SHOOT

Troubled Americans> Facebook Parenting: For the troubled teen

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 23:41:02 PST

Personally the whole idea of a civilian carrying a weapon around and 'solving a problem' by shooting it is the sort of cavalier cowboy trailer trash mentality that too many unenlightened Americans are foisting on the world. Does it really solve problems, or does it teach that 'might is right'? Well, the pendulum swings, and when power shifts, careful of reaping the whirlwind. A better way of dealing with this would have been talking to his daughter in private, encouraging her...not giving her a lesson in spite and revenge. So she posted a message he didn't approve of on Facebook, he then did exactly the same. Kookoo!

Southern Hemisphere Moon

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 12:42:55 PST

Die Antwoord stun David Letterman

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 02:06:28 PST

I Fink You Freeky - Die Antwoord

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 23:26:45 PST

Signal To Noise

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 08:18:36 PST

Signal To Noise from Douglas Koke on Vimeo.

Why everyone should worry about Greece [via The Economist]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:06:17 PST

SHOOT: Perhaps the clamour about Greece has faded into a vague cliche by now, something to do with the words debt, default, Euro and currency. Sounds pretty harmless right? The Economist doesn't think so, hence the number of covers dedicated to a serious, and worsening financial mess in Europe. For reference, the European bloc of countries represents the world's largest trading bloc, it's GDP exceeds the USA. If the Euro fails, the world financial system collapses. It's that simple, and that terrible, and thus far, only platitudes are being used to defend against the rising tide of financial apocalypse.

May 1st 2010 The Greek debt crisis is spreading. Europe needs a bolder, broader solution—and quickly

July 10th 2010 Yes: the European Union will thrive if its leaders seize the moment in the same way they did 20 years ago

November 20th 2010 Ireland’s woes are largely of its own making but German bungling has made matters worse

December 4th 2010 The euro is proving horribly costly for some. A break-up would be even worse

January 15th 2011 The euro area’s bail-out strategy is not working. It is time for insolvent countries to restructure their debts

March 12th 2011 This may be remembered as the week Europe began to split apart. One woman could stop that

June 25th 2011 The opportunity for Europe’s leaders to avoid disaster is shrinking fast

July 16th 2011 By engulfing Italy, the euro crisis has entered a perilous new phase—with the single currency itself now at risk

September 17th 2011 It requires urgent action on a huge scale. Unless Germany rises to the challenge, disaster looms

October 1st 2011 Unless politicians act more boldly, the world economy will keep heading towards a black hole

October 29th 2011 This week’s summit was supposed to put an end to the euro crisis. It hasn’t

November 5th 2011 The markets are not the euro’s only threat. Voters may be too

November 26th 2011 Unless Germany and the ECB move quickly, the single currency’s collapse is looming.

The Economist in January: If no deal is in place by March 20th, when a big bond payment is due, Greece will be pushed into a chaotic default, which would increase the risk that the country is forced out of the euro. That is a frightening prospect. The ensuing chaos and contagion could fell the single currency, not least because Europe’s governments have made little progress on building a “firewall” around countries like Italy and Spain.

Read more.

My First Writing Machine

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 14:11:59 PST

True story, I got this hunk of junk when I was a wee teenager, closer to thirteen than to eighteen. Actually, I can't recall so much that it was ever given to me so much as that I was allowed to use it and then effectively (very effectively as it turned out) annexed it.

The crazy thing is that I started using this machine - known as a T Y P E W R I T E R - just as they were about to become extinct. Word processors were already around, and expensive. And worse, something called a C O M P U T E R was appearing, which, people claimed, could do a lot, including typewriting, a calculating, and digital games (what's that) and a whole lot more. But, even as the era on this machine was winding down, for a youngster like me, paper, typewriter ribbons and tippex (remember that stuff) was cheaper than a word processor and far cheaper than a computer, which required the machine itself, a separate TV like box, and a printer. Really, replacing one machine with three, and you had to plug them all in and into each other?

Not that my Olivetti was perfect. I recall keys jamming into each other if I typed too fast. (Funnily enough, there's an equivalent for that sort of thing on some computers too...) I type mostly with two or three fingers, although I've since learnt to type with all. So getting the letters jammed up in those days happened A LOT!

That white tippex smears under 'Olivetti' in the above image - yeah, that was me. I didn't just take this baby for a spin once or twice. It got so bad, I remember being threatened that it would be removed entirely if I didn't simply 'STOP'. On one occasion, when my brother was writing matriculation exams, I went to the far end of the garden and sat beside our aviary under a tree in order to allow him to conduct his studies within a modicum of peace and quiet. Despite a lawn roughly 30 metres long, it wasn't long enough to drown out the CLACK CLACK CLACKETY CLACK, and despite my self imposed asylum at my Encampment For Writing, my brother insisted that:

a) he could still hear me
and less plausibly b) that it was still disturbing him.

My parents, both of them, came to his aid, and I was ordered to maintain ~~Radio~~ Typewriter silence forthwith, as well as for the remainder of my long suffering brother's exams.

To this day my sister recalls sleepless nights - for the whole family - when a young me, surfing waves of inspiration, would surreptitiously (well, not quite), softly type a burgeoning masterpiece.
I remember weekends when friends of mine would hover at the door frame, urging me to join them for a burger or some other escapade, and without turning from my machine, I'd promise as soon as I'm done with this (I promise). Entire weekends were spent punching these round finger platforms, retyping an entire page after discovering, to my dismay, a glaring error that was beyond tippex, or a paragraph that needed to be drawn and quartered. Sometimes the work would stop in the wee hours of a Monday morning, sometimes even later, and I'd arrive late at school with no better excuse than that I'd been writing.

Curiously, when I was given essays to write at school, on the occasion that I'd covered the topic before on my own, I'd have to transcribe a typewritten piece to handwriting. Very quickly, my handwriting (something I won innumerable gold stars for once upon a time) was going to blazes. To give you an idea, the word 'the' started missing the 'h' and simply contained a a squiggle with a loop, resembling, I suppose, a spermatazoa suffering from a slight spastic colon in its midrif. I faced off against numerous teachers who accused me of misspelling 'the'. I suggested that I place the squiggle shorthand at the top of a page with an = sign and a painstakingly perfect 'the' beside it, but no one would buy that. I had to write 'the' and that was it.

But, I digress. Eventually I wrote my first and second novels on this Olivetti. I soon found that I couldn't write unless it was on the Olivetti. The deafening CLACK CLAKETY CLACK somehow solicited a constant stream of evocative musings, which were harder to come by in the unstimulating environment of a piece of paper and pen (which felt so arbitrary) or the somehow muted, disconnected experience of a computer (I type it here, it appears there, then I print it somewhere else as long as the system doesn't crash...Save, remember to save...).
So the second manuscript turned out to be partly handwritten, typed and word processed. Each transition took a horrible toll on my creative faculties, but somehow I adapted. It took 2 years to complete, and I finished the damn thing on the morning of my matric Science Exam (which I passed, barely).

In those late high school years I owned a ZX Spectrum computer (one of the world's first computers), and a Commodore 64 with a printer and monitor (probably birthday and Christmas presents). That last acquisition permanently ended my relationship with my First Writing Machine, and so it ended up gathering dust in my parents garage for the next 20 years.

Now, an antique, it is curious to pick the thing up. It weighs more than a television. Its keyboard seems curiously elevated, like the side of a pyramid, and the whole device looks like about 10 notebook computers crumpled on top of each other, but yet, it remains a machine capable only of typing, and incapable of performing the simplest task (such as 'delete'). Caps lock it can do. And typing in red, blue or black. But you can't change a font. On the plus side, it doesn't need electricity to work.

As simple as this device is, it has a beauty about it, doesn't it, that many ancient contraptions have, and let's face it, modern devices lack. You may gush about Apple machines, but if you think about it, it's enthusiasm over clinical white surfaces, sterile, glossy cubes and disks. Do these machines have a soul? Or do they merely entertain? Are they merely functional? Oh, that's an accusation that isn't fair, the Olivetti was built to be functional too. As time goes by, our fondness for the old seems to appreciate. Right now, some computer systems are being retired, like Windows XP. I know I will miss that old processor, just like this one, with a fondness that came with using it plenty, and getting the job done.

Nick van der Leek: Business Card with contact details including email and cell number

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:23:26 PST

Real World Test Drive BMW 750Li x Drive 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 18:10:58 PST

Kate Beckinsale [PHOTOS]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 14:05:48 PST

Counterstrike - Global Offensive

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:58:28 PST

Looks like some great upgrades to the old classic.

Callista [PHOTOGRAPHY]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 14:28:27 PST

Make 2012 Great - Tony Robbins

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 02:17:33 PST

There are always two pains in life - the pain of discipline, and the pain of regret. Discipline weighs ounces, regret weighs tons.

Euro Debt Crisis [INFOGRAPHIC]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 13:19:56 PST

via

Wild Coast [PHOTOGRAPHY]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 12:02:56 PST

Ridley Scott's latest Alien flick: PROMETHEUS [HD]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 03:12:35 PST

The Hobbit [HD Trailer]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 12:10:00 PST

Conjoined Twins, Abby & Brittany Hensel

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 16:40:11 PST

Here's the list of shared and separate organs:
•2 heads
•2 completely separate spinal cords
•2 spines with ribs bridging the two columns
•2 arms (originally 3, but rudimentary central arm was surgically removed, leaving central shoulder blade in place)
•1 broad ribcage, with surgery to correct scoliosis and expand the pleural cavities
•2 breasts
•2 highly fused sternums, traces of bridging ribs
•4 lungs (medial lungs moderately fused, not involving Brittany's upper right lobe); three pleural cavities
•1 diaphragm with well-coordinated involuntary breathing, slight central defect
•2 hearts in a shared circulatory system (nutrition, respiration, medicine taken by either affects both)
•2 stomachs
•2 gallbladders
•1 liver, enlarged and elongated right lobe
•Y-shaped small intestine which experiences a slightly spastic double peristalsis at the juncture
•1 large intestine with one colon
•2 left kidneys, 1 right kidney
•1 bladder
•1 set of reproductive organs
•2 separate half-sacrums, which converge distally
•1 slightly broad pelvis
•2 legs

And recently Brittany got engaged...Read more.

De Zeekoe's Meerkat Man - published in AboutTime [Dec 2011]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Tue, 20 Dec 2011 09:49:50 PST

Cute Dad and Daughter Duo singing

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Sun, 18 Dec 2011 13:43:11 PST

A Penetrating look through the Milk Way

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 06:38:39 PST

Article for Absa Capital internal magazine [Published 15th December 2011]

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 16:55:27 PST

Free State Family Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:15:05 PST

Commercial Space Travel - it's coming...

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 14:21:46 PST

CANON vs NIKON

noreply@blogger.com (Nick van der Leek) — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 07:57:08 PST

Isn't Nikon usually more expensive than Canon?