Category Archives: Uncategorized

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies When I introduce myself to students, I teach, I deal with the issue of white privilege straight away. I confess to being white and privileged. Relatively speaking and in the South African context, I am very privileged. You only need a net worth of about R4.2 million  ($233Continue reading “Ruminations on what it means to be rich”

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies During this last week that has been more chatter about South Africa being on the potholed road to becoming a failed state. There is a Bloomberg article suggesting the failed state destination is near. The author, Richard Cookson, is a former chief investment officer at Citi Private BankContinue reading “Ruminations on failing and failed states”

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies This last weekend Nerine and I caught up with two critically acclaimed movies of 2022. “Everything Everywhere All at Once” (EEAO), and “The Banshees of  Inisherin” (BOI).  EEAO cleaned up at the academy awards receiving 11 nominations and winning 7 Oscars while BOI received 9 nominations and wonContinue reading “Ruminations on everything everywhere all at once and coulda, woulda, shoulda”

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies Our household has been completely sucked in by Apple and it’s not a cheap option. The latest iPhone 14 entry level price is currently R20 000 ($1100) in South Africa. If you want an iPhone Pro Max with a terabyte of storage you are looking at double that.Continue reading “Ruminations on crime, cell phones and values”

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies This week something completely different and sentimental. In general, I am not one for spending too much time thinking about the past and having regrets about what I could have done, or I should have done. Of course, examining the past so that you don’t repeat the sameContinue reading “Ruminations on a moment in time”

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies This week some more eclectic philosophical ramblings from an ageing privileged white cisgender male with a colonial background on the taboo topic of politics. This week I have been marking several post-graduate student essays discussing the issues associated with the potential phasing out of coal in South AfricaContinue reading “Ruminations on worldviews, beliefs, and statism”

Artistic rendering of a potential colony on Mars Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies This week some eclectic philosophical ramblings from an ageing privileged white cisgender male with a colonial background.  I would suggest that the three questions posed in the heading are the three most fundamental strategic questions any country, organisation or companyContinue reading “What can we do? What should we do? What do we do?”

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies First, a self-indulgent digression before getting into gated communities. Why do I write this blog? Why indeed? I have some loyal groupies but unfortunately not the kind of groupies who throw their underwear onto the stage. At the other end of the spectrum, I have some critics whoContinue reading “Ruminations on gated communities”

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies This week I am back on the topic of energy and electricity and how this applies to cold beer and hedonism. In 2010, back in the days when there was much more reliable and cheap electricity, I made a hedonistic purchase when we moved into our current house.Continue reading “Ruminations on energy efficiency, hedonism, and beer”

Aweh dearly beloved fellow ruminants & groupies What is a stupid person? As one does these days, I decided to consult the sensational new world oracle ChatGPT. For those of you who don’t know ChatGPT is a simple online artificial intelligence chatbot created by openAI and released at the beginning of December 2022.  Microsoft hasContinue reading “Ruminations on stupid people”