hitting the wire*

Simple Tech: "A litre of light"

I know this is supposed to be an ICT focused blog, but when I come across simple tech solutions I can't help wanting to share them.  Came across this clever idea the other day in the digital stream of info that rushes past each day.  

It's more of a skylight than a light, but what tickles me is its application for the poorer folk in any country who often live in dark and ill-lit places night and day because of the cost of the energy needed to shed light into their humble shelters.

Some ingenuity, an empty coke bottle, a few drops of bleach, a hole in a roof sheet that can be sealed against the rain, and hey-presto, some light and hope in a dark place.

Love it.

Incompetence, gross incompetence, and the DMA's website poll.

The National Consumer Commission are asking us, the citizens of South Africa, to tell them if we think it is good idea to appoint the Direct Marketing Association as the custodians of the "opt-out" database that is planned as a result of the Consumer Protection Act coming into being. 

Say what?
They actually have to ask that question?
OK, so while we're at it, why not ask if it isn't a great idea to get the inmates to run the asylum?!

Seriously?! Here we have an organization that exists to look after the interests of the folk behind the commercial offers you receive by email, SMS and phone. And the NCC wants them to look after our personal information.

I’m not going to go on a long rant about them - Ivo Vegter, a far more erudite writer than I, has written an informative piece on ITWeb. Give it a read. Any outfit that has not worked out that circulating the actual data rather than hashes of the data is a really stupid idea, and allows our personal data into the wrong hands, should not be allowed anywhere near the opt-out database.

Then of course there’s the DMA’s pathetic response to my lodging a complaint against 8.ta for calling me twice in two days when a) my number is on the DMA’s existing “do not call” list and b) they happily claim to be DMA members when I challenge them. The woman from the DMA tells me that it is not sufficient that I supply the time of the call, the CLI, the name of the call centre, and the first names of the telemarketer and his supervisor; she is not prepared to do anything unless I can give her the surnames of both. I’m surprised she did not want me to supply ID numbers as well!

An amusing ridiculous side-plot to all of this that played out today was the farce surrounding the poll on the DMA’s website. They posted a poll asking if the visitors to their website thought it was a good idea for them to run the opt-out database. Ivo Vegter mentioned this on Twitter mid-morning. The fact was repeated on Twitter and at least one IT mailing list.

The survey, when I first viewed it late morning, was sitting at 70% of visitors thinking it was indeed a good idea to set the fox to guard the henhouse! By 14h00 that figure had sunk to 4%. It was patently obvious that the DMA in their diligence had forgotten to ensure only one vote per person. I mean it is not as if they tend to be careful about data protection is it?

Some one obviously woke up to that fact that the poll was not going their way at all as by 18h09 49% of visitors supposedly supported the DMA to run the database. By 18h46 an entirely new poll had appeared in its place and the final results indicated that in fact 87% of people had voted “Yes”. Wonderful! Now they can publish that and we can all rest easy that the matter is settled.

Of course, you have until the end of tomorrow to let the NCC know what you really feel about the matter. What they’ll do with your email, who knows - maybe it will get nuked by their spam filters, but hey, give it go - just maybe there’s someone with integrity, competence and wisdom in that outfit. E-mail the National Commissioner of the National Consumer Commission, care of Prudence Moilwa, at pmoilwa@thedti.gov.za (quoting reference number NCC/EOI/0003), and tell the bureaucrats all of this. You have until tomorrow, 29 July, to stop this farce from becoming law.

Email her now! Go! Go! Go!

This URL provides a detailed history of the poll until the DMA supposedly took it down.

The screenshots below tell a similarly interesting tale.

Telecoms

Renewable Energy scholarship for postgrad study in 2010 & 2011

The Doug Banks Renewable Energy Vision initiative has just issued an invitation for applications for a scholarship for post grad study in Renewable Energy for 2010 & 2011. It has been a slow and tiring process of getting many pieces of a jigsaw puzzle in place, but we're finally reaching a point where we have something tangible to show.

The purpose of the Doug Banks Renewable Energy Vision:

* We aim to attract, identify and mentor bright, capable young people who want to both study further in Renewable Energy; and have a desire to solve the challenges of Africa's future energy needs.

* We intend to partner with sponsors who share our desire to develop Renewable Energy intellectual capital in South Africa, in order to build a trust fund which can to a large degree sustain itself.

* We wish to form a network of professionals who wish to see bright young minds mentored in Renewable Energy.

* Through this, we aim to create a living tribute to Dr Doug Banks and to carry forward his vision and passion for Renewable Energy

If you know of anyone studying engineering at the moment that might be interested in making their career in Renewables, please point them to the website http://dougbanks.co.za/

rgds,

Dave

Do not use Incorporex to register your newco

When you use an agent to register a NewCo, you expect to be paying a bit more than you would have by going directly to CIPRO, but suffering far less pain for the extra cost not so?  

More than 90 days from the day I paid Incorporex close on R1,800.00 I still have no tangible proof that they have done anything with my money other than an SMS giving me a reg number and suggesting that the documents will be following. That was 20 April 2009. It is now 29 May 2009 and I have heard nothing despite progress enquiries, which appear to be ignored.

This is what a recent mail looked like:

Pamela an Stanley
I have only word to describe the level of service I have received from your company:
PATHETIC!
Pamela promises to facilitate the registration of a pty ltd for me and indicate that it takes about 6 to 8 weeks.Pamela neglects to collect the documents I courier to you on 25 February 2009 until I call 3 weeks later to ask for a progress report.Stanley calls me to apologise and undertakes to do whatever is possible to ensure that the process is expedited.On 24 March 2009 I emailed asking for an update. Pamela has never replied.I email Stanley on 8 April 2009. No reply.I hear no more until I get an SMS on 20 April 2009 to give me the reg number and indicates that the documents will be following.Since then - nothing.I email Stanley on 20 May 2009 again asking for an update. Nothing.I call your call centre today and cannot get to speak to anyone at all.
90 days later and I have no registration papers with which I can open a bank account and start billing my customers.
At this stage, I'm asking what I paid you R1,799.00 for - to make my life more difficult? I could have done the work myself by now at less cost!
If I do not have my documents by Friday 29 May 2009 16h00, I am listing Incorporex on HelloPeter.com & will be seeking legal advice on obtaining my registration papers from CIPRO without delay.

And did you know that they can place a document on their website saying they are authorized by DTI/CIPRO to register companies on CIPRO's behalf, but I get told by a DTI call centre agent that DTI have no governance authority over the agent and I must lodge a case with the SAP. Say what?!

HelloPeter here I come.

***update as at 2009/05/29***

Contacted SA Chamber of Commerce who were helpful but doubtful about their chances. Then got hold of CIPRO in Cape Town who asked me to formally raise a complaint, which I did. Also got hold of Incorporex's CEO's cell phone number and called him - no credible reason for why I'm being ignored and admits they had "misplaced" my documents (for over a month?!?!?) and he would see they were couriered to me over the weekend. He's SMSd me a tracking number, so who knows, he might be on the level.

Total and utter incompetence and no idea of what it means to provide any modicum of service level.

Sorry mate, but the deadline was today and I think it wasn't unreasonable.

Amandla Umthi Wesizwe!

Last Saturday I spent most of the day in one of the poorest parts of Cape Town; Brown’s Farm Philippi. I came away hugely encouraged and proud to be a South African. Nkosi Sikeleli iAfrica! I often hear people using the term “grass-roots“ organizations, but only now have I come to see the power and potential of a group of people who have gained a hope for themselves and are daring to reach for their dreams.

Five or so years ago Philippi was a place that was not only wracked with crime, with more than 3 out of every 4 people unemployed, but more frighteningly it was largely without hope. People could not see beyond the misery to a better life. It was a place to leave as fast as you could. A desperate place.

That has been changing. Through many initiatives and many people who have dared to hope. People like Reverend Nkoloti and his wife Lulu who started a church in a shack. There is now a large brick building, a community hall and computer lab. People like Dennis & Susan Wadley from Bridges of Hope who facilitated and built the capacity in the community to care for those impacted by Aids in so many ways. People like Babalwa Jama, a young woman, who in the last few years has come not only to believe in herself, but in the future of her community.

Babalwa observed the way in which the youth were disaffected and down. Drugs and crime are an easy choice when you don’t think you’ll live beyond the age of 25. The young lad next door becomes a reckless gangster because it least it brings some fun and excitement and “a better life” – what little there is left of it. If some gangster or criminal doesn’t get you, AIDS will. So, what the $%^& eh?

Taking her heart in her hands, she approached one of the young gang leaders in her area. Terrified, she found 8 young tsotsi’s in his shack when she arrived. After teasing her awhile, they allowed her to share her vision for a better future. One thing led to another, and soon they had started a youth group, Umthi Wesizwe (the Tree of the Nation). With no place to meet, they met in shack. Soccer, drama & dance were activities they started with. Which is when Babalwa asked me if Storm could help.

The needs weren’t excessive, yet seemed so impossible at the time.

Sometimes it just takes a few phone calls to the right people, a bit of arm twisting and the realization that the amount of money they need is not beyond you. Yes, it may mean eating out a little less often, or postponing a purchase of a non-essential or two.

Two shipping containers were secured from the council and we had them moved to the parking lot of the Ruth First Community Hall. Some paint, some waterproofing, and glass for the window, some youthful energy and they had a club house. A Jembe and some percussion items and the dance group are rocking. A few soccer and netballs, and then a soccer strip so they can join the local league and we have the beginnings of Umthi FC? Already, some youngsters moving back to Khayalitsha have started a branch there.

We’re waiting for the registration of the NPO to come through. They’re building a website. They’re on the road.

Saturday was the launch. There were representatives there from SAPS, from the Council’s Youth Development division, from the Western Cape Youth Commission, from The Business Place, from Bridges of Hope. Supportive, encouraging, positive, all of them. They even gave me a chance to say a few words. But is was the youth themselves that impressed me. The poetry was powerful, the dance infectious, the drama straight out of “Generations” – covering subjects like peer pressure, teenage pregnancy, rape, AIDS, crime. And yet beneath and behind it was hope. Some of the youngsters spoke of their dreams – one to be a choreographer, another a sound engineer, and so on. Parents, friends and members of the community applauded, whistled, cried with laughter, roared with delight.

 

With the grace of God these guys are doing it for themselves, yet they so desperately need resources, encouragement and role models. If you do nothing else, come out Philippi one day to see for yourself.

I’m humbled, yet proud to part of it.
May the Tree of Africa grow strong.

Google replaces sniffer dogs.

Is there anything this bunch will not get involved in?!?

"The Mountain View, California-based company has emerged as a potentially useful resource for search-and-rescue teams because of its connections to the dozens of contractors that provide satellite imagery for its popular Google Earth software."

Article on IOL here.

Hit & run Merc driver left his brains at home

Some mornings, when I don't leave for the office before dawn, I take the kids down to catch their lift through to school.  This morning was one of those.  The route runs past Tygerberg Zoo down a fairly quiet and narrow road, parallel to the N1.  There are usually a lot of labourers on foot and on bicycles as well as school kids waiting for buses.  You need to be alert.

Just past the entrance to the Zoo I was flagged down by an agitated fellow.

His mate, a 59 year old guy who works with him at a nearby County Fair farm, had been knocked off his bike in front of him and was now lying in the ditch with a broken arm and lacerations on his head. I have to say that to survive something like this at the age of 59, you have to be one tough SOB!  To say he had been "knocked down" does not adequately describe what seems to have happened.  The guys at the 147 call centre got me through to Emergency Services pretty smartly and the cops (3 vans), a traffic officer and 2 ambulances made it within 20 minutes.  Needless to say a tow truck beat them all by about 10 minutes!

The guy was hit from behind on the far left hand side of the road - the far right in the picture above as he was coming down the hill towards the camera - (his bike had reflective  tape, so he had tried to make himself visible), "carried" (I assume on the bonnet?) for about 150m (the skid marks are 100m long - the cops measured them -  began in the middle of the road and ended on the far right - camera's left) before being tossed into a ditch.  The marks of the acceleration away from the scene are obvious here.  The driver bolted, leaving the cyclist broken in the ditch with his bike a mangled wreck.  Fortunately for him, his mate was on the other side of the road and saw it all happen and was able to flag us down.

What the driver obviously did not factor in, was this:

He left a good portion of his number plate (and a Merc decal off his car) on the scene.  Before I left the scene, they had his name & address and make & colour of vehicle.

I hope they nail the bastard.  He obviously had no idea if the cyclist was alive or dead when he (I suppose it could be she?) fled the scene. 

Disgusting.

The Red Bull X-Alps. These guys are having an incredible experience!

A race along the Alps.  Krippenstein (Austria) to Monaco.  800km.  30 athletes.  They can walk/climb or paraglide.  One ground based supporter, who is not allowed to use motorized or powered flight.  The race runs 24x7, snow or shine.  First one to Monaco wins.

A colleague at Storm, Keith Mould, who paraglides himself, pointed me to the website where you can follow the whole thing live - even using Google Earth if you choose!

The tracking data is apparently sent from Nokia N95 phones the guys carry.

I imagine days like this make all the pain worthwhile!

Which idiot agreed to this weekend schedule?

[warning - this has nothing to do with telecoms!]

Some weekends life seems to ratchet up the pace... others you actually get a chance to breathe once or twice!

Friday:
Neither Barbara or I feel like cooking - we decide to order in.  Now where we live (on a smallholding) that means Scooters pizzas.  No one else is daft enough to try to deliver to our area.  18h28 I place the order.  "39 minutes or your pizzas are free" is their motto. By 19h00 Barbara suggests I make sure they know where they are going this time as their database does not seem to want to accept our street name properly (why you might ask? yeah-well, we're like that).  They finally answered, but put me on hold... and never picked up again.  Around 19h45 I managed to find out from the manager that they had not left yet, and were "having one of those nights".... you don't say?  20h05 we fall upon cold pizza's and again get them for free.  I not sure how long these guys will be delivering to our area, or continue to be in business!  Cold, edible, slow...

Saturday
I woke to hear the pressure pump for house water supply running.  And running.  Something is not right, but what?  A quick check shows that the pump flushing the final digester for the sewage is also running ineffectively.  A bit of priming and that one settles down, but I'm supposed to have Dylan at a rugby match at 07h45 in Stellenbosch, so the pressure pump will have to wait.

We arrive to find the place deserted.  Seems the time to be there was 15 after 8, not 15 before 8! <sigh>  Fortified with coffee, we return to find the troops gathering.  Today is Rhenish u13 against Bishops.  Bishops arrive and start working through some warm-up exercises that at least show some organisation.  Ours are horsing around aimlessly.  The Bishops lads are noticeably larger and a few parents mutter darkly about an impending slaughter of our lot.  Now bear in mind I have not watched Dylan play rugby since last season when he was taken out by a few high tackles that had the medics bolting down the sidelines. 

The coaches decide to play 4 quarters of 15 minutes each instead of 2 halves to give the reserves more game time.  The parents look decidedly nervous.  Well, the Zulu have a saying about not judging a bull by it's horns.  The Bishops lads, although large, don't seem to have much fire in their bellies and can't tackle.  Either that the Rhenish u13B team have finally worked out how to play as a team.  They strung together some decent moves, ran some good lines, and managed to get a few quick wings away.  The final scoreboard tells the tale (that's a 6 before the 5 on the left hand side). Sometimes you have to get your victories vicariously. ;)

Back to the pump.  Did not take long to find that the non-return valve was not non-returning and the pump was trying vainly to pressurize the 2,000l tank out back.  3 hours later I'd replaced the part, relocated pump and pressure tank, and climbed into the ceiling to scrub the inlet filter to the geyser.  Friends stayed for supper.  Knackered by 10pm.

Sunday
Doug Banks had invited me to join himself and few other "too much work and not enough play" types like ourselves on a hike up Table Mountain.  I'd agreed.  Waking I regretted having said yes, but by 10am when I arrived at Kirstenbosch, the day was blossoming and I was looking forward to some fresh air.

Up Skeleton Gorge (somebody's been (ab)using my knees without my knowledge I swear!), across to McClear's Beacon for lunch, on along the front edge of the mountain with the haze and smog clearing as the day wore on, to join the cable car hordes at the top of Platteklip Gorge.  Somehow my suggestion of descending via Fountain Ledges and India Venster was mooted.  We passed some excited types who had just completed the commercial abseil from the cable station, and a pair of rock-jocks taking on a Trad route.

The hairier bits of the descent seemed to have some of the party wondering seriously about my sanity, but 16h50 had us safe down at the Lower Cable station with only minor cuts and bruises and legs that resembled jelly.

That's me... needing a rest!

Enough of this now!

This is definitely the coldest Cape Town winter I can recall for a long time.  I tried to find historic data on the weathersa.co.za site, but all they give is 30 year averages, no trends.  Which is strange come to think of it, considering all the hype around global warming and climate change. Anyone know of some raw data on local maximums, minimums etc?

I've lost count of the times my car has told me it is 2 degrees C or lower in the mornings lately.  This is Cape Town, not Sutherland!  Thermostat's gone wonky.

Here's 2,000 words:

and we're facing a LPGas shortage!

I suppose I should be glad we don't have Barmy Bob decreeing that all retail prices must be halved as if that will solve Zimbabwe's woes.  Certifiably Barking Mad.

that's me. chilled.