South Africa’s Energy Crisis

Eskom, South Africa’s state-run energy company has begun initiating rolling blackouts throughout the country from up to four hours a day! Honestly, what the hell? How is Africa’s strongest and most advanced nation, with a GDP responsible for 1/3 that of the whole continent’s, suffering from the worst energy crisis around? South Africa is the only country in the region with any appeal to the first world and they can’t even control their electricity. The company has stated that the blackouts are scheduled to last until 2013. I don’t understand how the nation is supposed to thrive and attract foreign investment when office buildings are going to be shut down for hours a day. But lets take a look at a side issue for a moment-the physical danger of it all. Sure hospitals and other emergency organisations might have power generators, but what about homes? Electricity turns off, alarm systems disconnect, and electric gates stop closing-all of sudden you’re at risk of a robbery. How are people supposed to be kept safe when the electrical company has already stated that homes in specific regions will have their energy cut off during this specific time?

Back to the foreign investment issue; why would people invest in a nation that’s unable to support it’s business? It makes absolutely no sense and it’s just a plain and simple embarrassment for a nation that’s looked at by some as first world. The country needs to find a real solution to this problem very soon otherwise their issues are just going to get worse, permanently.

FIFA World Cup 2010 is right around the corner, let’s just hope the government doesn’t forget that.

Iraqi Man Struggles To Survive

Is this the reason why hundreds of thousands of innocent people have been killed? It seems like that to to me and it seems like it was a mistake. The reasoning behind the 2003 Invasion of Iraq was covered up with this excuse: “We’re bringing democracy to the Middle-East.”

If this is what democracy has brought to the poor Iraqis of the country, than I think they would rather live without it. How have they benefited from it in any case? Their real life problems have been worsened by this American conquest into the Middle-East. And for what? The right to vote? That means absolutely nothing when you can barely afford food. The previous government might have been a dictatorial one, but at least it was stable and it kept a better standard of living for it’s inhabitants than the current one which has little-to-no actual control over the country.

United States politicians, both Democrat and Republican, bicker over the war all day long but none of them ever forget to point to the government and say, “we’ve made some progress.”

No you have haven’t. You haven’t made any progress because this government is so incapable of doing anything, it’ll have to be completely torn down, rebuilt and given much more control – and in that sense, it’s taken a step in the exact opposite direction. Before any forwardness is made, a strong Federal government is needed. A very strong one with far more control over the nation than the current one. Sounds a bit like the last government only a bit more oligarchic? Well that’s what I was going for. That’s the only type of system that will work in that region successfully and people need to realise that. The politicians have, which is why they privately finance most of them, they just know you haven’t and use that as an excuse to garner manipulated support from those who are less aware.

iRiver SPINN

Not much to say about this one, looks like iRiver came out with another nice mp3 player. Unfortunately the video doesn’t turn the power of the device on so we don’t get to see how the interface looks and works but it’s appearance is very up-to-date. The screen is large-a feature not many portable mp3 players have so that’s nice and the spin-scroll is very unique. I’m not sure how well that’ll work out but if it’s anything like the iPod scroll wheel, it should work well.

150″ Plasma!

Oh, my, God. Can someone just tell me what’s the need for such a huge television? No, wait, I got it, it’s awesome!
Panasonic showcased their 150″ plasma television at this years Consumer Electronics Show. And get this, the television still manages a 4000 x 2000 pixel resolution with double the brightness and a 50% less energy. They say they had to fly them here on a Boeing 747 because of the gigantic size of this 8′ by 11′ widescreen. It seems like the Bug Labs post right below is a bit dull compared to this…
Anyways, I guess we now just have to wait for Best Buy to start carrying them and hope they offer installation on this beast.

Build Your Own Super Gadget!

It’s never a dull year at CES. This time, a small company called Bug Labs stole all the attention. Their new super customizable, all-in-one gadget is just purely genius. Just purchase the base and connect all the extra devices you want. The best thing is that it’s open-source so everyone can create programs for it and third-party devices just gives it infinite possibility. Although the base is a few hundred, the devices will only range from $49 to $99 (at launch-set to go up thereafter) and though those add-ons can add up, having the convenience of all your electronic devices in one piece is worth the cost. And because of all the third-party involvement, getting more for your money will definitely have it’s place here.