The mark of a true DJ…

Kitty’s party was on Saturday night. It was inside the Simons Town Naval Base. Two things struck me here.

1. Why do we spend so much any money on naval vessels for South Africa and then let people like me say “I’m here for the party” and drive right in… and I mean *in*! On our way out we got lost and ended up staring at huge friggen submarines just sitting there while we drove past. These things are big. Not USA nuclear submarine big, but still big enough to put a little frog in your throat as you run through what you’re going to say when stopped by 10 men with semi automatic assault rifles asking why the hell you are driving around “secure” parts of the naval base in your unofficial looking Polo.

2. You get two types of DJs in the world. Those whose names you recognise and those that have custom wooden boxes to carry the 400 cd’s they take to every gig. As a tribute to these legends of the underworld I present my top 10 ways to spot an underworld DJ.

1. Has home-made wooden boxes to carry the 400 CDs he carefully selected for this gig.

breathless.jpg2. Not only does he have the Kenny G Breathless CD, but he chooses to display it proudly as if it was some limited edition Vinyl of the Beatles before they were cool.

3. He will arrange all his gear out on the biggest table he can find and will have brought all manner of unnecessary equipment (FM Tuner etc) to the party… Because everyone knows, second to having a shit-ton of CDs with you, the next most impressive thing a DJ can do is have lots and lots of gear.

4. The speakers will be home made. The amplifier might be too but I couldn’t bring myself to look. There might also be an impressive array of home made or cash converters purchased “lights”.

5. He also has the latest Timberland.

6. Instead of playing a well know Tina Turner track, he will chose to bust out the one obscure Tina track that you have never heard, despite that road trip to Durban when you were 7 when your mom went through that Tina Turner phase.

7. He will play rave music… Not stuff that old people label as “rave music”, but actual, real deal rave music that the ex-ravers in the room recognize and start breaking out in a cold sweat over.

8. He will play Mambo Number 5 and the old lady in the wheelchair will wave her hands in the air like she just doesn’t give a fuck any more care.

9. He will have a helper, usually a younger relative who looks like he gets beaten up at school. This kid will be wearing his sunday best with his shirt tucked in. He will usually be found frantically searching through the 400 CDs looking for the Coolio – Gangstas Paradise CD… Despite the fact that this CD predates his birth. This is also known as child abuse. There is a small part of this child’s mind that is being infected with the idea that this is cool… that this is how he could make his millions and get the chicks. Child A-B-U-S-E.

10. Despite the shockingly random choice of music the people will be too drunk to notice and be shaking their whatnots on the dance floor.

Kitty it was totally rad seeing you and I can’t wait to spend more time with you before you go home.

j.

Things that make me smile…

Ever have one of those weeks when you just can’t stop smiling because the world is just being so damn inspirational?

Ok, so here’s my list of things I am currently happy about:

minicards.jpg1. My Moo Cards arrived: You have no idea how friggen happy I am with them. Moo is an inspirational company and yes, I would even consider living in London to be able to work there and learn from the Moo’inistas. Since everyone wanted to know, they cost $19.99 (R145) for 100 cards. Next time you see me ask for a moo card. I’ve even made my first Moo friend.

2. Civil Twilight made my day: So a couple of days ago I got a message on facebook to say that there was a CD waiting for me in Hout Bay… Apparently I was on the “list” of complementary CDs… getting a free CD is much more of a big deal when there are probably only a few in the country at the moment. Thanks boys. Much Appreciated! The album is awesome, my only fear is that I might wear out the CD. Check out their other video.

Civil Twilight Press Pics3. Mix two of my favourite things…: If I was into American football I could have called this one “mix three of my favourite things” because one of Civil Twilight’s songs, ‘Human’ will be featured on this Sunday’s special Superbowl episode of ‘House’ guest starring Academy Award winning actress Mira Sorvino. House is one of my favourites… so is Civil Twilight. Mira is ok. 😉

4. An awesome GeekDinner: The 6th GeekDinner took place in the cosy Sloppy Sams. I was MC for the evening and really enjoyed it. About 70 of us crammed into the tiny little restaurant and had an absolute blast. Thanks to everyone who helped out.

5. Friends: I guess it goes without saying that friends are important, but recently I’ve been finding my friends to be more than just important, they’ve been critical. Sometimes your friends can give you the kick in the bum you need to get your ducks in a row… Other times they just need to be there to make you laugh. Some friends are their to guide you, others to chide you and still others just to make you feel good about yourself. Tonight I’m going to see kitty! My long lost kitty from London!… Super stoked.

6. Synchronicity: A while back I was looking for a maid/domestic worker/housekeeper whatever you want to call them. I asked around the apartment building I live in and someone suggested an awesome woman called Nokulunga who’s been my angel for the past few months. I can’t tell you what a pleasure it is to come home to a clean apartment every friday. Anyways, the reason I’m mentioning this is because she’s looking for somewhere to work on mondays. She comes highly recommended.

7. Last but not least: As some of you may know, I’ve been seeing someone recently. Anything I say here will be dripping with cheese and I’d rather not put you all through that. Maybe I’ll just say yay!

Douglas Adams talking about The Internet 9 years ago…

Reading this reminds me how flipping awesome Douglas Adams was and how incredibly tragic it is that he’s not here with us any more, guiding us like a storytelling shaman, through this crazy mixed up world we call home.

This piece first appeared in the News Review section of The Sunday Times on August 29th 1999.

A couple of years or so ago I was a guest on Start The Week, and I was authoritatively informed by a very distinguished journalist that the whole Internet thing was just a silly fad like ham radio in the fifties, and that if I thought any different I was really a bit naïve. It is a very British trait – natural, perhaps, for a country which has lost an empire and found Mr Blobby – to be so suspicious of change.

But the change is real. I don’t think anybody would argue now that the Internet isn’t becoming a major factor in our lives. However, it’s very new to us. Newsreaders still feel it is worth a special and rather worrying mention if, for instance, a crime was planned by people ‘over the Internet.’ They don’t bother to mention when criminals use the telephone or the M4, or discuss their dastardly plans ‘over a cup of tea,’ though each of these was new and controversial in their day.

Then there’s the peculiar way in which certain BBC presenters and journalists (yes, Humphrys Snr., I’m looking at you) pronounce internet addresses. It goes ‘www DOT … bbc DOT… co DOT… uk SLASH… today SLASH…’ etc., and carries the implication that they have no idea what any of this new-fangled stuff is about, but that you lot out there will probably know what it means.

I suppose earlier generations had to sit through all this huffing and puffing with the invention of television, the phone, cinema, radio, the car, the bicycle, printing, the wheel and so on, but you would think we would learn the way these things work, which is this:

Read the rest of this article here

2 weeks of search terms

I finally did something that I really should have done a long long time ago. I installed Google Analytics on my personal blog. This is just short of 2 weeks worth of data.

A few things that suprised me.

  1. I didn’t expect to be getting this much search engine traffic
  2. I am suprised how many people search for things Computer Mania, Computicket and Nonna Lina and end up reading my blog. If you take Computer Mania as an example, every day almost 2 people search for “Computer Mania”, no doubt looking for a phone number etc, and end up reading my rant about their crappy service.
  3. I come up for some pretty weird search terms like “what to do when your computer takes a crap“. My answer to that is simple. Install an operating system that doesn’t poo on itself. My suggestion is Linux.
  4. I get some “interesting” traffic ending up at my penis enlargement email spam collection. Most of it has to do with either fetishes or worried men looking for answers to the “does size matter” question. Perhaps I’ll update that page with the search terms… I’ll keep this post clean.
  5. Did Alan Levin break his ankle?

The Results:

Computer Mania Related 26
Computicket Related 18
Alix Linux Related 10
Penis Size Related: 8
Ubuntu Gutsy Related 7
nonna lina 6
arbitrary user 5
cna.co.za related: 4
civil twilight human 2
krugmans grill 2
two faced bitch 2
aslam khan 1
neil garb 1
never had a bad day 1
pascal dornier 1
skye aspden 1
adsl provider for george frogfoot 1
alan levin breaks ankle 1
alcohol promotion girls 1
amphibian 1
animated picture of a boerewors roll 1
arbitrary 1
arbitrary meaning 1
average restaurant mark up 1
bad come in threes 1
bad luck 1
buy computer 1
buying a laptop computer 1
chilli chocolate steak 1
codecaine.co.za 1
cold calling free wine give me home address 1
computer resell 1
disturbing the peace 1
first aid mr muscle 1
food guru 1
funny picture of bush running in special olympics 1
futureshop reginal manager + complaints 1
ideas of setting up a new restaurant 1
mame arcade cabinet +south africa 1
mattress for exercise condense density 1
new ideas to do a restaurant 1
ok,please give me ideas to make money 1
pascal dornier 1
pictures inside the womb 1
pictures of physically retarded children 1
redhill simonstown 1
restaurant it system domain class ideas 1
restaurant review 1
restaurant review jobs 1
restaurant reviews 1
sharpeville massacre 1
shit 1
shit can this computer 1
shit to do on computer 1
user reviews 1
vodashop hout bay close times 1
vpxl 1
what is computing so shit 1
what to do when your computer takes a crap 1
where does luck come from 1
restaurant review costs 0

The positive power of a brand and a strong community

About 5 days ago we officially announced the upcoming GeekDinner… We’d left things a bit last minute because of everyone getting back to work late in Jan etc.

Anyways, cut to the chase, its been 5 days and we already have our quota of 70+ people on the wiki. As usual we had our original stalwarts; the addicts who added themselves 2 months ago when the new dinner’s page was created (before we had a date or venue), but we’ve picked up about 40 people in 4 days. (Not counting the maybes)

Capetonians are crap at arriving at things they say they’ll go to so we have quite a high last minute drop out rate; sometimes as high as 20% against the number on the wiki. It’s fine because that allows us to go over the venues allotted 70 seats. We’re currently on 72 “confirmed” with 13 “maybes”. I think we can safely let the “confirmed” number get to about 90 before we create a “waiting list”. ie. If you haven’t already done so, go sign up now.

Anyway, the point I’m trying to make is that we have a brand and a community that’s growing and making it easier and easier for us to put these things together. We’re always looking for people to lurk/participate on the planning mailing list, so if you feel like lurking, and perhaps maybe helping with some stuff, join the list.

Long weekend

Mo FireEggs Haust Ed… Long weekend. Totally Awesome though.

  • Drinks with Tania and Co
  • Sushi (and Beer) with Jonathan H. and Graham.
  • Drinks with Kira, TRACY PAYNE, Helene and Ex G2Aers.
  • Free beer, food and fire dancing at a winefarm in Franshoek.
  • Breakfast at Arnolds.
  • Canal Walk for too many hours.
  • Braai at Lourens’.
  • Interspersed with lots of Flight Of the Concorde “Rhymenocerous”

Totally Ossum.

Check out the pics. 

Frugal Fennel

GeekDinner Time.

Ok, so if you’ve never been to a GeekDinner, why not make 2008 the year when you start going. It’s hugely fun and can possibly maybe be a little bit educational… Did I mention that at the last GeekDinner we discussed what to do if the Queen of England happens to start flirting with you on Facebook?

31 January 2008, Sloppy Sams, 51a Somerset Road, Greenpoint. 19:00ish

It’s open to everyone, all ages, all genders and all levels of technical innefficiency.

As usual, sign up on the wiki.

The Cathedral and the Bazaar

Below is the opening chapter from the Cathedral and the Bazaar, an excellent book written by Eric S. Raymond in 1996. It attempts to explain how it is that thousands of people from all over the world can work on something as incredibly complex as an operating system kernel and end up with an excellent result. I read it many years ago and ran across it again today. Rereading the opening chapter encouraged me to read the entire book again. Note to those non-technical people reading this: CatB is not a technical book and is an incredibly interesting read for anyone interested in human psychology.

Linux is subversive. Who would have thought even five years ago (1991) that a world-class operating system could coalesce as if by magic out of part-time hacking by several thousand developers scattered all over the planet, connected only by the tenuous strands of the Internet?
Continue reading “The Cathedral and the Bazaar”

The freak brought a hammer…

Hammertime!Anyone who’s been to my flat a few times should know the freak from downstairs. He’s the resident conspiracy theorist nutjob who regularly knocks on my door threatening to call the cops unless I stop “moving the chairs around”. This happens regardless of whether I am in fact moving chairs around.

To give you some background; this is a guy who told Joe at Futurex that he likes fishing trade shows because they give away hats, told Jean that “they (we don’t know who) are out to get him” and told Neil (in the lift) that he steals things from the flats of people who have moved out.

Needless to say, he’s not a fun guy to have at parties, and to be honest, perhaps even a little scary.

So today while I sat at the dinner table with some friends having a quiet dinner he knocks on the door…We open it. He has a hammer and tells me to “get a carpet or else”… perhaps he brought the hammer to help install a carpet? or perhaps the hammer was part of the “or else” option? However I don’t want a carpet. I like my wooden floors.

Anyway, I calmly told him to leave while encouraging him to follow through on his threat of phoning the police and reporting me for disturbing the peace. Did I mention that he was only wearing shorts? I had impressionable females in the the room and he’s half naked and wielding a hammer… and I’m disturbing the peace?

I tried to close the door but he pushed it back open and again threatened me. I have an amazing ability to stay calm in situations like this but to be honest I was a little scared since he was giving me the crazy eyes. However slightly deeper than my desire of self preservation was a small hope that he would in fact take a swing at me — “Claw Hammer Wound” is the journalistic equivalent of a Home Run. I eventually got the door closed and sat back down to try and enjoy the rest of my dinner.

After discussing it thoroughly with the dinnersphere we decided it would be best if I reported it to the police. He might be harmless… he might be a psychopath. So tomorrow I will take a drive and make a report… I’m not sure if it constitutes “assault” but it must come pretty damn close. I’d really just like it if he never knocked on my door again.

Until then: if I am discovered dead in my bed with head trauma caused by a blunt object, have a look in 404 Schoonmill, I think you’ll find a claw hammer with traces of of my DNA on it.

ath.