Opinion Pieces Archives - Page 14 of 43

What can the Insurance Industry Teach the Government Departments?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 8 July 2016 0 Comment

Having changed the Insurer on my daughter’s car this week, the epiphany struck me yet again: The ease and convenience of dealing with Private Sector companies versus having to deal with the Civil Service. Part but not all of the ease of use relates the fact of how technology is used. The rest is attitude.

Main picture: Wildlife photographer Hannes Lochner spent 750 days in the harsh surroundings of the Kalahari Desert to chronicle the life of a female leopard and in doing so delved into a dark and fascinating nocturnal world of big cats and other predators. Filming Luna with her cubs was the highlight of Mr Lochner’s two-year project immersed in the Kalahari Desert

Card Skimming: How Safe is your PIN?

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 7 July 2016 2 Comments

In short, not very safe. After having my AutoBank Card cloned about five years ago, I know the stabbing numbing fear when one discovers amounts being surreptitiously drawn out of one’s account. In my case I suspect that the culprit was an ATM at Hillfox. I was suspicious of the machine but in a rush, I used it anyway. Last week it happened to friends but in a restaurant.

So how safe is one’s money and what steps can one take to prevent the illegal cloning of one’s cards?

Main picture: How does one know whether this ATM has been tampered with?

Absurd Adverts Promoting Smoking from Yesteryears

By Dean McCleland in Health, Other Opinion Pieces 6 July 2016 0 Comment

Once smoking bore the cachet of cool, elegance and sporting. Viewing the adverts of half a century ago they are so utterly laughable that it strains one’s credulity to believe that adverts would tout smoking as an elixir. Yet they did. Much like latter day adverts proclaiming miracle cures for obesity, their continued message is believed when manufacturers and human belief coincide.

Main picture: Amongst the many supposed benefits of smoking was weight loss

Vitamins: Caveat Emptor Definitely Applies

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 5 July 2016 0 Comment

Contrary to received wisdom, more vitamins are not better for one. Far from it. Mae West might have stated that more is better, but she was referring to sex and not to vitamins. The overconsumption of vitamins could be benign as in the case of vitamin C where the excess is merely excreted or it can be toxic in the case of vitamin A. Is the unregulated vitamin supplement industry unscrupulously opportunistic and is science able to substantiate definitely what levels are required?

Main picture: Is this the way that nature intend us to take our vitamins?

Humans as Guinea Pigs in the Limelight again

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs 4 July 2016 0 Comment

The ultimate litmus test of experimental drugs and technology is the human acting as a surrogate guinea pig. This is the gold standard. The recent fatality of a driver using an experimental Automated Driving System called Autopilot has brought this issue to the forefront of what constitutes ethical testing once again.

Should testing standards ever be relaxed in order to fast track development such as occurred with this self-driving Tesla and what, if any, controls need to be implemented to ensure that humans do not perforce become the 21^st century guinea pigs.

Main picture: The remains of the Tesla S which is at the centre of the self-driving vehicle controversy

Genetic Engineering: The Genie is out of the Bottle

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 3 July 2016 0 Comment

It is one thing to predict that a breakthrough is imminent but it quite another to actual effect that leap forward. After researchers with cheery optimism had cried wolf on numerous occasions, the scientists & technologists have finally found an inexpensive and undemanding method of editing DNA.

How is this feat performed and will it be the panacea as predicted?

Main picture: CRISPR will be the game changer. The die is now cast and genetic engineering will now be a reality

The Paradox of the Ethical Carnivore

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Health 3 July 2016 0 Comment

In all likelihood I will be vilified by the Vegetarian fraternity for even posing the question of ethnics and meat eating. To them it is an oxymoron, a casus belli using their favourite weapon, the politics of rage by casting their views in melodramatic terms. Call me old-fashioned, even heartless, but I have no intention of banishing meat from my menu. This is not to say that I nonetheless face a moral dilemma. I have always concurred with the widely held view that it in spite of being bred for the pot, these animals must be treated humanely whilst being mindful of the ecological consequences of the methods in which they are farmed.

Herein lies the paradox as alluded to in the title of the blog and not the fact of eating meat.

Main picture: Caring owl feeding an injured owl with 2 broken legs and a damaged wing estimated to be 1 year old. To find out more about this incredible bird go to its very own website at http://www.thecaringowl.co.za/

What it Means to be African

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 28 June 2016 0 Comment

The logical culmination of the unmitigated disaster that is South Africa at the moment and the lamentable performance or rather the continued non-performance of Jacob Zuma, has resulting in my casting about for explanations for the inexplicable vacuous behaviour of the ANC and many of Zuma’s appointees. This article by Prince Mashele in the Sowetan on the 9^th May 2016 places one explanation on these events. If so, South Africa’s future is rather dire as it too will succumb to the fate that has befallen the rest of Africa. No wonder the world’s smart money is not on South Africa succeeding.

Pictures: Walter Sisulu National Botanical Gardens using my Samsung J5 cell phone this morning

Ruminations on the Lowly Apple & Brexit

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 24 June 2016 0 Comment

Today the British have greater concerns due to Brexit but the lowly apple has shown the way, albeit small, on what a nation needs to do to succeed in the world.

Say hello to the humble Gala apple.

Main picture: The victor in the fight with EU’s apples: the lowly Gala apple

Riots in Tshwane: A Window into the ANC’s Psyche

By Dean McCleland in Current Affairs, Opinion Pieces 22 June 2016 0 Comment

With the patina of age, the real ANC has been revealed. Like in a 22 year old marriage, the state of the relationship is not determined by telling one’s spouse how much one loves them but by showing how much one cares. So it is with the riots in Tshwane. The ANC members wanted one candidate yet the party unilaterally foists another candidate on the metro.

That is one dimension of what has occurred. What is more illustrative is how the members actually reacted. No longer was it robust debate but rather an unedifying display of base emotion? What do those reactions reveal of the members’ real psyche and the current state of the ANC?

Main picture: Scenes of violence and wanton destruction in Pretoria which the SABC banned South Africans from viewing

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.

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