Dear Diary

An excerpt for my new online diary which is anonymous but extremely calming. I chose to create an online diary after enjoying the latest installment of Adrian Mole (The lost diaries 1999 - 2001) and realising that it may help if ever an autobiography is to be commissioned :). Being anonymous, means I can be completely honest and I cannot describe what an amazing feeling that is. In any event, I decided to share today's entry since it has no relevance to anybody I know.

Dear Diary

Today, my girls and I bought take out and had a picnic at Mitchell Park. It was an amazing Durban winter's day and no birds crapped on me. Evertything about the trip was idyllic up until the point where my wife and I separated. Tim took Siddiqa to the playground whilst I took Sulaym (13 months) to see the birds and animals.

She loved it and I could see her taking everything in, and made a mental note to do this more often. At the Flamingo enclosure I stopped carrying her and she walked around looking at the ducks and curiously touching the bars, as if checking whether they were electrified or not. I took the backpack of my shoulder so I could put away the bottled water in a side patch and it was there, in that instant, that my self worth was irrevocably diminished.

My adorable daughter decided to pick up a fallen nut off the floor and a nearby mum shouted and ran to her asking her "Not to touch that kaka". This of course created quite a commotion in the serenity of the park so everybody in our vicinity turned to look. My daughter obligingly handed to nut to the the lady and gave her a look to say, "Thank God you arrived just in time!". Had I tried to take the nut away from her, I would have been met with a wall of tears and a possible tantrum. Maybe I should consider wearing my hair in a bun to get the same kind of compliance.

It was a while before the pain of countless eyes burrowing holes into my back subsided and admittedly, moving rapidly to another part of the park aided that greatly. It was then that a lady walked up to me and asked if I could please take a photograph of her with her husband and daughter. I oblidged but it became quickly apparent that they were present at the flamingo enclosure earlier. When I asked if they were happy with the picture, they responded by asking me, Why am I by myself?, where is my wife? and.... If this is the first time I am spending time alone with baby?

WTF!!!

I was going to respond by telling them that my wife had been killed in a freak flamingo incident but The abruptness of their questions caught me completely off guard. I mumbled a response and made my way out of the park.

Regardless of this experience, I must make a conscientious effort to come out more often. It is pointless laughing at everyone from JHB when they complain about the cold, when we do not take advantage of our awesome Durban weather.

My review of the Viber App

I have been asked to become a contributor on bandwidth blog which I am really excited about. My first article went live this week, where I reviewed the Viber App but also in the context of VOIP (Voice over internet protocol). People posted comments on the article which was great as it introduced me to new technologies/ insights.

My review of Viber on Bandwidthblog

Of course, the thing that I was most excited about regarding Viber was that it would be an awesome way to stay in contact with loved ones when travelling abroad. I hope to make use of the complimentary hotel WiFi to achieve this and it will be much simpler than having to use WorldCall cards or buying international prepaid sim cards etc. The one major snag to this plan however is that the App currently only exists in the iStore which means I have to convince my wife to get an iPhone or give her mine if (when) I chose to upgrade to the iPhone 5 :)

The Mclaren Honda MP4/4 - The Best Ever F1 car!

I am a big believer of "Kismet"(Destiny). The feeling that everything is happening for a reason. That sense in your gut that recent events are somehow not a coincidence but happening for a reason. I also find 'Kismet' a convenient scapegoat when indulging my habit of buying stuff. It just seem less superficial when there is a grander plan unknown to all that has guided my hand into my wallet to pull out my credit card yet again. But, even I have to admit that the circumstances/ coincidences that surrounded my latest purchase is quite uncanny.

Last week I found the time to watch the majority of the European Grand Prix and this, in itself, was extremely rare. Unfortunately the race was not that exciting and I got to watch the dominant Sebastian Vettel ease to yet another victory. He has now won six races out of eight and come second in the other two. Naturally this dominated tea time discussion amongst the guys the next day. Will he beat Schumi's records? Will Formula 1 sink back to the boring days of the Schumi/ Ferrari dominance? What is the most dominant car in F1 history? Stop! That was my cue!

I have a well researched, flawlessly prepared argument for this particular question, and like a spider coming to feast on those that had become trapped in my web, I launched into my presentation, honed after many hours presenting in front of a mirror. The answer is simple. The Mclaren Honda MP4/4 that dominated the 1988 F1 season in a way that no car since has been able to emulate. has to be the most dominant car ever in F1 history. Admittedly one could argue that the the Ferrari 2004 (winning 15 of 18 races) is also a contender for this title as is the Williams that Nigel Mansell guided to victory in the 1992 season. Let's debate this in the comments section! However, for me it was the MP4/4.I urge any F1 fan to read the story of this remarkable car for I will lose half my readers if I dwell on it here. Check this link for starters.

Wikipedia: McLaren Honda MP4/4

In the 1988 season this car had won 15 of the 16 races which included 10 1-2 finishes. and 15 pole positions. Far form being boring as one would expect from this level of dominance, these were still exciting times with Senna and Prost having the most exciting rivalry that I could ever recall in F1. In that season, Senna won the title by winning 8 races compared to Prost's 7 victories. If you are too young and have never heard of the Senna- Prost rivalry then I urge you to google it and read up on the most intense rivalry in F1 which tragically ended with Prost being a pallbearer at the funeral of Ayrton Senna after he tragically died at the 1994 San Marino Grand Prix. Ayrton Senna  was the last driver to die at the wheel of a F1 car. This was ironically also the year that Michael Schumacher won his first F1 World Championship.

Ayrton Senna (1960 - 1994)

Then on Thursday, the FIA announced that Formula One would switch from 2.4l V8's to 1.6l Turbocharged V6's. Due to my obvious bias, I was thrilled by this decision and more importantly it gave me a chance to within the same week, deliver my presentation on another group of unsuspecting people. You maybe wondering what the hell could this possibly have to do with Kismet ! Well...it's like this. I walked into a hobby shop today looking for my next project. I am searching for a race version NSX but this shop had a very small range. They basically had different variations of  the Porsche 911 turbo, Nissan GT-R and Ferrari 360 Modena. It  was then, by chance ,that I noticed a smaller box stacked with all the airplanes... and, you guessed it...

Who am I to come in the way of Kismet? :)

Updated ( 14 July 2011)

I had intended including this in my initial post but had hoped that it would have have formed part of the lineup at the Durban International Festival (DIFF 2011) and would have discussed it there but it was unfortunately not included. I really hope however that this documentary on the life of Ayrton Senna makes it to SA. Watch the trailer below and you will understand why. Winner of the prestigious audience award at the Sundance Film Festival this year.

Just assassinate Gadaffi!

Just assassinate Gadaffi. It is possibly the most legal/ just/ humane thing that NATO could do.

Those of you who know me, or read my blog or continue reading this sentence would know that I am often not to be taken too seriously. I prefer writing more light hearted posts on popular culture or  to find the humour in some serious stories. Because the one thing the web does not need is another muslim blogger with half baked conspiracy theories challenging the status quo. I mean, we are talking Muammar Gadaffi here. You've seen his pictures. Heard the eccentric stories of him living in a tent outside Central Park whenever he visits the UN. Listened to snippets of him shout angrily in a foreign language. Who can or would want to defend him. Definitely not me!

However I think it's time I risk being unpopular to speak about an injustice regardless of whether I may be perceived as a Gadaffi symphatiser. The injustice I refer to is of course, the Nato War on Libya. Of course, people in the Obama administration are quick to label this, anything but a War, as there is a very heated legal debate currently underway in the US Congress regarding the legality of this war, or as the Obama administration prefer, ' A time-limited, scope-limited military action'. This 'military action ' involves the daily bombing of Libya, a strict naval blockade, the destruction of the Gadaffi family compound (wherein both his son and three grandchildren died) and the deployment of special forces in Libya. 

Before proceeding, I should clarify the title. Inspired by a weekend of sheer chaos by NATO wherein they admitted mistakenly bombing the rebels on Saturday, bombing (in error) a civilian target on Sunday that included children amongst the dead and on Monday not being able to confirm whteher the building they hit was a command centre or a private home but they could confirm that here too, children were amongst the casualties. I am not trying to naively gather sympathy for pro Gadaffi supporters because one accepts these kind of events as part and parcel of the ugly consequence of war, but therein lies the problem with this entire affair. Who sanctioned this War? Why has it been sanctioned? And what is it's ultimate aim? If the aim is to effect a regime change, then I propose that Muammer Gadaffi be assassinated. I believe this would be in the best interest of the Libyan People you are striving to protect. Less infrastructure to rebuild, fewer unnecessary loss of life and an assurance that the economic interests of the NATO nations will be taken care off.

The Case for War

Muammar Gadaffi is the perfect villain. He is arguably insane, eccentric, prances around in military costumes and prefers living in a tented compound even when visiting other countries. All the Western media would have to do is show demented images of the African leader coupled with tales of his war crimes and eccentricity and the public would support this military endeavor. Unfortunately Joe Soap is not so gullible anymore. One of the most notorious pieces of disinformation and propaganda, in recent history, that greatly helped to rally support for the 1990 - 1991 war to free Kuwaiti's and re-install the monarchy was the appearance of a 15 year old Kuwaiti girl who testified to a US congressional committee, how she witnessed Iraqi soldiers tip babies out of incubators and leave them to die on the floor. Her account of the incident created an outrage until some time later it was revealed that she was  in fact the daughter of Kuwait's ambassador to Washington and had consequently never left the US during the Iraqi invasion.

After having done 'dying babies' and the 'search for WMD's', Muammar Gadaffi picked the next most vile thing to killing babies, ordering the mass rape of all woman who opposed him and going the 'extra mile' by acquiring viagra-like medicines to encourage them to do so. As stated earlier, Gadaffi could be insane so I am in no way going to stick my neck out in his defense. What is shocking however, is even after, what must have been a significant pharmaceutical bill, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International have both found no evidence of such government ordered mass rape despite extensive investigations. Ms Diana Eltahawy who is Amnesty International's Libya expert has been quoted as saying,

"We spoke to women, without anybody else there, all across Libya, including Misrata and on the Tunisia-Libya border. None of them knew of anybody who had been raped. We also spoke to many doctors and psychologists with the same result." 

Of course this does not stop  news channels from perpetuating uncollaborated stories about all the mayham and war crimes presently being perpetrated by the Libyan leader. Things that further frustrate me about the war on Libya are:

• The Hypocrisy - In recent times both Syria and Bahrain have committed heinous crimes against unarmed civilians yet they are not rebuked or sanctioned for their actions.
• Follow the money - On March 15th, Muammar Gadaffi stated publicly that he did not trust Western oil firms and that future oil contracts would be going to the Chinese, Russians and Indians. The bombing started a few days later.
• Who are the rebels? Do they represent the people? Have the rag-tag National Transitional Council that has now been deemed, 'The legitimate representative' of the Libyan People ever stated any vision/ plans for democracy.
• Is NATO adequately testing offers for a truce and supervised elections?
• Libya did not attack the US or any embassy or any member of NATO for that matter. 
• Who is going to get the contract to rebuild all the infrastructure that is being bombed daily?

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2

The latest trailer for the upcoming Harry Potter movie

Now that X-men has come and gone, this is the movie event that I am most looking forward to. The conclusion to an amzing cinematic experience that took us from a little boy still trying to find himself in a strange new world and concludes, as those of you who read the book know with... don't worry. No spoilers ahead. However (ha ha fooled those of you still reading), I think it should be borne in mind that most of the events in this final movie happen over a single day. That is the either the recipe for non-stop action or a pace too quick for proper appreciation. I am hoping for the former.

In my opinion, this movie, which I though was titled "The Battle of Hogwarts", will undoubtedly be compared by all geeks to the legendary Battle of Helms Deep (Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers). In my personal opinion, nothing would ever compare to that battle. I still get goose bumps when I see Gandalf lead the riders of Rohan down into battle, still laugh when Gimly asks Aragon not to tell the elf that he had to be tossed onto the bridge. Needless to say, I am biased. I am confident however that this movie will do justice to the battle ( I should henceforth be known as, "He whose expectations are easily raised" ). The movie comes out in July and I am thinking of watching them all again over the next couple of weeks. My favourite thus far has been "The Goblet of Fire". 

P.S. If you have never yet experience Harry Potter as an audiobook read by Stephen Fry then you are missing out on what I believe to be the best possible way of enjoying this tale. But then again, that may be my bias again :)

Google backs Renewables. Why don't we?

"If you had the choice to pay less for clean power than you currently pay for dirty power. Wouldn't you do it?"...

Unless you own major shares in a coal fired power station, you would probably answer, "Hell, yes!". If not, I fear you may have stumbled upon the wrong blog. If not for the obvious chance to combat climate change, the question is essentially asking would you be interested in paying less for the power you consume today! This is what Google are now offering to US citizens. Google has just invested $280 million to create a fund that will be used to finance solar installations. In partnership with SolarCity, a company that helps homeowners make the transition to solar energy by leasing the cost of the installation and maintenance of the solar system. What is more, is that SolarCity guarantees the maintenance, warranty and power output of the panels. This effectively removes two of the major issues for homeowners when deciding to make the transition to renewable energy, High initial start up cost and whether it will deliver as promised.  The concept and investment is best described in the video below.

I know that I am an Apple fanboy and all things Google should be considered  'Anti-Jobs', but I would expect nothing less from a company that has continued to push the boundary of innovtion especially in the environment of cloud computing . This investment brings the total investment made by Google in the renewable energy sector to $ 680 million. Google.org is the charitable sector of Google and they are in essence ensuring the success of their company by investing heavily to combat climate change thereby ensuring that they still have customers in the years to come. Whereas most corporations talk green, Google has already invested a further $168 million in a Mojave Desert solar energy plant and have recently purchased 20 years of wind power to power one of its data centres in Oklahoma. Their most innovative plan for the future has to be the patent they recently applied for, for floating data centres powered by wave power! This is what can be achieved when you foster a culture of innovation in your organisation. A book that talks about this culture in detail is 'The Google Story' by David A Vise and I would unwaveringly recommend it to both geeks and non geeks alike.

Lets put these figures in perspective, shall we. The cost for the Medupi Power station in South Africa is estimated to be in the region of R 125 Billion and Kusile will cost Eskom (i.e. the taxpayer) a further R 140 Billion. Assuming a very conservative exchange rate of R10/ $ that gives the total investment we as a country are making in the next 8 years for dirty power as $ 26,5 Billion. Of course this excludes and carbon tax that may be levied by the government in the future because although that will not increase the cost of the power stations, it will definitely increase the cost that you and I pay for power. Remember also that this does not include all associated projects that would be required i.e. strengthening of transmission infrastructure.

For as long as Eskom is left in control of our country's Demand Side Management Program, I cannot see us progressing in the right direction. The country insists that Eskom needs to be efficient and function as a business, making profits to fund future capital expansion and yet we ask them to convince people to use electrical power ( their only product) sparingly and less wastefully. Is the conflict apparent to you? I believe the time has come for us to start thinking out of the box. No. I am not asking for something that extreme. I am just saying isn't it time we at least start pursuing some of the proven technologies and funding models out there. Instead of continuing to chase short term solutions that would result in long term problems.

Lunar Eclipse 2011

On the 15th June 2011, there will be a total lunar eclipse visible from all of Africa, Central Asia and parts of South America. The show starts at 20:23 with the main event scheduled to start around 21:22 and lasting till around 11 pm. Other than total cloud cover, you have no excuse not to witness this event, unless of course, you are a werewolf and prefer not been caught out in mid howl, naked  and confused. Actually if you were planning a lunar party and the weather does not play it's part, you could always project the webcast of the event from http://www.skywatchersindia.com

My family and I are planning a little lunar party in our driveway (if there was no lunar eclipse we would have just been having a regular Ides of June party). Thankfully, Thursday is a public holiday so the kids can stay up late as well. I would prepare the little ones for the event though. I am telling Siddiqa that I will be performing a magic trick and making the moon disappear, just like Colombus did to the poor 'Indians' he found in Jamaica.

There are of course lots of superstition surrounding an eclipse and my mother told me a story today of how my grandfather banished her to her bedroom while she was expecting me. It is an Indian superstition that pregnant women should not hold a blade during an eclipse, otherwise they would have children born with a cleft lip or other deformities. My thinking around such superstition is, what harm could it do?, if your in laws insist that you effectively 'take a day off'.

So banish the X-Box, PS3  and Nintendo and enjoy this great spectacle that nature has to offer. Note that the iPhone was intentionally excluded from the list above!