A different view on current affairs & history
My initial reason for doing the Giants Cup trail last year was to ascertain whether we were fit enough to hike the Fish River Canyon this year. We only completed the first days hike to the Mzimkulwana Hut.
I re-booked the trail for this year hoping for an improved performance.
Do government representatives and Ministers take us for fools? Either the reasons that they provide for non-performance are not factual or they are farcical. Perhaps they operate on the principle that South Africans are gullible. There have been a number of such preposterous claims lately that require rebutting including the one that pilots who are resigning from the South African Air Force are taking their planes with them!
Main picture: Pilatus PC-7 turboprop trainers
In line with my philosophy of using The Casual Observer as a platform to propagate my views concerning the events in the world, I also wish it to become a repository of the articles on the McCleland family. We are fortunate in having a printed family history entitled The Reverend Francis McCleland: Colonial Chaplain to Port Elizabeth 1825 to 1853. Hopefully this is the first of many such articles but for that to materialise, I require information on the family from recipients of this blog.
The first in the series highlights the achievements of Robert Hamilton McCleland who was a member of the Pioneer column which occupied Mashonaland in 1890
Main picture: Robert Hamilton McCleland from the Draaifontein Collection
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Probably our grandchildren will have the same response when they view our adverts or even movies such as Star Wars. It is highly likely that the Beatles will sound tinny and David Bowie will look nerdy. They will possibly be amused at rap, wondering why an artist would talk through a song instead of singing. Ironically shoulder length hair for men will probably be in vogue again as well as bell-bottoms.
Main picture: How can the PC Police claim that this advert is sexist. Rather it displays concern for the welfare of one’s wife. Surely!
Again Zuma has underwhelmed. If there ever was an occasion when the President needed to issue a clarion call, a rallying cry, to the citizens of South Africa, it was SONA 2016. But he failed dismally. With dubious moral and intellectual credentials, I had lowered my expectations but even those low standards could not be attained. Does that not reflect the malaise in South Africa? Despite Zuma’s dismal performance was the farce not exacerbated by the EFF’s childish behaviour?
Main picture: The action during SONA 2016 was on the streets of Cape Town
The ANC could compliment the citizens of South Africa for their forbearance if it was “The Long and Winding Road.” In that case we could at least enjoy the scenery of the journey but just for good measure we are being taken along known treacherous paths where wisdom cautions one not to tread – the proverbial Road to Nowhere. It is a sad indictment that wisdom and sanity has not prevailed. This is the path to perdition. That is why am I so profoundly despondent about South Africa’s future?
Main picture: The Road to Perdition, the theme of this blog. Like the movie starring Tom Hanks, South Africa’s future is murky & full of foreboding.
Blaine might have been an Engineer but he has always been a designer at heart. Who wouldn’t want to be? But it requires a special temperament, a conflation of technical understanding and practical ability. Blaine possessed both in abundance. Probably because this was a tiny project, it would have been more satisfying than most as every decision was his instead of being split between a multitude of other engineers.
Main picture: US riverine naval boat of the type that was captured by Iran
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Davos has brought the concept of the Fourth Industrial Revolution to the forefront of the imagination. Already society is on the cusp of the revolution but the anticipation of the merging of various technologies such as 3D printing, artificial intelligence, sensor technology et al will enable this revolution. One aspect of this will be peer to peer transactions becoming the norm. What does this mean and how will it affect everybody?
Only this aspect will be the subject of this blog.
Main picture: Airbnb now operates in Cuba
In the annals of history Jesus is undoubtedly the most revered and well-known man. In spite of having four biographies written about him in the form of the first four Gospels of the New Testament, he remains an enigma. The cause of this consternation is that the four Gospels do not form a seamless whole. For the pious these inconsistencies must be overlooked but in this blog I will produce a reality check on the facts and list what could be myth. Were the Gospels in fact the gospel truth about the life and times of Jesus?
Main picture: The Dead Scrolls provided an evocative insight into one the sects contemporaneous with Jesus’ life. Whether as Barbara Thiering contends Jesus was an Essene is a moot point. Nevertheless these scrolls do throw a new light on the times when Jesus was alive.
Style and comfort were secondary. Due to lack of money, wheels in the McCleland household during our youth were all that were required as long as they worked. Now cue in the music of The Days of our Lives all saccharin and mulchy. None would win car of the year or the street mile, but we adored them nonetheless. This is their story as told mainly by my younger brother.
Main picture: The first car that my father owned, an Austin A70. His previous vehicle had been a panelvan which was his employer – JJ Ruddy and Sons – company vehicle. As there is no extant photo of this vehicle, the best that Blaine could do was a stock photo off the internet.