I feel that our Ministers need to lighten the fuck up.

Who in the hell wants to smoke in a goldfish tank while producing their ID in order to purchase a sim card and henceforth drunk-diallage the ex and then prank a friend anyway?

Psssh. Not me. So gather your pitch forks with me and lets all shout together now:

ViVa La Resistance!

Sometimes you wonder why, then you wonder why the fuck not, though not when it concerns Bono because everyone knows that Bono is a douche. He’s so ‘I want to save the world, one song at a time’. How’s that working for him? Maybe if he changed his avatar to a greenish hue, he’d really make a difference.

*cough*

When I tell people that I’m on twitter, I’m met with a look of “Oh, she’s one of those” and a flippant twist of the twitter-terminology: ‘So you’re a twit then’. Haha. Genius. I applaud you on your mind-numbing originality. Up until recently, I ignored it, but then I started thinking… Am I? I know fuck-all about SEO or SME or iPhone apps, my tweets aren’t related to trending topics or anything of importance. Twitter is another medium my huge ego can exploit, therefore, I must be a twit. Right?

In psychology, one of the first things a patient needs to do is recognise that they have a problem. I am cognizant of my said twit-ness (though you’ll be hard pressed to get that out of me). In the interests of science, I will share my thesis (cleverly broken up into 10 simple questions) to help you determine your twit-ness.

What kind of twit are you? (and be honest)

1. I retweet everything: Even random conversations between or with arbitrary people. Everyone MUST know that @randomgirlcladinhersweetnothings and @pervyguywithareallycoolkeyboard want to have babies.

2. I lol at everyone’s comments: Seriously, everyone on twitter is funnier than I am.

3. I use multiple exclamation marks. I find it hard to convey my enthusiasm on a certain topic in 160 characters or less, but enough of this boring stuff, I just love the Jonas brothers!!!!

4. I use hashtags that appear on the trending topics so the world knows how relevant I am: I’m ‘with-it’ even though #iranelection and Micheal Jackson have nothing in common. (Yes, I spelt that wrong on purpose)

5. I tweet ways in which the puny twitter users can gain more followers: Yes! In 6 simple steps, you too can have +1000 completely unique followers. I need your credit card number. No, I’m not using this as a legitimate front to fund my booming internet porn business.

6. I correct spelling mistakes made by other tweeps because I’m hardcore like that. Fear me and my Oxford dictionary punks! You’ve just been ameliorated!

7. I tweet everything, EVERYTHING. Even my affinity for skipping showers and loathing of my job/boss/mother-in-law/Bono because really, he/she doesn’t know that I’m on twitter.

This would be a perfect time to apologise to Bono…
…

8. I’m comfortable with my sexuality, so comfortable in fact, I’ve posted a link directing all of you to view my voyeuristic exploits via webcam. I’m a nice person, I like to share, unless its tips on how to increase the number of followers because I mean… just look at me. Pfft.

9. I retweet people that have retweeted me, just so I can show my followers that I am as awesome as I say I am.

10. I’m @aplusk

The first step to recovery is admitting that you have a problem.

Please direct any comments/queries to @twit_anon. No, this is not a legitimate cover for my booming internet porn business, but feel free to view my webcam.

Foto Na Dans are a band breaking the boundaries of Afrikaans music with their sound; their signature style is that of “indie rock with a hint of electronic sounds”. The band were all in school together at DF Malan in Bellville and all the band except LeRoi were in a band called Trompie is Dood at an early age – winning the Jip! Rockspaaider competition, but “that was 5 years ago. That was a different band from Foto Na Dans. The name Foto Na Dans is “a neutral term, one that can be bound to music and visual elements “Dans” points to the music, and “Foto” to the visual aspects of the media….”

Their opinion of the music the music industry has also changed since their Rockspaaider days and Alex says “The whole industry has changed a lot. There is a lot more structure & support. There are more bands and there is more happening. It’s exciting.”

Their most heavy influences musically “names are endless…Air, Radiohead, Muse, Mew, Hot Chip, Sigur Ros…everyone has many of their own influences…so between us the list is probably 100 artists long.”

Their first self titled EP had a very raw sound to it compared to the ‘futuristic’ heavenly sound on their latest album (Pantomime op Herwinbare Klanke). Alex says “with our first EP we had no clue what we were doing. We just went into studio and laid down raw tracks as we rehearsed them in the band room…On our later recordings we had more of a clue and started experimenting with electronic sounds.”

The band is “currently busy working on a new album and they have “about 8 songs written already and it is sounding really hot. With all the previous albums we had deadlines to keep as to when the album had to be finished. We are trying a different approach this time by letting the music and the songs determine the deadlines instead of other way around..”

Their planning to work on their new album then head overseas in July. They have collaboration with Flash Republic is on the cards, “which should be quite cool and the tunes are sounding kiff…so maybe people will be dancing to our songs in clubs…that’ll be awesome.”

The band has “dreams of making it internationally” and say “our short term goal is to make our new album our best ever and believe “the potential is there as the songs are sounding better than ever…also there has been quite a bit of international interest in the band and a few people are watching our new album to see what it does…and then we’ll just have to see from there…”

Their favourite thing about performing is “the energy. And being able to see that you manage to move people’s emotions with your songs…that’s a beautiful thing.”

The latest album is very innovative and got lots of praise by the media for this. The change in sound over all three albums shows lost of progression and innovativeness; Alex says “the sound on the new album will be less experimental than our previous EP. Our song writing style has also changed and most of the songs are based around the vocal melodies. The songs are big…epic even…”

Le Roi happens to take about an hour to get ready before a gig and he was born with his afro. As for working on side projects, musically all of them pretty committed to Foto Na Dans. Dirkie always talks the most rubbish. AIex lets loose on tour and therefore the messiest of the lot. One of the craziest thing that happen at shows are hidious wipeouts…Theuns is renowned for getting his ass bruised.

The current strike happening by government employed doctors gained momentum yesterday when doctors in the Western Cape decided to join the strike action following a meeting at Groote Schuur Hospital.  As a doctor at the above institution I had mixed feelings about striking and abandoning our patients in what is seen by the general public as just a dispute over salaries.  The protest action is in fact a culmination of years of abuse that medical professionals have endured at the hands of the government.

Let’s start with working conditions.  The hospitals are over-capacity, and the doctors are overworked.  In my ward, we officially have place for 65 patients.  We had more than 85 for the best part of last week.  Doctors work 30 hour shifts when they do overtime, working a minimum of 60 hours a week in my hospital, but it’s not like this everywhere. Usually it’s worse.  Although, this certainly is an improvement since 2002 when as an intern,  I worked 100 hours a week and 30 hour shifts every third day.   We are expected to do procedures with needles potentially putting ourselves and others at risk of contracting HIV by needlestick injuries, this even after having been awake and on our feet for 24 hours and more.  Yes, just call us Jack Bauer.

If that was all there was to contend with, then it would be bad.  But add to that, unsafe working conditions. Doctors and nurses literally put their lives at risk to save others in busy casualties by working late nights, trying to save gunshot victims of gang warfare, knowing full well that someone might just overpower the lone security guard at the door and come in to finish the job.  I kid you not.  Many of my colleagues have had to dodge a flying bullet.

Supplies.  You’d think hospitals wouldn’t run of supplies right?  Nope. Gloves. Needles. Syringes. IV fluids. Linen. Antibiotics. Incubators.  Two nights ago, on call, I had to place two babies into one incubator, because we just did not have enough.  As an Intern and a Community Service doctor, I had to treat patients on the floor.  They had to sleep on the floor, because we didn’t have enough beds!  Not that there was anymore place to put any beds in the ward. It’s frustrating having to work in a SA hospital.  You have nothing to work with, yet are asked to perform miracles.  Often the doctor on call, has to decide whether to refuse one patient life-saving treatment, in the hope of saving another with a slightly better chance of survival.  This is Africa after all.

All this, in the face of dwindling staff.  Nobody wants to work for the state.  It’s too difficult.  Too stressful.  Dying patients you can do nothing for, in overcrowded hospitals, with nothing to help them with.

It’s no wonder so many of my colleagues have decided to jump ship.  Go to any hospital in the UK, Australia, Canada, The Netherlands, Ireland, New Zealand, and you’ll be sure to find at least one South African.  This brain drain is going to continue, unless the government starts making amends.  It’s a one-way ticket out of South African Medical Schools and into European hospitals.  And it’s spiraling out of control.  The less doctors in government service, the rosier it looks overseas, the more doctors will leave the government service.  And if you think it’s just whites, think again.  Blacks, whites, indian, coloured doctors….all leaving in droves. Ironically, I know of many European and Canadian doctors wanting to work in South Africa, in SA hospitals, for experience not money, and the government and HPCSA have them jumping beaurocratic hurdles for years.

Add to that, the government recently doubled the internship time from 1 year to 2 years, and are now looking to increase mandatory community service from 1 year to 2 years.  Effectively, if you’re 18 when you enter Medical School, you’ll be 28 when you’d be free to make independent choices about your career.  Until then, you’ll be told where you must work and live.   This is going to force medical  graduates to do internship overseas, never to come back.

Now coming to the salaries…after having spent 6 years studying, and at least R30 000 on tuition alone yearly , one can look forward to taking home around R9000 (after tax) a month as an intern.  If you ask me, I think this was an incentive for doubling the internship time and community service time.  Where do you get skilled workers to perform life-saving procedures locked into a 4 year contract to earn R9000 a month?

To do the job I do in the hospital I have three degrees in the medical field, but earn less than a gym personal trainer. If you compare my job requirements and qualification to any other professional in the government sector, I am being underpaid by at least 50%.  In private practice I would be earning at least 300% of my current salary.

So why do I work in government and not private practice?  For most people in my position, it’s a lot more about the job than the money. It’s about the patients. It’s about advancing healthcare in this country, and advancing the field of medicine as a whole, by academic work and delivery of professional service. Medical professionals are amongst the most skilled people in society, as it is almost a process of natural selection that produces these individuals.   But they’re being walked all over.

When the Minister held that press conference on Wednesday, it was a sneaky political move.  When has any employer presented a wage offer to the public without first taking it the bargaining chamber?  It was a move that they knew would be highly publicized and designed to remove public support for the strike action.  In it they announced massive increases for Interns and Principle and Chief Specialist.  But it was the grades in the middle that basically got nothing.  To use an Army analogy, it would be giving the new recruits and the Generals something to keep them happy but everyone in between got shit.  The generals were happy, so they didn’t support the action, and the New recruits were happy so they, who are usually the youngest, most militant, out the group, would go back to work.

But they left out the people that really count.  The one’s doing the real work.  Medical Officers, Junior and Senior Specialists.  The Interns, registrars aren’t going to be around forever, they have finite contracts.  But the Medical officers and specialists working in the government have made it long-term career choices.   This is not the first time that we are being duped either. We were promised that this OSD would come into effect July 2008.  It’s now one year later, and we’re still waiting.  We want what we were promised.

And those that ask is it worth it?  Is it worth patients dying for higher salaries?  That’s a difficult one for us, but in the end, it comes down to what’ll happen if we don’t do anything.  And the simple answer is this:  Our health system is at breakpoint.  It’s close to crumbling, and the government has chosen to ignore and put band-aids on it. It’s as if they don’t care.  When Manto got her new liver, she didn’t lie in a government hospital.

So, since most of us don’t have the heart or inclination to abandon our sickest patients, doctors in the Western Cape have decided to continue running emergency services, critical care and theatres only.  All outpatients and elective surgery will have to close.  We’re not doing medical teaching either.  Sorry students, we’re fighting for your future too.

If we don’t do something now…it’s going to cost much more lives in the future.

We humbly ask that the public support us in our endeavors.  In the end it affects all of us.

Dr Y.J.

If we don’t take action now, we’ll settle for nothing later!

Ashtray Electric are a band that are being hailed as the next big thing and their second offering Bonjour, is sure to get them noticed. It contains both a 10 track album and a DVD which includes the fifteen minute documentary Lead Me to Sea and the music video for “Quite Overstared,” both put together by Cape Town production company The African Attachment. The documentary delves into the background and showcases another side to the band.

Ashtray Electric is combines a mixture of delicate beats, heartfelt lyrics and catchy melodies that all lead to a rather unconventional sound albeit one that gets your feet tapping.

The lyrics are incredibly genuine and honest with; songs like ‘When Sex Becomes A Sport’ and ‘Pedgio’ are standout tracks as they have an undeniable catchiness yet stay true to bands sound. The song “Quite Overstared’ has garnered airplay and pushed the band into the forefront of the indie scene. They also have the ability make “woohoo” work as a chorus on the song ‘Gallop’ a feat not many can attest to.

Overall the artwork, presentation and the album as a whole is faultless, with each track showcasing the bands ability, leaving are no song that isn’t worth listening to.

Ashtray Electric are a band that are being hailed as the next big thing and their second offering Bonjour, is sure to get them noticed. It contains both a 10 track album and a DVD which includes the fifteen minute documentary Lead Me to Sea and the music video for “Quite Overstared,” both put together by Cape Town production company The African Attachment. The documentary delves into the background and showcases another side to the band.

Ashtray Electric combines a mixture of delicate beats, heartfelt lyrics and catchy melodies that all lead to a rather unconventional sound albeit one that gets your feet tapping.

The lyrics are incredibly genuine and honest with; songs like ‘When Sex Becomes A Sport’ and ‘Pedgio’ are standout tracks as they have an undeniable catchiness yet stay true to bands sound. The song “Quite Overstared’ has garnered airplay and pushed the band into the forefront of the indie scene. They also have the ability make “woohoo” work as a chorus on the song ‘Gallop’ a feat not many can attest to.

Overall the artwork, presentation and the album as a whole is faultless, with each track showcasing the bands ability, leaving are no song that isn’t worth listening to.

Stand a chance to win Ashtray Electric’s album and a Moral Fibre tshirt (guys tshirt, so girls you’ll have to make do with a “boyfriend Tshirt”) - All you have to do to win the prize is tell me which two tracks are your favourite on the album and post ‘em in the comment form below.

“We are a limping democracy, wrestling with a credit crunch and facing a world cup with intermittent electricity - if you don’t laugh, you die…” says John Vlismas and I’m inclined to agree. Never mind what I have to say about Vlismas’ profundity, why don’t you go and hear what he has to say in the flesh and blood.

Better yet, why don’t you see Vlismas, Barry Hilton, Mark Banks, Loyiso Gola, Mark Banks, Joey Rasdien and Krijay Govender? They’re all performing at Carnival City in what’s been entitled The Comedy Heavies. The Comedy Heavies is being held on the 3rd and 4th of July and for a small fee you could go watch them all in one night. Or …

If you’re one the first four to comment on this blog we’ll give you two tickets to the The Comedy Heavies. It’ll save you dollar, make you look good in front of your lady or man friend and entitle to you one fucking good time. Just thank us when you’re at the event because we’ll be there too.

The Comedy Heavies isn’t just going to be a stand up feast from the cream of comedy, but the comics have been chosen to represent the wide spectrum of comedy styles, from the legendary deadpan of Barry Hilton, to the barking mad characters of Mark Banks and the righteous anger of recently-circumcised Loyiso Gola and the ever popular Joey Rasdien. Even Krijay Govender has taken time for her crazy television schedule to appear in this remarkable production.

Wow what a fascinating first two days at work at Cerebra. To fill you in I’ve moved from Submarine Depth Research, an amazing qualitative market research firm which pioneered South African digital qualitative research to Cerebra. Cerebra focuses on creating interactive marketing and social media campaigns which allow brands to meet their consumer’s minds head on in comfortable nooks online. At least that’s how I see it.

Nevertheless let’s get onto the good stuff, the people. I was rather anxious on my first day, albeit for the fact that I knew some of the Cerebrans, I still felt nervous. The feeling faded fast. Previously I’ve worked in academic, corporate and creative environments but I’ve been treated to very different first days - all of them with their own inherent structure, even in the most creative of environments. Cerebra’s greeting was a great mix of both structured and unstructured, the greetings were warm and friendly, there was a genuine sense of trying to help me find out who does what and how I can help them do it but importantly for me there was a spirit of getting stuck in which one ought to embrace.

An important part of working in a creative team, in my opinion, is to ensure that the lines of communication are open from the get-go. Added to that in a tech/creative environment it is also necessary to understand that most tech-creatives are individualistic, have a strong sense of agency and an even stronger will and thus one has to ask loads of questions in order to truly get to grips with how teams operate as units and as individual members of the team. I certainly asked a lot of questions and have so many still in store for the kick ass Cerebra team who will no doubt continue to accommodate them patiently as they seem to have a genuinely positive attitude toward knowledge sharing and idea generation.

If you know Cerebra, then you know that the development and design teams are Drupal advocates. I’ve bookmarked learning Druapal properly as an initial goal and have already been provided with learning material from Chris Dawson and Andre Ellis. I’ve made my way through some Drupal basics and will be setting up my own Drupal test server soon, the details of which I might document on this blog via weekly video posts.

Mike Stopforth and Melody Maker who I sit beside and opposite from respectively entertain me with their witty dialogue, and have an incredible method of communicating work related information in packets alongside data on twitter updates, friend requests and when I left the office, who was the lucky 500th follower on Melody’s twitter account. It’s almost a lesson on how our brains are beginning to systematise information on the fly; shelving and storing the business and social information in their own storage compartments for retrieval as an when needed. You’ll just have to trust me on this as it might sound nigh on impossible if you’re used to corporate banter which goes no further than the timid “so what are you making for dinner”conversation and hits near boiling point when confrontation arises.

I think my views on the Cerebra content team, Brandsh crew and the Mobmedia (mob ?)  are going to have to appear in another blog because I’ve already taken this journey far past the 500 word mark and no doubt you’re already frowning waiting for me to round this little diatribe up with a concluding remark. For now you’ll have to make do with my last thought on this icy Tuesday night; I will be challenged at Cerebra, forced to learn new skills and most importantly encouraged to innovate and contribute to the future of Cerebra.

With the Egyptian soccer team under a cloud of speculation as to whether their rooms were burgled by prostitutes I thought I would take a look at the topic. With an event such as the World Cup approaching rapidly it seems like now is the best time to legalise the worlds oldest trade in the world. I can only assume that the reason prostitution is not allowed is a throwback to our god fearing Calvinist National Party leaders that ruled South Africa for forty odd years but we live in a new, more progressive society.

Let’s face the simple reality that prostitution happens and is something we cannot stop. However, in South Africa where we have the worlds strongest constitution protecting human rights, it seems odd that we’re doing nothing to protect the sex workers of our country.

The argument for allowing sex workers to be legalised is compelling. Not only does it offer a greater level of protection for the sex workers themselves but is also bound to lead to a whole new group of previously untaxed individuals contributing to GDP. Quite simply if a prostitute is attacked or robbed while working she has no legal recourse with the police as she was effectively committing an illegal act during the incident. From an economic point of view it makes sense to register sex workers as it leads to a new group being taxed as well as other pleasant oddities such as sex tourists. Not only is it good for the worker but potentially good for the client who can identify “quality” workers through a referral system.

It’s beyond the scope of my blog to debate the moralities of the sex worker industry. Personally I feel it’s perfectly fine but then again I’m not sure I’d feel quite as comfortable if a member of my family were in the trade. Either way, it’s safer and more economically productive to keep the sex trade above board.

Famous designer duo Dolce & Gabbana is launching their new online D&G store on June 23.

The new D&G online store will sell the brand’s men’s and women’s apparel, accessories, beachwear, eyewear, timepieces, and costume jewelry. The store will be ‘open’ in 31 countries.

Dolce & Gabbana truly are savvy businessmen as well as talented designers. Not only have they jumped into the millennium with this online store, but they have also decided to lower prices through supply chain management. In these tough times, being cutting edge is key rather than holding on to the past.

“The online boutique is like a game, a fun and immediate way to shop, without space or time limitations. We are confident it will get people even closer to D&G’s dynamic universe,” said Stefano Gabbana. (wwd)

The first D&G online store will open its virtual doors on June 23. Designed to mirror the edgy spirit of the D&G stores, dandgstore.com will sell men’s and women’s apparel, accessories, beachwear, eyewear, timepieces and costume jewelry. It is powered by Yoox Group and its offerings will be available in 31 countries worldwide. “The online boutique is like a game, a fun and immediate way to shop, without space or time limitations. We are confident it will get people even closer to D&G’s dynamic universe,” said Stefano Gabbana.

Source :

http://www.wwd.com/fashion-news/fashion-scoops/on-specs-kira-redux-dg-will-open-virtual-doors-2174624?full=true

After about a day of using the Nokia N97 I won in the “Nokia Search for N” competition I thought I would give some of my thoughts on the phone. Bearing in mind that my last phone was a Nokia E71 and before that a first gen iPhone so as such I’m quite a phone buff. I was also given a week with the Nokia 5800 so I’ve fiddled with the new Nokia touchscreen version of the Symbian operating system.

First up in the box you get the phone, a 1500mAh battery (it’s the same one as the E71 so you’re assured of a long battery life), stylus (which isn’t actually critical), headphones, remote for the headphones, a USB cable and a charger. What’s interesting to notice is that Nokia has finally realised how useful charging a phone via USB can be and as such there’s only one input (micro USB) for both charging and connecting to a PC. While I’m used to Nokia phone’s coming with a tiny power charger this one comes with a slightly larger adaptor that has a micro USB connector at the end as opposed to the normal Nokia plug. Included in the box is also an adaptor that plugs into the micro USB and allows you to connect either the original Nokia charger or the newer, smaller Nokia charger. This is fairly useful as I have a Nokia car charger so I will be able to still use that with the N97.

Physically the device has a 3.5-inch touchscreen with a keyboard that slides out of the side. The downside of the screen is that it’s a resistive rather than capacitive touchscreen meaning it’s not as sensitive and precise. Frankly this hasn’t bothered me yet and all seems very tolerable with regards to the touch. My one initial gripe is that the keyboard is awkwarly layed out with the spacebar on the right hand side of the keyboard. I’m used to it being in the middle as it is on my E71 and this seems like a really silly layout choice. Initially I was extremely slow at typing but this seems to be getting faster with practice. Another issue that might bug some people is that you cannot use this keyboard with one hand and while this not an issue it might be something to keep in mind when chosing this phone over a traditional candybar QWERTY phone.

Unfortunately there is no iSync plugin as yet for the N97 so I had to use a PC to transfer all my contacts. This for me is something Nokia really should look at. I know in a few weeks there will be an iSync plugin but Nokia really should release the plugin before the phone comes out. Possibly this is a symptomn of early adoption but an annoyance if you’re on a Mac. Using a PC however it’s particularly simple to sync your contacts, appointments and even emails if you desire. If you’ve used the Symbian operating system on most new Nokia’s then you’ll be comfortable with the device and how to use it. Since I’ve had two Symbian phone’s this isn’t really an issue. The system is cleverly modified for a touchscreen but I tend to use the directional pad located next to the keyboard as I’m not the biggest touch fan. In terms of build quality it’s quite plastic in comparison to my E71 with a big of chrome around the screen but it’s generally plastic. This isn’t a bad thing but the back of the phone where you insert the simcard tends to squeak a bit when you push on it. Hardly an issue but if this is the Porsche of phone’s then I wouldn’t expect issues like this. I suppose this is the difference between the E-Series and the N-Series Nokia’s.

Image Taken With Nokia N97

Feature wise the phone has a 5 megapixel camera that takes some extremely clear photo’s thanks to the autofocus. There is also 32-gigs of memory built in meaning you can take tens of thousands of photo’s and have a fairly substantial music collection as well. On the topic of music the phone has a built in FM tuner so you don’t need any cables or attachments to play music in your car. Something that is slightly bothering me is the lack of the Ovi store in South Africa so I cannot seem to download more widgets or applications. Speaking of widgets, you get up to five on the home screen which can be your contacts and various other widgets such as Facebook. Personally I’d find a Twitter widget really useful and I eagerly await. There’s also a GPS which I haven’t had time to use yet but I’m hoping that it takes quicker to find a GPS satellite than my E71 although this might be more to do with my network when it comes to A-GPS.

A lot of people have said that the phone is underpowered but I’ve noticed no slowdown when running multiple programs or swapping between portrait or landscape. Speaking of programs the phone comes with a nice array of extra software such as a Guiter Hero style game, Joikuspot (turns your phone into a wi-fi hotspot), Qik (allows you to create streaming video from your phone), Facebook, Amazon and both normal and finacial news software.

So far, after a day I’m quite enjoying this phone with its mix of great new features and multimedia slant as opposed to my E71 which is very business focused. I think however that the N97 provides a mix of business and multimedia with it’s great camera and 32 gig file space while at the same time offering email via Exchange. Once I get used to the keyboard I’m sure this will be a great device that despite some minor flaws makes an excellent flagship for the Nokia range.