M&G's spelling faux pas' turn racist ;-)

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Ha Ha! I know how easily this happens, but it's quite funny to see it happen ;-)

FireFox's inline spell checking has saved me many times from a similar fate of broadcasting my blunders to 1000's!

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I then resorted to ACSA's website which I remember having this information, but their websites are currently down... *sigh*

Resorting to phoning ACSA, I ended up with the following number for flight information:

It uses a voice recognition system to guide you through choices which made no mistakes and was above all, fast.

While an 0867 number may be premium rated, it was no doubt far cheaper and definitely faster and less painful than holding for Kulula's contact centre!

Now if ACSA they can just get their website working...

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I just encountered a weird problem which took a while to sort out, so I thought I would share.

If you are using symbolic links to ZIP files on your server, they will download fine in Firefox but not Internet Explorer (IE) if you are using GZip compression in Apache (mod_deflate).

To fix this, turn off compression for ZIP files (which should not need to be compressed further anyway) by adding the following line to your Apache configuration file(s) in the appropriate location:

# Don't compress ZIP files
SetEnvIfNoCase Request_URI \.(?:zip)$ no-gzip dont-vary

That will stop ZIP files from being GZipped and help IE to not fall over itself...

Hope this saves you some time.

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Every time I login to Telkom's eServices site to get my phone bill, I am met by this smiling face, which is in an of itself a pleasant sight, but I am constantly perplexed as to what gender the figure in the photo is!

At first glance, they look male... but then... I look again and the fair complexion, short spiky hair and hint of pierced ears give one pause for thought... it could easily be a female with short hair...

I then vacillate between the genders until eventually I give up and log in so that I can stop thinking about it!

What gender do you think this person is?

Afterthought:
Perhaps that was Telkom's intention in the first place; to have an image which all their clients can connect with on some level. A person who appears to be non-gender and non-race specific.

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ABSA's latest warning on their Internet Banking homepage takes Internet security perhaps a touch too far! :-D

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While I sadly am working for most of the day, the warm rays are motivating me to get off my ass and go for a run!

Chappies is looking well inviting...

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Three hospitals in Gauteng renamed - Mail & Guardian Online: The smart news source
- M&G Online

F*ck you very much, Brian Hlongwa!
F*ck you for wasting the tax payers money on something this stupid!
F*ck you for complicating the names of these 3 hospitals!
F*ck you for the ludicrous "clean break from the past" that these name changes represent! (Please explain how Johannesburg Academic, Pretoria Academic and Coronation have anything to do with the past?!?!)
F*ck you for not hearing the DA's objections!
F*ck you for alluding that people who would object to these name changes are not of sound mind!
F*ck you for stealing air from the intelligent people in this world!

You incompetent, money-wasting a$$hole!!

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Telkom says fixed-line business faces challenges
- M&G

Finally! Telkom's profits drop and the company is starting to feel some heat from competition!

It has taken far, far too long, but I am ever so glad that Telkom is being forced to start up their game and actually start delivering decent service at a decent price to an economically ravaged public.

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Tito hints at huge hike
- IOL

No more, Tito! No more!

South Africans (and indeed the world) are reeling in the face of economic hardship and I agree with Oelschig that raising interest rates will only worsen the situation and not improve it!

Tito (and the monetary policy committee) are looking at the picture in South Africa without taking into account the bigger picture of world economics.

I truly doubt that anything, anyone does will overly change their minds, but I hope to God that the rate only goes up by a max of 100 basis points!

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Smokers face jail threat in Zambia
- M&G Online

Jeez! I wish our government (and associated laws) were as progressive!

Public smoking really bothers me! Just the other night I was at a popular restaurant which runs a quiz nite. I have been going there for ages and, every now and again there are a few guys who smoke inside, but it is not enough that it really bothers anyone. Most people are considerate enough to go outside or to sit in a designated smoking area.

On this particular night though, it seemed like every 4^th person in the place was smoking in both smoking and non-smoking areas! Ventilation was extremely bad (everything was closed as it was cold) and the situation was further exaggerated by the fact that there was this pseudo-undercover, mobile-vending team there who were selling cigarettes from handbags!

It created a terrible passive smoking environment, so much so, that I had to go outside for fresh air quite frequently and absolutely reeked of smoke when I got home! Not to mention that I had to shower again to get the smell out of my hair and had to dump my clothes outside my room so that they wouldn't stink the place out.

It really was a most unpleasant experience and while I think smoking in general is very inconsiderate of your fellow man, I hold the restaurant responsible as they have signs clearly stating that no smoking is allowed inside, but don't bother to enforce it! I have raised this with the manager so I hope the situation improves next week.

If not, we'll have to see what the local police have to say about the situation...

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Mbeki off to Asia amid opposition outcry
- IOL

I have been saying for a number of years now, that Thabo Mbeki is a "cancer of this country". An impotent politician who is the silent killer of South Africa.

He's not an in-your-face militant or racist dictator like some of his African brethren, but nonetheless, he is these things, just in a more sinister, under-handed way.

In a way, I'm glad that he and his government are failing to respond to problems such as this xenophobic violence, as at least it serves to show to more South Africans, just how poisonous Mbeki and his ANC government are for this country.

I can only hope that his many failings will be remembered come voting time. I have no disillusions that their will be any other ruling party than the ANC for the foreseeable future, but I think that even a man as despicable as Jacob Zuma is a better choice for president than Thabo Mbeki.

Mbeki has failed on every major challenge that has faced his administration. Mbeki has failed every South African (and every person in South Africa) dismally, and I hope, that when his time is up, he will be remembered with disgust and disdain...

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http://www.wecansolveit.org/page/invite/taxtaf
- We Campaign

Support the campaign. It really is the least that one can do to help save the planet.

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Alex's streets run with blood
- IOL

This story sent shivers down my spine! Can you imagine the pure terror of being a Zimbabwean in Alexandra at the moment!!

Whether you are there illegally or not, no one deserves to die at the hands of a mob!

"The IQ of a mob is inversely proportional to the square of its size"
ie. The bigger the mod, the more stupid, violent and brazen it is.

I pray for speedy resolution to these xenophobic attacks! Godspeed to the police, reservists and medical officers in the area.

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'I knew I'd lost my family,' says Burma fisherman
- M&G Online

Everytime I think that life has dealt me a blow, I try to remember that there are many, many people in the world far less fortunate that me.

Like the Tsunami, this will serve as a harrowing reminder of how bad things can truly get!

I cannot begin to imagine the sheer pain and anguish of people such as this in Mynamar/Burma at the moment! It is truly heart-renching :-(

And even more sad that their stupid military junta is delaying aid to the country...

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Thieves hit Mbeki's residence
- M&G Online

Ha Ha! Even the president isn't immune to crime in South Africa ;-)

This isn't quite the level of (often violent) crime that the rest of South Africans are subject to on a daily basis, but maybe it might drive home to our wayward, useless, excuse of a president that there is indeed a crime problem and something needs to start being done about it!

This is actually an interesting approach...

I wonder if he would wake up and smell the crime statistics if he were hijacked or held up at gun point at his favourite restaurant...

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China recalls arms amid Zim crisis
- M&G Online

Finally! Some good news for Zimbabweans!

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Nigerian Senate slams South African crime
- M&G Online

There's a joke in here somewhere...

Something along the lines of:

"You know you have a serious crime problem when..."

"Nigeria issues a warning against travelling to your country!!"

"Ha Ha Ha!"

Sad, but true :-(

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I subscribe to the News24 Breaking News email alert, and I just received the most useless email alert I have ever received in my life! The email read:

Parreira resigns
South African soccer coach Carlos Alberta Parreira has officially resigned.
Click here to read the full report on News24

I naturally clicked on the link to get the whole story which read as follows:

"Johannesburg - South African soccer coach Carlos Alberta Parreira has resigned, AP has reported."

That's it! The "story" had the same content as the email! There was absolutely no point in me clicking through to see the "full report" on the site!

Surely, News24 should've gone to a bit more effort with this poor excuse for an article before they mailed it to 1000's of newsletter subscribers?!?

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I had an earth shattering, digital revelation today which led to a second earth shattering, digital revelation!

The first has the potential to improve a friend's digital business and the other has the potential to greatly improve my present and future business endeavours on the Internet.

It got me quite giddy with excitement such as I haven't been excited about something in a long time! (Which is of itself a fantastic thing!)

Unfortunately, sharing the details of this digital revelation with you, my reader, was not part of the revelation... Sorry ;-)

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