Ed's Musings

FUD in Africa

2011-02-12T13:13:00.000+02:00

I recently read 'Blood River' by Tim Butcher. Very good book which I recommend to everyone. From a South African point of view his insights hit the nail on the head. The one thing we Saffers fear the most is that our beautiful land will be forced down the same path as [most] of the other countries in Africa. A dismal prospect. Someone said the other day that we are on page 4 of 'the book Mugabe

All Ye Takers. . .

2011-02-12T13:12:00.001+02:00

Ah all you takers, grabbing everything you can, as fast as you can. Indeed one day you will be able to say,"I got it all." But I doubt that you will still 'have it all' by then. What you forget is this: What goes around, comes around, and you cannot get away from it. It will happen to you as you have caused it to happen to others. Make no mistake, you might still have the fat bank account, the

Where is Web 2.0 going?

2011-02-12T13:12:00.000+02:00

My contact details are LinkedIn, my friends are on Facebook, I use Twitter to collect / throw things around faster, I TinyURL my links to shrink them, I have 7 blogs and 3 free websites, I use 2 on-line photo repositories and 3 on-line email accounts and my bookmarks are delicious. I Digg stuff, I Stumble over things, I use 4 different browsers - for various reasons, and have in excess of 30

How not to do business in Africa

2011-02-12T13:10:00.000+02:00

This is an illustration, or a parable, I cannot vouch for the accuracy of the information and I report it only as hearsay. A certain international financial aid organisation approved a grant to the government of a particular country, said grant to assist in an infrastructure upgrade designed to improve conditions in many areas. In this case the funds [some millions of US $] were earmarked for an

Charles Spurgeon: Morning devotion for Feb 9

2011-02-09T12:10:00.000+02:00

Morning, February Found this very instructional - every Christian should follow these guidelines [extracted from Charles Spurgeon's Morning and Evening devotionals]. “And David enquired of the Lord.” - 2 Samuel 5:23 When David made this enquiry he had just fought the Philistines, and gained a signal victory. The Philistines came up in great hosts, but, by the help of God, David had easily put

Satan's meeting

2011-02-08T03:25:00.000+02:00

Read this even if you're busy, make time and read it!!!!!!!!!! Satan called a worldwide convention of demons. In his opening address he said,'' We can't keep Christians from going to church. We can't keep them from reading their Bibles and knowing the truth. We can't even keep them from forming an intimate relationship with their saviour. Once they gain that connection with Jesus, our power

If this is where we're going I want in......

2008-08-05T13:41:00.000+02:00

Archinect : Features : ShowCase: LILYPAD Have a look at this offering from Belgium - probably the most innovative, all-encompassing solution anyone has come up with in a long while. By this I mean it would benefit a great many people for many years to come should it be seriously considered. One wonders how the powers-that-be will see this.

Protestant / Catholic

2008-05-26T12:51:00.000+02:00

If you ever want to get a real picture of Catholic charity read the book 'Angela's Ashes' by Frank McCourt. Scary. I think I'd rather have anything but this type of Catholic Charity.Having been brought up in a Baptist / Salvation Army home I have never come to grips with the Catholic view of things, but this book opened up my eyes to a number of serious issues, the first of which is guilt. It's

The Hyperwords Project

2008-04-23T09:36:00.000+02:00

The Hyperwords Project If you've been looking for some help with web research this is it. PLEASE get to this site and download the app - it opens up whole new worlds of possibility. Blogged with the Flock Browser

Loadshedding Blues

2008-04-01T14:35:00.000+02:00

The time is now 2:25 in the afternoon and I can download my emails for the first time today.I came into the office at 8:30 as usual and made a cup of coffee while my email replicated - or so I thought. The mail server in the UK was down, so I resolved to wait until the office there opened so I could replicate. When they came on line at around 9:30 here I sent a message requesting they take a look

Third Party Commissions

2008-02-14T09:02:00.000+02:00

Sooner or later anyone working in sales comes across the concept of 'Third Party Commissions' or TPC, otherwise known as the kick-back or, if you don't want to mince words, the bribe. Business people don't ever refer to it as a bribe though - the term is too concise, too revealing, and none of them want their good name connected to anything remotely questionable. How quaint, when one knows in

What is sin?

2008-02-13T13:18:00.000+02:00

Hey, this is not a question open to interpretation. In it's original [and only valid] meaning the phrase ' committing a sin' means ' doing something God hates'. Read Genesis...and the new testament for an expanded explanation. If you take offense to this meaning then PLEASE send me an email by clicking here, I will be happy to hear what you think is the meaning of this word, and to set you

That was a bit off.....

2008-02-13T13:04:00.000+02:00

Hey, this time it looks different! I can enter a title and then just update the text by typing. Goodliness only...... I would really like to take this opportunity to say something of great import - something that will change the lives of my readers [if any] if they merely happened to read what I write - but I can't think of anything, except for this: God made everything He made the rules If

Radio Stations or Who has the Power???

2007-11-19T15:54:00.000+02:00

This is another dig at the music industry - a sitting duck if ever there was one.I heard a comment on SA Idols recently - something about the most popular music is determined by the buying public. Now this is [if you think about it for half a minute] a totally misleading statement. [In fact it's a load of crud!].Why do I say this?The radio stations will tell you that they play what the public

The Music Industry = Suit City

2007-11-19T15:25:00.000+02:00

Having being involved in the South African music industry for over 20 years it is my sound conviction [excuse the pun] that it is run by a bunch of money-grubbing suits who's only interest are their own back pockets.Why do I say this?As an example: There is a man who goes by the name of Mr. Eric Gallo - yes, he of Gallo Records fame. He was extremely wealthy - I mean with REALLY deep pockets. He

Absolutes

2007-11-14T16:23:00.000+02:00

A college professor once said,''There are no absolutes.''. While this shows remarkable self-confidence and personal conviction I fear that he has missed the mark by a significant margin.You see, the problem is that most things you come across in this world are relative. Even truth is relative, depending on your viewpoint, and for some this is important, otherwise how could they justify their

eConfig error messages

2007-10-29T12:09:00.000+02:00

'No MSJVM'SolutionDownload and install the Microsoft Java Virtual Machine. This file is extremely hard to locate due to legal wrangling between SUN and Microsoft, and support for it is only available until Dec 2007, but it is available if you google long enough. Or just get it [here]. eConfig dependence on the MSJVM will no doubt be addressed by those responsible for it's ongoing development.'

Initial eConfig setup

2007-10-29T12:05:00.000+02:00

To install eConfig you need to have an IBM PartnerWorld login name and password. This is only available to IBM employees and members of their Business Partner community.epadmThis application can be troublesome when installing eConfig on a new roll-out. The process goes as follows: 1. Verify your java install here. 2. Download and install java version 1.4.2 [recommended]. Having experienced

eConfig setup Intro

2007-10-29T12:02:00.000+02:00

I have had issues with installing and running eConfig and consequently discovered that there is not a lot of help out there. Hence this page. Hopefully it will make someones life a little easier should they encounter similar problems. To find some of these solutions I had to dig really deep [sometimes to the extent of Google-translating Chinese websites], and as you can see, the solutions are

ThinkPad T60 clean install

2007-10-29T11:58:00.000+02:00

Please note: If you are planning to dual-boot Linux and WinXX then please install Windoze first - unless you like playing around with MBR recovery procedures [not documented here!] or reinstalling. Linux is designed for interoperability, and Windoze simply isn't.Linux installLenovo are showing some support for Linux on their website with details on installing, Linux compatibility etc. although

How does Larry O'Hanlon know this???

2007-07-09T15:09:00.000+02:00

Have a look at this page:Discovery Channel :: News - Space :: Black Hole Is Most Distant Ever FoundIn the first sentence Larry assumes that because the black hole is the most distant it must be the earliest one. This might be true if his second assumption [that we can see all of the universe from Earth] was correct. All this in the first sentence. Is this not being a little too self-assured?He

Importing Contacts into a Lotus Notes Address Book using vCard files

2007-06-11T15:14:00.000+02:00

If you have an Address Book which can export Contacts in vCard format:Open your Address BookSelect the relevant ContactsClick on Export [select vCard format]Give the file a nameIn Notes:Open the Address Book you want to add the Contacts toClick on FileClick on ImportSelect the relevant vCard fileClick OK.That's it.Powered by ScribeFire.

Leaders?

2007-05-21T16:14:00.000+02:00

The problem with the modern work environment is that it is usually populated by practising politicians, and more often than not ruled by pocket dictators. When it comes to attention-seeking the general rule of thumb is 'whoever shouts the loudest gets the most'. And in the work environment attention is critical to advancement.Think about this for a minute: If it wasn't for Adam's decision to

Managers

2007-05-21T16:04:00.000+02:00

The old saying "If you pay peanuts you get monkeys" is one incredible generalisation. It is much closer to the truth stated this way,"You get what you pay for". To give you an example: We have three subjects, all performing EXACTLY the same function; Employee No. 1 is paid a meagre wage, Employee No. 2 is moderately paid and Employee No. 3 is paid well for extra effort.Question: When it

Moving or migrating emails, To Do's and Calendar entries from one Lotus Notes mail file to another

2007-05-21T13:54:00.000+02:00

If your Lotus Notes mail file has become corrupted one solution is to create a new one on the mail-server. This is typically done by your sys-admin and may take some time [and arm-twisting]. Once the file has been created first open the Replication tab and unselect the tick-mark next to the old mail-file then open the new file in the Workspace page and replicate to create a local copy [from which