Dean McCleland, Author at The Casual Observer

You take two sugars, don’t you?

By Dean McCleland in History, Opinion Pieces 13 October 2015 1 Comment

What status in the social, political and even the religious pecking order did a female hold prior to WW1? Apart from having no outlet for advancement, their station in life was limited to the nurturing and servile occupations such as teaching, house work and nursing. Even though the suffragette movement had commenced its campaign as far back as the 1860s to obtain voting rights for females, this array of radical reformers antagonised rather than aided the feminist agenda. Did WW1 accelerate woman’s advancement and if so how and what was the quantum thereof? Or was the change ephemeral and only for the duration of the war?

This is the odyssey of a number of females who took advantage of the situation and spread their wings. Without the condescending guffaws of males to cajole them not to be foolish, they each in their own way proved that females could achieve their dreams with ingenuity, perseverance and hard work.

Main picture:

A woman at work in an armaments factory, during the first world war.

Hulton Archive/Getty Images

Not the Orthodox Run-of-the-Mill Signs

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 12 October 2015 0 Comment

At least some people have a sense of humour. Instead of the hum-drum boring signs, these people ensure that passersby react with more than a smile. They will in probability also adhere to its instruction – all except the inveterate miscreant.

Will I be Forced to Start Shaving?

By Dean McCleland in Other Personal, Personal 11 October 2015 0 Comment

In 31 years of knowing Janine, she has yet to see my face. In the past this bothered her, but I demurred. I refused to shave just so that she could view my face. Perhaps that is about to change.

Initially she believed that it was a fashion statement. Then as the relationship matured, she came to believe that of far greater significance was sheer indolence on my part. Suffice to state that I never enlightened her as to the fundamental reason as I wished to maintain some mystique in the marriage.

Main picture: As a callow youth with long beard and even longer hair
Continue reading

The Da Vinci Code: Fantasies and Conspiracy Theories

By Dean McCleland in Opinion Pieces, Other Opinion Pieces 9 October 2015 2 Comments

Before turning to writing, Dan Brown was an unsuccessful painter. His second novel was the sensational Da Vinci Code. Like a candle for a moth, Dan Brown lured the readers by implying that his book was based upon fact. Instead it comprised various implausible fantasies and conspiracy theories which were barely credible. Yet they had the effect of fixating the masses. Why are the theories propounded in the novel even more preposterous than believed with not a shred of evidence to substantiate any of them?

The Da Vinci Code is an amalgam of a raft of conspiracy theories in one novel. Apart from one, the cryptex, which is a pure figment of Dan Brown overactive imagination, the rest of the conspiracies have been peddled in various books and forums over the years. The only one of this genre which attained acceptable publication figures was one which is even in my personal library entitled Holy Blood Holy Grail on which Dan Brown’s book is based.

Main picture: The authors of the book Holy Blood Holy Grail claim that it must have been Mary Magdalene on Jesus’ right as their relative positions form an M for Mary.

More of “Only in Africa”

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 7 October 2015 0 Comment

Africa has so much to offer: stunning vistas, endless herds of game and hospitable people. What they also possess is a quality which is not internationally recognised – ingenuity and the ability to make a plan in spite of adversity and lack of resources. This collection again highlights this little known facet.

The Cancer Paradox Part 1: Sugar

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 6 October 2015 2 Comments

The Metabolic Model of Cancer has recently been resurrected after lying dormant for slightly less than a century. This 1924 model is predicated upon the work of a physiologist, medical doctor and Nobel Laureate by the name of Otto Warburg who espoused the eponymous Warburg Effect. What has re-ignited interest in this theory is that contemporaneously with the rise in sugar/carbohydrate consumption since the 1970s, the rate of cancers has increased in tandem. Unknown in traditional and primitive societies such as the Inuits some 100 years ago, with the change in their diet to a western style diet, cancer has become one of the leading causes of death in these societies. In the light of this correlation, does the Metabolic Model of Cancer deserve another investigation?

The rate at which the prevalence of cancer is affecting society – already one in every two men and one in every three women will suffer from it. With the current rate of increase being 3%, shortly almost everybody will be afflicted.

Main picture: Dr Otto Warburg, the Nobel Laureate who discovered aerobic glycolysis

Life is Not Fair

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 4 October 2015 3 Comments

This weekend Dianne Kohler Barnard must be rueing the fact that she retweeted a post by Paul Kirk. During the same week, Pravin Gordhan the ex-Finance Minister was accused of being aware that a rogue intelligence unit was operating within SARS during his tenure. This week also saw Riah Phiyega being lambasted after the release of the annual crime statistics. What about the Hitachi imbroglio? Of these which will generate the most controversy?

Today Pravin Gordhan is a senior figure within the ANC government serving as Minister of Cooperative Governance. His tenure as head of SARS can be characterised as highly successful. Unlike similar government departments after 1994, it flourished becoming more effective whereas the rest degenerated into incompetence as ANC cadres were deployed into them. The level of compliance steadily increased as their systems and procedures were streamlined and improved.

Main picture: Dianne Kohler Barnard

What was VW Thinking?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 2 October 2015 2 Comments

In a democratic society, secrets and malfeasance are exposed at lightning speed. As such, the more influential and well-known an institution is in society today, the higher the standards bar is set. Any failure in this regard will have catastrophic world-wide implications. Think no further than the disaster at Bhophal of a subsidiary of Union Carbide. It would have been pointless for Union Carbide to insist that the safety standards at this plant complied with the local Indian Standards when the standards required in America would have prevented such a tragedy.

Notice what happened in South Africa when KFC was allegedly caught on video “recycling” burnt chicken. Would the same backlash have been experienced if the Take Away Joint had been McCleland’s Luscious Fried Chicken? I doubt it. Perhaps a few lines, if that, in a local newspaper but little else besides.

Was Sir Edmund Hillary the first person to summit Mount Everest?

By Dean McCleland in History, Other Miscellaneous Topics 1 October 2015 0 Comment

Arguably for the contrarians, Tenzing Norgay was the first. The facile explanation would be something along the lines of because he led the way or he only stepped aside at the last moment so that Edmund Hillary, the New Zealand beekeeper, could overtake him in order to summit first. What is not factored into this superficial comment is that without Hillary’s finance, determination & wherewithal Tenzing would never have set foot upon the summit. Aside from Tenzing could there indeed have been an earlier person?

Even though the Tibetans & Nepalese had occupied the area adjacent to Chomolungma or Sagarmāthā, as they respectively called Mount Everest for millennia, both are unlikely candidates for two very cogent reasons: technological and religious aside from the fact that Tenzing Norgay had already attempted the climb six times previously and failed. The technological reason is that the majority of climbers require bottled oxygen in order to climb the last 3000 feet. A number of people have attempted a natural climb but that is an extreme rarity even for Sherpas. Even with supplementary oxygen, the average climber is at the limit of their oxygen endurance.

Main picture: Conrad Anker climbing Everest

The Fate of Abandoned Artefacts of Civilisation

By Dean McCleland in Other Galleries 27 September 2015 0 Comment

For the most part, mankind’s artefacts are neither durable nor resilient. Left to the elements most man-made objects would have been reduced to their original elements within a century. Even such ancient memorials of a past civilisation such as pyramids and the Sphinx will be reduced to dust within 10 millennia.

Needless to say, it is not merely the dispassionate elements and nature which inexorably destroy man-made artefacts but there is also the intentional laying waste to artefacts of one’s rivals whether political, social or religious.

Main picture: A bridge made out of an abandoned train carriage
Continue reading

The Opinion Pieces are an eclectic bunch on current affairs & history often with a human interest aspect. The Movie/DVDs reviews are mainly on documentaries with a smattering of movie reviews.

Author: Dean McCleland