Author: Baldy

Are we footing the bill?

http://www.fin24.co.za/articles/default/display_article.aspx?Nav=ns&ArticleID=1518-25_1983078

Apparently Eskom is getting a R300m fine for the whole Koeberg/Western Cape power affair, due to an investigation finding that they have been negligent.  They will probably just pass this on to the consumer to foot the bill.

I totally disagree with this fine!

They should be getting rid of the people in upper management that has allowed this to happen.  That way the consumer does not get screwed over again, only the person/s responsible for the whole stuff-up.

Bring back corporal and capital punishment

News 24 blames the violence in school on the lack of empathy in teachers and a few other issues.  http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1970291,00.html.  I say that is crap!

The violence in schools can IMHO be attributed to the lack of any discipline in schools.  As someone who had corporal punishment as part of my upbringing at home and at school, I can honestly say it made me a better person.  Today's youth have no respect, and no discipline, because it is not enforced on them.  Sure, corporal punishment might have had a negative phsycological effect on a few, but for most it had only a positive effect.  When you did wrong and got caught, you knew what was coming.  Now you can do almost what you want, and the worst that will happen is that someone might have a bit of a talk with you.  PLEASE!

As for capital punishment, I think the current spate of violent crime speaks for itself.  The criminals know that if they get caught, they'll be out in a fairly short period of time, and there is no danger of losing your own life.  In a few other african countries, capital punishment is in place for any violent crime.  This would include someone pushing a kid of a bicycle to steal it.  Again, their crime statistics speak for itself, the criminals there know that the punishment is harsh, and therefore refrain from doing the crime.

Wake up Jon Qwelane

In his column on News24, http://www.news24.com/News24/Columnists/Jon_Qwelane/0,,2-1630-1633_1965414,00.html, Jon Qwelane states that he hopes Zuma wins his lawsuits against the South African media. 

For those of you who don't know, Zuma (our ex-debuty president) is suing the media for R61 million for defamation, after they reported on his rape case.

Jon maybe you should wake up!  Do you realise that if he wins his case, it will mean the end of free press in this country, it will also free up these "despicable little men of certain newspapers", as you call them, to sue you for defamation for calling them that.

Zuma brought most of what the media said upon himself with his ridiculous statements in court.  Let's leave it at that, and let the courts decide whether he has any leg to stand on.  I seriously doubt that any judge in his right mind will award the case to Zuma, but this is South Africa after all, and anything is possible.

When are the springboks going to get the basics right

Jake White finally lost a home game.  He blames a lack of experience, but I do not agree.  Our guys are still making basic handling errors, and they don't seem to be getting better at all.  Also our defense was poor, especially in the backline, where there were quite a number of missed first tackles.  You just cannot afford to make these mistakes at international level.

On the attacking side, our guys seem to be scared to be tackled.  Nine out of ten times the ball carrier will offload without drawing the defense.  This leaves the opposition free to cover the new ball carrier, and he gets taken out without making any progress.

When are we going to concentrate on getting the basics right before trying the rest?

Do the guys even train basic handling skills?  In my opinion you need to train this as often as possible to keep the skill sharpened.

Another thing that a lot of the commentators are mentioning is that Jake selects a lot of players out of their normal position.  Maybe the powers that be should be giving him more power of the provincial coaches, so that he can instruct them to try some of the players in other positions, so that he can see how they do, and not have to use an international match to experiment.

Maybe he can also get the provincial coaches to include the basic skills into their training methods.

 

Part of unofficial statistics

So, I’ve finally become part of statistics (unofficially, more about that further down).  Me and one of my teammates were riding out in the South of Johannesburg, trying to get in some base mileage before the next Vets tour in two weeks time.  When on the Eikenhof road two guys crossed the road in front of us, pointing a gun at us, and telling us to stop.  The one holding the gun asked for 50 bucks (looks like he knows the exact amount us cyclists normally carry on long rides).  I tried to get the money out of my pocket, but with the winter gloves on it is an impossible task.

The second guy came around behind me, took my hand out of my pocket, and helped himself to the money my mobile phone, and a packet of jelly babies.  And then started pushing the bike telling me to go.  I went slowly at first, listening for sounds behind me, because they hadn’t let my teammate go yet.  So I was kind of waiting for a shot, or shouting, or something, not wanting to look around in case they do start shooting then.  About 200 metres down the road I snuck a quick look, and very relieved saw my teammate not far behind me, also riding.

We carried on down the road and stopped at the police station about 10 km further.  When we told them we’d just been robbed at gunpoint, they looked up for a few seconds, and turned around and carried on talking amongst themselves.  Nice service SAPS.  Don’t tell me to at least report a crime, and then not even be willing to take down my statement or let me use your phone!

Maybe the police should have a website where we can report these crimes, without having to go to a police station, since they’re not going to do much anyway.  At least then we’ll have more accurate crime statistics in this country, and not the bullshit (this is my site, I can say what I want) they’re feeding us at the moment.

Assos clothing

Over the weekend I took the plunge and bought myself a pair of Assos longs to go ride on these cold winter mornings, and took them out for the first time this morning.  I can only say that they are worth every cent I spent!  It feels like you're floating in the air, not sitting on a bicycle seat, and not a hint of cold.  Temperatures were warmer this morning, with a minimum of 4 degrees, so I'll put them to the true test tomorrow morning with temperatures expected to go below zero.

I'll definitely be buying more items of this make, as the savings allow.