The New World is a beautiful movie. Unfortunately, that is the only good thing that can be said about the movie (although the music wasn't bad). It is extremely long (ok not as long as King Kong), has a very simple plot, almost no conversation and is extremely boring. In fact, Carl confesses to have fallen asleep during the movie. The movie is basically the story of Pocahontas, so if you are really keen on knowing the story (white man comes to America in 1500's, meets a native american princess, fall in love etc), you are better off watching the Disney movie.
Interestingly enough, there is a shorter version (by about 20 minutes) available ... why on earth was the extended version not released as a DVD? All said however, its cinematography is top class ... but I cannot really recommend it as a movie.
13 March 2006
03 March 2006
The Big DRM Mistake?
In his column, Scott Granneman calls DRM a mistake; mainly because of its many current shortcomings and also because of the restrictions posed by DRM to consumers. In my opinion, that is not the big mistake about DRM - the mistake is how badly DRM has essentially been marketed, including its vilification in the GPL 3 draft.
Fundamentally, DRM is a about persistent access control - it is a term for a set of technologies that allow for data to be protected beyond the file system of the original machine. Thus, for example, the read/write/execute access control on most *nix file systems will not only be applicable to the original machine but to all machines. DRM is not perfect yet - that is the reason it is still an active research area; but a claim like "it will never be perfect" should not be a reason to investigate and prove that such a claim is false.
And most of the problems with DRM is not about technological failure - but a failure of communication and bad marketing. Granted The SONY-BMG saga was about technological failure - because fundamentally it was bad technology. But it was also about a miscommunication - customers should be told that they are buying a DRM enabled CD. Similarly, my criticisms on Vodafonelive (which I made to the INDICARE Workshop in Budapest this year, and in a law paper I co-wrote with Thomas Bechle last year) are based on the failure of Vodafone to make the consumer aware.
And fundamentally - many of the fair use issues are not a matter of given right. Just because a traditional CD allows me to give to a friend should not imply that any future format will allow me the same freedoms. Fundamentally, DRM enabled CDs are not the same thing as non DRM enabled CDs and should be labeled as such. It is like selling a German book sealed in an English cover without warning that the contents are in German. It is a case of bad trade practices and bad communication - and if consumers don't like the restrictions, they shouldn't buy it, but they need to be given the choice.
At the end of the day I believe that DRM does have a place - it can be used to protect sensitive data that needs to be highly regulated - for example, your health records. trying to advocate the DRM should not be researched because of possible misuse is just plain wrong.
Fundamentally, DRM is a about persistent access control - it is a term for a set of technologies that allow for data to be protected beyond the file system of the original machine. Thus, for example, the read/write/execute access control on most *nix file systems will not only be applicable to the original machine but to all machines. DRM is not perfect yet - that is the reason it is still an active research area; but a claim like "it will never be perfect" should not be a reason to investigate and prove that such a claim is false.
And most of the problems with DRM is not about technological failure - but a failure of communication and bad marketing. Granted The SONY-BMG saga was about technological failure - because fundamentally it was bad technology. But it was also about a miscommunication - customers should be told that they are buying a DRM enabled CD. Similarly, my criticisms on Vodafonelive (which I made to the INDICARE Workshop in Budapest this year, and in a law paper I co-wrote with Thomas Bechle last year) are based on the failure of Vodafone to make the consumer aware.
And fundamentally - many of the fair use issues are not a matter of given right. Just because a traditional CD allows me to give to a friend should not imply that any future format will allow me the same freedoms. Fundamentally, DRM enabled CDs are not the same thing as non DRM enabled CDs and should be labeled as such. It is like selling a German book sealed in an English cover without warning that the contents are in German. It is a case of bad trade practices and bad communication - and if consumers don't like the restrictions, they shouldn't buy it, but they need to be given the choice.
At the end of the day I believe that DRM does have a place - it can be used to protect sensitive data that needs to be highly regulated - for example, your health records. trying to advocate the DRM should not be researched because of possible misuse is just plain wrong.
Movie: The Matador
Ok, Pierce Brosman is known as an ok actor - great as a James Bond or a jewel/art thief but not really someone who can really play a totally of the wall character. His portal in the Matador is, as a reviewer on IMDB put it, "coming out party for Pierce Brosnan the actor".
The story is about a hitman, Julien Noble (or as he describes himself, a facilitator) and his life with no connections to people or places and his meeting with a small time businessman trying to make the deal of his life. It is a comedy, but the humor is very twisted - not really dark - but not exactly the normal mushy romantic comedy stuff. And the movie is not very politically correct either - after all it is a movie about a hitman.
Highly enjoyable, and although I doubt Pierce Brosman will win the Oscar - it is a definitely a well deserved nomination. Oh, just as an example of how politically incorrect and twisted the humor can be; just have a look at the quotes page on IMDB.
The story is about a hitman, Julien Noble (or as he describes himself, a facilitator) and his life with no connections to people or places and his meeting with a small time businessman trying to make the deal of his life. It is a comedy, but the humor is very twisted - not really dark - but not exactly the normal mushy romantic comedy stuff. And the movie is not very politically correct either - after all it is a movie about a hitman.
Highly enjoyable, and although I doubt Pierce Brosman will win the Oscar - it is a definitely a well deserved nomination. Oh, just as an example of how politically incorrect and twisted the humor can be; just have a look at the quotes page on IMDB.
Movie: Walk the Line
For the most part, I do not really like country music ... except when it comes to Johnny Cash ... I even own an album of his! To be honest, I first heard Johnny Cash when Barney Simon played a number of songs after his death ... and I was intrigued, because it was not like anything I had heard before. I also like his song "Satisfied Mind" on the Kill Bill soundtrack.
The movie, now known for its number of awards (or nominations) is the story of his life before he married his second wife June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). Like Ray last year, it was a celebration of a musician's life and how the artist overcomes their various obstacles. Like Ray, a large part of the film is devoted to substance abuse, and how Johnny Cash overcomes his "pills" and "alcohol" addiction and takes control of his life once again.
The acting performances are really outstanding in this movie and convincing. It is well worth watching and maybe you will also go buy a Johnny Cash album, just to hear Folsom Prison Blue ...
The movie, now known for its number of awards (or nominations) is the story of his life before he married his second wife June Carter (Reese Witherspoon). Like Ray last year, it was a celebration of a musician's life and how the artist overcomes their various obstacles. Like Ray, a large part of the film is devoted to substance abuse, and how Johnny Cash overcomes his "pills" and "alcohol" addiction and takes control of his life once again.
The acting performances are really outstanding in this movie and convincing. It is well worth watching and maybe you will also go buy a Johnny Cash album, just to hear Folsom Prison Blue ...
Movie: Derailed
This is not a movie I would normally go to watch - seemingly a romantic comedy/thriller starring Clive Owen and Jennifer Aniston. At its core, it is a story about an affair, followed by blackmail, and then how Clive Owen's character comes to deal with the blackmail. It was very predictable to be honest - I have just read too many real news stories with a similar plotline (to start off with anyway). But, it was well acted, had good character development and was, as my flatmate would put it, a good effort. Nothing spectacular, but a good effort.
24 February 2006
Who Broke Up AT&T
As some of you know, lat year, I participated in an electronic law course given by Prof Julien Hofman. That was essentially e-Law 1. Anyway, yesterday afternoon, I wanted to talk to Prof. Hofman on a separate issue regarding contract law, and ended up participating in his e-Law 2 class. The class is very different to most courses offered at UCT (well it is a MLB/MPhil level course) where the students are going to tackle a specific part of electronic law and deliver a report of approximately 150 page (this can then later be used as their minor dissertation). This report will also be condensed down to approximately 30 pages, and all the summaries will be combined to create a book on the electronic law landscape in South Africa. While I do not have the time to participate in this process, I am still invited to attend the seminars etc. making up the class.
Anyway, yesterday afternoon, the lecture was given by a Mr Ray G Besing (pronounced Bee-sing), who was introduced as a US lawyer and author of the book "Who Broke Up AT&T". He gave a very interesting lecture on monopolies, the legal and the economics, with particular focus on Telecom monopolies - esp considering that telecommunications have become a cornerstone in modern life. His comparisons to the price of Telkom rates to other countries was not new, but he stressed that it is up to the public to force monopolies to lower prices, because ultimately, regulatory bodies like ICASA have a mandate to serve to public. The major part of his lecture revolved around the breakup of the AT&T monopoly, a case he is familiar with simply because he was the lead lawyer in two of the three major cases involving AT&T and their breakup.
Prof Hofman and Mr Besing intend to run a course on telecoms law - a course that could be very interesting and should be relevant to many people in South Africa ...
Anyway, yesterday afternoon, the lecture was given by a Mr Ray G Besing (pronounced Bee-sing), who was introduced as a US lawyer and author of the book "Who Broke Up AT&T". He gave a very interesting lecture on monopolies, the legal and the economics, with particular focus on Telecom monopolies - esp considering that telecommunications have become a cornerstone in modern life. His comparisons to the price of Telkom rates to other countries was not new, but he stressed that it is up to the public to force monopolies to lower prices, because ultimately, regulatory bodies like ICASA have a mandate to serve to public. The major part of his lecture revolved around the breakup of the AT&T monopoly, a case he is familiar with simply because he was the lead lawyer in two of the three major cases involving AT&T and their breakup.
Prof Hofman and Mr Besing intend to run a course on telecoms law - a course that could be very interesting and should be relevant to many people in South Africa ...
22 February 2006
Powercuts
Since Sunday morning, the Western Cape has been experiencing powercuts - primarily because of a breakdown of a turbine at the Koeberg Nuclear power plant, but also due to other capacity issues. Off course, Eskom has been warning of the potential problems for years - and has been proposing a new nuclear power plant for the last 5 or so years to alleviate some of these issues, but no would listen. What is really ironic off course, is that the turbine was due for scheduled maintenance next week, and the Monday Paper (UCT run newspaper) actually has an article encouraging energy conservation to alleviate power problems.
Anyway, I meant to phlog about my birthday braai held on Saturday, hours before the start of the blackouts - but lack of power has meant a lack of network availability, which has also implied a very slow network once it is back up ... so I will not waste precious bandwidth on such frivolity ;)
Anyway, I meant to phlog about my birthday braai held on Saturday, hours before the start of the blackouts - but lack of power has meant a lack of network availability, which has also implied a very slow network once it is back up ... so I will not waste precious bandwidth on such frivolity ;)
16 February 2006
Identity
From a suggestion I made in Carl's blog, this post is a mind dump, a rant, bitching, moaning ... whatever the term is. I am not even sure that my post makes any sense. You are forewarned. However, I can assure you, unlike Carl's posts, my post has no romantic traumas ;) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Identity is a problem I have grappled with for a long time in my research. After all, what exactly is a user of a DRM system? And for that matter, what exactly is being protected? And what about the rules - how does the rules match up to the users, and the data? The problem is, identity itself is a very difficult concept to define, even when restricting itself to the digital realm. Even RFC 2828, the security glossary (which has become my de-facto second dictionary) does not give an adequate definition.
So, in a recent paper attempt (attempt because the paper was ultimately rejected), I had to fall back on the Oxford English Dictionary to define the term identity, which states:
Colloquially, identity is simply - who are you? But as discussed in Sophie's Choice, it is a very difficult question to answer. If identity seeks to define who or what something is, it becomes very difficult to pin down. Does identity then depend on the person's cultural heritage? moral compass? their geography? their political compass?
I first started thinking about this while leaving Cape Town International Airport for my trip to Budapest. The passport controller looked at me very strangely, and then asked rather curiously why I have a South African passport. It was not because I am of Indian origin, but rather because I was born in Nigeria? In fact, many times on overseas conferences, I have been asked how come an Indian guy carries a South African passport - a question I think many of my South African Indian friends could find offensive. I have found the idea of granting nationality purely on the basis of where a person is born to be rather stupid -- after all what does that have anything to do with it? So I qualify for a Nigerian passport because I was born there?
As for cultural identity - it is a difficult question for me. I have been brought up by fairly devout Hindu parents, and my broader family were once very devout Hindus - but then most Indians in India are rather devout. But many of my values differ greatly from my parents (and even greater difference to my other relatives in India). But much of my identity is not South African per se, as much of my beliefs etc. have been from my own extensive readings in all sorts of things. Although, I have spent about half my life in South Africa, I have also spent large amount of time in other countries.
This brings me back to my original question - what is identity? At the end of the day, does identity really matter? If a fingerprint, or iris scan represents an almost unique (identical twins problem) reference to a person, shouldn't that be enough to define what identity is? Why bring in other aspects to muddy the waters?
Identity is a problem I have grappled with for a long time in my research. After all, what exactly is a user of a DRM system? And for that matter, what exactly is being protected? And what about the rules - how does the rules match up to the users, and the data? The problem is, identity itself is a very difficult concept to define, even when restricting itself to the digital realm. Even RFC 2828, the security glossary (which has become my de-facto second dictionary) does not give an adequate definition.
So, in a recent paper attempt (attempt because the paper was ultimately rejected), I had to fall back on the Oxford English Dictionary to define the term identity, which states:
1. a. The quality or condition of being the same in substance, composition, nature, properties, or in particular qualities under consideration; absolute or essential sameness; oneness.
absolute identity, that asserted in the metaphysical doctrine of Schelling that mind and matter are phenomenal modifications of the same substance.
b. with an and pl. An instance of this quality.
2. a. The sameness of a person or thing at all times or in all circumstances; the condition or fact that a person or thing is itself and not something else; individuality, personality.
personal identity (in Psychology), the condition or fact of remaining the same person throughout the various phases of existence; continuity of the personality.
b. Personal or individual existence. rare. ?Obs.
10. c. Belonging or relating to identity (sense 2), as in identity crisis, a phase of varying severity undergone by an individual in his need to establish his identity in relation to his associates and society as part of the process of maturing. Also transf.
Colloquially, identity is simply - who are you? But as discussed in Sophie's Choice, it is a very difficult question to answer. If identity seeks to define who or what something is, it becomes very difficult to pin down. Does identity then depend on the person's cultural heritage? moral compass? their geography? their political compass?
I first started thinking about this while leaving Cape Town International Airport for my trip to Budapest. The passport controller looked at me very strangely, and then asked rather curiously why I have a South African passport. It was not because I am of Indian origin, but rather because I was born in Nigeria? In fact, many times on overseas conferences, I have been asked how come an Indian guy carries a South African passport - a question I think many of my South African Indian friends could find offensive. I have found the idea of granting nationality purely on the basis of where a person is born to be rather stupid -- after all what does that have anything to do with it? So I qualify for a Nigerian passport because I was born there?
As for cultural identity - it is a difficult question for me. I have been brought up by fairly devout Hindu parents, and my broader family were once very devout Hindus - but then most Indians in India are rather devout. But many of my values differ greatly from my parents (and even greater difference to my other relatives in India). But much of my identity is not South African per se, as much of my beliefs etc. have been from my own extensive readings in all sorts of things. Although, I have spent about half my life in South Africa, I have also spent large amount of time in other countries.
This brings me back to my original question - what is identity? At the end of the day, does identity really matter? If a fingerprint, or iris scan represents an almost unique (identical twins problem) reference to a person, shouldn't that be enough to define what identity is? Why bring in other aspects to muddy the waters?
15 February 2006
Movie: Tsotsi
This is a movie I have been waiting for, ever since I saw the trailer about 10 months back. The trailer came with a tag line something along the lines of: "You can't choose how you come into this world, you can't choose how you leave this world, but you choose how you live in this world.", and is a very apt description of the story.
The movie is sad - it is sad to see how Tsotsi (gangster) becomes who he is. It wasn't his choice. It is also funny how the Tsotsi interacts with the baby at first. At its core, it's a movie about hope, hope that maybe it is possible to escape the cycle of poverty and crime. It is by far the best South African movie I have ever seen and has one the best movie sound tracks ever. It also shows that it is possible to create a South African movie without relying on big name stars. The authenticity of the accents, the settings, the actions make it a very believable and engaging story, something that is missing from other recent South African movies like Drum.
Like Yesterday, the movie also steers clear of apartheid. It is a story about modern South Africa and the challenges facing us today. The past should not be forgotten, but it is also worthwhile in examining the present.
The movie is sad - it is sad to see how Tsotsi (gangster) becomes who he is. It wasn't his choice. It is also funny how the Tsotsi interacts with the baby at first. At its core, it's a movie about hope, hope that maybe it is possible to escape the cycle of poverty and crime. It is by far the best South African movie I have ever seen and has one the best movie sound tracks ever. It also shows that it is possible to create a South African movie without relying on big name stars. The authenticity of the accents, the settings, the actions make it a very believable and engaging story, something that is missing from other recent South African movies like Drum.
Like Yesterday, the movie also steers clear of apartheid. It is a story about modern South Africa and the challenges facing us today. The past should not be forgotten, but it is also worthwhile in examining the present.
Movie: On The Waterfront
It is regarded as one of the best movies ever made, and stars a very young Marlon Brando as a dock worker cum thug for the local waterfront union (which control the offloading, loading of ships in the harbour and is thus more like the mafia). It is a love story, it is a story about worker's rights and it is a story about the law succeeding in breaking a crime ring.
What has always impressed me about many old movies is how much these movies depend on acting, and story telling; as opposed to special effects. I am not sure if this kind of a movie would succeed in the modern times, but if you get hold of the DVD, it is well worth watching.
What has always impressed me about many old movies is how much these movies depend on acting, and story telling; as opposed to special effects. I am not sure if this kind of a movie would succeed in the modern times, but if you get hold of the DVD, it is well worth watching.
Movie: Titus
Looks like SABC 3 is having a Shakespeare month and screening quite a few movies of the great bard's plays. This is the only one I have watched so far (while I was still in Durban). I later read up in a Shapespeare Companion book at Exclusive Books that Titus Andronicus is his bloodiest play, his first tragedy and is one of the least performed plays because of some of its content.
In many ways, this is a very a weird adaptation of William Shakespeare's Roman tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Unlike Romeo+Juliet, it's not completely modern and features horses and swords alongside motorbikes and loudspeakers. In many ways, the movie environment is similar to post apocalyptic worlds like Mad Max.
The play itself is twisted - featuring a sadistic woman hell bent on getting revenge, an equally savage general (Titus Andronicus played by Anthony Hopkins), cannibalism and some really twisted torture - all wrapped in a very interesting story. It's unlike any other Shakespeare play I have ever seen (or read) and features very little in terms of a morality tales of good overcoming evil and is almost hellbent on focusing on the power plays between characters who can be called twisted at best. Very enjoyable - if only because I enjoy such twisted tales - the bard really knew how to spin a tale.
In many ways, this is a very a weird adaptation of William Shakespeare's Roman tragedy, Titus Andronicus. Unlike Romeo+Juliet, it's not completely modern and features horses and swords alongside motorbikes and loudspeakers. In many ways, the movie environment is similar to post apocalyptic worlds like Mad Max.
The play itself is twisted - featuring a sadistic woman hell bent on getting revenge, an equally savage general (Titus Andronicus played by Anthony Hopkins), cannibalism and some really twisted torture - all wrapped in a very interesting story. It's unlike any other Shakespeare play I have ever seen (or read) and features very little in terms of a morality tales of good overcoming evil and is almost hellbent on focusing on the power plays between characters who can be called twisted at best. Very enjoyable - if only because I enjoy such twisted tales - the bard really knew how to spin a tale.
Movie: Munich
Steven Spielberg's movie has come under a lot of criticism - from both the Israelis (because the movie gives Mossad a bad name) and the Palestinians (because some incidents like the killing of an inocent palestinian by the Mossad squad) were left out of the story. The movie is about the story of a Mossad squad sent to assasinate various Palestinians who were involved in the murder of 11 athletes during the 1972 Olympic games.
Like most Spielberg movies, it is about the people - and how the people react to the situation and how they change as people. In many ways, the movie questions the validity of the past Israeili approach of fighting fire with fire, and questions whether Israel is still true to the original tenets of its creation. Like Paradise Now Munich has tried to be unbiased, as much as possible.
However, unlike Paradise Now, Munich is a very dark movie. It is a movie that everybody should (and probably must) watch - but it is not a movie that can really be enjoyed. Like Paradise Now, it is a movie that needs to be absorbed, and maybe we will all live happily ever after.
Like most Spielberg movies, it is about the people - and how the people react to the situation and how they change as people. In many ways, the movie questions the validity of the past Israeili approach of fighting fire with fire, and questions whether Israel is still true to the original tenets of its creation. Like Paradise Now Munich has tried to be unbiased, as much as possible.
However, unlike Paradise Now, Munich is a very dark movie. It is a movie that everybody should (and probably must) watch - but it is not a movie that can really be enjoyed. Like Paradise Now, it is a movie that needs to be absorbed, and maybe we will all live happily ever after.
Movie: 40 Year old virgin
Like Ilan, this was also a movie I watched on the plane back from London (on my Hungary trip). The plot is simple, and I generally don't like watching romantic comedies - but this was hilarious. Incidentally, this movie was a sleeper hit - and many people did not expect it to do so well at the box office.
Movie: The Constant Gardener
Based on the John le Carré novel, the movie explores a conspiracy involving drug testing in the third world and how the western governments (where the HQ of the companies are) not only know the details of these drug tests, but are also active players in helping them set up and covering up when human rights groups try to investigate.
It is a dark story, although highly enjoyable movie and was great viewing on the flight back from London (yes this post is very late)
It is a dark story, although highly enjoyable movie and was great viewing on the flight back from London (yes this post is very late)
Movie: Paradise Now
This is a very interesting movie - because even though the fundamental theme of the movie is about the politics in the Middle East, it is a movie that does not try to push any particular political message. At its core, it's a movie about suicide bombers, on why ordinary palestinians are willing to sacrifice themselves, without any aparent rewards, including the famed 72 virgins in heaven.
The movie is also interesting because, it pushes the idea, that there are Israelli jews, who accept money to transport the suicide bombers around Israel knowing very well that these guys will blow up their country men. This in itself adds to the complexity of the all ready volatile middle east politics. With the rise of Hamas in Palestine, this movie is even more relevant to today's world. If nothing else, the movie can serve as a balance to tell the other side of the story with regards to suicide bombers, which are (almost) always reported as terrorist attacks.
The movie is also interesting because, it pushes the idea, that there are Israelli jews, who accept money to transport the suicide bombers around Israel knowing very well that these guys will blow up their country men. This in itself adds to the complexity of the all ready volatile middle east politics. With the rise of Hamas in Palestine, this movie is even more relevant to today's world. If nothing else, the movie can serve as a balance to tell the other side of the story with regards to suicide bombers, which are (almost) always reported as terrorist attacks.
30 January 2006
Reflections: A1GP Durban (sorry not a phlog)
This was my third major motorsport event, and there are quite a lot of parallels between F1 and A1GP events. I was very impreswsed with the programme, which included a supercar race, a cart race and a VW POLO race - maybe not comparable to historic car races, GP 2 etc - but still very enjoyable. As for A1 itself, it is less noisier (but still damn loud) and is slower, but was damn enjoyable none the less.
The event was also very well organised - but there are always some problems. Firstly, and the most serious was the lack of PA systems in many parts of the track, esp by the general admission areas. Lack of PA systems not only imply a lack of communication but could also be a serious safety hazard. If you watched the race, you will know that the race started quite late - and one of the reasons was the proximity of some general admission ticket holders being too close to the track - a problem that could have been easily solved if there was adequate information!
Less of a concern was the lack of TV screens - something that definitely lessened the enjoyment of the race. Other things like the centralisation of many facilities and lack of maps (where are the best gates?) also need to be improved.
But I am looking forward to the race next year, and maybe I will take up a room at the Blue Waters hotel - it was R3000 this year, but surely I can get it cheaper by booking earlier. Anyone wants to join me and chip in?
The event was also very well organised - but there are always some problems. Firstly, and the most serious was the lack of PA systems in many parts of the track, esp by the general admission areas. Lack of PA systems not only imply a lack of communication but could also be a serious safety hazard. If you watched the race, you will know that the race started quite late - and one of the reasons was the proximity of some general admission ticket holders being too close to the track - a problem that could have been easily solved if there was adequate information!
Less of a concern was the lack of TV screens - something that definitely lessened the enjoyment of the race. Other things like the centralisation of many facilities and lack of maps (where are the best gates?) also need to be improved.
But I am looking forward to the race next year, and maybe I will take up a room at the Blue Waters hotel - it was R3000 this year, but surely I can get it cheaper by booking earlier. Anyone wants to join me and chip in?
25 January 2006
South African football Passion
South African football fans have a lot of passion. That has never been in doubt. But whether the players on the field have passion for what they are doing is a different matter all together. I watched most of the match Bafana Bafana - Guniea match in my hotel room (Eurosport has great coverage of the African Nations Cup) and the performance was demoralising. Most of the players just didn't seem interested - esp the big name players like McCarthy and Vilakazi. And to top it off, they played really bad football, constantly loosing possession and having very few shots on goal (I don't think a single shot actually came close to going in).
At this rate - it will be an embarrassment in 2010. What SA needs is not more big name players - but players who want to be on the field - players who are disciplined to devote time to their performance - like Zim, who even against all the odds against Senegal (albeit helped by some poor finishing from the Senagalese) kept the scoreline at 0-0 for over60 minutes and even though they lost, I think they had more chances of scoring in one half than SA did in the entire match!
At this rate - it will be an embarrassment in 2010. What SA needs is not more big name players - but players who want to be on the field - players who are disciplined to devote time to their performance - like Zim, who even against all the odds against Senegal (albeit helped by some poor finishing from the Senagalese) kept the scoreline at 0-0 for over60 minutes and even though they lost, I think they had more chances of scoring in one half than SA did in the entire match!
22 January 2006
Budapest Phlog (part 1?)
The first picture of Budapest is a bit misleading - Budapest is really a very beautiful city, a very cultural city - and the title of "Pearl of the Danube" is very apt. It is especially beautiful at night and I am somewhat disappointed that the cold nights have somewhat curtailed my night time explorations. The cold has also meant that taking photos at night is almost impossible as playing around with the camera settings while wearing gloves is difficult at best. So with apologies to Ilan (who has probably trademarked "phlog" by now) I present you my phlog of Budapest - with some commentary after most pictures.
Friday morning, I found out that one of the workshop attendees, Martin Springer was planning on visiting a few sites around Budapest before flying back. So I decided to join him - and it turned out quite interesting towards the end.
We started off at the "Millennium Palace of Arts" - a large complex of theatres, opera halls and the Ludwig Museum of Modern Art. In most cases, modern art does not really do anything for me as I find most of it a load of pretentious bullshit - but there are some pieces that does make one think - like the stuffed pig watching a TV show featuring the butchering of a pig, or the anti apartheid piece featuring the Durban July. There were a few Picassos (didn't think they were great) and a few Warhols (found them better than the Picassos but still nothing great) but my favorite was the work titled "Play it by Trust".
We then went to visit the Hungarian parliament - one of the most impressive buildings in Budapest (via a few detours). The interior is amazing featuring gold plated artwork and one of the oldest surviving crown jewels.
We had a light lunch at the the central market - one of the old style markets - and then while walking back to the hotel, we came across the district headquarters of the socialist party - the remnants of the communist party that once ruled Hungary. We were invited inside by the office manager (who happened to be outside) and we found a few old men playing cards ... a far cry from the old days I think. After Martin left for the airport - I decided to try out one of the many thermal baths in Budapest (and a 70 degree sauna). While it was an interesting experience, I can't really say it was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced.
Budapest at night - Parliament on the left.
Woke up to snow on Saturday morning - ironically the warmest day so far at 6 degrees during the day! Went on a city tour courtesy of the workshop organisers in the morning.
Heroes square - celebrating 1000 years of the Hungarian nation.
The largest open air ice rink in Europe - after my experience in NY, didn't even consider trying out again.
Anonymous - yes that's his name
St. Peters Basilica - the most beautiful church I have visited - even if you consider the Notre Dame and the Sacre Coeur
View from the Fisherman's Bastion - one of the towers of the old Buda walls.
A mythical bird that guided the Hungarian tribes from the Ural mountains
Sculpture fountain at the Buda castle
Philosopher's Garden featuring 8 philosophers including Jesus, Budha, Mahatma Gandhi amongst others
Buda (left) and Pest (right) from the Philosopher's Garden
The statue park - one of the most interesting concepts in Budapest - a good collection of Soviet era statues including Lenin, Stalin and Marx.
Freedom Statue towers over Buda from the Citadel - an old fortress.
Statue of St. Gellert faces the Elizabeth bridge - one of the most impressive bridges over the Danube. Features a natural waterfall below the statue.
Hibernating bat in a cave. The bat is about 6 cm in length.
The only known occurrence of green stalactite
Snowing outside the cave
Friday morning, I found out that one of the workshop attendees, Martin Springer was planning on visiting a few sites around Budapest before flying back. So I decided to join him - and it turned out quite interesting towards the end.
We started off at the "Millennium Palace of Arts" - a large complex of theatres, opera halls and the Ludwig Museum of Modern Art. In most cases, modern art does not really do anything for me as I find most of it a load of pretentious bullshit - but there are some pieces that does make one think - like the stuffed pig watching a TV show featuring the butchering of a pig, or the anti apartheid piece featuring the Durban July. There were a few Picassos (didn't think they were great) and a few Warhols (found them better than the Picassos but still nothing great) but my favorite was the work titled "Play it by Trust".
We then went to visit the Hungarian parliament - one of the most impressive buildings in Budapest (via a few detours). The interior is amazing featuring gold plated artwork and one of the oldest surviving crown jewels.
We had a light lunch at the the central market - one of the old style markets - and then while walking back to the hotel, we came across the district headquarters of the socialist party - the remnants of the communist party that once ruled Hungary. We were invited inside by the office manager (who happened to be outside) and we found a few old men playing cards ... a far cry from the old days I think. After Martin left for the airport - I decided to try out one of the many thermal baths in Budapest (and a 70 degree sauna). While it was an interesting experience, I can't really say it was the most amazing thing I have ever experienced.
Budapest at night - Parliament on the left.
Woke up to snow on Saturday morning - ironically the warmest day so far at 6 degrees during the day! Went on a city tour courtesy of the workshop organisers in the morning.
Heroes square - celebrating 1000 years of the Hungarian nation.
The largest open air ice rink in Europe - after my experience in NY, didn't even consider trying out again.
Anonymous - yes that's his name
St. Peters Basilica - the most beautiful church I have visited - even if you consider the Notre Dame and the Sacre Coeur
View from the Fisherman's Bastion - one of the towers of the old Buda walls.
A mythical bird that guided the Hungarian tribes from the Ural mountains
Sculpture fountain at the Buda castle
Philosopher's Garden featuring 8 philosophers including Jesus, Budha, Mahatma Gandhi amongst others
Buda (left) and Pest (right) from the Philosopher's Garden
The statue park - one of the most interesting concepts in Budapest - a good collection of Soviet era statues including Lenin, Stalin and Marx.
Freedom Statue towers over Buda from the Citadel - an old fortress.
Statue of St. Gellert faces the Elizabeth bridge - one of the most impressive bridges over the Danube. Features a natural waterfall below the statue.
Hibernating bat in a cave. The bat is about 6 cm in length.
The only known occurrence of green stalactite
Snowing outside the cave
20 January 2006
5th INDICARE Workshop
So yesterday, I was the first speaker at the 5th Indicare workshop. Unlike the other workshops/conferences I have been to - this was a different experience; and was quite refreshing in some ways. This was not an academic conference but was much more of an interaction session between academics, industry, consumer organisations and specialist groups. The format was a bit similar to panel discussions - 2 or 3 presenters gave a 20-30 minute presentation which was then followed by a panel discussion of about 15 minutes.
But the best part was the interaction with the consumer organisations and specialist groups - interaction that is not present at academic conferences. For example, there were two presentations from blind associations (one from Hungary, another from England). In most cases, software developers completely ignore disabled people during their designs - and even though computers can help empower the disabled and let them overcome much of their disabilities, much of the software lets them down. A very positive feedback in this regard, is that one of my key contributions to the field - negotiations - can be an effective solution to much of the problems posed by accessibility.
I also had a chance to talk to Martin Springer from DMP - a sort of rival project to my PhD project. We had some very long chats, and on many different aspects of DRM and computer security in general - I think this was probably the most useful part of the trip.
So a valuable trip overall - and many thanks to INDICARE for inviting me and for funding the trip!
But the best part was the interaction with the consumer organisations and specialist groups - interaction that is not present at academic conferences. For example, there were two presentations from blind associations (one from Hungary, another from England). In most cases, software developers completely ignore disabled people during their designs - and even though computers can help empower the disabled and let them overcome much of their disabilities, much of the software lets them down. A very positive feedback in this regard, is that one of my key contributions to the field - negotiations - can be an effective solution to much of the problems posed by accessibility.
I also had a chance to talk to Martin Springer from DMP - a sort of rival project to my PhD project. We had some very long chats, and on many different aspects of DRM and computer security in general - I think this was probably the most useful part of the trip.
So a valuable trip overall - and many thanks to INDICARE for inviting me and for funding the trip!
18 January 2006
First Thoughts: Budapest
Greetings from a cold Budapest, where the outside temparature is about 2 degrees Celcius. Budapest lies almost directly northwards of Cape Town, but due to the lack of a direct flight, I had to take a detour through a surprisingly warm London (was about 9 degrees at 6am ... substantially warmer than the last time I was there in November when it was about 1 degree at noon).
On first impressions, Budapest has a strange mix of modern, ancient and the really ugly (most possibly soviet era) buildings all seemingly next to each other. The picture is the view from my hotel room, showing one of the many bridges across the Duna river, and some of the older parts of Budapest. Anyway, I am off to explore around the hotel, and check out the distance to the conference venue.
On first impressions, Budapest has a strange mix of modern, ancient and the really ugly (most possibly soviet era) buildings all seemingly next to each other. The picture is the view from my hotel room, showing one of the many bridges across the Duna river, and some of the older parts of Budapest. Anyway, I am off to explore around the hotel, and check out the distance to the conference venue.
17 January 2006
Gravy Planes
So there has been a huge outcry over the expense of Deputy President Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka's holiday. While I do think, that the expenses touted are high, and is a waste of taxpayer money - I do see another side.
Because she is the Deputy President, it can be expected that her security entourage (for herself and her family) would need to travel with her - and she is not responsible to pay for their expenses. Flying such a large group of people in Business Class (if not First Class) to Abu-Dhabi is an expensive deal; and considering the time of the year, I wonder whether they would have even got seats! So, a private jet would seem to be ideal - esp as, she would be expected to travel back from holiday should there be an emergency. Thus the expense of a private jet and the bodyguards should not be in question - but rather, whether the taxpayer should pay for "her" portion of the holiday. Considering that she earns quite a bit, (as does her husband), I think it would be reasonable for her to pay her portion of the expenses - not for the bodyguards etc - but just for her family and guests.
It is interesting to see, as always, that the debate around the issue has been on the two extremes - she should pay for all of it (from the opposition camp and Phumzile detractors) and she shouldn't pay for any of it (from the government) ... what ever happened to compromise?
Because she is the Deputy President, it can be expected that her security entourage (for herself and her family) would need to travel with her - and she is not responsible to pay for their expenses. Flying such a large group of people in Business Class (if not First Class) to Abu-Dhabi is an expensive deal; and considering the time of the year, I wonder whether they would have even got seats! So, a private jet would seem to be ideal - esp as, she would be expected to travel back from holiday should there be an emergency. Thus the expense of a private jet and the bodyguards should not be in question - but rather, whether the taxpayer should pay for "her" portion of the holiday. Considering that she earns quite a bit, (as does her husband), I think it would be reasonable for her to pay her portion of the expenses - not for the bodyguards etc - but just for her family and guests.
It is interesting to see, as always, that the debate around the issue has been on the two extremes - she should pay for all of it (from the opposition camp and Phumzile detractors) and she shouldn't pay for any of it (from the government) ... what ever happened to compromise?
15 January 2006
Hungarian Phrasebooks and Rejections
It's sort of bittersweet - on one hand I am leaving for Hungary on Tuesday evening to attend the 5th INDICARE Workshop, where I am incidentally the first presenter. I am also getting to spend a few nights in Budapest, and I have heard from many people that it's a very interesting city to visit. So my thanks must go to INDICARE for organising and paying for the trip - very much appreciated - and I hope my presentation is useful to the workshop.
The first thoughts that ran through my mind when I did get the invitation was the classic Monty-Python skit. The Hungarian language is not related to any of the Latin languages, so communication might be very difficult - as even the simple words are so different. Hopefully, my list of common words (greetings, yes/no, numbers, directions etc) in my European guidebook (which has been remarkably useful for the past year) does not suffer the same fate as the guidebooks in the skit.
As for the depressing news - I just found out that the two papers I submitted to IFIP-Sec in Sweden were rejected. However they both come with more than 6 pages of comments, so hopefully I can re-edit the papers and submit it somewhere else and get them published.
The first thoughts that ran through my mind when I did get the invitation was the classic Monty-Python skit. The Hungarian language is not related to any of the Latin languages, so communication might be very difficult - as even the simple words are so different. Hopefully, my list of common words (greetings, yes/no, numbers, directions etc) in my European guidebook (which has been remarkably useful for the past year) does not suffer the same fate as the guidebooks in the skit.
As for the depressing news - I just found out that the two papers I submitted to IFIP-Sec in Sweden were rejected. However they both come with more than 6 pages of comments, so hopefully I can re-edit the papers and submit it somewhere else and get them published.
09 January 2006
Internet for the masses
I went to the Mowbray library on Friday afternoon, and I see that the Cape Town municiaplity is putting in computers with Internet access for the public. I think it's a brilliant idea, and not only do the public get access for free, they also get access to office and a few other things. I am not sure of what software they are using - I should look it up.
The Internet speeds however don't seem to be that great - the old lady using one of the terminals was getting quite irritated by the distinct lack of progress in downloading the pages of the net. What I did find interesting during the few minutes I had a chance to look at the system, was the terms and conditions for use. Apart from the usual, "do not download pirated copyrighted material" and the somewhat lesser condition of "do not download pornographic material", there was also a good deal about good Internet habits and practices. However, while the intentions are good (and the information was quite good too), the whole document was placed together with the terms and conditions during the registration process, and I doubt many people will end up reading all the material.
The Internet speeds however don't seem to be that great - the old lady using one of the terminals was getting quite irritated by the distinct lack of progress in downloading the pages of the net. What I did find interesting during the few minutes I had a chance to look at the system, was the terms and conditions for use. Apart from the usual, "do not download pirated copyrighted material" and the somewhat lesser condition of "do not download pornographic material", there was also a good deal about good Internet habits and practices. However, while the intentions are good (and the information was quite good too), the whole document was placed together with the terms and conditions during the registration process, and I doubt many people will end up reading all the material.
27 December 2005
Movie: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe
I was first introduced to CS Lewis' classic Narnia series by the BBC version of "The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe", which my dad had borrowed from the British Consulate library in Maseru. I was hooked, and since then I have re-read the series countless times, and have also re-watched the BBC version of the movie quite a few times.
I went to watch the latest version of the movie yesterday, with Arun, an old friend I hadn't seen for a long time. This version has definitely got the "Lord of the Rings" treatment in terms of the special effects and the general polish and look of the film. That was expected. However, the movie itself was not a completely faithful translation of the book - with a number of scenes present because of the sheer drama and spectacle and not because it featured in the book. There were also a few scenes, especially involving Edmund (the wayward brother) that give a slightly different twist to his personality.
In terms of acting, the girl who played Lucy was brilliant. I can't really say I liked Tilda Swinton - she just did not pass off as evil as she is portrayed in the book. And in the words of Arun, Aslan was just the "fattest lion he had ever seen". In all honesty, I think that the BBC version was better but this is by no means an objective viewpoint.
I went to watch the latest version of the movie yesterday, with Arun, an old friend I hadn't seen for a long time. This version has definitely got the "Lord of the Rings" treatment in terms of the special effects and the general polish and look of the film. That was expected. However, the movie itself was not a completely faithful translation of the book - with a number of scenes present because of the sheer drama and spectacle and not because it featured in the book. There were also a few scenes, especially involving Edmund (the wayward brother) that give a slightly different twist to his personality.
In terms of acting, the girl who played Lucy was brilliant. I can't really say I liked Tilda Swinton - she just did not pass off as evil as she is portrayed in the book. And in the words of Arun, Aslan was just the "fattest lion he had ever seen". In all honesty, I think that the BBC version was better but this is by no means an objective viewpoint.
25 December 2005
Terrorists and Torture
I watched The Living Daylights on e-tv on Friday night, and in my opinion, is one of the best James Bond movies ever. Timothy Dalton's portrayal of James Bond as a cold and calculating secret agent makes it a lot more realistic in my opinion when compared to some of the other James Bond actors esp Roger Moore. What I found more interesting was the British support for the Mujahedin in Afghanistan, the very same people who would later become the Taliban and subsequently give rise to the Al Qaeda.
These facts are not new, but I wonder how many movies post 9-11 will dare to show the connection. After all, consider the various insults being traded over Speilberg's new movie - Munich (to be released in 2006 in SA, released two days ago in the US) - which explores Israel's retaliation to trackdown the killers of the Israeli athletes in the 1972 Olympic games.
The main problem with terrorism is with its definition - one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Even "Carlos the Jackal" can be considered a freedom fighter of sorts, fighting for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), one of the largest factions of the current PLO.
The main reason I started thinking of all this was after reading an article in the Financial Times from a week or so ago discussing torture - and how the US practices torture even though it's not defined as torture (the article alleges that the US conducts emotional torture on terror prisoners and since the US defines torture as physical pain, they are not committing "torture"). This is off course coupled with the allegations by Saddam that he has been tortured while in US custody. There is apparently a call by some Americans (according the FT article) to re-legalise torture for terrorism suspects - which is what brings this back to terrorism. Who or what is a terrorist? And, when does a person become a terrorist?
These facts are not new, but I wonder how many movies post 9-11 will dare to show the connection. After all, consider the various insults being traded over Speilberg's new movie - Munich (to be released in 2006 in SA, released two days ago in the US) - which explores Israel's retaliation to trackdown the killers of the Israeli athletes in the 1972 Olympic games.
The main problem with terrorism is with its definition - one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. Even "Carlos the Jackal" can be considered a freedom fighter of sorts, fighting for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), one of the largest factions of the current PLO.
The main reason I started thinking of all this was after reading an article in the Financial Times from a week or so ago discussing torture - and how the US practices torture even though it's not defined as torture (the article alleges that the US conducts emotional torture on terror prisoners and since the US defines torture as physical pain, they are not committing "torture"). This is off course coupled with the allegations by Saddam that he has been tortured while in US custody. There is apparently a call by some Americans (according the FT article) to re-legalise torture for terrorism suspects - which is what brings this back to terrorism. Who or what is a terrorist? And, when does a person become a terrorist?
21 December 2005
Movie: King Kong
It's long, quite predictable (which is not helped by the fact it is a remake and that the trailers and reviews give away so much of the story), and a brilliant piece of cinema. I remember an ad for the pay channel TCM which showed snippets of classics to make up what made a great movie - King Kong has them all. The acting is good (Naomi Watts is brilliant as Ann Darrow - I did not think she could act), the effects are spectacular and it has a bit of everything - comedy, tragedy, a love story (actually 2) and a whole load of action.
But above all, the movie is immersive - I didn't feel bored and was absolutely fixated by what is happening on the screen. Overall, this movie is not a "Lord of the Rings", but it has everything that makes a great movie.
But above all, the movie is immersive - I didn't feel bored and was absolutely fixated by what is happening on the screen. Overall, this movie is not a "Lord of the Rings", but it has everything that makes a great movie.
Blockhouse
Reinhardt, his friend Christie (sp?) and I cycled up to the blockhouse this morning. It's an interesting ride - involving a lot of painful uphills and being the least fit, I took the longest with the most number of stops. Coming back down was a lot more fun though :) Reinhardt and I would like to make this a regular thing ... so I should get fitter soon (assuming I eat properly and reduce my junk food intake ... tough choices ...)
20 December 2005
Wedding Bells
Not mine - but this weekend was Jason (Brickhill) and Melanie's wedding. It is very weird to see your friends getting married - although to be honest, this was a wedding that was foretold a long time ago.
It started off with an interesting bachelors party for Jason - he was dressed up as a boxer (with the words "The Champ" on the back) and we hit Long street after dinner at Newscafe in Greenpoint. While I do have lots of photos of the night, I think for my own safety, I will not publish them online ... it's best not to rile up lawyers too much ;)
The wedding itself was interesting for me, simply because I have never been to a western/Christian wedding before, and there are some big differences to a traditional Hindu wedding. For starters, there is the issue of time - traditional Hindu wedding ceremonies take about a week at least, with at least 2 major ceremonies - one at the bride's house and the other at the groom's house. Then there is the food - Indian weddings are usually all about food. No really, most people I know end up judging how good the wedding was on the quantity and quality of the food. This is in no ways a criticism of the quality of food at Jason and Mel's wedding - the food was excellent - but the differences are interesting none the less.
But in the end, there is a lot of cultural differences in weddings, and not just the issue of arranged marriages. Traditional Indian weddings are major celebrations, carefully planned according to the astrologers, involving numerous "aunties" and a big hole in the bank account. They are effectively the social event of the year for the extended family - and the extended family is a big thing for most Indians.
On that note - a last bit about future wedding possibilities - Megan Butler caught the bride's bouquet (not sure what the proper term is) ...
15 December 2005
The R81 Pizza
We had a little "farewell party" of sorts for Siya last night at Primis in Cavendish. True to style, some rocked up late but a good time was had by all. But the highlight of the evening had to be the pizza ordered by Siya and Wanda: Margherita with Chicken, Salami, Bacon, Mushrooms, Mixed Pepper, Onions and Extra Cheese - an order that left our waiter amused and doubtless questioning the sanity of the table party (after our previous antics, including having a pizza topping only on one side of the pizza).
12 December 2005
Last one out ...
In February 2000, about 10 guys from Westville Boys' High School's class of 99 came to study in UCT. Over the past 6 years, at least 2 other guys from the class of 99 have studied at UCT. Since 2002, the number of guys still studying has steadily dropped, and as of today there are just 2 of us still "studying" at UCT. And of the two of us, Sam is graduating (hopefully) in June, leaving me all alone.
In most respects, other than Sam, I have lost contacts with most of my fellow schoolmates. Some like Chris, Ken, Tapiwa and Ross, I have kept in touch, mainly through bumping into them on Main road or at cricket matches in Newlands. And as of today, I doubt I will see any of them ever again as they move one with their lives to different parts of the country (and even to different parts of the world).
Yesterday Carl was giving out Christmas cards - a habit he wants to start early to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances over the long run. Today, as I was saying goodbye to my graduating friends, I realise how many people I have probably lost touch with - even though I might have had very strong friendships with them.
In most respects, other than Sam, I have lost contacts with most of my fellow schoolmates. Some like Chris, Ken, Tapiwa and Ross, I have kept in touch, mainly through bumping into them on Main road or at cricket matches in Newlands. And as of today, I doubt I will see any of them ever again as they move one with their lives to different parts of the country (and even to different parts of the world).
Yesterday Carl was giving out Christmas cards - a habit he wants to start early to keep in touch with friends and acquaintances over the long run. Today, as I was saying goodbye to my graduating friends, I realise how many people I have probably lost touch with - even though I might have had very strong friendships with them.
09 December 2005
Who wants to live forever?
No not the Queen song, but rather a very interesting article on Wired, which looks at some of the downsides of living a long life - not the current average of 70-80 (in the first world) but rather for 150+ years. After all, the search for immortality is one of the oldest.
And I agree with the author - why would anyone want to live that long? And with the earth barely coping with 6 billion people, can you imagine what it would be like if everyone lives for 150 years? And there are off course the practical problems - when do you start retirement? How many anti-aging creams do you need to buy so that you look hip and young? What would be a pensionable age? And what would you do if you live for 150 years or would you just die of boredom?
And I agree with the author - why would anyone want to live that long? And with the earth barely coping with 6 billion people, can you imagine what it would be like if everyone lives for 150 years? And there are off course the practical problems - when do you start retirement? How many anti-aging creams do you need to buy so that you look hip and young? What would be a pensionable age? And what would you do if you live for 150 years or would you just die of boredom?
06 December 2005
Massive Gig Alert
Seether is coming back to SA next year and they are touring the major cities in a massive gig put together by 5FM and Coca-Cola. The Coca-Cola Colab Mix features amongst others Fatboy Slim, Simple Plan (ironic after the debacle involving 5FM and Mark Pilgrim), The Rasmus, Prime Circle and The Parlatones. More bands are coming through to make up 12 hours of music so the rather steep price of tickets (R430 for golden circle) is quite justified in my opinion.
04 December 2005
Obz Fest 2005 (lots of photos)
Saturday was a busy day - air show in the morning, Obz Fest in the late afternoon/evening. Still less strenuous than last year, which involved a hike on Table Mountain followed by Obz Fest ... Before my reflections on Obz Fest, a bit of social commentary.
Like last year, I was quite amazed (though not really surprised) at the number of drunk kids. I know, that as a person who does not drink, it is somewhat hard to understand, but is it necessary to drink to have a good time? And kids weren't only drunk - some were stoned, and most spotted a cigarette in their mouths - and that's the worst thing about a festival like Obz Fest - people blowing their cigarette smoke into your face! It is obvious that anti-smoking laws and the yearly rise in sin taxes have not hampered kids from picking up the habit. On a positive note, it was great to see such a mix of people - old and young, rich and poor all jiving to great music. Undoubtedly there were petty thefts, but there did not seem to be any major incidents.
This year's Obz Fest was bigger with a second stage and more shopping area, although it featured fewer well known bands and a lot more up and coming bands. Like last year, I started off by meeting up with an old friend I hadn't seen for quite a few months. We started off at Cool Runnings (where my friend Mary was meeting a few friends) which actually seemed more packed than Obz Fest itself, which was probably due to the exorbitant prices being charged outside. We then went to see Polaroid (featuring Mary's boyfriend, Daniel, as a guest bass guitarist) playing on the second stage. We both agreed, while they had some good songs, we would not buy their CDs (if they ever got to that stage). In their defense, it must be said that the sound on the second stage was pretty bad.
Mary left after Polaroid finished, while I hung around for the last act, Black Betty, an all-girl string trio featuring a bass guitarist, a guitarist and a violinist. Unfortunately the sound really played up and eventually the band just gave up playing. Their music was interesting (a bit of a country/hip-hop mix) and I am tempted to go to a gig they are playing at on Thursday featuring amongst others Godessa and Polaroid.
After the demise of the second stage I went to see what I can best describe as "performance art". It mainly featured a white guy rapping with a DJ spinning some tracks - so what - Obz version of Eminem? But it was not only his rapping - his performance also included a few lines of opera singing, a bit of a ballad and a stage dive! I only caught the last part of his performance, and I am not even sure of the name of of the act (I think it is Waddy Jones). I would have loved to see the full act.
That was followed by some good punk rock with the "Dirty Skirts", which, while not brilliant, was nevertheless not bad and quite enjoyable. They are not yet ready to set the world alight in my opinion, but they were certainly very energetic.
Not being a huge fan of reggae, the next performance put together by the "African Dope Sound System" was not really the highlight of the evening. That said, there are a lot of people who like Reggae in Obz, and quite a few seemed to have lit up in support. Just one comment about reggae though - do they all have to talk with the Jamaican accent and lingo? I mean, surely home grown reggae does not need to have the Jamaican accent and lingo to be credible?
By now the crowd was building up, and even though a lot of people left after the reggae was finished (allowing me to squeeze to the front) more people packed in to see the final two acts - Bed on Bricks and Hog Hoggidy Hog.
Bed on Bricks are a brilliant act, this being the fourth time I have seen them perform live. At last year's Obz fest, Bed on Bricks were an opening act, this year they were one of the featured bands! Their music, while mostly rock, also features a bit of ska and they have some really interesting songs. But above all, they have an awesome stage show and where else can you get a rock act featuring an oil can guitar?
Bed on Bricks were followed by Hog Hoggidy Hog, which prompted a massive mosh pit from the kids out in front. That was strange as the Hogs play primarily ska - hardly music to mosh to. Added to that, was the fact that the kids just couldn't mosh properly throwing elbows and legs into everything! That said, Hog Hoggidy Hog were great and capped off a great day.
Ysterplaat Air Show
Saturday morning, I went to the Ysterplaat Air Show - my first air show. For R30 (no student discounts) it was quite an interesting experience. It featured mostly air acrobatics, including some crazy men jumping out of aircrafts while they were performing acrobatics and a display by the reigning world champion (picture), although there were some super-sonic jet displays. Having spent extensive time in the Air and Space museums in Washington DC, air shows I found the air show to be an interesting demonstration of some of the "displays".
30 November 2005
Foreign Aids
For a well known comedian, Jameson Hall was surprisingly quite empty for Pieter Dirk-Uys' free show. But for those of us that did go, it was a great show, although the show did have a message - not about abstinence from sex, not about AIDS or HIV but more about overcoming fear and talking about sex. The show was not strictly the show he takes around to schools and such; but rather a show about the show (metashow?) and he covered a wide range of subjects - from condoms (why its better to buy than to get freebies), Thabo Mbeki, PW Botha and talking about sex. He likened the battle against AIDS like the battle against Apartheid, handled badly by politicians, filled with rumors and misinformation and very little support for the people who are doing their very best.
Fighting AIDS is more than a ribbon. It will take more than reading statistics once a year. Ultimately, fighting AIDS requires education and support of both those who have AIDS (so that they can continue living and enjoying life) and those who don't (so that they do not get it in the first place). And while South Africa has placed lot of emphasis on the later, statistics and the harsh reality is that it does not seem to be working. What I find interesting is that the same tactics are used elsewhere in the world - Metro stations in DC proclaim "if there are 5 people on the platform, one person could have HIV"; similar messages in London while India has some rather interesting ads aimed at dissuading adultery. But it is the very statistics in India and the self proclaimed ones in DC that suggest that the messages aren't really working.
And as Pierter Dirk-Uys' commented - its not only about the message but about the practice. If condoms are inconvenient - because they are of the wrong colour, size or just takes to long to extract from the packaging - they won't be used. And while we seem to have perfected the message, acting on the message is far from perfection.
Fighting AIDS is more than a ribbon. It will take more than reading statistics once a year. Ultimately, fighting AIDS requires education and support of both those who have AIDS (so that they can continue living and enjoying life) and those who don't (so that they do not get it in the first place). And while South Africa has placed lot of emphasis on the later, statistics and the harsh reality is that it does not seem to be working. What I find interesting is that the same tactics are used elsewhere in the world - Metro stations in DC proclaim "if there are 5 people on the platform, one person could have HIV"; similar messages in London while India has some rather interesting ads aimed at dissuading adultery. But it is the very statistics in India and the self proclaimed ones in DC that suggest that the messages aren't really working.
And as Pierter Dirk-Uys' commented - its not only about the message but about the practice. If condoms are inconvenient - because they are of the wrong colour, size or just takes to long to extract from the packaging - they won't be used. And while we seem to have perfected the message, acting on the message is far from perfection.
29 November 2005
Old People, Anti-Terrorism Police and Obs Fest
There shouldn't be any connection between the three topics in the title, but there could always be an old man (or woman) who is suspected as a terrorist hiding out at Obs Fest. Obs Fest (the sixth one I think) is this Saturday and involves a lot of good, free live music, a street fair, lot of hippies and a generally good time. I enjoyed it a lot last year, and am looking forward to it this year - anyone keen on joining me? Its on Saturday 3 Dec, the bands start about 3pm and continue to at least midnight! On the note of live events, Pieter-Dirk Uys will give a free performance on Jammie Steps tomorrow!
UCT has recently moved most of the student services in lower campus (like student health, SHARP and Citiwise driving school) from Protem to a site next to University House and opposite the land affairs department. Apparently, Protem will be the site of a new junior girls res. The new site used to be an old age home which raises the rather obvious question (IMO) - what happened to the old people? Surely they haven't all passed on ....
In an earlier post, I talked about being questioned by the anti-terrorist cops in London. As I stated earlier, I found the situation quite amusing but it seems that the new anti-terrorism laws are no laughing matter. Bruce Schneier talks about the use of the terrorism laws to stiffle free speech, while there have also been incidents where these laws have been used to stop from people taking photos on roads or walking on bicycle paths! What has the world come to?
25 November 2005
Reflections: India - Kolkata (formerly Calcutta)
It is freezing outside in Frankfurt - its a nice 1 degree Celsius, which is a full degree warmer than the temperature in London a few hours back! That said, Frankfurt was covered in snow - a very picturesque sight, which can't be said of London - it was just cold, no snow. And it is all a great change from India, where despite the fact that it is winter, the average temperature was in the 20s. So, despite the fact that India has over 9 million broadband connections (more on that later), I stayed off the information highway for my stay - so this will be a rather long post ....
It is very weird to be considered huge - not because of the results of overindulgence of good food, but because I am apparently very tall. I suppose, in Indian standards, I am - the average height for an Indian seems to be about 1.65m and there have been many instances where I had to watch my head lest I bump into something - I pity the really tall people (like Sean)...
It is very interesting when confronted with opinions from two ends of the cultural spectrum, and I am not talking only about arranged marriages. India is a very conservative nation, values imposed by Victorian England, values which will probably be retained for a long time into the future. As an example, a major talking point in the newspapers has been a comment by a south Indian actress (as opposed to a Bollywood actress) who said that there was nothing wrong with "safe pre-marital sex". That quote is apparently about 2 weeks old, but since then, there has been numerous protests, demonstrations by politicians and others on how the comment was degrading to the women of India, how it was degrading the moral fibre of the nation etc. Anyone who has supported her has been similarly labeled, even if all they said was that she had a constitutional right to freedom of speech. But its not really pre-marital; sex that was the issue - but rather that sex was raised as a topic in the first place! But the cultural differences do not end there - there are many more - and it has been quite an experience trying to remember all the differences.
India is all about numbers - 1 billion + being the most significant of these numbers. Because of the huge population, even small percentages have huge impacts. This has both good and bad; but IMO, the trend is more towards the bad than the good.
Pollution - of all types - is bad. With the number of people, there is just not enough resources being allocated to maintaining a healthy environment. And the general health of Indians is probably very much worse off than many other developing countries in the world. And much of the air pollution is due to the old car models - and the transport networks in India (both rail and road) are clogged to the extreme. And while we are on transport - driving in India is a nightmare - not that I attempted - just being on the road is scary enough! No one cares about the rules of the road (despite slogans of "obey the rules of the road" on the bumper of basically every vehicle) and with the huge load of traffic on the roads, many roads are crumbling making the whole situation even worse.
What is making the whole situation worse is corruption - and I am not talking of only bribes! The issue of bribes is definitely a factor and is not just with the cops. Take education for example - because of the huge numbers (again) there is a huge demand for places in tertiary education institutions (for example this past weekend, there was a nationwide exam for the very prestigious Indian Institute of Management, with about 1200 places - more than 100 000 people wrote the entrance exams). However, many of the places often go to people who have paid bribes rather than on academic merit (if you don't have a first you can often forget about applying for most tertiary academic programs).
But higher education does not necessarily have huge financial rewards. One of my cousins' wife (that does not entirely sound right) has a PhD in geography (or something in that area) and is only a high school teacher. She is not the only teacher in the school with a PhD! Another cousin has a MA in Bengali literature (Bengali being the language of the region) and is a primary school teacher. And the quality of school education itself has deterioated with the proliferation of different school boards with differing standards. Virtually every child goes to private tuition, and apparently most teachers do the private tuition, hence they prefer not to teach everything in class! Its a vicious cycle.
But there is a worse form of corruption that I hope never to see in South Africa, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. This is the issue of selling and using fake or partially fake goods - and I am not talking of fake jeans - but of medicines, spices (remember the Sudan dye saga in SA), fuel and in fact just about everything. In fact it has become so bad, that anti corruption agents that are trying to stop these practices are being killed. Again, in the past week, one such person was killed while doing a surprise inspection on a petrol station.
As for the good about numbers - its the potential for real mass market low cost goods. India already has one of the lowest telecom rates in the world, and cost of living is really low - although the standard is definitely not high. There are more than 100 cable TV stations in India, most making profits. Low cost flights are now as cheap as trains and the carriers are still making profits (a three day trip from Kolkata to Kuala Lampur/Singapore/Bangkok with accomodation at a 3 star hotel, B&B, flights and taxes cost about 14 000 rupees or about 2 000 rand). And where else can you have a gameshow like "Who wants to be a millionaire" (although its really 20 million Indian rupees which is about 2.4 million Rand) playing 5 days a week? Cost of basic necessities, including public transport, if exchange rates are taken into account, are really low and you can easily live very well on about 100 rupees a day (about 15 rand).
However, as one person (yet another cousin) pointed out to me - that is rather misleading, because most people also earn very little in comparison. Most salaries are considered to be ok if the are in the region of 2000 rupees (about 500 Rand) a month! But then culture has a lot to do with it - after all many families are still living together - thus sharing expenses and incomes.
6 years ago I realised that I would never be able to live and work in India on a permanent basis - my latest visit has just strengthened my views. It is for that reason that there is such a huge emigration of Indians - but again its all about the numbers - the number of Indians outside India is still a very small percentage of the total number of Indians living in India ...
It is very weird to be considered huge - not because of the results of overindulgence of good food, but because I am apparently very tall. I suppose, in Indian standards, I am - the average height for an Indian seems to be about 1.65m and there have been many instances where I had to watch my head lest I bump into something - I pity the really tall people (like Sean)...
It is very interesting when confronted with opinions from two ends of the cultural spectrum, and I am not talking only about arranged marriages. India is a very conservative nation, values imposed by Victorian England, values which will probably be retained for a long time into the future. As an example, a major talking point in the newspapers has been a comment by a south Indian actress (as opposed to a Bollywood actress) who said that there was nothing wrong with "safe pre-marital sex". That quote is apparently about 2 weeks old, but since then, there has been numerous protests, demonstrations by politicians and others on how the comment was degrading to the women of India, how it was degrading the moral fibre of the nation etc. Anyone who has supported her has been similarly labeled, even if all they said was that she had a constitutional right to freedom of speech. But its not really pre-marital; sex that was the issue - but rather that sex was raised as a topic in the first place! But the cultural differences do not end there - there are many more - and it has been quite an experience trying to remember all the differences.
India is all about numbers - 1 billion + being the most significant of these numbers. Because of the huge population, even small percentages have huge impacts. This has both good and bad; but IMO, the trend is more towards the bad than the good.
Pollution - of all types - is bad. With the number of people, there is just not enough resources being allocated to maintaining a healthy environment. And the general health of Indians is probably very much worse off than many other developing countries in the world. And much of the air pollution is due to the old car models - and the transport networks in India (both rail and road) are clogged to the extreme. And while we are on transport - driving in India is a nightmare - not that I attempted - just being on the road is scary enough! No one cares about the rules of the road (despite slogans of "obey the rules of the road" on the bumper of basically every vehicle) and with the huge load of traffic on the roads, many roads are crumbling making the whole situation even worse.
What is making the whole situation worse is corruption - and I am not talking of only bribes! The issue of bribes is definitely a factor and is not just with the cops. Take education for example - because of the huge numbers (again) there is a huge demand for places in tertiary education institutions (for example this past weekend, there was a nationwide exam for the very prestigious Indian Institute of Management, with about 1200 places - more than 100 000 people wrote the entrance exams). However, many of the places often go to people who have paid bribes rather than on academic merit (if you don't have a first you can often forget about applying for most tertiary academic programs).
But higher education does not necessarily have huge financial rewards. One of my cousins' wife (that does not entirely sound right) has a PhD in geography (or something in that area) and is only a high school teacher. She is not the only teacher in the school with a PhD! Another cousin has a MA in Bengali literature (Bengali being the language of the region) and is a primary school teacher. And the quality of school education itself has deterioated with the proliferation of different school boards with differing standards. Virtually every child goes to private tuition, and apparently most teachers do the private tuition, hence they prefer not to teach everything in class! Its a vicious cycle.
But there is a worse form of corruption that I hope never to see in South Africa, or anywhere else in the world for that matter. This is the issue of selling and using fake or partially fake goods - and I am not talking of fake jeans - but of medicines, spices (remember the Sudan dye saga in SA), fuel and in fact just about everything. In fact it has become so bad, that anti corruption agents that are trying to stop these practices are being killed. Again, in the past week, one such person was killed while doing a surprise inspection on a petrol station.
As for the good about numbers - its the potential for real mass market low cost goods. India already has one of the lowest telecom rates in the world, and cost of living is really low - although the standard is definitely not high. There are more than 100 cable TV stations in India, most making profits. Low cost flights are now as cheap as trains and the carriers are still making profits (a three day trip from Kolkata to Kuala Lampur/Singapore/Bangkok with accomodation at a 3 star hotel, B&B, flights and taxes cost about 14 000 rupees or about 2 000 rand). And where else can you have a gameshow like "Who wants to be a millionaire" (although its really 20 million Indian rupees which is about 2.4 million Rand) playing 5 days a week? Cost of basic necessities, including public transport, if exchange rates are taken into account, are really low and you can easily live very well on about 100 rupees a day (about 15 rand).
However, as one person (yet another cousin) pointed out to me - that is rather misleading, because most people also earn very little in comparison. Most salaries are considered to be ok if the are in the region of 2000 rupees (about 500 Rand) a month! But then culture has a lot to do with it - after all many families are still living together - thus sharing expenses and incomes.
6 years ago I realised that I would never be able to live and work in India on a permanent basis - my latest visit has just strengthened my views. It is for that reason that there is such a huge emigration of Indians - but again its all about the numbers - the number of Indians outside India is still a very small percentage of the total number of Indians living in India ...
15 November 2005
Being Dodgy
Being a (bit of?) a dodgy fellow certainly has its advantages - walking after sunset in Mowbray for instance. It also leads to police interviews. This morning at Victoria Tube Station, I got stopped by the tube cops - it was a bit of my fault I guess - one of the pockets in my bag was opened; but they did the whole bag and jacket search thing and asked whether the wires were connected to the iPod. I thought it was quite amusing really ; especially the racial classification section - they have so many!
Spent most of my day in the Science museum - a fascinating place, and wish that I had more time to spend there. Went (after paying 6 quid) to the "Aliens" exhibition - which was very cool - looked at both the fictional roots of not only aliens but also other "beings" like devils, angels, ghosts etc. But the main part was really about the strangeness of life itself - bacteria that can survive at extreme heat and cold, even multicellular organisms that survive at near freezing conditions at incredible pressures under the oceans. If there is life in those conditions, there is a really high chance of other life out there. Whether it is "intelligent" and whether we will ever encounter them is however much less likely. There was also a very funky section on models of other worlds under different conditions (like air pressure etc) and how that would affect life.
After spending so much time at the museum (went to basically every section), there was not much time for other things to do - like visit the Natural History museum - which I must say has one of the most imposing entrances to any museums I have been to. Went to petticoat lane, but today not being Sunday, there wasn't much happening there, took a walk over to Liverpool Street (nice tube station) and took a tube to St Paul's Cathedral, where I was just in time to see it close in front of me. I am not religious by any means, but do enjoy looking inside churches and temples and wonder what drive people to pour so much money and time into the artworks (which are usually very beautiful admittedly). Seeing that there wasn't much else to do around there, I took the bus to Trafalgar Square and on the spur of the moment decided to go into the National Gallery.
So I can now boast of seeing some very famous original paintings, and while I was very impressed by some of the detail esp. in the landscape artists in the renaissance, I can't say I was that impressed with the more recent masters like Monet. Admittedly, their works do look good from far, but get close and they don't look great at all. Same goes for Van Gogh. But some of the artists from earlier periods had some amazing detail, which I thought was very cool.
Thus ends my London jaunt - I now hope to wake up some insane time (in about 5 hours) to make it to Heathrow in time (just my luck - morning planes = encountering morning rush hour to get to the airport). My next blog post will most probably be after I get back from India
Spent most of my day in the Science museum - a fascinating place, and wish that I had more time to spend there. Went (after paying 6 quid) to the "Aliens" exhibition - which was very cool - looked at both the fictional roots of not only aliens but also other "beings" like devils, angels, ghosts etc. But the main part was really about the strangeness of life itself - bacteria that can survive at extreme heat and cold, even multicellular organisms that survive at near freezing conditions at incredible pressures under the oceans. If there is life in those conditions, there is a really high chance of other life out there. Whether it is "intelligent" and whether we will ever encounter them is however much less likely. There was also a very funky section on models of other worlds under different conditions (like air pressure etc) and how that would affect life.
After spending so much time at the museum (went to basically every section), there was not much time for other things to do - like visit the Natural History museum - which I must say has one of the most imposing entrances to any museums I have been to. Went to petticoat lane, but today not being Sunday, there wasn't much happening there, took a walk over to Liverpool Street (nice tube station) and took a tube to St Paul's Cathedral, where I was just in time to see it close in front of me. I am not religious by any means, but do enjoy looking inside churches and temples and wonder what drive people to pour so much money and time into the artworks (which are usually very beautiful admittedly). Seeing that there wasn't much else to do around there, I took the bus to Trafalgar Square and on the spur of the moment decided to go into the National Gallery.
So I can now boast of seeing some very famous original paintings, and while I was very impressed by some of the detail esp. in the landscape artists in the renaissance, I can't say I was that impressed with the more recent masters like Monet. Admittedly, their works do look good from far, but get close and they don't look great at all. Same goes for Van Gogh. But some of the artists from earlier periods had some amazing detail, which I thought was very cool.
Thus ends my London jaunt - I now hope to wake up some insane time (in about 5 hours) to make it to Heathrow in time (just my luck - morning planes = encountering morning rush hour to get to the airport). My next blog post will most probably be after I get back from India
13 November 2005
Time, Crime and Chocolate
After arriving in London yesterday afternoon, I did go out and about; spending time mostly in and round Hyde park. Unlike July, it gets dark much earlier (about 5pm or so) and its much colder than DC (more typical I suppose), and with all the jetlag, I did not do as much as I hoped.
This morning, I woke up late (not really surprising) and decided to start of at Greenwich and visit the observatory. It was a bit disappointing that large parts of it were closed due to renovations. I spent a longer time at the Maritime museum (and a bit of time at Queen's house) which I found rather sparse to be honest. I suppose I am comparing it too much to the Smithsonian museums (who do not have a maritime museum BTW) but while the displays were great, I think in the end it is just too small. There was also an exhibition on Napoleon and Nelson but at 9 pounds I decided to give it a skip.
The London Dungeon was something I stumbled upon last time I was here and decided that I must make a visit this time round. At just over 10 quids (after a 2 quid discount on a student ticket) it is still a very expensive but interesting experience. It is a cross between interactive drama and a theme park on torture, death, disease and Jack the Ripper. The actors were largely brilliant and most played their parts really well. Probably the most interesting part was the labyrinth (very early on) which is effectively a maze where the walls are made of mirrors - very very cool. As for the torture, it is amazing what human beings are capable of doing to each other - all in the name of good.
Being a big fan of Sherlock Holmes (I have read every story and novel), the Sherlock Holmes museum was the next stop. Unfortunately, I can't really say it was worth the 6 pounds, but they had some interesting things - it is effectively an old Victorian house furnished as described and painted in the books and stories. There are quite a few original and prints of illustrations from the book etc. and gives a good overview of life in the turn of the 20th century.
Spent the rest of the day in and around Oxford street. Went into Hamleys (huge toy store), but with Christmas around the corner (well just over a month away), it was just too packed. Also went into the HMV superstore - did think about buying a few DVDs but realised that there was nothing that I really wanted (and that I had a huge depression in my bank account due to the iPod). Although, if there was a box set for all the seasons of "The Practice", I would probably tell a different tale.
Had a buffet supper (eat all as you want/can) at a Thai place near the HMV store for 6 pounds. Thought that was quite a deal. And lastly to the chocolate part of the title - Carl's family friend from Birmingham (forget her name ... sorry) talked about how different Cadbury's Dairy Milk tastes in South Africa, so I decided to investigate. After having quite a bit of the 200g bar, I can't really say that they taste too different although I think the UK version does have less sugar. Still doesn't compare to Lindt however.
This morning, I woke up late (not really surprising) and decided to start of at Greenwich and visit the observatory. It was a bit disappointing that large parts of it were closed due to renovations. I spent a longer time at the Maritime museum (and a bit of time at Queen's house) which I found rather sparse to be honest. I suppose I am comparing it too much to the Smithsonian museums (who do not have a maritime museum BTW) but while the displays were great, I think in the end it is just too small. There was also an exhibition on Napoleon and Nelson but at 9 pounds I decided to give it a skip.
The London Dungeon was something I stumbled upon last time I was here and decided that I must make a visit this time round. At just over 10 quids (after a 2 quid discount on a student ticket) it is still a very expensive but interesting experience. It is a cross between interactive drama and a theme park on torture, death, disease and Jack the Ripper. The actors were largely brilliant and most played their parts really well. Probably the most interesting part was the labyrinth (very early on) which is effectively a maze where the walls are made of mirrors - very very cool. As for the torture, it is amazing what human beings are capable of doing to each other - all in the name of good.
Being a big fan of Sherlock Holmes (I have read every story and novel), the Sherlock Holmes museum was the next stop. Unfortunately, I can't really say it was worth the 6 pounds, but they had some interesting things - it is effectively an old Victorian house furnished as described and painted in the books and stories. There are quite a few original and prints of illustrations from the book etc. and gives a good overview of life in the turn of the 20th century.
Spent the rest of the day in and around Oxford street. Went into Hamleys (huge toy store), but with Christmas around the corner (well just over a month away), it was just too packed. Also went into the HMV superstore - did think about buying a few DVDs but realised that there was nothing that I really wanted (and that I had a huge depression in my bank account due to the iPod). Although, if there was a box set for all the seasons of "The Practice", I would probably tell a different tale.
Had a buffet supper (eat all as you want/can) at a Thai place near the HMV store for 6 pounds. Thought that was quite a deal. And lastly to the chocolate part of the title - Carl's family friend from Birmingham (forget her name ... sorry) talked about how different Cadbury's Dairy Milk tastes in South Africa, so I decided to investigate. After having quite a bit of the 200g bar, I can't really say that they taste too different although I think the UK version does have less sugar. Still doesn't compare to Lindt however.
12 November 2005
Dulles Monstrosities and Unsecured Access Points
I am sure that free Internet access was not part of the deal at the budget hotel I am staying at in London. Holly House Hotel, as recomended by Carl is tiny, but the price of 23 punds per night for bed and breakfast is only 3 pounds more than a dorm room elsewhere in Victoria - so very much worth it. And the free Internet access is a bonus! I just wonder whose access point this is - there does not seem to be any businesses around this area.
I know I have told a few people about the "trams" that shuttle people between various terminals at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. Because of how the airport has grown, some of the terminals are actually more or less in the middle of the airfield and while there is a subway system under development, the current mechanism is essentially some kind of a basket on some very big wheels. I was going to post a pic of the "tram" as well as of the hotel and the view from my room - but the net connection is quite slow so uploading pics not going to well.
On another front, I finally bought an iPod after threatening to do so for so long. The new models have an amazing battery life - I charged it up and transfered some music onto it before I left the hotel yesterday. I used it for most of the journey and when I got to the hotel in london, some 26 hours later, there was still some battery life left! The claimed 20 hours is thus not far off the mark - I am very impressed.
I know I have told a few people about the "trams" that shuttle people between various terminals at Dulles International Airport in Washington D.C. Because of how the airport has grown, some of the terminals are actually more or less in the middle of the airfield and while there is a subway system under development, the current mechanism is essentially some kind of a basket on some very big wheels. I was going to post a pic of the "tram" as well as of the hotel and the view from my room - but the net connection is quite slow so uploading pics not going to well.
On another front, I finally bought an iPod after threatening to do so for so long. The new models have an amazing battery life - I charged it up and transfered some music onto it before I left the hotel yesterday. I used it for most of the journey and when I got to the hotel in london, some 26 hours later, there was still some battery life left! The claimed 20 hours is thus not far off the mark - I am very impressed.
11 November 2005
Reflections: The Hilton
So as I prepare to leave the US, I thought I should make an appropriate post from the lobby of the hotel. For a big brand, expensive hotel, the price and the service certainly do not match. The rooms are certainly nothing spectacular (although the view was great), there are no complementary services (even WiFi needs to be paid for ... got it for free due to the conference), food is expensive, no windows and the taps are confusing. Comparing the "Hilton Alexandria Mark Center" to the "Quality Hotel Lisboa", the Quality Hotel had free WiFi, great free breakfast, a huge King Size bed, a wide variety of TV channels and all this for half the price.
But the quality to price ratio is not the only problem - the hotel is more or less in the middle of nowhere. The next nearest hotel is a mile away and across the highway. There is nothing to do outside the hotel and while there is a free shuttle service to the nearest metro, it's just not that convenient. The conference was great, but the venue could have been a lot better.
But the quality to price ratio is not the only problem - the hotel is more or less in the middle of nowhere. The next nearest hotel is a mile away and across the highway. There is nothing to do outside the hotel and while there is a free shuttle service to the nearest metro, it's just not that convenient. The conference was great, but the venue could have been a lot better.
CCS Day 3: Main Conference Day 3 (really funky stuff)
So this is the last day of the conference and is usually the time for some of the less interesting papers to be presented (like my ISSA paper this year). But instead, the sessions proved to be by far the most interesting with some really amazing results/approaches/concepts with sometimes frightening possible consequences. That said, there were still some boring talks - so I will just ignore them.
I missed the first paper of the day by opting for an extended breakfast (and because I woke up slightly late) but I am glad I didn't miss the second - a talk on a different reputation mechanism for online auctions - in particular looking at the idea of trying to find out if some power sellers (basically people who make a living out of eBay) are actively colluding to push up prices. While their investigation was based on real world data (100k+ auction bids IIRC), the results are still largely theoretical as they haven't proved conclusively if their suspicions are correct. The approach and analysis was still very cool.
The next talk was equally interesting - the paper investigated the correctness of results generated in the clients of P2P grid applications like SETI@HOME. The results are slightly negative in the sense that correctness cannot be guaranteed but they did introduce a lot of formalisms that can be used to reduce possible errors. Their approach is particularly interesting as correctness of client results (in terms of a dishonest client) have been effectively ignored by the HPC community.
The next few talks were rather uninteresting, although a key exchange mechanism using password authentication (PAKE) was quite interesting. The last talk of session 2 on proxy resigning (a very counter intuitive concept in the first place) was very interesting and the paper does present some challenges that need to be solved. I am however not a cryptographer - and I don't think I could solve the challenge.
The next 7 papers were all brilliant. The first paper was an investigation into automation of LSM kernel hooks for Linux. Very interesting as some of the reasons we did not use LSM in the kernel level DRM controller are addressed although I am not sure if LSM would be a better option to the current approach. The next two papers were essentially buffer overflow prevention techniques. The first from Microsoft Research (which used Linux for some of the testing) presented a mechanism to prevent buffer overflow attacks without patching the defect! A very cool approach although architecture bound; but they did have a cool demo. The second was an approach to ovecome buffer overflow attacks that use format string attacks with C/C++ programs. Again - no need to modify source code - but this is not for binaries - code needs to be recompiled.
And then we come to the last session focusing on attacks and some really good work. The first paper was an improvement for dictionary attack targeting hashed password files with no salt values (apache, windows). Currently the attack focuses on human memorable passwords (which are the most common passwords) and most importantly the attack takes a few seconds!
The second paper was probably the coolest and an attack that has no real solution. The paper discussed keyboard logging through simply recording the sound of keys being pressed! Ok, at the moment, it is limited to a limited number of keys - but they have an amazing 90%+ character recognition, and with some funky Markov models they manage to get over 85% word recognition. Go check out http://www.keyboard-emanations.org for more detail!
So while the first two papers attacked individual users, the third paper brought down the Internet with minimal effort by exploiting effectively a flaw in TCP. In TCP, data flow is controlled using ACKs. However, it is this very fact that is used confuse an honest client to flood the network and thus create a DoS attack. Although the attack is very much theoretical, it does seem very much plausible. And all current servers utilising TCP are vulnerable!
And then the last paper - again very interesting, although I think it is very much limited to the USA as opposed to its global claims. Basically, it is an attack on GSM networks using SMS flooding, but I think many of the features of the attack depends on how GSM networks are set up - and would not really affect the rest of the world. Hmmm .... maybe there's a paper in there - a paper on examining the practicality of their attack in the rest of the world.
I missed the first paper of the day by opting for an extended breakfast (and because I woke up slightly late) but I am glad I didn't miss the second - a talk on a different reputation mechanism for online auctions - in particular looking at the idea of trying to find out if some power sellers (basically people who make a living out of eBay) are actively colluding to push up prices. While their investigation was based on real world data (100k+ auction bids IIRC), the results are still largely theoretical as they haven't proved conclusively if their suspicions are correct. The approach and analysis was still very cool.
The next talk was equally interesting - the paper investigated the correctness of results generated in the clients of P2P grid applications like SETI@HOME. The results are slightly negative in the sense that correctness cannot be guaranteed but they did introduce a lot of formalisms that can be used to reduce possible errors. Their approach is particularly interesting as correctness of client results (in terms of a dishonest client) have been effectively ignored by the HPC community.
The next few talks were rather uninteresting, although a key exchange mechanism using password authentication (PAKE) was quite interesting. The last talk of session 2 on proxy resigning (a very counter intuitive concept in the first place) was very interesting and the paper does present some challenges that need to be solved. I am however not a cryptographer - and I don't think I could solve the challenge.
The next 7 papers were all brilliant. The first paper was an investigation into automation of LSM kernel hooks for Linux. Very interesting as some of the reasons we did not use LSM in the kernel level DRM controller are addressed although I am not sure if LSM would be a better option to the current approach. The next two papers were essentially buffer overflow prevention techniques. The first from Microsoft Research (which used Linux for some of the testing) presented a mechanism to prevent buffer overflow attacks without patching the defect! A very cool approach although architecture bound; but they did have a cool demo. The second was an approach to ovecome buffer overflow attacks that use format string attacks with C/C++ programs. Again - no need to modify source code - but this is not for binaries - code needs to be recompiled.
And then we come to the last session focusing on attacks and some really good work. The first paper was an improvement for dictionary attack targeting hashed password files with no salt values (apache, windows). Currently the attack focuses on human memorable passwords (which are the most common passwords) and most importantly the attack takes a few seconds!
The second paper was probably the coolest and an attack that has no real solution. The paper discussed keyboard logging through simply recording the sound of keys being pressed! Ok, at the moment, it is limited to a limited number of keys - but they have an amazing 90%+ character recognition, and with some funky Markov models they manage to get over 85% word recognition. Go check out http://www.keyboard-emanations.org for more detail!
So while the first two papers attacked individual users, the third paper brought down the Internet with minimal effort by exploiting effectively a flaw in TCP. In TCP, data flow is controlled using ACKs. However, it is this very fact that is used confuse an honest client to flood the network and thus create a DoS attack. Although the attack is very much theoretical, it does seem very much plausible. And all current servers utilising TCP are vulnerable!
And then the last paper - again very interesting, although I think it is very much limited to the USA as opposed to its global claims. Basically, it is an attack on GSM networks using SMS flooding, but I think many of the features of the attack depends on how GSM networks are set up - and would not really affect the rest of the world. Hmmm .... maybe there's a paper in there - a paper on examining the practicality of their attack in the rest of the world.
10 November 2005
CCS Day 2: Main Conference Day 2
The first two sessions for the day promised some very interesting talks focusing on authentication and access control. Unfortunately, while the results of the papers discussed could have been brilliant, the presentations were dead boring and not much of value. Did manage to get some ideas down on paper on user authentication for my DRM framework - so the morning was not totally lost.
There are two tracks in the conference - the research and industry tracks; and I decided that at least one session should be in the industry track. The tutorial on secure programming in C/C++ was very interesting, especially as it was given by a member of the C standardising body. It is quite amazing how easy it is easy to screw up when coding in C/C++ but I can't really say I learned anything new - after all the overall conclusion was that secure coding in C/C++ is very difficult if not impossible ...
The last session of the day which focused on intrusion detection was by far the most interesting session today. Three of the four papers focused on detection and prevention of buffer overflow attacks and some really interesting ideas. The last paper was also very cool on a mechanism to counter DoS attacks when using overlay networks (overlay networks are similar to annonymiser proxies).
There are two tracks in the conference - the research and industry tracks; and I decided that at least one session should be in the industry track. The tutorial on secure programming in C/C++ was very interesting, especially as it was given by a member of the C standardising body. It is quite amazing how easy it is easy to screw up when coding in C/C++ but I can't really say I learned anything new - after all the overall conclusion was that secure coding in C/C++ is very difficult if not impossible ...
The last session of the day which focused on intrusion detection was by far the most interesting session today. Three of the four papers focused on detection and prevention of buffer overflow attacks and some really interesting ideas. The last paper was also very cool on a mechanism to counter DoS attacks when using overlay networks (overlay networks are similar to annonymiser proxies).
09 November 2005
CCS Day 1: Main Conference Day 1
So the conference begins officially ... and it seems a lot smaller than last year. However that could just be because of the much larger venues than last year. However, I am still convinced that this year's program is shorter ... I should try to count the sessions etc when I get back.
The keynote speaker was high profile - a previous NSA administrator and currently working at the US' department of homeland security. However, with the exception of a few interesting facts (like a really funky testbed) the talk was really boring. Unfortunately, many of the talks later in the day were just as boring.
The first few talks were very theoretical in nature, but were generally interesting. These talks included proofs for secure 802.11i designs and trust protocols. However, the two most interesting talks of the day (in my opinion) were the last talks - the first looking at an approach to track VOIP calls; even if the packets are encrypted and routed through anonymiser proxies. It was a really cool approach and really funky results. The second talk was somewhat DRM related - it showed a very limited scope implementation of secure database record retrievals - i.e. distribute a database table globally but only allow access to records if the query is detailed enough. It was also a very funky approach and really cool even if it is very limited in its application.
The keynote speaker was high profile - a previous NSA administrator and currently working at the US' department of homeland security. However, with the exception of a few interesting facts (like a really funky testbed) the talk was really boring. Unfortunately, many of the talks later in the day were just as boring.
The first few talks were very theoretical in nature, but were generally interesting. These talks included proofs for secure 802.11i designs and trust protocols. However, the two most interesting talks of the day (in my opinion) were the last talks - the first looking at an approach to track VOIP calls; even if the packets are encrypted and routed through anonymiser proxies. It was a really cool approach and really funky results. The second talk was somewhat DRM related - it showed a very limited scope implementation of secure database record retrievals - i.e. distribute a database table globally but only allow access to records if the query is detailed enough. It was also a very funky approach and really cool even if it is very limited in its application.
08 November 2005
Worst bugs and cooking up a storm
I see that Wired has a few interesting articles on its site this week (its an extended coffee break right now ...). First up - the top 10 worst software bugs so far. There is also a very interesting interview with a Nintendo game architect on a cooking game - perfect for all the budding cooks out there ;)
We have this game with a big wok that you use to cook Chinese food, and it's really interesting to have the meat and vegetables frying in there, and use the controller to flip the food around without it spilling out of the pan
CCS Day 0: DRM Workshop
I was meant to blog the days notes last night - but was too tired. And seeing how boring the keynote speaker for day 1 - a director from Homeland Security - is, I thought it's a good time now.
I was the first presenter of the day - which was quite cool in a way. My presentation went well and was well received although there were no real questions. However, the negotiation idea did get some good remarks. The next paper also had a legal view and pretty much confirmed some of the results of our DRM survey. It was certainly a more interesting approach and so I don't feel that bad that my paper in that arena did not get through ...
In the architectures arena - two interesting points. Pramod Jamkhedkar, who I met last year and had a good contact gave some progress .... maybe I should try to resurrect the contact in that arena. There is also a project in Belgium that is very similar to mine - I aim to learn more and maybe collaborate - could be good. There was also a paper from Motorola - but was rather limited in its application in my view.
The invited talk was from a director at Microsoft - personally I thought too much of it was marketing hype. He did praise Apple a bit - which I found interesting. In the more mathematical arena - two papers - first one on crypto which though interesting was quite difficult to understand, and I am not sure if I did get it in the end. The other paper was a formal proof of one of the key protocols in DRM which is similar to a protocol I make use of - so quite interesting.
The rest of the papers, while interesting were to focused on their respective arenas (like watermarking). It was a good day - hope the rest of the conference is as good. It seems that the conference is actually smaller this year - a lot fewer papers and people for the look of things. It could be due to a new conference called Asia-CCS which is going to be held in March next year. Missed submitting a paper into that one :(
I was the first presenter of the day - which was quite cool in a way. My presentation went well and was well received although there were no real questions. However, the negotiation idea did get some good remarks. The next paper also had a legal view and pretty much confirmed some of the results of our DRM survey. It was certainly a more interesting approach and so I don't feel that bad that my paper in that arena did not get through ...
In the architectures arena - two interesting points. Pramod Jamkhedkar, who I met last year and had a good contact gave some progress .... maybe I should try to resurrect the contact in that arena. There is also a project in Belgium that is very similar to mine - I aim to learn more and maybe collaborate - could be good. There was also a paper from Motorola - but was rather limited in its application in my view.
The invited talk was from a director at Microsoft - personally I thought too much of it was marketing hype. He did praise Apple a bit - which I found interesting. In the more mathematical arena - two papers - first one on crypto which though interesting was quite difficult to understand, and I am not sure if I did get it in the end. The other paper was a formal proof of one of the key protocols in DRM which is similar to a protocol I make use of - so quite interesting.
The rest of the papers, while interesting were to focused on their respective arenas (like watermarking). It was a good day - hope the rest of the conference is as good. It seems that the conference is actually smaller this year - a lot fewer papers and people for the look of things. It could be due to a new conference called Asia-CCS which is going to be held in March next year. Missed submitting a paper into that one :(
07 November 2005
Meaning of Freedom?
Today was essentially a day of doing tourist things; mainly going to places I did not manage to go last time round. Started off at the Arlington Cemetery, interesting if only to realise the extent of the conflicts that the US has been involved in and the number of lives lost. Arlington Cemetery also has a brilliant view of Washington DC; and the autumn colours are beautiful and look even better from the sky.
I also visited two memorials - the Iwo Jima memorial that commemorates the very costly US victory in WW2 and the Roosevelt Island - which is really a nature reserve of sorts. The Iwo Jima memorial reminded me a lot about our DoD and DOW games and puts capture the flag into a whole new perspective. A note on scale - the pedestal is about 3m high.
Smithsonian's American Indian museum is the newest, and since I did not spend a lot of time in it last year I decided to go back. It is one of the most interesting museums; not only because of some really funky displays and the general content of the museum but also the presentation of the content. Unlike many other museums that have tried to showcase culture, the museum has tried to showcase both sides of the story with very little bias in the presentation. For example, most exhibits dealing with cultural clashes have two commentaries - one from each side of the clash and often with contrasting views of the same subject.
And this brings me to the title of the post - a lot of the content in the American Indian museum chronicles their fight to maintain their culture; to fight for the freedom to choose their destiny. It is no different to countries deposing colonial rule or "foreign" occupation. While walking between the Iwo Jima memorial and Roosevelt Island, I stumbled upon "Freedom Park" - a park which claims to chronicle the struggle for freedom. It has a large emphasis on press freedom with a memorial to journalist killed on duty from all corners of the globe (from WW2 IIRC). There are also pieces of the Berlin wall, a bronze statue of South Africa's ballot box from 1994, a casting of Martin Luther King jnr's jail cell door (well one of them), cobble stones from polish war camps in WW2, a broken statue of Lenin, a replica of the "Goddess of Democracy" from Tiananmen Square, a display of banners from the Suffrage movement and a replica of the Freedom statue that sits on top of the US capitol. My criticism of the park is that while there is a celebration of freedom; it is based too much on the fights for the right to vote. Other fights for freedom like the fight against colonialism or the American Indian tribes' fight for recognition and control of their own future are swept aside. And of course the other essential freedoms are
I also visited two memorials - the Iwo Jima memorial that commemorates the very costly US victory in WW2 and the Roosevelt Island - which is really a nature reserve of sorts. The Iwo Jima memorial reminded me a lot about our DoD and DOW games and puts capture the flag into a whole new perspective. A note on scale - the pedestal is about 3m high.
Smithsonian's American Indian museum is the newest, and since I did not spend a lot of time in it last year I decided to go back. It is one of the most interesting museums; not only because of some really funky displays and the general content of the museum but also the presentation of the content. Unlike many other museums that have tried to showcase culture, the museum has tried to showcase both sides of the story with very little bias in the presentation. For example, most exhibits dealing with cultural clashes have two commentaries - one from each side of the clash and often with contrasting views of the same subject.
And this brings me to the title of the post - a lot of the content in the American Indian museum chronicles their fight to maintain their culture; to fight for the freedom to choose their destiny. It is no different to countries deposing colonial rule or "foreign" occupation. While walking between the Iwo Jima memorial and Roosevelt Island, I stumbled upon "Freedom Park" - a park which claims to chronicle the struggle for freedom. It has a large emphasis on press freedom with a memorial to journalist killed on duty from all corners of the globe (from WW2 IIRC). There are also pieces of the Berlin wall, a bronze statue of South Africa's ballot box from 1994, a casting of Martin Luther King jnr's jail cell door (well one of them), cobble stones from polish war camps in WW2, a broken statue of Lenin, a replica of the "Goddess of Democracy" from Tiananmen Square, a display of banners from the Suffrage movement and a replica of the Freedom statue that sits on top of the US capitol. My criticism of the park is that while there is a celebration of freedom; it is based too much on the fights for the right to vote. Other fights for freedom like the fight against colonialism or the American Indian tribes' fight for recognition and control of their own future are swept aside. And of course the other essential freedoms are
06 November 2005
Broken Promises
This post was supposed to be made 10 700 m above the sky on a 747 from Frankfurt to Washington DC. It has been years since I was last on a 747 - 12/13 years if my memory is correct (and that is rather untrustworthy) - but I don't remember it being this cramped ... I have probably had better leg room in Kulula or EasyJet and the plane seats 10 on each row (in economy anyway)! The connection is a Boeing initiative (www.connexionbyboeing.com) and is rather pricey ... but they gave away US$ 10 vouchers before boarding, so I am not paying anything. The $10 buys 30 minutes "airtime" by the way ... definitely the most expensive WiFi rates I have used. But as the title suggests - it did not work - and the stewardess put it nicely - its an old plane - and only new planes, ironically mostly Airbuses, have the functionality.
A few more comments on Frankfurt Main airport - they have an outside observation deck; although I could not work out how to get there; but did see a lot of people milling about. It also features casinos but they seem to be rather empty (although being 11am could have had an impact on that point). And the airport is huge and there are literally queues of planes landing and taking off - it is quite a sight. But the fact remains, its a crap airport to wait for planes ...
Another point I forgot to mention in the last post - the pilot did a nice flyover round False Bay, Cape Point and Table Mountain - which was very cool to see from the air - although there was quite a bit of cloud cover by Cape Point. According to the pilot, this is a popular feature of the flight.
Lunch on the flight was better than the Cape Town flight but that does not really say much - a rather bland Roast Chicken fillet with roast potatoes, salad and and some fruit cake. At least they use real cutlery ;) No attractive female passengers next to me - just an old couple returning home - friendly though (and the old lady is reading Harry Potter). There seems to be a lot of Indians on this plane ... and many assume that I am also from India, which I find a bit amusing. And talking about food and Indian passengers ... can they be fussy. An old man and his wife across the aisle raised up a fuss about what constitutes a Hindu meal ... he settled for the chicken in the end which I found puzzling and polished off a few beers and a wine to boot. And for you wine connoisseurs, they serve it in plastic glasses .. not even in fake glasses like SAA!
Getting from the airport to the hotel proved to be costlier than I hoped and more time consuming to boot - still beat the price of a taxi directly from the airport. The only notable incident on the train - two teens playing Magic the Gathering on the train ... a game that I though took both a lot of space and a lot of time; but I last played it about 10 years ago. The hotel mixed up my reservation a bit - so ended up scoring two free meals for tomorrow (as a show of regret for their follies I suppose) - but hey I am not complaining. And now I need sleep ...
A few more comments on Frankfurt Main airport - they have an outside observation deck; although I could not work out how to get there; but did see a lot of people milling about. It also features casinos but they seem to be rather empty (although being 11am could have had an impact on that point). And the airport is huge and there are literally queues of planes landing and taking off - it is quite a sight. But the fact remains, its a crap airport to wait for planes ...
Another point I forgot to mention in the last post - the pilot did a nice flyover round False Bay, Cape Point and Table Mountain - which was very cool to see from the air - although there was quite a bit of cloud cover by Cape Point. According to the pilot, this is a popular feature of the flight.
Lunch on the flight was better than the Cape Town flight but that does not really say much - a rather bland Roast Chicken fillet with roast potatoes, salad and and some fruit cake. At least they use real cutlery ;) No attractive female passengers next to me - just an old couple returning home - friendly though (and the old lady is reading Harry Potter). There seems to be a lot of Indians on this plane ... and many assume that I am also from India, which I find a bit amusing. And talking about food and Indian passengers ... can they be fussy. An old man and his wife across the aisle raised up a fuss about what constitutes a Hindu meal ... he settled for the chicken in the end which I found puzzling and polished off a few beers and a wine to boot. And for you wine connoisseurs, they serve it in plastic glasses .. not even in fake glasses like SAA!
Getting from the airport to the hotel proved to be costlier than I hoped and more time consuming to boot - still beat the price of a taxi directly from the airport. The only notable incident on the train - two teens playing Magic the Gathering on the train ... a game that I though took both a lot of space and a lot of time; but I last played it about 10 years ago. The hotel mixed up my reservation a bit - so ended up scoring two free meals for tomorrow (as a show of regret for their follies I suppose) - but hey I am not complaining. And now I need sleep ...
05 November 2005
Frankfurt: First Impressions
Aah ... 2 Euros for 15 minutes of WiFi ... on a more interesting note; Lufthansa flights to US and Asia have WiFi coverage in the plane ... must try it out just for novelty's sake. Hopefully next post will be from the sky ;)
Flight was long but comfy - hint - sit on the first row - you will get tons of leg space in economy! For the first time I can remember, I got a seat next to an attractive lady and not some drunken slob (like my US flight last year) or a hippie (also last year) (already off to a good start ;)). Had quite a good conversation - she was a golf journalist - covering some corporate golf event in Cape Town and talked about a lot of things - places to visit in Germany (Munich and Berlin - that's it apparently), perceptions on South Africa, sport etc. The food was not great ... so looks like there is no difference between SAA and Lufthansa on that front. And we talked about stupid translations ... Must Love Dogs was the flight movie (which I slept through) and the German title translated to "Woman with dog seeks man with heart". And you thought Hong Kong movie translations were bad.
Frankfurt is a crap airport - squat all to do. Contemplating buying a booking by Noam Chompsky ... but will they let me into DC if I have the book in my hand? Interesting notes:
1. Bins are separated for recycling - glass, packaging, paper and other.
2. Lots of cigarettes for sale at the duty free shops with some really morbid messages like "Smoking causes a painful death" or "Smoking Kills". Still selling a lot though ...
Flight was long but comfy - hint - sit on the first row - you will get tons of leg space in economy! For the first time I can remember, I got a seat next to an attractive lady and not some drunken slob (like my US flight last year) or a hippie (also last year) (already off to a good start ;)). Had quite a good conversation - she was a golf journalist - covering some corporate golf event in Cape Town and talked about a lot of things - places to visit in Germany (Munich and Berlin - that's it apparently), perceptions on South Africa, sport etc. The food was not great ... so looks like there is no difference between SAA and Lufthansa on that front. And we talked about stupid translations ... Must Love Dogs was the flight movie (which I slept through) and the German title translated to "Woman with dog seeks man with heart". And you thought Hong Kong movie translations were bad.
Frankfurt is a crap airport - squat all to do. Contemplating buying a booking by Noam Chompsky ... but will they let me into DC if I have the book in my hand? Interesting notes:
1. Bins are separated for recycling - glass, packaging, paper and other.
2. Lots of cigarettes for sale at the duty free shops with some really morbid messages like "Smoking causes a painful death" or "Smoking Kills". Still selling a lot though ...
03 November 2005
The Good Virus
On the eve of my departure to the US (if I followed Carl's habit of naming posts according to song, the title would have been Amerika ...) I was reminded of a chat I had with the passenger next to me on my way back from Zurich in July. The man was a professor in virology at the University f Harare, and while we talked a lot of politics and the "situation" in Zimbabwe; we also had a chat about other things; including viruses (or is it virii?) and the idea of a good virus.
The word virus has a bad reputation - both in biology and in computer science. Viruses have a reputation of being parasites; bringing harm to their hosts and generally causing a nuisance. But, in my opinion they are under rated - and their basic power of how quickly they can be transmitted from host to host could be exploited for "good" purposes. Consider a potential vaccine for HIV - the easiest way to spread the vaccine would be to use a virus that can easily spread amongst the population - like a cold. Sure, it would not suit the purposed of the big pharmaceutical companies; but it would certainly be the easiest way to cure people. and viruses as cures are used already for flu vaccines etc anyway - shouldn't be too difficult.
The same mechanism could be used to patch security holes in computers - fix a bug with a virus - much more efficient than the current way of doing things. And all will hail the good virus ;)
The word virus has a bad reputation - both in biology and in computer science. Viruses have a reputation of being parasites; bringing harm to their hosts and generally causing a nuisance. But, in my opinion they are under rated - and their basic power of how quickly they can be transmitted from host to host could be exploited for "good" purposes. Consider a potential vaccine for HIV - the easiest way to spread the vaccine would be to use a virus that can easily spread amongst the population - like a cold. Sure, it would not suit the purposed of the big pharmaceutical companies; but it would certainly be the easiest way to cure people. and viruses as cures are used already for flu vaccines etc anyway - shouldn't be too difficult.
The same mechanism could be used to patch security holes in computers - fix a bug with a virus - much more efficient than the current way of doing things. And all will hail the good virus ;)
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