It’s MY social media site isn’t it? 
Science & Tech
I’ve always had my suspicions about social 
networking and its effects on human behaviour. I mean, surely it can’t be too healthy to post regular updates about your thoughts and movements, or spend seven hours a day in front of a screen? Well, apparently it really isn’t, especially for kids.
I’m going to be a tad insensitive here, so if you worship at 
the altar of Apple and hail Steve Jobs as a beatified saint you might want to stop reading now.
Steve Jobs died last week. It was sad news. No doubt his family and friends are devastated, as they should be. Pancreatic cancer is a horrible way to go and the fact that Jobs held on for as long as he did is admirable.
As a fairly contrary person I don’t like buying 
into hype. I refused to read Dan Brown, will not touch Stephanie Meyer with a barge pole, didn’t watch Avatar and would rather die than see the upcoming Hobbit (for a number of reasons). My only concession has been Harry Potter and my justification is that I was in on the ground floor, before the hype went supersonic. So, it should come as no surprise that I’m sort of anti-Apple.
You do know that South Africa is being dragged 
kicking and screaming into the digital age, right? You know that pretty soon we’re going to be switching from analogue TV to digital TV, right?
Do you know what that means, because I don’t, not really?
What I know about stem cell research can be 
summed up in three words: not a lot.
I know that it can be used to treat some untreatable diseases and I know that it is extremely controversial. As far as I can tell, the biggest controversy centres on the use of embryonic stem cells. Cultivating these cells results in the wholesale destruction of the embryo, so the argument against it is pretty much the same one used by pro-lifers, that is, life starts at conception, interfering with it is murder. Blah blah blah.
The level of pettiness to which people stoop astounds me. I have 
a specific example in mind: Oscar Pistorius, or Blade Runner, or the fastest man on no legs. The claims that this double amputee has an unfair advantage over able-bodies athletes drive me insane. The man has no legs! He has no legs. I can’t say it enough. He. Has. No. Legs.
There are two things in this world that make me very angry: learned helplessness and willful stupidity.
In my book, willful stupidity is the complete inability to learn from lessons, no matter how many times they’ve been taught. It’s the old ostrich with its head in the sand scenario – if I don’t look, if I don’t pay attention, if I ignore all evidence to the contrary it will be alright.
Ecomentalist is a derogatory term that I think was coined by Jeremy Clarkson. As I understand it, it refers to people with militant environmental consciences who want to impose their will on the world. By my reckoning anyone who belongs to Green Peace is an ecomentalist. And, by my reckoning, being an ecomentalist is something to be proud. Much rather that than a selfish, boorish, egotist who thinks that the world begins and ends with fast cars.
“The nonviolent use of illegal or legally ambiguous digital tools in pursuit of political ends”
That’s how Wikipedia defines hacktivism or one of its definitions at least.
It’s a fascinating phenomenon that should scare the pants off you if you have any concerns about online security. Hacktivists have sabotaged the pentagon, the Chinese and Mexican governments and even the freaking CIA. And most of them are still anonymous. No one knows who they are or when they’ll strike again.