Why are we one of the most expensive countries on Earth for internet access? Even President Thabo Mbeki pointed out as far back as February in his State of the Nation address that the charges by Telkom are "unacceptable". Ian Fraser takes a look at the Telkom monopoly, as well as the "thug logic of the local cellphone companies".
If you’re a regular local Internet user then you will know just how complicated and slow the whole business of getting online is. Sentech’s new MyWireless service aims to change all that. MyWireless is a new broadband Internet access service, now available from Sentech (www. sentech.co.za).
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/ 25 September 2002
Okay let’s start off by looking at the animal known as Robert Mugabe. Just to demonstrate that it’s not only white people who can be deranged morons; take a read of this supposedly ‘African’ viewpoint of this Nazi neighbor our President likes holding hands with – at Mugabe The Man of 2001.
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/ 25 September 2002
I didn’t realize that Zimbabwe’s new media laws prohibit anyone from making rude comments about Mugabe, and it doesn’t matter whether they’re inside the borders of that country or not. It’s now illegal to say anything rude about Mugabe, anywhere.
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/ 25 September 2002
I think it was Churchill who when asked what constituted Naval traditions replied ‘Rum, Sodomy and the Lash’. So with that in mind, why not take a look at some of the happy songs all those sailors used to sing onboard their ships, at Work Songs of the Sea.
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/ 25 September 2002
Okay, so you’re rich, bored, and you haven’t discovered that sending me money is a great way of making me happy. So what can you do? Before you try changing channels on your TV, why not browse through the options to be found at <i>101 Things To Do Before You Die</i>.
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/ 25 September 2002
Local TV has decided to screen a BBC ‘conspiracies’ series, finally introducing the idea that the world is a lot sneakier than previously thought. So here’s a few more conspiracy things. Starting way back in time, try this interesting page from the 1960’s, of a journalist’s escape after Sharpeville.
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/ 25 September 2002
There aren’t many webcams running locally, thanks to the expensive and lousy bandwidth most users have. For a fascinating glimpse and links into the world of webcams online, as well as the growing increase of kids with webcams trading for goodies try this excellent article from Salon.
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/ 25 September 2002
If you’re new to computers, then you’ll have discovered the wall of jargon before. But don’t get embarrassed: just try these next sites where you can look up whatever word you want, and find out exactly what it means. Try the Geek-Speak IT Glossary; then File Formats.
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/ 25 September 2002
The Internet is a useful tool, providing people worldwide with a way to find information they otherwise couldn’t get their hands on, as well as letting them do things that normally they wouldn’t. So let’s look at some useful and silly sites — eg you could always Send Someone Some Doggy Doo!
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/ 25 September 2002
You’ve heard of the various sex scandals involving the Catholic Church, which have strangely been allowed to receive mass media coverage over the last few months – despite this having been common knowledge for decades.
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/ 25 September 2002
Conspiracies, weirdness and cutting edge science (and stupidity) this week. Let’s start arbitrarily with WW2, or rather, just afterwards. Did you know that the US allegedly killed some 1,2-million German POW’s after WW2 ended? Follow the links and decide for yourself at German POW Slaughter.
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/ 25 September 2002
So you’ve worked out that everyone on the road except you is a moron. But there’s still the chance that you could fall victim to an attack of road rage at some point. Take a look at a site designed to provide a useful outlet to drivers. Reach for the gun as you step out of the car en route to Above Average Driver.
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/ 25 September 2002
If you’ve watched some of the I-Max films and wondered how easily they got made, given the huge cameras required, then take a look at the trials and tribulations of a team making an I-Max movie on the Galápagos Islands. Run for the nearest shopping mall or be ready to meet Nature doing its own thing.
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/ 25 September 2002
The UN Summit is getting closer, and China is fighting to prevent the Dalai Lama’s party from being allowed to attend. Not content with invading Tibet and continuing a policy of systematic rape, terrorism and occupation of that country China thinks it can make friends with our Government.
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/ 25 September 2002
Need something to make you go ‘Awwwww cute’? Take a slow browse through the available pictures at the simple, but effective, Random Cute Kitten Picture Generator. Of course, if you’d rather see kittens blown up by landmines, (and who wouldn’t, let’s be honest) try Kitty Mine!
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/ 25 September 2002
One of the joys of being alive is being able to be thoroughly disenchanted and cynical over and over again – and now there’s online support for this growing positive antisocial attitude. Take a stroll through over 700 reasons to be cynical, and read the goodies on offer at The Cynics Dictionary.
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/ 25 September 2002
If – like me – you feel that Leon Shuster is doing to film, what the rest of us to do toilet paper, then be of good cheer, because there’re a couple of really good films heading our way, both of which deserve some advance info and background.
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/ 25 September 2002
Okay, I’ve decided that a number of local politicians need a serious beating, and I’m the person to help organise this. How, you ask? Well, browsing on E-Bay, I found an auction offer for a "real Ass-Kicking" (by a 6 ft, 250 pound American).
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/ 25 September 2002
Just to show that journalism isn’t necessarily the last refuge of ethics and morality – for some quick and alarming reading – take a look at a collection of the ‘stinkiest media moments of 2001’ (and some of them are pretty darn stinky and frightening to boot) at Media Beat.
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/ 25 September 2002
Feel like walking around London, but our Mickey Mouse money prevents it? Why not do it online (I know it’s not the same, sorry) at London Streets. If, like me, you worry about one day being attacked by hordes of the living dead, there’s a company that offers a guaranteed zombie early-warning system.
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/ 25 September 2002
They’re small, full of fluid, and need to be constantly fiddled with and looked after in order for them to work. No, I’m not talking about the collective brains of the ANC’s propaganda tool known as the ‘official press corps’, but rather the ongoing maintenance required to run a Zippo.
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/ 25 September 2002
So you’ve had a wild and thoroughly debauched festive season, and now the dust has settled, you realise you shouldn’t have sold your soul to that nice gentleman one night. Luckily you can buy it back, go to the Soul Repurchase Program. Instead of doing deals with demons, just Learn To Dance properly.
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/ 25 September 2002
So it’s not likely, but one day you might find yourself facing a shark, or be trapped in quicksand, or stuck in an aeroplane with a pilot who’s just died at the controls. Luckily for you, you took the time out to read through the expert solutions to these and other life-threatening situations.
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/ 25 September 2002
Those of you who follow the news will have noticed that a European government resigned en masse recently, after being implicated in accidentally helping a massacre take place. Take a look at an online examination of what happened on The Road to Srebenica.
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/ 25 September 2002
So you thought your computer was really powerful. How about a computer the size of two basketball courts, powered by over 8 000 microprocessors and using around 6 trillion bytes of memory? For info on the number one fastest computer in the world shuffle jealously towards The Top 500 Most Powerful Computers.
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/ 25 September 2002
Some of you will have noticed the recent blowing up of a stranded whale on the coast — ‘whale put to sleep using dynamite’ sounds like the start of a rather tasteless comedy sketch routine — but anyway. Point being, instead of exploding the whale, there was another alternative.
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/ 25 September 2002
What could be cooler than having dolls for the kids to play with? Why, having cute little Osama bin Laden dolls of course! Each doll is packed with a semi-automatic rifle, and a grenade. It’s real and it’s happy tasteless capitalism in action folks. Go stare at ‘Dirty Terrorist’ Dolls.
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/ 25 September 2002
Still waiting for someone to lay criminal manslaughter charges against our President for his stance on HIV-AIDS – seeing as some might say he’s directly and indirectly causing more deaths than Apartheid ever did? Come on all you vengeful lawyers, put your tongue firmly in your cheek.
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/ 25 September 2002
The Star Wars franchise lumbers on, and the next installment is not too far off from being released. So keep an eye on this next site, which features behind the scenes gossip and info from the high-security film set of <i>Star Wars Episode Two</i>.
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/ 25 September 2002
Well it’s been another of those weeks. Some bimbo from hell in the government wants the press to be held accountable in case "a journalist writes something which causes the fall of the Rand". Let me be the first to test this, by saying the rand is toilet paper anyway, so who cares.
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/ 25 September 2002
As a change to watching slaughter in the Middle East and getting far too serious about all that tacky irritating human suffering, the tone, this week, is light and fluffy (could this be the first column to compare itself to a decent French pastry?)