Great views, missing 7de Laan and a question of brotherhood: Tales from another long cycle ride

This is unfortunately not a phlog. After barely 5 hours sleep, and a rush to meet Hans-Peter in Rondebosch (because of running a bit late), the camera was sadly left behind. Yet again, Reinhardt decided not to join us for another crazy (but shorter) cycle trip; but gave no reasons this time around.

During the past week or so, Hans-Peter and I considered going to Hout Bay over Constantia Nek. However, considering the sizable uphill trek back to Constantia Nek, I convinced Hans-Peter, that it would be better to cycle through Chapman's Peak, into Fish Hoek and there after, depending on time, cycle back to Rondebosch or take a train like our last mad trip.

The weather was near perfect, with no wind. But there was quite a heavy cloud cover, so it was a bit on the chilly side, and Hans-Peter was hoping to catch a tan - but the sun never really shone through. The first part of the trip to Constantia Nek was surprisingly not too tough (with Hans-Peter showing his higher fitness levels by making it up the hill by Kirstenbosch without stopping in his first attempt). Except for the mad bus drivers that drive at seemingly insane speeds through the narrow roads, there isn't much to say. The ride down the hill was a lot of fun, esp with the surprising lack of other road users.

The cycle up Chapman's Peak was not as demanding as I initially feared, although we did make a few stops to admire the scenery. It was also quite pleasing that cyclists do not have to pay toll fees for the road. The cycle down from Chapman's Peak was even more fun, especially as we frequently broke the posted speed limit, and even caught up with a few cars that had passed us previously. In fact, the entire ride was worth it from that downhill alone. We stopped briefly at a farm stall in Noerdhoek, primarily to clarify directions, but I can testify that they make awesome chocolate chip muffins.

The ride into Fish Hoek was surprisingly short, and the only notable event was the naming of the side streets that whizzed by. I think the numbering started about 20, counting downwards as we approached Fish Hoek ... 20^de Laan, 19^de Laan etc. except when it came to 7 ... for some reason, it was 7^th Avenue - and the sign was the same on both sides; so doesn't seem to be a case of Afrikaans and English names ... maybe a bit more practical road name changes?

We stopped for Pizza at Lakeside ... can't really say it was brilliant, but it was not bad. Afterwards, there was a very curious boy (about 6/7 years old) who was asking Hans-Peter few questions about his bike, like how the bike chain works and where he could acquire one for his bike. But it was the last question, that really brought a smile ... when he asked whether Hans-Peter and I were brothers or just friends. I think Hans Peter should have answered that we were brothers ... just to see what he would have asked next.

For the record, the trip was just over 60Km, and we covered it at an average of 17.1 Km/H ... still not good enough for the Argus, as it does not consider the rest periods, but not a bad time.

Look busy

Came across this link while looking for flights for my US/Scotland trip in October/November ... brilliant I think ...

SATNAC Reflections - 2006

So, SATNAC 2006 just finished, and once again, there was a whole lot of good food (actually food at Moyo, the opening function, can be considered heavenly) and some amazing entertainment, including Watershed at the closing function last night. And for a change, and quite surprisingly, the academic content, in my opinion has improved; with some very interesting presentations. However, most of the presentations were still not relevant to my line of research.

Health Fad takes a twist

I was buy stuff at the supermarket yesterday, when I noticed that one company has introduced gourmet yoghurt of sorts called "Bliss". Now, I love yoghurt ... always have, so I was naturally a sucker to try it out. Basically, double cream yoghurt with chocolate and cherries - tasted great though; but certainly no longer in the health food camp.

Movie: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift

The Fast and the Furious series has always been very entertaining; not because of the brain dead plot; but because of the eye candy - great cars, awesome car chases and tons of hot babes. All things considered, the latest movie is probably the best of the lot; the plot is still simple, but atleast makes some sense; the car chases are really amazing, together with an awesome sound track - and the number of babes on the screen are probably higher than ever before. If nothing else, the movie is worth it for the car chases alone; it is by no means a cinema classic; but I don't think it was ever meant to be one.

Movie: Thank you for smoking

It is possibly one of the best movies I have seen this year. It is a brilliant satire on the life of spin masters, in this case Tobacco - but at the same time a story on the essence of argument. And unlike the great Monty Python skit, the arguments are not about contradictions. The acting is superb, the story is brilliant; and if nothing else; the opening credits is worth it alone.

a phlog ...

By popular demand ... a picture of my wheels ...


And while we are at it; went up to signal hill yesterday to take a picture of Robben Islandm for a photo competition ... anyway it was a beautiful sunset ...

Greatest Movie Posters

http://www.independentcritics.com/columns/tc-bestmovieposters.htm

Don't agree with all the choices; but yeah - on the whole, spot on.

Movie: Miami Vice

I have never watched a full episode of the TV series, so I did not really go into the movie expecting much. And to be honest; the movie was crap - in summary it was a movie about nothing. Because, nothing really ever happens in the movie. There are no twists; there is hardly any character development; and even the plot is utterly stupid; because there is neither a sad nor a happy ending ... you leave the movie feeling ... what was that all about?

The only redeeming quality of the entire movie is the shootout at the end; it is brilliantly shot and edited. That, and the soundtrack is pretty good. Otherwise, it's a waste of time.

Movie: Pirates of the Caribbean - Dead Man's Chest

First and foremost; this is a very entertaining movie - with great action sequences (esp the long sword fights), awesome effects and a generally coherent storyline (simple, but effective). Also, unlike the first movie, this one seems to focus a lot more on William Turner (Orlando Bloom) than on Captain Jack Sparrow (Johnny Depp).

The big problem with this movie, is the fact that it is effectively a long trailer for the 3^rd movie, and thus doesn't really have a proper ending as such. Also, some parts of the movie, notably the canibals, do not seem to have any major influences on the plot or on character development. Unless, they play a significant role in the 3rd movie; these segnment will just be a footnote on the whole series.

Overall, the movie was long; but entertaining. Unlike the first one, there was no amazing acting; and the story was unfinished. And, yes there is a scene at the end of the credits; but it is not worth waiting.

Movie: The Sentinel

It's a police/counter-terrorism/spy drama about nothing really. Except for a little side drama about the First Lady of the USA having an affair with her chief bodyguard in the secret service, the plot is rather bland (the said bodyguard is suspected to be involved in a plot to kill the president), a rip off of other similar dramas, but with big holes and stupid storyline. There are some swipes at the current administration, with the president having more success in the Middle East peace process and supporting the Kyoto Agreement; but Michael Douglas is too old to be an action hero; and this movie, while fun to watch, is not a movie that I would watch again, ever.

The Power of Nightmares

I finally finished watching "The Power of Nightmares" (also see here), a 3 part documentary made by the BBC in 2004. Basically, the documentary, in a style very similar to Michael Moore documentaries (except not funny), explores the relationships between modern politics and terrorism. In particular, it alleges that in the West at least, politicians are now seen only as managers of public life, not grand visionaries who will usher in a new fantastical future. Terrorism has become so hyped up nowadays, not because it is a new phenomenon, but because politicians have realised that they can use it as a new tool to promote themselves - as the people that will protect the public from terror and fear.

It is a very interesting documentary, because it manages to chronicle two of the most influential groups in modern politics - the American neo-conservatives and the Islamists, over the period of the last 30 years or so. But possibly one of the boldest claims in the documentary, is that Al Qaeda as we know it is largely fictional, and its power largely overhyped. The documentary alleges that Al Qaeda, as a term, was invented by the FBI in a trial in early 2001, largely to enable the FBI to try Osama bin Laden in absentia, because that is the only way they could make the charges stick. After 11/09/2001, Osama bin Laden used the term, only after it was used in news reports. Furthermore, the attacks might have been financed by Osama bin Laden, but he was not actually responsible for planning and co-ordinating the attacks.

The documentary also alleges that Al Qaeda is not really a terror network, and is actually a small group of Islamists. Yes, Osama bin Laden is largely responsible for financing many terror operations, but a large network of terror cells planning attacks in largely fictional. The documentary cites the Taliban recruiting and training militias (largely foreign) to fight in the Afghanistan civil war - not Al Qaeda. Also, bombing Tora Bora mountains and subsequent ground searches have yet to reveal a single Al Qaeda operative. With regards to the huge number of terror cells allegedly uncovered in the US; the documentary alleges that not a single one of them has been actually convicted of being a terror cell; and the accused have walked largely free, although some were convicted of some minor crimes.

The documentary aired before the 7 July London bombings; but the question remains. Are these bombers really part of a large terror network, or are they just a bunch of people who have their own grievances and have found this their best way of expression. This is a particularly interesting with regards to the recent airline hijack terror alert, because if the documentary is correct, then the people arrested yesterday are going to go free; because they were actually doing something less sinister.

Terrorism, whatever the definition is not new. As the archbishop of Jerusalem commented on BBC Hardtalk in this past week, one man's heroic action is another man's terrorism action. It is quite amazing how many plots seem to resemble Hollywood movie plots; leading to the question on whether these plots are actually anywhere near the truth. Prevention is better than cure; but the idea of catching people, because they might do something in the future is rather frightening. As in Minority Report - how do you know the soothsayers are correct?

High but not soaring

It has been a strange last two weeks ... one of my papers that I submitted to the DRM Workshop at the ACM Computer and Communications Security Conference was accepted. This was the same paper that was rejected at ISSA because of bad structure ... and to be honest, I thought this was my weakest paper of the three I did submit. The paper on last year's honours project (which I co-supervised) on a DRM controller on a Linux Kernel was rejected, although the reviews were quite positive. The paper I had very high hopes for, was also rejected, also with some very positive reviews, but the workshop chair wrote to me, and said that there was a lot of discussion on that paper ... so that was also quite positive. But I still feel down, because I thought it was one of my best piece of work to date.

---EDIT---
Another low: I desperately wanted to stop over in Brazil on my way to the USA, so that I could go to the last round of the 2006 F1 Championships - which is already a firecracker. But some one has booked out all the flights, so even though the rest of the trip is quite affordable ... getting to Sao Paulo is proving to be a problem.
---EDIT---

Another high: got a paper accepted at SATNAC, which admittedly, is not really held in high regards by many academics in South Africa. What is interesting however is that the paper was quite scathing on Vodacom ... one of the jewels in Telkom's crown - the main sponsor and organiser of SATNAC. I wonder how the presentation will go :p

Also another high, got my dad's old car ... so I finally got wheels. So, to all those who gave me lifts ... thank you! It was interesting driving down from Jozi on Thursday ... Free State is such a dull looking province (at least in winter). The drive through the Karoo and onwards was quite scenic though - the rains meant that there was a tinge of green and even blossoming fynbos. No pics unfortunately ... should have stopped more I suppose ...

Current Favourite Songs

According to Amarok on my home machine, the following 27 (sorted according to artist) are my current favorite songs from my music collection (approximately 5700 titles). It's a fairly acurate representation even though I do play music through other media players and then there is my iPod etc.Looking at it, it's quite an interesting mix, and reflects quite well my varied taste in music (though there is no classical or jazz numbers on the list). I am surprised that there are no Offspring songs on that list though.

And, I know I will take a lot of flak for the song that appears 2^nd on the list - but I can counter, that it is probably the only song that proves that she does have some vocal talent, and I do think it's good song. (I tried getting everything in a table, but that was a nightmare in formatting, and text is not any better ... so I am forced to show that I am a student, and do it reference style :p)

1. Black Eyed Peas: Let's Get Retarded
2. Britney Spears: Everytime
3. Dido : Thank you
4. DJ Cleo : Goodbye Feat. Dj What What
5. Eminem : My Dads Gone Crazy
6. Eminem : Stan - featuring Dido
7. Enigma: Return to Innocence
8. Evanescence: Going Under
9. Evanescence: My Immortal
10. Freshlyground: I'd Like
11. Goo Goo Dolls: Iris
12. Guns N' Roses: Knockin' on Heaven's Door
13. Mafikizolo: Ndihamba Nawe
14. Metallica: Whiskey In The Jar
15. Metallica: The Unforgiven II
16. Nancy Sinatra: Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)
17. Ray Charles: Hit The Road Jack
18. Robert Miles: Children
19. Scatman : Scatman's world
20. Seether: Broken (Feat. Amy Lee)
21. Seether: Remedy
22. Spingbock Nude Girls: Blue eyes
23. Springbok Nude Girls: Bubblegum On My Boots
24. The White Stripes: Seven Nation Army
25. U2 : Beautiful Day
26. U2: Sunday Bloody Sunday
27. Vanessa Mae: Contradanza

Living on the edge

I was curious to see how long my battery would last ... carried on full strength (strong backlight, no CPU throttling) for at least 5 minutes after my battery indicator said it was dead ... wonder where the power came from ...

Scoring Goals

So, Kaiser Chiefs won the Vodacom Challenge against Manchester United over the weekend, on penalties. Admittedly, it was their second side made up of a number of young players but it was a good performance by the Chiefs. Other than Fernadez's keeping at the goals, one thing that stood out for me in the entire competition was the lack of goals by both of the South African sides - Kaiser Chiefs and Orlando Pirates. In fact, between them, they only scored one goal (Kaiser Chiefs against Orlando Pirates). This is not a new problem for South African sides - remember the African Cup of Nations earlier this year - South Africa did not score a goal in three matches back then either.

This is actually in stark contrast to Banyana Banyana (the ladies side), whose game I caught on TV while avoiding other things I could have been doing. In a qualifier match (I think for the African Cup of Nations) against Tanzania, they won 3-0, with two breath taking goals, especially the last one in the 93rd minute from a corner curling into the top of the near post, which the defender could only head into the goal. So goals in South African football - probably only from Banyana Banyana.

Microsoft Playing Fair?

From dedicated tech sites like CNet to mainstream media like The Seattle Times, the word is that Microsoft are adopting 12 principles towards more competitive practices with Vista. No doubt, the fines lobbied by the EU totaling to almost a billion Euros had something to do with it, but the question remains - how much of this is publicity, and how much of this is actually going to happen.

The question really is, can I buy Windows Vista, the operating system without crap like IE, Outlook Express, Solitaire (and the other Windows games), Media Player and all the other GB worth of bloatware? Windows Vista is reputed to have a massive installation base, but if this is true, a slim down version of windows at a slimed down price ... then Linux and other OO variants will have to really think fresh ... On the other hand, it could also usher in a new era of true interoperability. Somehow, I just don't see it happening.

Morning Radio Blues

I used to be a big fan of Mark Gillman. In fact, my alarm clock radio thingie is tuned to 5FM for this reason. But off course, Mark Gillman is gone from 5FM, and his replacement, Gareth Cliff is crap. So, I ask, are there any good breakfast shows on radio - specifically, something that won't put me back to sleep? I promise to try all suggested shows.

Movie: Swing Vote

Abortion is probably the most contentious (and in my opinion interesting) legal battle ever, more than the death penalty. In the USA, abortion was legalised in a now famous ruling referred to as "Roe vs Wade". Since then, the anti abortion movement (pro life) has been fighting to overturn the decision, and in many cases, this has been one of the tickets that republican presidents (like Dubya) have run on, and will probably continue to run on.

The movie plotline is simple, Roe vs Wade was overturned, and a state made abortion equivalent to murder 1. A woman is charged with murder 1 after aborting, and the case has moved back to the Supreme Court. A new hot shot trial attorney has just been sworn in as a supreme court judge, and thus the decision needs to be re-affirmed or over turned.

There are no new arguments, although it is a very balanced presentation of the problem posed by abortion, with some personal touches. And in many ways, the final decision reads a lot like our own rules governing abortion, like mandatory counseling.

I read a book on the subject once, a few years back, and it defined the pro life stance as an argument based on the "sanctity of life". The question it raised was - why is life sacred, and more particularly, why is human life sacred, and are some human lives more sacred than others?

Movie: Superman Returns

It was not a conscious decision to watch two movies dealing with polyamorous love in the same afternoon - although the relationship in this case is a lot more of a love triangle. Superman (and his alter ego) loves Lois. Lois loves Superman (but not the alter ego). Lois loves Richard. Richard loves Lois. Yet another triad see ...

The movie, as expected is a CGI masterpiece, and like all superhero movies, riddled with plot holes, and sometimes stupid points. Right from the very beginning when Lex Luther, takes control over the Krypton crystals ... come on, an advanced civilisation without an access control policy?

But the movie was a lot of fun, although at about 2.5 hours, it's probably 30 minutes too long.

Movie: Separate Lies

Polyamory is a strange concept to most people, and the thought of having more than one love at the same time is probably weird, though I have never worked out why. And more importantly, why people should care that others are in a polyamorous relationship - maybe it's jealousy.

Polyamory is not the theme of the movie - the movie is primarily a murder mystery. But it is the unique triad that develops that is the real focus of the story - the married couple, and the wife's lover - all of them recognising each other's presence and role in their respective lives. The movie never really takes the ultimate step (from the view of the polygamy supporters), but it's probably the most acceptable position in the overall scheme of things.

As for the mystery itself - it's not really one. It is rather obvious, what makes the movie good is how the story is unfolded and the superbly brilliant acting. It's worth watching for that fact alone.

Movie: Natural Born Killers

Yes, it's an old movie. But it's one of the major Quentin Tarantino creation that I had not seen before this past weekend. A lot can be said about the theme and it's subsequent influence, including its possible influence in the Columbine Massacre. Yes, it's gory, and it is one of the few movies where the bad guys win, and in some perverted way you support the script writer's vision that the bad guys go free.

Murder for the thrill of it? First person shooters already practice it virtually. Embedded television as tanks and planes blow up real people into bits is already reality. So the thrill in killing - it seems real ... the question is how different is the movie to all this current reality?

Weird Food

Fancy eating camel humps? How about pig testicles or sea slugs? See http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/06/programmes_food_for_thought/html/1.stm for a visual delight :p

Signs, Walking and Public Transport

I was at the V&A to watch the F1 at Sports Cafe yesterday (I am a regular, they not only know my name - they reserve a table without even asking :P) and I noticed that V&A has set up walking routes in the V&A area. There are 4 different routes, well demarcated with explanations at interesting points, and the routes themselves have different themes. Thinking about it, Cape Town (the city itself) is quite a walking friendly city - there are a number of signs, most of which point the right way, and major areas like St George's Mall and Parliament Gardens have a lot of historical anecdotes etc - you can almost make a guided tour out of it! The V&A has gone even further with their noticeboards in a number of languages - English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Zulu (I guess it's Zulu and Xhosa), and a number of international languages like German and Japanese. Now, if this was extended to the rest of Cape Town - it would really make it unique.

Anyway, on my way back, I saw the first white guy driving a (minibus) taxi in cape Town yesterday. I don't know - it just seemed very weird ... it just seemed so unusual. The main thing I really wanted to talk about was the standard of driving by taxi drivers - forever criticised and demonised. I have had lots of good experiences in taxis, and since I don't drive - I am not really in a position to comment. When I do cycle, they are often the most respectful - and I think they are often criticised wrongly.

Anyway, one of the problems raised is how they often stop in the middle of nowhere - but thinking about it, and after some experiences in Jammie Shuttles, I don't think it's entirely their fault. It's often lazy customers who want to be dropped off or picked up at certain points that force this habit - and often people get very angry if they don't get their way. But I suppose, if every taxi driver stuck to their guns and only picked and dropped off people at designated points, then the situation would improve.

Kanye West

So Tim calls me on Wednesday night, and offers me a few (.. more than just a few) Golden Circle tickets to see Kanye West on Friday night. So after a SMS and email frenzy, I secured a number of tickets (although some people were left disappointed), and we were off to see the concert.

To be honest, I am not a great fan of hip hop - I like a few acts, but I am more of a rock fan than a hip hop fan. Admittedly, Kanye West is not the average hip hop star - more known as a producer than a singer, and even his show featured very little bling and had a very low stage presence.

Even before we got to the show, there was drama, but I think it's only fair for Sara to speak about it (if at all). The opening act was Lungelo, and although he was impressive, I cannot really say that he,, and his group, were impressive, I am not sure they were better than acts like Tumi and the Volume or Skwatta Kamp. It was a very energetic stage show though.

There was a long wait till the next act, which made many in the crowd quite impatient. As for the main show it self - I can say that there were a lot more screaming fans than at a rock concert, but Kanye West himself did not have a stage presence. What his show did have was some sort of a story, not a great one, but he did manage to string together his experiences as a producer with his own stuff in some type of logical order.

The really interesting feature of the show was the String Band composed of a harp, two cellos, a violin and 3 violas (i think ... maybe it was 4 violins). Sara claims that the cellists were a bit off tune - can't really say - I couldn't really notice the difference. The backing vocals were quite good (and some might say better than the main vocals) but what really stole the show was the DJ - he was brilliant.

Overall, I don't think I would have really paid to watch Kanye West - but I did enjoy the show. So thanks Tim for the tickets!

Weekend starts on Thursday ...

So, I have just returned from the 6^th Information Security South Africa conference (my 3^rd) in Sandton. To be honest, this was a very disappointing conference - the quality of many of the papers in the conference, was poor, and as I blogged earlier, the reviewing was very poor, and I wasn't the only one complaining. Furthermore,half the conference was taken up by industry presentations, which had very little value - and some of the industry attendees I spoke to weren't impressed either. So like SATNAC last year, this was yet another South African conference that left a "well, that was a waste of time" feeling.

Anyway, Thursday night was the conference Gala dinner, an occasion usually featuring good food and entertainment - and although we were not expecting a big name band like Mean Mr Mustard at SATNAC, we were expecting something interesting. We were instead treated to, what can be best described as "Medical Pop Idols", a show featuring songs and dances organised by medical students, friends of the program chair's daughter. Unfortunately, most of the show was rather uninspiring, and Reinhard's Mobile TV proved itself once again (although there wasn't much to watch on TV either)!

Anyway, after coffee, we decided to get out and see what the surrounding area has to offer, in the light of one of the resident attendees proclaiming that, in Gauteng, the weekend starts on Thursday. But, since we did not have a map, we decided not to stray too far ... We discovered, very quickly, two things:

• Jo'burg seems to have very few street lights


• There are some really high speed bumps in Jo'burg

Furthermore, other than petrol stations, only News Cafe, Teasers and a Fontana Chicken Roastery, there was nothing else open. Phoning friends who stayed (or used to stay) in Jo'burg didn't help either - and so we decided, that while the weekend might start on Thursday, but no in Sandton/Rivonia/Morningside.

Red Lights and Car Shopping

Over the weekend, I was visiting my family in Gabarone, before heading off to ISSA 2006 (where I am currently, bored out of my mind with the corporate crap). One of the interesting things about Botswana, is the price of second hand cars, which are on average 30 - 70% cheaper than South Africa. After all where, will you get a 1998 Lexus with relatively low mileage for about R50 000? The reason off course is simple - most of the cars are imported from the Far East, like Japan and Singapore, who have a high replacement rate and have very high taxes for second hand cars. And even with a huge number of importers, the variance on car prices is quite low, although the selection is quite limited.

Unfortunately, I will not be getting any of those cars, but I should have wheels soon ... finally. And on the note of driving - I noticed a rather strange phenomenon with regards to traffic lights in Gabarone. The change to the red light, it seems, stands for stop in the next 5 seconds, and not immediately - and cars just stream past the red light. And it seems that most drivers in Gabarone know this, as drivers hardly set off at the change to the green light!

Biased News?

In the last week, much has been said about SABC's supposed biased news coverage. I am not defending the SABC, but honestly, when has news coverage ever been unbiased? Even in the day of the Internet, the persons who have the biggest influence in how people learn of events around the world are the news editors. They have the power to decide which story is "newsworthy" and how much exposure the story should get. Coupled with the reporter's own views on the subject, limited time and space, news is hardly unbiased.

The best example of how varied the same story can be, is to read/listen/view the same subject delivered by different news organisations, and even then it's difficult to draw the correct picture. So the SABC is not alone, but maybe they have just taken it a bit too far ...

Cycling to Cape Point

Sometime last week, Hans-Peter, Reinhardt and I thought it would be a good idea to cycle all the way to Cape Point and back, so we decided on Sunday, with great weather prospects for the weekend. On Saturday night, Reinhardt chickened out, citing strong winds and a 50Km ride each way. HP and I decided to go anyway - and Reinhardt was (slightly) wrong on both counts.

The first half of the ride was quite good, at a very decent speed, without really needing to stop - though we did stop at St James and Glaincairn. Since HP had not come this way before, we even decided to stop at Boulders for a while. The ride upto the nature reserve was not too hard either, although we did stop a lot more. There was a slight breeze, but it was quite pleasant actually.

It all changed once we got inside the nature reserve - the wind speed really picked up, and made cycling uphill really really difficult. In fact, towards the very end, we ended up just walking up the last bit to the parking lot on top of Cape Point. We had lunch up at the restaurant, which was a bit over priced, but food wasn't too bad. After quite a long stop over (about 90 minutes), we cycled down to Cape of Good Hope, which was really living up to it's other name of Cape of Storms now.

Cycling back towards the entrance was interesting. Parts of the way, we did get some help with the wind on our backs, while other places, the crosswinds together with steepish hills and tired legs made it a lot tougher. There was an accident towards the entrance of the reserve (I think the driver of one of the vehicles was injured), and we were basically the only ones to get through (which drew lots of comments from the drivers who were blocked). Ironically, the wind died down once we were out of the reserve, and it was quite calm for our trip back.

We ended up only cycling to Simonstown and then catching a train. Firstly, it was already 17h30, and getting dark. Secondly we were too tired, and cycling another 30Km would have been quite difficult. So overall, we did about 90Km (hence a lot more than Reinhardt's prediction), in just under 6 hours of cycling. But the whole trip, with all the stops was about 9 hours - a whole day. It's by far the longest distance and time I have cycled in one go. It was a great day actually ... but I think we would have been able to cycle back if we didn't have to contend with the winds inside the reserve.

Sport on TV

As a concept, sport is pretty simple: a competition to determine who (or which group of people) are best at a certain task, usually associated with keeping fit (well my definition anyway). When it becomes complicated, is when people are willing to pay to watch other play sport, because then sport is no longer just a competition, but it is also entertainment. Big name sports draw money to the game, because there are a lot of people who want to watch those games, because the games are a social event, entertainment event etc.

In the past few months, there has been a quite storm developing in Cricket - players are starting to complain that they are playing too much - that they will not be able to perform on their best of their abilities all the time, because it will be mentally and physically challenging. Off course administrators see it differently, as they see whinging millionaires who want to work less for more and them missing out on the goldmine that is presented by the cricket watching billion plus viewers.

What neither side is looking at however is the spectators themselves - the very people that pay to watch the game. Right now there are two international series - West Indies vs India and England vs Sri Lanka, and because of the time differences, it is possible to watch televised cricket for about 18 hours a day! During the official cricket season, it is possible to watch televised cricket for the full 24 hours. The question becomes - who is watching?

It's not cricket only after all. There is football from the World Cup, there is motor racing, there is rugby, and a few other major televised sports. But people have to work, go to school, go socialise outside watching sports. Viewer number will drop, not because people are not interested, but because there is too much for too little time. Very soon, it will be the highlights shows that will draw the crowds and not the events themselves.

So, is there too much cricket right now? Personally yes - because it is coming to the point that, at most times, I don't bother other than just looking at the overall results and reading the match (or day) reports. I do not need to be entertained for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year ... then it will no longer be entertainment.

Railroads

As a kid, I really really liked trains and railroads. While I did not ever own proper model train kits, I had numerous smaller ones, which I regularly connected up to cover large parts of the house. In fact, the large family homes for both my parents in India, has access to large roofs and they all had train lines on them ... and so did the gardens, and ... you get the idea.

I have maintained my fascination with trains, although less with engines and carriages but more with the actual dynamics of making things work. It was the same when I was a kid - designing the route was more cooler than the actual train. Trains was also what hooked me into Transport Tycoon - and they were mostly all what I built (well I had planes to take passengers and mail, trains to take everything else). And the best part of transport tycoon was the complex scheduling mechanisms possible with signaling - although, getting it right was always a mission.

I got hold of Railroad Tycoon II (Platinum Edition) a while back from Dave Nunez's massive collection, but I only started playing it a few weeks back ... and I have been hooked. Initially, I found the game quite slow (until I worked out that you can change the speed ... duh) and quite uninteresting. But the latest scenarios have been eye catching - building railroads through the Alps, or the Orient Express, or across India.

Still there are parts of the game that are very unappealing. Firstly, routing is automatic, so I can't get to play with the signaling. Then there is some of the economic aspects - as an investor you cannot buy stocks of other railroads, nor invest more into your own railroad! And there are no tunnels!

I hear that Sid Meier is developing a new Railroad Tycoon - one with tunnels! Until then I will carry on with what I have ... currently building train lines across Australia ... but it's the last scenario that I am really looking forward to - building Cape to Cairo - a feat, as far as I know was never achieved. There is also a Railroad Tycoon 3 ... but since 4 is aparently so close round the corner .. might as well get that.

ISSA 2006

Well, I suppose I should be happy that I got a paper accepted at this year's conference; but to be honest, the standard of reviewing leaves a lot to be desired. I suppose part of it is bad gripes for not having a paper accepted as a full paper (it was accepted as a poster, and we subsequently withdrew it) - but I still think I got a raw deal out of it.

ISSA has only two reviewers, and the second reviewer for my paper started off praising the paper with comments like "a good paper clearly describes a significant problem, provides interesting solution" and "clearly presents advances beyond the related prior work". The reviewer then criticises my ordering of chapters and suggests a more traditional security paper layout where the security analysis is done before the design. I had it the other way round, since my new design was the subject of the paper, and I felt that a security analysis before the design was pointless ... but anyway. And then, the reviewer comments: "Do not accept the paper in the present format. To present as a paper authors should improve the manuscript", and rejects the paper! So it seems, that the entire paper was rejected because the reviewer did not like my layout :/

But overall, the review process was rather short and abrupt - only two reviewers, contributing about a page of review in total. This is clearly not to the standard that is seen at more prestigious conferences - I have had over 6 pages of review in most of the papers I have submitted to ACM or IFIP-Sec. And the reviewers' knowledge of the subject under review is also a bit suspect at times. And this seems to be the problem with most SA conferences - the review process is too shallow and I think that, ultimately, quality really suffers.

Bike Ride

So after a long time, I finally got back on my bike this weekend. With the good weather, and a long 1Km downhill after a relatively hard slow uphill, it was very enjoyable. The fact remains though, at this stage I am quite slow - managing only an average of 16Km/h over 24 kms on Sunday (though it was better than 15.3 Km/h over same distance on Saturday). If I remotely want to consider doing the Argus next year, I need to do atleast 20Km/h - and that will take some doing.

But regardless - the aim is to get fitter, and ejoy the downhill. Doing 47Km/h at the bottom of the hill by Wynberg Park was fun! And sunrise from Kirstenbosch was spectacular.

Awesome F1 Laps

This weekend is the British F1 race - fond memories from last year, when I actually watched the race from the famous Copse Corner! Saw this link on a F1 forum on Schumi's qualifying lap from 10 years back at Monaco ... it's amazing!

Goth Metal revisited

So a while back, I posted about a band called Barathrum. Anyway, I had some time recently, and decided to have a listen to album at the Look and Listen store ...

The music itself was quite good - sounded a bit like Metallica to be honest. But as for the songs themselves ... lets just say that they make Barry White sound smooth and angelic. Personally, I really had to restrain myself from bursting into laughter ... maybe their live act is interesting, but on CD, it just didn't work for me.

Movie: Proof

Initially, I did not really want to watch this movie, because I thought it would be yet another movie like "The Beautiful Mind". I am glad, that due to scheduling conflicts, I did go watch it. The acting was superb, and although the story was good. And unlike, the beautiful mind, which was a biopic, this dealt with a much shorter timeline, and was less complex.

But the question it poses has been bugging me since I watched it - there is a notion, that the best work academically is done by the young - the under 25's - and once a person goes past that age, it's all downhill. Yes, I am still 20 months away from that age, but that's not a very soothing feeling. Maybe 40 or 30 is not the age to be afraid of ...

Movie: X Men 3

Superhero movies are not that different to action movies, except for the facts that

1. They have cool characters that do things that you wish you could


2. Have some resemblance of a plot


3. A bad guy that wants to rule the world

Off course X-Men 3 fulfils all these criteria, and unlike most superhero plots, there are a lot more people who have super powers, which makes things a lot more interesting. But to be honest, the movie seemed to lack something, it was loud, with massive CG effects, but personally, it just did not click.

It's a lot of fun, but not a classic.

Car Auction

ABSA was holding a no reserve, repossesion auction in Milnerton, and sensing the opportunity for a bargain, I decided to attend. The variety was quite interesting in itself, from cars that were damaged beyond repair to cars that were almost brand new. I did go to the inspection on Wednesday, which was useful in identifying the cars that I could possibly bid for, but the ultimate test drive was not possible.

The auction itself was an interesting experience, and I noticed that some buyers ended up spending more than the car's reported trade value. But there were a lot of deals to be had, and quite a few cars were sold below half the reported trade value. Ultimately, I realised that my budget was a bit too small for the purpose of buying a car at an auction esp. as I was bidding against car dealers, but for more expensive cars, and an adequate budget, auctions could be a great place to pick up bargains.

African Film Festival at the Centre for African Studies

This week is aparently Africa Week, and in celebration, the Centre for African Studies is having 3 days of short films this week, mostly short documentaries (about 30 minutes in length). Today's lineup was all South African with "Little Miss Tiny", "My Son the Bride" and "The Spirit of the Uhadi".

The first film was about beauty pagents for kids, very wierd, and more in the style of something from Special Assignment/Carte Blanche etc. The second story was part tragic, part uplifting and quite humorous focussing on gay relationships in townships. However, I think both of these were quite amateurish in nature, and needed a lot more polish.

The last film was a documentary on Thandiswa Mazwai's quest to learn more about traditional Xhosa music and culture. For this, she went back to rural Transkei to learn from Madosini, one of the most well known artists in this genre. I had never heardof Madosini, but then she puts it best herself - she is more well known outside South Africa than inside, and a quick Google search reveals quite a bit of that ...

Heavy Metal, Shock Rock, Goth Metal etc

Two weeks ago, I came across an album by a Finnish band called Barathrum while looking for Seether's new album at the Cavendish Look and Listen. The album was called Okkult, and what really drew attention was their song titles like "Virgin Blood Spiller", "Bride of Lucifer" and "Whores of Hades". According to Wikipedia, they are a great band, but I can't find any of their songs online, and paying R180 is a bit steep for a music CD.

But the search for the Okkult album led me to another Finnish heavy metal group, Nightwish, and I was truly blown away. I don't think that they are not strictly heavy metal, as they feature a lot of opera, but the songs are just great.

The Finns seem to have a great number of these bands. There is off course The Rasmus, who were great at the Coca Colab Massive Mix, but they are pretty tame and ordinary when compared to the winners of this year's Eurovision contest - Lordi. I watched one of their videos online, and thought it was quite good. I would like to hear some more of them actually.

The past two weeks has also revealed some other shock rock/heavy metal bands, most notably the American band GWAR. Wikipedia has quite a good review of them, and their names really stand out.

So my appeal - anyone have albums from these bands? I have some Rasmus and Nightwish, but not much else ....

Movie: Mission Impossible 3

In general, action movies have a few criteria:

• Lots of explosions
• Lots of guns
• Car chases
• planes, helicopters and other vehicle stunts
• A roof chase scene
• Funky gadgets
• Lots of babes, either in distress or wielding guns; and finally
• a bad script

Except for the 2^nd to last point (there was only one beautiful woman in the movie IMO), MI-3 fulfils all of those criteria, especially with regards to roof top action. It's not a great movie, but it's not a bad action movie.

Stupid Windows

A picture is worth a thousand words ...

Sport and Development

Over the weekend, the UCT Badminton Club hosted the inaugural UCT Schools Challenge, a schools only badminton competition played in a cup format. I am quite proud of the turnout considering it was my pet project, and 66 boys and girls participated from about 10 different schools. It is my pet project, and like the UCT Open, I hope that it becomes an annual event.

Badminton was once a very popular sport at UCT, and during the bad old days of apartheid in the 70's, UCT was once the strongest clubs in the country featuring a number of South African players. In fact, the UCT Sports Team of the Year trophy is called the Doug Butterworth Trophy after a past chairperson of both the UCT Badminton club and the WP Badminton Association. But being a white dominated sport in the past has meant that the sport is in dire need of "transformation" in some parts of the country. Furthermore, because it is not a professional sport in South Africa, there is very little money in the sport. This is despite the fact that it is also an Olympic sport, but then look at swimming and sponsorship and it is easy to see that money only flows to Cricket, Rugby and Soccer.

Regardless of these hindrances, badminton is a huge sport in Oceanview, a predominantly coloured community in the Cape Flats. And there are two very good reasons for this. First and foremost is Dorian James, currently one of the top four South African players (and off course a two time winner of the UCT Open ;)). His rise to the top (and also his brother Enrico) has meant that the community has something to celebrate. Secondly is the involvement of Chris James and Francois Wessels in the development of the sport in the community, pushing it in to the schools. This has resulted in even more results with virtually the entire South African U19 squad coming from Oceanview.

It is the last fact that has really inspired other kids - to see that their friends have come to the level that they are traveling around the country and overseas. In the Schools Challenge, the largest percentage of the kids were from Oceanview, and they had teams in both the girls and boys semi-finals, with one of the boys teams loosing the final is a very close deciding match and one of the girls teams winning the finals. It is in them, that the results of development can really be seen, and ultimately measured.

F#$%*&@ Stormers

What a crappy sporting weekend ... Ferrari and Schumi gets beaten by Fernando the most boring grand prix of the year so far (resulting a crappy return on expenses for food at sports cafe). But it was spoilt already by the really pathetic performance of the Stormers in their Super 14 match against the Bulls. I mean, come on ... a maximum of 31 points deficit was all that was asked, but no ... all the Stormers could do was score 10 points and let in 43! And the Stormers players were bitching about not being included in the Springboks squad ... there is the reason! Admittedly part of the fault does lay in with the Sharks, first for not beating the Bulls and secondly for letting in the late try from the Western Force but rationality has never been a strong feature for sports supporters ;)

Movie: Inside Man

Spike Lee is a brilliant director, and in my opinion, he is one of the rare directors that has managed to merge entertainment with a distinct political viewpoint that often challenges the viewer's opinions on the subject matter. 25th Hour for example was about racism and xenophobia wrapped up in a story about drugs.

Inside Man is largely about a bank robbery - the ellusive, perfect bank robbery. But, there are so many other facets about the story - the treatment of victims, xenophobia and racism and the very touchy subject on profiting from the plight of others - in this case, profiting from Nazi clients during WW2. Until the end of the movie, this is not even the focus - but it is very much the central core of the movie, and like othe Spike Lee movies, this also raises uncomfortable questions - how much sympathy should we have for people (or companies) that made money out of exploitation. It is a touchy question, because some of the economic powerhouses are involved.

The movie cast is a list of mega stars - Denzel Washington, clive Owen, Willem Dafoe and Jodie Foster. It is a great story, very clever, well told and definitely ranks as one of the best movies about robberies.

Movie: Mrs Henderson Presents

Take a very rich, well connected, old lady (Judy Dench) who has been recently widowed. Since her only son was killed in WW1, she has basically got a lot of time and money but nothing to do. So she buys a theatre. And, because ordinary shows are not going to make as much money - she pulls her connections and debuts the show with a difference - nude still models around who the shows will run. In conservative London, this is a big hit - and once WW2 starts, it becomes more popular with all the young men off to the army.

That is the gist of the story - it is hilarious, well acted and has a nice, simple but sentimental story.

Movie: Brokeback Mountain

This movie is incredibly slow (as many movies in this genre are), it has beautiful cinematography, it has a great story - but because it is so slow, it is also incredibly boring. I can't really say more, because I spent more time fast forwarding (the DVD) than watching at some points,, and I think I know very well why Crash won best picture oscar - because it was entertaining also!

Telkom: The Ripoff

Also known as the "continued experiments with Skype"

So, I decided to arm myself with 10 Euros of Skype credit (the only ammount you can purchase) and try to phone some places - chief being my family back in India. To test it out however, I decided to call my Mom in Durban first. The 3 minute 19 sec call (just before 6pm) cost me 22 euro cents or approximately R1.67 according to xe.com. The quality was not great unfortunately, but was still audible, and understandable - although there were quite a few dropped packets.

Comparatively, if I used a Telkom Payphone, it would have cost me R4.50 on a Telkom pay phone and R2.66 on a land line. As for using a cell phone, it would have cost me just under R10 according to the rates on the Vodacom website. Thus, Skype beats all of them at the rates game!

As for India there was some serious lag ... about 4 to 5 seconds. But hell, the cost made it worth it.

Skype Conference and Laura Croft

So I had the Skype conference this morning, and it really went well. At least 3 hours of video conferencing with minimal lag (a few dropped packets here and there) - it was a pleasure. Presenting a 19 slide slideshow from 12 000 Km away was also very interesting, and it all went well. Off course having a receptive conference organiser was also part of the deal, and my thanks to the DMP for great organising!

As for Laura Croft ... totally unrelated really. I read an article at Wired today, where the writer discussed the idea that the success of Laura Croft is not necessarily due to horny teenage guys lusting over big boobs but more of the thrill of rescuing a woman from danger. It's quite an interesting read - and does ring true somewhat. But I still think, that the big boobs do have a big factor ... I don't think small boobs and an ugly face would have sold as well ....

Skype

So I have finally joined the Skype revolution, and boy was I impressed. Helped with the extra bandwidth allocation from ITS (I think) I had a long (over 30 minute) video call with absolutely no problems. My friend on the other end (Tobias) actually commented on the smoothness of my video link!

Anyway, the whole point of this Skype exercise is to participate over the Internet in the Digital Media Project (DMP)'s 10th General Assembly, where I have submitted a proposal that will hopefully be adopted as a standard! Due to financial reasons (cost was estimated about R15 000, which I had to pay by myself, and did not have at the time) I could not attend physically - so this Skype solution was proposed by the organisers.

Which brings me to my next pet project ... there are a lot of conferences in the world, and due to financial reasons, student participation from UCT at these conferences are minimal, restricted usually only if the student is presenting a paper (and even then I have known students not to get funding!). But, if research is to be truly "world class", participation at major conferences is a priority in many fields. And this is where Skype comes in. Skype seems very good at video (can even do full screen), and there is usually good bandwidth availability at conferences. Surely, it would therefore be easier to hookup a connection at these conferences and "broadcast" it back to UCT, where interested parties can then take part in the presentations and even forward questions to the speakers! This would be a step up from the blogging that Carl and I did from Siggraph and ACM-CCS respectively last year, and certainly more useful.

I know a few conferences might object, but assuming we have their blessing, this could certainly be a good step forward in engaging researchers around the world! So, as a start, I would like to invite anyone who is interested in the DMP to come around and join me (but I think it would be rather boring for most people). I am also willing to do a Skype broadcast from ISSA if anyone is interested and I am allowed to ...

Music: Superdan & Apocalypse Cows

Wednesday night was Sara's first gig as part of her new band - Supadan at the Mercury Lounge, and a whole bunch of us went along to support. Supadan themselves are not a new band, but it was the first time I have seen them live. The music is best described as Hip-Hop with quite a bit of Jazz and Rock influences. To be honest, the music was nothing special, and I thought the stage show as such does need a bit of work. But, it was very enjoyable, and I would love to go see them play again. I hope they sort out the reverb on Sara's mike though ... couldn't really hear her because of the reverb.

Apocalypse Cows was the band that followed Supadan, and they can be best described as heavy rock accompanying cacophony. Indeed, the lead singer very much reminded me of the bard Cacofonix in Asterix and Obelix. Whether he actually utters words into the microphone or its just one scream after another, is up for debate ... but we did not stay behind long enough to investigate. The only positive is that they had a good heavy rock sound (in terms of the music). But, they need to get a better singer or failing that, better songs.

Internet for the masses, Chuck Norris and the Wonders of the World

In an earlier post I mentioned the availability of free Internet access to all Cape Town library members. I didn't want to work yesterday morning, and took the opportunity to have a relook at the system at the Mowbray library. Incidentally, the company tasked with providing this service, Sm@rt Cape, is also rolling out trucks with PCs for the wider poorer communities in Cape Town.

The system is completely open source, using Firefox, Open Office 1.1 (should really be using Open Office 2.0 in my opinion) and runs on Linux in what seems like Enlightenment window manager for X. I didn't spend too much time on the system, but it was pretty easy to use, and I do not think it will require too much training to use. In particular, there is no need to learn complicated menu systems (there are no menus), and there is a clock counting down how long you have left on the system. I was however not impressed with the Internet speed, and websites took forever to load - so long that I just gave up in the end. The only other complaint I have is that there is no taskbar, something that could confuse a lot of novice users of the system who know how to multitask - but are not sure on how to get around multiple windows.

Later on in the afternoon, was the annual UCT RAG Floats Parade. For the second time in its 80 year history (first being last year), it was held on Main Road between Rondebosch and Mowbray. It was also held in the afternoon, and like last year, there was a mini carnival held at Mowbray Town Hall - this year featuring some top bands like the Finkelstiens and 340ml. From outside, the carnival was not much of a success - there was hardly anyone there, and to charge an entry fee for such a small carnival was suicidal in my opinion.

The floats this year were of poor quality this year, despite have longer time to actually do them. The amount of student participation in the floats was shocking (some floats barely had people in them), and most floats was rife with adverts from various companies. In fact, some residences went so far as making the company the subject of the float - definitely a sign of the modern times - but not really a wonder of the world.


Varietas' music dog was one of the best floats, featuring a spinning disc and lots of students, mostly playing various instruments. But a wonder of the world?



Chuck Norris made an appearance, with a number of Kopano boys strutting their stuff as Chuck Norris. I don't know (or understand) what the recent fascination with Chuck Norris comes from, but he appears to be everywhere.




EBE's (the engineering students) had some real engineering with a plane that could tilt from side to side. It was definitely one of the better floats. The Marquard space shuttle was small, but atleast they kept to the theme.



Smuts had the most commercial float - scoring not one but two sponsors. Whether McDonald's qualify as a wonder of the world can be debatable, but Scooters Pizza's 3 for 2 deal might just qualify ;)

Movie: V for Vendetta

In some ways, this is a movie with some very serious points, examining the effects of slowly giving away civil liberties in exchange for security. In this futuristic world, 1984 has come about because the public voted it in, scared by the prospects of terrorism. In many ways this new world is a lot like Nazi Germany, with a high chancellor (played briliantly by John Hurt), segragating people because of their sexuality and their religion. It is also a movie that briefly explores the issues concerning genetic engineering, and the masked hero V (played by Hugo Weaving of Mr Smith in the Matrix fame, and unlike other masked heroes, he never actually reveals his face) is a product of genetic engineering.

On the other hand, it is also an action movie, but the action never really dominates the movie, and neither does the special effects. Most people will go to watch the movie because it is an action movie, but the serious plot is the bedrock to the movie and it is rare to see a movie that can merge the action and the serious so flawlessly.

CocaCola Massive Mix

I first posted about the massive rock concert here. Since then, Metallica were added to the mix, the golden circle ticket price went up by R100, and it all took place on Saturday. It was by far the longest single music event I have been to (the Levi's AIDS concert series last year and Obs Fest were around 9 hours while 46664 was about 6 hours) and, in my opinion, featured the best lineup between the lot!

Of the locally based South African bands (i.e. excluding Seether), I found The Finkelstiens to be the best. Their performance was really bad while supporting Offspring, but Saturday brought back memories of their awesome performance at a beach festival in Durban about 3 years back. It is ironic, but looking back, I think their type of performance really works well with smaller crowds - mainly because of their on stage antics. Arno Carsten and Nude Porn were good, but it is nothing like their Springbok Nude Girls days. As for Seether, their songs were brilliant, but their stage presence was not really what I expected - rather lethargic to be honest. But that did not really detract from the actual music.

Of the international acts, Simple Plan were really awesome. Of the bands on show, they were the only band that I did not really know too much about; but their on stage performance, their interaction with the crowd were top notch. They also seem to have huge "teenage girls" fanclub considering the screaming going on. The Rasmus were also great, but sadly most of the crowd were not too familiar with their music, and as Sarai commented - we need to watch them in Europe to really appreciate their performance. Collective Soul were also great, but to be honest, I think most people were trying to regain their energy after Seether and preparing for Metallica.

Metallica started late by about 15 minutes, but the wait was worth it. Even a power problem minutes into their act (which brought down all the insturments) did not dampen any spirits and in fact every one just rocked harder. Their energy on the stage (I have never seen such an energetic bass guitarists ... Rob Trujillo puts most performers to shame on that front) was amazing, and they played for over two hours, mostly from their older albums, including a number of songs from Kill 'Em All.

It was a great night (and day), spoiled (only a bit) by some really rough moshers (if you can really call them that) and lazy assholes who wanted to try squeeze into the front because they couldn't be bothered to pitch up earlier. The organisation was awesome and the music was great - I hope 5FM (and others) can organise a similar concert next year! A special mention also to Quintin Cloud, a friend I made through the Paddock Club at AtlasF1, and eventually met on Saturday [yes those things actually happen ;)]

The Multilingual Salesman

On Tuesday evening, I went to the "A.R.T. Gallery" in Kalk Bay for the opening of a small photographic exhibition by Sean on his mad cycle trip from Kenya to Mozambique. While it was a small exhibition (featuring only a small subset of his photos), the quality was remarkable none the less, which was not really surprising, considering Sean is quite an accomplished photographer.

On the way back from Kalk Bay, I met a salesman at the station. The train was late and the few passengers got talking to pass the time. Turns out, that the salesman can speak at least six of the eleven South African languages fluently and also knows atleast 3 other foreign languages. The fact that he had a fluent conversation with four different people with four different languages (English, Afrikaans, Xhosa, Sesotho) did lend some credibility to his claims. Turns out, that while selling sweets and biscuits on the train is his job, he spends a lot of time teaching, without pay, languages esp Xhosa and Afrikaans at different primary schools. He is trying to get a proper teaching qualification so that he can actually make a proper job out of it and his ambition is to master every official language in South Africa.

It is a bold ambition, but it was amazing to meet someone who, despite his own difficulties (after all selling sweets cannot be that much of a decent living) has so much to give to others. In hindisght, I realise that I should have tried to at least get his name ...

Movie: Syriana

It's a complex movie, a bit like Traffic (no wonder ... same people) and Crash, with a number of different threads that all link up together. Unlike Crash however, the story is a lot more controversial, promoting the view that the US government through he backing of major oil companies are more interested in money and oil for the US rather than peace and stability in the world. It's not a new allegation, but the story is very powerful and features some superb acting esp. from Clooney. It is also a very "heavy" movie, and not exactly a fun, exciting movie - but then movies of this subject type are rarely fun and exciting.

Fallen Heroes and the American Cricket Fan

It did not even take a week before the South African cricket team came back to earth with a bang - loosing the first test match within 3 days. In my opinion, it all started with fear and wrong decisions -- after all, after a good night's rain (in fact it even rained early in the morning), heavy cloud cover -- all indications of a good bowlers wicket, why on earth would any one choose to bat? Understandably, Graeme Smith was wary of Shane Warne bowling on the last day -- but still -- if you are not going to take him on, why bother to play in the first place?



But to be fair, batting was slow going for both sides, and for once the bowlers had a good match. But regardless, it was pretty bad viewing for Saturday when Tim, Justin (Aaron's brother and a UCT Radio DJ) and I went in for the third day - hoping (actually more like praying) for a South African fightback. Alas, it was not to be - although bad umpiring decisions did not help the South African cause.



Justin's valiant effort in the rousing the crowd (with the help of an inflatable sheep and my big SA flag), was well, valiant. It did not help that the security guys seemed to be on a power trip - constantly taking down posters (ok they were a tad offensive including ... but the players laughed) and generally pissing everyone else off. As for the pictures, we started off sitting in the Oaks embankment (pic 1), but moved to railway embankment (on the opposite side) during the lunch interval (to get more shade). There was a large contingent of people wearing SAB gear ... presumably got a company day outing or something, and were one of the more vocal supporters.

We also met the unknown - American cricket fans (well the guy loved cricket, the two girls thought it was better than baseball but not as great as basketball or American football). Not the migratory Indians and Pakistanis who have made America their home - but born and bred American who also tend to like American Football and Basketball. One of the girls works for the US embassy in Turkmenistan and had quite a few interesting stories to tell about the country and its madcap dictator. I think Tim put her into a tight corner asking her about her opinions on US foreign policy, which she declined to answer.

[I had more pics, but uploading pics has been a nightmare ... so none of the "action" shots ;)]

Hero Gibbs se Babelas

That was just one of the headlines I saw this morning on my cycle ride, and for once, Zuma, baby Jordan and the powercuts were off the front page. Sunday's cricket match was remarkable - not only because of the number of runs scored, but also because of South Africa's spirited chase and victory. But Cricinfo's label of the match as the greatest ever ODI is just wrong in my opinion. After all, a cricket match is a battle between the batsmen and the bowlers, and in Sundays game, other than Nathan Bracken, bowlers did not even feature in the game. To be honest, I think that neither Gibbs nor Ponting really deserved the man of the match - because while their performances were good - it should be expected that at least one batsman will make a lot of runs on that pitch. On the other hand, Bracken took 5 of 14 wickets that fell on Sunday - a greater contribution percentage wise than any other player.

As for the greatest match - I think the 1999 semi final between SA and Australia still ranks as the best ODI ever - it featured everything about cricket - runs, wickets and great fielding.

Movie: The New World

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.

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.

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.

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 ...

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.

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 ...

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 ;)

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:

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?

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.